Wednesday, November 25, 2015

New Stakes Created in India, Nevada, Nigeria, Russia, and Utah; New Districts Created in Mexico and South Africa; Stake Discontinued in Mexico

India
The Church organized its second stake in India on November 15th. The Bengaluru India District was organized from the Bangalore India District. All five branches within the city of Bengaluru appeared to become wards, whereas the Kolar Gold Fields Branch did not appear to become a ward. The Church created its first stake in India in 2012 in Hyderabad.

There are now two stakes and five districts in India.

Nevada
The Church created a new stake in Henderson, Nevada on November 15th. The Henderson Nevada McCullough Hills Stake was created from a division of the Henderson Nevada Black Mountain and Henderson Nevada Eldorado Stakes. The new stake includes the following seven wards: the Dutchman Pass, Eldorado Pass, Highland Hills, Laurel Hills, McCullough Hills, Palm Canyon, and Paradise Hills Wards.

There are now 35 stakes in Nevada. Local members also report another new stake will be created in northwestern Las Vegas on December 13th.

Nigeria
The Church created two new stakes in Lagos from a division of the three previously operating stakes in the city.

The Lagos Nigeria Egbeda Stake was organized from a division of the Lagos Nigeria West Stake (renamed the Lagos Nigeria Agege Stake). The new stake includes the following six wards: the Akowonjo, Ayobo, Egbeda, Ejigbo, Igando, and Ikotun Wards. The Lagos Nigeria Festac Stake was organized from a division of the Lagos Nigeria South Stake (renamed the Lagos Nigeria Yaba Stake). The new stake includes the following five wards and four branches: the Apapa, Festac, Okokomaiko, Olodi-Apapa, and Satellite Wards, and the Ajangbadi, Badagry, Mosafejor, and Snake Island Branches. The number of stakes in Lagos increased from one in 1997 to two in 2005, three in 2011, and five in 2015. Rapid congregational growth has occurred in Lagos since the late 2000s. For more information, click here to access a case study analyzing LDS growth in Lagos dated August 2014.

There are now 32 stakes and 19 districts in Nigeria.

Russia
The Church created a new stake in Russia. The Saratov Russia Stake was organized from the Saratov Russia District. The new stake includes the following five wards and three branches: the Dachny, Penza, Solnichny, Volzhski, and Zavodskoy Wards, and the Balakovo, Engels, and Marks Branches. The Church organized its first two stakes in Russia in 2011 and 2012.

There are now three stakes and seven districts in Russia.

Utah
The Church created a new stake in St George. The St George Utah Southgate Stake was organized from the Bloomington Utah Stake. The new stake includes the following six wards: the Bloomington 3rd, Bloomington 7th, Bloomington 9th (Samoan), Southgate 1st, Southgate 2nd, and Southgate 3rd Wards.

There are now 580 stakes and one district in Utah.

Mexico
The Church discontinued the San Cristóbal México Stake on November 1st and divided the stake into two districts, namely the Comitán México and San Cristóbal México Districts. The decision to discontinue the stake appeared rooted in stagnant real growth within the stake boundaries, long distances between congregations, and the operation of multiple member groups within the stake boundaries in recent years. A lack of local leadership may have also prompted the closure of the stake. The creation of the Comitán México District may provide greater inroads to the lesser-reached Tojolabal people - a Mayan people who resides in rural areas east of Comitán.

There are now 230 stakes and 40 districts in Mexico.

South Africa
The Church created a new district in the southern Johannesburg metropolitan area. The Vaal South Africa District was organized from a division of the Bedfordview South Africa Stake. The new district includes the following five branches: the Ennerdale, Orange Farm, Sebokeng, Sharpeville, and Vereeniging Branches.

There are now 15 stakes and four districts in South Africa.

28 comments:

  1. Good to see the growth. As much as has been publicized about former members leaving membership roles due to church policies instituted, I am glad international growth is robust.
    About non-traditional marriages, I have always thought plural marriage and other various arrangements have commonalities but many in favor of same gender matrimony fail to recognize their shared paths. Hmm.
    Food for thought.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unit Update
    15 Nov
    Makurdi Branch, Nigeria Enugu Mission (5 Branches, 4 Districts, 2 Stakes)

    22 Nov (Busy Week)
    Lagos Nigeria Egbeda Stake (6 Wards)
    Akowonjo Ward
    Ayobo Ward
    Egbeda Ward
    Ejigbo Ward
    Igando Ward
    Ikotun Ward

    Lagos Nigeria Festac Stake (4 Branches, 5 Wards)
    Ajangbadi Branch (1200372)
    Badagry Branch (2022362)
    Mosafejor Branch (2022370)
    Snake Island Branch
    Apapa Ward
    Festac Ward
    Okokomaiko Ward
    Olodi-Apapa Ward
    Satellite Ward

    Vaal South Africa District (5 Branches)
    Ennerdale Branch
    Orange Farm Branch
    Sebokeng Branch
    Sharpeville Branch
    Vereeniging Branch

    Cody 4th Ward, Cody Wyoming Stake (13 Wards)
    Cottonwood Heights Ward, Albuquerque New Mexico West Stake (4 Branches, 8 Wards)
    Diamond Springs Ward, Eagle Mountain Utah Stake (10 Wards)
    Hidden Canyon Ward, Eagle Mountain Utah Stake (10 Wards)
    Mapleton 24th Ward (Portuguese), Mapleton Utah North Stake (11 Wards)(46 Stakes)
    Otukpo Branch, Nigeria Enugu Mission (5 Branches, 3 Districts, 2 Stakes)
    Pony Express Branch (Portuguese), Eagle Mountain Utah Central Stake (1 Branch, 7 Wards) (23 Stakes)
    Spanish Fork SA Ward, Spanish Fork Utah Stake (1 Branch, 8 Wards) (10 Stakes)
    Traverse Mountain 13th Branch, Lehi Utah Pheasant Pointe Stake (1 Branch, 10 Wards)
    Western Hills Ward, Rio Rancho New Mexico Stake (3 Branches, 8 Wards)
    Woodmont Ward, Albuquerque New Mexico West Stake (4 Wards, 8 Wards)

    YTD 590(12.55/week 47) +15 (Net +11)
    Africa 167, 28.2% (5) - Total 1761 (5)
    America North 132, 22.3% (+4) - Total 9328 (3)
    America Central 42, 7.3% (0) - Total 3921 (0)
    America South 52, 9.1% (0) - Total 6339 (-3)
    Asia 18, 3.1% (0) - Total 927 (0)
    Europe 27, 4.7% (0) - Total 1706 (-10)
    Pacific 46, 8.0% (0) - Total 2727 (0)
    Utah & Idaho 106(85), 17.2% (+7) - Total 6912(5697) (+5) (Utah only in parenthesis)

    Totals no-sensitive
    Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
    Global 25 148 418 3,164 546 22,531 7,363 34,195
    Us/Can 10 81 131 1,596 10 12,561 2,072 16,461
    US n/a 73 124 1,549 7 12,224 1,922 15,899
    Utah n/a 15 10 580 1 4,694 329 5,629
    Canada n/a 8 7 47 3 337 150 552
    Out 15 67 287 1,568 536 9,970 5,291 17,734

    With Sensitive
    Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
    Global 25 148 418 3,164 557 22,535 7,454 34,301

    ReplyDelete
  3. When I was in Ocosingo in 2006 the then BP saw a stake in the future for the town. Ocosingo is still a branch but now we have missionaries in Yajalon and Oxchuc, and every now and then they go to surrounding towns.

    San cristobal and comitan were split into diatricts due to travel time constraints and multiple groups among the old stake. It is five hours from Elambo to Motozintla.

    The church is growing nicely but it is more important to establish centers of strength right now to expand in the future

    ReplyDelete
  4. Five stakes in Lagos, which is one of the largest cities in the world and will only get larger, indicates a temple annnouncement in a few years if not sooner. The Aba Nigeria Temple is one of the very small ones, and may have the largest temple district for temples of a similar size and capacity.

    ReplyDelete
  5. How likely is the Cody Stake to split in the next year?

    ReplyDelete
  6. It is very encouraging to see Portuguese units formed in Utah County. Does this reflect continued immigration from Brazil. I know the last ward I was in in Provo had at least one couple where the husband was American and the wife was Brazilian. The Detroit Temple is having a Portuguese language session on December 5th.

    Any clue as to why Traverse Mountain 13th is a branch? Is that a high transience apartment area lacking leadership to make a ward, or is it a new growth area where there are not yet enough residents to make a ward, or is this just a high inactivity area and a branch poised to grow to a ward? Or is it an unidentified special unit?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am also thinking with 5 stakes in Lagos we may well see a temple announced there in the next year. On the other hand Benin City actually has more stakes. I wonder if both cities might get temple announcements at the same time next year. Maybe I am being too optimistic though.

    ReplyDelete
  8. There were questions about creating Portuguese units in 2001 at a regional training meeting held before a regional conference in the Provo Tabernacle, at that time there were only 60 members who spoke Portuguese in the Provo area based on what someone said when asking the question in that meeting. So things have grown significantly for Portuguese speakers here now.

    ReplyDelete
  9. John when i was in the Cody tack as a missionary last year I spoke to a member of the High council about the planes to splat the stack and he said was that when Cody gets 4 wards and Powell gets 4 wards that the stack will mere then likly be ready to splat, Cody has a lot of family's moving in to the 3rd ward. with being said last year the 3rd ward had 300 active members and was growing at a fast speed. the big thing with splatting the stack is the two Burlington wads and the Otto ward meet together and there is nothing there for growth the sisters said that broth towns are like 95% members with most of them being active. and the Meeteetse is having a hard time with family's moving out that it may be a branch before to long only way right now for the stack to splat that I can see is if Cody takes Meeteetse, Burlington wads and the Otto ward and Powell witch has a ysa ward takes the Byron Ward from lovell witch is 16 miles from Powell and only 6 from Lovell. a splat like that next year will be the most likely if there is a splat. that will give Cody 8 wards powell 5 wards and the ysa ward for 6 wards and lovell 7 wards.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Here's a grammar and spelling correction for the previous post for clarification: "John, when I was in the Cody stake as a missionary last year, I spoke to a member of the High council about the plans to split the stake. He said that when Cody gets 4 wards and Powell gets 4 wards that the stake will more then likely be ready to split. Cody has a lot of families moving into the 3rd ward. With that being said, last year the 3rd ward had 300 active members and was growing at a fast speed. The big thing with splitting the stake is that the two Burlington wards and the Otto ward meet together and there is nothing there for growth. The sisters said that both towns are about 95% members with most of them being active. The Meeteetse ward is having such a hard time with families moving out that it may become a branch before too long. The only way right now for the stake to split (that I can see) is if the Cody stake takes the Meeteetse ward, the Burlington wards, and the Otto ward; and if the Powell stake (which has a YSA ward) takes the Byron Ward from Lovell (which is 16 miles from Powell and only 6 miles from Lovell). A split like that next year will be the most likely; if there is a split. That will give the Cody stake 8 wards, the Powell stake 5 wards (adding the YSA ward makes for 6 wards), and the Lovell stake will have 7 wards." :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Also the requirement of 6000 members may be too high.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Most of Traverse Mountain 13th Branch's leadership lives in the same apartment complex. That could mean something.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I got lost in this thread... Traverse Mountain Branch is in Vegas or Wyoming? One apartment complex does seem a little odd for a stake presidency. Even the Executive Secretary?

    ReplyDelete
  15. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives, the Church reported to ARDA that at the end of 2010, Park County had
    9 congregations and 3,180 adherents. Today, Park County has 10 Congregations (1st to 4th Cody, 1st to 4th Powell, the YSA ward and the Meeteetse Ward. The two Burlington and one Otto wards are in Big Horn County. At the end of 2010, the Church reported in Big Horn and Park counties combined: 22 congregations with 7,081 adherents. The two counties would have needed to grow by 2000 members to meet the membership requirements for 3 stakes.

    There already are four wards in each of Cody and Powell.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Traverse Mountain is northern Utah County.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Other Wyoming stakes that are big, at least in terms of wards and branches, are Gillette, Casper, Laramie, and maybe. Rock Springs.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Why Traverse Mountain 13th is a branch and not a ward is interesting. Traverse Mountain Blvd is part of the boundary between the Lehi Utah Traverse Mountain Stake and the Lehi Utah Pheasant Pointe Stake. The Lehi Utah Traverse Mountain Stake contains 10 Wards: Traverse Mountain 1st through 12th minus the two in the Lehi Utah Pheasant Pointe Stake (3rd and 11th).
    I would think that the 13th Branch was split from either or both of the 3rd and 11th wards.

    The 13th Branch isn't showing up on LDS Maps yet.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The Jinja stake was organized today by Elder Ellis and Elder Makasi.

    ReplyDelete
  20. all 4 of Cody ward's should have around 325 members. and I'm thanking the 4 Powell ward's are around 300 each a lot of the Wards in Wyoming are around 400, like In Worland only one Ward has mere then 350 members.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Traverse Mountain 13th branch is in Lehi, Utah. I think they were saying the branch leadership mainly lives in one apartment complex.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Where is Jinja? I am guessing somewhere in Asia, but I have no clue beyond that.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Jinja is in Uganda, not too far away from Kampala.

    ReplyDelete
  24. On further investigation, Jinja is in Uganda. I wrongly thought Makasi was a Japanese name. Elder Makasi was born in Zimbabwe in 1973. He joined the Church in 1994, and has worked for several years for the Church Educational System. At 42 he is a fairly young area seventy. Elder Makasi currently lives in Johannesburg, but this is because he is CES director for the Africa South East Area.

    ReplyDelete
  25. The bio page on Area Seventies for the Africa Southeast Area is quite interesting. Here is an article on Elder Khumbulani Mdletshe. "Elder Khumbulani Mdletshe was named a member of the Third Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 5, 2014. Elder Mdletshe received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science from Brigham Young University-Hawaii in 1991, a master’s degree in education from Brigham Young University in 1992, and a PhD in education management from Rand Afrikaans University in 1999. In 1993 Elder Mdletshe began his career as an education center coordinator for the National Research Foundation and continued to work in the education research field until 1997 when he began working for the Church. Since that time he has worked as both a regional and area director for the Church Educational System (CES). Currently, he serves as the director of the Roodepoort South Africa Institute. Since joining the Church in 1980, Elder Mdletshe has served in numerous Church callings, including full-time missionary in the London South Mission, bishop’s counselor, branch president’s counselor, branch president, high councilor, stake president’s counselor, and mission president’s counselor. Khumbulani Desmond Mdletshe was born in Durban, South Africa, on October 18, 1964. He married Cynthia Ntombifuthi Hlongwane in December 1994. They are the parents of four children. Elder and Sister Mdletshe reside in Roodepoort, South Africa." This is the link https://africase.lds.org/area-seventy-profiles

    ReplyDelete
  26. LDS Maps lists 7 branches in the Jinja Uganda District

    Bugembe Branch
    Iganga Branch
    Jinja Branch
    Lugazi Branch
    Mpumedde Branch
    Njeru Branch
    Walukuba Branch

    5 are tightly packed in Jinga with the Iganga Branch some distance to the east and the Lugazi Branch some distance to the west.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Was there a new State created in Pleasant View Utah recently? It was listed and then taken off the list....

    ReplyDelete
  28. The new stake in Pleasant View was a false alert, at least for now. The area is still growing and has 23 wards for two stakes, so it is quite likely that we will see a third stake created there in the near future.

    ReplyDelete