Cote d'Ivoire
The Church organized its first stake in Cote d'Ivoire outside of Abidjan on April 12th. The Yamoussoukro Cote d'Ivoire Stake was organized from a division of the Yamoussoukro Cote d'Ivoire District and includes the following five wards and two branches: the Agbanou, Bouafle, Koko, N'Zuessy 1st, and N'Zuessy 2nd Wards and the Habitat and Kokrenou Branches. The two remaining branches in the stake may have become wards although this cannot be confirmed. The district was originally organized in 2009. It is interesting to note that all three branches in the city of Bouafle became wards despite all of these units being organized since 2012.
The Church organized a new district from six branches in Daloa that previously pertained to the Yamoussoukro Cote d'Ivoire District to establish the Daloa Cote d'Ivoire District. All six of these branches were organized in early 2014 in what appeared to be one of the most successful examples of aggressive LDS Church planting initiatives.
There are now eight stakes and three districts in Cote d'Ivoire.
Mexico
The Church organized a new stake in Quintana Roo State on April 26th. The Playa del Carmen Mexico Stake was organized from a division of the Cancun Mexico and Cancun Mexico Kabah Stakes and includes the following six wards and one branch: the Cozumel 1st, Cozumel 2nd, Petén, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, and Zacil Ha Wards and the Puerto Morelos Branch. There are now five stakes in Quintana Roo State.
Taiwan
The Church created its third stake in the city of Taichung on April 26th. The Taichung Taiwan South Stake was organized from a division of the two original Taichung stakes and includes the following five wards and one branch: the Chungming, Nantun, Peitun, Wuchuan 1st, and Wuchuan 3rd Wards and Taichung Branch (English). There are now 14 stakes and two districts in Taiwan.
South Korea
The Church discontinued a stake in South Korea for the second time in the Church's history in this nation. The Seoul Korea Gangseo Stake was discontinued and consolidated with the neighboring Incheon Korea Stake (renamed the Seoul Korea West Stake). Four wards were discontinued as part of the realignment, three of which were located in the Incheon Korea Stake. Having served as a full-time missionary in both of these stakes during the mid-2000s, it was not surprising that the stakes were consolidated due to many of the wards reporting few active members. The Church in Korea has continued to struggle with low member activity rates and many active members moving out of the country. There are now 15 stakes and six districts in Korea.
Argentina
The Church recently discontinued the Trenque Lauquen Argentina. The former district was originally organized in 1993 and had three branches. Two of the branches now report directly to the Argentina Bahia Blanca Mission whereas one of the branches now pertains to the Santa Rosa Argentina Stake. There are now 73 stakes and 30 districts in Argentina.
Australia
The Church recently discontinued the Mildura Australia District located in Victoria, Australia. The former district was originally organized in 1975 and had four branches. All four branches were reassigned to the Adelaide Australia Firle Stake and one of the branches became a ward (Mildura). There are now 37 stakes and eight districts in Australia.
7 comments:
Additionally, the Cancun Mexico Kukulkán Stake was renamed. It is now called Cancun Mexico Haciendas Stake since the Kukulkán Ward went to the Kabah Stake as a result of new stake boundaries in the region.
It's interesting that Elder Andersen said there were 8 stakes in Cote D'Ivore in his General Conference talk, when the 8th stake would not be organized for another week. Although since I am sure the organuization had been approved before conference this is not surprising. He may have also considered the fact that members in Ivory Coast in general would not hear or read his talk for at least another week, and so decided to go for reflecting the situation when they got the Liahona or otherwise got exposed to his talk.
I am not surprised that the district in Australia was merged with a stake. President Monson has indicated a clear desire for the availability of patriarchs, and this comes from stakes, so I can see why there would be consolidations to enlarge stakes.
I agree: I did a brief lineup of each District in the US and compared it with ARDA totals. According to ARDA, these are the numbers of members in each district, from largest to smallest.
Laredo Texas District (7 branches) - 3436
All 7 branches are in Laredo, though there are 3 English, 3 Spanish, and 1 YSA branch, this total makes an average of just under 700 for each branch, so statistically, all 7 would be come wards.
Paterson New Jersey District (3 branches) - 3012
This one was tricky. There are only 2 buildings in Passaic county, which houses the 3 branches in the district. My understanding is that it shows totals for the county by the congregations that are assigned to a building in said county. Passaic county shows 3012 members for 3 branches, which would make over 1000 members per congregation (1 english, 2 spanish). This district is almost surrounded by the Caldwell New Jersey Stake (which has 9 wards, 3 branches) and the Scotch Plains New Jersey Stake (7 wards, 6 branches), so either the district would get consolidated into the Caldwell Stake, or it would be like the old Lynwood New York District and take from nearby stakes.
Traverse City Michigan District (7 branches) - 2911
This district is close to having the required number of members to be a stake, but only 4 of the branches (Alpena, Cadillac, Sault Ste Marie 2nd, and Traverse City) would be large enough to become wards.
Eagle Pass Texas District (5 branches) - 2659
4 of the 5 branches would be large enough to become wards.
Pierre South Dakota District (12 branches) - 1762
This number might not be accurate, because the Faith Branch is in the same county as the Sturgis Branch, Rapid City SD Stake. In addition, no totals were available for the Chamberlain Branch (Brule county) The Eagle Butte and Rosebud Branches are the only 2 big enough to become wards. Pierre Branch a pretty close 3rd.
Potsdam New York District (6 branches) - 1490
At least 2 wards would form (Lake Placid and Plattsburg), but it would be difficult factoring Massena, Ogdensburg, and Potsdam branches because they are in the same county which reports 622 members. Most likely, Malone, Plattsburg, and Lake Placid would join the Montpelier Vermont Stake, and Massena, Ogdensburg, and Potsdam would become part of the Utica NY Stake.
Fort Stockton Texas District (4 branches) - 657
This district would have a while to go before maturing for a stake. It could possibly merge with the Odessa TX Stake.
Wendover Utah District (3 branches)
No totals could be accurately made for this district because 2 branches are in Toole County, UT, and the 3rd branch in Elko County, NV.
I wish I could have done Canada (I would only be able to factor a small portion of the Fort Frances ON District), but ARDA is only for the US. It is always exciting when new stakes are created, as well as maturing districts.
I attended the Chamberlain SD Branch last July. We had boom attendance for sacrament, 35-45. My family of 7 plus another tourist family boosted numbers , but maybe they average 20ish? Don't know their book numbers. They mentioned a branch to the north on a fort?
Fort Reliance, on the road between about there and Pierre.
Pierre Branch used to be an 'island' ward, meaning it was surrounded by mission district, away from the parent Rapid City stake.
So it sounds like the Laredo Texas District could be made a stake if leadership and activity requirements could be met.
My guess is the next phase for Paterson district would be changing boundaries to make the 2 stakes and district into 3 stakes. I think key to this would be the ability to get more wards in Scotch Plains stake, or splitting branches in Pasaic.
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