Pratt wrote that the people he met in Chile were "a neat, plain, loving and sociable people; very friendly, frank, and easy to become acquainted with," but the mission trip met with tragedy when the Pratt's month-old son died in January 1852.
[5] Pratt used his experience in South America to advise Brigham Young that the success of future missionary efforts would be based on translations of the Mormon scriptures.
[7] Another difficulty was that, at the time of Pratt's visit, the Chilean constitution did not permit the public practice of any religion besides Catholicism.
[8] Missionary work in Chile began in earnest in 1956, when the country was made part of the Argentine mission and the first small branch was formed.
Due to high levels of member inactivity, 37% of the stakes created in Chile have since been discontinued.
[12] Although an average of 12,000 people were baptized annually between 1961 and 1990, membership growth has now cooled and the church has a large number of inactive members.
If accurate, these numbers makes the LDS Church the single largest denomination in Chile after Catholicism.
[13] LDS statistics counts everyone baptized, including children age eight or older as well as inactive members.
Using unofficial sources, the Cumorah Project website estimates that 20% of Chilean members actively attend church services.
[16] In April 2019, church president Russell M. Nelson announced a third Chilean temple to be built in Antofagasta.
In the October 2023 General Conference, President Russel M. Nelson announced the plans to build a fifth Temple in the city of Viña del Mar.
[18]: 102 In 1963, Tuttle and Palmer started preparing two elementary schools in La Cisterna and Vina del Mar.
Rather than use the traditional lecture-exam format, teachers varied their teaching methods to include group work and in-service training.
Kindergartens operated in LDS chapels in Arica, Inquique, and La Calera to keep them from being used by the government for other purposes.
[18]: 129 Seminary teacher Richard Brimhall visited the schools in 1972 and felt alarmed at how many faculty were Marxists.