New Stake to be Created in Indonesia

Missionaries serving in Indonesia report that the Church's second stake in the country will be organized at the end of April.  The Surakarta Indonesia District will become a stake and most of the seven branches in the district will become wards.  The Church's first stake in Indonesia, the Jakarta Indonesia Stake, was organized just a year ago.  With the operation of two stakes in Indonesia, prospects appear more likely for a future temple announcement for Southeast Asia.

It is interesting to note that the first stake in Russia was also organized a year ago, but none of the districts appear likely to become stakes within the next year notwithstanding the Church in Russia having more than three times as many members on church records than Indonesia.  Visa restrictions on foreign missionaries and the rapid growth of the Church in Indonesia in the 1970s have generated a somewhat self-sufficient Latter-day Saint community in Indonesia.  Notwithstanding recent progress in two of the three original districts in Indonesia becoming stakes, there has been virtually no progress expanding outreach in Indonesia with the exception of the creation of the Bali Branch about a year or two ago.