Sunday, August 18, 2019

New Stakes Created in Colombia, Ghana, Mexico, and Peru

Colombia
The Church created a new stake in Colombia on August 4th. The Ibague Colombia Stake was organized from the Ibague Colombia District (originally created in 1978). The new stake includes the following five wards and one branch: the Campiña, Chicoral, Girardot, Montealegre, and Piedra Pintada Wards, and the Melgar Branch. Several branches in the former district were closed in 2012 when the Girardot Colombia District (organized in 1993) was consolidated with the Ibague Colombia District (click here for more information). However, the area appears to have finally met the minimal qualifications to become a stake, albeit this required two districts to be merged seven years ago.

There are now 30 stakes and 10 districts in Colombia.

Ghana
The Church organized a new stake in Ghana on August 11th. The Winneba Ghana Stake was reinstated from the Winneba Ghana District. Additionally, part of the Accra Ghana Kasoa Stake was included in the new stake. The Winneba Ghana District was originally organized in 1989 and became a stake in 2014. However, the stake was discontinued when the stake was divided to organize the new stake in Swedru in 2018. The reinstated Winneba Ghana Stake includes the following five wards and three branches: the Ansaful, Buduburam 1st, Buduburam 2nd, Kojo Bedu, and Winneba 2nd Wards, and the Apam, Awutu Breku, and Winneba 1st Branches.

There are now 25 stakes and 11 districts in Ghana.

Mexico
The Church created a new stake in Veracruz, Mexico on August 4th. The Veracruz Mexico Puerto Stake was organized from a division of the Veracruz Mexico Villa Rica Stake and the Veracruz Mexico Reforma Stake. The new stake includes the following six wards: the Altamirano, Buenavista, Constituyentes, Libertad, Reserva, and Tecnológico Wards. The new stake is the Church's fifth stake in Veracruz. Prior to the creation of the new stake this month, the most recently organized stake in Veracruz was created in 1995.

There are now 222 stakes and 47 districts in Mexico.

Peru
The Church organized another new stake in Lima, Peru - the fifth new stake to be created in Lima thus far in 2019. The Lima Peru Santa Clara Stake was created on August 11th from a division of the Lima Peru Campoy Stake, Lima Peru Vitarte Stake, and the Lima Peru Chaclacayo Stake. The new stake includes the following four wards and two branches: the Cajamarquilla, Jicamarca, Santa Clara, and Praderas Wards, and the Carapongo and Nicolas de Pierola Branches. Following the pattern of other recently organized stakes in Lima, the Church has created new stakes from two or more stakes, and has often created additional wards or branches following the creation of new stakes. It is likely that the two branches in the new stake have become wards or will soon become wards. The Church in Lima has not created stakes with fewer numbers of wards than historical averages. Furthermore, the number of active members per ward or branch in Lima has significantly increased within the past decade to generally 100-200 active members (compared to 50-150 active members per unit previously).

There are now 49 stakes in the Lima metropolitan area - more than any other metropolitan area outside of the United States. There are only five metropolitan areas within the United States that have more stakes than Lima, including the greater Salt Lake City, Utah metropolitan area (approximately 180 stakes within Salt Lake County); the greater Orem, Utah metropolitan area (approximately 165 stakes within Utah County); the greater Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area (approximately 80 stakes); the greater Ogden/Roy/Layton/Farmington metropolitan area in Utah (approximately 80 stakes); and the greater Los Angeles, California metropolitan area (approximately 65 stakes).

There are now 110 stakes and 18 districts in Peru.

9 comments:

James G. Stokes said...

Thank you, Matt, for this wonderful update. The Lord is surely mindful of His Saints in Colombia, Ghana, Mexico, and Peru. And He seems to have especially moved all obstacles to the progression of the work throughout all Latin American and African nations in which His Church has been established. And that is wonderful to see. I appreciate the tireless work you do to keep all of us informed on the latest worldwide Church growth developments.

Interestingly enough, the new Colombian stake now means that the Bogota Colombia Temple district has 22 stakes and 7 districts. So i stand by my previously-offered opinion that a new temple could be announced for Colombia within the next 1-3 General Conferences, but certainly sooner, if all goes well. I have Cali on my list currently, but could see temples both in Cali and Medellin within the next decade or less.

The Accra Ghana Temple district, which is now comprised of stakes and districts in Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Togo, and Benin, has a total of 52 stakes and 32 districts. Although that temple district will be shrinking somewhat once the Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire Temple is dedicated (which is anticipated to occur sometime in early 2021), I fully believe that a temple for Freetown Sierra Leone is imminently likely next General Conference, aand that within the next 4-6 General Conferences, if not sooner than that, temples will also be announced for Kumasi Ghana and Yamoussoukro Cote d'Ivoire.

The Veracruz Mexico Temple district, which now has 13 stakes and 1 district, and that temple district might be somewhat affected by the dedication of the Puebla Mexico Temple, whenever that one occurs. I fully believe that new temples in Mexico are possible in both Queretaro and Torreon within the next 4-6 General Conferences, but that could, perhaps, occur sooner. And the newest Peruvian stake means that the current Lima Peru Temple district now has 81 stakes and 11 districts. And while I don't know how the dedication of the Arequipa Peru Temple in December of this year or the dedication of the Los Olivos Temple (anticipated sometime in 2022) might alter the numbers in that temple district, I can see the Church splitting the current Lima temple district further with temples in both Cusco and Iquitos, though I would not be surprised at all if one was built in Huancayo (with perhaps another in Tacna) within the next 2 decades or less. Of those four prospects, I anticipate a temple in Iquitos will be the immediate priority, to be announced within the next 2-4 General Conferences, if not sooner than that.

We live in an exciting time in terms of Church growth in general and temple announcements and construction in particular. And regarding the latter subject, within the last 50 hours or less, I have cranked out 6 new posts, which I published on my blog, to cover some additional thoughts and observations on current and future known temple construction developments, including. With my thanks to Matt for his graciousness in continuing to allow me to do so, I'd like to again share the web address of my blog, to which anyone can go to read and comment (if desired) on that content:

https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/

It is also worth noting that there are roughly 6 weeks remaining within which I will be accepting feedback on the latest edition of the list I have put together of future prospective locations which may have a temple announced during the October 2019 General Conference, to which I also share the address:

https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2019/07/revised-and-expanded-list-of-potential.html

I look forward to any feedback anyone here would like to provide. In the meantime, my thanks again to Matt for both allowing me to mention new content from my blog here, and for this wonderful report which has given me some definite food for thought.

Eduardo said...

I wonder how many stakes are located in the greater Mexico City and Sao Paulo areas.

Greater LA probably includes Redlands and a lot of Orange and Ventura counties, true?
West Africa is looking great.

Chris D. said...

James, to further assist in the analysis of the 3 current and announced Temples in Lima Peru Temple District. Using reasoning and my best guess estimate the 3 Peru Temple Districts (Arequipa, Lima and Lima Los Olivos), from the division of the current Lima Peru Temple District (81+11). I have them reorganized as follows :

Arequipa Peru Temple District (from the Peru Arequipa + Peru Cusco Missions)

Stakes (18) :
Arequipa Perú Central
Arequipa Perú Hunter
Arequipa Perú Manuel Prado
Arequipa Perú Paucarpata
Arequipa Perú Selva Alegre
Arequipa Perú Umacollo
Arequipa Perú Zamácola
Cusco Perú
Cusco Perú Inti Raymi
Ilo Perú
Juliaca Perú
Moquegua Perú
Puno Perú Bellavista
Puno Perú Central
Sicuani Perú
Tacna Perú
Tacna Perú Alameda
Tacna Perú Arias Aragüez

Districts (8):
Abancay Perú Apurimac
Andahuaylas Perú
Camaná Perú
Majes Perú
Mollendo Perú
Puerto Maldonado Perú
Quillabamba Perú Cuzco
Valle Sagrado Perú

then, Lima Peru Temple District (from Lima Stakes + Districts south of Avenida Morales Duarez and Autopista 22 (approximately).

Stakes (30):
Ayacucho Perú
Chincha Perú
Huancayo Perú
Huancayo Perú El Valle
Ica Perú
La Merced Perú
Lima Perú Chaclacayo
Lima Perú Chorrillos
Lima Perú Chosica
Lima Perú La Campiña
Lima Perú La Libertad
Lima Perú La Molina
Lima Perú Limatambo
Lima Perú Magdalena
Lima Perú Maranga
Lima Perú Mayorazgo
Lima Perú Pachacamac
Lima Perú Rímac
Lima Perú San Gabriel
Lima Perú San Juan
Lima Perú San Luis
Lima Perú Santa Anita
Lima Perú Santa Clara
Lima Perú Santa Patricia
Lima Perú Surco
Lima Perú Villa María
Lima Perú Villa Salvador
Lima Perú Vitarte
Mantaro Perú
Pisco Perú

Districts (3):
Cañete Perú
Nazca Perú
Tarma Perú

and lastly, the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple District (from Stakes north of that line to the Trujillo Temple District):

Stakes (33):
Barranca Perú
Cerro de Pasco Perú
Huacho Perú
Huánuco Perú
Huánuco Perú Amarilis
Lima Perú Begonias
Lima Perú Callao
Lima Perú Campoy
Lima Perú Canto Grande
Lima Perú Carabayllo
Lima Perú Central
Lima Perú Comas
Lima Perú Condevilla
Lima Perú El Olivar
Lima Perú El Trébol
Lima Perú Independencia
Lima Perú Las Flores
Lima Perú Las Palmeras
Lima Perú Los Olivos
Lima Perú Magnolias
Lima Perú Miramar
Lima Perú Naranjal
Lima Perú Palao
Lima Perú Prolima
Lima Perú Puente Piedra
Lima Perú San Felipe
Lima Perú San Martín
Lima Perú Santa Isabel
Lima Perú Tahuantinsuyo
Lima Perú Torre Blanca
Lima Perú Wiesse
Pucallpa Perú
Ventanilla Perú

Although, the Stakes and Districts in the Peru Huancayo, Lima Central, and Lima East Missions could go to either Lima Temple District. I have made my best "guesstimate". We will see the outcome on Dec 15th for the Arequipa Temple. And again in 2021 for Lima Los Olivos. Each person here can do their own research and come to their own conclusion.

Chris D. said...

Sorry, I missed also the 3 Stakes in Iquitos Peru :

Iquitos Perú Nueve de Octubre Stake
Iquitos Perú Punchana Stake
Iquitos Perú Stake

that Rick has assigned to the Lima Peru Temple District. In doing research, geographically they would be closer to the Trujillo Peru Temple. But I have found no land road route to either Lima or Trujillo, in country. Only river route up the Amazonas River. And the Church even further has them assigned to the Closest Temple in Guayaquil Ecuador, using the Classic LDS Maps site. So on my list I have them assigned also to Guayaquil as suggested by the Church.

In their place I have taken the 2 Puno Peru and Juliaca Peru Stakes that are currently assigned, according to Rick, to the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple. I have reassigned them in December to the new Arequipa Peru Temple, in country.

I hope this further clarifies my discrepancy with Rick's lists.

James G. Stokes said...

Thanks for the information, Chris, and sorry about my delayed response to your providing it. FYI, it appears that Lima Los Olivos will likely not be completed until mid-2022 at earliest, especially given the fact that we are more than two months past its' groundbreaking ceremony, and full-scale construction is still pending for it. Incidentally, it currently looks like that temple may actually be the second-to-last to be completed in 2022, one of four or five that may be dedicated that year.

But I do appreciate your thoughtful and thorough breakdown analysis of how the stakes in the current Lima Peru Temple district may be redistributed after the dedication of the Arequipa Peru Temple at the end of this year and the dedication of the Los Olivos Temple around 3 years from now. Again, thank you for that.

phxmars said...

There is no viable land route from Iquitos to the rest of Peru.

James G. Stokes said...

If that's true, then I am glad I chose to prioritize Iquitos as the next Peruvian temple prospect on my personal list.

John Pack Lambert said...

I would call the area greater Provo. The Ogden/Salt Lake City area in some ways is only one. How broadly is LA area defined to get 65 stakes? It is telling that the NYC metro area with well over 10 million maybe close to 15 million, only has at most 11 stakes.

With 25 stakes I am hoping Ghana gets a second temple. Of course that means Ghana's temple to stake ratio is still less than Nigeria's will be with the Lagos Temple.

There is no land route from Iqitos anywhere. I still think a 3rd temple for Lima is possible. Cuzco I also think needs a temple as well as Chaclayo.

Eduardo said...

Greater NYC goes into CT and NJ... It has like 17-18 million people.