Brazil
The Church organized a new stake in Brazil in Rio Grande do Sul. The Gramado Brazil Stake was organized on July 23rd from the Gramado Brazil District (created in 2005). The new stake includes the following five wards and one branch: the Canela 1st, Canela 2nd, Gramado 1st, Gramado 2nd, and Taquara Wards and the Nova Petrópolis Branch. The new stake is the Church's fourth new stake to be created in southern Brazil in the past few months.
There are now 285 stakes and 39 districts in Brazil
Texas
The Church organized a new stake in the Texas Panhandle. The Amarillo Texas East Stake was created on August 13th from a division of the Amarillo Texas Stake (organized in 1981). The new stake includes the following five wards and three branches: the Bishop Hills, Borger, Childress, Pampa, and Tascosa Wards, and the Estacado (Spanish), Dumas, and Perryton Branches. There are now four stakes in the Texas Panhandle - the other two of which are located in Lubbock (organized in 1967 and 2014).
There are now 79 stakes and 2 districts in Texas.
Hong Kong
The Church discontinued two stakes in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong China Kowloon East Stake (created in 1980, discontinued in 2006, reinstated in 2016) and Hong Kong China Lion Rock (organized in 2016) were discontinued and consolidated with neighboring stakes. Nine wards were discontinued as part of the reorganization. Now, there are four stakes and one district in Hong Kong - the same number of stakes and districts that operated from 2006-2015. There are now 21 wards in Hong Kong - the fewest number of wards in Hong Kong since prior to 1987. Church membership has been in decline in Hong Kong since 2020. It is unclear how much of this decline (the Church has historically experienced slow membership growth or stagnant membership growth during the past couple decades in Hong Kong) is attributed to tightening political freedoms in this special administrative region of China during the past few years. However, there was a major emphasis by the Asia Area Presidency in the mid-2010s to create smaller wards which resulted in the reinstatement of a previously closed stake and the creation of a sixth stake in 2016. Click here to access membership and congregational data in Hong Kong. Member activity rates in Hong Kong have numbered among the lowest in the world, with 12-14% of membership regularly attending church in the late 2010s.
