The growth of the LDS Church in Nicaragua is directly influenced by the country's turbulent political context, said Henri Gooren of Utrecht University in The Netherlands.

Gooren gave a brief history of Nicaragua's political turmoil and the LDS Church's struggle to maintain its membership over the decades.

The Church first set foot in Nicaragua in 1953, just after the Central America Mission in Guatemala City was founded, Gooren said.

"The 1950s and 1960s were characterized by local Church-building," he said. "The Church always made an effort to maintain smooth relations with the Somoza family to ensure the freedom to proselytize."

By 1979 the Sandinista National Liberation Front (SNLF) overthrew the Somoza family.

As a result, Church buildings belonging to American-based religions such as the LDS Church, Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists were seized by the SNLF.

Because of the persecution between 1982 and 1989, 29 percent of all baptized Mormons officially left the Church or were dropped from membership, he said.

From 1982 to 1991, the Church functioned underground.

"Most members were afraid to tell co-workers or relatives they were Mormons," Gooren said. All other members, active and inactive, put their LDS identity on hold or took on membership in another church."

LDS harassment ceased when President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro came into power in 1991, allowing LDS missionaries to return to proselyte.

The Church was re-established that year, and all seized meetinghouses were returned.

According to the Deseret Morning News 2007 Church Almanac, Church membership grew to 52,184 in 2005.

LDS Church History in Nicaragua:

* The first missionaries arrived in 1953.

* The first Nicaraguan was baptized on April 11, 1954.

* By the end of 1979 there were 3,346 members.

* Due to harassment and confiscation by the Sandinistas in the 1980s, the Church was forced to go underground and lost one-third of its members.

* Church was re-established in 1991, leading to a growth explosion ever since.

Copyright Brigham Young University 30 May 2007