New Stake Created in the Philippines

The Catarman Philippines Stake was recently created from the Catarman Philippines District. There are at least five wards and one branch in the new stake, which brings the total number of stakes in the Philippines to 78 and drops the number of districts by one to 86. This is the first stake ever to be created on the island of Samar, which is north of the island of Leyte and to the southeast of the extreme southeast portion of the island of Luzon. Church growth has been strong in this area of the Philippines, with a new stake created last year in Tacloban (on Leyte Island). For more information on the Church in the Philippines, look for my post about this country further down the page or visit http://www.cumorah.com/cgi-bin/db.cgi?view_records=View%2BRecords&Country=Philippines .