A Brief History of Texas, Houston, the Church, and the great Texas Houston South Mission:
One thing we love about Texas is that almost everyone from here loves it! You’ve probably heard the saying that “Everything is bigger in Texas.” You’ll see this Texas pride everywhere. A lot of it comes from the state’s fascinating history. Understanding this history will help you relate to the people you serve in this part of the Lord’s vineyard. You will also feel greater purpose to know of the Church’s deep roots here. Here’s an introduction to get you started.
Texas
Texas, a state in the Southwest of the United States, borders Mexico on the southwest and the Gulf of Mexico on the southeast. To the west is New Mexico, to the north and northeast lie Oklahoma and Arkansas, and Louisiana bounds Texas on the east. Austin is the capital of Texas. Houston is its largest city.
Several Native American tribes occupied this land when Spanish missionaries and other European settlers arrived in the 1700s, created outposts called “missions,” and claimed the land for Spain. In 1821, Mexico took control, calling the area Coahuila y Tejas—or just Texas—a name derived from the Caddo people’s greeting for “friends” or “allies.” The name “Texas” gradually became used to denote the entire region north of the Río Grande and east of New Mexico. Much of present-day Texas (especially San Antonio southward) retains the flavor of that Hispano-Mexican period in its architecture, foods, and festivals.
In 1835, settlers rebelled against Mexico, beginning the Texas Revolution. The rebels suffered a terrible defeat by the Mexican army at the 1836 battle at the Alamo in San Antonio. But the loss only inspired the settlers to fight on. With a cry of “Remember the Alamo!” many joined the scraggly rebels led by Sam Houston. A string of skirmishes culminated in an 18-minute battle on the San Jacinto River just East of present-day Houston. Surprised in an ambush, the Mexican army gave up.
In 1836, Texas became an independent nation called the Republic of Texas; however, fending off hostile tribes and Mexican troops was difficult for a small country, so Texas joined the United States on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state. Its single-star flag dates from its independent period. It’s why Texas has the nickname of the “Lone Star State.”
Today, Texas is the second largest U.S. state in terms of size and population. It has more than 29 million people spread among small towns and big cities. It is famous for BBQ, blue bonnets, rodeos, cowboys, oil & gas, great sports teams, etc.
Fun Facts:
Frontiersman and politician Davy Crockett moved to Texas around 1835 and died while fighting at the Alamo.
Two U.S. presidents were born in Texas: Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson. Houston’s Johnson Space Center, also known as Mission Control, carries President Johnson’s name.
A third U.S. president, George W. Bush, was Texas’s governor and is the namesake of Houston’s main airport.
Because it’s so close to Mexico, Texans have developed a cuisine that’s a mix of Mexican food and American cooking called Tex-Mex.
Want to feel like a cowboy? There are thousands of ranches and rodeos and lots of country music in Texas.
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/geography/states/article/texas
Houston
Houston sits in southeastern Texas. It is an inland seaport and a major financial, distribution, and manufacturing center for the southern United States. It is the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the country, behind New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The terrain is level and drains into a number of bayous and canals. The city has a humid coastal climate, with hot summers and very mild winters.
The Karankawa people lived on the Gulf Coast before the arrival of the Europeans. The first European settlement here, Harrisburg (1824), was destroyed in 1836 by the advancing Mexican Army in the Texas Revolution. That same year, brothers Augustus and John Allen laid out a new city, and on June 5, 1837, the Texas Republic’s new legislature incorporated it, naming it in honor of the general who had successfully vanquished the Mexican army. The fledgling City of Houston became county seat of what is now Harris County and for a short time served as capital of the Republic.
A hot and unhealthy coastal environment limited Houston’s growth for many years. Yellow fever struck often in the mid-19th century. In 1839 the disease killed approximately 12 percent of the city’s population. Another challenge was the lack of potable water. Beginning in the late 19th century and early 20th century, Houstonians solved these problems by spraying for mosquitos, drilling artesian wells, and drawing water from nearby rivers.
Oil was discovered nearby at Spindletop in 1901, and the completion of the ship channel in 1914 encouraged oil companies to locate refineries along the channel, where they were safe from Gulf storms, such as the massive hurricane that devastated Galveston in 1900. By 1929, 40 oil companies had offices in the city. Cotton remained the driving force behind the city’s economy until World War II (1939-1945), but the war created vast new demands for oil and gasoline, as well as synthetic rubber, explosives, ships, and other Gulf Coast products—all of which benefited Houston.
Then, in 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States in a campaign that touted American aerospace technology as a symbol of national prestige. When the Soviet Union launched the world’s first manned space flight in April 1961, President Kennedy reacted by announcing the ambitious goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. This announcement kickstarted a space race for which Houston became the epicenter. By 1962, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had established a new Manned Space Center (later renamed the Johnson Space Center) in Houston. Putting a man on the moon was no small task, but on July 20, 1969 650 million people watched live as the Apollo 11 lunar module touched down on the moon’s dusty surface—“The Eagle has landed”—and astronaut Neil Armstrong took “...one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The Johnson Space Center has been the hub of human spaceflight activity for more than half a century. It is home to the nation’s astronaut corps, the International Space Station mission operations, the Orion Program, and a host of future space developments.
The same can-do optimism that imbued the space race—the idea that “we can so we will, by hard work and determination”—still permeates Houston and may explain its continued growth. Just since 1990, Houston’s population climbed from 1,630,553 to 2,323,660 in 2021. The metropolitan area has grown even larger, from 3,731,000 in 1990 to 6,491,000 in 2021.
Houston is a racially and ethnically diverse city. It welcomes newcomers and, as a result, has become a global city, with 90 consulates, two international airports, the second busiest seaport in the nation. It also has a large foreign-born population—nearly one in four Houstonians was born abroad. According to the 2010 census, Hispanics (who may be of any race) constituted 45.0% of Houston’s population; non-Hispanic whites, 24.4%; blacks, 22.6%; Asians, 6.8%; Native Americans, 0.3%; Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, 0.1%; and people of mixed heritage or not reporting race, 2.2%.
The metropolitan area includes the counties of Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller. It includes the communities of Alvin, Brazoria, Friendswood, Galveston, Katy, League City, Pearland, Richmond, Sienna, Sugar Land, Texas City, and many other cities and communities.
Houston remains the center of the national petroleum industry. It leads the nation in petrochemical manufacturing and refining, and consequently ranks first in the manufacture of agricultural chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides. Other important manufactures in Houston include paper products, electrical and electronic machinery, and iron and steel. Houston also has mills for rice grown in the surrounding area. The Houston Ship Channel runs for 52 miles to connect the city to the Gulf of Mexico through the Bay of Galveston.
Houston’s specialized education and training facilities also provide an extraordinary economic resource. The city’s centers of research and technology include the Texas Medical Center, which is world-renowned for its pioneering work in organ transplants. The center comprises 13 hospitals and two medical schools. Other important institutions include Rice University, the University of Houston, and nearby Texas A&M University at Galveston.
A fan of sports?
Houston has several professional sports teams, including:
Houston Texans (NFL football league)
Houston Astros (Major League Baseball)
Houston Rockets (NBA basketball)
Houston Dynamo (MLS soccer)
The Houston Rodeo is a major event every March.
Love the arts?
Houston boasts a world-class ballet company, symphony orchestra, opera company, a theater district, and art and history museums.
As missionaries, we can visit museums and participate in other appropriate recreational activities on our P-days, but we avoid activities that detract from our purpose, including professional sports. Section 3.6.1 of the “Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ” provides guidance.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
An early branch of the Church in Madison County, Texas
The Church has deep roots in Texas. There are thousands of members in thriving wards and branches. The following is an excerpt from the book, Gift of Love, The Texas Houston Temple, which is used with permission of the author, Wendy O. Nielsen.
“Years before the migration of the early Saints to Utah, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints saw the Republic of Texas as a possible gathering place for faithful Saints who were seeking refuge from persecution in Illinois. Houston was a town with muddy streets and wooden sidewalks in 1844 when Lucien Woodward was assigned to study the feasibility of Texas as a haven for the Church. The martyrdom of Joseph Smith in June of 1844 ended the pursuit of the “Texas Plan,” as the leaders of the Church focused their attention on caring for its members and completing the Nauvoo Temple.
In 1845, the family of Israel Allphin moved to Madison County, Texas, where relatives had homesteaded. Elder Allphin maintained contact with Church leaders, and in 1848 three missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were called to preach the gospel in Texas. These missionaries were Preston Thomas, William Martindale, and James McGaw. They arrived in 1848, and for 10 years Elder Thomas and a succession of missionaries led by Elder Thomas traveled throughout Texas, baptizing and inviting converts to move to Utah. Some 2,100 Texas Saints immigrated to Utah by 1860. Few early converts stayed in Texas.
Missionary efforts were sharply curtailed during the Civil War, but in 1875 the Southern States Mission was formed. Texas was included as part of the mission, but the missionary effort was concentrated in Mississippi and Alabama. As time passed, many Alabama and Mississippi converts settled in Texas.
On June 10, 1894, Elder John K. Nicholson of Salt Lake City, a missionary who had been serving in Mississippi for 18 months, was sent to open and preside over the Texas Conference of the Southern States Mission. Its growth, though slow, was determined. Beginning in the counties east of Dallas, the 12 elders assigned to labor in Texas traveled south and east from county to county. They preached and baptized as the went, staying in one area for a few days before moving on and returning as often as possible to nurture the converts.
Soon little pockets of Latter-day Saints were scattered throughout East and South Texas. Harris County recorded its first baptisms of Latter-day Saints in June, 1897. By 1901, with Saints residing in numerous settlements, the mission president, James G. Duffin, recommended to Church leaders that the policy of emigration be discontinued and Church colonies or gathering places be established with support from Church headquarters. This suggestion was approved, and four colonies were designated in Texas. Thereafter, the majority of newly baptized converts did not migrate to Utah, and thousands of their descendants now claim at least 100 years of membership in the Church.
In the early years of the 20th century the membership of the Church in Houston was small and scattered, but economic conditions spurred a period of strengthening. During the Great Depression, fewer missionaries were sent to Texas, but the First Presidency authorized the mission president to call worthy Texans to serve six-month missions within the state. Convert baptisms continued, and the short-term missionaries gained valuable experience in Church leadership and established contacts with other members within the state.
An Air Force base built just outside Houston and growth in petroleum and related industries invited an influx of Latter-day Saints from across the country, bringing further Church experience to the area. By 1931 there were 2,600 members in Houston, with dozens more in outlying areas. In 1933, Mrs. Gussie Farmer, a friend of the Church, donated her home and two lots to the Church in her will, providing the Latter-day Saints with the means at last to build a chapel of their own. A larger chapel was built in 1940 on Calumet Street.
In 1953 the Houston Stake was formed with 3,800 members in 15 local congregations in 48 counties. By the year 2001, some 50 years later, that one stake had grown to 22 stakes and a single mission to five missions. Church membership in the Houston area numbered 40,000 people. Church members had built chapels, participated in community leadership and service, and had joined the ranks of thousands of missionaries traveling throughout the world to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints includes numerous descendants of the early Texas pioneers as well as thousands of converts, hundreds of whom are Asian, Hispanic, and African-American. In addition, Latter-day Saints from every state in the Union have chosen to make Texas their home.
The Houston Temple began operations on August 28, 2000.”
The texas houston south Mission
The first mission in Houston was created July 1, 1976. It was split off from the Texas San Antonio Mission.
It was the 3rd mission in Texas and the 142nd mission of the Church. The Texas Houston East Mission was split off and created on July 1, 1990. The Texas Houston South Mission was created on July 1, 1997 from parts of the other two Houston missions.
Seven stakes of the Church are included in the boundaries of the mission. They are the Bay City, Friendswood, Houston, Houston South, Katy, League City, and Richmond Texas Stakes. Currently, there are 66 wards and branches in the boundaries of the mission.
We teach the gospel in several languages: English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Nearly 50% of our missionaries are Spanish speaking. Missionaries teaching in Mandarin and Vietnamese are assigned to proselyting areas in the city of Houston and nearby areas. English and Spanish speaking missionaries may be assigned in all areas of the mission.