Districts Dissolved in Guatemala, Jamaica and Spain

Guatemala

The Ceiba Amelia Guatemala District was combined with the Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa Guatemala District. This was likely done in preparation for a future stake in southern Guatemala. The district in Ceiba Amelia was organized in 1994 and the Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa Guatemala District now has nine branches. We have not seen a new stake or district organized in Guatemala in 10 years while the number of congregations in Guatemala has dropped from 451 in 2000 to 418 in 2008. This drop in congregations has been due to a drop in branches, likely in a move to create larger congregations which are more self sustaining. The Church in Guatemala is strengthening though, as evidenced by the recent groundbreaking of the temple in Quetzaltenango. Church membership increases by around 5,000 every year and stands at 215,000.

Jamaica

The Montego Bay Jamaica District was discontinued and all the branches now report directly to the mission in Kingston. A missionary serving in the area reports that this was done in a move for strong Priesthood leaders in the district to shift their attention from functioning as a district to strengthening the individual branches in the western portion of the island. This will hopefully allow for greater growth in the branches in the near future. The growth of the Church has been slow, but consistent, in Jamaica with now around 6,000 members in 20 or so branches.

Spain

The Zaragoza Spain District was discontinued and the two branches which made up the district report to the mission president in the area. A new stake will be created in northern Spain, primarily from the Bilbao Spain District, in September and I imagine it is likely the two branches in Zaragoza will become part of the new stake. We have seen several districts discontinued this year which only had two branches.