Bolivia
Last Sunday a new stake was created in Bolivia. The El Alto Bolivia Litoral Stake was organized from the El Alto Bolivia Stake and includes the following five wards: The Brasil, Dieciseis de Febrero, Litoral, Río Seco, and Unión Wards. The new stake becomes the ninth stake in the El Alto/La Paz metropolitan area. There are now 27 stakes and 10 districts in Bolivia.
Guatemala
A new stake was recently created in Guatemala. The Escuintla Guatemala Stake was organized from the Escuintla Guatemala District. The Church once operated a stake in Escuintla between 1988 and 1994 but discontinued the stake and downgraded it to a district. It is unclear whether the Church will consider the new stake as a new stake creation or a reinstated stake. No information is available on which branches became wards. I will post this information under comments once it is available. There are now 42 stakes and 18 districts in Guatemala.
Texas
The Church created a new stake in Texas two Sundays ago. The Round Rock Texas East Stake was created from the Round Rock Texas Stake and includes the following seven wards and two branches: The Georgetown, Old Settlers, Pflugerville, Round Rock, Serenada, Stony Point, and Taylor Wards and the Palm Valley (Spanish) and Rockdale Branches.
7 comments:
The Escuintla Guatemala District has been renamed Escuintla Guatemala Stake and designated a stake, but its branches are still designated as branches in CDOL. I am sure at least some (five) of these will be designated wards in the near future:
Esfuerzo Branch
Golondrinas Branch
Hunapu Branch
Jacarandas Branch
Palmeras Branch
Puerta de Hierro Branch
Puerto San José Branch
This is great progress to see in the two Latin American nations with the highest percentage of native Americans, which may be interpreted as Book of Mormon prophecies being brought to fruition.
The remnants of Lehi shall blossom as a rose, as it were.
Also, Texas having a lot of Latino blood would also qualify for the same blessings.
Great to see the growth.
359November congregational and stake growth as reported in the CDOL:
Total increase W & Br +14; +38 W - 24 Br; + 3 stakes
US + 23 W & Br; + 27 W - 4 Br, + 3 stakes
Outside US - 9 W & Br; + 11 W - 20 Br + 0 st + 0 dist
Year-to-date + 242 W & Br; + 282 W - 40 Br + 37 st - 17 dist
US + 127; + 142 W - 15 Br + 12 stakes + 0 dist
Outside US + 115; + 140 W - 25 Br + 25 stakes - 17 districts
Interesting to compare to last year in November:
Yr. to date W&B: + 203 (+ 316 W -113 Br), + 51
stakes, - 15 districts, + 4 temples
Yr. to date US W&Br: + 107 (+ 147 W - 40 Br),
+ 13 stakes, - 1 district + 2 temples
Yr to date outside US W&Br: + 96 (+ 169 W - 73 Br
+ 38 stakes, - 14 districts, + 2 temples
Stronger Ward and branch combined growth this year... probably driven by either (a) less branches converted to wards or (b) more new branches
Stake growth inside the US is actually up as well, which is encouraging
The College Place Ward, Walla Walla Washington Stake, was created on 24 November. There are now 9 wards and 4 branches in the stake:
College Place Ward
Dayton Ward
McKay Creek Ward
Milton-Freewater Ward
Pendleton 1st Ward
Pendleton 2nd Ward
Walla Walla 1st Ward
Walla Walla 2nd Ward
Walla Walla 3rd Ward
Pendleton YSA Branch
Walla Walla YSA Branch
Westgate Branch (Correctional Facility)
Whitman Monument Branch (Correctional Facility)
Nice to see Esquintla finally return to being a Stake. I served in this area from 96-98. The stake had only recently been discontinued. At the time the stake was discontinued, it covered a lot of the southern coast of Guatemala, From Escuintla to Tiquisate, and everything out to the pacific coast. Members told us many stories of why it was dissolved. Most stories had to do with large scale apostasy, and the difficulty of managing so many congregations across such a wide area. Transportation and roads were, at that time, sketchy at best. When they dissolved the stake they created 6 districts headquartered in (if I remember right): Puerto San Jose, Escuintla, La Gomera, Santa Lucia, Tiquisate, and Nueva Concepcion. I the years since, Puerto San Jose, and Escuintla Districts merged to form one district. Various branches merged as well. The configuration now will be a much more manageable stake.
There have been some changes in the other districts as well. But I am not as familiar with those. Hopefully those districts are getting close to stakehood too.
According to the Desert News' online Almanac dated 2010:
The Guatemala City Guatemala Escuintla Stake was created on 31 Jan 1988 with Enrique Leveron L. as first stake president and was stake number 1681 (meaning with its creation, there were 1681 stakes in the Church--net of total created minus total discontinued).
It was renamed the Escuintla Guatemala Stake on 3 Apr 1990.
And then was discontinued 12 Jun 1994.
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