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.
38 comments:
I'm glad that there has been another stake organized in Arizona. If I remember right, it has been several years since the last stake was organized there.
These are all very exciting developments. The new stake in Nairobi puts us closer to getting a temple in Kampala. I believe however it was 2001 when Nairobi got its first stake.
Hopefully soon other parts of Krnya will get stakes.
The Salt Lake Cottonwood Heights Stake was discontinued on Sunday, March 12, 2023.
By this blog it looks like the last stake created in Arizona was:
12. Queen Creek Arizona Heritage - Sept 13th, 2020
This area is doing well. I have a niece serving in Scottsdale, and a good family friend is going to begin his mission in Phoenix this summer. Great to see!
I forgot that my home state of Indiana had created a fourth Indianapolis stake in Fishers maybe two years ago. This is great to see. If Illinois Champaign gets a temple, the Hoosiers from western Indiana will not slow down the work at the Indianapolis Carmel Temple.
The work continues to grow. Zion is doing okay despite all the naysayers and the shennanigans regarding the leadership trying to hide or abscond with its funds from the faithful.
I am aware that this became an issue and got many posts deleted on this blog, but things are looking all right from my view.
It is hard to have too much money. There is no such thing. We just have to be forthright with it.
Eduardo, no Church leaders at any level "tried to abscond with the Church's money". A disaffected Church member who had apostatized was disgruntled when the Church wouldn't refund his tithing. He blew the whistle on the Church for following incorrect legal advice they had been given. His sole objective was to get a whistleblower's reward from a settlement over the matter. Once the Church was advised of the error (which happened because they believed the erroneous legal advice was correct), they rectified that error promptly. This was a question of money owed rather than misappropriated money.
I apologize for the sermon, but your comment seemed to reflect the false and faulty notion that the top leadership was trying to get away with stealing funds from the Church's coffer. And if something like that had actually happened, that would have been grounds for the responsible individuals to be excommunicated and arrested, which didn't happen.
I hope this comment comes across in the helpful spirit in which it was intended. I mean no offense and hope none is taken.
I appreciate it, James. I am with you, and I am glad that you further explained the situation so that all of us can understand the problems for the fines, and the whole scenario.
I quote myself, "despite all the naysayers and the shenanigans [sic, corrected] regarding the leadership trying to hide or abscond with its funds from the faithful."
The key word that I meant to use was "trying", which I should better write as "accusing", "alleging", "claiming falsely". Take your pick.
Ensign Peak had to pay some fines based on the reasons that you cited, and the Church leaders themselves have learned some lessons in trust and options, propriety, and the law according to our country.
I know it is easy to be hasty to judge, and that is evident in much of what all of us do, think, and say.
The Church of Jesus Christ is poised to grow and help others like few organizations ever, and I am very grateful to be a part of it. I hope that we can all channel our faith in Jesus and our energies, like we put in our writings, and advance the causes of Zion here and forever.
We need to reach another 70 countries or so. No time to slow down.
I would not be surprised if it keeps growing that a temple for Mesquite, Nevada gets announced sometime in the future.
Eduardo, sorry I somehow missed the clarifying language you used in your comment. I should have read that wording more carefully. Sorry about that. Unfortunately, critics of the Church were quick to spin this situation into something that isn't accurate. So I hope my reiteration of the relevant points relating to that is helpful to anyone who may not know about exactly what happened there
That said, on a personal note, I want to thank you for your input here. I always appreciate your comments and perspective on things. If you ever want to weigh in on the posts on my blog, I'd love to hear your perspective there as well.
I think we are seeing great expansions of the Church worldwide. The Lord's promise to hasten His work in its' time is coming to fruition, and as President Nelson said, we are just now building to the exciting things ahead. I'm grateful we have spaces like this blog to share our experiences and projections.
@Bryansb - Many of the units in Mesquite are small. The only growth I see in Mesquite is adding another retirement branch or ward in the next 3 to 5 years. Just prior to the new stake being created approximately 35% of Stake Leadership came from 2 Wards. Several units in both Stakes have leadership issues. Without substantial membership growth, strengthening the struggling units, I would not be surprised to possibly see the Stakes recombine in the next 5 to 7 years or just simply remain small stakes with small wards.
Saw this on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp0RTq8qDjQ/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
This says on April 13th, President Nelson is to receive the Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize (something I've never heard of before now).
The Desert News, Church News, and Salt Lake Tribune covered that as well:
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/03/13/lds-church-president-russell/
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2023/3/14/23638565/president-russell-m-nelson-will-receive-gandhi-king-mandela-peace-prize-moorehouse-college
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2023/3/15/23640775/president-nelson-gandhi-king-mandela-peace-prize-morehouse-college-atlanta
My thanks once again to you all.
The Church has also donated a number of its' water shares to the state of Utah to help preserve, save, and rehabilitate the Great Salt Lake:
https://www.deseret.com/utah/2023/3/15/23641544/church-of-jesus-christ-the-mormons-makes-water-shares-donation-for-the-great-salt-lake
https://www.ksl.com/article/50600764/church-of-jesus-christ-donates-5700-water-shares-to-the-great-salt-lake
Thanks again, everyone!
You have never heard of the Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize before because President Nelson will be the inaugural recipient. The same organization at Morehouse College gives out a prize called the Gandhi-King-Ikeda prize. For what it is worth, that prize does not have its own article on Wikipedia, but it and the institute that gives it is covered in a paragraph on the article on Morehouse College. This is not Nobel Prize level by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a good development. My news feeds seem to indicate it has mainly only been picked up by Utah-based or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints related media. There might be more broad coverage when the actual prize giving occurs though, we shall see.
Yesterday the Church News, a Living Record of the Restoration, published only one bio of a new president and matron for a temple. Those are the Calderons from Ecuador. Brother Calderon was previously an area seventy. They are from Los Chillos Ecuador and born in Quito. Los Chillos is in the Quito Temple district, but they will preside over the Guyaquil Ecuador Temple. They are if I am tracking correctly only the second of the 44 sets of presidents and matrons announced this year who do not reside in their currently temple district. The Villareals who will head the McAllen Temple once it is dedicated live in San Antonio, Texas although Brother Villareal was born in the lower Rio Grande Valley very much in the McAllen Temple district. Brother Villareal was also an area seventy, and so probably has interacted with many members in the Rio Grande Valley in that way, plus as a sealer in the San Antonio Temple he has interacted with those from what will be the McAllen Texas Temple district as they come to their current temple, the San Antonio Temple.
The new leaders of the Hamilton New Zealand Temple are coming from Auckland, which hopefully will have its own temple completed before their 3 year term is up, but it is currently in the Hamilton Temple district.
With 1 bio of a temple president and matron published, it looks like the Church News is at the end of publishing such bios this year. However they have only published 44, and with 175 temples and temple presidents serving 3 years one would think we would see about 57 presidents called annually. Actually more since some of those 44 presidents and matrons were called to lead temples that are not yet dedicated.
I just noticed that the Calderons are already listed as starting in 2023 as matron and president of the Guyaquil Ecuador Temple on the unofficial temple website, so I am going to go through there are see how many presidents looks to be likely to change in 2023 but are not listed.
Today was posted the biography of the Argentina Mendoza (my mission from 30 years ago) and Colorado Colorado Springs Mission Presidents and Companions. From the Laguna Niguel California and Meridian Idaho North Stakes, respectively. https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2023/3/17/23638682/new-mission-presidents-of-argentina-mendoza-colorado-springs-missions
JPL, I'm tracking the new tem ppl le leader announcements, and I have a document to do that. Here is a link to my comment on my blog about the new president and matron and what else we might expect in new leaders this year:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2023/03/breaking-temple-news-first-presidency.html#c7339240518988020282
As I note in that comment, 44 currently-operating or new temples have had leaders named this year, And there are 9 other curreo-operating temples and at least 8 more new ones that could have new leaders identified.
My assumption is that when the Church News prepared the latest update, Headquarters was only ready with the information about Guayaquil this time around. Since the Okinawa Japan, Lima Peru Los Olivos, and Urdaneta Philippines Temples are all projected for dedication this year (construction has concluded for the first two), I don't think the Church is nearing the end of the new leaders who will be named this year. That said, thanks for the tidbit about President Nelson being the first recipient of the award in question. I must have missed that in the relevant reports, so ai appreciate your clarification on that.
With the consolidation of the Salt Lake Cottonwood Heights Stake last Sunday March 12th, that was reported here earlier this week. The old Cottonwood Heights 1st and 2nd wards merged to the new Hillside Ward of the Cottonwood Heights Utah Brighton Stake.
The Cottonwood Heights 3rd and 5th wards were merged into the new Whitmore Ward of the Salt Lake Butler West Stake along with the Cottonwood Heights 8th Branch (Care Center).
And lastly the Cottonwood Heights 4th and 7th wards were merged into the new Mill Hollow Ward of the Salt Lake Cottonwood Stake.
Caracas, Mahattan, Port-au-Prince, San Diego
Also the Kona Hawai'i temples's leaders, President and Sister Reinhart, started in 2020, so they might be replaced. That temple closes for renovation in October 2023, but most new temple presidents start in Sep. 2023, so they may just have the Reinhart's serve until the closing, we shall see. Despite their last name, President Reinhart is at least partly Japanese on his mother's side, and Sister Reinhart is mainly if not all Japanese. They were both born in Maui, and he was president of the Kahului Stake on Maui when called as temple president. I was able to determine that President Reinhart's father was born on Maui in about 1929 and worked as a carpenter.
Lima Peru Los Olivos has a strong likelihood of being dedicated in 2023, and there is no president and matron announced as of yet.
In the Mesa Temple Kenneth and Jody King first became leaders in 2017. It has been closed for a big chunk of time since then, so I am not sure when they will be released.
Okinaw Japan Temple, Salta Argentina Temple and Urdaneta Philippines Temple may have its first president and matron announced soon.
The Aokis first started leading the Tokyo Temple in 2017.
The Fougers are listed as having lead Washington DC since 2000, replacing the Colton's who lead it starting in 2014, but it was closed a big chunk of that time, so the Foulgers will be just over a year in September, so they will probably not be replaced this year.
We may see 8-9 more temple presidents announced this year. That is still below 1/3rd of the temple presidents serving.
With today's Mission Leadership biographies posted in the Church News online, I calculate only 5 more Biographies remaining this years replacements. The 5 Biographies missing (not including the Russia and Ukraine missions), are :
ARKANSAS LITTLE ROCK 2020-2023 ROBERT M. CAHOON
ARKANSAS LITTLE ROCK 2023-2026 To be announced
WASHINGTON TACOMA 2020-2023 CHRISTOPHER S. METTS
WASHINGTON TACOMA 2023-2026 To be announced
CALIFORNIA ROSEVILLE 2020-2023 DOUGLAS L. TALLEY
CALIFORNIA ROSEVILLE 2023-2026 Edward Basha
ADRIATIC SOUTH 2020-2023 PAUL R. BURDON
ADRIATIC SOUTH 2023-2026 David A. Nelson
CAPE VERDE PRAIA 2020-2023 DAVID J. WUNDERLI
CAPE VERDE PRAIA 2023-2026 Abel Chaves
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2023/1/6/23531979/complete-list-134-new-mission-president-companion-assignments-2023
I think in a few months we might get the dedication dates for the Feather River California Temple, Okinawa Japan Temple, Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple and they just announced the completion of the Bangkok Thailand Temple. It is only March.
Bryan, except for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple, which just barely had construction completed this week, the others you mentioned have been completed for around 3-4 weeks. The Church seems to be allowing temples to sit completed for a while. The setting of arrangements for Moses Lake Washington this week came sooner than I anticipated. And with three temple dedications set for September 17, the Church could set multiple dedications to occur on the same days in October, November, and December.
I'm fortunate enough to have Church member contacts in various nations. I've heard a few times now from various reports that the goal for this year may be for the Church to dedicate a total of 20-30 temples. With one dedication each in January, May, June, and August, and 3 for September, that's 7 so far. An additional 4 are completed, and 1 other is nearing completion. And I think an additional 15 could be completed by the end of May of next year.
Part of the delay in setting dedications for completed temples could be ongoing supply chain issues. But if 3 temples can be dedicated on the same day, I could see potential scenarios at some point wherein 7 or 8 apostles are sent out individually or in groups to dedicate temples on the same day.
Even if no other temples are dedicated in September, there are 4 Sundays in October after General Conference, and at least 3 more in November (if we exclude one for Thanksgiving) and 2 Sundays in December (excluding the first one, when the First Presidency will have their Christmas devotional, and the last two for Christmas and New Year's). If multiple dedications are held on other Sundays, that will lead to higher totals this year as well.
Just my observations from tracking temple construction several times daily and based on what I've heard from repeated reports from various contacts worldwide. Hopefully this comment is helpful.
Having lived in the Moses Lake Stake (then known as the Grand Coulee Stake), I'm excited that the Moses Lake Temple will be dedicated in the next few months. I determined that the Moses Lake Temple District will have approximately 20,590 members assigned to it. It's currently assigned to the Columbia River Temple District, which now has 74,904 members, or 54,314 members after the Stakes going to the new Moses Lake Temple are reassigned.
The Spokane Temple District has 62,353 members in Washington, Northern Idaho, and Northwestern Montana, but will be reduced by approximately 5,000 members upon completion of the announced Missoula Temple.
These membership figures are 2020 county membership numbers obtained from the 2020 county membership totals reported in The Association of Religion Data Archives. and they represent considerable increases over the 2010 reported totals. Most counties are in one temple district or another, but the Selah Washington Stake has one county (Kittitas) nearer the Moses Lake Temple, and the balance of the stake nearer to the Columbia River Stake in Richland, Washington.
Correction: the Columbia River Temple District has over 75,000 members (75,127), because Wallowa County in Oregon was accidentally left out of the Oregon part of the temple district.
What is the average number of members assigned to a temple district?
That really depends on the temple district. My best guess for Frankfurt for example would be in the 30,000 vicinity these days (much, if not most of Germany plus all of Austria). Okinawa and Guam are probably the world's smallest districts, with Copenhagen also in there. None of these would have more than 5,000 members in the respective district. In Utah, it may go up to 200,000 by my best estimate (Ogden?).
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/temple-news-from-north-and-central-america
Items announced today:
open house/dedication of Feather River California temple
artist rendering for Tampa Florida
site location for Huehuetenango Guatemala
(these 3 items are at the link Chris D. shared earlier)
Also released today were interior photos and a short video from Richmond Virginia, which will start its open house this coming weekend:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/temple-news-from-north-and-central-america
Excuse me, I posted the wrong link for Richmond:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/richmond-virginia-temple-open-house
One new stake is missing from your list. The Richland Washington South Stake was created on Feb. 26th, 2023. It was created by taking 7 wards from the Kennewick Washington stake. The Kennewick Washington stake then had two wards added to it from the Kennewick Washington East Stake.
Before the announcement of the Feather River dedication, 2023 was tied with 2002 for 3rd most dedications in a year. We have 1 temple already dedicated this year (San Juan Puerto Rico) with 7 more announced, and I hope there will be a few more. (2000 with 34 and 1999 with 15 are still the top two years for temple dedications.)
twinnumerouno, with the Church recently having set the dedications for three temples on the same day, future announcements could see two, three, or even four temples to be dedicated on the same day in October, November, and December. Right now, 4 temples (Bangkok Thailand, Okinawa Japan, Lima Peru Los Olivos, and McAllen Texas) are awaiting the announcement of opening arrangements. Most (if not all) of those could have dedications set in October, or at least one could be set for November. Only the Los Olivos Temple has not had its'first leaders named.
The Urdaneta Philippines (first leaders TBA as well), Red Cliffs Utah, Puebla Mexico are not too far behind either. So that's 7 others almost certain to be dedicated in the last 3 months of this year.
I wouldn't count out the 3 other Utah Temples (Layton, Orem, and Taylorsville), and if things go well, Salta Argentina and Casper Wyoming might be fit in as well. So that's a total minimum of 12 more that could be dedicated in the last quarter or this year, for a possible 20 dedicated this year alone.
I also hope there will be several more dedications this year. I have been somewhat disappointed at the delays in announcing them compared to what Rick has been estimating for completion times- not that I'm blaming him, there have obviously been factors that were difficult for him or anyone to predict. (I expected a lot more than 5 dedications last year based on those estimates.) But it is inevitable that the yearly dedications will be higher given the increase of the temple construction queue, which I think is pretty exciting. I would say that we are likely to see that number 15 from 1999 exceeded soon, whether or not it is this year.
There are 21 temples Rick is currently estimating to be completed between now and mid-2024 (this is not counting the 7 that already have had dedication dates set or the one temple dedicated in January). I would say that 2023 and 2024 added together will probably approach the 34 dedications of 2000, the year with the highest number so far.
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/status/
There is a difference between completion estimates and dedication time-frames. Most of these temples are being completed in the windows indicated by the Church Temples site, but the setting of dedications is less predictable.
Several months ago, it looked to me like we could get an announcement on Okinawa soon. But when I reached out to ask about that, I was told that an open house was not expected for Okinawa until September at earliest, which would result in an October dedication.
So I think the Bangkok, Okinawa, Los Olivos, and potentially even McAllen could have dedications in October. Urdaneta, Red Cliffs, and Puebla are also likely a lock for dedications this year.
The timing on Layton, Orem, and Taylorsville could depend on what the Church decides to do about the rededication of the St. George Utah Temple, but I wouldn't be shocked if all four have dedications/rededication in November/December.
Even if we assume that no other temples will have dedications set for October 8, we still have 3 other Sundays in October, and a minimum of 3 in November and 2 in December on which dedications could be held. That's 8 Sundays for at least 8 other temples.
And if 2 or 3 dedications are set for the same Sunday, that increases the total dedications that could be held. Supply chain issues causing the current lags won't last forever.
The one big question is whether more than one temple dedication will be announced on Monday. I think because Bangkok and Okinawa are both in Asia that both could have opening arrangements announced on Monday.
Would anything else be announced on Monday? That's a more difficult question. We have seen one new site announcement every week for the last four Mondays, so I wouldn't count that out. We could also see one or two more groundbreakings set.
Hope these thoughts are helpful.
News on the creatiion of Kenya South Stake:
We had an historic Sunday in Nairobi. A third stake in Nairobi was created at a combined Stake Conference for all 6000 Nairobi members. They expected over 2000 people to attend so to accommodate all the people they set up big tents on the lawn, the parking lot and used all the classrooms. The first stake in Nairobi was created in 2001. Fifteen years later, the stake was split into two stakes. Now, just seven years later, a third stake was created. The church is growing rapidly in Nairobi. There was lots of excitement and emotion with creating a third stake because many members that attended today were early pioneers of the church and have witnessed the growth through the years. They have been a part of the church from the very beginning.
We sat behind a man with gray in his hair and Shannon asked him how long he had been a member. He said he had been a member for 24 years and was in the meeting years ago when the first stake was created. He was in the meeting 7 years ago when that stake was split, and is now in this meeting today. He is definitely a pioneer in Kenya and has personally witnessed all the growth.
As for the growth of the Church in Queen Creek (which of itself has just about sprang from a patch of desert in the past fifty or so years), well, hardly a surprise. I have a niece, recently moved to Mesa, AZ, who taught for a year in a Queen Creek elementary school, in kindergarten. According to her, just about ALL the children in her class were LDS! I wouldn't be surprised if QC gets its own temple in the next five years; it'll depend, of course, on how busy the original Mesa temple and the Gilbert temple are. I'm also predicting a temple in the West Valley, like Goodyear, Litchfield Park, or even Buckeye, but I'll stump for Perryville, right across I-10 from the State prison! (Give those unfortunate souls some inspiration).
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