She Risked Her Life to Bring the Church to Angola: Maria da Silva and the Founding of a Nation's Faith (1975–1992)

In 1975, as Angola became embroiled in a brutal civil war, Maria Louisa de Jesus Lopes da Silva, pregnant with her first child, fled Angola with twenty members of her family to escape the violence. The United Nations provided them a hotel room in Lisbon, Portugal, alongside other Angolan refugees, and Maria established a new life there.

Three years later, a friend invited Maria to a party sponsored by a local ward. "Everyone was kind," Maria recalled. "They were very loving. … They treated me well, and I liked the way they accepted me and welcomed me." The next day she returned for church services, met two sister missionaries, and three months later Maria and her mother were baptized. "The greatest blessing of my life was baptism," she said.

As Maria became more involved in the Church, she began to dream repeatedly about establishing the Church in Angola — she saw herself back home teaching the gospel, holding meetings, and gathering people together. She couldn't ignore the feeling that God was asking her to return. There was just one problem: there were no Latter-day Saint missionaries, no congregations, and no Church organization in Angola — only a country still torn apart by civil war. In 1990, despite the ongoing violence, Maria packed every Church lesson manual she could find into her luggage and went home.

In Luanda, Maria — the only baptized member of the Church permanently living in Angola — opened her home every Sunday and invited friends, family, and neighbors to come. "I started gathering people," she said. "I was always bringing people to learn about the Church." Using the manuals she had brought, she taught all the lessons herself: priesthood, Relief Society, Sunday School, and Primary. She organized a choir. For nearly two years her meetings grew, until more than 100 people were gathering to worship — none of them yet baptized.

One afternoon in 1992, Maria learned Church leaders were staying at a Luanda hotel and arranged to meet Elder Earl C. Tingey of the Seventy. When Elder Tingey held a conference that Sunday, he was astonished: a choir greeted him singing Latter-day Saint hymns, and more than 100 eager, unbaptized converts were waiting to join the Church. The only thing missing was official government recognition — and Elder Tingey asked Maria for help obtaining it.

With the application in hand, Maria set out to deliver it herself. Before she could, fighting erupted again; the streets were filled with the aftermath of war and there was no functioning postal service. Maria walked through the war zone, passing the bodies of the dead still lying in the streets, until she reached the government office. An official warned her that many churches had applications ahead of hers — some had waited twenty years — and that she had little hope. Receiving a strong impression from the Spirit that she should continue, Maria told the official she would trust the Lord and submitted the application. That evening she prayed, "Lord, let's move forward. … Please help us." The Church received official recognition just two weeks later. Many of the converts Maria had taught were baptized shortly after.

The ongoing war prevented stable branches until a branch was organized in Luanda on June 9, 1996. Twelve more years passed before full-time missionaries arrived in 2008, when a second branch was quickly organized in Cassequel — yet the branch Maria founded continued to function throughout. And in October 2023, President Russell M. Nelson announced the Luanda Angola Temple, the first temple in the country. The Saints who once had no congregation at all will soon have a house of the Lord in their own nation. One woman's faith changed the spiritual future of a nation.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Church History Department, Global Histories: Angola, 'I Started Gathering People'):

In 1975, as Angola became embroiled in a civil war, Maria Louisa de Jesus Lopes da Silva, pregnant with her first child, fled Angola with 20 members of her family to escape the violence. The United Nations provided them with a hotel room in Lisbon, Portugal, alongside other Angolan refugees. Maria soon established a new life in Portugal. Three years later, a friend invited Maria to a party sponsored by a local ward. 'Everyone was kind,' Maria recalled. 'They were very loving. … They treated me well, and I liked the way they accepted me and welcomed me.' The next day she returned for church services, met two sister missionaries, and three months later Maria and her mother were baptized. 'The greatest blessing of my life was baptism,' she said. As Maria became more involved in the Church, she began to dream repeatedly about establishing the Church in Angola—she saw herself back home teaching the gospel, holding meetings, and gathering people together. She couldn't ignore the feeling that God was asking her to return. There was just one problem: there were no Latter-day Saint missionaries, no congregations, and no Church organization in Angola—only a country still torn apart by civil war. In 1990, despite the ongoing violence, Maria packed every Church lesson manual she could find into her luggage and went home. In Luanda, Maria—the only baptized member of the Church permanently living in Angola—opened her home every Sunday and invited friends, family, and neighbors to come. 'I started gathering people,' she said. 'I was always bringing people to learn about the Church.' Using the manuals she had brought, she taught all the lessons herself: priesthood, Relief Society, Sunday School, and Primary. She organized a choir. For nearly two years her meetings grew, until more than 100 people were gathering to worship—none of them yet baptized. One afternoon in 1992, Maria learned Church leaders were staying at a Luanda hotel and arranged to meet Elder Earl C. Tingey of the Seventy. When Elder Tingey held a conference that Sunday, he was astonished: a choir greeted him singing Latter-day Saint hymns, and more than 100 eager, unbaptized converts were waiting to join the Church. The only thing missing was official government recognition—and Elder Tingey asked Maria for help obtaining it. With the application in hand, Maria set out to deliver it herself. Before she could, fighting erupted again; the streets were filled with the aftermath of war and there was no functioning postal service. Maria walked through the war zone, passing the bodies of the dead still lying in the streets, until she reached the government office. An official warned her that many churches had applications ahead of hers—some had waited twenty years—and that she had little hope. Receiving a strong impression from the Spirit that she should continue, Maria told the official she would trust the Lord and submitted the application. That evening she prayed, 'Lord, let's move forward. … Please help us.' The Church received official recognition just two weeks later. Many of the converts Maria had taught were baptized shortly after.