Tuesday, September 6, 2016

New Stakes Created in Utah; Two Stakes Discontinued in South Korea; District Reinstated in Russia

Utah
The Church created two new stakes in Provo, Utah on August 28th.

The Provo Utah YSA 20th and the Provo Utah YSA 21st Stakes were organized from a division of several YSA stakes in the Provo area. The Provo Utah YSA 20th Stake includes the following eight wards: the Provo YSA 46th, Provo YSA 49th, Provo YSA 53rd, Provo YSA 56th, Provo YSA 57th, Provo YSA 48th, Provo YSA 58th, and Provo YSA 59th Wards. The Provo Utah YSA 21st Stake includes the following seven wards: the Provo YSA 108th, Provo YSA 110th, Provo YSA 114th, Provo YSA 115th, Provo YSA 117th, Provo YSA 118th, and Provo YSA 119th Wards.

There are now 582 stakes and one district in Utah.

South Korea
The Church discontinued two stakes in the Seoul metropolitan area. The Anyang Korea and Suwon Korea Stakes were discontinued. Retained congregations were reassigned to the Seoul Korea South and the Gyeonggi Korea (formerly the Seoul Korea Yeongdong) Stakes. Several wards were also discontinued as part of the stake realignment. As a returned missionary who had served in the affected area, I observed over 10 years ago that the Anyang Korea and the Suwon Korea Stakes operated with a minimal number of wards. At the time, many of the wards in these stakes had between 50-100 active members. The decision to discontinue the stakes appears attributed to the ongoing exodus of active Latter-day Saint families to other countries (e.g. the United States, Australia, and China), few convert baptisms, and low birth rates. Coincidentally, both the Anyang Korea and Suwon Korea Stakes were also created the same year from a division of the original Seoul Korea West Stake. The last time the Church simultaneously discontinued two stakes in the same metropolitan area was in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2012.

There are now 13 stakes and six districts in South Korea. The Church has discontinued four stakes in South Korea within the past four years.

Russia
The Church reinstated another member district in Russia. The Vladivostok Russia District was organized from six mission branches in the Russia Vladivostok Mission. The new district includes the following seven branches: the Artyom, Khabarovsk, Nakhodka, Ussuriysk, Vladivostok, Vladivostok Russia District, and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Branches. With the reinstatement of the Vladivostok Russia District, all branches in the Russia Vladivostok Mission pertain to a district (except for the Russia Vladivostok Mission Branch which services the vast expanses of the Russian Far East outside of districts headquartered in Irkutsk and Vladivostok).

There are now three stakes and 10 districts in Russia.

11 comments:

Yeechang Lee said...

Korean members are emigrating to China?

BYULAW said...

In my Utah neighborhood, unless I am counting wrong, there are four lds families that have emigrated from South Korea. Some attend my ward, while others regularly attend a Korean speaking unit. I am not sure if all converted before emigrating to the United States or if they converted after coming here. Regardless, it is somewhat regrettable from a church growth perspective that so many have left their country of origin. I'm sure there are reasons for their emigration, and perhaps that was the best thing for their families. However, the fact remains that South Korea has lost too many strong members.

Eduardo said...

Tonga has lost many strong members. It has strengthened the Church everywhere else. Sweden and Dennmark, Scotland and England, Chile and Peru...
We live in an ever globalizing world at the same time of the gathering of Israel.
We went to the Philly open house and it was cool. Sometimes Jesus goes to the city. City of our nation's forefathers. 1.5 miles from Independence Hall.

John Pack Lambert said...

There are strong economic pulls for people to go to China. There is somewhere in the vicinity of 5,000 Church members in China who are not Chinese nationals.

Gennie said...

Thanks for sharing this really an amazing and nice blog,
Senior Pastor

Eduardo said...

Tonga has lost many strong members. It has strengthened the Church everywhere else. Sweden and Dennmark, Scotland and England, Chile and Peru...
We live in an ever globalizing world at the same time of the gathering of Israel.
We went to the Philly open house and it was cool. Sometimes Jesus goes to the city. City of our nation's forefathers. 1.5 miles from Independence Hall.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

A couple Korean families and single members from Korea attend my home ward back in Germany. The father of the largest family was my YM leader for a while. It doesn't seem like the economy in South Korea is anywhere near dismal, so I'm a bit puzzled about why so many leave the country. Some Korean members I've talked to have said that it's easier for their children to find eternal companions in the western hemisphere (I wouldn't necessarily agree in Germany's case though).

Here in Utah, I'm also acquainted with a few Koreans, although most of them immigrated to America and found the Church here. I know an elderly (now retired) Korean-American couple that used to run a rather "ghetto" gas station across the street from my house, where I sometimes went when I had forgotten to buy groceries during the day. I had no idea they where members, until one probably not so busy night, I saw the husband read the Ensign in the store. They had found the missionaries in Portland 10 years ago and moved out to Utah a few months after getting baptized.

All of the other ones I know are college students who were found through referrals from member friends/roommates, or through Institute activities. I actually know someone from North Korea who joined the Church here in Ogden. Really smart and faithful guy. I think he might have moved to South Korea after graduating, as I haven't heard from him in a while.

Unknown said...

How would I go about finding out about the growth of a particular area over the last few years, specifically Tucson Arizona.

The Spencers said...

Thete was a Koean family in my ward in Alabama a few years ago. Hyundai built a factory in my town, and the father of this family was a manager there. Korean companies have brought a lot of manufacturing jobs to the US over the past several years. The family moved back after a year or two because they had a hard time with the language. There aren't a lot of Korean speakers in Alabama.

The Spencers said...

Thete was a Koean family in my ward in Alabama a few years ago. Hyundai built a factory in my town, and the father of this family was a manager there. Korean companies have brought a lot of manufacturing jobs to the US over the past several years. The family moved back after a year or two because they had a hard time with the language. There aren't a lot of Korean speakers in Alabama.