The LDS Church's announcement came two weeks after Chavez ordered a U.S.-based missionary group, New Tribes Mission, to leave the country, accusing the organization of links to the CIA. The organization, based in Sanford, Fla., denied those accusations and said it hopes to resolve the matter.

Chavez has said New Tribes missionaries were gathering "strategic information" on mineral resources. The group denied it.

It is Venezuela's sovereign decision regarding New Tribes, Brownfield said, adding "we hope the differences can be resolved through dialogue."

The expulsion of New Tribes missionaries, who work with Indian tribes in remote areas, has raised tensions between some church groups and Chavez's "revolutionary" government, which is closely allied with Cuba and is frequently critical of the United States.

But Angulo, whose has three children currently serving as missionaries, denied LDS missionaries were leaving due to conflicts with Chavez's government. "It doesn't have anything to do with politics, or what the president has said recently," she said.

Since the LDS Church established its first official congregation in Venezuela in 1966, its members have been involved in efforts to improve living conditions for Venezuela's poor majority while preaching to the people.

"The things we do to help, such as literacy programs to help inmates at local prisons... and sending medicine to mothers with newborn babies, will not be affected," Angulo said. "We will continue doing God's work."