Today the Church announced the formation of three new missions in Africa and Asia "on or before July 1, 2016."
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo Mbuji-Mayi Mission will be organized from a division of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lubumbashi Missions. Based on maps provided in the official news release, the new mission will include three stakes (Kananga DR Congo, Katoka DR Congo, and Luputa DR Congo) and two districts (Mbuji-Mayi and Mwene-Ditu). The Church has experienced some of its most rapid growth in the international church in the central DR Congo within the past decade. The Church has significantly expanded its missionary operations in western areas of Central Africa during the past six years. The Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa initially included the entire DR Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea in early 2010, whereas today the Church operates the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lubumbashi Mission (organized in 2010) to service the southern DR Congo and Burundi and the Republic of the Congo Brazzaville Mission (organized in 2014) to service the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. The realigned Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa Mission will service all seven stakes in the Kinshasa metropolitan area as well as mission branches in Matadi and Kisangani. The realigned Democratic Republic of the Congo Lubumbashi Mission will include three stakes (all in Lubumbashi) and two districts. The country of Burundi will also continue to be assigned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lubumbashi Mission.
By July 2016, there will be three LDS missions headquartered in the DR Congo.
Nigeria
The Nigeria Owerri Mission will be organized from a division of the Nigeria Port Harcourt Mission. Based on maps provided in the official news release, the new mission will include the Nigerian states of Abia and Imo where there was a combined population of approximately eight million people as of 2011. Six stakes and two districts currently operate in Abia and Imo States. The realigned Nigeria Port Harcourt Mission will service the Nigerian states of Bayelsa and Rivers where there was a combined population of approximately eight million people as of 2011. Rapid LDS growth has occurred within the current boundaries of the Nigeria Port Harcourt Mission within the past decade. Three stakes and two districts operate in Bayelsa and Rivers States.
By July 2016, there will be six LDS missions headquartered in Nigeria.
Vietnam
The Vietnam Hanoi Mission will be organized from a division of the Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission. The new mission will include the entire country of Vietnam where over 94 million people reside. The Church currently operates one district (Hanoi Vietnam - organized in 2010) that administers the four branches in the country. The Church obtained official recognition from the Vietnamese government in 2014 and has assigned Vietnamese-descent members on full-time missionaries to Vietnam since the mid-2000s. Prospects appear favorable for the establishment of official branches outside of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City where currently there are no official congregations of the Church.
The Vietnam Hanoi Mission is the first LDS mission ever to be organized in Vietnam.
38 comments:
Intriguing - the Church in Vietnam seems to be improving. It seems like it was just last year (though I think it was in 2014) that the country was no longer sensitive.
The Mbuji-Mayi Mission looks to only cover the Kasai region (Oriental and Occidental).
Interesting note: Elder Teh of the Seventy has been called to be a Mission President in Taiwan.
Glad to see another French-speaking mission. I know back in 2006, it was less than 0.2% of the Church. Does anyone know where to find language stats? I can't seem to even find the 2006 stats.
For what it is worth, I would question the ability of the Church to currently release accurate language stats. The linguistic composition of membership in many African countries is far too complex to adequately cover by such stats.
What such stats tell us is the primary language of the unit people are assigned to. However even in my ward here in Michigan we have at times had members who were not fluent at all in English, only Spanish. I have doubts that as high a percentage of members in the Democratic Republic of the Congo speak French as some suggest. Also, I know that in Paraguay there are members who attend officially Spanish congregations who only have a rudimentary grasp of Spanish and mainly speak Guarani.
These are exciting developments. I am not surprised about the Owerri Development. I did not realize the Church had made so much progress in Vietnam.
The new mission president in Angola appears to come from some sort of Portuguese background with the name Danelson Silva. My guess is he is Btrazilian. My guess is that Dustan Chadambuka the new president of the Botswana/Namibia Mission (which also includes part of South Africa), is from somewhere in Africa, probably southern Africa. Alfred Kyungu who will be mission president in Myugi-Maya is probably from somewhere in Africa, I would guess Nigeria or Ghana but could be wrong.
Elder Teh being called as a mission president is interesting, but not unprecedented. Elder Packer was an Assistant to the 12 when he served as president of the New England mission. I believe Elder Marlin K. Jensen also served as a mission president after his call as a general authority. Those are about the only ones I know of since World War II. President Benson was president of the European mission for a year just after World War II and again for a few years in the 1960s, but that was more like being an Area President, especially the second time. He presided over mission presidents, not over missionaries. I believe Elder Matthew Cowley had a similar position as president of the Pacific Mission. I believe that mission only existed with President Cowley.
Going further down the list of new mission presidents, Brazil seems to have gone down a little in the number of Brazilians serving as mission presidents, but still over half are Brazilians. The new mission president in Poland, Mateusz Turek, might be a Pole. Mexico may have also seen a decline in the number of Mexican mission presidents, but some missions appear to be getting Mexican mission presidents that did not have one before, so it is hit or miss.
Argentina looks to be seeing a shift from Anglo-American to at least Latin American and maybe Argentine mission presidents.
Further analysis will have to wait until I actual read biographies. Although even these sometimes do not reveal how connected an individual is to the mission. For example Elder Rasband not only had served a mission where he was mission president, but also had lived for a time within the mission boundaries. He owned a home in south-west Connecticut with his wife and at least some children at the time Jon Huntsman Sr. recruited him to come be CFO for Huntsman Chemical.
Unit Update and initial Statistics
Based on this post from the Lubumbashi Mission Presidents blog I was hoping Kivu province would be included in the Mbuji-Mayi Mission as that would make the organization of a branch in Bukavu more likely.
https://24monthsinlubumbashi.wordpress.com/2015/09/06/learning-to-float/
There were two additional units created in 2015 bringing the total to 650 new units.
Dec 27
Chupei 3rd Ward, Hsin Chu Taiwan Stake (B:1, W:9)
Pearl Harbor-Hickam Ward, Honolulu Hawaii West Stake (W:9)
YTD 650(12.5/week 52) +2 (Net 9) - Total 34,202(-7)
Africa 176, 27.1% (0) - Total 1770 (0)
Asia 22, 3.3% (+1) - Total 931 (+1)
America North 152, 23.6% (+1) - Total 9337 (0)
America Central 46, 6.8% (+2) - Total 3921 (+2)
America South 61, 9.2% (+2) - Total 6347 (+1)
Europe 27, 4.2% (0) - Total 1715 (-1)
Pacific 48, 7.5% (0) - Total 2729 (0)
Utah & Idaho 116(94), 18.0(14.6)% (+6) - Total 6920(5707)(+1)
Jan 3
Acton Ward, Nashua New Hampshire Stake (W:9)
Carl Junction Ward, Joplin Missouri Stake (B:2, W:8)
Indio Ward (Spanish), Palm Desert California Stake (B:2, W:8)
Mount Hood YSA Branch, Mount Hood Oregon Stake (B:1, W:6)
Narcoossee Ward, Orlando Florida Hunters Creek Stake (B:2, W:6)
Royse City Ward, Heath Texas Stake (W:8)
Southmoor Ward, Eagle Mountain Utah North Stake (W:8)
Sunset Ridge 6th Ward, West Jordan Utah Sunset Ridge Stake (W:8)
YTD 8(8/week 1) +8 (Net 9) - Total 34,210(+8)
Africa 0, 0% (0) - Total 1770 (0)
Asia 0, 0% (0) - Total 931 (0)
America Central 0, 0% (0) - Total 3921 (0)
America North 6, 75.0% (+8) - Total 9337 (0)
America South 0, 0% (0) - Total 6347 (0)
Europe 0, 0% (0) - Total 1715 (0)
Pacific 0, 0% (0) - Total 2729 (0)
Utah & Idaho 2(2), 20.0(20.0)% (2) - Total 6920(5707)(0)
Totals no-sensitive (Net 3)
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 149 418 3,174 547 22,574 7,350 34,237
Us/Can 10 81 131 1,600 10 12,585 2,063 16,480
US n/a 73 124 1,552 7 12,247 1,915 15,918
Utah n/a 15 10 580 1 4,702 331 5,638
Canada n/a 8 7 48 3 338 148 552
Out 15 68 287 1,574 537 9,989 5,287 17,757
With Sensitive
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 149 418 3,174 558 22,576 7,441 34,343 Unit total 33,748
Yes, the new president of the Angola Luanda Mission, Denelson Silva, is Brazilian. He was my stake president in São Paulo when I spent a summer at the University of São Paulo in 2014.
John, President Turek is originally from Poland but he has studied and lived in Germany. He was my CES supervisor when I taught Seminary in Germany right after coming off my Mission, and he was also a counselor in the Dortmund Stake Presidency. At one time, it was mentioned that he was the only Polish high priest of the Church, but I believe by now a few others may have been called to that office in other parts of Europe and the world. He might also be one of the youngest of this MP class, being still in his mid-30s. I was surprised and not surprised to see him called - he is definitely nothing short of a spiritual giant.
Just learned of a stake being discontinued in the Sugar House area of Salt Lake, one ward went four ways when it was dissolved as well. Name of the stake dissolved is said to have been Sugar House.
I don't have all of the names but three stakes in San Antonio, TX were realligned with many wards being moved around and then a new stake organized today.
I don't have all of the names but three stakes in San Antonio, TX were realligned with many wards being moved around and then a new stake organized today.
Cibolo Valley Stake is the new stake in San Antonio
" Las palmas, 5th 10th and pleasanton 1st came back to east stake, woodlake, converse, live oak, Cibolo, UC ,Schertz go to Cibolo Valley stake with garden Ridge"
This is not major worldwide news or anything, but those with ties to the California central coast might find it interesting to learn that the Ventura (Santa Paula) Spanish branch is becoming a ward today. Exciting news in conjunction with the re-creation of the Lompoc Spanish branch last year. It took almost 20 years for these units to progress to where they are.
Interesting how the number of stakes in Salt Lake City proper continues to shrink. I expect more to come since there are a lot of stakes in SLC that are very small in number of units.
There was a ward discontinued in my stake as well, the Salt Lake Stake. I'm not sure which one though.
Salt Lake City definitely continues its downward membership trend. Part of the reason I'd say is a lot of members moving to smaller cities and towns around SLC.
I was amazed by the large wards in the Eagle Mountain area for example.
The Spanish Branch in Ventura - are you referring to the San Bueneventura Branch? Santa Paula has a ward that does both English and Spanish, but no Spanish Branch.
Some detail, although not all, on the Sugarhouse Stake dissolution today. Got this from Facebook.
my stake (Sugarhouse) just got dissolved and the wards shipped out to four different stakes: Bonneville, Granite, Central, and East Millcreek North. My ward, the 31st Ward, and Emerson Ward are now part of the Bonneville Stake. It would have been fun for Joel and I to be back in our old stake (Central)
The Ashburn Virginia has produced some mission presidents lately, which is cool to see. We are seeing more Inter-Mountain West calls to these important positions, which must indicate stronger growth outside the central core of Deseret (Wyoming to California).
My home state of Indiana has produced at least one mission president in recent years, and I hope to see the trend continue.
And as always, we hope big stakes like Ashburn and Fredericksburg will split soon, because the surrounding stakes ought to be able to support this. Great to see the growth.
I meant to say mission president calls OUTSIDE of the Inter-Mountain West. Of course, the ones from Utah, Arizona, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Colorado, California, are good, too.
This last weekend's Philippines Area Broadcast.
https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/philippines-area-broadcast/2016/01?lang=eng
According to LDS Maps, Cuba is now part of the Dominican Republic Santiago Mission.
I was reading on Wikipedia the articles on various Roman Catholic Military ordinates. I am wondering if anyone knows if the LDS Church has military chaplains with militaries other the the United States military. Also does the Church have military groups with the militaries of various countries. That is probably harder to know. I know that there was a general authority from Brazil who had been a career member of the Brazilian military.
I remember about 10 years ago I read an article speculating that there would soon be a Spanish-speaking stake in Ventura County. However with discontinuing of at least one Spanish-speaking stake in the LA area, repurposing one in Houston and ending exclusively Spanish-speaking stakes in Miami, I think the current direction of Church leaders is to not create new Spanish-speaking stakes in the United States.
It is good to read about progress of the Spanish-speaking units in Ventura County.
What is intersting about the Sugarhouse area is that there are tons of singles now who live in the area. Parleys 7th Midsingles Ward 31-45, which meets at the Granite Stake Center in Sugarhouse has over 800 attending the ward on Sunday with 6 Elder Quorums and 6 Relief Societies.
If they would simply split Parleys 7th into 3 or 4 new wards, they could have saved the Sugarhouse Stake from dissolving.
What is intersting about the Sugarhouse area is that there are tons of singles now who live in the area. Parleys 7th Midsingles Ward 31-45, which meets at the Granite Stake Center in Sugarhouse has over 800 attending the ward on Sunday with 6 Elder Quorums and 6 Relief Societies.
If they would simply split Parleys 7th into 3 or 4 new wards, they could have saved the Sugarhouse Stake from dissolving.
Anyone have more info about Cuba?
The LDS military groups that I observed in Mazar-i-Sharif, Bagram, and Kabul had international attendance, both military and civilian, from places like Germany, Norway, Phillipines. Also the leadership could be non-US as well. Great experience.
Looks like the Nepal Base Camps spammer is back, I'm adding him to web content filtering engines as a spamming site.
A couple late reports bring the 2015 total to 652 (12.54/week*52 weeks)
Unit Update
Dec 20
Bela Vista Branch, Bela Vista Branch (B:2, W:9)
Dec 27
Flaxmere 4th Branch (Tongan), Hastings New Zealand Flaxmere Stake (B:1, W:5)
Jan 10
San Antonio Texas Cibolo Valley Stake (W:8)
Cibolo Ward
Converse Ward
Garden Ridge Ward
Live Oak Ward
Randolph Ward
Schertz Ward
Universal City Ward
Woodlake Ward
Vero Beach Florida Stake (B:2, W:5)
Lake Placid Branch
Okeechobee Branch
Fort Pierce Ward
Palm Bay 1st Ward
Palm Bay 2nd Ward
Sebring Ward
Vero Beach Ward
Anting Ward, Tainan Taiwan Stake (W:8)
Ashcreek Ward, Queen Creek Arizona North Stake (W:12)
Clovis 2nd Ward, Lubbock Texas North Stake (B:3, W:6)
Dacula 2nd Ward, Lilburn Georgia Stake (B:3, W:7)
Dry Creek 2nd Ward, Springville Utah Dry Creek Stake (W:9)
Esplanada Branch, Araraquara Brazil Stake (B:3, W:5)
Ironwood Crossing 3rd Ward, Queen Creek Arizona North Stake (W:12)
Itatiaia Ward, Curitiba Brazil Novo Mundo Stake (W:6)
Queens Park Ward, Queen Creek Arizona North Stake (W:12)
Rounda Ward, Abeokuta Nigeria Stake (B:1, W10)
YTD 20(10/week*2) +12 (Net 0) - Total 34,210(0)
Africa 1, 5% (+1) - Total 1771 (+1)
Asia 1, 5% (+1) - Total 932 (+1)
America Central 0, 0% (0) - Total 3921 (0)
America North 13, 65.0% (+7) - Total 9342 (+5)
America South 2, 10% (+2) - Total 6347 (0)
Europe 0, 0% (0) - Total 1716 (+1)
Pacific 0, 0% (0) - Total 2730 (+1)
Utah & Idaho 3(3), 15.0(15.0)% (+1) - Total 6911(5703)(-9)
Totals no-sensitive (Net 3)
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 149 418 3,175 546 22,572 7,348 34,233
Us/Can 10 81 131 1,601 10 12,583 2,057 16,473
US n/a 73 124 1,553 7 12,246 1,909 15,912
Utah n/a 15 10 580 1 4,703 326 5,635
Canada n/a 8 7 48 3 337 148 551
Out 15 68 287 1,574 537 9,989 5,287 17,760
With Sensitive
No longer Avaiable
The first round of bios of new mission presidents has been announced. There are 3 couples from outside the US. One from Nigeria called to preside over a mission elsewhere in Nigeria, one from Colombia called to preside over a mission elsewhere in Colombia, which is the mission the husband served in. The couple are from Bogota, and the husband was born there. The wife was born in Cali but served in a Bogota Mission. The couple from Nigeria the husband works as an international security advisor for the Africa West Area. The couple from Nigeria the husband works as MTC Manager in Bogota. A third couple is from Germany, although the husband was born in Poland, but the wife was born in Germany. In that couple the husband works in the seminary and institute program. The remaining 5 couples come from the US, in one of those cases as well the husband works in the seminary and institute program.
The remaining 5 couples are from the US. One is an ethnic Japanese couple from Idaho where the husband is a farmer. Another is a couple from California where the wife is from Hawaii and at least partially of Polynesian ancestry. The ethnic Japanese couple will preside over the Oregon Salem Mission.
Is there any easy way to find out the membership for each area of the church? (i.e. NA southeast, NA southwest, Idaho area, etc.)
Membership for some church areas is available on the facts and statistics page of mormonnewsroom.org.
I just noticed that the Area President in Europe is an Area Seventy (3rd Quorum)--the first time I recall an area president not being a General Authority. Sure, Area Authorities as counselors. So, part-time Area Seventy president and full times General Authority counselors in Europe.
Europe Area Presidency
Area President Elder Patrick Kearon
1st Counselor Elder Paul V. Johnson
2nd Counselor Elder Timothy J. Dyches
Elder Dyches performed surgery on me in Reno, NV, before his call as a General Authority.
Patrick Kearon is actually a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy--has been since 2010. He did serve in the 3rd Quorum prior to his call, but has not been a member of that Quorum since his call as a General Authority. He gave a talk in the Priesthood Session of the October 2010 General Conference. The only Area Seventy currently serving in an Area Presidency is Elder Siu Hong Pon, serving as a counselor in the Asia Area Presidency. All of this is a matter of record.
We had Elder Perkins of the Seventy speak to us last Sunday. Very cool.
We had Elder Perkins of the Seventy speak to us last Sunday. Very cool.
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