For any who are interested, here is a list of completed scripture translations for 2021, based on what I could find on the Gospel Library app: • Burmese (Book of Mormon) • Macedonian (Book of Mormon) • Georgian (Triple Combination) • Persian (Triple Combination) • Tahitian (Triple Combination) • Tamil (Doctrine and Covenants) • Telegu (Doctrine and Covenants) • Urdu (Triple Combination) • Yoruba (Triple Combination) As far as I can tell, the Church has yet to put any of these materials into printed editions.
Translations in progress (Triple Combinations): • Arabic • Burmese • Efik • Greek • Guarani • Hindi • Kinyarwanda • Macedonian • Pohnpeian • Sesotho • Sinhala • Tamil • Telegu • Tok Pisin • Turkish
For the record, the Church has announced Triple Combination translations for Hmong, Lingala, Kazakh, and Navajo, and a Book of Mormon translation for Tshiluba.
Tshiluba is the dominant lingua Franca for the part of the DR Congo where Kananga is, where they just announced plans to build a temple. This translation is quite exciting.
Matt, if I recall correctly, your December newsletters in the last several Decembers noted the total net increase of congregations in that year. Do we any accurate information regarding that number for 2021? Or will you be doing a post sharing the year-end statistical estimates? I know you have more personal obligations to fulfill now than you have had in the past, so I was just curious. I will welcome any new content of any kind whenever you can provide it. Hope all is well with you. Keep up the great work!
From my analysis of today's announcement by the First Presidency of the 164 New Mission Presidents that have been called to serve starting 2022-2025, there were only 5 surprises for me.
In no particular order, other than by year mission was organized, listed as follows.
Four Presidents being released 1 year early (2020-2022), and one President whom I have listed for being released but no replacement announced with today's official list.
1) California San Diego 2020-2022 RICARDO P. GIMÉNEZ 2022-2025 NORMAN L. MERRITT
And finally, still 1 President change from last year 2021 that was never announced officially.
1) Brazil Campinas 2018-2021 JOHN TAGGART MARSH 2021-2024 ???
I reason that Elder Gimenez and Elder Johnson are released early due to being also General Authority Seventies. The others I am not going to speculate as to the reason for early releasing. Or no announcements made.
The president of the San Diego Mission, Ricardo Jimenez, is a general authority seventy. General Authority seventies normally only serve 2 years when they are called as mission presidents. Elder Jimenez is from Chile and was born in 1971.
Peter M. Johnson is also a general authority seventy, so his release was also expected. Elder Johnson is the only African-American general authority seventy. Brother Corbitt in in the young men general presidency is also African-American.
I know President Randall personally but admit I've not kept tabs on him and his family much recently. He is quite old - I believe well into his 70s - and that may be a reason for a release after two years.
Also, it was great to see my perhaps favorite stake president of all time, Scott Sykes, has been called to preside over the Mission in Angola. His call as a MP, not surprising. The location, very surprising. I think he is being called at a pivotal time for Church growth in that country, and I could very well see it enter the same trajectory that Liberia or Sierra Leone have.
GA Seventies serve as mission presidents for 2 years. Any others released after 2 years may be due to a forthcoming new assignment (temple presidency or Area or General Authority Seventy). Another possibility is that either they or their wives may be called as a General Officer of the Church. The current Relief Society General Presidency will be released in April, and if either of the counselors in the other two female officers is called as the new RS President, new members might be called as counselors.
Regarding the two male groups of General Officers, both the Sunday School and Young Men presidencies have served together for less than 5 years. But Elder Adrian Ochoa was the Young Men Second Counselor when his 2014 call as a GA Seventy was announced.
One other thought: the most likely male General Officer to be called as a GA Seventy is Brother Jan E. Newman, Second Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency.
That may require additional context. Since the organization of the Church, at least one direct descendant of Joseph or Hyrum Smith or their nearest relatives. Those most recent descendants are Joseph F., Joseph Fielding and Hyrum M. Smith, Bruce R. McConkie (son-in-law of Joseph Fielding Smith), and M. Russell Ballard. Among general Church leaders, the only other direct descendent of Joseph or Hyrum Smith is Brother Jan E. Newman. While it's possible that one of President Ballard's sons or sons-in-law could be called, Brother Newman seems more likely, and all current apostles except Presidents Nelson and Oaks and Elder Bednar, have been General Authorities at the time of their calls.
Zambia and Malawi are still in the same mission right? I am hoping those missions split soon. To be fair, when Elder Dube was mission president he served over what is now 3 missions, Lusaka, Harare and Bulawayo.
One of the sister missionaries in my branch here in Detroit was called to the Harare Zimbabwe Mission. She has not gone there due to Covid. I was surprised I did not know they called single white American female missionaries to Zimbabwe. Earlier we had an male missionary in my branch who began his mission in Zimbabwe.
I am quite encouraged by events in DR Congo and Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is the over 60% Muslim country with the most stakes by far. I think it is 87% Muslim. Infact I think Sierra Leone has more stakes than all other over 60% Muslim countries combined.
There was a Sierra Leone mission in the late 1980s but then the area plunged unto a bitter Civil War. Keep in mind that even at the height of the civil war Sierra Leone did not face religious violence.
It is by far the Muslim country with the most religious freedom if you look at both law and societal attitudes. In fact it has one of the highest religious freedom ratings in the world period.
On the new mission presidents I once had a stake president named Allen Ostergar. I do not think this is the same person as the new mission president though. The new mission president might be his son though. I think the stake president I had was actually C. Allen Ostergar, not Allen C. Ostergar. That stake president had I think been a mission president earlier.
Actually my stake president was Allen C. Ostergar Jr. This one may be the 3rd. That was my freshman year at BYU and he was President of the stake that covered Helaman Halls. He had previously been mission president in Kentucky. He worked as head of training and proselytize for the missionary department when he was my stake president. He was later MTC president in Brazil and was the first president of the Provo Utah City Center Temple.
I do know some David Hansen's. At least 2. I would be surprised if either is the new mission president in Wisconsin, although one I could possibly see. He was my roommate at BYU. I forgot what his wife's name is, so I have no clue yet if it is him.
The new president of the New president of the Orlando Florida mission Ciro Schmeil is a native of Brazil. He has degrees from the University of Utah and Ohio University, and served his mission in Ogden. He was an area 70 in Brazil from 2013-2016 and became a general authority in 2020.
Elder Schmeil was raised in Curitiba. His parents presided over the Campinas mission while he served his mission. He met his Brazilian-born wife at a devotional from Brazilian members in Utah. She was a BYU student. He was in Brazil for 20 years, then in Colorado and Florida. In Florida though heaved in Miami (they may be using the term loosely) not Orlando.
Hmm, I know an Amy who married a Phelps. She grew up in my ward, but was roughly 10 years older than me, so I do not remember her husband's first name. I was later her niece's primary teacher. So I might know Michael and Amy Phelps who will head the Arizona Tempe Mission, or I could be totally wrong.
I wonder if David Fallabella is a son of Enrique R. Fallabella who was a general authority and for a time I believe president of the South America Northwest Area.
The new president of the Salt Lake Headquaters mission, Douglas D. Holmes was mission president here in Detroit in I believe 2010-2013. I am sure he was here, and am 90% sure of the dates. He later served in the general young men presidency.
This is all the more crazy because the first president of that mission was Warren G. Tate. He was my own mission president in Las Vegas from 2000-2002 (he served 1999-2002). I think this puts that mission to having had 3 presidents I have personally known.
Provo'a Mayor is indeed the wife of the BYU football player of a few years back, it is likely the Kaufusi's are all related fairly closely in some way.
I had mentioned in my report of new mission leaders that David Hanesen was a former president in my parent's stake. My mom pointed out to me today that the name of that David Hansen's wife was not the same as the actual wife of the David Hansens I knew. So it was actually a different David Hansen. I apoloize for that unintional error in that analysis.
Also, per a communication Satruday evening from the Ward Executive Secretary, due to COVID-19 factors and protocols that are rapidly shifting and adjusting in resposne to the variants, the Stake Conference planned for next week has been postponed for the time being.
When it is rescheduled and takes place, I will try to remember to provide a report on that after the fact. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
Missed an ongoing translation: • Maltese (Book of Mormon)
I hadn't seen an announcement about a Maltese Book of Mormon translation (or one for the Triple Combination), but it appears that the first chapters in 1 Nephi have been finished. I'm pleasantly surprised that the Church is investing the time and resources to bring scriptures to a place with as few members as Malta (perhaps I shouldn't be?).
The Book of Mormon is mainly a conversion tool; it benefits those who are reading it for the first time just as much (perhaps even more) than it benefits us as long-time members.
Malta actually isn't that small, either. It has barely fewer people than Wyoming, and more than just about every of the island nations in the Pacific. Also, there is a sizable Maltese diaspora abroad, concentrated in Australia, and in the U.S. primarily in southern California and parts of the upper Midwest. Pete Buttigieg is probably the most famous and influential Maltese-American of this generation, but there are others. Now, most of them would speak English at home instead of Maltese, but having a Maltese translation will likely help lend the Church the cultural credibility it needs to reach those populations effectively.
I had to chuckle when I read your comment, Danny. If the purpose of the cancelled stake conference was to reorganize the stake presidency, given the recent spike in COVID cases in our stake, it's not surprising they cancelled it. I don't think I'm in any danger of being called to serve in a stake presidency at this point. I have never been the president of a ward Young Men goup or Sunday School Presidency. I have never served in a bishopric or on the high council. And as one who is suspectible to COVID-19 and its' variants, I can count on one hand the number of times I've been able to attend Church meetings in-person in the last calendar year. Aside from that, my wife and I are living in a trailer park where the residents thereof are frequently in-flux, and from which we have been falsely threatened with eviction more than three times on trumped-up irrational reasons. Until we are in a permanent house (which may not be for the next few years) and are able to actively attend in=person, I wouldn't be anyone's choice for such an assignment. Could it be in my future at some point? Maybe. That's not for me to say. But until our situation is more stable and permanent, I don't see that happeneing at all. If nothing else, thankks for the laugh. I appreciate your vote of confidence here.
The only David Hansen I know is the one who is mission president in Mongolia. He was one of six stake clerks I've served under as an assistant in the Wilmington Delaware Stake.
The newly called president of the Alabama Birmingham Mission, Joel Chibota, is a co-worker of mine. A kind and humble man, the missionaries he leads will be blessed to learn from him. I believe that at one point earlier in his career he was a seminary teacher. I was a little surprised by his call only because our line of work is not especially lucrative, and normally mission presidents are either a) well enough off they can afford to retire early, or b) church employees who will have a job waiting for them when they return home (but I believe his wife does work for the church, so maybe b is true for her).
At one point Detroit had the largest Maltese population in the United States. This was I believe primarily before 1950. They were concentrated in the same part of Detroit that at the time was emeging as a Mexican-American area. The branch in that area is the Detroit River Branch, which is bi-lingual English and Spanish. This is in south-west Detroit. Well now most of what could be called south-west Detroit is at least heavily Hispanic, from 20% to in some neighborhoods over 60%, but in the 1930s it was a much more limited area. I did find one person who identified as Maltese working for the census in north-east Detroit. I did not work that long, and I believe every other person I spoke with was African-American. The 80% of Detroit that is not the south-west (Detroit is way wider in the north than the south) is mainly over 90% African-American, with a few select areas having higher percentages of Eruo-Americans, an area on the Dearborn border having large number of Romanians who still speak Romanina, areas along the Hamtramck border having large Yemeni and Bangladeshi populations, a few areas in the north-west part of the city having some Liberian, Igbo and maybe a few other Nigerian orgin ethnic group populations, and the Warrendale Area, the furthest south part of the trans-Shaferian (Schafer is one of Detroit's majpor streets), having a noticeable Arab population (in this case mixed Yemini and Iraqi, with possibly people from a few other countries), and a very small Hispanic population.
In the rest of the city proper there are next to no Hispanics. My boss lives in the Fitzgerald neighborhood, and his wife is from Guatemala, but was raised mainly in Costa Rica, he Dad I think worked for the UN, but he has said they have met no other Hispanics in the area, and at my work I have met one person in the neighborhood I work in who is a Mexican-American who was raised in South-west Detroit. In the suburbs there tend to be more Hispanics, at one point my ward when I was a child had at least 3 families where at least some of the family had roots in Urguay, and we also at times had multiple Mexican families, as well as ones with links to Chile, Guatemala, Cuba and Venezuela. My high school had children with links to Colombian, Argentina and Puerto Rico as well, but most of our Spanish-surnamed population was Filipino, and they were even far outnumbered by Vietnames, Korean, India, Pakistani and Arabic students, who all were smaller groups than our Chaldeans and Albanians.
The only people of Maltese descent I have met in metro-Detroit were several years removed from Malta and if they spoke any Maltese it was very little. Those 65 and older may still in a few cases have parents born in Malta, but pretty much anyone born after 1970 at best has a grandparent from Malta, and in some cases further back than that. They are unlikely to have ever even met a family member who spoke Maltese.
The Church does pay a stipend to mission presidents, so they do not have to be well enough off to support themselves for 3 years. It is true that some careers make it hard to leave for 3 years. I also knew a person who was in academia and when they accepted a call as a mission president they had colleges who were so mad about it they resolved to see that this person never worked in academia again.
A few years back the Church News stopped including the occupation of new mission presidents so it is hard enough to say how much they make.
I know many church leaders hope to make it so that being well off is not an expectation of church leaders. I had a YSA bishop who was very adamant about how bishops should not supplement the ward budget with their own funds. He was maybe not as well off as his predecessor, who was a retired high ranking finance person with one of the big three, he was an electical engineer, but from knowing him for a long time I know he was the type of person who lived very much by the handbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sains, especially the spirit of the handbook. He was a very good understander of the spirit of the law, but would not push the leter of the law beyond what it actually was. I think especially on the matter of operating out of the budget that exists and not supplementing it he was very right.
Callings are not financially lucrative, but we also do not want to make any calling a direct financial burden when you take it.
What are the current, and recent translations of that manual that has some lessons similar to Godpel Principles, and which also usually has around 40 hymns translated? That smaller book is used in emerging areas until they can get larger books and other things translated into the languages they are published for?
Once had to go up and get the Haitian-Creole book for that as we had a Haitian immigrant move into the ward and he was baptized before or at worst soon after.
He was ordained an elder, went to the temple I think, then died soon after.
This isn't exactly on topic, but who would I need to write a letter to to request bike racks be placed at our churches in America? Sure, the Chicago stake center can have 5 floors of free parking built in, but can't have a place to lock a bike. Same for our buildings across Idaho and Utah.
On bike racks, talk to your bishop, he could then talk to the stake specialist relating to buildings--the calling name changed in the new Handbook as of last month's update, he can talk to the FM group.
@General Killmore, I agree that bike racks would be nice to have. I would ride my bike to church when the weather is good if there were a bike rack there. As to who to contact, you could ask your stake president to put in a request to the Facilities Management group (aka the FM group) -- church facilities in the US are taken care of by FM, which I believe runs on an area level (though it could be a coordinating council level, I do not remember which 100% for sure). I don't know who, if anyone, you could contact about doing it across the entire country.
What I think would be extremely helpful (especially in places outside of Utah), is to have a tasteful high definition marquee digital sign alongside the church's name, facing the street.
Then the church could list meeting times, church website for more info, scripture of the week, community events at the church like blood drives, service projects, suppprt groups church, church campaign ads like Light the World and Hear Him, church sign and info in multiple languages, etc.
Basically use the sign for community outreach and awareness.
Locally here Christ Cathedral of the Catholic Church installed this marquee sign to rave reviews. Perhaps our church can do something similar, maybe with a smaller sign. https://youtu.be/V5gRSDXa494
I think our home ward Buzz Doyle did his Eagle project creating a bike rack at our church. Thanks Buzz! Formerly Bloomington 1st and 2nd Wards of the Bloomington Stake.
By the 1990s, freestanding signs, usually smaller and low to the ground, had been discontinued. There is, however, usually something on one wall of the building with the name of the Church and 'Visitors Welcome'.
You see the older ones primarily in Utah and nearby. Some still sport the 1974 logo on them that was used until 1997.
All three have language equivalents for them, a card during the last talk in general conference recently had a screen with about 20 of dozens made for the new one.
Personally I think that electronic marquees are a horrible idea. The cost would be quite high, and keeping them up to date would in some areas be a constant challenge. Beyond this and in my view the worst aspect of them would they would add to visual clutter on roads and make building chapels in some areas much harder.
We have enough visual clutter on roads, and if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints refrains from adding to it I think it would be very good. I also think a practice of visual marquees would lead to more oppositions to the Church building in some areas, and make it harder to build chapels close to where members are. None of this would be a positive development.
The Church provides online infomration on where chapels are, when congregations meet, and related information. I think this is far more useful than having a visual marqee.
I am quite excited about the announcement of the Yigo Guam Temple dedication date. This is the first temple announced by President Nelson to have a dedication date announced. Crazily enough it will actually get dedicated before the Rio de Jainero Temple, although that seems to maybe partly be cause Guam is having a shorter open house.
I am hoping this means we will soon also learn a dedication date for the Quito Ecuador Temple, the San Juan Puerto Rico Temple, and maybe a few others. Is Helena on schedule to be done this year?
Yigo will be dedicated two weeks after the Rio Temple. Rio on May 8 and Yigo on May 22. I do agree and hope that this means we will see more dedications and rededications later this year. If anything, late 2022 into 2023 will start a flurry as more temples complete construction. Will be fun to watch.
Because of unknowns about the pandemic, etc., I think that we may see mainly US temples. NZ is tied up so while that is ready, until people can travel there again it is just sitting there, ready to go. Other countries may be possible also depending on conditions as well.
A word about the timing of temple dedications, if I may. We know that the first presidents have been called for the Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde, San Juan Puerto Rico, and Abidjan Ivory Coast Temples. The first presidents have not yet been announced for the Quito Ecuador, Belem Brazil, Saratoga Springs Utah, Helena Montana, Abidjan Ivory Coast, Richmond Virginia, Bentonville Arkansas, McAllen Texas, Feather River California, Okinawa Japan, or Layton Utah Temples, all of which are anticipated to be dedicated within the next 12-15 months.
So I think the Church might not announce the dedication of the Quito Ecuador and Belem Brazil Temples until the first presidents of each are announced, while the announcements for the dedications of the Praia Cabo Verde and San Juan Puerto Rico Temple could be the next ones coming down the pike. My thanks once again to you all.
There will be a lot of dedications coming up in the next year or two (and, I assume, it will not let up much after that until temples are sufficiently accessible to members all around the world). I'm especially excited to see how more temples might be able to accelerate the backlog in names submitted to the temple system, simply because more members can attend frequently. If it gets to a point where shared names move through this system, on average, in a couple of years rather than (presumably) decades, this route may become more attractive to more of us engaged in family history work.
Pascal, based on information I've compiled, beginning in the third or fourth quarter of this year, and continuing for the foreseeable future, the Church will need to dedicate 2-3 temples each month to prevent a backlog.
Right now shared names are only done at the temple the submitter is near in the temple district they live in. There is work going on that will put everything in one pot, the names will then be pulled first -m-first out.
That is done anyway by temple district now.
Names will also be farmed out based on what languages a temple supports and that also applies to printing slips and cards. In the future they will also add a phoneticized version of the name so it can be spoken right, examples might be thai or polish names.
FamilySearch is in 30 languages now, with more to follow TBD and TBA when. They added 100 million to the tree last year and about that in 2020 also, and I keep finding things, and with that last large load of Spain records, those with Spanish ancestry are finding additional ancestors in spades and that sort of thing will only accelerate given what is happening behind the scenes.
Over the last year or two, I've seen names I submitted to the Ogden Temple District completed at other Utah Temples: such as Bountiful, Brigham City, and even Manti.
Now that I'm in the Cardston District, I've seen a couple of my submitted names finished at Calgary over the last two months.
I even saw one I'd submitted done as far away as Philadelphia.
I'd been wondering whether the Temple system was printing them off for me (outside my immediate Temple District), or whether individuals had reserved and completed ones I'd submitted.
Moscow being discontinued as a District surprises me. I was expecting it to be upgraded to a Stake given the Russian temple announcement a few years back. Am I missing something?
James, if I had to guess, that was done to strengthen the Moscow stake in advance of the temple's construction and eventual operation. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in my feeling that Moscow is the most likely choice.
A few months or so ago, I received a tip to keep the Russia temple on the periphery of my radar, so I could see a groundbreaking for it within the next 2-3 years, but certainly sooner if all goes well.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there is an existing Moscow Russia Stake that still operates, and a separate Moscow MISSION District for outlying branches that was dissolved. Those branches report directly now to the Moscow Mission, but not collectively as a district.
I don't have any contacts personally, but I have been trying to follow this story closely. Very frightening situation. The Church has a Newsroom article set up that will be updated as information is received. It sounds like communication is still cut off for most of the nation.
Is the "Holland Michigan Stake" still scheduled to become the 1st new stake of 2022?
"Blogger Melody Nelson Walden said... The Holland Michigan Stake will be created on January 16, 2022. It will be formed of units taken from the Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo Stakes.
Christopher Duerig- The Holland Michigan Stake was created today. It contains the following units from the Grand Rapids Stake: Hastings Ward Holland Ward Spring Lake Ward Wyoming I Ward Wyoming II Ward (created today) and from the Kalamazoo Stake: Allegan Branch St. Joseph Ward South Haven Branch
The new Stake President is Brian Bartels. I believe his mother was the only active member of the church in the Holland area fifty years ago.
This is the second stake created in Michigan within the last year. There are now 10 stakes and one district in Michigan.
I was very interested to see the calling of a new Mission President in Angola. One elder who was serving in my ward in New Hampshire for a few months, while waiting for his visa to Angola, just left to travel there about 2 weeks ago. He said there was a large group of American missionaries, I think around a dozen, all arriving there together. I am very hopeful to see announcements of new cities being opened there, if it's really true that the number of missionaries in the mission is increasing rapidly.
Also I was interested to see how many Stakes in Curitiba, Brazil are likely to be split soon. The number of Stakes has increased greatly since I was a missionary there in the 90s. The 7th stake in the city had just been created. Cumorah dot com now shows 13 (I'm including 2 headquartered in the neighboring city of Sao Jose dos Pinhais, which was my first area, and 1 in another city called Pinhais).
It has been exciting to see the growth - Sao Jose dos Pinhais had only 1 ward and 2 branches when I was there. And at the time, there was only 1 temple, in Sao Paulo. I think it was about a 6 hour drive, I heard stories of the members going on a Friday-Saturday trip where the temple would be open all night on Friday nights to accommodate these more distant members.
I would like to know how is the situation in Venezuela. The church sponsored the mass evacuation and settlement of members to Brazil and Colombia in 2019, including sending a rich and corrupt man linked to the Brazilian government as a missionary to organize the work. Rumor has it that some people were baptized just so they could travel with their member relatives. Would anyone know if units were closed and if the temple in Caracas continues to be attended as before? Sorry for my googled english
So far this year Micgigan, Utah and Alaska have seen new wards created.
There have been a branch formed in Ghana, Liberia, Colombia, Brazil and Mozambique. The one in Mozambique is in a place of 70,000 just a little north of Beira.
Sierra Leone had a branch advanced to ward status.
Other than the ward in Michigan all these changes seem to have been done in the first 2 weeks. I am hopeful we can learn of more soon.
For any who are interested, here is a list of completed scripture translations for 2021, based on what I could find on the Gospel Library app:
ReplyDelete• Burmese (Book of Mormon)
• Macedonian (Book of Mormon)
• Georgian (Triple Combination)
• Persian (Triple Combination)
• Tahitian (Triple Combination)
• Tamil (Doctrine and Covenants)
• Telegu (Doctrine and Covenants)
• Urdu (Triple Combination)
• Yoruba (Triple Combination)
As far as I can tell, the Church has yet to put any of these materials into printed editions.
Translations in progress (Triple Combinations):
• Arabic
• Burmese
• Efik
• Greek
• Guarani
• Hindi
• Kinyarwanda
• Macedonian
• Pohnpeian
• Sesotho
• Sinhala
• Tamil
• Telegu
• Tok Pisin
• Turkish
For the record, the Church has announced Triple Combination translations for Hmong, Lingala, Kazakh, and Navajo, and a Book of Mormon translation for Tshiluba.
Tshiluba is the dominant lingua Franca for the part of the DR Congo where Kananga is, where they just announced plans to build a temple. This translation is quite exciting.
DeleteMatt, if I recall correctly, your December newsletters in the last several Decembers noted the total net increase of congregations in that year. Do we any accurate information regarding that number for 2021? Or will you be doing a post sharing the year-end statistical estimates? I know you have more personal obligations to fulfill now than you have had in the past, so I was just curious. I will welcome any new content of any kind whenever you can provide it. Hope all is well with you. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2022-01-07/2022-new-mission-presidents-and-companions-leadership-assignments-164-first-presidency-239007
ReplyDeleteFrom my analysis of today's announcement by the First Presidency of the 164 New Mission Presidents that have been called to serve starting 2022-2025, there were only 5 surprises for me.
ReplyDeleteIn no particular order, other than by year mission was organized, listed as follows.
Four Presidents being released 1 year early (2020-2022), and one President whom I have listed for being released but no replacement announced with today's official list.
1) California San Diego 2020-2022 RICARDO P. GIMÉNEZ
2022-2025 NORMAN L. MERRITT
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-02-02/mission-presidents-companions-leadership-california-japan-georgia-mexico-congo-172832
2) England Manchester 2020-2022 PETER M. JOHNSON
2022-2025 K. ROY TUNNICLIFFE
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-01-26/16-new-mission-leaders-england-brazil-california-venezuela-mexico-temple-square-172497
3) Russia St. Petersburg 2020-2022 KEVIN D. STAPLES
2022-2025 CHRISTOPHER L. EASTLAND
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-02-16/8-new-mission-presidents-companions-serve-ethiopia-california-peru-argentina-russia-174057
4) Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters 2020-2022 STEVEN K. RANDALL
2022-2025 DOUGLAS D. HOLMES
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-03-29/new-mission-presidents-companions-arizona-mexico-california-178174
5) Poland Warsaw 2019-2022 DAVID L. CHANDLER
2022-2025 ???
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2019-02-17/new-mission-leaders-called-to-serve-in-poland-honduras-australia-and-other-areas-around-the-world-4770
And finally, still 1 President change from last year 2021 that was never announced officially.
1) Brazil Campinas 2018-2021 JOHN TAGGART MARSH
2021-2024 ???
I reason that Elder Gimenez and Elder Johnson are released early due to being also General Authority Seventies. The others I am not going to speculate as to the reason for early releasing. Or no announcements made.
The president of the San Diego Mission, Ricardo Jimenez, is a general authority seventy. General Authority seventies normally only serve 2 years when they are called as mission presidents. Elder Jimenez is from Chile and was born in 1971.
DeletePeter M. Johnson is also a general authority seventy, so his release was also expected. Elder Johnson is the only African-American general authority seventy. Brother Corbitt in in the young men general presidency is also African-American.
DeleteSorry, I missed the link to President Marsh's 2018 calling biography.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/archives/2018-02-15/new-mission-presidents-called-to-serve-in-england-brazil-and-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-13489
I know President Randall personally but admit I've not kept tabs on him and his family much recently. He is quite old - I believe well into his 70s - and that may be a reason for a release after two years.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it was great to see my perhaps favorite stake president of all time, Scott Sykes, has been called to preside over the Mission in Angola. His call as a MP, not surprising. The location, very surprising. I think he is being called at a pivotal time for Church growth in that country, and I could very well see it enter the same trajectory that Liberia or Sierra Leone have.
GA Seventies serve as mission presidents for 2 years. Any others released after 2 years may be due to a forthcoming new assignment (temple presidency or Area or General Authority Seventy). Another possibility is that either they or their wives may be called as a General Officer of the Church. The current Relief Society General Presidency will be released in April, and if either of the counselors in the other two female officers is called as the new RS President, new members might be called as counselors.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the two male groups of General Officers, both the Sunday School and Young Men presidencies have served together for less than 5 years. But Elder Adrian Ochoa was the Young Men Second Counselor when his 2014 call as a GA Seventy was announced.
One other thought: the most likely male General Officer to be called as a GA Seventy is Brother Jan E. Newman, Second Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency.
That may require additional context. Since the organization of the Church, at least one direct descendant of Joseph or Hyrum Smith or their nearest relatives. Those most recent descendants are Joseph F., Joseph Fielding and Hyrum M. Smith, Bruce R. McConkie (son-in-law of Joseph Fielding Smith), and M. Russell Ballard. Among general Church leaders, the only other direct descendent of Joseph or Hyrum Smith is Brother Jan E. Newman. While it's possible that one of President Ballard's sons or sons-in-law could be called, Brother Newman seems more likely, and all current apostles except Presidents Nelson and Oaks and Elder Bednar, have been General Authorities at the time of their calls.
One other note: My own analysis on new mission presidents can be found here:
Deletehttps://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2022/01/breaking-news-first-presidency-calls164.html?
My thanks once again to you all.
Zambia and Malawi are still in the same mission right? I am hoping those missions split soon. To be fair, when Elder Dube was mission president he served over what is now 3 missions, Lusaka, Harare and Bulawayo.
ReplyDeleteOne of the sister missionaries in my branch here in Detroit was called to the Harare Zimbabwe Mission. She has not gone there due to Covid. I was surprised I did not know they called single white American female missionaries to Zimbabwe. Earlier we had an male missionary in my branch who began his mission in Zimbabwe.
I am quite encouraged by events in DR Congo and Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is the over 60% Muslim country with the most stakes by far. I think it is 87% Muslim. Infact I think Sierra Leone has more stakes than all other over 60% Muslim countries combined.
There was a Sierra Leone mission in the late 1980s but then the area plunged unto a bitter Civil War. Keep in mind that even at the height of the civil war Sierra Leone did not face religious violence.
It is by far the Muslim country with the most religious freedom if you look at both law and societal attitudes. In fact it has one of the highest religious freedom ratings in the world period.
On the new mission presidents I once had a stake president named Allen Ostergar. I do not think this is the same person as the new mission president though. The new mission president might be his son though. I think the stake president I had was actually C. Allen Ostergar, not Allen C. Ostergar. That stake president had I think been a mission president earlier.
ReplyDeleteActually my stake president was Allen C. Ostergar Jr. This one may be the 3rd. That was my freshman year at BYU and he was President of the stake that covered Helaman Halls. He had previously been mission president in Kentucky. He worked as head of training and proselytize for the missionary department when he was my stake president. He was later MTC president in Brazil and was the first president of the Provo Utah City Center Temple.
ReplyDelete@JPL
DeleteDo you happen to know when Allen C. Ostergar was mission president of Kentucky?
I do know some David Hansen's. At least 2. I would be surprised if either is the new mission president in Wisconsin, although one I could possibly see. He was my roommate at BYU. I forgot what his wife's name is, so I have no clue yet if it is him.
ReplyDeleteThe new president of the New president of the Orlando Florida mission Ciro Schmeil is a native of Brazil. He has degrees from the University of Utah and Ohio University, and served his mission in Ogden. He was an area 70 in Brazil from 2013-2016 and became a general authority in 2020.
ReplyDeleteElder Schmeil was raised in Curitiba. His parents presided over the Campinas mission while he served his mission. He met his Brazilian-born wife at a devotional from Brazilian members in Utah. She was a BYU student. He was in Brazil for 20 years, then in Colorado and Florida. In Florida though heaved in Miami (they may be using the term loosely) not Orlando.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I know an Amy who married a Phelps. She grew up in my ward, but was roughly 10 years older than me, so I do not remember her husband's first name. I was later her niece's primary teacher. So I might know Michael and Amy Phelps who will head the Arizona Tempe Mission, or I could be totally wrong.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Provo's mayor a Kaufusi? I wonder if Richard Kaufusi is related to her husband.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if David Fallabella is a son of Enrique R. Fallabella who was a general authority and for a time I believe president of the South America Northwest Area.
ReplyDeleteThe new president of the Salt Lake Headquaters mission, Douglas D. Holmes was mission president here in Detroit in I believe 2010-2013. I am sure he was here, and am 90% sure of the dates. He later served in the general young men presidency.
ReplyDeleteThis is all the more crazy because the first president of that mission was Warren G. Tate. He was my own mission president in Las Vegas from 2000-2002 (he served 1999-2002). I think this puts that mission to having had 3 presidents I have personally known.
You could be next!
DeleteProvo'a Mayor is indeed the wife of the BYU football player of a few years back, it is likely the Kaufusi's are all related fairly closely in some way.
ReplyDeleteI had mentioned in my report of new mission leaders that David Hanesen was a former president in my parent's stake. My mom pointed out to me today that the name of that David Hansen's wife was not the same as the actual wife of the David Hansens I knew. So it was actually a different David Hansen. I apoloize for that unintional error in that analysis.
ReplyDeleteAlso, per a communication Satruday evening from the Ward Executive Secretary, due to COVID-19 factors and protocols that are rapidly shifting and adjusting in resposne to the variants, the Stake Conference planned for next week has been postponed for the time being.
When it is rescheduled and takes place, I will try to remember to provide a report on that after the fact. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMissed an ongoing translation:
ReplyDelete• Maltese (Book of Mormon)
I hadn't seen an announcement about a Maltese Book of Mormon translation (or one for the Triple Combination), but it appears that the first chapters in 1 Nephi have been finished. I'm pleasantly surprised that the Church is investing the time and resources to bring scriptures to a place with as few members as Malta (perhaps I shouldn't be?).
The Book of Mormon is mainly a conversion tool; it benefits those who are reading it for the first time just as much (perhaps even more) than it benefits us as long-time members.
ReplyDeleteMalta actually isn't that small, either. It has barely fewer people than Wyoming, and more than just about every of the island nations in the Pacific. Also, there is a sizable Maltese diaspora abroad, concentrated in Australia, and in the U.S. primarily in southern California and parts of the upper Midwest. Pete Buttigieg is probably the most famous and influential Maltese-American of this generation, but there are others. Now, most of them would speak English at home instead of Maltese, but having a Maltese translation will likely help lend the Church the cultural credibility it needs to reach those populations effectively.
I had to chuckle when I read your comment, Danny. If the purpose of the cancelled stake conference was to reorganize the stake presidency, given the recent spike in COVID cases in our stake, it's not surprising they cancelled it. I don't think I'm in any danger of being called to serve in a stake presidency at this point. I have never been the president of a ward Young Men goup or Sunday School Presidency. I have never served in a bishopric or on the high council. And as one who is suspectible to COVID-19 and its' variants, I can count on one hand the number of times I've been able to attend Church meetings in-person in the last calendar year. Aside from that, my wife and I are living in a trailer park where the residents thereof are frequently in-flux, and from which we have been falsely threatened with eviction more than three times on trumped-up irrational reasons. Until we are in a permanent house (which may not be for the next few years) and are able to actively attend in=person, I wouldn't be anyone's choice for such an assignment. Could it be in my future at some point? Maybe. That's not for me to say. But until our situation is more stable and permanent, I don't see that happeneing at all. If nothing else, thankks for the laugh. I appreciate your vote of confidence here.
ReplyDeleteThe only David Hansen I know is the one who is mission president in Mongolia. He was one of six stake clerks I've served under as an assistant in the Wilmington Delaware Stake.
ReplyDelete@Johnathan Reese Whiting,
ReplyDelete1984-1987 Pres. Allen C. Ostergar Jr.
http://lifey.org/kentucky-louisville-mission/#presidents
Allen C Ostergar spoke at the MTC when I was there exactly 20 years ago. He was Administrative Director of the MTC at the time.
DeleteAlso this link :
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mission.net/kentucky/louisville/presidents.php?prID=5345
Thanks, Christopher. I thought President Ostergar's name sounded familiar.
DeleteThe newly called president of the Alabama Birmingham Mission, Joel Chibota, is a co-worker of mine. A kind and humble man, the missionaries he leads will be blessed to learn from him. I believe that at one point earlier in his career he was a seminary teacher. I was a little surprised by his call only because our line of work is not especially lucrative, and normally mission presidents are either a) well enough off they can afford to retire early, or b) church employees who will have a job waiting for them when they return home (but I believe his wife does work for the church, so maybe b is true for her).
ReplyDeleteAt one point Detroit had the largest Maltese population in the United States. This was I believe primarily before 1950. They were concentrated in the same part of Detroit that at the time was emeging as a Mexican-American area. The branch in that area is the Detroit River Branch, which is bi-lingual English and Spanish. This is in south-west Detroit. Well now most of what could be called south-west Detroit is at least heavily Hispanic, from 20% to in some neighborhoods over 60%, but in the 1930s it was a much more limited area. I did find one person who identified as Maltese working for the census in north-east Detroit. I did not work that long, and I believe every other person I spoke with was African-American. The 80% of Detroit that is not the south-west (Detroit is way wider in the north than the south) is mainly over 90% African-American, with a few select areas having higher percentages of Eruo-Americans, an area on the Dearborn border having large number of Romanians who still speak Romanina, areas along the Hamtramck border having large Yemeni and Bangladeshi populations, a few areas in the north-west part of the city having some Liberian, Igbo and maybe a few other Nigerian orgin ethnic group populations, and the Warrendale Area, the furthest south part of the trans-Shaferian (Schafer is one of Detroit's majpor streets), having a noticeable Arab population (in this case mixed Yemini and Iraqi, with possibly people from a few other countries), and a very small Hispanic population.
ReplyDeleteIn the rest of the city proper there are next to no Hispanics. My boss lives in the Fitzgerald neighborhood, and his wife is from Guatemala, but was raised mainly in Costa Rica, he Dad I think worked for the UN, but he has said they have met no other Hispanics in the area, and at my work I have met one person in the neighborhood I work in who is a Mexican-American who was raised in South-west Detroit. In the suburbs there tend to be more Hispanics, at one point my ward when I was a child had at least 3 families where at least some of the family had roots in Urguay, and we also at times had multiple Mexican families, as well as ones with links to Chile, Guatemala, Cuba and Venezuela. My high school had children with links to Colombian, Argentina and Puerto Rico as well, but most of our Spanish-surnamed population was Filipino, and they were even far outnumbered by Vietnames, Korean, India, Pakistani and Arabic students, who all were smaller groups than our Chaldeans and Albanians.
The only people of Maltese descent I have met in metro-Detroit were several years removed from Malta and if they spoke any Maltese it was very little. Those 65 and older may still in a few cases have parents born in Malta, but pretty much anyone born after 1970 at best has a grandparent from Malta, and in some cases further back than that. They are unlikely to have ever even met a family member who spoke Maltese.
The Church does pay a stipend to mission presidents, so they do not have to be well enough off to support themselves for 3 years. It is true that some careers make it hard to leave for 3 years. I also knew a person who was in academia and when they accepted a call as a mission president they had colleges who were so mad about it they resolved to see that this person never worked in academia again.
ReplyDeleteA few years back the Church News stopped including the occupation of new mission presidents so it is hard enough to say how much they make.
I know many church leaders hope to make it so that being well off is not an expectation of church leaders. I had a YSA bishop who was very adamant about how bishops should not supplement the ward budget with their own funds. He was maybe not as well off as his predecessor, who was a retired high ranking finance person with one of the big three, he was an electical engineer, but from knowing him for a long time I know he was the type of person who lived very much by the handbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sains, especially the spirit of the handbook. He was a very good understander of the spirit of the law, but would not push the leter of the law beyond what it actually was. I think especially on the matter of operating out of the budget that exists and not supplementing it he was very right.
Callings are not financially lucrative, but we also do not want to make any calling a direct financial burden when you take it.
What are the current, and recent translations of that manual that has some lessons similar to Godpel Principles, and which also usually has around 40 hymns translated? That smaller book is used in emerging areas until they can get larger books and other things translated into the languages they are published for?
ReplyDeleteOnce had to go up and get the Haitian-Creole book for that as we had a Haitian immigrant move into the ward and he was baptized before or at worst soon after.
He was ordained an elder, went to the temple I think, then died soon after.
This isn't exactly on topic, but who would I need to write a letter to to request bike racks be placed at our churches in America? Sure, the Chicago stake center can have 5 floors of free parking built in, but can't have a place to lock a bike. Same for our buildings across Idaho and Utah.
ReplyDeleteOn bike racks, talk to your bishop, he could then talk to the stake specialist relating to buildings--the calling name changed in the new Handbook as of last month's update, he can talk to the FM group.
ReplyDeleteSeems like a no-brainer everyone missed.
@General Killmore, I agree that bike racks would be nice to have. I would ride my bike to church when the weather is good if there were a bike rack there. As to who to contact, you could ask your stake president to put in a request to the Facilities Management group (aka the FM group) -- church facilities in the US are taken care of by FM, which I believe runs on an area level (though it could be a coordinating council level, I do not remember which 100% for sure). I don't know who, if anyone, you could contact about doing it across the entire country.
ReplyDeleteCould bike racks be done as part of a service protect for the youth?
ReplyDeleteWhat I think would be extremely helpful (especially in places outside of Utah), is to have a tasteful high definition marquee digital sign alongside the church's name, facing the street.
ReplyDeleteThen the church could list meeting times, church website for more info, scripture of the week, community events at the church like blood drives, service projects, suppprt groups church, church campaign ads like Light the World and Hear Him, church sign and info in multiple languages, etc.
Basically use the sign for community outreach and awareness.
Locally here Christ Cathedral of the Catholic Church installed this marquee sign to rave reviews. Perhaps our church can do something similar, maybe with a smaller sign.
Deletehttps://youtu.be/V5gRSDXa494
@Matt
DeleteI like the digital marquee idea.
If the Church hasn't shown meeting times and other pertinent information on signs in front of meetinghouses by now, it isn't likely to ever happen.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think our home ward Buzz Doyle did his Eagle project creating a bike rack at our church. Thanks Buzz! Formerly Bloomington 1st and 2nd Wards of the Bloomington Stake.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022-01-12/yigo-guam-temple-dedication-open-house-dates-announced-for-may-239448
ReplyDeleteBy the 1990s, freestanding signs, usually smaller and low to the ground, had been discontinued. There is, however, usually something on one wall of the building with the name of the Church and 'Visitors Welcome'.
ReplyDeleteYou see the older ones primarily in Utah and nearby. Some still sport the 1974 logo on them that was used until 1997.
Best logo, in my opinion, because internacional languages
DeleteAll three have language equivalents for them, a card during the last talk in general conference recently had a screen with about 20 of dozens made for the new one.
ReplyDeleteMy chapel in Detroit has a bike rack. This is something that is left to local considerations.
ReplyDeletePersonally I think that electronic marquees are a horrible idea. The cost would be quite high, and keeping them up to date would in some areas be a constant challenge. Beyond this and in my view the worst aspect of them would they would add to visual clutter on roads and make building chapels in some areas much harder.
ReplyDeleteWe have enough visual clutter on roads, and if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints refrains from adding to it I think it would be very good. I also think a practice of visual marquees would lead to more oppositions to the Church building in some areas, and make it harder to build chapels close to where members are. None of this would be a positive development.
The Church provides online infomration on where chapels are, when congregations meet, and related information. I think this is far more useful than having a visual marqee.
I am quite excited about the announcement of the Yigo Guam Temple dedication date. This is the first temple announced by President Nelson to have a dedication date announced. Crazily enough it will actually get dedicated before the Rio de Jainero Temple, although that seems to maybe partly be cause Guam is having a shorter open house.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping this means we will soon also learn a dedication date for the Quito Ecuador Temple, the San Juan Puerto Rico Temple, and maybe a few others. Is Helena on schedule to be done this year?
Yigo will be dedicated two weeks after the Rio Temple. Rio on May 8 and Yigo on May 22. I do agree and hope that this means we will see more dedications and rededications later this year. If anything, late 2022 into 2023 will start a flurry as more temples complete construction. Will be fun to watch.
Delete@JPL
DeleteHelena is on track to be completed this year, according to Temple Rick's site:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/helena-montana-temple/
Because of unknowns about the pandemic, etc., I think that we may see mainly US temples. NZ is tied up so while that is ready, until people can travel there again it is just sitting there, ready to go. Other countries may be possible also depending on conditions as well.
ReplyDeleteA word about the timing of temple dedications, if I may. We know that the first presidents have been called for the Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde, San Juan Puerto Rico, and Abidjan Ivory Coast Temples. The first presidents have not yet been announced for the Quito Ecuador, Belem Brazil, Saratoga Springs Utah, Helena Montana, Abidjan Ivory Coast, Richmond Virginia, Bentonville Arkansas, McAllen Texas, Feather River California, Okinawa Japan, or Layton Utah Temples, all of which are anticipated to be dedicated within the next 12-15 months.
ReplyDeleteSo I think the Church might not announce the dedication of the Quito Ecuador and Belem Brazil Temples until the first presidents of each are announced, while the announcements for the dedications of the Praia Cabo Verde and San Juan Puerto Rico Temple could be the next ones coming down the pike. My thanks once again to you all.
There will be a lot of dedications coming up in the next year or two (and, I assume, it will not let up much after that until temples are sufficiently accessible to members all around the world). I'm especially excited to see how more temples might be able to accelerate the backlog in names submitted to the temple system, simply because more members can attend frequently. If it gets to a point where shared names move through this system, on average, in a couple of years rather than (presumably) decades, this route may become more attractive to more of us engaged in family history work.
ReplyDeletePascal, based on information I've compiled, beginning in the third or fourth quarter of this year, and continuing for the foreseeable future, the Church will need to dedicate 2-3 temples each month to prevent a backlog.
DeleteRight now shared names are only done at the temple the submitter is near in the temple district they live in. There is work going on that will put everything in one pot, the names will then be pulled first -m-first out.
ReplyDeleteThat is done anyway by temple district now.
Names will also be farmed out based on what languages a temple supports and that also applies to printing slips and cards. In the future they will also add a phoneticized version of the name so it can be spoken right, examples might be thai or polish names.
FamilySearch is in 30 languages now, with more to follow TBD and TBA when. They added 100 million to the tree last year and about that in 2020 also, and I keep finding things, and with that last large load of Spain records, those with Spanish ancestry are finding additional ancestors in spades and that sort of thing will only accelerate given what is happening behind the scenes.
@Jim Anderson
DeleteOver the last year or two, I've seen names I submitted to the Ogden Temple District completed at other Utah Temples: such as Bountiful, Brigham City, and even Manti.
Now that I'm in the Cardston District, I've seen a couple of my submitted names finished at Calgary over the last two months.
I even saw one I'd submitted done as far away as Philadelphia.
I'd been wondering whether the Temple system was printing them off for me (outside my immediate Temple District), or whether individuals had reserved and completed ones I'd submitted.
Moscow being discontinued as a District surprises me. I was expecting it to be upgraded to a Stake given the Russian temple announcement a few years back. Am I missing something?
ReplyDeleteJames, if I had to guess, that was done to strengthen the Moscow stake in advance of the temple's construction and eventual operation. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in my feeling that Moscow is the most likely choice.
DeleteA few months or so ago, I received a tip to keep the Russia temple on the periphery of my radar, so I could see a groundbreaking for it within the next 2-3 years, but certainly sooner if all goes well.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there is an existing Moscow Russia Stake that still operates, and a separate Moscow MISSION District for outlying branches that was dissolved. Those branches report directly now to the Moscow Mission, but not collectively as a district.
DeletePraying for the people of Tonga. Does anyone on this site have contacts there?
ReplyDeleteI don't have any contacts personally, but I have been trying to follow this story closely. Very frightening situation. The Church has a Newsroom article set up that will be updated as information is received. It sounds like communication is still cut off for most of the nation.
Deletehttps://news-nz.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/volcano-erupts-in-tonga-triggering-tsunami-waves-flooding-and-falling-ash
Is the "Holland Michigan Stake" still scheduled to become the 1st new stake of 2022?
ReplyDelete"Blogger Melody Nelson Walden said...
The Holland Michigan Stake will be created on January 16, 2022. It will be formed of units taken from the Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo Stakes.
January 4, 2022 at 12:48 PM"
Christopher Duerig- The Holland Michigan Stake was created today. It contains the following units from the Grand Rapids Stake:
ReplyDeleteHastings Ward
Holland Ward
Spring Lake Ward
Wyoming I Ward
Wyoming II Ward (created today)
and from the Kalamazoo Stake:
Allegan Branch
St. Joseph Ward
South Haven Branch
The new Stake President is Brian Bartels. I believe his mother was the only active member of the church in the Holland area fifty years ago.
This is the second stake created in Michigan within the last year. There are now 10 stakes and one district in Michigan.
Prior to this no stakes had been organized in Michigan since 1979.
DeleteI was very interested to see the calling of a new Mission President in Angola. One elder who was serving in my ward in New Hampshire for a few months, while waiting for his visa to Angola, just left to travel there about 2 weeks ago. He said there was a large group of American missionaries, I think around a dozen, all arriving there together. I am very hopeful to see announcements of new cities being opened there, if it's really true that the number of missionaries in the mission is increasing rapidly.
ReplyDeleteAlso I was interested to see how many Stakes in Curitiba, Brazil are likely to be split soon. The number of Stakes has increased greatly since I was a missionary there in the 90s. The 7th stake in the city had just been created. Cumorah dot com now shows 13 (I'm including 2 headquartered in the neighboring city of Sao Jose dos Pinhais, which was my first area, and 1 in another city called Pinhais).
It has been exciting to see the growth - Sao Jose dos Pinhais had only 1 ward and 2 branches when I was there. And at the time, there was only 1 temple, in Sao Paulo. I think it was about a 6 hour drive, I heard stories of the members going on a Friday-Saturday trip where the temple would be open all night on Friday nights to accommodate these more distant members.
I attended the São Paulo temple during the early hours of Friday. I was sealed to my parents on such a trip. It was a wonderful adventure...
DeleteI would like to know how is the situation in Venezuela. The church sponsored the mass evacuation and settlement of members to Brazil and Colombia in 2019, including sending a rich and corrupt man linked to the Brazilian government as a missionary to organize the work. Rumor has it that some people were baptized just so they could travel with their member relatives. Would anyone know if units were closed and if the temple in Caracas continues to be attended as before? Sorry for my googled english
ReplyDeleteSo far this year Micgigan, Utah and Alaska have seen new wards created.
ReplyDeleteThere have been a branch formed in Ghana, Liberia, Colombia, Brazil and Mozambique. The one in Mozambique is in a place of 70,000 just a little north of Beira.
Sierra Leone had a branch advanced to ward status.
Other than the ward in Michigan all these changes seem to have been done in the first 2 weeks. I am hopeful we can learn of more soon.
It's good to see some real growth. New units usually sustained growth and retention.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Tainan Taiwan Stake just organized a Tainan 5th Branch (English speaking).
ReplyDelete7 Jan 17, 2022 Tainan 5th Branch (English)
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=23.03957,120.327781&z=10&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=475742&find=ward.english:475742
The first Russian temple will more than likely be in Kiev.
ReplyDeleteKiev is in Ukraine. I hope you are not prophetic, as if Russia takes over Kiev. The temple has been there for years.
ReplyDeleteKiev is in Ukraine, and has a temple. Are you predicting an imminent takeover?
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like he's being funny, just based on the cutrentvpolitical climate.
ReplyDelete