LDS Church to make Significant Strides in Expanding Missionary Work in Africa

In a recent meeting with Africa West Area office employees, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve reported two significant LDS Church growth developments in Africa.  The Church's original article on the meeting can be found here.  These developments are listed below.

• Seven or eight new missions will be created in Africa in 2012.  At present, there are 20 missions in Africa.  Increasing numbers of African members serving missions and ongoing redistribution of mission resources worldwide appear to make this expansion possible.  The proposed number of new missions will increase the number of LDS missions in Africa by 35-40% in a single year.  
• Additional temples in Africa will be announced in the coming years and eventually the continent will be "covered by temples."  At present, the Church has three operating temples in Aba, Nigeria; Accra, Ghana; and Johannesburg, South Africa.  Two new temples were announced last October in Durban, South Africa and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Below is a list of likely new missions to be organized in Africa this year.  This list was generated from recent LDS growth trends, prospective population reach, speculation from returned missionaries, and status of religious freedom.  All these locations appear favorable for the creation of an LDS mission in the near future, although it is unclear which of these locations appear most likely.  Consequently more than eight possible missions are provided.  Missions in bold have already been confirmed by missionaries to be created this year.

• Angola Luanda (to be created from the Mozambique Maputo Mission)
• Botswana Gaborone/second South Africa Johannesburg Mission (currently assigned to South Africa Johannesburg Mission)
• Burundi/Rwanda (currently assigned to the DR Congo Lubumbashi and Uganda Kampala Missions)
• Cameroon Yaounde (currently assigned to the DR Congo Kinshasa Mission)
• DR Congo Mbuji-Mayi (currently assigned to the DR Congo Lubumbashi Mission)
• Ethiopia Addis Ababa (currently assigned to the Uganda Kampala Mission)
• Ghana Kumasi (to be created from the Ghana Accra and Ghana Cape Coast Missions)
• Liberia Monrovia (currently assigned to the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission)
• Malawi Blantyre (currently assigned to the Zambia Lusaka Mission)
• Nigeria Benin City (currently assigned to the Nigeria Enugu Mission)
• Tanzania Dar es Salaam (currently assigned to the Kenya Nairobi Mission)

Locations in Africa which appear most favorable for a temple announcement in the next decade are provided below.  These locations were ascertained by recent church growth trends, the number of stakes serviced by a future temple, distance from the nearest operating LDS temple, and estimated member activity rates.

• Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
• Antananarivo, Madagascar
• Benin City, Nigeria OR Lagos, Nigeria
• Harare, Zimbabwe
• Nairobi, Kenya

Lastly, Elder Holland reported that the Church intends to create its 3,000th stake this year.  At present, there are 2,947 stakes worldwide.  This indicates that the Church is projecting an additional 53 new stakes to be created this year.