Where do missionaries *not* serve?

[bl8tant]

A friend who's recently started reading the Book of Mormon asked me a question the other day: where do missionaries *not* currently serve?

I think I got most of the easy ones:

• Some countries (Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE) prohibit missionaries for religious reasons
• Others, like China, Cuba, and North Korea, don't permit them on general principles
• Some countries are too dangerous for missionaries to serve in (Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia)

I'm guessing that there are areas in the US where missionaries aren't assigned, or don't work actively-- seems like, say, the Badlands or the area south of I-10 in the Atchafalaya probably aren't very fertile missionary areas.

Is there a canonical list anywhere of places that don't allow missionaries, or where no missionaries are currently serving? Did I miss any major ones on the above list?

[Dravin]

I'm guessing that there are areas in the US where missionaries aren't assigned, or don't work actively-- seems like, say, the Badlands or the area south of I-10 in the Atchafalaya probably aren't very fertile missionary areas.

How small do you want to subdivide? For instance Missionaries aren't allowed to actively work the Gonzaga Campus in Spokane. Also, are you counting humanitarian missions? It's work but it isn't proselyting.

Is there a canonical list anywhere of places that don't allow missionaries, or where no missionaries are currently serving? Did I miss any major ones on the above list?

It isn't official but all the information I can find is positive, for instance:

LDS Mission Network - Mission Index List

[bl8tant]

How small do you want to subdivide? For instance Missionaries aren't allowed to actively work the Gonzaga Campus in Spokane. Also, are you counting humanitarian missions? It's work but it isn't proselyting.

It isn't official but all the information I can find is positive, for instance:

LDS Mission Network - Mission Index List

Interesting- I didn't know about Gonzaga. And yes, I was thinking about areas where proselyting missionaries cannot or do not serve. I figure humanitarian missionaries are pretty much everywhere.

[rameumptom]

Currently no U.S. American missionaries in Bolivia. They were basically kicked out by the current junta. We can thank the inept actions of both presidents Bush and Obama for the problem.

Of course, we do have Bolivian and other Latin American missionaries serving there right now.

[Sean1427]

One of the general authorities once pointed that home/visiting teaching is missionary work to members, and missionary work is home/visiting teaching to non-members. (If someone remembers who said this, please post it.) Moreover, we were told in the ME that simply being a good friend and servant--such Ammon was initially to the Lamanites--is one of the best forms of missionary work. So in this sense, wherever there are members of Church are who are doing their home/visiting teaching to fellow members and being a good friend and example to non-members missionary work is being done. Those countries would include many of the countries named where "missionary work" is prohibited due to safety concerns or some kind of prohibition. Of course, this isn't what your friend meant when the question was asked. Besides the countries already mentioned, one would also include the countries of the ME and its neighbors, which would inlcude Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, where, interestingly, there once was a "mission" that lasted until about the end of WW I. The exception to this would be Lebanon, which later became part of the Swiss mission and missionaries were there into the 1970s. Some of the missionaries who served in the mission that included Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine until the end of WW I are buried in Aleppo, Syria, one of the three Christian cities of Syria (Homs and Damascus being the other two). Also, there are the service couples, who while they cannot proselytize in some of these countries, are quiet participants in the work, and service couples are in Turkey, and at least three, possibly four, countries I know of on the Arabian Peninsula.

As members, we might appreciate this b Elder Orson F. Whitney:

There are those who are not members of the Church who "can do more good for the cause where the Lord has place them, than anywhere else . . . Hence, some are drawnn into the fold and receive a testimony of the truth; while others remain unconverted . . . the beauties and glories of the gospel being veiled temporarily from their view, for a wise purpose. The Lord will open their eyes in HIs own due time. God is using more than one people for the accomplishment of His great and marvelous work. The Latter-day Saints cannot do it all. It is too vast, too arduous for any one people . . ." (CR April, 1928).

When I read this I think of my own father who was born out of the Church, yet when he came into the Church and got his patriarchal blessing, we were surprised to see that it starts out just like a blessing for those born into the Church. It states that he was faithful in the "pre-existence" but that he used his agency to be born into a family that were not members because of the good he could do and that he made a covenant that when the time came for him to join the Church, he would help bring the gospel to those of his family who were not members.

I'm also reminded that our greatest "missionary" in Saudi is a Muslim friend of the Church. He's the one who, of his own volition and without any encouragement from the members, spreads the gospel among those of his own faith.

Of course, I realize I've been off-topic for a bit so I best stop. Just some more thoughts to reflect on.

[Dravin]

One of the general authorities once pointed that home/visiting teaching is missionary work to members, and missionary work is home/visiting teaching to non-members. (If someone remembers who said this, please post it.)

It's actually quoted in PMG:

President Harold B. Lee (1972–1973)

“Missionary work is but home teaching to those who are not now members of the Church,

and home teaching is nothing more or less than missionary work to Church members”

(Improvement Era, Dec. 1964, 1078).

[Nate Robinson]

It seems these countries do not have missions:

Afghanistan Algeria Andorra Antigua and Barbuda Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Belarus Belize Bhutan Bosnia and Herzegovina Brunei Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) Croatia Cuba Djibouti Dominica Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini (fmr. “Swaziland”) Gabon Gambia Grenada Guinea-Bissau Holy See Iran Iraq Israel Jordan Kazakhstan Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Lesotho Libya Luxembourg Malawi Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Moldova Monaco Montenegro Morocco Myanmar (formerly Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Niger North Korea Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine State Qatar Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Slovakia Somalia South Sudan Sudan Suriname Syria Tajikistan Timor-Leste Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Yemen

At least without verifying there are not any missions that have 2 countries besides Belgium.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Nate Robinson
Finding more countries removed more from this list where the church doesn't have a mission

[pam]

They may not have actual missions located in that country but many of the countries on the list fall under a mission

Belize has missionaries but they fall under the El Salvador San Salvador West/Belize Mission.  

Croatia is in the Adriatic North Mission.

In 2007 the India New Delhi Mission was formed and included Pakistan.  In 2010 the Pakistan Service Mission was established. 

Turkey falls under the Bulgaria Sofia Mission.

Most of countries I see on this list are predominately Muslim or they are countries that right now are deemed too dangerous to send missionaries to.

 

 

 

 

[Vort]

2 hours ago, Nate Robinson said:

Holy See

Italian missionaries go there all the time. Not much open preaching, of course.