A new stake was created in Australia.
The Sydney Australia Fairfield Stake was created from the Liverpool Australia and Sydney Australia Baulkham Hills Stakes and includes the following seven wards: The Fairfield (Tongan), Oatlands, Parramatta, Prairiewood 1st, Prairiewood 2nd (Spanish), Villawood 1st, and Villawood 2nd Ward (Samoan) Wards. This new stake creation is of particular interest as a couple of the wards in the new stake were previously assigned to the Sydney Parramatta Stake - the first and only stake of the Church to be discontinued in Oceania. The Sydney Parramatta Stake was discontinued in 2011 and combined with neighboring stakes in the Sydney area, namely the present-day Sydney Australia Baulkham Hills Stake. The creation of the new Sydney Australia Fairfield Stake does not appear to be attributed to any upswing in member activity or convert retention improvements in the area but rather due to steady growth in the Liverpool Australia Stake over the past decade. Considering the Church created two new stakes each in Brisbane in late 2012 and Melbourne in early 2013, a second new stake in Sydney or New South Wales may be forthcoming. The creation of the new stake may also coincide with the ongoing growth of the Church in Australia among Pacific Islanders as evidenced by one of the wards in the new stake now being designated as a Tongan-speaking unit whereas it appeared to be assigned only as an English-speaking unit.
There are now 37 stakes and nine districts in Australia.
12 comments:
Just learned bishops were sent a letter dated 10 May about a Worldwide Leadership Training meeting that will essentially be a 'live look-in' on the New Mission Presidents Seminar.
The topic will be on missionary work and the work of salvation. Basically the invite list is anyone who has a calling on the stake or ward council, and any interested member. I would assume some of the topics will correlate with Section 5 of Handbook 2.
President Monson, President Packer, and others of the Twelve will speak. It will take place at 4pm MDT in the US on June 26th, and have subsequent worldwide broadcasts at times convenient to other areas of the world.
Source: ldschurchnews.com
Screwed that one up. The date is June 23rd. Four Sundays from today.
June 23rd is also President Hinckley's birthday. A fitting day to have a broadcast on missionary work.
Does anyone know, is the creation of things like the Tongan Ward in Sydney a result of the "growth of the Church among Pacific Islanders" as in convert baptisms of Pacific Islanders in Australia, or is it immigration from Tonga to Australia? Or especially in the Samoan case from New Zealand which has a very large Samoan population to Australia, and these people joined the Church in their home countries? Or is it a combination of the two, plus reactivation? On another note, does anyone know where the Spanish speakers in Sydney are coming from?
Spanish speakers immigrating to Australia is an interesting question, and I wonder where they come from as well. My best 3 guesses would be Peru, Bolivia and Chile.
Having lived in Chile over the years, there are many Chileans that like Australia as a destination to move and work in. I would be curious to know how many are there, including 2nd and 3rd generations. Also, Peru and Bolivia have many more poor (although Chile have plenty of 'middle-income' people who still want a better lifestyle) who are willing to leave for work and often emmigrate, as there are thousands in the DC area in the United States.
Notwithstanding, the two South American nations with the most people overall are Colombia and Argentina, and they are probably accounted for in Australia.
Finally, Australia is a destination for many Asian countries, especially Indonesia and probably the Phillipines, not to mention China.
Fascinating developments, thanks for the updates.
The Santaquin 20th Ward, Santaquin Utah Stake was created on 26 May. There are now 10 wards and 1 branch in the stake:
Santaquin 2nd Ward
Santaquin 3rd Ward
Santaquin 7th Ward
Santaquin 8th Ward
Santaquin 10th Ward
Santaquin 12th Ward
Santaquin 13th Ward
Santaquin 15th Ward
Santaquin 16th Ward
Santaquin 20th Ward
Santaquin 17th Branch (Care Center)
Mike, thanks for sending these updates as new units are created. Several of us are keeping track of these. I assume you have access to CDOL. Are you also able to see when units are discontinued, renamed, reassigned, upgraded, or downgraded as well?
Mike, I echo the remarks and gratitude of Gnesileah! It's great to hear about the new units as promptly and frequently as you report them.
Yes, I have access to CDOL, with my new calling.
I seem to be able to find creations of new units, but when a branch becomes a ward or a district becomes a stake, I miss those.
I also miss those that are discontinued.
I haven't figured out how to be alerted by these changes yet.
The Provo 11th Ward (Tongan), Provo Utah Wasatch Stake (Tongan) was created on 26 May. There are now 11 wards and 1 branch in the stake:
American Fork 2nd Ward (Tongan)
Eagle Mountain 14th Ward (Samoan)
Lehi 41st Ward (Tongan)
Lehi 42nd Ward (Samoan)
Orem 8th Ward (Tongan)
Orem 9th Ward (Samoan)
Orem 12th Ward (Samoan)
Provo 10th Ward (Samoan)
Provo 11th Ward (Tongan)
Spanish Fork 21st Ward (Tongan)
Sunset 12th Ward (Tongan)
Eagle Mountain 13th Branch (Tongan)
The Tshioji Branch, Luputa Democratic Republic of Congo Stake was created on 26 May. There are now 5 wards and 6 branches in the stake:
Contoniere Ward
Kabusanga Ward
Katshisungu Ward
Luputa 1st Ward
Tshibiayi Ward
Bondoyi Branch
Luputa 2nd Branch
Mukukuyi Branch
Mwene-Ditu Branch
Ngandajika Branch
Tshioji Branch
A Church News article said that the Luputa District did not have any full-time missionaries until six months before they became a stake.
In the meantime, that district had done lots of member work using branch missionaries to teach investigators, and went from 700 members to around 2,000 when the stake was finally created.
Source: A Church News article on the matter.
Very interesting article: http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/61190/Growth-of-Church-in-remote-central-Africa-is-remarkable.html
Thanks for pointing it out.
Post a Comment