Today, the Church announced plans to open a new missionary training center in Bangkok, Thailand in January 2024. Likely a long-term plan part of the large newly dedicated Bangkok Thailand Temple, the new Thailand MTC will likely service missionaries assigned to serve in Southeast Asia. The missionary training center is reported to provide instruction in English, Thai, and Russia. I am not sure why Russian is one of the languages that is provided for training in this MTC. The Church has never operated an MTC in Thailand before. With the new MTC, there will now be 10 MTCs in the worldwide Church, although there are a couple of unofficial MTCs that functioning in countries without an official MTC (such as in Kinshasa, the DR Congo).
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
New Missionary Training Center to Open in Bangkok, Thailand
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The Zagreb Croatia District has been renamed the "Adriatic North District (608327)" as was recently posted here.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/608327
Also confirmed the "El Centro California Imperial Valley Stake" has been merged with the "El Cajon California Stake"
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/502871
Looks like the only change with the merger of the two stakes, is Calexico Ward got downgraded to a branch, but all others units remain the same.
Would be curious if they add additional languages in the area such as Cambodian, Malay / Indonesian, or Mandarin. I imagine probably not. But, at the same time, I would have rated those as more likely than Russian.
Craig Shuler says,
Sister Shuler and I completed our two weeks of training at the Provo Missionary Training Center today. There was truly a flood of the Spirit which we felt here the past two weeks. The MTCs are the engines of growth for this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The first week for senior missionaries is Preach My Gospel. The second week focuses on the the specific assigments we are called to, in our case as office missionaries.
Each Tuseday a general authority or officer speaks to the Provo MTC missionaries. Elder Jose Teixeira of the Presidency of the Seventy and Sister Teixeira spoke Tuesday Dec. 5th. Relief Society General President Camille Johnson and Brother Johnson spoke Dec. 12th.
I invite all seniors whose circumstance permit to plan to serve.
Looks like the Adriatic North District merger ended up with 13 of the 14 branches if I counted right. I'm not sure which was consolidated.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/608327
The branch that closed was Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Thank you, martinml, for that update. I see that now.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/meetinghouses/5009756-01-01
"
First Latter-day Saint meetinghouse dedicated in Angola
Latter-day Saints in South African country mark historic and momentous day with ribbon cutting
By Mary Richards 15 Dec 2023, 11:30 AM MST "
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2023/12/15/24001935/first-chapel-in-luanda-angola-africa
The Russian language in the Thailand MTC is not surprising. Thailand is one of the few countries with both a temple and a relatively reasonable visa policy for citizens of the Russian Federation. At the current time, Russian citizens can get a 90 day tourist visa with minimal fuss as Thailand is aggressively courting tourists for their beach resorts.
The Luanda Angola Stake Center, the first Chapel built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Angola, was just dedicated by President Edward Dube, General authority seventy and Africa South Area President. It will serve 3 wards. The church is happening in Angola. I hope the Luanda Temple can be built in an expeditious manner.
The Russian issue makes sense. So where are missionaries from Cambodia and Vietnam serving in their native language sent? How about Burma? Is the training center in I Dia one of the 10?
For that matter where are missionaries from Malaysia and Indonesia sent? The last probably to Manilla, and maybe most of the others, but at Cambodia and probably a few others Bangkok would seem a good choice.
Although you have to adapt what you can. You need teachers who know the language
So you train people in English or Thai who are serving in another language and that is not their native language until you can find staff to train in another language.
I am wondering if the Kinsha sa MTC is so much an informal MTC or more like a cobbledmethod of giving perspective missionaries with low online access a way to do the 1st "online" week.
The Church new listed DR Congo are served by the MTC in Accra. Kinshasa would seem to be a strong candidate for an MTC. It has a temple, is in a country with over 100 million people and growing Church presence. It would still make more sense to send Ivorian missionaries to Accra. It might be easier to send Ethiopians there than Accra. Abigail issue would be how good air connections to Kinshasa are.
An additional update on the increase in missionaries:
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2023/12/7/23971270/a-front-row-seat-to-new-growth-in-latter-day-saint-missionary-work
My thanks once again to you all.
I agree with Andrew about Russian missionaries. I served in Russia in 2015 and at that time, Russian speakers serving in Russia or Ukraine went to Madrid's MTC (which no longer exists). Outside of former USSR countries, Turkey, and UAE, Thailand is probably one the easier places for them to travel to in general with the state of world politics, not to mention the temple & available housing for an MTC. And for what it's worth, I randomly met a ton of Russians who went on vacation there, so obviously it's not too difficult to find reasonable flights.
It is interesting that a temple was announced for Angola before there was an operating chapel. That happened in the United States in the early history of the church, but has it ever happened again before this?
Matt, Thanks for the great news about Freetown Sierra Leone having a new stake. And a new district in the Dominican Republic.
I believe the new Stake in Temecula still needs be added to the list.
Also, the Monte Plata District appears to be posted twice.
Craig H
Actually, the Freetown Sierra Leone Freetown Hill Station Stake is just spelled Freetown Sierra Leone Hill Staton.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2240254
Chris D - Thank you for the corrections. The lists have been updated.
I think there is a new stake in Argentina....
ND Reynolds, Thank you. That is great news. From searching the Meetinghouse site. I found the Corrientes Argentina District (613193) has become the Corrientes Argentina Stake (613193).
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/613193
which includes 5 Wards and 1 branch.
Does anyone know what date?
The Corrientes Argentina District (613193) was originally organized February 19th, 1991.
Correction, It appears the Goya Argentina District (614904), organized on January 21st, 1993, was dissolved in the merger with the above mentioned Corrientes Argentina District to become the new Corrientes Argentina Stake.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/614904 can not be found on the Meetinghouse locator. But the Goya Ward is part of the new stake.
Can anyone confirm if this is the case and what date status was changed to "Historical" in the CDOL?
Corrientes Stake Nov 26
I don't know how to find the Historical data, but can confirm that the Goya district is listed as historical
The distance between Goya and Corrientes is roughly 225 KM. I can't really see the Stake in Goya being dissolved and merged into Corrientes. If it was dissolved, I'd think it more likely to help boost the Reconquista District.
My other thought is what this might mean for a possible Temple in Resistencia.
Craig H
Corrientes Argentina District and Goya Argentina District were combined to create the new Corrientes Argentina Stake on 11/26/2023. All 4 units in Corrientes Argentina District were upgraded to Wards. From the Goya Argentina District, the Goya Branch was upgraded, Bella Vista remained a branch and Belgrano Branch was discontinued.
Looking at the map, it seems to make more sense for the Goya District to be with Corrientes than Reconquista. There appears to be no bridges that go directly across from Goya to Reconquista, however, there is a bridge (the closest one I can find) that crosses from Corrientes to Resistencia. Google Maps estimates a 3 hour drive from Goya to Corrientes vs a 6 hour drive from Goya to Reconquista.
Colina Chile District was upgraded to a Stake 11/12/2023. Five branches were upgraded to Wards. Til-Til Branch was not upgraded and Fontt Branch was discontinued.
Thanks, Nephi for the update on Colina Chile Stake. I had missed that when I was reviewing. So now I am down to 480 known Districts. I had forgot that the Mexico City Chimalhuacan District was upgraded to be renamed Mexico City El Lago Stake in July.
Exciting news about all those new stakes! Also, on a much smaller scale, I just learned that my former stake in Champaign now has a Spanish branch. To me, this came as somewhat of a surprise, as I never really noticed a lot of Spanish-speaking members there. I know of one family in Mattoon and one in Champaign that speak primarily Spanish and require translation into Spanish for sacrament meetings. There are a lot of Latin Americans and especially Mexicans in the Arcola area, which is about 25 miles south of Champaign. (Fun fact: if you ever find yourself driving between Chicago and Memphis on I-57, Arcola is one of the few places where you can find semi-authentic Mexican food.) But otherwise, the area of the stake lacks a lot of the demographic characteristics that you would typically associate with high Hispanic population growth. Hence, my assumption is that the branch is quite small, but maybe James knows more.
When I served a mission in the late 1990s, I had a mission companion from Calexico.
Pascal, I don't have any first-hand knowledge of the stake in question or the size of the branch you mentioned. I am able to look at information on the CDOL, but that doesn't indicate anything about the branch size. Sorry I'm not much help on this question.
Different James. ;-)
Well, it doesn't really take all that many members to establish a branch. I served in several on my mission and some had active memberships that were so small that they barely functioned from week to week.
I was in a branch in Chile where we had a few close calls to shutting down, because of lack of leadership, apostasy, that kind of thing. Santa Juana struggled to get its own local presidente de rama. Once they had a Chilean, finally, but he turned out to be a thief, I hear. I also was in a branch in California where we would regularly have two hundred attendees per week.
Branches and wards can differ us much as each of our personalities. Senhor Dane, you served in... Saskatchewan?
The numbers ultimately do not matter too much, but it is to help the most people come to Jesus and partake of His ordinances. We want to exalt as many as possible, that is the eternal plan.
Great to see all this growth! Love the progress in Chile and everywhere.
Met a full-time missionary based in Congo (DRC) recently who left for the elections. Wait till it gets better for stability. But, my, how the Church of Jesus Christ is growing there!
Hey Pascal,
Yeah, I agree with you about the Spanigh branch thing. For a while there were a few families meeting together across several wards as a group. I think they were piloting whether it would work.
I've heard there are about 4 families meeting, all from Mahomet/Champaign/Urbana. Non-hispanic Spanish speakers are in leadership and facilitating the branch. I think there's a hope that by creating a unit like this it will appeal to more potential Hispanic converts. So like you said, no, there aren't enough to be self-sustaining.
I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the 2nd ward dissolve because they were already well below the minimum numbers and two of the Hispanic families moved to the Branch come from that ward.
Matt,
Did you see the news that the church is no longer going to report membership by county in the state of Utah? What a bummer. The reluctance to provide anything resembling transparent information is maddening.
James - Yes, Peggy from the Salt Lake Tribune contacted me about it. I told her that I was not concerned and not surprised. The Church did not officially publish this info for public use - it was more part of a census agreement to track population growth by Utah county. The Church used to publish this in the almanacs in the 1970s, but it was dropped by the 1980s.
I wouldn't read too much into this development. The big changes with the Church restricting statistics being shared with the public occurred about 40-45 years ago. The biggest development in the past 20 years was the discontinuation of the Church News Almanac series - the only way the Church had immortalized statistics by year. The same day is still available today, more or less, on the Newsroom site, but it disappears whenever it is updated for the previous year's stats. That's why we work at cumorah.com to keep these data available for people to access to track trends. I will be working on updating the statistical profiles soon hopefully.
Check the WaybackMachine for any flushed pagess, that should be getting many Church things, you can even see earlier versions of the Church website under the older lds.org domain. They seem to get everything. That is at archive.org
"18 December 2023 - SALT LAKE CITY
News Release
Sites Announced for Temples in England and the Philippine
These houses of the Lord (announced in 2018 and 2022) will help local Saints increase their "spiritual momentum"
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/sites-announced-for-temples-in-england-and-the-philippines
I agree with Andrew and Spencer,
To add on to it, only Russians (and maybe some of their close allies) are permitted to serve in Russia from what I understand. There are no GA 70s in Russia. Apostles can't just go into that country. This new MTC may also serve as a once-in-a-lifetime meeting place to get direct live instruction by a general authority.
To comment on JPL, I don't think this is a large MTC and focusing on those three languages make sense. As for the other native languages you mentioned, those are handled by other mtcs.
First chapel dedicated in Angola: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-latter-day-saint-meetinghouse-dedicated-in-angola
What is the most irritating little speck in the world not served by the church for you all? For me, it is the Baltic islet of Ertholmene. The population is teensy-tiny (but productive) and in the middle of nowhere...but there is no assigned stake or district to cover it. It's almost certainly part of some mission...but it has almost certainly never gotten missionaries.
With the year coming to an end, I have been thinking about Church growth developments and trajectories. Interesting things are happening both at the by-country and global level. In terms of convert baptisms, we have received more official updates than usual throughout the year. My estimate is that somewhere between 265,000 and 280,000 convert baptisms will be recorded this year, with much of the world seeing some increase compared to 2022. There are likely a few exceptions, such as Liberia and the DR Congo, where I estimate that the rate of growth has somewhat slowed.
Does anyone know if there were any mew or discontinued Stakes or Districts organized last Sunday December 17th?
I doubt any will be organized this Sunday December 24th. Since most wards will be having Christmas program I hope. and for next Sunday 31st. last day of 2023.
Hey, Chris! I am not aware of any new or discontinued stakes or districts last Sunday (December 17). The Church will only hold Sacrament Meeting this Sunday, and all other meetings are canceled:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/multimedia/file/2afe27c3-aa85-4971-aced-a54636e30f79_eng.pdf
New Year's Eve is expected to be treated as a normal Sunday, so there may be more stake/district organizations that week. Right now, the Church Temples site shows the number of stakes at 3,564 and the number of non-sensitive districts at 480. That being said, could someone give me a simple numeric breakdown of the net gain in stakes, districts, and congregations for this year (including, if possible, the number of "sensitive units")? Thanks.
James, My list of Stakes/Districts is te same as Rick's Temples site of non-sensitive units. I don't have access to the CDOL to compare Congregation changes Y2Y 2022-2023. Here is my breakdown by the 23 Church Administrative Areas. the 4 columnsa are # of Missions (07/01/2024), # of Stakes, # of Districts and Total # Stakes/Districts in each Area. and the Averages for the 23 Areas.
AREA MISSIONS STAKES DISTRICTS ALL UNITS
2151480 AFRICA CENTRAL 15 37 21 58
790230 AFRICA SOUTH 13 42 25 67
791024 AFRICA WEST 25 141 41 182
790060 ASIA 13 33 27 60
790249 ASIA NORTH 12 38 17 55
790192 BRAZIL 37 285 39 324
780693 CARIBBEAN 9 34 24 58
790222 CENTRAL AMERICA 19 134 28 162
790028 EURASIAN 3 3 4 7
790257 EUROPE CENTRAL 20 64 10 74
790176 EUROPE NORTH 16 66 10 76
790079 MEXICO 34 229 44 273
563013 MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA NORTH 0 2 2 4
790206 NORTH AMERICA CENTRAL 21 288 0 288
790168 NORTH AMERICA NORTHEAST 19 141 5 146
790087 NORTH AMERICA SOUTHEAST 17 122 0 122
790052 NORTH AMERICA SOUTHWEST 26 277 2 279
790036 NORTH AMERICA WEST 30 275 1 276
791040 PACIFIC 16 140 33 173
790184 PHILIPPINES 26 128 53 181
791067 SOUTH AMERICA NORTHWEST 37 256 45 301
790109 SOUTH AMERICA SOUTH 29 186 47 233
425303 UTAH 13 643 2 645
TOTALS 450 3564 480 4044
AVERAGE 20 155 21 176
I hope this helps your research.
Anyway, I can't complain with 59 current New Stakes organized in 2023. It almost doubles the 33 listed for the previous year 2022.
What does "non-sensitive district" mean? Is it run by callous, uncaring leadership?
A "sensitive" unit of the Church is, from what I understand, a unit (ward, branch, district) that exists, but the Church does not report on it, usually because the Church is not officially recognized within that country. Countries like China and Saudi Arabia are examples.
Pakistan I believe is also sensitive. There are some reports of Church presence there, but the Church does not release membership numbers or number of units.
It looks like they have not announced a 7th member of the Presidency of the 70. We might not hear until conference, but we might get an announcement in Janauary. I believe another member of the Presidency of the 70 turns 70 next year, so thry are likely to announce 2 new ones in general conference, although they might delay the other official change to August, since that is now when almost all changes take effect. Well, New general authority seventies start immediately, but old ones are emeritized in August. New area seventies start immediately but old ones are released as of August and general presidential change in August.
We are likely to get a new general Sunday School Presidency this year. I am guessing there will be 8 new general authorities. I am hoping one is John Amos.
My guess is we will have 38 temples announced this coming year. 17 in April and 21 in October.
I am hoping to see the first case since at about 1870 of a temple announced for a country that has a temple in planning but none in operation. I think Bo, Sierra Keone is most likely, but Yamosoukro, Ivory Coast and Maputo, Mozambique and even Bulawayo, Zimbabwe are possible. Outside Africa the only case I could see of that is New Delhi, India and that seems very unlikely.
I am also hoping Kampala, Uganda has a temple announced next year. Others high on my list are Kolwezi, DR Congo; Soracaba, Brazil, Florianopolis, Brazil; Chihuahua City, Mexico, Angeles, Philippines; Lima Temple number 3, Poza Rico, Mexico; Durango, Mexico; Reynosa, Mexico; Utica, New York; Manchester, New Hampshire; Augusta, Maine; Appleton, Wisconsin; Medellin, Colombia; Bucaramanga, Colombia; Christ Church, New Zealand; a 2nd temple in El Salvador; a 2nd temple in Venezuela; Appleton, Wisconsin; Des Moines, Iowa; Cincinnati, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina ; Abuja, Nigeria; Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Bristol, England; Glasgow, Scotland and Bordeaux, France. I also hope Spanish Fork, Utah and Lehi, Utah get temples. I am hoping for Arizona as well. It is now the furthest west state President Nelson has not announced a temple for. Also Mexicali, Mexico and El Paso, Texas. Rapid City, South Dakota and Tuba City, Arizona are also on the list. Somewhere in New Jersey as well. Where in New Jersey and what it will be called I can not predict.
Santiago, Dominican Republic I hope for. Also Jamaica. I have very crazy hopes for Toronto and London City Center Temples, and a 2nd Chicago area temple. A 3rd Sao Paulo, 2rd Guatemala City and 2rd Msnilla are also possible. Restitencia, Argentina I think will also occur.
JPL, I suspect the current vacancy in the Presidency of the Seventy will be filled after the first of next year. The role of that Presidency in assisting the Twelve is too important to leave a vacancy for another 4 months.
Two members of the Presidency of the Seventy will turn 70 next year (Brent H. Nielson and Paul V. Johnson). According to the new trend established last year, the 8 GA Seventies turning 70 (Ian S. Ardern, Shayne M. Bowen, Paul V. Johnson, S. Gifford Nielsen, Brent H. Nielson, Adrian Ochoa, Gary B. Sabin, and Evan A. Schmutz) will be presented for release effective August 1, new GA Seventies will be sustained, all area seventy changes (new area seventies and those released by or before August 1) will be presented in the leadership meetings and ratified as a group during General Conference. We will also be getting a new Sunday School General Presidency effective August 1. Hope these notes are helpful to you.
Another ward is dissolved in the Salt Lake area. The Richards Ward of the Granite Stake will be dissolved as of December 31st. The demographics of central Salt Lake continue to change. It is unclear what will happen to the Richards Ward building as the ward was the only unit in that facility.
Sad
Paul, it occurred to me to wonder if the chapel in question could be razed to make way for another temple in the Salt Lake Valley. There are other locations in that valley that I think may be prioritized first, but that was my initial thought when I saw your comment. If not a temple, then perhaps the building could be repurposed. Just my thoughts.
Where was the Richards ward located?
In the Granite Stake, so for all intents and purposes in South Salt Lake but on the Sugarhouse side. My best guess is that the Church will sell the land and demolish the building.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/meetinghouses/5076277-01-01
The Richards Ward building has a unique design. It is smaller and the footprint is shaped like a rectangle. It is located in the 800 East and 1700 South area completely surrounded by older and smaller homes. The plot of land is too small for a temple. Perhaps the facility could be repurposed into a mission office, but my guess is it will be razed.
This latest dissolution of a ward in this part of Salt Lake City is another sign of the changing demographics of the area. 50 years ago nearly every home had Church members, but today the Church population is less than 20 percent in the neighborhood. Due to small and aging homes, most Church members left for better homes in the southern part of the Salt Lake Valley, Utah, and Davis Counties. The Granite Tabernacle serves as the Stake Center, but due to it's age and lack of parking, it's days are probably numbered.
Change is both fascinting and sad at the same time . . .
JPL, you have Appleton, Wisconsin listed twice. Guatemala City has 2 temples already (second was announced as Greater Guatemala City, and will be in Miraflores, a suburb of Guatemala City; however you may have meant 3rd, not "2rd"). Tuba City, AZ seems quite unlikely to me as it is a very small population. There is not many amenities in Tuba City. It would be awesome to see another announced for Sierra Leone for sure.
A clarification question for anyone who knows more than me on the emeritus 70 years rule. Brent H. Nielsen turns 70 in December of 2024. So, does he get released effective o. His bday or August 1 of 2023, or August 2024?
The Richard's Building is small, but gorgeous inside and some unique features outside. If turn down, it will be a sad architectural loss.
I did mean a 3rd temple for Guatemala City.
I still think if not Tuba City than Cameron, Arizona. Cameron would actually be on the Navajo Reservation.
People are not emeritized until they are emerituzed. There are no automatic releases in the Church except by death. Some are emeritized before 70, and at least when the 2nd quorum was released instead of emeritized some served passed 70. Plus pre-1979 they did not emeritize anyone. The general authority seventies all just served until death.
I suspect those 8 listed will be given emeritus status as of August and it will be announced in April. We shall see.
coachodeeps, for a long time, the standard practice was to grant emeritus status in the October General Conference. The one exception of which I'm aware was when H. David Burton, Richard C. Edgley, and Keith B. McMullin (the Presiding Bishopric at that time who were all over 70 at the time) became the first men to be granted emeritus status without having served as GA Seventies. That occurred in the April 2012 General Conference.
Only a few men have been granted emeritus status before turning 70. I believe Mervyn B. Arnold was one and Bruce A. Carlson was another. Carlson was a military serviceman and was asked to accept a senior military assignment before he turned 70, so the Church released him early to meet that obligation.
Without exception under President Nelson, all GA Seventies have been released the year they will be 70. Due to changes that occurred last year, August 1 is the new standard date for most area seventy releases, the release of one general presidency and the start of another, and when those GA Seventies turning 70 each year are granted emeritus status. Hope that helps.
So the 8 GA Seventies I mentioned earlier (including Nielson) will be presented for release in April, with that release and emeritus status effective August 1. The 8 I mentioned will all be 70 at some point in 2024. And yes, that includes those who will turn 70 in 2024 but after August 1. And no one is granted emeritus status until that has been presented as such in General Conference.
This article teaser is only weird in that South Africa is itself a country.
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