December 20

1838 – Emma Smith visits her husband, the Prophet Joseph Smith, in Liberty Jail in Missouri. She spends two days with him confined in the jail.

1839 – The first missionaries, Alexander Wright and Samuel Mulliner, arrive in Scotland and begin to preach the gospel.

1840 – The Prophet Joseph Smith was called upon by the Nauvoo High Council to decide the case against Robert D. Foster. The Prophet Joseph’s decision acquitted him. (History of the Church, 4:250) In 1844, Dr. Foster would become one of the apostates involved with the Nauvoo Expositor.

1842 – Elder Lorenzo D. Barnes dies at Bradford, England. He is the first missionary to die while serving a foreign mission. Also, the brethren who had been in Springfield, Illinois, to meet with the governor and state supreme court, arrived back in Nauvoo and reported to the Prophet Joseph and delivered the letters requesting the Prophet appear before the supreme court to receive his habeas corpus.

1845 – It was planned to use this Saturday to cleaning the Temple and washing clothing and suspend operations in the Temple for the day. However, “on account of the anxiety of the saints to receive their ordinances, the brethren and sisters volunteered to wash clothes every night. Ninety-five persons received their ordinances” (History of the Church, 7:548).

1921 – After a year-long tour of Church missions throughout the world, Elder David O. McKay arrives back in the United States at New York City.

1972 – The Church Music Department is organized.

2018 – Sister missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in all 407 missions around the world now have the option to wear dress slacks. The adjustment to dress standards, which takes effect immediately, was approved by the First Presidency and is primarily motivated by safety concerns, said Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and chairman of the Missionary Executive Council.