The progress in Chile is a good sign. I am hoping there is at least a temple announced for the far south of that country and one announced for Valparaiso/Vina del Mar next year.
The additional branch in a new place in Republic of Congo is quite encouraging.
The 3rd Farsi speaking branch is a very encouraging development.
A recent directive said the only married people with callings in YSA wards and stakes should be stake presidents and bishops. This seems to say both counselors in the stake presidency should be unmarried men. A missionary who serves here in Detroit where I live told me that most members of the high council in the stake he was in in Logan while attending USU before he began his mission were unmarried men.
The last I checked in my stake the YSA branch president had 2 married counselors, and one of the counselors had a wife who was a counselor in the relief society presidency.
I was in at least one ward at BYU where the ward clerk was a married men.
This will be an interesting development to see go down. Long term I think it will do wonders for leadership growth in the Church. It will also make it easier to create YSA stakes, since you only have to find 1 instead of 15 or more additional full tithe paying melchizedek priesthood holders in surrounding areas.
This may in the short term lead to a decision some YSA units just do not have the strength to exist as separate wards or branches and cause them to be discontinued or made into groups.
On the other hand some places it may allow splits sooner, because creating a new YSA unit is no longer often a 3 men called from elsewhere but only 1 man called from elsewhere issue. It may even in some areas lead to creating more non-YSA units because they are not missing so many people to help staff YSA units.
On another interesting issue Elder Christopherson on his recent journey to DR Congo, Kenya and Ethiopia, was also scheduled to go to Uganda. Due to disease outbreak in Uganda he did not go there. I hope that this does not mean that plans to announce a temple in Kampala will be pushed back further.
Any news on progress for the Nairobi Kenya Temple.
I have started to compile a list of cities where the same person was the first stake and temple president. I believe Buenos Aires, Argentina and Hermosillo, Mexico are both on that list. Nuku'alofa, Tonga is not on the list but the first temple president, Tonga T. Paletu'a was a counselor in the first stake presidency there.
Buryl McClurg was first president of the Franklin Tennessee Stake (he'd been president of the Nashville stake) and was later first president of the Nashville temple, built next to the Franklin stake center (and his house). D. Todd Christofferson was his counselor in the Franklin stake presidency, and replaced him as stake president in 1982.
Incidentally, on Christmas Eve 1988, that stake center was hit by a tornado, and McClurg was serving as bishop of the Franklin Ward. The newspaper report the next day said he was "asleep in the parsonage" when the tornado hit.
That claim about bring asleep in the parsonage is quite funny. It is an example of how reporters often assume they understand how a religion works and apply terms that are just plain wrong.
I did have a friend who lived in a house owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints adjacent to the chapel in Detroit when his dad was the janitor there, back when that was a paid position. The house and chapel were razed to build I-96.
Calling a temple or mission president resident a parsonage would not be as bad as calling the bishop's private home such.
I worked at a charter school in Detroit that had been a catholic school. Adjacent was a now closed Catholic Church and rectory. One of the African-American faculty who was Catholic once expressed to me the complaint that it was odd so many incorrectly called the rectory a parsonage. I tried to explain that rectory applies to Catholic Churches since the head of the congregation is by title a rectory (even if most Catholics and non-Catholics call him a priest, all rectory are priests, at least I do not think Catholics even let deacons be such, but not all priests are reactors (more so in 1950 than today, today some priest are rectory of multiple parishes, or have parishes with multiple buildings, and way fewer have other priests under them). I explained that with Protestants they call their leader a minister, reverend or parson, and thry use the term parsonage for any residence of such a person connected in some way to a congregation.
I don't remember how much she seemed to understand my explanation. I should have probably pointed out that parson and parsonage is part of the generic ill-defined religious presence often shown in mass media, especially films, especially westerns. So it is a term known to some Americans who never go to a church or at least not to one that has such.
It is heartening to see Church unit growth in Chile and California, two former powerhouses that are still creating temples despite their rate of divesting branches and wards. I have lived in five stakes in Chile, and four stakes in California. All the Chilean stakes are still going, but one in California was fused out (Highland).
As the immigrant population of California continues to increase, hopefully more converts will be found among them. In Chile there are now hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Venezuelans, some of whom meet the members and missionaries and join the faith.
I hope those efforts in Chile can lead to increase the ties to Haiti and Venezuela, and those lands will be blessed. They need it, we all do.
Chile now has fifth and maybe sixth generation members? A boy named after me in 1990 may have kids, but I am not sure if he knows much about the Church of Jesus Christ. His mother did, and once was committed but has likely fallen away.
But we can hope for Don Edward and his family! And all the rest of el pueblo chileno!
Mostly good news this month. Very happy to hear about it! More locally, our ward here in Illinois has just sent out missionary number 7, with all three upcoming graduating seniors also now preparing to serve. There is a short window this summer when our ward could have 10 missionaries serving at the same time. Given that we have lost lots of active families with youth due to moves, and we now struggle to crack 100 people at sacrament meeting, this is a remarkable number.
Much will depend on our ability worldwide to prepare youth to serve faithfully. For way too long, it has fallen on the western US to supply the bulk of the worldwide missionary force. But everywhere I've lived in the last 10 years or so, missionary service has become more commonplace for young adults.
Very good, Pascal. I have some family in Illinois recently, and I wish that the Lord's Church grew more there. The land where Joseph Smith was martyred and the Governor who claimed that his name would not be remembered, is now an afterthought of history. (Prez. Hinkley shared that story at the Nauvoo Temple restoration dedication - I think his name was Ford). Full-time missionaries are not the best measure of activity in the faith, but they are certainly a very positive sign. And they literally increase the growth of membership in awesome and dynamic ways. I know of Chilean missionaries who served in Brazil and Paraguay, learning other languages and cultures; it is beautiful to see the people of God learn to overcome prejudices and barriers to become one people. I think that non-U.S. and non-Chilean missionaries can do great things in Chile, but ultimately each country is re-enforced by having their own people serve within their cultures. My trainer from Santiago went on to teach at the Santiago CCM, but never returned to our mission, which was odd to me. (Concepcion). He later married a U.S. girl, and now resides in Utah. He divorced her, not sure if he re-married. Anyway, again, it is great to see tangible evidence of the growth of the Kingdom of God in our units and across the earth.
Do you know which websites updates this information on wards/branch openings and closures? The fuller consideration website no longers updates the information on their site
Takes hours to get to the present temple due to the traffic, but they go in droves. The report I heard is that the line waiting to do baptisms in the baptistry goes literally out the door. No info about the rest of it there other than the large numbers going.
@Jim, I'm sure the Mexico City area needs additional temples, but this "goes out the door" thing is clearly an aberration or hyperbole.
You can call the temple to schedule appointments. I saw the announcement church leaders made about them coming in busses and checked myself. This is an easily verifiable claim.
The temple had openings every day this week, including on the weekend, for essentially every time slot. That's for baptisms and endowment sessions. This Friday was only 20% full when I checked.
Not too surprising they need more temples around DF because there are a TON of people around there and, as you mentioned, traffic makes things tough. The Cuernavaca temple will help for sure. And there are probably some who would go more often if they didn't have to make what amounts to a weekend trip to go to the temple. But this idea that the temple is bursting at the seams just isn't backed by the data.
Location confirmed for the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple. Really surprised it's going to be likely the same floor plan as Saratoga Springs or Layton, 87,000 square feet makes it bigger than the original Las Vegas Temple. Can't say I saw that one coming.
I am back to thinking a temple for Venezuela is very likely to be announced soon. At first reading about another apostle not being Grable to go there are having to conduct meetings remotely I was not seeing how a temple could be dedicated. However at the end of the article it mentioned Brazilians need no visa to go into Venezuela. So there is a way to get the temple dedicated even if visas remain as difficult to obtain.
I am looking forward to a lot more temples being announced in the near future. I will find joy and excitement in such.
Elder Holland and Sister Browning were recently in California. One of the meetings Elder Holland addressed was of Spanish speakers. I think this was basically a meeting of all Spanish-speaking Church members in Ventira County. Elder Holland and Sister Browning also did a Ling visit with a Seminary class. Also lots of leadership training.
Ventura County would seem a strong candidate for a temple.
@DJarvis87 I dont't think there is another website reporting information on wards/branch openings and closures. The reason for that is that the church removed the sources for website's to find this information. One of them was classic maps website which had a lot more information when logged in that the meetinghouselocator has. (unit boundaries and not just the boundaries of the selected unit). The same is valid for CDOL. Now most members with access to it can only search for a speciffic unit by name. In the past it was possible to search for units (wards, branches, stakes, districts) that have been set to active during a specific timeframe.
Another new ward was created in western Bentonville, AR on November 11th. The Central Park ward was split and the new Cornerstone Ward was created. This increased the number of units in the Bentonville Stake to 13, with 12 wards and a YSA branch. In the Bentonville/Rogers corridor there are now two buildings in the stake which house 5 units and another two which hold 4, (an often underrated development of the church switching from 3 hours to 2.) A third meetinghouse in western Bentonville by Centerton is being constructed, it is assumed that it will serve as a new stake center to Centerton upon completion. Between Bentonville and Rogers stakes there are now 20 wards and two branches.
Our ward in Pea Ridge, AR in the Rogers Stake was upgraded from a branch in August 2021. They were the last non-YSA/foreign language branch in the region. We already have over 300 in attendance due to all the new construction and flight of families from Utah and California.
The square footage for the Santiago West Temple was just released. 12,500 sqft. That's quite small, just a little larger than the famed 10,700 sqft Hinkley temples. 500 square feet per stake for a district of 25 stakes is tiny. For context, after announced temples are built, the average square footage per stake at temples in Spanish speaking South America will be 1900 square feet. A Chilean example, Concepcion has 1000 sqft/stake.
If I were a betting man, I'd guess that means two more temples to be announced around the Santiago Region within the next year. One in the west near Vina del Mar/Valparaiso, another in the south near Puente Alto.
The Pittsburgh Temple will be 30,000 square feet and the Cleveland temple 9,900. The two temples will serve a similar number of stakes. It seems as if the plans for the Pittsburgh Temple were chosen before the Cleveland temple had been revealed/decided on.
It seems as if this smaller than expected Santiago West Temple means that there are greater plans for the metropolitan area. I am excited, because this means that many Chilean returning members will get to walk past a temple on their way back to church.
This brings the number of temple with sites confirmed to 27. 11 of those have had exterior renderings released. And just about all of those 27 are likely to have groundbreakings next year. As far as the different sizes between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, both were announced at the same time, and they have now had details confirmed at the same time. Given the size of the Cleveland Temple, I wouldn't be shocked to see one or two other temples announced for Ohio. And I think that's what the Church may be planning on.
The Church Temples site also reported over the weekend that major construction has been completed for the Bentonville Arkansas Temple, and that construction is nearing completion for the Bangkok Thailand, Feather River California, Brasilia Brazil, and Moses Lake Washington Temples. With next Monday being the day after Christmas, I', not sure if the Church will make a major temple announcement then. But after the first of the year, I think we can count on many dedication and groundbreaking announcements.
For more analysis on today's announcement, those interested can find that on my blog:
The Cleveland Temple will be built in Independence, Ohio, which is basically straight south of Cleveland, and is called the Silicon Valley of Cleveland. I am thinking at least some of Youngstown Stake may end up assigned to the Pittsburgh Temple. Youngstown looks to be 10 minutes closer to Pittsburgh Temple than to Cleveland Temple, although some of the stake may be the other way. So Cleveland Temple may end up only serving about 3 stakes.
Toledo itself may stay with the Detroit Temple, while some parts of that stake may still have Columbus as their closest temple. The temple is less than 10,000 square feet. I think this also bodes well for the building of a Cincinnati Ohio Temple.
I am very convinced that Vina del Mar/Valparaiso will have a temple announced in 2023.
Austin Temple will be at 30,000 square feet. It will be in Cedar Park, Texas, which until the 1950s was basically just a park people from Austin took day trips to. It saw some subdivisions develop then, but in 1990 it only had 5,261 people. By 2000 it was to 26,000, by 2010 almost 49,000 and as of 2020 it had over 77,000 people.
I rethought Cleveland. It will basically have Akron, Kirtland and Cleveland Stakes, and maybe on balance another stake between parts of Toledo and Youngstown, so it might come out on balance to 4 stakes.
Pittsburgh will basically have most of Youngstown, the 3 Pittsburgh stakes, Altoona Pennsyvlania, and Clarksburg West Virginia. I am not sure if anything in Jamestown, New York, Williamsport, Pennsylvania or Charleston or Huntington West Virginia Stakes would go to Pittsburgh.
I am a little optimitic that both Charleston, West Virginia and Buena Vista, Virginia could see temples in the near future. If The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is really serious about putting 90% of Church members within an hour of a temple we will also see a temple for somewhere around Baltimore, and for somewhere about Winchester, Virginia.
Of course somewhere in New Jersey, the Priesthood Restoration Site and or somewhere in Utica/Albany/that general area of New York, and Manchester New Hampshire or the Joseph Smith birthplace and somewhere in Maine.
I am very excited to see what happens come April, but I am not sure I have any sense of what temples may be announced.
With the recently announced site location in Maipú, Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile of the Santiago West Temple. Here is my prediction of the future Temple District, with these 23 Stakes and 5 Districts in West Santiago and near Regions to the North and South of the Capital.
Stakes
Coquimbo Chile Curicó Chile El Belloto Chile La Serena Chile Peñaflor Chile Rancagua Chile Rancagua Chile Tupahue Quillota Chile Quilpué Chile San Antonio Chile Santiago Chile Cinco de Abril Santiago Chile Los Cerrillos Santiago Chile Maipú Santiago Chile Olimpo Santiago Chile San Bernardo Santiago Chile San Pablo Talagante Chile Valparaíso Chile Valparaíso Chile West Villa Alemana Chile Villa Alemana Chile West Viña del Mar Chile Viña del Mar Chile Achupallas
Districts Buín Chile Illapel Chile Ovalle Chile San Fernando Chile Santa Cruz Chile
Now, I'm sure this will start a discussion of whether these would be incorporated or any others to be included also. Or if any would remain within the current Santiago Chile Temple District in the east half of the Capital.
My 0hrasing about the possible plan to have 90% of members within an hours travel of a temple was possibly ill chosen. I think the issue is at this point there has only been hints this is the plan, no one has officially stated such.
An hours travel for 90% of members is a very ambitious plan. Of course since in many areas the travel time is different at different times of the day even the modeling of this is hard to figure out. You want to model it based on transport people actually have, and based not just on traffic but road conditions. So if you live in a village in DR Congo or Nigeria or elsewhere where the roads are almost unpassable mud that make journey's very hard, that is a factor.
The list on the Santiago West Temple proposed stakes makes me very confident a Vina del Mar/Valparaiso Temple is a doable Temple with the current stakes.
Adam and OHhappydane33, thanks for the good news about the new ward and new stake, and earlier about the Seattle Shoreline Stake closure. Since cdol.org and the classic maps site are no longer available for us to monitor this activity, we really appreciate your reporting.
Ohhappydane33, I also appreciated the tidbit about the new Vineyard Utah Springs Park Stake. The Orem Utah Geneva Heights Stake is where I formerly lived, and I had wondered if it would be split at some point. The attendance numbers were always good there, so it makes sense that those 5 congregations would be sufficient to make up a new stake.
On another note, the Lehi Utah East Stake, where my wife grew up and into which we moved a few months ago, seems to be similarly well-attended. In our ward, regular attendance fills the chapel and quite a bit of the overflow in the cultural hall. I don't know this for certain, but imagine that other wards in the stake have a similar level of attendance. If that turns out to be true, then the Lehi Utah East Stake could split at some point as well. Right now, there are less than 12 wards in the stake, so I imagine the first step would be splitting the wards here. In the meantime, I do know that several wards in our stake have two representatives from the stake high council. The subject of cogregational splits is interesting. That being said, I hope that somehow, we mmy again get access to the latest Churchwide congregational updates in some way.
One other thought: Just wanted to note that the Church has made a procedural change in the protocol for second-hour meetings. When the two-hour block was introduced 4 years ago, the Church said that second-hour meetings only needed to end with a prayer. The Church has noted today that, effective immediately, all second-hour meetings are to both begin and end with a prayer:
Ward sizes in Utah should probably be further decreased. My in-laws' ward in Syracuse, which is just a couple of blocks, is a good example of what units in highly active LDS areas (80%+ of the population) could look like. They only have 150 to 200 people at sacrament meeting, which results in people actually knowing each other and almost everyone who wants to being involved through a meaningful (!) calling. Wards with 400+ people attending are usually not desirable in my opinion, as it worsens fellowshipping and ministering conditions and splits a small number of leaders way too thin to be effective, while others are not able to actively participate in the ward.
Temples within an hour for 90% of members: very ambitious and probably not possible under current conditions, but we can get there eventually. In the US, that would mean saturating the Northeast, Midwest, South, and Great Basin. For example, most population centers of Wyoming would require temples, and we would likely need temples in most eastern and central US cities with a stake. Of course, you can always argue that those places will be part of the 10%, but given growing membership proportions in places like Sub-Sahara Africa, where travel radii of an hour are much smaller, it would be hard to argue that any meaningful part of the Lower 48 would be able to remain farther than an hour from a temple. It's a big ask and I don't believe we are there or anywhere close.
Well, I'm assuming the Church News will continue to report new stakes, albeit with some delay. The discontinuation of stakes will be a bit trickier since these aren't ever disclosed by the Church News.
I enjoyed this interesting article on the history of church architecture and think it might be of interest to some of the readers of this blog. I learned about several interesting historic church buildings of which I was unaware (and now I want to make sure I see the 5th ward meetinghouse next time I am in Idaho Falls, as I love art deco/streamline moderne architecture). The author clearly knows a lot about the church -- enough to make me think he is a member, except that there were a few mistakes in the article a member would be unlikely to make (for instance, the caption on a photo of the Community of Christ temple in Independence, MO mistakenly refers to it as one of our temples, though perhaps that was the copy editor and not the author who made that mistake).
Also, I loved the Asia Area Christmas devotional. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it. It beautifully conveys the meaning of Christmas -- and what talented members! Might be a nice thing to watch on Christmas Eve or Christmas day to help focus on the Savior, and not just the presents.
I think people who live in remote areas to some degree are accustomed to traveling to further distances to participate in things important to them. I have relatives in a remote area of Wyoming who plan their trips to neighboring cities and do multiple things when there (doctor/shopping/stopping by a friends house/etc.
I realize many live in remote areas out of necessity, but many also choose this. I’m not sure it makes sense for the foreseeable future to build temples in remote areas where there are fewer than 2-3 strong stakes unless the next closest stake is a few hours away.
My first thought when I saw the sq ft of Santiago West was that a Vina del Mar announcement is imminent and perhaps another Santiago temple announced within a few years.
17 stake presidencies called in areas around the world — from Dallas, Texas, to New Delhi, India Notices of new and reorganized stakes throughout the world
By Church News Staff 25 Dec 2022, 7:00 AM MST
"New stake
A new stake has been created from the Mérida México Centro and Mérida México Chuburná stakes. The Mérida México Caucel Stake, which consists of the Canek, Caucel, Herradura, Hunucma, Pensiones and Santa Fe wards, was created by Elder Sean Douglas, General Authority Seventy, and Elder Héctor Méndez, an Area Seventy.
MÉRIDA MÉXICO CAUCEL STAKE: (Dec. 4, 2022) President — José Eduardo Morás Guevara, 41, plant manager; wife, Artemisa de Moras Parra. Counselors — Alejandro Ordaz Azueta, 42, Seminaries and Institutes of Religion coordinator; wife, Primera Aurora de Ordaz Canul. Delio Ariel Caballero Alonzo, 39, state housing administrative coordinator; wife, Nora Aracely Nares Pinzón."
I do not know what most people think of a new temple in Venezuela, but it is needed. Sometimes members in Venezuela feel like second class, all the nice things in the church happen in other countries. Visit of authorities, construction of chapels and dedication of temples, but here none of that.
The corrupt government we have, and the bad economic conditions, make everything difficult. We understand that for a temple to be built, we must fulfill some premises. The Venezuelan members are faithful and dedicated. During the last seventeen years, they have maintained four missions without the help of missionaries outside of Venezuela, besides having 33 stakes.
Perhaps a better explanation of the economy and the distances to be covered in a trip to the temple would help to understand how necessary a couple more temples would be in Venezuela. The pension that a retired worker receives is Bs. 130, which is equivalent to only $7.85. How can anyone afford a ticket to attend a temple session from a distant stake city? Distance from the unit to the temple in Miles.
Barcelona Venezuela Stake 191 mi. Barinas Venezuela Stake 319 mi. Barquisimeto Venezuela Stake 230 mi. Barquisimeto Venezuela Obelisco Stake 230 mi. Cabimas Venezuela Stake 412 mi. Cagua Venezuela Stake 72 mi. Caracas Venezuela Stake 0 mi. Caracas Venezuela Los Teques Stake 0 mi. Caracas Venezuela Palo Verde Stake 0 mi. Caracas Venezuela Urdaneta Stake 0 mi. Ciudad Bolivar Venezuela Stake 282 mi. Ciudad Ojeda Venezuela Stake 400 mi. Coro Venezuela Stake 287 mi. Cumaná Venezuela Stake 257 mi. El Tigre Venezuela Stake 283 mi. Guacara Venezuela Stake 98 mi. Guarenas Venezuela Stake 26 mi. Guayana Venezuela Stake 419 mi. Maracaibo Venezuela Stake 322 mi. Maracaibo Venezuela Central Stake 322 mi. Maracaibo Venezuela South Stake 322 mi. Maracaibo Venezuela West Stake 322 mi. Maracay Venezuela Stake 74 mi. Maturin Venezuela Stake 313 mi. Mérida Venezuela Stake 496 mi. Ocumare del Tuy Venezuela Stake 46 mi. Puerto la Cruz Venezuela Stake 204 mi. Punto Fijo Venezuela Stake 332 mi. San Cristóbal Venezuela Pirineos Stake 503 mi. San Félix Venezuela Stake 419 mi. San Francisco Venezuela Stake 322 mi. Valencia Venezuela Candelaria Stake 106 mi. Valencia Venezuela Los Sauces Stake 106 mi. Carúpano Venezuela District 335 mi. El Rosario Venezuela District 370 mi. La Fría Venezuela District 520 mi. La Pascua Venezuela District 166 mi. Porlamar Venezuela District 241 mi. Valera Venezuela District 373 mi.
I didn't know that 5th Ward Chapel existed when I was living in IF, but I visited my brother there a few years ago and that was the chapel his ward was assigned to!
Cool building. Looks like a Temple on the outside, but has a gym on the inside. ;)
Thanks for your comment, Rafael. I knew some members from Venezuela on my mission in Canada (though that was years ago, in the 1990s). I have also been thinking that another temple or two for your country is likely soon, especially given how much the building of temples has increased under President Nelson. Maracaibo seems like a strong candidate. Do you know if travel to Barranquilla is an option for the members there? I wonder if the government is making it difficult to get approvals for new buildings.
I don't have time for a detailed analysis right now, but looking at temple statistics at Rick's Temples site https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/statistics/districts/
suggests that Caracas is one of only a handful of temples with 30+ stakes assigned that does not currently have one or more additional temples under construction or announced.
Anticipate multiple temples announced for Venezuela. Places like Valencia, Maracaibo, Barquisimeto, and Barcelona. I wonder if a lot of the delay may be due to government restrictions. It seems the church can fully operate there. I pray for the day we will see more temples in that country. Even some countries with restrictions we have had temples announced such as in Shanghai China and Russia. However I know those may be delayed due to either government restrictions or war.
The recent creation of the seventh stake in Merida, makes it the fourth largest concentration of stakes in Mexico, with only Puebla (9), Monterrey (12), and Mexico City (40+) in front. It passed Guadalajara and Tijuana which both have 6 stakes in their immediate metro area.
This is significant because Yucatan has been particularly receptive to the Gospel message whereas Jalisco has been a bit tougher nut to crack.
To give you an illustration of this, Merida has 1.2 million people in its metro area. Guadalajara has 5.3 million in its metro area.
If Guadalajara had the same receptivity as Merida it would not have six stakes, but 27. Conversely, if Merida had Guadalajara's receptivity there would be only one stake and a district.
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Just wanted to drop a note here for any who are curious (which may go without saying). Since Christmas was yesterday and New Year's Day is next Sunday, the federal observance of those holidays were today and will be next Monday. So for the next two weeks (and perhaps every week going forward, any new temple-related announcements from the Church may come on Tuesday or Wednesday.
So, as a heads-up for those who are interested, I will be sharing the initial draft of my April 2023 General Conference predictions on my blog on Wednesday, and on Saturday, I'll have a look back at content covered in 2022 and my final review of temple construction progress for this year. My thanks once again to Matt for allowing me to share those updates here, and my thanks again to all of you.
@Rafael -- thank you for sharing this insight into Venezuela. I hope more temples will soon come to Venezuela and that political and economic conditions improve. Venezuela is enduring a period of hardship, but you are not forgotten. I pray for things to improve.
I believe that Venezuela would be a great place to have multiple small temples announced at a time to alleviate challenges regarding travel, although I don't know the country's geography well enough to exactly pinpoint how many temples are needed and where. My guess is that, if properly placed, three or four would make a whole lot of difference.
@Rafael, thank you for those statistics on distance and the financial difficulties of attending the temple in Venezuela. Venezuela certainly needs more temples. I assumed the reason no temple has been built in Venezuela in decades is due to government restrictions probably due to political tensions between the Venezuelan and American governments. The United States government recently relaxed some restrictions related to oil from Venezuela -- perhaps that will improve relations between the two countries enough that the political issues will not be a barrier to building more temples. Valencia and Maracaibo in particular seem to have enough stakes for a temple, and maybe a small one could be built in Barcelona. What is missionary work like in Venezuela?
With Merida getting a new stake, a temple for Cancun seems more likely.
Venezuela getting new temples announced would be good, and since Brazilians can go to Venezuela dedication will be doable, even if Venezuela remains as stingy with its religious visas.
Multiple small temples seems a good idea, but we shall see what actually happens.
Venezuela is by far one of the most under-templed countries in the world when considering square-footage per member and per stake.
We have quite a few interesting recent developments surrounding Venezuela. First, the groundbreaking of the Managua temple shows that the church is taking greater advantage of leaders who are not from the United States who have greater opportunities to work in countries like Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba to prepare for and execute temple construction. Second, increasing oil prices and a Democrat in the Whitehouse have resulted in a partial thaw in relations between the United States and Venezuela. Most western countries have begun to recognize Maduro since the start of the Ukraine war. Opposition and Maduro have started to have discussions about the country's future, finally meeting in CDMX. It is almost impossible to expect that a temple would be built in an country that does not allow skill/knowledge transfer from US-Americans. Thankfully, Venezuela might be leaving that category of country soon, not because of regime change, but because of a softening of international relations.
Maracaibo would have had a temple dedicated by now if it weren't for the political situation, just like Managua. Given our goal to build a temple in every community of saints, temples in Valencia and Barcelona (or somewhere else in the east) are likely to follow quickly once we get a good start on Maracaibo.
Rafael, tengo un amor fuerte y personal hacia el pais y la gente de Venezuela desde que tuve la oportunidad de convivir con muchos Venezolanos quienes habian venido a los EEUU para buscar trabajo durante mi mision. Los miembros de la Iglesia en los EEUU y el resto de las Americas esperan lo mejor para ustedes, reconocemos sus esfurezos y sacrificios valientes, y esperamos tambien que ustedes como nosotros pronto tengan mas templos. Mas importantemente, Dios conoce sus corazones llenos de fe, el les bendecira con templos tal pronto como el pais, no solo los santos, este listo para recibirlos.
Venezuela has given some religious visa, but very few, and they are very hard to obtain. Elder Andersen recently planned to go to Venezuela, but was not able to go because of visa issues. He was in Colombia and broadcast in. Elder Godoy, I believe the one from Brazil was there in person, and maybe Elder Pino who is Venezuelan. I could be remembering those details incorrectly.
I believe a critical reason why more temples have not been announced in Venezuela is not because of concerns about the government limiting the Church's activities. Instead, it is probably better explained by large numbers of active Latter-day Saints who flee the country. Membership is not very stable in Venezuela because of this, and as a result, the Church likely does not want to make a major investment in another temple when it is unclear what the future will look like in the medium-term. This explains why we have so many stakes in Venezuela with only 4-5 wards. The Church is probably waiting to see if these members return or if they are offset by new converts to keep these stakes going. Caracas and Maracaibo are the worst when it comes to stakes with very few wards.
Alexander Odume, who was the 4th president of the Aba Nigeria Temple and the first Nigerian to be temple president there was the first president of the Benin City Nigeria Stake. That may have been Nigeria's 2nd stake. Brother Odume I believe was also mission president in Benin City. Benin City is a place that could have its first temple president as its first stake president, that list is all places that have an announced temple where the first stake president is still alive. I would be surprised if Odume is Benin City's first temple president, but it could happen.
Happy New Year, everyone! Hope 2023 is finding you all well. To the other James, I'm not Matt, and can't and won't speak for him, but every site that I know of that at any point had a comprehensive list of individual units has, over the last several years, been requested by the Church to either stop sharing the information or to take it down altogether. This makes congregational data difficult to come by, and even the information on Classic Maps is being restricted. I don't know for certain why the Church doesn't want that information widely available, but confidentiality in certain aspects relating to the Church isn't a new practice. Whatever the reason, I'm sure it's a good one.
Since information on individual units is not widely available, I'd imagine that makes finding a list of units belonging to every stake and district hard to come by as well. But again, I say that as someone who is not Matt. In the meantime, on another note,since construction hasn't even begun on the Benin City Nigeria Temple, it may be far too early to conjecture who might be its' first president. And turning to other subjects in conclusion, it appears we have a minimum of 5 and maximum of 7 new temples that could have opening arrangements announced in the coming weeks, which would probably necessitate the announcement of the first leaders for each of those temples. I will be interested to see how the timing plays out on the announcement of the first leaders and openings for each of those temples. If I'm right, all of them could be dedicated by the end of June.
The other big announcement to which I think we can look forward in the near term is the announcement of new mission leader Sos who will begin serving in July of this year. So I think the first several months of 2023 will be absolutely crazy for the Church. I'm looking forward to all of that.
Tanzania seems to continue to dynamically grow, despite some tension and terroristic unrest in some parts of the country. This is mostly up north, where I think the Church of Jesus Christ is growing, but I believe it is safer down south. Do we know if most of the evangelization is happening in the greater language of Swahili, or is it also happening in other regional languages and dialects?
Philippines will never slow down, or will it? When will the archipelago hit one million members? Mexico will stay ahead in membership and temples, but I still think that the Philippines has a chance to grow faster. Hopefully less drug violence, but I think Filipinos smoke more, which is hard to battle with Word of Wisdom commitments.
What prevents more people from active membership: alcohol, tobacco, or tea and coffee?
I think a healthy number of members worldwide drink tea and coffee, by the way. it is the caffeine question. At least the Church has stated its case about carbonated drinks, which is good for inclusiveness but bad for our health... Maybe small potatoes in the scheme of things...
Are more than twenty U.S. states declining in Church activity? It is not just about jobs and move-outs...
Thanks, Christopher and James. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to jump into your project. So frustrating that the church doesn't at the very least provide stakes/branches per unit. I found 2019 data by state/country on Cumorah.com, but even that was in screenshot form (screenshots of spreadsheets - not sure where they got the data), and you'd have to go to each individual state or country to get the statistical profile.
I don't really get it. There is no doctrine against transparent reporting. And institutional transparency is something today's culture highly values. No reason at all for the church to obfuscate things like this.
@Eduardo, according to Andy Larsen at the SL Tribune, 34/50 US states saw a drop in the % of members between 2019 and 2022. Between 2010 and 2020, the % of self-identified Mormons dropped in 26/29 Utah counties. In other words, yes, there is a general decline. https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/12087758/?utm_source=showcase&utm_campaign=visualisation/12087758
I am guessing right now most efforts in Tanzania are done in Swahili, but there may be processes on the way to expand to other languages, but that may wait until Swahili is fully established.
I know that in Shona there was a,major envision of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price done in 2020.
There is a huge need for more languages having the Book of Mormon and other scriptures in many countries in Africa. The thing is some of these languages have little written material period, and higher education is often only in the European colonial languages, so there are lots of big issues at play.
James - No, there is not a general decline in Church membership in the United States if you are meaning the number of members on the records and in terms of self-affiliated members (although the latter I would say is essentially stagnant right now with low birth rates, member attrition, and aging membership). We are still seeing net increases in national membership, but you are correct that the percentage of members in the population is declined in many areas (such as in Utah).
I am guessing right now most efforts in Tanzania are done in Swahili, but there may be processes on the way to expand to other languages, but that may wait until Swahili is fully established.
I know that in Shona there was a,major envision of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price done in 2020.
There is a huge need for more languages having the Book of Mormon and other scriptures in many countries in Africa. The thing is some of these languages have little written material period, and higher education is often only in the European colonial languages, so there are lots of big issues at play.
We were talking about temples being near or at capacity a little while ago. I just did a session at the Ogden Temple (late Thursday morning) and I wasn't even able to get a parking spot on temple grounds. Inside, it felt like a Saturday as well. I can't say that I had to wait for hours to get into a session, but the one I was in was filled pretty much to the last seat.
Among those called are a few current area seventies. Elder Glenn M. Holmes currently resides in Benoni, South Africa, and he and his wife have been assigned oversight for the new South Africa Pretoria Mission. Since Pretoria is less than 40 miles from their home in Benoni, it is possible that, for a time, Elder Holmes could continue his service as an area seventy, but the area of his stewardship would change as he also serves as a mission president. A brief biography of Elder Holmes is available at the webpage below:
In the Brazil Area, Lincoln P. Martins, called as president of the Brazil Recife South Mission, has been an area seventy in Campinas Brazil since April 2018:
If his name sounds familiar, that’s because he currently resides in San Pedro Sula Honduras, and was the area seventy who broke ground for the temple in that city. Since this April would mark 6 years of service for him, they could either have him continue to serve until August or be one of the few area seventies released in the General Cconference Leadership Session in April.
Just a quick interjection here: I will double-check this before stating it definitively, but unless I am mistaken, there are no current GA Seventies that are among the new mission presidents for this year. So given the fact that Elder Hernandez is under 50 years old, he could possibly be sustained as a GA Seventy either prior to beginning or within a year of his beginning service as a mission president. Even if that doesn’t happen, he could also potentially continue as an area seventy in a different part of Central America.
Another current area seventy, Michael D. Jones, has been called to serve as president of the Mexico Mexico City Southeast Mission. He has served as an area seventy since April 2018, and is another who, in view of his age, could be called as a GA Seventy while simultaneously serving as a mission president. If that doesn’t happen, he could continue as an area seventy as well, with his service area changing.
Another former area seventy, Luis J. Camey, who was released as an area seventy in 2021, has been called to preside over the México Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mission:
Aretemio C. Maligon, an area seventy who was also called in April 2018, will serve as president of the Philippines Davao Mission. He could be released as an area seventy, or his area of responsibility could be changed. And having gone through the entire list, I can now confirm my previous assertion, that no current GA Seventies will begin serving as mission presidents this year, unless any of the TBA slots are filled by current or new GA Seventies, or if any of the current area seventies are sustained as GA Seventies in April. My thanks once again to you all.
70 comments:
The progress in Chile is a good sign. I am hoping there is at least a temple announced for the far south of that country and one announced for Valparaiso/Vina del Mar next year.
The additional branch in a new place in Republic of Congo is quite encouraging.
Developments in Tanzania are quite encouraging.
The 3rd Farsi speaking branch is a very encouraging development.
A recent directive said the only married people with callings in YSA wards and stakes should be stake presidents and bishops. This seems to say both counselors in the stake presidency should be unmarried men. A missionary who serves here in Detroit where I live told me that most members of the high council in the stake he was in in Logan while attending USU before he began his mission were unmarried men.
The last I checked in my stake the YSA branch president had 2 married counselors, and one of the counselors had a wife who was a counselor in the relief society presidency.
I was in at least one ward at BYU where the ward clerk was a married men.
This will be an interesting development to see go down. Long term I think it will do wonders for leadership growth in the Church. It will also make it easier to create YSA stakes, since you only have to find 1 instead of 15 or more additional full tithe paying melchizedek priesthood holders in surrounding areas.
This may in the short term lead to a decision some YSA units just do not have the strength to exist as separate wards or branches and cause them to be discontinued or made into groups.
On the other hand some places it may allow splits sooner, because creating a new YSA unit is no longer often a 3 men called from elsewhere but only 1 man called from elsewhere issue. It may even in some areas lead to creating more non-YSA units because they are not missing so many people to help staff YSA units.
On another interesting issue Elder Christopherson on his recent journey to DR Congo, Kenya and Ethiopia, was also scheduled to go to Uganda. Due to disease outbreak in Uganda he did not go there. I hope that this does not mean that plans to announce a temple in Kampala will be pushed back further.
Any news on progress for the Nairobi Kenya Temple.
I have started to compile a list of cities where the same person was the first stake and temple president. I believe Buenos Aires, Argentina and Hermosillo, Mexico are both on that list. Nuku'alofa, Tonga is not on the list but the first temple president, Tonga T. Paletu'a was a counselor in the first stake presidency there.
Have a merry Christmas.
Buryl McClurg was first president of the Franklin Tennessee Stake (he'd been president of the Nashville stake) and was later first president of the Nashville temple, built next to the Franklin stake center (and his house). D. Todd Christofferson was his counselor in the Franklin stake presidency, and replaced him as stake president in 1982.
Incidentally, on Christmas Eve 1988, that stake center was hit by a tornado, and McClurg was serving as bishop of the Franklin Ward. The newspaper report the next day said he was "asleep in the parsonage" when the tornado hit.
That claim about bring asleep in the parsonage is quite funny. It is an example of how reporters often assume they understand how a religion works and apply terms that are just plain wrong.
I did have a friend who lived in a house owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints adjacent to the chapel in Detroit when his dad was the janitor there, back when that was a paid position. The house and chapel were razed to build I-96.
Calling a temple or mission president resident a parsonage would not be as bad as calling the bishop's private home such.
I worked at a charter school in Detroit that had been a catholic school. Adjacent was a now closed Catholic Church and rectory. One of the African-American faculty who was Catholic once expressed to me the complaint that it was odd so many incorrectly called the rectory a parsonage. I tried to explain that rectory applies to Catholic Churches since the head of the congregation is by title a rectory (even if most Catholics and non-Catholics call him a priest, all rectory are priests, at least I do not think Catholics even let deacons be such, but not all priests are reactors (more so in 1950 than today, today some priest are rectory of multiple parishes, or have parishes with multiple buildings, and way fewer have other priests under them). I explained that with Protestants they call their leader a minister, reverend or parson, and thry use the term parsonage for any residence of such a person connected in some way to a congregation.
I don't remember how much she seemed to understand my explanation. I should have probably pointed out that parson and parsonage is part of the generic ill-defined religious presence often shown in mass media, especially films, especially westerns. So it is a term known to some Americans who never go to a church or at least not to one that has such.
It is heartening to see Church unit growth in Chile and California, two former powerhouses that are still creating temples despite their rate of divesting branches and wards. I have lived in five stakes in Chile, and four stakes in California. All the Chilean stakes are still going, but one in California was fused out (Highland).
As the immigrant population of California continues to increase, hopefully more converts will be found among them. In Chile there are now hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Venezuelans, some of whom meet the members and missionaries and join the faith.
I hope those efforts in Chile can lead to increase the ties to Haiti and Venezuela, and those lands will be blessed. They need it, we all do.
Chile now has fifth and maybe sixth generation members? A boy named after me in 1990 may have kids, but I am not sure if he knows much about the Church of Jesus Christ. His mother did, and once was committed but has likely fallen away.
But we can hope for Don Edward and his family! And all the rest of el pueblo chileno!
Mostly good news this month. Very happy to hear about it! More locally, our ward here in Illinois has just sent out missionary number 7, with all three upcoming graduating seniors also now preparing to serve. There is a short window this summer when our ward could have 10 missionaries serving at the same time. Given that we have lost lots of active families with youth due to moves, and we now struggle to crack 100 people at sacrament meeting, this is a remarkable number.
Much will depend on our ability worldwide to prepare youth to serve faithfully. For way too long, it has fallen on the western US to supply the bulk of the worldwide missionary force. But everywhere I've lived in the last 10 years or so, missionary service has become more commonplace for young adults.
The Seattle Washington Shoreline Stake was dissolved today.
Very good, Pascal. I have some family in Illinois recently, and I wish that the Lord's Church grew more there. The land where Joseph Smith was martyred and the Governor who claimed that his name would not be remembered, is now an afterthought of history. (Prez. Hinkley shared that story at the Nauvoo Temple restoration dedication - I think his name was Ford).
Full-time missionaries are not the best measure of activity in the faith, but they are certainly a very positive sign. And they literally increase the growth of membership in awesome and dynamic ways.
I know of Chilean missionaries who served in Brazil and Paraguay, learning other languages and cultures; it is beautiful to see the people of God learn to overcome prejudices and barriers to become one people. I think that non-U.S. and non-Chilean missionaries can do great things in Chile, but ultimately each country is re-enforced by having their own people serve within their cultures.
My trainer from Santiago went on to teach at the Santiago CCM, but never returned to our mission, which was odd to me. (Concepcion). He later married a U.S. girl, and now resides in Utah. He divorced her, not sure if he re-married. Anyway, again, it is great to see tangible evidence of the growth of the Kingdom of God in our units and across the earth.
Thanks for sharing. Keep pressing forward.
Do you know which websites updates this information on wards/branch openings and closures? The fuller consideration website no longers updates the information on their site
Got some info regarding Mexico City and temples.
Takes hours to get to the present temple due to the traffic, but they go in droves. The report I heard is that the line waiting to do baptisms in the baptistry goes literally out the door. No info about the rest of it there other than the large numbers going.
@Jim, I'm sure the Mexico City area needs additional temples, but this "goes out the door" thing is clearly an aberration or hyperbole.
You can call the temple to schedule appointments. I saw the announcement church leaders made about them coming in busses and checked myself. This is an easily verifiable claim.
The temple had openings every day this week, including on the weekend, for essentially every time slot. That's for baptisms and endowment sessions. This Friday was only 20% full when I checked.
Not too surprising they need more temples around DF because there are a TON of people around there and, as you mentioned, traffic makes things tough. The Cuernavaca temple will help for sure. And there are probably some who would go more often if they didn't have to make what amounts to a weekend trip to go to the temple. But this idea that the temple is bursting at the seams just isn't backed by the data.
Location confirmed for the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple. Really surprised it's going to be likely the same floor plan as Saratoga Springs or Layton, 87,000 square feet makes it bigger than the original Las Vegas Temple. Can't say I saw that one coming.
Forgot the source for the statement about the baptistry, and there is more than that to it too. It is in this Church News article:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2022/12/12/23505328/president-ballard-elder-stevenson-future-of-mexico
I am back to thinking a temple for Venezuela is very likely to be announced soon. At first reading about another apostle not being Grable to go there are having to conduct meetings remotely I was not seeing how a temple could be dedicated. However at the end of the article it mentioned Brazilians need no visa to go into Venezuela. So there is a way to get the temple dedicated even if visas remain as difficult to obtain.
I am looking forward to a lot more temples being announced in the near future. I will find joy and excitement in such.
I meant "another apostle not being able."
Elder Holland and Sister Browning were recently in California. One of the meetings Elder Holland addressed was of Spanish speakers. I think this was basically a meeting of all Spanish-speaking Church members in Ventira County. Elder Holland and Sister Browning also did a Ling visit with a Seminary class. Also lots of leadership training.
Ventura County would seem a strong candidate for a temple.
@DJarvis87
I dont't think there is another website reporting information on wards/branch openings and closures.
The reason for that is that the church removed the sources for website's to find this information. One of them was classic maps website which had a lot more information when logged in that the meetinghouselocator has. (unit boundaries and not just the boundaries of the selected unit).
The same is valid for CDOL. Now most members with access to it can only search for a speciffic unit by name. In the past it was possible to search for units (wards, branches, stakes, districts) that have been set to active during a specific timeframe.
Another new ward was created in western Bentonville, AR on November 11th. The Central Park ward was split and the new Cornerstone Ward was created. This increased the number of units in the Bentonville Stake to 13, with 12 wards and a YSA branch. In the Bentonville/Rogers corridor there are now two buildings in the stake which house 5 units and another two which hold 4, (an often underrated development of the church switching from 3 hours to 2.) A third meetinghouse in western Bentonville by Centerton is being constructed, it is assumed that it will serve as a new stake center to Centerton upon completion. Between Bentonville and Rogers stakes there are now 20 wards and two branches.
Our ward in Pea Ridge, AR in the Rogers Stake was upgraded from a branch in August 2021. They were the last non-YSA/foreign language branch in the region. We already have over 300 in attendance due to all the new construction and flight of families from Utah and California.
The square footage for the Santiago West Temple was just released. 12,500 sqft. That's quite small, just a little larger than the famed 10,700 sqft Hinkley temples. 500 square feet per stake for a district of 25 stakes is tiny. For context, after announced temples are built, the average square footage per stake at temples in Spanish speaking South America will be 1900 square feet. A Chilean example, Concepcion has 1000 sqft/stake.
If I were a betting man, I'd guess that means two more temples to be announced around the Santiago Region within the next year. One in the west near Vina del Mar/Valparaiso, another in the south near Puente Alto.
The Pittsburgh Temple will be 30,000 square feet and the Cleveland temple 9,900. The two temples will serve a similar number of stakes. It seems as if the plans for the Pittsburgh Temple were chosen before the Cleveland temple had been revealed/decided on.
It seems as if this smaller than expected Santiago West Temple means that there are greater plans for the metropolitan area. I am excited, because this means that many Chilean returning members will get to walk past a temple on their way back to church.
Today's announcement also included four exterior renderings for other temples that had previously had sites confirmed:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/three-sites-and-four-temple-renderings-announced
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022/12/19/23505915/locations-for-cleveland-ohio-austin-texas-santiago-west-chile-temples
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022/12/19/23511937/renderings-for-singapore-temple-kaohsiung-taiwan-modesto-california-knoxville-tennessee
This brings the number of temple with sites confirmed to 27. 11 of those have had exterior renderings released. And just about all of those 27 are likely to have groundbreakings next year. As far as the different sizes between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, both were announced at the same time, and they have now had details confirmed at the same time. Given the size of the Cleveland Temple, I wouldn't be shocked to see one or two other temples announced for Ohio. And I think that's what the Church may be planning on.
The Church Temples site also reported over the weekend that major construction has been completed for the Bentonville Arkansas Temple, and that construction is nearing completion for the Bangkok Thailand, Feather River California, Brasilia Brazil, and Moses Lake Washington Temples. With next Monday being the day after Christmas, I', not sure if the Church will make a major temple announcement then. But after the first of the year, I think we can count on many dedication and groundbreaking announcements.
For more analysis on today's announcement, those interested can find that on my blog:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2022/12/breaking-temple-news-latest-temple_0411665426.html
My thanks once again to you all.
Additionally, the Churcch Temples site reported this week that
The Cleveland Temple will be built in Independence, Ohio, which is basically straight south of Cleveland, and is called the Silicon Valley of Cleveland. I am thinking at least some of Youngstown Stake may end up assigned to the Pittsburgh Temple. Youngstown looks to be 10 minutes closer to Pittsburgh Temple than to Cleveland Temple, although some of the stake may be the other way. So Cleveland Temple may end up only serving about 3 stakes.
Toledo itself may stay with the Detroit Temple, while some parts of that stake may still have Columbus as their closest temple. The temple is less than 10,000 square feet. I think this also bodes well for the building of a Cincinnati Ohio Temple.
I am very convinced that Vina del Mar/Valparaiso will have a temple announced in 2023.
Austin Temple will be at 30,000 square feet. It will be in Cedar Park, Texas, which until the 1950s was basically just a park people from Austin took day trips to. It saw some subdivisions develop then, but in 1990 it only had 5,261 people. By 2000 it was to 26,000, by 2010 almost 49,000 and as of 2020 it had over 77,000 people.
I rethought Cleveland. It will basically have Akron, Kirtland and Cleveland Stakes, and maybe on balance another stake between parts of Toledo and Youngstown, so it might come out on balance to 4 stakes.
Pittsburgh will basically have most of Youngstown, the 3 Pittsburgh stakes, Altoona Pennsyvlania, and Clarksburg West Virginia. I am not sure if anything in Jamestown, New York, Williamsport, Pennsylvania or Charleston or Huntington West Virginia Stakes would go to Pittsburgh.
I am a little optimitic that both Charleston, West Virginia and Buena Vista, Virginia could see temples in the near future. If The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is really serious about putting 90% of Church members within an hour of a temple we will also see a temple for somewhere around Baltimore, and for somewhere about Winchester, Virginia.
Of course somewhere in New Jersey, the Priesthood Restoration Site and or somewhere in Utica/Albany/that general area of New York, and Manchester New Hampshire or the Joseph Smith birthplace and somewhere in Maine.
I am very excited to see what happens come April, but I am not sure I have any sense of what temples may be announced.
I think the Church is serious, but also think that was not a great way to phrase a preamble to a prediction.
With the recently announced site location in Maipú, Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile of the Santiago West Temple. Here is my prediction of the future Temple District, with these 23 Stakes and 5 Districts in West Santiago and near Regions to the North and South of the Capital.
Stakes
Coquimbo Chile
Curicó Chile
El Belloto Chile
La Serena Chile
Peñaflor Chile
Rancagua Chile
Rancagua Chile Tupahue
Quillota Chile
Quilpué Chile
San Antonio Chile
Santiago Chile Cinco de Abril
Santiago Chile Los Cerrillos
Santiago Chile Maipú
Santiago Chile Olimpo
Santiago Chile San Bernardo
Santiago Chile San Pablo
Talagante Chile
Valparaíso Chile
Valparaíso Chile West
Villa Alemana Chile
Villa Alemana Chile West
Viña del Mar Chile
Viña del Mar Chile Achupallas
Districts
Buín Chile
Illapel Chile
Ovalle Chile
San Fernando Chile
Santa Cruz Chile
Now, I'm sure this will start a discussion of whether these would be incorporated or any others to be included also. Or if any would remain within the current Santiago Chile Temple District in the east half of the Capital.
My 0hrasing about the possible plan to have 90% of members within an hours travel of a temple was possibly ill chosen. I think the issue is at this point there has only been hints this is the plan, no one has officially stated such.
An hours travel for 90% of members is a very ambitious plan. Of course since in many areas the travel time is different at different times of the day even the modeling of this is hard to figure out. You want to model it based on transport people actually have, and based not just on traffic but road conditions. So if you live in a village in DR Congo or Nigeria or elsewhere where the roads are almost unpassable mud that make journey's very hard, that is a factor.
The list on the Santiago West Temple proposed stakes makes me very confident a Vina del Mar/Valparaiso Temple is a doable Temple with the current stakes.
It appears that the Vineyard Utah Springs Park Stake has been created from the Orem Utah Geneva Heights Stake.
The new stake consists of the Geneva Heights 8th, 10th, 11th & 12 wards and the Lakefront ward.
Adam and OHhappydane33, thanks for the good news about the new ward and new stake, and earlier about the Seattle Shoreline Stake closure. Since cdol.org and the classic maps site are no longer available for us to monitor this activity, we really appreciate your reporting.
Verified on Meetinghouse Locator site the new "Vineyard Utah Springs Park Stake - 2219387"
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/meetinghouses/@40.306907,-111.739019,15s&id=ward:2108283
Ohhappydane33, I also appreciated the tidbit about the new Vineyard Utah Springs Park Stake. The Orem Utah Geneva Heights Stake is where I formerly lived, and I had wondered if it would be split at some point. The attendance numbers were always good there, so it makes sense that those 5 congregations would be sufficient to make up a new stake.
On another note, the Lehi Utah East Stake, where my wife grew up and into which we moved a few months ago, seems to be similarly well-attended. In our ward, regular attendance fills the chapel and quite a bit of the overflow in the cultural hall. I don't know this for certain, but imagine that other wards in the stake have a similar level of attendance. If that turns out to be true, then the Lehi Utah East Stake could split at some point as well. Right now, there are less than 12 wards in the stake, so I imagine the first step would be splitting the wards here. In the meantime, I do know that several wards in our stake have two representatives from the stake high council. The subject of cogregational splits is interesting. That being said, I hope that somehow, we mmy again get access to the latest Churchwide congregational updates in some way.
One other thought: Just wanted to note that the Church has made a procedural change in the protocol for second-hour meetings. When the two-hour block was introduced 4 years ago, the Church said that second-hour meetings only needed to end with a prayer. The Church has noted today that, effective immediately, all second-hour meetings are to both begin and end with a prayer:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2022/12/21/23512261/sunday-second-hour-meetings-to-open-with-prayer
My thanks once again to you all.
Some thoughts:
Ward sizes in Utah should probably be further decreased. My in-laws' ward in Syracuse, which is just a couple of blocks, is a good example of what units in highly active LDS areas (80%+ of the population) could look like. They only have 150 to 200 people at sacrament meeting, which results in people actually knowing each other and almost everyone who wants to being involved through a meaningful (!) calling. Wards with 400+ people attending are usually not desirable in my opinion, as it worsens fellowshipping and ministering conditions and splits a small number of leaders way too thin to be effective, while others are not able to actively participate in the ward.
Temples within an hour for 90% of members: very ambitious and probably not possible under current conditions, but we can get there eventually. In the US, that would mean saturating the Northeast, Midwest, South, and Great Basin. For example, most population centers of Wyoming would require temples, and we would likely need temples in most eastern and central US cities with a stake. Of course, you can always argue that those places will be part of the 10%, but given growing membership proportions in places like Sub-Sahara Africa, where travel radii of an hour are much smaller, it would be hard to argue that any meaningful part of the Lower 48 would be able to remain farther than an hour from a temple. It's a big ask and I don't believe we are there or anywhere close.
Well, I'm assuming the Church News will continue to report new stakes, albeit with some delay. The discontinuation of stakes will be a bit trickier since these aren't ever disclosed by the Church News.
I enjoyed this interesting article on the history of church architecture and think it might be of interest to some of the readers of this blog. I learned about several interesting historic church buildings of which I was unaware (and now I want to make sure I see the 5th ward meetinghouse next time I am in Idaho Falls, as I love art deco/streamline moderne architecture). The author clearly knows a lot about the church -- enough to make me think he is a member, except that there were a few mistakes in the article a member would be unlikely to make (for instance, the caption on a photo of the Community of Christ temple in Independence, MO mistakenly refers to it as one of our temples, though perhaps that was the copy editor and not the author who made that mistake).
https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/building-mormonism-history-controversy-architecture-1234651244/
--Felix
Also, I loved the Asia Area Christmas devotional. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it. It beautifully conveys the meaning of Christmas -- and what talented members! Might be a nice thing to watch on Christmas Eve or Christmas day to help focus on the Savior, and not just the presents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmvlCir_7SQ&t=68s
--Felix
I think people who live in remote areas to some degree are accustomed to traveling to further distances to participate in things important to them. I have relatives in a remote area of Wyoming who plan their trips to neighboring cities and do multiple things when there (doctor/shopping/stopping by a friends house/etc.
I realize many live in remote areas out of necessity, but many also choose this. I’m not sure it makes sense for the foreseeable future to build temples in remote areas where there are fewer than 2-3 strong stakes unless the next closest stake is a few hours away.
My first thought when I saw the sq ft of Santiago West was that a Vina del Mar announcement is imminent and perhaps another Santiago temple announced within a few years.
Thank you for sharing! That was an interesting read. I wish they had included more photos. No I'm looking for all those buildings on Google maps.
Merry Christmas everyone
17 stake presidencies called in areas around the world — from Dallas, Texas, to New Delhi, India
Notices of new and reorganized stakes throughout the world
By Church News Staff 25 Dec 2022, 7:00 AM MST
"New stake
A new stake has been created from the Mérida México Centro and Mérida México Chuburná stakes. The Mérida México Caucel Stake, which consists of the Canek, Caucel, Herradura, Hunucma, Pensiones and Santa Fe wards, was created by Elder Sean Douglas, General Authority Seventy, and Elder Héctor Méndez, an Area Seventy.
MÉRIDA MÉXICO CAUCEL STAKE: (Dec. 4, 2022) President — José Eduardo Morás Guevara, 41, plant manager; wife, Artemisa de Moras Parra. Counselors — Alejandro Ordaz Azueta, 42, Seminaries and Institutes of Religion coordinator; wife, Primera Aurora de Ordaz Canul. Delio Ariel Caballero Alonzo, 39, state housing administrative coordinator; wife, Nora Aracely Nares Pinzón."
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2022/12/25/23521707/17-stake-presidents-called-from-dallas-to-new-delhi
I do not know what most people think of a new temple in Venezuela, but it is needed. Sometimes members in Venezuela feel like second class, all the nice things in the church happen in other countries. Visit of authorities, construction of chapels and dedication of temples, but here none of that.
The corrupt government we have, and the bad economic conditions, make everything difficult. We understand that for a temple to be built, we must fulfill some premises. The Venezuelan members are faithful and dedicated. During the last seventeen years, they have maintained four missions without the help of missionaries outside of Venezuela, besides having 33 stakes.
Perhaps a better explanation of the economy and the distances to be covered in a trip to the temple would help to understand how necessary a couple more temples would be in Venezuela. The pension that a retired worker receives is Bs. 130, which is equivalent to only $7.85. How can anyone afford a ticket to attend a temple session from a distant stake city?
Distance from the unit to the temple in Miles.
Barcelona Venezuela Stake 191 mi.
Barinas Venezuela Stake 319 mi.
Barquisimeto Venezuela Stake 230 mi.
Barquisimeto Venezuela Obelisco Stake 230 mi.
Cabimas Venezuela Stake 412 mi.
Cagua Venezuela Stake 72 mi.
Caracas Venezuela Stake 0 mi.
Caracas Venezuela Los Teques Stake 0 mi.
Caracas Venezuela Palo Verde Stake 0 mi.
Caracas Venezuela Urdaneta Stake 0 mi.
Ciudad Bolivar Venezuela Stake 282 mi.
Ciudad Ojeda Venezuela Stake 400 mi.
Coro Venezuela Stake 287 mi.
Cumaná Venezuela Stake 257 mi.
El Tigre Venezuela Stake 283 mi.
Guacara Venezuela Stake 98 mi.
Guarenas Venezuela Stake 26 mi.
Guayana Venezuela Stake 419 mi.
Maracaibo Venezuela Stake 322 mi.
Maracaibo Venezuela Central Stake 322 mi.
Maracaibo Venezuela South Stake 322 mi.
Maracaibo Venezuela West Stake 322 mi.
Maracay Venezuela Stake 74 mi.
Maturin Venezuela Stake 313 mi.
Mérida Venezuela Stake 496 mi.
Ocumare del Tuy Venezuela Stake 46 mi.
Puerto la Cruz Venezuela Stake 204 mi.
Punto Fijo Venezuela Stake 332 mi.
San Cristóbal Venezuela Pirineos Stake 503 mi.
San Félix Venezuela Stake 419 mi.
San Francisco Venezuela Stake 322 mi.
Valencia Venezuela Candelaria Stake 106 mi.
Valencia Venezuela Los Sauces Stake 106 mi.
Carúpano Venezuela District 335 mi.
El Rosario Venezuela District 370 mi.
La Fría Venezuela District 520 mi.
La Pascua Venezuela District 166 mi.
Porlamar Venezuela District 241 mi.
Valera Venezuela District 373 mi.
Just because I love reading the articles and comments here and being part of this community, even if only as an observer - Merry Christmas everyone!
@Unknown
I didn't know that 5th Ward Chapel existed when I was living in IF, but I visited my brother there a few years ago and that was the chapel his ward was assigned to!
Cool building. Looks like a Temple on the outside, but has a gym on the inside. ;)
@Felix
Thanks for sharing that, Felix! It was cool to see them do the traditional western songs mixed with eastern languages and cultures.
It would be nice to see them do this again, or ones for Africa, Latin America, Oceania, etc.
Thanks for your comment, Rafael. I knew some members from Venezuela on my mission in Canada (though that was years ago, in the 1990s). I have also been thinking that another temple or two for your country is likely soon, especially given how much the building of temples has increased under President Nelson. Maracaibo seems like a strong candidate. Do you know if travel to Barranquilla is an option for the members there? I wonder if the government is making it difficult to get approvals for new buildings.
I don't have time for a detailed analysis right now, but looking at temple statistics at Rick's Temples site
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/statistics/districts/
suggests that Caracas is one of only a handful of temples with 30+ stakes assigned that does not currently have one or more additional temples under construction or announced.
Anticipate multiple temples announced for Venezuela. Places like Valencia, Maracaibo, Barquisimeto, and Barcelona. I wonder if a lot of the delay may be due to government restrictions. It seems the church can fully operate there. I pray for the day we will see more temples in that country. Even some countries with restrictions we have had temples announced such as in Shanghai China and Russia. However I know those may be delayed due to either government restrictions or war.
The recent creation of the seventh stake in Merida, makes it the fourth largest concentration of stakes in Mexico, with only Puebla (9), Monterrey (12), and Mexico City (40+) in front. It passed Guadalajara and Tijuana which both have 6 stakes in their immediate metro area.
This is significant because Yucatan has been particularly receptive to the Gospel message whereas Jalisco has been a bit tougher nut to crack.
To give you an illustration of this, Merida has 1.2 million people in its metro area. Guadalajara has 5.3 million in its metro area.
If Guadalajara had the same receptivity as Merida it would not have six stakes, but 27. Conversely, if Merida had Guadalajara's receptivity there would be only one stake and a district.
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Just wanted to drop a note here for any who are curious (which may go without saying). Since Christmas was yesterday and New Year's Day is next Sunday, the federal observance of those holidays were today and will be next Monday. So for the next two weeks (and perhaps every week going forward, any new temple-related announcements from the Church may come on Tuesday or Wednesday.
So, as a heads-up for those who are interested, I will be sharing the initial draft of my April 2023 General Conference predictions on my blog on Wednesday, and on Saturday, I'll have a look back at content covered in 2022 and my final review of temple construction progress for this year. My thanks once again to Matt for allowing me to share those updates here, and my thanks again to all of you.
@Rafael -- thank you for sharing this insight into Venezuela. I hope more temples will soon come to Venezuela and that political and economic conditions improve. Venezuela is enduring a period of hardship, but you are not forgotten. I pray for things to improve.
I believe that Venezuela would be a great place to have multiple small temples announced at a time to alleviate challenges regarding travel, although I don't know the country's geography well enough to exactly pinpoint how many temples are needed and where. My guess is that, if properly placed, three or four would make a whole lot of difference.
@Rafael, thank you for those statistics on distance and the financial difficulties of attending the temple in Venezuela. Venezuela certainly needs more temples. I assumed the reason no temple has been built in Venezuela in decades is due to government restrictions probably due to political tensions between the Venezuelan and American governments. The United States government recently relaxed some restrictions related to oil from Venezuela -- perhaps that will improve relations between the two countries enough that the political issues will not be a barrier to building more temples. Valencia and Maracaibo in particular seem to have enough stakes for a temple, and maybe a small one could be built in Barcelona. What is missionary work like in Venezuela?
--Felix
With Merida getting a new stake, a temple for Cancun seems more likely.
Venezuela getting new temples announced would be good, and since Brazilians can go to Venezuela dedication will be doable, even if Venezuela remains as stingy with its religious visas.
Multiple small temples seems a good idea, but we shall see what actually happens.
Venezuela is by far one of the most under-templed countries in the world when considering square-footage per member and per stake.
We have quite a few interesting recent developments surrounding Venezuela. First, the groundbreaking of the Managua temple shows that the church is taking greater advantage of leaders who are not from the United States who have greater opportunities to work in countries like Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba to prepare for and execute temple construction. Second, increasing oil prices and a Democrat in the Whitehouse have resulted in a partial thaw in relations between the United States and Venezuela. Most western countries have begun to recognize Maduro since the start of the Ukraine war. Opposition and Maduro have started to have discussions about the country's future, finally meeting in CDMX. It is almost impossible to expect that a temple would be built in an country that does not allow skill/knowledge transfer from US-Americans. Thankfully, Venezuela might be leaving that category of country soon, not because of regime change, but because of a softening of international relations.
Maracaibo would have had a temple dedicated by now if it weren't for the political situation, just like Managua. Given our goal to build a temple in every community of saints, temples in Valencia and Barcelona (or somewhere else in the east) are likely to follow quickly once we get a good start on Maracaibo.
Rafael, tengo un amor fuerte y personal hacia el pais y la gente de Venezuela desde que tuve la oportunidad de convivir con muchos Venezolanos quienes habian venido a los EEUU para buscar trabajo durante mi mision. Los miembros de la Iglesia en los EEUU y el resto de las Americas esperan lo mejor para ustedes, reconocemos sus esfurezos y sacrificios valientes, y esperamos tambien que ustedes como nosotros pronto tengan mas templos. Mas importantemente, Dios conoce sus corazones llenos de fe, el les bendecira con templos tal pronto como el pais, no solo los santos, este listo para recibirlos.
Venezuela has given some religious visa, but very few, and they are very hard to obtain. Elder Andersen recently planned to go to Venezuela, but was not able to go because of visa issues. He was in Colombia and broadcast in. Elder Godoy, I believe the one from Brazil was there in person, and maybe Elder Pino who is Venezuelan. I could be remembering those details incorrectly.
I believe a critical reason why more temples have not been announced in Venezuela is not because of concerns about the government limiting the Church's activities. Instead, it is probably better explained by large numbers of active Latter-day Saints who flee the country. Membership is not very stable in Venezuela because of this, and as a result, the Church likely does not want to make a major investment in another temple when it is unclear what the future will look like in the medium-term. This explains why we have so many stakes in Venezuela with only 4-5 wards. The Church is probably waiting to see if these members return or if they are offset by new converts to keep these stakes going. Caracas and Maracaibo are the worst when it comes to stakes with very few wards.
Matt - is there a compiled source of wards per stake out there?
A while ago I pointed out that the first president of the Hermosillo Mexico Stake was the first president of the Hermosillo Mexico Temple.
The first president of the Aba Nigeria Stake was the 7th president of the Aba Nigeria Temple, that is he was released just last September.
Alexander Odume, who was the 4th president of the Aba Nigeria Temple and the first Nigerian to be temple president there was the first president of the Benin City Nigeria Stake. That may have been Nigeria's 2nd stake. Brother Odume I believe was also mission president in Benin City. Benin City is a place that could have its first temple president as its first stake president, that list is all places that have an announced temple where the first stake president is still alive. I would be surprised if Odume is Benin City's first temple president, but it could happen.
Happy New Year, everyone! Hope 2023 is finding you all well. To the other James, I'm not Matt, and can't and won't speak for him, but every site that I know of that at any point had a comprehensive list of individual units has, over the last several years, been requested by the Church to either stop sharing the information or to take it down altogether. This makes congregational data difficult to come by, and even the information on Classic Maps is being restricted. I don't know for certain why the Church doesn't want that information widely available, but confidentiality in certain aspects relating to the Church isn't a new practice. Whatever the reason, I'm sure it's a good one.
Since information on individual units is not widely available, I'd imagine that makes finding a list of units belonging to every stake and district hard to come by as well. But again, I say that as someone who is not Matt. In the meantime, on another note,since construction hasn't even begun on the Benin City Nigeria Temple, it may be far too early to conjecture who might be its' first president. And turning to other subjects in conclusion, it appears we have a minimum of 5 and maximum of 7 new temples that could have opening arrangements announced in the coming weeks, which would probably necessitate the announcement of the first leaders for each of those temples. I will be interested to see how the timing plays out on the announcement of the first leaders and openings for each of those temples. If I'm right, all of them could be dedicated by the end of June.
The other big announcement to which I think we can look forward in the near term is the announcement of new mission leader Sos who will begin serving in July of this year. So I think the first several months of 2023 will be absolutely crazy for the Church. I'm looking forward to all of that.
Tanzania seems to continue to dynamically grow, despite some tension and terroristic unrest in some parts of the country. This is mostly up north, where I think the Church of Jesus Christ is growing, but I believe it is safer down south. Do we know if most of the evangelization is happening in the greater language of Swahili, or is it also happening in other regional languages and dialects?
Philippines will never slow down, or will it? When will the archipelago hit one million members? Mexico will stay ahead in membership and temples, but I still think that the Philippines has a chance to grow faster. Hopefully less drug violence, but I think Filipinos smoke more, which is hard to battle with Word of Wisdom commitments.
What prevents more people from active membership: alcohol, tobacco, or tea and coffee?
I think a healthy number of members worldwide drink tea and coffee, by the way. it is the caffeine question. At least the Church has stated its case about carbonated drinks, which is good for inclusiveness but bad for our health... Maybe small potatoes in the scheme of things...
Are more than twenty U.S. states declining in Church activity? It is not just about jobs and move-outs...
Thanks, Christopher and James. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to jump into your project. So frustrating that the church doesn't at the very least provide stakes/branches per unit. I found 2019 data by state/country on Cumorah.com, but even that was in screenshot form (screenshots of spreadsheets - not sure where they got the data), and you'd have to go to each individual state or country to get the statistical profile.
I don't really get it. There is no doctrine against transparent reporting. And institutional transparency is something today's culture highly values. No reason at all for the church to obfuscate things like this.
@Eduardo, according to Andy Larsen at the SL Tribune, 34/50 US states saw a drop in the % of members between 2019 and 2022. Between 2010 and 2020, the % of self-identified Mormons dropped in 26/29 Utah counties. In other words, yes, there is a general decline. https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/12087758/?utm_source=showcase&utm_campaign=visualisation/12087758
I am guessing right now most efforts in Tanzania are done in Swahili, but there may be processes on the way to expand to other languages, but that may wait until Swahili is fully established.
I know that in Shona there was a,major envision of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price done in 2020.
There is a huge need for more languages having the Book of Mormon and other scriptures in many countries in Africa. The thing is some of these languages have little written material period, and higher education is often only in the European colonial languages, so there are lots of big issues at play.
James - No, there is not a general decline in Church membership in the United States if you are meaning the number of members on the records and in terms of self-affiliated members (although the latter I would say is essentially stagnant right now with low birth rates, member attrition, and aging membership). We are still seeing net increases in national membership, but you are correct that the percentage of members in the population is declined in many areas (such as in Utah).
Thanks for the clarification, Matt. Should have said a general decline in Mormon representation (i.e., as a percentage of the population).
I am guessing right now most efforts in Tanzania are done in Swahili, but there may be processes on the way to expand to other languages, but that may wait until Swahili is fully established.
I know that in Shona there was a,major envision of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price done in 2020.
There is a huge need for more languages having the Book of Mormon and other scriptures in many countries in Africa. The thing is some of these languages have little written material period, and higher education is often only in the European colonial languages, so there are lots of big issues at play.
We were talking about temples being near or at capacity a little while ago. I just did a session at the Ogden Temple (late Thursday morning) and I wasn't even able to get a parking spot on temple grounds. Inside, it felt like a Saturday as well. I can't say that I had to wait for hours to get into a session, but the one I was in was filled pretty much to the last seat.
The new mission leadership assignments have been announced today:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/2023-mission-leadership-assignments
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2023/1/6/23531979/complete-list-134-new-mission-president-companion-assignments-2023
Among those called are a few current area seventies. Elder Glenn M. Holmes currently resides in Benoni, South Africa, and he and his wife have been assigned oversight for the new South Africa Pretoria Mission. Since Pretoria is less than 40 miles from their home in Benoni, it is possible that, for a time, Elder Holmes could continue his service as an area seventy, but the area of his stewardship would change as he also serves as a mission president. A brief biography of Elder Holmes is available at the webpage below:
https://africasouth.churchofjesuschrist.org/leadership-biography-holmes-glenn-m
In the Brazil Area, Lincoln P. Martins, called as president of the Brazil Recife South Mission, has been an area seventy in Campinas Brazil since April 2018:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/meet-the-new-area-seventies-sustained-at-april-2018-general-conference?lang=eng
Luis C. Chaverri, the incoming president of the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East Mission, was released as an area seventy in August 2021:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/area-seventy-releases-announced
Jose Hernandez, the incoming president of the Nicarauga Managua South Mission, has been serving as an area seventy since 2017:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/meet-the-new-area-seventies-called-during-april-2017-general-conference?lang=eng
If his name sounds familiar, that’s because he currently resides in San Pedro Sula Honduras, and was the area seventy who broke ground for the temple in that city. Since this April would mark 6 years of service for him, they could either have him continue to serve until August or be one of the few area seventies released in the General Cconference Leadership Session in April.
Just a quick interjection here: I will double-check this before stating it definitively, but unless I am mistaken, there are no current GA Seventies that are among the new mission presidents for this year. So given the fact that Elder Hernandez is under 50 years old, he could possibly be sustained as a GA Seventy either prior to beginning or within a year of his beginning service as a mission president. Even if that doesn’t happen, he could also potentially continue as an area seventy in a different part of Central America.
Another current area seventy, Michael D. Jones, has been called to serve as president of the Mexico Mexico City Southeast Mission. He has served as an area seventy since April 2018, and is another who, in view of his age, could be called as a GA Seventy while simultaneously serving as a mission president. If that doesn’t happen, he could continue as an area seventy as well, with his service area changing.
Another former area seventy, Luis J. Camey, who was released as an area seventy in 2021, has been called to preside over the México Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mission:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/area-seventy-releases-announced
Aretemio C. Maligon, an area seventy who was also called in April 2018, will serve as president of the Philippines Davao Mission. He could be released as an area seventy, or his area of responsibility could be changed. And having gone through the entire list, I can now confirm my previous assertion, that no current GA Seventies will begin serving as mission presidents this year, unless any of the TBA slots are filled by current or new GA Seventies, or if any of the current area seventies are sustained as GA Seventies in April. My thanks once again to you all.
@Pascal Friedmann
Excellent news. Sounds like it's even busier than when I lived there.
Still crossing my fingers for a 2nd Weber County Temple announcement...
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