In 1998, two missionaries were kidnapped in Saratov, Russia. After being invited to a man’s home, the missionaries were kidnapped, beaten, and held for ransom. They were eventually released without the money. The story inspired a 2013 movie.

“I served in Russia, in the exact area of the Saratov approach. Ours was a very dangerous mission, at least from the standpoint of elders getting beat up all the time. We had to send in weekly reports straight to President Packer of how many beatings there were for the week. Cops were part of the problem, too.”

Two American missionaries named Jeffrey Brent Ball and Todd Ray Wilson were killed in La Paz, Bolivia in 1989. They were killed by the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación-Zarate Willka, which fought against American imperialism, and considered the LDS church part of that.

Three Peruvian Mormons, Manuel Hidalgo, Cristian Ugarte, and Oscar Zapata, were killed in 1990 and 1991. Although not foreign missionaries, they were seen as part of the “invading” force.

“Rioting in Venezuela. Walking down the street, I turned the corner to discover that, right in front of us, the university students had dug up a bunch of graves from the cemetery across the street, piled up a bunch of corpses, and were in the process of lighting several tires on fire. We got outta there pretty quick. I also saw a dude on a bicycle run over by a car right in front of me. I woke up one morning to a grenade being thrown at the church building across the road from our apartment.”

“I served in the Rostov, Russia mission about 10 years ago.”

Chechnya and Dagestan were in the mission, no missionaries there of course but you felt the proximity. There was at least one bus bombing blamed on ISIS, and war in Ukraine right across the border. We met some Wagner guys which was interesting. Lots of organized crime but those guys didn’t mess with us. Occasionally bumped into satanic witchcraft stuff which was weird. FSB did not like us, and would stop us in the airport or raid apartments. One time they raided a whole zone all at once. Russian Orthodox priests would harass us, but there was always a Babushka nearby to shame them and stand up for us.

Most ‘danger’ for missionaries was hate crimes against Americans. I was punched once. Most elders experienced or saw various altercations. Usually the guy on the other end was drunk and we got too close.

In 2006, two sister missionaries were attacked and assaulted by three men in Port Shepstone, South Africa. Because of that incident and others, there are no longer any female missionaries in South Africa.

“On my mission to Ukraine in 2006 we did not wear name tags, would not carry Books of Mormon in our hands, and covered our white shirts and ties with zip up jackets. I honestly rarely felt in danger, but the county was experiencing some political changes that made the presence of a very peculiarly-American Church somewhat unpopular.”

Although not a dangerous mission on its own, England became the site of the “Manacled Mormon case,” one of the more infamous missionary incidents. In it, missionary Kirk Anderson was kidnapped by British woman Joyce McKinney, chained, and used as a slave of all kinds. She eventually escaped to the United States, and was arrested for a hit and run.

“I served in the Dominican Republic and half of my mission was in an area called Los Alcarrizos. It was known for regular machete fights in the streets, drugs, and corrupt cops. I'm a pretty big guy so maybe that had something to do with why I spent so much time there. I also just realized two of my companions had football scholarships waiting for them and another was 6'5 with a basketball scholarship waiting. When I was transferred members would ask where I came from, and they would reply with "they let you guys in there?"

We had two different drug lords tell us that we were protected. They said they made sure everyone knew not to mess with the Hombres de Dios, (Men of God). One time we were walking on the side of the road and I had an open beer can thrown at me from a passing car. A few days later we were stopped and told that they heard what happened, said they were very sorry and that it was taken care of. I wasn't sure what that meant, and didn't want to.

In April of 2024, one Koningi Branch church member was killed by flooding caused by the country’s 6.9 magnitude earthquake. Aside from that, violence in the country makes it risky. A different Christian missionary party was killed in 2020. Still, it is a common destination for LDS missionaries.

“The Elders were not prepared for the awesome power of tropical ants. They were tiny black things that could chew right through food packaging.”