District Discontinued in Argentina

A district was discontinued in northern Argentina by the border with Brazil. The Obera Argentina District was discontinued and the two branches part of the former district now report to the Argentina Resistencia Mission. The Obera Argentina District was originally created in 1993. Another district was discontinued in Argentina early 2009 in Gualeguaychu near the border with Uruguay. No other districts in Argentina appear likely to be discontinued in the near future.

Argentina experienced an increase in congregations each year throughout the 2000s until 2008 while most Latin American countries saw a decline in congregations followed by a weak rebound. Growth appears strongest in Buenos Aires and larger cities were there is an ample supply of members and leaders. Areas covered by the Argentina Resistencia Mission have especially high inactivity according to missionaries.

New District in Moldova; District Dissolved in Argentina

The first district of the Church was created two Sundays ago in the Eastern European country of Moldova. The Chisinau Moldova District consists of two branches in Moldova and one branch in Romania. The branch of the Church in Chisinau has been described by return missionaries as one of the strongest branches in the region despite there being less than 300 members in the entire country. The other branch in Moldova is located in Orhei. The city of Balti, Moldova once had missionaries serve in it several years ago, but has not since then. Hopefully missionaries will return to the city and a branch will be established considering it is the second largest city in the country.

The Gualeguaychú Argentina District was dissolved recently. The district was originally organized back in 2003 and as of recently only consisted of two branches. There are now 70 stakes and 37 districts in the country.

Córdoba Argentina Temple

Announced yesterday in General Conference, the Córdoba Argentina Temple becomes the second temple to be built in the country. Currently there are 70 stakes and 39 districts in the country. The new temple will likely serve around 20 stakes and 10 districts in northern Argentina. This makes Argentina the first Spanish speaking country in South America to have more than one temple. It may come as a surprise considering other Spanish speaking countries in South America have more members than Argentina, like Peru and Chile which have over 440,000 and 540,000 members each but only have one temple. At the end of the year for 2007, there were 363,000 members but the Church reported yesterday that now there are over 375,000.

One of the major differences between Argentina and other Spanish speaking countries in South America is that Argentina has systematically seen growth in new congregations being created (an increase of 50 congregations in the past seven years). Other countries have seen a decline in the number of congregations during this time or a little increase in Church units. The only other countries that are Spanish speaking in South America which have seen a substantial increase in congregations since 2000 is Venezuela and Paraguay.

Returned missionaries have reported that Mendoza, Argentina is a likely city to receive a temple in the near future as well. Currently members travel across the Andes to Santiago, Chile to participate in temple ordinances. The new temple in Cordoba also might be a likely temple for members in this city to worship before a closer temple is built. A small temple is also possible in the southern part of the country considering it could serve over 10 stakes and a few districts.

On the above map, yellow squares represent stakes and green squares represent districts.

Five New Temples Announced

During his opening talk for the Saturday morning session of the 178 Semi-Annual General Conference for the Church, President Monson announced the following temples:

• Calgary Alberta Temple
• Cordoba Argentia Temple
• Kansas City Missouri Temple
• Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple
• Rome Italy Temple

This brings the number of temples announced, operating, or under construction to 145.

I will provide further analysis on these new temples announced when I get more free time. Right now I am a bit overwhelmed with school.

Congregation Growth Outside The United States

I wanted to take some time and provide statistics for new congregations created in the Church outside of the United States. Congregations increased by around 350 for the whole Church in 2007, and only around 130-140 were created outside of the United States. Here is a list of the six countries which had the greatest increase in congregations.

1. Brazil - +40
2. Mexico - +26
3. Argentina - +14
4. Ghana - +9
5. Philippines - +8
6. Dominican Republic - +6

Roughly 70% of the non-United States increase in congregations can be attributed to the top five countries.

The Church in Argentina

Argentina has the seventh largest number of Church members in the world and is one of the few countries to have at least 10 missions (which well serve a country of 40 million). Church growth in this South American country has been consistant and strong from 297,000 members back in 2000 to almost 356,000 at the end of 2006. The number of wards (large congregations) in Argentina rose from 393 to 458 during this time period and the total number of congregations rose by 54. No new stakes have been organized in nearly four years and the number of convert baptisms has declined in the past couple years. Only one temple is in the whole country, located in Buenos Aires. Some of the stakes in the western portion of the country attend the Santiago Chile Temple and in the north, the Asuncion Paraguay Temple. Possible locations for future temples in Argentina include Mendoza and Cordoba.

The yellow squares are stakes and the green squares are districts.

Countries With the Most Members and Stakes With Only One Temple

Below is a list of the top five countries which have only one temple in them.

1. Chile - 543,628 members, 74 stakes, 26 districts
2. Peru - 432,547 members, 86 stakes, 24 districts
3. Argentina - 355,987 members, 70 stakes, 36 districts
4. Ecuador - 176,359 members, 33 stakes, 10 districts
5. Colombia - 154,549 members, 26 stakes, 14 districts

I imagine a new temple will be announced for Peru among the next three temples to be announced.