Between the first Mormon missionary visit to central Europe in 1888 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Church made only a few advances in this region. But in a mere decade, that all changed. By the end of the twentieth century, nineteen missions existed in central and eastern Europe and thousands of missionaries labored where only a handful had served before.

Even before the Soviet Union collapsed and Eastern Bloc countries—such as Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania—regained their independence, Church leaders began sending in senior couples and humanitarian service workers. Sometimes operating independently, or other times working with young missionaries, these representatives began laying a foundation on which future Church members soon built. Those members living in these Communist countries and the missionaries serving in them overcame daunting obstacles in their quest to create and maintain faithful Latter-day Saint communities.

This book also features the extraordinary missionary account of Mischa Markow, the first Mormon missionary to enter central and eastern Europe a century ago.