The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) (Tongan: Siasi ʻo Sīsū Kalaisi ʻo e Kau Māʻoniʻoni ʻi he Ngaahi ʻAho Kimui Ní or Siasi Māmonga) has had a presence in Tonga since 1891.

However, due to anti-Mormon sentiment and government policies, the LDS Church did not grow steadily in Tonga until 1924.

The LDS Church first sent Mormon missionaries, Brigham Smoot and Alva J. Butler, to Tonga in July 1891.

Smoot and Butler bought property and built a mission home, a school, and also purchased a boat to facilitate travel between the islands.

David O. McKay was quarantined on an island near Tonga for 11 days in 1921 while serving as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the church's presiding body of leaders.

These difficulties were caused by anti-Mormon efforts that resulted in the passing of a law in 1922 that prohibited LDS Church members from entering Tonga.

The Passport Act of 1922 was enacted primarily because of power struggles that occurred between the Tongan people, Queen Salote and her husband Tungi.

Mark Vernon Coombs, president of the LDS Tongan Mission at the time, remained in Tonga despite the lack of missionary presence.

Coombs acquired a transcript of the legislative assembly debates regarding the exclusion law, which identified "teaching and practicing polygamy, teaching the people to be disobedient and disrespectful to government authorities, claiming to belong to the church of Jesus Christ, claiming to be saints, and being rude" as some of the reasons for keeping Mormons out of Tonga.

Strong had an apparent change of heart regarding the church members as "he had learned that the evidence on which he had condemned the Mormons was false and erroneous.

In 1935, local LDS Church leader Samuela Fakatou and several other community members were called to serve as mission translators.

Subsequently, during his 1938 visit, George Albert Smith approved the request of Tongan mission president Emile C. Dunn to translate the book.

However, around the same time, Crown Prince Taufa'ahau Tupou IV returned from a trip to Australia where he realized that some changes should be made to the written Tongan language.

[2][5]: 458 In 1956, Morton completed translated drafts of the other standard sacred works used by the church, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price.

At the time, mission president Dunn encouraged the people to maintain gardens and extra food supplies.

In an effort to explain why the missionaries needed to return to America, Dunn stated that Grant was "inspired to call them back".

[5]: 478  All church schools in the Pacific Islands were unified under one board of education, streamlining curriculum and guidelines for students.

A few months before the celebration, which was scheduled for November, Groberg received a letter from the widow of Tonga's first mission president.

[5]: 485  King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV and Prime Minister Fatafehi Tuʻipelehake both supported the event and participated in it.

Several LDS general authorities attended the Golden Jubilee, including Nathan Eldon Tanner of the First Presidency.

[2] However, according to the 2011 Tongan census, 18,554 people self-identify as Mormon, making it the second-largest religion in the country, ahead of Catholicism and behind Methodism.

On 18 February 1981, LDS Church president Spencer W. Kimball broke ground and dedicated the land for the new temple.

The King of Tonga was given a private tour of the temple by previous Tongan mission president John Groberg to explain the purposes of the building.