Missionaries serving in Utah report that the following new missions will be created in mid-2015:
- Utah Logan Mission (division of the Utah Ogden Mission)
- Utah Orem Mission (division of the Utah Provo Mission)
The number of missions in Utah will increase to 11 after these two new missions are created. This means that the average Utah mission will have a mere quarter of a million people within its geographical boundaries.
So to recap, here's a list of new missions I have come across to be organized in 2015.
- Barbados Bridgetown
- California Modesto
- Peru Trujillo North
- Utah Logan
- Utah Orem
At this rate, I imagine that we may see 60 or so new missions organized in 2015, with the vast majority of these new missions organized in the Americas.
29 comments:
60 or so sounds right to me too; My best guess was 30-70. We know it would take 100 to maintain surge levels at 160/mission; my guess is we'll level off at 76-84K missionaries next December, which translates to 30-70 missions.
Some late additions to CDOL - more ward and branch creations in November:
23 November 2014
- Del Gallego Branch, Pamplona Philippines District (7 branches)
30 November 2014
- San Agustin Tlaxiaca Branch, Valle del Mezquital Mexico Stake (6 wards, 1 branch)
- Trans Ekulu 2nd Ward, Enugu Nigeria Stake (6 wards, 2 branches)
14 December 2014
- Bwari 2nd Ward, Abuja Nigeria Stake (11 wards, 3 branches)
- Cedar Creek Ward, Lenexa Kansas Stake (9 wards)
- Jamiltepec Branch, Pinotepa Mexico District (5 branches)
- Kawerau Branch, Tauranga New Zealand Stake (4 wards, 4 branches)
- Tema 4th Branch, Tema Ghana Stake (7 wards, 2 branches)
So is the average number of missionaries going back down to the 150-175 missionaries per mission that it was before the surge.
That makes sense to spread out the surge in new missions over 2-3 years as that would make the number of mission Presidents being rotated and trained each year more level.
Plus, it allows for uncertainty. If they think 84K will be a new "normal" level for the time being, they only have to project it'll stay above 77K (which they can probably tell even now). Once the entire surge is over (in Sept. or Oct. 2015) they'll know whether the actual number will be 79K (translating to the 60 new missions this year) or 84-88K (an additional 30-60 next year).
Good point Michael.
Add Yakima, Washington to the list.
My guesses for other new missions (not counting those already listed):
Henderson/Las Vegas Nevada
Springfield Missouri Area
Rock Springs Wyoming
Grand Junction Colorado
Snowflake Arizona
Laie/Polynesian Cultural Center Mission Hawaii
Austin Texas
Idaho Falls Idaho
Guatemala Guatemala City West Mission
Chile Temuco Mission
Brazil Sorocaba Mission
Brazil Aracatuba Mission
Brazil Rio de Janeiro North Mission
Brazil Recife South
Bolivia El Alto Mission
Samoa Savaii Mission
Neiafu Tonga Mission
Taiwan Kaohsiung Mission
South Africa Pretoria Mission
Peru Tacna Mission
Peru Huanuco Mission
Philippines Paranaque Mission
Philippines Binalbagan Mission
Philippines Tuguegarao Mission
Philippines Davao Mission
Nigeria Aba Mission
Nigeria Abuja Mission
Malaysia Kota Kinabalu Mission
Portugal Porto Mission
Venezuela Barquisimeto Mission
Deseret News is now reporting Washington Yakima will form in July 2015.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865618033/LDS-Church-to-create-new-missions-in-Utah-and-Washington-in-2015.html
The Deseret News article mentions that there are already six Church missions based in Salt Lake City. I know of maybe a couple does anyone know all six?
Those would be all the missions in the Valley overall, not just the city.
SLC
SLC Central
SLC East
SLC West
SLC South
SLC Temple Square
Interesting trends:
It seems social media makes things like waiting for news harder to do. We are learning news faster than ever, which is okay, I guess, since we learn everything eventually. Thomas Friedman said four words are going away, and one of those is "later". The other three were "privacy", "local", and... hmmm...something good.
The push for women sharing authority has become a bigger issue, which is probably just as well. We need to give more people the powers of the faith in the priesthood, which women get when in official or even unofficial capacities.
It is great to see there may be this many new missions. I am sure that Utah and Washington missions are baptizing well.
They must be to continue to grow as they do, right? Although I bet that just part member families and less-active members require a lot of the teaching.
Another new mission: Argentina Santa Fe
Is this the trend that will continue for the future smaller missions? Will these be mobile missions meaning that they can open for 3-6 yrs then open a mission in a different area where more missionary assistance and outreach is needed?
No, this appears so far to be based off a revision of the projected number of missionaries post-surge from 70K to 76-88K (estimates vary).
I also wonder how much of this is trying to help a mission president develop the missionaries under his stewardship. I know the current mission presidents find it difficult to interview all the missionaries in a six week period. The increase in missions will allow fewer missionaries per mission but have higher baptizing areas covered by missionaries. It will also allow the mission presidents to work closer with stake presidents to engaging the members in their part of missionary work.
We had two missionaries from our ward return this week, one completing a mission in Brazil and another the Utah Provo Mission. Both were at our ward party tonight. I mentioned to the returned missionary from Provo the news about Orem split off. He indicated that his mission president told all the missionaries about this during transfers this week. He also said they have been praying for the mission to split as there is more demand for teaching then they can currently meet.
One of the missionaries serving in our ward returns hope to Spanish Fork in April. He was very excited when I told him that the Payson Temple will have its open house from mid-March to late April. I also mentioned the split in the Provo Mission. He told me his family lives only a couple of minutes away from the Payson Temple and was excite to learn about the open house timing.
Now, I think the Church was fairly conservative in the creation of a lot of missions in 2013, which has meant large missions. This was in part a desire not to reduce missions when the surge ends. Then only one net mission in 2014. The result is large missions of 250 missionaries or so. I agree 160 or so is a better size for missions. But, it still means a lot of mission presidents to be called every year.
Mission presidents are more involved with stakes than before in area coordinating councils.
Let me share this again. This is what I think the USA could look like if we went to smaller missions:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VsrmRFtE1K41wyJjh8j8Tw5oT0eGi8Mvc-yuohTNh8U/edit#gid=0
After these new missions will there be more missions in Utah or Texas?
January 4, we are having a special meeting (not a stake conference), and supposedly, there will be a new ward in Eagle River, AK.
My ward has four missionaries serving in it. This last week we got two new ones. One is from Lansing (and we are in Sterling Heights, Michigan, a north suburb of Detroit), evidently they only have him assigned here temporatrily and plan on sending him to another mission later. I am not sure what is going on there, but it is the first time we have had a Michigander missionary in my ward.
Our other new missionary in the ward has been assigned to learn Arabic and is working on it. There are lots of Arab speakers throughout our ward boundaries, many of whom are Chaldeans, who essentially are Roman Catholics from Iraq. We also have large number of immigrants from Lebanon, many of whom are Christians, and some Palestinians, most of whom here are Christians as well. Most Muslim Arabs in Metro-Detroit live in Dearborn or in or around Hamtramck, and most Muslims in Sterling Heights are from Pakistan or India.
Chaldean Christians are in two major groups, both descending from the Church of the East. They were excommunicated from the mainstream in 431 at the Council of Ephesus because they believed that Christ's human and divine natures were distinct. The decision of the council defined the term Hypostatic union of the two natures in one, namely "at once God and man."
Over time, the Catholic Church reached out to the Church of the East and some of its members joined in a union with Rome. This is one of 14 or so eastern churches in union with Rome, but unlike most of the others, which are based on Eastern Orthodoxy, this particular church holds to other doctrines.
Costa Rica San José Mission splits east-west.
The Iraqi Christians in Metro Detroit use "Chaldean" to refer to those whose families have been part of the Roman Catholic Church since the reunication in I believe the 16th century, and Assyrian to refer to those from Iraq who are part of Orietnal or Eastern Orthodox Churches, or whose family has been.
There are more ethnic than religious designations, so my friend Angel Abdullhad still considers himself Chaldean even though he has been a Mormon for over 20 years. Also, many of the Chaldean in metro-Detroit attend regular Roman Catholic Churches and recieve mass according to the Western rite, although there are also at least 4 Chaldean parishes in Metro-Detroit, all of which are large.
We also have significant numbers of Christians from Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine.
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