Globally , Latino people are joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in greater numbers, and Idaho is no exception to this trend.
In Meridian, Bishop Juan Sánchez said he has watched the sacrament meeting attendance at his Spanish-speaking Bella Vista ward climb.
Ten miles away, in Nampa, a local couple is starting a resource center at their Spanish-speaking ward as the local Latino population increases.
Just two years ago, young Latino LDS members held a conference in Southwest Idaho to celebrate their heritage.
The church has seen an increase in convert baptisms in Spanish-speaking units in the western part of the state from 2020 to 2024, according to Area Seventy Stephen Larson. (An area seventy is a church leader generally assigned to a specific geographic region.) And the Gem State, already home to a large LDS population, has seen growth in church membership in recent years.
“You have all these people coming from different countries, different cultures,” said Sánchez, the Meridian bishop. “But then when we all become part of the culture of Christ, we don’t care where we’re from.”