Zimbabwe

E Jan. 1, 2012: Est. population, 11,393,000; Members, 20,908; Stakes, 4; Wards, 23; Districts, 1;
Branches, 27; Missions, 1; percent IDS, .15, or one in 661; Africa Southeast Area.
TherewereChurchmembersinSouthernRhodesiaasearlyas1925. PeterandElizabethDuPlooy,wholived62miles outofSalisbury,werebaptizedon10March1925whileonavisittoSouthAfrica. SouthAfricanMissionPresidentSamuel Martin made a trip toSouthern Rhodesia inJuly 1927 where heandMarion L. Alfred baptized two sons ofWalter Taylor Jubber,anearlymemberoftheChurchwhoemigratedtoSouthernRhodesiafromSouthAfrica. DuringJuly1930,South African mission President Don Mack Dalton sent missionaries, George C. Maw, Vem D. Greene, and Bertram C. Cutforth, to begin work inthenewRhodesia District inAugust 1930. On 30August 1931, missionaries, A.K. BenyandThomas Y. Wilson,organizedShanganiBranch,withWalterTaylorJubberaspresident. By1935,Daltonstoppedsendingmissionaries to Rhodesia because of the shortage of missionaries and Rhodesia's distance from mission headquarters in Cape Town, South Africa.
Members continued contactthrough letters written to the South African Mission headquarters that ran news in the mission publication The Southern Cumorah Cross.
Itwasnotuntil1September1950thatmissionariesreturnedtoSouthernRhodesia. Fourmissionaries.DaleG.Johnson, George L. Albright, Monroe McKay andTharon Bigler, weretransferred to Salisbury, while fourothermissionaries, Glen L. Hamberlin,GailWeggeland,DonaldCook,andDimarHoggan,wenttoBulawayo. On1February1951thefirstconvert, HughHodgkiss, was baptized.
On 17 April 1951, the missionaries distributed 3,000 handbills, prompting a large crowd to attend an introductory meeting. TheSalisburyBranchwasorganizedinSeptember1951. Thefirstserviceswereheldinapreschoolbuilding. ErnestSibandawasthefirstnativeRhodesianbaptizedinRhodesiainMarch1965. Thefirstknownmissionarytoserve from Rhodesiawas Judith Jubber who served in the Netherlands Mission from 1967 to 1969.
Meetinghouses were builtand dedicated in Rhodesia in the late 1960s. Elder Mark E. Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve dedicated theSalisbury Branch meetinghouse on17September 1967. Elder Marion G. Romney oftheQuorum of the Twelve dedicated the Bulawayo Branch meetinghouse on 3 September 1968.
On 18 April 1980, Britain recognized Rhodesia's independence and the country's name was officially changed to Zimbabwe. On1July1987,theZimbabweHarareMissionwasorganizedfromtheSouthAfricaJohannesburgMission. In 1988, selections from the Book of Mormon were translated in Shona.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, ona five-country tour ofAfrica, visited Zimbabwe on18February 1998, and spoke to about1,500Latter-daySaints. Severalgovernmentofficials,includingtheSecretaryofDefenseandtheSocialWelfare director, attendedthe meetingin Harare.
On 12December 1999, theHarare Zimbabwe Stake was organized byElder Dennis E. Simmons oftheSecond Quorum of Desenet News 2013 Qiunch News Almanac 597
Seventy, with Edward Dube, president. Membership in 2003was 12,616, and 14,561in 2004

Missions

Zimbabwe Bulawayo Mission
Zimbabwe Harare Mission

Temples

Harare Zimbabwe Temple
65 Enterprise Road Highlands Harare