Monday, July 7, 2014

New Stakes Created in Nigeria and Utah; New District in Kiribati

Nigeria
On June 29th, the Church organized a new stake in Nigeria. The Enugu Nigeria Stake was organized from the Enugu Nigeria District and seven of the branches in the former district now pertain to the new stake. Information regarding which branches became wards remains unavailable. One branch was closed as part of the district becoming a stake (Enugu Nigeria District Branch) and two branches were reassigned directly to the Nigeria Enugu Mission (Nsukka and Obollo-Afor). The Enugu Nigeria District was previously one of the two oldest districts in the country (the other being the Onitsha Nigeria District), and was organized back in 1988.

There are now 25 stakes and 20 districts in Nigeria.

Utah
On June 29th, the Church created a new stake in Riverton. The Riverton Utah Western Springs Stake was organized from a division of the Herriman Utah, Riverton Utah Harvest Park, and Riverton Utah South Stakes and includes the following seven wards: the Castlewood, Herriman Rose, Riverton 19th, Western Springs 1st, Western Springs 2nd, Western Springs 3rd, and Western Springs 4th Wards.

There are now 572 stakes and one district in Utah.

Kiribati
On June 20th, the Church created its first district on Kiritimati (Christmas) Island, Kiribati. The Kiritimati Island Kiribati District includes the following five branches: the Banana, Fanning Island, London, Tabwakea 1st, and Tabwakea 2nd Branches. The Church organized two new branches as part of the creation of the new district, namely the London and Tabwakea 2nd Branches. The Church has experienced rapid growth on Kiritimati since the first branch was organized in 1999 with slightly more than 100 members. Today the Church reports approximately 1,200 in five branches (four branches in Kiritimati, one on Fanning Island); a significant number considering the combined population for Kiritimati and Fanning Islands numbering less than 8,000.

There are now two stakes and one district in Kiribati.

8 comments:

  1. The Assin Darmang Branch, Assin Foso Ghana Stake, was created on 29 June. There are now 7 wards and 3 branches in the stake:

    Akonfudi Ward
    Assin Achiasi Ward
    Assin Foso 1st Ward
    Assin Foso 2nd Ward
    Habitat Ward
    Paramu Ward
    Telecom Hill Ward
    Assin Akrofuom Branch
    Assin Darmang Branch
    Assin Nyankumasi Branch


    The Camino Branch (Spanish), Lexington Kentucky North Stake, was created on 6 July. There are now 7 wards and 3 branches in the stake:

    Beaumont Ward
    Frankfort Ward
    Georgetown Ward
    Owingsville Ward
    Paris Ward
    Pioneer Ward
    Winchester Ward
    Beattyville Branch
    Camino Branch (Spanish)
    Lexington YSA Branch


    The Klang Branch, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia District, Singapore Mission, was created on 6 July. There are now 7 branches in the district:

    Cheras Branch
    Klang Branch
    Kuala Lumpur Branch
    Malacca Branch
    Petaling Jaya Branch
    Puchong Branch
    Subang Jaya Branch


    The Rochelle Branch, Rockford Illinois Stake, was created on 6 July. There are now 8 wards and 4 branches in the stake:

    Beloit Ward
    Belvidere Ward
    DeKalb Ward
    Freeport Ward
    Rockford 1st Ward
    Rockford 2nd Ward
    Sterling Ward
    Sycamore Ward
    Byron Branch
    Rochelle Branch
    Rockford 4th Branch (Spanish)
    Rockford YSA Branch


    The Sunset Hollow Ward, Lehi Utah Gateway Stake, was created on 6 July. There are now 14 wards in the stake:

    Cranberry Farms 1st Ward
    Cranberry Farms 2nd Ward
    Lehi 18th Ward
    Lehi 21st Ward
    Pilgrims Landing 1st Ward
    Pilgrims Landing 2nd Ward
    Pilgrims Landing 3rd Ward
    Pilgrims Landing 4th Ward
    Pointe Meadows 1st Ward
    Pointe Meadows 2nd Ward
    Sunset Hollow Ward
    Thanksgiving Meadows 1st Ward
    Thanksgiving Meadows 2nd Ward
    Thanksgiving Village Ward


    The Wylie 3rd Ward, Richardson Texas Stake, was created on 6 July. There are now 10 wards and 1 branch in the stake:

    Dallas 4th Ward
    Dallas YSA 1st Ward
    Garland 3rd Ward
    Garland 4th Ward
    Garland 5th Ward (Spanish)
    Richardson 2nd Ward
    Sachse Ward
    Wylie 1st Ward
    Wylie 2nd Ward
    Wylie 3rd Ward
    Garland 6th Branch (Spanish)

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  2. The Enugu Nigeria Stake was created on 29 June. There are 5 wards and 2 branches in the stake:

    Abakpa Ward
    Gariki Ward
    New Haven Ward
    Trans Ekulu Ward
    Uwani Ward
    Agbani Branch
    Emene Branch

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  3. Lehi Utah Gateway Stake has some issues that may delay splitting that one.

    This is near and north of Thanksgiving Point and Alpine Highway (some call it Timpanogos Highway now but that was never formally changed).

    The problem here is that all of the wards have a lot of young and large families, reports of 200 children in the primary of some wards are not uncommon. So that leaves us with an adult membership that may not have enough full-tithe-paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders to best staff all the callings in a potential new stake. Watch for another ward or two before they feel they can do the split.

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  4. Yes, and I heard of a ward in Lehi with so many young families that there were 5 separate pre-Primary nurseries functioning!

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  5. This seems to be the pattern of new communities in highly Mormon areas. The Subdivision just outside Idaho Falls that I moved into seven years ago went though a phase of a lot of young people in new houses. Within 3 years the area that was once 1 ward became 5 wards because of the fast growth before the 2008 recession. I moved in just as area stabilized and there was 4 wards.

    The hurdle in splitting the ward in the beginning was that they were waiting for a building to be constructed and finished. I have heard many accounts from original members of the wards, like that there were several people standing in the back of the gym and there not being enough chairs for everyone.
    There was two Elders Quorums for a while.
    There apparently was little time for testimonies and talks because of the amount of baby blessings, and because of the 90 women pregnant at any time.
    They implemented a one way hallway flow to help with congestion.
    And the most amazing thing I've heard is that there was 12 nurseries, which doesn't seem physically possible, and is likely exaggerated. Even as our ward has matured gradually, we have still have consistently had 4 nurseries. As far as I know there wasn't any big problems in leadership. It just became normal to ordain High priests when they turned 30 - 35 in order to even out the number of elders.

    What happened in my area must be very small in comparison to what is occurring in northern Utah County. Our stake eventually split easily by making two stakes into three years after the majority of the building had stopped.

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  6. So in Kirimati about 10% of the people are Church members. That is impressive.

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  7. The new branch in Rockford stake is encouraging to me. For a while it seemed like the English-language, not specialized branch was dying in the US, but there were clearly lots of places that could use them. I am glad to see them coming back.

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  8. Attended church in Chamberlain SD and Rock Canyon, Provo, UT. Good times.

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