Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Second Stake Organized in the Marshall Islands

The Church organized its second stake in the Micronesian nation of the Marshall Islands. The new stake appeared to be organized either on October 9th or October 16th. The Kwajalein Marshall Islands Stake was organized from the Kwajalein Marshall Islands District. The new stake includes five branches that were previously assigned to the Kwajalein Marshall Islands District - all of which have likely become wards. The vast majority of membership in the new stake resides on Ebeye Island - a tiny island inhabited by over 10,000 people located on approximately 80 acres. The Kwajalein Marshall Islands District was organized in 1991. The Church created its first stake in the Marshall Islands in 2009 on the main atoll of Majuro.

More information on the organization of the new stake can be found here.

15 comments:

Eduardo said...

Very cool. I wonder what the activity rate is among the Marshallese and how many converts they baptize. Also, what literature is published in their language? This places deserves a temple, right?

J S A said...

Meridian Idaho Victory Stake October 16 2016
Green Valley Ward
Locust Grove Ward
Mason Creek Ward
Meridian 5th Ward
Meridian Greens Ward
Overland Ward
Victory Ward

Mike Johnson said...

According to TempleRick the Kwajalein Marshall Islands Stake became a stake on 16 October and has the following five wards:
Ebeye 1st Ward
Ebeye 2nd Ward
Ebeye 3rd Ward
Kwajalein Ward
Lae Ward

John Pack Lambert said...

According to Wikipedia Ebeye has over 15,000 people. Half the population is below age 18. Ebeye was the main destination of population relocation to open land for nuclear testing in other parts of the Marshall Islands.

There are 8 Marshalese speaking branches in the United States. This is all the more impressive since there are less than 75,000 people in the Marshall Islands.

John Pack Lambert said...

The South Jordan Utah Daybreak Stake just got its 10th ward, which might mean Salt Lake County will see its first new stake this year soon.

The Heber City rearangements might be opening up for a new stake if some wards are likely to get split in the near future.

Charleston South Carolina got a 2nd ward. There are now 9 wards and 3 branches in the Charleston South Carolina Stake.

Iris and Craig said...

Great news!

TempleRick said...

Once the Kwajalein Marshall Islands Stake came through in CDOL, I found the creation date was actually October 9.

NewsAnchor007 said...

It's now official, the Cambridge Massachusetts Stake will be split next weekend of November 5 and 6th 2016. It would be the 5th stake in the state of Massachusetts, and the first new one following the creation of the Cambridge stake in 1997. Although the name is not 100% official yet, it is highly likely it will be called the North Shore Stake. So far, the Lynn Spanish Branch and Lynnfield Ward are confirmed to being in the new stake. Cambridge Stake Presidency will be reorganized along with the creation of the new stake. The current Cambridge Stake Presidency has been serving for roughly 9 years.

Mike Johnson said...

I am not sure there needs to be wards splits in Heber for a new stake. The four stakes (including the Midway Utah stake) have a total of 39 wards and 4 branches. ARDA has over 15,000 LDS adherents in 39 congregations at the end of 2010 in Wasatch County covered by the 4 stakes. The overall population has grown from about 23, 000 in 2010 to about 29,000 in 2015. My guess is the total membership has probably not gone down and likely went up. At 3000 members per stake, they probably have enough members to create a new stake. And they certainly have enough wards to do so. So, I suspect they have been waiting on active full-tithe-paying Melchizedek Priesthood holders. Or perhaps getting four stakes to agree with a plan to submit might have taken time.

That said, I could see a Charleston stake created with four of the wards from the Midway Utah Stake (Charleston, Deer Creek, and the two Wallsburg Wards, plus at least 1 of the YSA wards--both of which meet in the Charleston building. Additional wards would probably be needed from the Heber City Utah Stake (such as Daniel 1st and 2nd Wards. But to make that work, the Heber City Utah Stake would then need some help from the Heber City north and/or east stakes.

Heber City Utah East Stake (8 wards, 3 branches):
Center Creek Ward
Cobblestone Ward
Heber 15th Ward
Lake Creek 1st Ward
Lake Creek 2nd Ward
Lake Creek Farms Ward
Old Mill Ward
Wild Mare Ward
Heber 13th Branch (Spanish)
Heber 17th Branch (Care Center)
Heber Valley Branch (Correctional Facility)

Heber City Utah North Stake (10 wards, 1 branch):
Heber 1st Ward
Heber 2nd Ward
Heber 5th Ward
Heber 6th Ward
Heber 7th Ward
Heber 9th Ward
Heber YSA Ward
Timp Meadows Ward
Valley Hills 1st Ward
Valley Hills 2nd Ward
Heber 16th Branch (Care Center)

Heber City Utah Stake (9 wards):
Daniel 1st Ward
Daniel 2nd Ward
Daniels Canyon Ward
Heber 3rd Ward
Heber 4th Ward
Heber 8th Ward
Heber 12th Ward
Heber 14th Ward
Wheeler Park Ward

Midway Utah Stake (12 wards)
Charleston Ward
Deer Creek Ward
Dutch Canyon Ward
Fox Den Ward
Memorial Hill Ward
Midway 2nd Ward
Midway YSA Ward
River Road Ward
Swiss Alpine Ward
Wallsburg 1st Ward
Wallsburg 2nd Ward
Wasatch Mountain Ward

Mike Johnson said...

Thank You, TempleRick

John Pack Lambert said...

Here http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/10/christian-refugee-iran-germany-merkel/504092/ is an article from The Atlantic about refugees primarily from Iran converting to Protestantism in Germany.

I seem to recall some indications of some LDS missionary success among both Iranian and Turkish immigrants in Germany. Back in I think August all the missionaries in Turkey were sent to Germany until things settled in Turkey for example.

John Pack Lambert said...

Has the Book of Mormon been published in Farsi? What about in TUrkish?

Mike Johnson said...

Turkish yes (1906 and again in 2001.
Farsi yes (2015)

Eduardo said...

I gave a Farsi Book of Mormon to a co-worker back around 2012. I don't know if 2015 was a re-do or not. The same guy knew Turkish as well.

Gnesileah said...

Selections of The Book of Mormon in Farsi were published in 1983, with the full translation in 2015.