Missionary efforts of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began in 1851 with the baptisms of two native Icelanders visiting Denmark.

As of December 31, 2022[update], The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had 382 members in Iceland, divided into three congregations.

The first Mormons in Iceland were Thorarinn Thorason (or Hafliðason) and Guðmundur Guðmundsson, who were both baptized in 1851 under the direction of Erastus Snow.

[4] In response, Thorason stopped his missionary efforts, but remained a faithful church member until his accidental death (by drowning) in December 1851.

After he wrote to the church leaders in Copenhagen reporting of 24 people who wanted to be baptized, Elder John Lorentzen was sent to Iceland to serve as Guðmundsson's missionary companion in 1853.

[4] Guðmundsson was ordained to the office of an elder in the priesthood and helped organize the first church branch, or small congregation, in Iceland on June 19, 1853[1] in the Westman Islands.

[8]: 75–81 A section of The Book of Mormon was translated into Icelandic in 1881 by convert Jon Jonsson, who was living in the Spanish Fork settlement at the time.

[3] One of the major obstacles to spreading the gospel in the country was that the church lacked materials printed in the Icelandic language.

Byron Geslison worked to get filmstrips translated into Icelandic to be used in church meetings, open house programs, and to be shown in public schools in 1976.

[10] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints became formally recognized by the government in November 1983.

[4] The Geslisons returned to Iceland on two more missions and saw the completion of a visitors center and the organization of a branch in Akureyri.

Church members across the country were asked to participate in missionary work by serving three-month missions in 1988.