Likely New Missions to be Created - March 2023 Edition

See below for a list of likely locations to have new missions announced in the foreseeable future:

AFRICA

• Cote d'Ivoire Daloa (1 stake, 6 districts) 
• Democratic Republic of the Congo Likasi (3 stakes)
  
• Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa (third mission) (4 stakes)
  
• Gabon Libreville (4 mission branches)
  
• Ghana Accra (third mission) (4-5 stakes)
  
• Ghana Koforidua (3 stakes, 2 districts)
  
• Ghana Kumasi (second mission) (2-3 stakes, 2-3 districts)
  
• Ghana Takoradi (2 stakes, 2 districts) 
• Kenya (second mission - in Eldoret or second in Nairobi) (1-2 stakes, 3-4 districts)
  
• Liberia Monrovia (second mission) (3 stakes)
  
• Malawi Lilongwe (2 districts) 
• Nigeria Benin City (second mission) (4-5 stakes)
• Nigeria Calabar (4 stakes, 1 district)
• Nigeria Eket (6 stakes)
  
• Nigeria Lagos (second mission) (4 stakes)
  
• Nigeria Warri (3 stakes, 3 districts)
• Senegal Dakar (1 district, several mission branches in neighboring countries)
  
• Sierra Leone Bo (4 stakes, 1 district) 
• Togo Lome (2 stakes)

ASIA 

• Middle East/African North Service Mission (2 stakes, 3 districts) 
• Philippines General Santos (3 stakes, 3 districts)
  
• Philippines Ormoc (3 stakes, 4 districts)
  
• Philippines Palawan/Mindoro (1 stake, 4 districts)
  
• Philippines Tuguegarao (3 stakes, 2 districts) 
• Sri Lanka Colombo (1 district)
  
• Thailand Ubon (1 stake, 1 district)

EUROPE

• Ireland Dublin (2 stakes, 1 district)
  
• Portugal Porto (3 stakes)
  

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

• Brazil Manaus (~6 stakes)
• Brazil São Luís (2 stakes)
• Brazil São Paulo (sixth mission) (4-5 million, ~7 stakes)
• Brazil Sorocaba (5 stakes, 2 districts)
• Cuba Havana (1 district)
  

OCEANIA

• Australia Brisbane (second mission) (~6 stakes)
  
• Australia Sydney (second mission) (~6 stakes)
• French Polynesia (second mission) (~5 stakes) 
• Kiribati Tarawa (2 stakes, 3 districts)
  
• Papua New Guinea Daru (1 stake, 3 districts)
  
• Samoa (second mission) (~12 stakes)
  
• Solomon Islands Honiara (1 district)

February 2023 Newsletter

I apologize I forgot to post this on the blog. Click here to access the February 2023 monthly newsletter for cumorah.com.

New Stakes Created in Arizona, Ecuador, Kenya, Nevada, Peru, the Philippines, and South Africa

Arizona

A new stake was created in Arizona. The Queen Creek Arizona Empire Stake was organized from a division of the Queen Creek Arizona East Stake and the Queen Creek Arizona South Stake. The new stake includes the following six wards: the Circle Cross, Gary, Paisley Park, Sierra Vista, Skyline, and Sunet Wards. There are now 10 stakes in the Queen Creek area. 

There are now 117 stakes in Arizona.

Ecuador

The Church organized a new stake in Guayaquil. The Guayaquil Ecuador Alborada Stake was organized from a division of the Guayaquil Ecuador Kennedy Stake and the Guayaquil Ecuador Las Orquideas Stake. The new stake includes the following five wards: the Francisco de Orellana,  Guayacanes, Isidro Ayora, José María Egas, and Los Sauces Wards. There are now 18 stakes in the Guayaquil metropolitan area.

There are now 43 stakes and 5 districts in Ecuador

Kenya

A new stake was created in Kenya. The Nairobi Kenya South Stake was created from a division of the Nairobi Kenya East Stake and the Nairobi Kenya West Stake. The new stake includes the following four wards and three branches: the Athi River, Nairobi 1st, Nairobi 2nd, and South B Wards, and the Kitengela, Mlolongo, and Ruai Branches. The new stake is the third stake to be organized in Kenya. All three stakes are headquartered in Nairobi. The first stake in Nairobi was created in 2011 and the second stake was created in 2016. There are also six districts in Kenya.

Nevada

The Church organized a new stake in Nevada on January 15th. The Mesquite Nevada West Stake was organized from a division of the Mesquite Nevada Stake (organized in 1994). The new stake includes the following six wards and one branch: the Anthem (Retirement), Arrowhead, Bunkerville 1st, Bunkerville 2nd, Heritage, and Willows Ward, and the Virgin Valley (Spanish) Branch. 

There are now 43 stakes in Nevada.

Peru

A new stake was created in Peru. The Pucallpa Perú Centenario Stake was organized from a division of the Pucallpa Perú Stake (organized in 1993). The new stake include the following five wards: the Bolognesi, Centenario, Primavera, Sáenz Peña, and Ucayali Wards, and the Campo Verde Branch. The new stake is the Church's second stake in the city of Pucallpa - the most populous city in remote Ucayali Department.

There are now 113 stakes and 17 districts in Peru.

The Philippines

The Church organized a new stake in the Philippines. The Iloilo Philippines Central Stake was organized from a division of the Iloilo Philippines North Stake (organized in 1997). The new stake includes the following six wards: the Jaro 1st, Jaro 2nd, Lapaz, Lapuz, Leganes 1st, and Pavia Wards. There are now three stakes in Iloilo City.

There are now 126 stakes and 55 districts in the Philippines.

South Africa 

The Church organized a new stake in South Africa. The Johannesburg South Africa South Stake was organized from a division of the Johannesburg South Africa Stake, Soweto South Africa Stake, and the Vaal South Africa District (which still operates with three branches now). The new stake includes the following five wards and two branches: the Florida 1st, Florida 2nd, Randburg, Ridgeway, and Sebokeng Wards, and the Ennerdale and Orange Farm Branches. There are now 10 stakes and 1 district in the Johannesburg metropolitan area.

There are now 18 stakes and 10 districts in South Africa.

New Temple Predictions - February 2023 Edition

I have updated my temple prediction map in preparation for General Conference in April. The size of the Church in a specific geographical area (i.e. number of stakes and districts, the number of wards and branches), the age of the oldest stake in a specific geographical area, church growth trends, the distance to the nearest temple, the square-footage of the nearest temple, the historical number of weekly endowment sessions scheduled at the nearest temple, and member and missionary reports regarding member activity, temple attendance, and convert retention are variables used to identify prospective sites for future temple announcements. Also, I have considered traffic and transportation concerns with adding new temple locations to the map. My goal this time was to include all possible locations where temples may be announced considering the characteristics of locations where temples have been recently announced. Altogether, there are 217 potential temples on the map (20 more likely temples, 197 less likely temples) - 54 more locations than included on the map in September 2022. The following 66 locations have been added to the temples prediction map with this current update - all of which are less likely temples:

• Aguascalientes Mexico Temple
• Appleton Wisconsin Temple
• Aracaju Brazil Temple
• Arlington Washington Temple
• Beaumont Texas Temple
• Beaver Utah Temple
• Blackfoot Idaho Temple
• Broomfield Colorado Temple
• Caldwell Idaho Temple
• Cardiff Wales Temple
• Castle Dale Utah Temple
• Chalco Mexico Temple
• Ciudad Obregón Mexico Temple
• Coatzacoalcos Mexico Temple
• Concord New Hampshire Temple
• Cottonwood Heights/Holladay/Sandy Utah Temple
• Daru Papua New Guinea Temple
• Durango Mexico Temple
• Goodyear Arizona Temple
• Grace Idaho Temple
• Greenville South Carolina Temple
• Hamburg Germany Temple
• Harrisburg Pennsylvania Temple
• Hurricane Utah Temple
• Iowa City Iowa Temple
• Juchitán Mexico Temple
• Kanab Utah Temple
• La Ceiba Honduras Temple
• La Plata Argentina Temple
• Lethbridge Alberta Temple
• Likasi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple
• Mar del Plata Argentina Temple
• Mbuji-Mayi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple
• Morgan Utah Temple
• Moscow Idaho Temple
• Nealticán Mexico Temple
• Nephi Utah Temple
• Norfolk Virginia Temple
• North Lima Peru Temple
• North London England Temple
• North Ogden Utah Temple
• Ontario Oregon Temple
• Paducah Kentucky Temple
• Preston Idaho Temple
• Quezon City Philippines Temple
• Retalhuleu Guatemala Temple
• Roosevelt Utah Temple
• São Luís Brazil Temple
• São Paulo Brazil South Temple
• San Juan Argentina Temple
• San Miguel de Tucumán Argentina Temple
• Santa Fe Argentina Temple
• Scotch Plains New Jersey Temple
• South Houston Texas Temple
• Southern Santiago Chile Temple
• Springfield Missouri Temple
• Sucre Bolivia Temple
• Sunderland England Temple
• Taichung Taiwan Temple
• Tapachula Mexico Temple
• Temecula California Temple
• Temuco Chile Temple
• Uberlândia Brazil Temple
• Vancouver Washington Temple
• Xalapa Mexico Temple
• Yakima Washington Temple

With this update, no temples were transferred from the less likely to be announced to the more likely to be announced category or vice versa. 

The following 10 locations appear most likely to have temples announced this coming General Conference. As always, your prediction lists are welcome and encouraged. 

1. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
2. Spanish Fork, Utah 
3. Charlotte, North Carolina
4. Angeles or Olongapo, Philippines 
5. Colorado Springs, Colorado 
6. Kampala, Uganda
7. Iquitos, Peru 
8. São José, Brazil
9. Viña del Mar, Chile 
10. João Pessoa, Brazil
    

See below for the map of likely and less likely new temple sites:

January 2023 Newsletter

Click here to access the January 2023 monthly newsletter for cumorah.com.

Top Ten Most Encouraging and Top Ten Most Discouraging Growth and Missionary Developments for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2022

Click here to access the article, the Top Ten Most Encouraging and Top Ten Most Discouraging Growth and Missionary Developments for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2022, posted today on cumorah.com.

Metropolian Areas With the Most Stakes Without a Temple

As we are in a period of significant expansion in regard to the construction of new temples, I wanted to provide a list of the metropolitan areas in the world with the most stakes without a temple announced or dedicated. See below for a list of the 23 metropolitan areas of the world with at least four stakes without a temple. Metropolitan areas are defined as conglomerations of population centers and neighborhoods. These locations are ranked in order from the most stakes to the least stakes. There are dozens of metropolitan areas with three stakes, but they are not included on this list.

• Spanish Fork/Springville/Mapleton, Utah - 21 stakes
  
• Viña del Mar, Chile - 9 stakes (includes Valparaíso and Villa Alemana)
• Port Harcourt, Nigeria - 7 stakes
  
• San Jose, California - 7 stakes (includes outlying suburbs) 
• Cincinnati/Dayton, Ohio - 6 stakes
  
• Blackfoot, Idaho - 5 stakes
• Charlotte, North Carolina - 5 stakes
  
• Colorado Springs, Colorado - 5 stakes
• Honolulu, Hawaii - 5 stakes
  
• João Pessoa, Brazil - 5 stakes 
• Maracaibo, Venezuela - 5 stakes
• Murrieta, California - 5 stakes (includes outlying suburbs)
  
• Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California - 5 stakes
  
• Price, Utah - 5 stakes (includes Helper and Wellington) 
• Hurricane, Utah - 4 stakes (includes La Verkin)
• Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada (4 stakes)
  
• Natal, Brazil - 4 stakes
• Rigby, Idaho - 4 stakes
  
• Santa Ana, El Salvador - 4 stakes 
• Santaquin, Utah - 4 stakes (includes Goshen)
  
• Sorocaba, Brazil - 4 stakes
• Taichung, Taiwan - 4 stakes (includes Chung Hsing)
  
• Uyo, Nigeria - 4 stakes (includes Abak)
  

New Stakes Created in the DR Congo, Madagascar, Mexico, and Utah

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo)

The Church organized a new stake in the DR Congo on November 12th. The Dibindi Democratic Republic of the Congo Stake was organized from a division of the Mbuji-Mayi Democratic Republic of the Congo Stake (organized from a district in 2016). The new stake includes the following six wards: the Bipemba 1st, Dibindi 1st, Dibindi 2nd, Kanshi, Misesa, and Tshitenge Wards. The new stake is the Church's second stake in the city of Mbuji-Mayi where a mission was organized to service the central DR Congo in 2016. The Church plans to create a second mission in the central DR Congo in mid-2023 from a division of the DR Congo Mbuji-Mayi Mission. The new mission will be located in the city of Kananga where a temple was announced in October 2021. There are now eight stakes and one district in the Kasai region of the DR Congo. The first stake in the Kasai region was created in 2011.

There are now 26 stakes and three districts in the DR Congo.

Madagascar

The Church in Madagascar organized its first stake outside of the capital city of Antananarivo on December 11th. The Toamasina Madagascar Stake was organized from the Toamasina Madagascar District (organized in 2010). The new stake includes the following five wards: the Andranomadio, Ankirihiry, Mangarano, Morarano, and Toamasina Wards. There are now three stakes and two districts in Madagascar. The Church announced a temple in Antananarivo, Madagascar in October 2021. After a period of rapid membership growth between the late 2000s and early 2010s, annual membership growth rates have been moderate to slow during the past decade.

Mexico

A new stake was organized in Mérida, Mexico on December 4th. The Mérida México Caucel was organized from a division of the Mérida México Centro Stake and the Mérida México Chuburná Stake. The new stake includes the following five wards and one branch: the Canek, Caucel, Herradura, Pensiones, and Santa Fe Wards, and the Hunucma Branch. The new stake is the Church's seventh stake in Mérida where the Church's first stake in the city was organized in 1977. 

There are now 227 stakes and 47 districts in Mexico.

Utah

The Church organized a new stake in Utah in Vineyard. The Vineyard Utah Springs Park Stake was organized on December 11th from a division of the Orem Utah Geneva Heights Stake. The new stake includes the following five wards: the Geneva Heights 8th, Geneva Heights 10th, Geneva Heights 11th, Geneva Heights 12th, and the Lakefront Wards. 

There are now 629 stakes and two districts in Utah.

December 2022 Newsletter

 Click here to access the December 2022 newsletter for cumorah.com.