Abstract
Beyond the standard account of LDS Church history in nineteenth-century Mexico, which focuses on the colonies in the north, is the history of the early stages of church activity in central Mexico. Although missionary work is key in this telling, Mexican nationals who actively sought out LDS missionaries and joined the church did so with an expectation of equality with members from the stablished center in Utah. The converts' perspectives are often missing from Mormon histories of the era, whether written by Mexican or American authors, as those tend to presume purely religious motivations for the converts. Indeed, the opening of the Mexican Mission involved on of late nineteenth-century Mexico's most fascinating individuals, Plotino Constantino Rhodakanaty. The Greek-born immigrant was both one of Mexico's first socialist thinkers and agitators, and one of Mexico's first converts to the Mormon faith. A more nuanced perspective of Rhodakanaty and other early converts must consider their conversion to and proselytizing for the LDS Church in the context of other writings on workers, the poor, and Mexican society. Doing so highlights the vast chasm of understanding that existed between Mormon elders such as Moses Thatcher (primarily expecting a tractable convert) and Rhodakanaty (expecting, among other things, an activist church).