Fifth in a series.

The 1940s dawned on a world embroiled in bitter, bloody war. When the guns were finally silenced in 1945, a shaky peace settled the dust. Optimism and fear co-existed as the world, now familiar with nuclear weapons, came under the cloud of the Cold War.Amidst it all, the Church grew at a phenomenal rate. Missions, closed before and during World War II, opened once again, and missionary work in the Pacific and Asia -- where LDS servicemen had planted gospel seeds -- spread at astounding rates. For instance, in Japan, where missionary work was discontinued in 1924, some 470 servicemen attended a Church conference in 1946; the Japanese Mission was reopened two years later. With this growth came a historical milestone -- the first-million-member mark in 1947. Church membership was 803,528 as the 1940s began and was 1,078,671 by the dawn of the 1950s The 1940s had seen an increase of 275,143 Latter-day Saints throughout the world, nearly double the increase of the previous decade.

The growth was especially significant considering the drop in the number of full-time missionaries from 1942 through 1945. During 1941 -- before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war -- 1,257 missionaries were set apart. The following year, that figure dropped to 629 and in 1943 to 261, the lowest number of missionaries set apart since 1918. More than 100,000 LDS men served their countries during the war. But with peace, many of these young men marched home to exchange uniforms for missionary name-tags. In 1946, 2,297 missionaries were set apart. As the mid-20th century neared, the Kingdom of God on earth began reaching into the far corners of the globe -- from Asia to the Pacific, from Africa to Europe. (Deseret News 1999-2000 Church Almanac, pp. 551-554.)

Thus were the glad tidings of President George Albert Smith in the opening session of the April 1949 general conference in the Salt Lake Tabernacle: "The word comes from the missionary field that the Lord has opened our way in numerous places. It is marvelous what a change there has been in many cases. The magazines and newspapers of the world are going out of their way now to be complimentary to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . The great Choir and Organ [in the Tabernacle] advertise us in the world, and it's a joy to many who are away to listen in to this great Choir."

President Smith added: "Since the close of the war, we have had as many as five thousand missionaries in the world. Many of them have done wonderful work. They have found the hearts of people softened and ready to hear the message."

It was a world softened by six long years of war, with its companions -- heartache, despair, misery. Records, correspondence and newspaper articles of members of the Church living in battle zones and occupied territories recount poignant stories of faith, perseverance and even hope.

But back in the spring of 1940, the Church in Europe rested entirely in the hands of local leadership, as full-time missionaries had been evacuated by the end of 1939. A Jan. 22, 1999, letter from Jan Weening of Groningen, The Netherlands, to the Church News described how at the end of 1939, three men -- J. Schipaanboord, A.D. Jongkees and P. Vlam -- were set apart by Elder Joseph Fielding Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve as the acting mission presidency. Brother Weening wrote: "What they had learned from World War I [The Netherlands was neutral] and what Elder Widtsoe had in mind at the end of the Twenties -- the importance of local leadership -- became now a necessity."

As a result, local members in Europe became more unified and numbers even grew. In late 1940 and early 1941, Elder Thomas E. McKay, who was presiding over the European Mission from Salt Lake City and who, in April 1941, was called as an Assistant to the Twelve, received reports from members in England, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Czecho-Slovakia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Syria. These letters tell "of valiant work being done in the interest of the Gospel" despite the hardships of war, according to the Jan. 18, 1941, Church Section of the Deseret News .

For example, Elder Herbert Klopfer, a Berliner acting as president of the East German Mission, reported to Elder McKay: "There has been some increase in membership, with 55 baptisms in eight months. Sunday Schools are well attended. Wives and mothers have assisted in helping wounded and bereaved as well as doing work for the Red Cross. Tithing has increased 15 percent and fast offerings have gained. General donations have doubled."

Still, the turmoil of the times is apparent in a poignant letter sent to Harold H. Jenson of Salt Lake City from a friend in Birmingham, England, according to the Feb. 8, 1941, Church Section: "I feel the effect of the war is to change the social conditions in England and to draw us nearer to God through trial and suffering.