Mission President
Pratt started as president of the Mexican mission in 1907.
Church membership in Mexico more than doubled during Pratt's first six years as mission president. By 1911, over a thousand Church members lived in the Mexican Mission.
However, Mexico’s political climate gradually worsened. Porfirio Diaz, Mexico’s longtime dictator, lost control of the government and revolution ensued. Shortly after serious fighting began in Mexico City in 1913, the First Presidency authorized the Pratts and the American missionaries to return to the United States. The Pratts moved to Salt Lake City in September 1913. Two years later, the First Presidency again instructed the Pratts to move, this time to Manassa, Colorado, and establish missionary work among Mexicans in the United States. After five years, in November 1918, Church leaders moved the mission headquarters to El Paso, Texas, making it closer to the center of the vast mission territory.
In March 1921, Pratt reopened missionary work in Mexico with eight missionaries. In November, jurisdiction of the Juárez Stake in Chihuahua was transferred to the Mexican Mission. This made Pratt president of all the Spanish-speaking organizations in the Church. He continued to expand the mission, opening up work in southern California in 1924 and establishing a Los Angeles branch.
Read more about this topic: Rey Pratt
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