A few Danes joined the Church in the United States during Joseph Smith’s lifetime. One of these converts, Peter Hansen, even began work translating the Book of Mormon into Danish. In 1849 Hansen and Elder Erastus Snow of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were called to open a mission in Scandinavia. The Copenhagen branch was organized shortly after their arrival in 1850. In 1851 the Danish translation of the Book of Mormon became the first edition of the book printed in a language other than English.
Most Danish converts in the 19th century emigrated to help build up Zion in the American West: in the 1850s and 1860s Latter-day Saints made up almost half of the total emigrants from Denmark. At the same time, Danish Saints contributed to their own country. In 1906, for example, Frederick Samuelsen of Aarhus became the first Latter-day Saint elected to a European Parliament.
A wave of rapid growth in the 1960s helped the Church become more firmly established in Denmark, and the country’s first stake was organized in 1974. Since then, a faithful core of Saints have kept the faith in patience (see Revelation 14:12). In 2004 a temple was dedicated in Copenhagen.
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National Director of Public Affairs and Communications
Lars Paulsen
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