The Church's New Zealand Newsroom website posted the following statement about the creation of the Tonga Outer Islands Mission:
The Tonga Nuku’alofa Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will divide into two missions for approximately one year.
This is to enable local missionaries to serve while overseas assignments are not possible due to the pandemic.
Perusing the list of new mission leaders I noticed some new missions that are not in the mission portion of your atlas, namely: Utah Orem and Layton; and North Dakota Bismark. Also, having recently lived in the Southeast US I noticed you still have in your atlas some missions that have apparently been discontinued, namely Mississippi Jackson, Georgia Macon and Florida Tallahassee. I could be mistaken of course since the church does occasionally change their mind. Please don't take this as any kind of criticism. The church is very dynamic and its tough to keep up.
ReplyDeletePerusing the list of new mission leaders I noticed some new missions that are not in the mission portion of your atlas, namely: Utah Orem and Layton; and North Dakota Bismark. Also, having recently lived in the Southeast US I noticed you still have in your atlas some missions that have apparently been discontinued, namely Mississippi Jackson, Georgia Macon and Florida Tallahassee. I could be mistaken of course since the church does occasionally change their mind. Please don't take this as any kind of criticism. The church is very dynamic and its tough to keep up.
ReplyDeleteNorth Dakota Bismark used to be South Dakota Rapid City. Utah Layton was previously a Salt Lake City mission.
ReplyDeleteUtah Orem is a few years old, and the 3 south east missions were discontinued awhile ago, but the atlas has not been updated.
Is there confirmation the Mozambique Beira Mission was organized this year?
Groundbreaking dates have been announced for both Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and Nairobi Kenya Temples.
Pittsburg Temple will have a groundbreaking in August.
Nairobi Kenya will have a groundbreaking on September 11. The groundbreaking will be by Elder Joseph W. Sitati a native of Kenya. This will mark the poibt of all temple announced under President Monson at least having a groundbreaking. For President Kimball this was not reached until his 2 successors had died. Unless we count Pago Pago.
President José Maria Batalla of the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission died from you-know-what the other day. He was sick for nearly two months. Who ran the mission while he was incapacitated?
ReplyDeleteLikely a counselor was acting. Seen this once before when mission President had to return to Utah for emergency surgery.
DeleteAs of 11 June 2021, President Winsor Balderrama and his wife, Rocio Maribel de Balderrama Quiñones, have been leading the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission. They led the Peru Chiclayo Mission from 2017-2020, and are natives to Cochabamba, Bolivia.
DeleteChristopher Nicholson, the article did not say. But given the fact that there were likely counselors to the mission president and/or APs in the mission, I'm sure something was figured out in that regard. For that matter, any area seventies serving near there could have stepped in to help, as could any members of the area presidency. But since it appears that the work in that mission continued and remained on track, if nothing else, we know that something worked out in order to keep things going. And while it might be interesting to learn how it worked out, it's a great comfort to me that it did. I tried to post this response a day or two ago, but for whatever reason, it was not approved.
DeleteThe North Salt Lake Parkway Stake has been one of the highest-baptizing stakes in the Layton Utah Mission, mostly due to a large number of Marshallese immigrants in an apartment complex in the stake's boundaries joining the church over the past year or two. The stake intends to form a Marshallese branch in the near future, which will be the second Marshallese congregation on the Wasatch Front (a Marshallese ward already exists in Magna, UT).
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have a list of countries that have and have not been dedicated for the preaching of the gospel?
ReplyDeleteChristopher Nicholson, unless I'm mistaken, either or both of his counselors could have stepped in to help out, as could any APs serving within the mission. It's also possible that the area presidency or a nearby area seventy could have filled in just to ensure things were taken care of. I don't believe that any coverage on the death of Brother Batalla mentioned anything about how the mission was covered. If nothing else, it's a comfort to know that, however it was covered, or however it continues to be covered, the mission wouldn't have ever been left without someone supervising it.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Nicholson, unless I'm mistaken, either or both of his counselors could have stepped in to help out, as could any APs serving within the mission. It's also possible that the area presidency or a nearby area seventy could have filled in just to ensure things were taken care of. I don't believe that any coverage on the death of Brother Batalla mentioned anything about how the mission was covered. If nothing else, it's a comfort to know that, however it was covered, or however it continues to be covered, the mission wouldn't have ever been left without someone supervising it.
ReplyDeleteJPL, in mid-February, the Church News shared the following article:
ReplyDeletehttps://thechurchnews.com/callings/2021-02-21/new-mission-presidents-companions-philippines-barbados-thailand-brazil-china-hong-kong-canada-cambodia-203985
If you go down a bit in that article, there are last names beginning with L, M, and N. The new mission president for Mozambique Beira has the last name beginning with M. And those listed in that article were set to begin serving in July. And since both the Church News and the Newsroom have not, to my knowledge, provided anything further that indicates that he did not begin his service as scheduled, I'm assuming that he did begin his service on July 1 as scheduled, with the creation of that new mission going into effect on that day.
It appears that the Mozambique Beira Mission was not created. Originally announced to be created on 01 July 2020, it appears that its creation was postponed (likely due to the pandemic affecting full-time missionary numbers). According to three sources (including Newsroom statistics and Classic Maps), the mission does not exist.
Delete@Christopher Nicholson probably the counselors. Mission Presidents have counselors that assist them in missionary work and presiding over the mission, and they are authorized to conduct the special interviews should the president not make it to the special baptism interview.
ReplyDeleteI have an Excel spreadsheet that I use to track all the country dedications dates, and those that are missing. I just uploaded it to for public sharing at:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.filedropper.com/countrydedicationdates
This is a free file sharing site, but has deceiving adds, so use caution when clicking. Click the button 'Download This File', enter the security code from the image provided, and then it will ask you where to save the file.
If you have any information to add to the spreadsheet, I would love to collaborate!
In my mission the counselors almost always did special interviews.
ReplyDeleteElder Kyungu, now a general authority seventy, was an acting mission president for a time while an area seventy.
Church news reported today 5 new stakes created in Zimbabwe, Philippines, and the USA.
ReplyDelete