Editor’s note: First in a series of articles during 2025 featuring Latter-day Saint pioneers in South America as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints commemorates 100 years on that continent.
SANTIAGO, Chile — In March 1976, in the final months of his mission, Raúl Vilugrón was sent to open missionary work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Talagante, Chile, a city located 30 minutes outside of the capital of Santiago.
One rainy night in April, Vilugrón and his companion were walking home at the end of the day when they noticed a home with the light on. They felt impressed to knock on the door and were welcomed in by a large man named Jorge Aguilera.
The family was receptive to the gospel message, and before leaving, the missionaries knelt in prayer with the family, with a strong spiritual feeling filling the room. Weeks later, the Aguilera family was baptized as Vilugrón completed his mission.
Twenty years later, Vilugrón’s immediate family, including his parents and siblings, entered the Santiago Chile Temple to be sealed together. Remarkably, the sealing ordinance was performed by Brother Aguilera, the same man who Raúl Vilugrón baptized at the end of his mission. Aguilera also had the privilege of later sealing Raúl Vilugrón to his wife, Maria Vilugrón.
It was a profoundly meaningful experience and testament to Raúl Vilugrón’s dedicated missionary efforts to build the Church in Chile.
This year marks 100 years since Elder Melvin J. Ballard, an early 20th-century Apostle, offered a prayer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in late 1925, dedicating South America for the preaching of the gospel. The following year he prophesied the Church would grow “as an oak grows slowly from an acorn.”
Here is look back at the history of the Church in Chile through the eyes and experiences of some of its Latter-day Saint pioneers.