This is a massive blog post on many new stakes organized. Please let me know if you notice any errors or if I missed any stake/district creations/closures in 2023.
Mexico
Two new stakes were organized in Mexico.
The Los Tuxtla Mexico Stake was organized from the Los Tuxtla Mexico District on November 12th. The district was originally created in 1982. The new stake includes the following five wards and three branches: the Isla, Lerdo de Tejada, San Andrés Jardín, San Andrés Mirador, and the Sihuapans, and the Baxcaxbaltepec, Catemaco, and Juan Rodriguez Clara Branches. The new stake was the Church's second new stake organized in Mexico in 2023.
The Monterrey Mexico Lincoln Stake was organized on December 3rd from the Monterrey México Valle Verde Stake and the Monterrey México Mitras Stake. The new stake includes the following six wards: the Fraile, Los Parques, Modelo, San Bernabé 1st, San Bernabé 2nd, and Villas del Poniente Wards. The Church discontinued the Monterrey México Morelos Stake in 2018 which is nearby the newly organized Monterrey Mexico Lincoln Stake.
The Philippines
Two new stakes were created in the Philippines - both of which were organized from districts on December 3rd.
The Aguilar Philippines Stake was organized from the Aguilar Philippines District (organized in 2001). The new stake includes the following five wards and one branch: the Aguilar 1st, Aguilar 2nd, Bugallon, Mangatarem, and Urbiztondo Wards and the Bantocaling Branch. There are now eight stakes in the surrounding areas of the soon-to-be-dedicated Urdaneta Philippines Temple.
After decades of preparation and work, the Toledo Philippines District was finally organized as a district. Organized in 1990 as a district, the Toledo Philippines Stake is the Church's first stake on the western side of Cebu Island. The new stake includes the following five wards and three branches: the Aloguinsan, Balamban 1st, Balamban 2nd, Toledo 1st, and Toledo 2nd Wards, and the Lamac, Lutopan, and Tutay-Pinamungahan Branches. There are now seven stakes and one district on Cebu Island.
There are now 128 stakes and 53 districts in the Philippines.
Argentina
The Church organized a new stake in Argentina. The Corrientes Argentina Stake was organized from the Corrientes Argentina District (organized in 1991) and the Goya Argentina District (organized in 1993). The Goya Argentina District was discontinued when the new stake in Corrientes was organized. The new stake includes the following five wards and one branch: the Armenia, Costanera, Goya, Laguna Seca, and Mendoza Al Sur Wards and the Bella Vista Branch. Of the five wards in the new stake, four are located in the city of Corrientes. Also, the two branches in the city of Goya were consolidated into one congregation which was reorganized as the Goya Ward.
There are now 79 stakes and 25 districts in Argentina.
Angola
The Viana Angola Stake was organized from the Luanda Angola Stake (organized in 2018). The new stake includes the following six wards and two branches: the Cacuaco, Kilamba, Terra Nova, Viana, Vila Pacifica, and Zango Wards and the Cazenga and Luanda Sul Branches. The Viana Angola Stake previously operated as a district from 2016 until 2018 when it merged with the Luanda Angola District to create the first stake in Angola. The Church announced the Luanda Angola Temple in October 2023.
There are now two stakes and one district in Angola. Within the past 2 years, many additional cities have had the first branches organized, including Benguela, Caála, Kuito, Malanje, and Menongue. Also, two new wards and two new branches were organized in the Luanda metropolitan area when the Viana Angola Stake as organized.
California
A new stake was organized in California. The Temecula California North Stake was organized on December 3rd from a division of the Temecula California Stake (organized in 2003). The new stake includes the following seven wards: the Chaparral, French Valley, La Paz Ward (Spanish), Lake Skinner, Meadowview, Rancho California, and Temecula YSA Wards. The new stake was the Church's second new stake created in California in 2023.
The Church discontinued one stake in California in 2023. The El Centro California Imperial Valley Stake (organized in 1980) was discontinued. The stake had only three wards and one branch when it was discontinued, although for many years the stake had four wards and one branch. Thus, the closure of the stake has been long overdue due to few congregations in the stake. There were only two wards and two branches from the El Centro area that remained when the stake was closed, and these units were reassigned to the El Cajon California Stake.
There are now 147 stakes in California.
Chile
A new stake was created in Chile. The Colina Chile Stake was organized on from the Colina Chile District (organized in 1994). The new stake includes the following five wards and two branches: the Batuco, Colina, Lampa, San Martin, and Valle Grande Wards and the Isla Juan Fernández and Til-Til Branches. It does not appear that the Colina Chile District ever previously operated as a stake, as none of the previously discontinued stakes in Chile appeared to include cities and towns within the boundaries of the current Colina Chile Stake.
There are now 78 stakes and 11 districts in Chile. The new Colina Chile Stake was the fourth new stake organized in Chile in 2023 - the most new stakes created in Chile since 1998.
Colombia
A new stake was organized in Colombia on December 10th. The Medellin Colombia Centro Stake was organized from a division of the Medellin Colombia Stake (organized in 1988) and the Medellin Colombia Belen Stake (organized in 1996). The new stake includes the following five wards: the Belén, Buenos Aires, El Prado, Floresta, and Villa Hermosa Wards. The new stake is the first new stake organized in Colombia since 2019.
There are now 31 stakes and 10 districts in Colombia.
Mozambique
A new stake was organized in Mozambique on November 19th. The Zimpeto Mozambique Stake was organized from a division of the Maputo Mozambique Stake (organized in 2015) and the Matola Mozambique Stake (organized in 2019). The new stake includes the following six wards and two branches: the CMC, Circular, Magoanine, Matendene, T-3, and Zimpeto Wards and the Boquisso and Marracuene Branches. There are now three stakes in the Maputo metropolitan area. Five new wards and four new branches were organized in the Maputo area when the new stake was organized, including two wards that were organized from member groups (Boane and Catembe). Also, two branches were reorganized into wards (Beluluane and Circular).
The Church also organized a new district in Mozambique on November 12th. The Maxixe Mozambique District was organized from three mission branches, and one new branch was also organized when the district was created for a total of four branches in the new district. These branches include the Expansão, Homoine, Inhambane, and Maxixe Branches. The Church organized a branch in Maxixe in 2013, and the first branches were organized in Homoine and Inhambane in 2022. It appears likely that additional districts will be organized in Mozambique in the foreseeable future in Tete and Xai-Xai.
There are now seven stakes and two districts in Mozambique.
Nigeria
The Church organized a new stake in Nigeria. The Ondo Nigeria Stake was organized from the Ondo Nigeria District (organized in 2015). The new stake includes the following six wards: the Adeyemi College Road 1st, Adeyemi College Road 2nd, Ondo 1st, Ondo 2nd, Yaba 1st, and Yaba 2nd Wards. The creation of the new stake stands as a major accomplishment given the few congregations in the area, the relatively recent growth of the Church in Ondo, and the Church having previously operated a district in Akure (discontinued in 2009 and reinstated in 2018) that once included two branches in Ondo.
There are now 71 stakes and 14 districts in Nigeria.
Sierra Leone
A new stake was organized in Sierra Leone on December 10th. The Freetown Sierra Leone Hill Station Stake was organized from a division of the Sierra Leone Freetown Stake (organized in 2012) and the Freetown Sierra Leone East Stake (organized in 2017). The new stake includes the following five wards and one branch: the Hill Station 1st, Hill Station 2nd, Mount Aureol, Tengbeh Town, and Wilberforce Wards and the Regent Branch. There are now six stakes in the Freetown metropolitan area - all of which have been organized since 2012.
There are now 10 stakes and two districts in Sierra Leone.
Utah
A new stake was organized in Utah on December 10th. The South Weber Utah Pioneer Stake was organized from a division of the South Weber Utah Stake (organized in 1988). The new stake includes the following six wards and one branch: the Pioneer, South Weber 1st, South Weber 7th, South Weber 8th, South Weber 9th, and South Weber 10th Wards and the Canyon Meadows Branch.
A stake was discontinued in Utah. The Midvale Utah East Stake (organized in 1968) was discontinued and had five wards in the stake before its closure. It appears that three of the five wards were discontinued. Retained wards were reassigned to the Midvale Utah Union Fort Stake (which now has six wards).
There were 633 stakes and two districts in Utah as of year-end 2023. 2023 was the year with the most stakes ever discontinued in Utah (seven). Nevertheless, there was a net increase of four stakes for Utah in 2023, as there were 11 new stakes organized during the year. Moreover, two new stakes have been organized in Utah in January 2024 which I will report on in another post.
Dominican Republic
The Church reinstated a previously discontinued district in the Dominican Republic on November 5th. The Monte Plata Dominican Republic District was reinstated (originally discontinued in 2010) and includes the following four branches: the Bayaguana, Gonzalo, Monte Plata, and Sabana Grande de Boyá Branches. These branches have been reassigned to one of the stakes in Santo Domingo or directly to the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East Mission.
There are now 22 stakes and nine districts in the Dominican Republic.
Serbia and Slovenia
The Church discontinued the Beograd Serbia District (organized in 1992) and the Ljubljana Slovenia District (organized in 1992) in late 2023. None of the branches in either Serbia or Slovenia were discontinued when these districts were discontinued. All branches were reassigned to the Adriatic North District (which used to be the Zagreb Croatia District). There are now 13 branches in the realigned district which covers the entire Adriatic North Mission, including Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Extremely slow membership growth has occurred in the former Yugoslavia for many years. The decision to have all branches in a single district was likely made to help consolidate extremely limited leadership manpower in the area. Altogether, the combined membership of these countries as of year-end 2022 was 1,548, with most members living in Croatia and Slovenia. Thus, the region is unlikely to become a stake for many years or decades given current growth trends.
35 comments:
Awesome post! Love to see the growth across all these continents, despite the attrition in Argentina and the Balkans.
Chile is battling (esta luchando) to get back to 100 stakes, as it once had for a small season. It think it may happen! Por fin. A new mission in the north, new temples being built. Things are looking good again. I do wonder as I have before, if the refugee Haitians and Venezuelans are helping the Church of Jesus Christ growth there. Solid citizens are necessary for leadership, but I do think that the country is advancing in ways that have not happened for many years, like the last 24, almost.
Great to see the new stakes everywhere else, even California. Sub-Saharan Africa is not slowing down, it seems.
The Caribbean needs to grow more, starting with Spanish speakers, but then to more French and English speaking, plus Dutch and pidgin tongues.
Thank you for the update and great timing! I was wondering about what new stakes were organized recently about the time you posted this.
Spring will be here in a couple of months and this time of year would be a great time to schedule groundbreakings. There is currently no scheduled groundbreakings however, I'm assuming some will be announced in the near future.
There needs to be at least three groundbreakings per month on average to keep up with the current rate of announcements.
Matt, have you looked into the seasonality of unit openings and closures?
It seems as though closures tend to skew disproportionately towards the second half of the year (May and onward, at least), whereas openings tend to be more evenly distributed apart from a couple of months here and there and, of course, months coinciding with General Conference.
Just wondering if you have any insights into that, like whether there is seasonality, and whether the seasonality depends on whether we're talking about US units or international units, etc.
For those who are interested, the Church News, posted earlier today,
"See 1st interior images, video of new Red Cliffs Utah Temple
The second house of the Lord in St. George, Utah, begins its open-house phase with media day Monday, Jan. 29"
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2024/1/29/24053935/red-cliffs-utah-temple-st-george-interior-images-media-day
The Newsroom just announced the site for 2 more Temples in Peru, both the Cusco and Iquitos Peru sites.
Also, the Groundbreaking was held for the Knoxville Tennessee Temple.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/two-new-temple-sites-in-peru
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/ground-broken-for-knoxville-tennessee-temple
Looks Like the Iquitos Perú site is on the current location of the Secoya Ward meetinghouse.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/meetinghouses/5310148-01-01
My branch had branch conference yesterday. It was nice to Sastain Elder Kerron in the 12. We also got more than usual time with the area Presidency, since the high council member struggled with Elder Sikehemas name. He then realized what it was and explained that Elder Sikehema is a former professional football player. The member of the high council assigned to our branch is an African-American man who was raised in Maryland and served his mission here in Detroit. He is an assistant US District Attorney. His wife is of European descent. They have 4 boys, at least one of whom is in high school. His wife's sister's husband is the co-primary teacher with my Dad.
We apparently have hit a point where there are no announced ground breakings. I hope that changes soon. Although I believe they did not do a ground breaking for the Paris France Temple.
Bo Sierra Leone, Maputo Mozambique, Medallion Colombia and a 2nd Weber County Temple and maybe a Temecula Temple all seem more likely after this round of stake creations.
Per this link, the Paris France Temple did have a groundbreaking:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/details/paris-france-temple?lang=eng
And I think you meant Medelin rather than Medallion.
Well, they broke ground for Paris (because ... it's built). But they did not have a groundbreaking ceremony. As I recall, it was due to local opposition. They had already been denied other properties, and I think they were trying to draw as little public attention as possible until the open house.
Validated my memory with https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/paris-france-temple/
I meant Medellin. It has a double l pronounced like a y.
On the Paris France Temple in 1998 President Hinckley stated while in France that the people there were ready for a temple and thry were working to find a sight. This was all but announcing it. Yet the temple was not completed until 2016.
That makes Paris take longer than Urdaneta, and basically tie with Guayaquil. Even Los Angeles does not take much longer than Paris.
Hey James G. Stokes and John Pack Lambert,
I think you meant Medellín (don't forget the accent :-)
Sorry to beat a dead horse, but don't the people of Medellín pronounce it with a j or zh sound instead of a y sound?
I thought the zh sound was more Argentina and Uruguay than Colombia. I do not even know how to make an accent when typing, especially not on my phone.
Wow! And I thought I was being pedantic.
Maybe. But the Church uses the English spelling in some cases, so any spelling is technically correct.
While the number of branches and wards in Japan have decreased, the Church to its credit still operate a lot of these closed branches as "groups", that's not seen on the church directory. Furthermore, on a positive development, there's a group in rural Takahashi (Okayama Prefecture) part of the Okayama Japan Stake, that now has its own dedicated chapel, with the understanding of upgrading to a branch soon.
Also the Asia North Presidency announced additional language classes for Sunday School in Japan to better reach out to the expat community. Available languages include
English, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, and Tagalog.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10224408284382583&id=1470062613
The first Portuguese speaking branch in Canada (Calgary) was created last month:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2024/1/31/24050720/canada-first-portuguese-speaking-branch-blessing-local-church-members-calgary-alberta
A friend of mine is serving in the Alpine German speaking mission, and in her last email, she said that six of her investigators are Iranian, one Arab and one Sierra Leonean. It might not be news to people who know more about the Church there, but I thought that was fascinating.
This was posted earlier today on the Newsroom site about Elder Bednar.
"31 January 2024 - SALT LAKE CITY News Release
An Apostle of Jesus Christ’s Invitation for World Interfaith Harmony Week“We can make a world where every week is harmony week,” says Elder David A. Bednar.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/world-interfaith-harmony-week-2024
For any that are interested in Unit changes, I just came across a name change on my list.
The "Miskolc Hungary District (1025082)" has at some time been renamed the Debrecen Hungary District (1025082).
Does anyone know what date this change took place?
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/1025082
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/freiberg-germany-temple/district/
Chris, I'm not sure exactly when the Miskolc Hungary District changed to the Debrecen Hungary District, but I think it might have been around July 2023. At this time the Hungary/Romania Mission split to become the Hungary Budapest Mission and Romania Bucharest Mission.
It is possible that the change of mission boundaries, the Békéscsaba Branch which was under the direction of the mission was added to the Miskolc Hungary District. It probably changed the name of the district at the time this occurred.
More good news originally reported on the Middle East Newsroom site, here repeated on the Church News site.
"Church-supported nursing training center opens in Iraq’s Kurdistan region
Church of Jesus Christ helps transform vision into reality with new training center for nurses and midwives in the Kurdistan region of Iraq
By Mary Richards 1 Feb 2024, 10:57 AM MST"
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2024/2/1/24057365/church-donation-kurdistan-iraq-nursing-training-center-opens
The Newsroom and the Church News have both shared the news that, going forward, all Easter Sundays and the Sundays on or around Christmas Day will be Sacrament Meeting only:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/easter-and-sundays-near-christmas-limited-to-sacrament-meeting
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2024/2/1/24058229/first-presidency-sunday-meeting-schedule-adjustments-easter-christmas
And, effective today, the Church's "no-cost subscriptions" are available for Church magazines throughout most of the world:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-magazine-subscriptions-now-available-worldwide-at-no-cost
My thanks once again to you all.
As someone who served in that mission, this isn't that surprising. Iranians have been quite receptive in Germany and elsewhere; they also tend to be quite well assimilated to European culture, unlike some other immigrant groups from the same area. That makes them much easier to integrate in congregations after baptism. Retention rates are high as well; I don't think I know a single Iranian member who is less active.
On a sidenote, one of my Iranian colleagues from Illinois was baptized last spring, and he now baptized one of his friends last week. Definitely made my day!
My stake president is of Iranian descent.
That's wonderful. I had a man in my ward growing up in Florida who was from Iran. I always thought that was more of an isolated case. It's amazing how receptive they are to the Gospel.
For one month in 1996, I had a missionary companion of Iranian descent. He said his parents had to flee to the US after joining the church, and he was born and raised in Provo, Utah.
Matt, Can you please confirm if, and or when, the "Midvale Utah North Stake (517739)" has been consolidated? In reviewing my list of Stakes and Districts, I no longer can find it on the official Meetinghouse Locator mapsite. Even though as of this moment it is still listed on Rick's Jordan River Temple site.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/search?q=517739
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/jordan-river-utah-temple/district/
Also, just found this on the Mapsite, the Hyrum Utah North Stake (511994), has been renamed the Hyrum Utah East Stake (511994). I'm guessing the date was during the creation of the Hyrum Utah Central Stake.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/511994
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/logan-utah-temple/district/
In Utah, my cousin's son-in-law is from Iran. His family joined the Church in Iran before the 1979 revolution, and the Church helped them resettle in Utah. I'm told the family is now all less-active, but still has great respect towards the Church.
In South Carolina, in 2002, I met a less-active British woman who had joined the church in Iran. She spoke about the strength of the members there, and during the revolution, members were holed up in their rented meeting place. They used the chalkboards to block the windows to protect from stray bullets. She said the members left behind remained faithful for years afterwards. I wonder if any are still left, quietly living the gospel as best they can.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/new-stakes-and-reorganized-stake-presidencies-announced-in-january-2024
The pronunciation of the double ll in Spanish, or la "elle", can be as variable as the "y" in Spanish:, or la "i griega". It can sound like a y in English, or j in English, or like the zh as said by some above. The zh pronunciation is typically Argentine, but like the English language, one pronounced letter or phrase is not always the rule for just one region or country.
Medellín. I wrote it without the accent from Spanish, but I am writing it in English, but then auto-correct put it there for me!
Great to see the growth in Colombia and understand the places and church units there better.
Lemme try Concepcion. Nope, auto-correct did not give me the accent. Oh well.
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