Nigeria
Four new stakes have been created in Nigeria.
The Akure Nigeria Stake was organized on September 22nd from the Akure Nigeria District (organized in 2018). The new stake includes the following five wards and three branches: the Oba-Ile, the Oke Ijebu, the Oke-Aro, the Oluwatuyi, and the Oyemekun Wards and the Ado-Ekiti 1st, the Ado-Ekiti 2nd, and the Oda Branches. The new stake is the Church's second stake in Ondo State, Nigeria, where the first stake was organized in the city of Ondo in 2023.
The Jos Nigeria Stake was organized on September 22nd, 2024, from the Jos Nigeria District (organized in 1993).
The Lekki Nigeria Stake was organized on October 20th from a division of the Lagos Nigeria Yaba Stake (organized in 2011). The new stake includes the following six wards: the Ajah, the Badore, the Ikoyi, the Lakowe, the Lekki, and the Sangotedo Wards. The original Lagos Nigeria Yaba Stake was realigned to include two wards and two branches from the Lagos Nigeria Festac Stake (organized in 2015). There are now nine stakes and one district in the Lagos metropolitan area.
The Port Harcourt Nigeria Emouha Stake was organized on September 15th from Port Harcourt Nigeria Choba Stake (organized in 2018). The new stake includes the following four wards and four branches: the Isiodu, the Omoku, the Rumuchie, and the Rumuji Wards and the Abonnema, the Ahoada, the Mbuosi, and the Ogbogwu Branches. The original Port Harcourt Nigeria Choba Stake was realigned to include one ward and two branches from the Port Harcourt Nigeria North Stake and one ward from the Port Harcourt Nigeria West Stake. There are now eight stakes and one district in the Port Harcourt metropolitan area.
There are now 77 stakes and 13 districts in Nigeria.
Utah
Four new stake have recently been created in Utah.
The Logan Utah YSA 8th Stake was organized on September 15th. The new stake includes six wards, including the Logan YSA 4th, the Logan YSA 6th, the Logan YSA 7th, the Logan YSA 10th, the Logan YSA 24th, and the Logan YSA 46th Wards. There are now eight YSA stakes in the Logan area.
Spanish Fork Utah Sunny Ridge Stake was organized on September 15th from the Spanish Fork Utah Maple Mountain Stake (organized in 2010). The new stake includes the following seven wards: the East Bench, the Spanish Highlands 1st, the Spanish Highlands 2nd, the Sunny Ridge 1st, the Sunny Ridge 2nd, the Sunny Ridge 3rd, and the Spanish Fork 20th (Spanish) Wards. There are now 11 stakes in Spanish Fork.
The Provo Utah Married Student 4th Stake was organized on September 29th. The new stake includes the following eight wards: the Provo Married Student 16th, the Provo Married Student 17th, the Provo Married Student 19th, the Provo Married Student 24th, the Provo Married Student 25th, the Provo Married Student 26th, the Provo Married Student 42nd, and the Provo Married Student 43rd Wards. There are now four married student stakes in Provo.
The Provo Utah YSA 22nd Stake was organized on October 13th, 2024. The new stake includes the following seven wards: the Provo YSA 30th (Spanish), the Provo YSA 31st, the Provo YSA 32nd, the Provo YSA 40th, the Provo YSA 41st, the Provo YSA 71st (Spanish), and the Provo YSA 75th (Spanish). There are now 22 YSA stakes in the Provo area.
There are now 645 stakes and 6 districts in Utah.
Arizona
The Kingman Arizona North Stake was organized on September 29th from a division of the Kingman Arizona Stake (organized in 1983). The new stake includes the following four wards and two branches: the Centennial Park, the Desert Willow, the Stockton Hill, and the White Cliffs Wards, and the Dolan Springs and Peach Springs Branches. The realigned Kingman Arizona Stake now has five wards and two branches.
There are now 118 stakes in Arizona.
DR Congo
The Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Binza UPN Stake was organized on September 15th from a division of the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Mont Ngafula Stake (organized in 2008). The new stake includes the following five wards: the Badiadingi, the Binza UPN, the Buadi, the Lukunga, and the Nsanga Maba Wards. The new stake is the Church's 12th stake in Kinshasa where the first stake was organized in 1996. The new stake is the Church's first new stake to be created in Kinshasa since 2019, although most of the stakes in Kinshasa appear likely to divide within the immediate future, thereby bringing the total number of stakes in Kinshasa to as many as 15-18 within the next couple years. Currently, Kinshasa ties with Accra, Ghana as the metropolitan area on the Afroeurasian landmass with the second most stakes after Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (which has 14 stakes not counting the stake in Grand Bassam).
There are now 29 stakes and 3 districts in the DR Congo. Prospects appear high for many new districts to be organized in cities that have recently had branches organized.
Cote d'Ivoire
A new stake was created in Cote d'Ivoire. The San Pedro Cote d'Ivoire Stake was organized from the San Pedro Cote d'Ivoire District (organized in 2014) and a portion of the Soubre Cote d'Ivoire District (organized in 2015) located in the city of Meagui. The Soubre Cote d'Ivoire District was discontinued, and the two branches in Soubre were reassigned directly to the Cote d'Ivoire Yamoussoukro Mission. Information on which of the nine branches have become wards in the new stake remains unavailable. There are now five stakes and four districts in the Cote d'Ivoire Yamoussoukro Mission.
There are now 21 stakes and 10 districts in Cote d'Ivoire.
California
The Bakersville California West Stake was organized on September 8th from a division of the Bakersfield California Stake (organized in 1951), the Bakersfield California East Stake (organized in 1978), and the Bakersfield California South Stake (organized in 1986). The new stake includes the following seven wards: the Bakersfield 2nd, the Brimhall, the La Cresta (Spanish), the Meadows, the Stockdale, the Taft, and the White Oak YSA Wards. There are now four stakes in Bakersfield.
There are now 147 stakes in California.
Papua New Guinea
The Madang Papua New Guinea Stake was organized on September 22nd from the Madang Papua New Guinea District (organized in 2012). All five branches in the district became wards, including the Bilia, the Madang 1st, the Madang 2nd, the Madang 3rd, and the Wali Wards. Approximately 1,000 attended the special conference to create the new stake, which is the first stake ever to be organized within the boundaries of the Papua New Guinea Lae Mission and in northern Papua New Guinea. With 11 districts, the Church in Papua New Guinea appears likely to have additional districts become stakes within the foreseeable future. There are now three stakes in Papua New Guinea.
Texas
The Weslaco Texas Stake was organized on September 15th from the McAllen Texas Stake
(organized in 1975) and the McAllen Texas West Stake (organized in 2008 and renamed the Mission Texas Stake). The new stake includes the following five wards: the Hidalgo (Spanish), the Pharr 1st (Spanish), the Pharr 2nd, the Weslaco 1st, and the Weslaco 2nd (Spanish) Wards. There are now three stakes in the McAllen metropolitan area.
There are now 80 stakes and 2 districts in Texas.
Washington
The Pullman Washington Stake was organized on September 29th from the Moscow Idaho Stake (organized in 1974). The new stake includes the following five wards: the Colfax, the Pioneer Hill, the Pullman YSA, the Sunnyside, and the Terre View Wards. There are now 61 stakes in Washington.
In the United States, there are now 1,714 stakes and 10 districts.
35 comments:
You mean there are three stakes in Papua New Guinea.
Thank you for noticing the typo
Do you mean 8 YSA Stakes in Logan instead of wards?
A new ward and new branch were recently organized in the Santa Cruz Bolivia Abundancia Stake. This brings the total of new units organized within the Department of Santa Cruz to 2 wards and 5 branches since the beginning of the year. Considering that the 11 Stakes in the area (along with 4 mission branches) had 77 units at the beginning of 2024, there are now 84 wards and branches in the area. This is an impressive 9% increase in units this year alone, with 2 months left to possibly see additional units organized.
Thank you very much for the updates of all these new stakes. Some of them are created in areas where there have not been new stakes in many of the posters' lifetimes, back into the 1970s and 1980s.
I wonder how many languages the Papua New Guinea missionaries have to communicate in? A fascinating part of the planet. Perhaps a little like Guatemala, but I guess most full-time missionaries there stick with Spanish over the 40 plus native tongues. I wonder if there is a trend of any old Papuan languages diminishing. How many of their 500 or more languages are codified in writing? It prompts me to do a little research.
Great to see the growth in Kern County in Southern California. As others have remarked, California has areas of Church growth despite all the fusion and consolidating the last twenty years.
Any word on new towns and units being created and expanded to in Chile since the newest mission was opened in July? I would imagine that some new places would be started on. Smaller towns, maybe some with no missionary presence before.
Part of an understanding of a Restored Gospel and how interpret ancient and modern-day prophesy is to see all this latter-day growth.
As Legrand Richards has analyzed, this is a marvelous work and a wonder. (Quoting Isaiah? And the Doctrine and Covenants).
Yes - thank you for noticing this. This typo has been corrected.
How many total Provo Stakes are there?
According to my calculations, there are 46 Stakes that have the name "Provo Utah" :
Provo Utah
Provo Utah 1st (Tongan)
Provo Utah Bonneville
Provo Utah Central
Provo Utah East
Provo Utah East Bay (Spanish)
Provo Utah Edgemont
Provo Utah Edgemont North
Provo Utah Edgemont South
Provo Utah Freedom
Provo Utah Grandview
Provo Utah Grandview East
Provo Utah Grandview South
Provo Utah Married Student 1st
Provo Utah Married Student 2nd
Provo Utah Married Student 3rd
Provo Utah Married Student 4th
Provo Utah North Park
Provo Utah Oak Hills
Provo Utah Parkway
Provo Utah Sharon East
Provo Utah South
Provo Utah Sunset
Provo Utah West
Provo Utah YSA 10th
Provo Utah YSA 11th
Provo Utah YSA 12th
Provo Utah YSA 13th
Provo Utah YSA 14th
Provo Utah YSA 15th
Provo Utah YSA 16th
Provo Utah YSA 17th
Provo Utah YSA 18th
Provo Utah YSA 19th
Provo Utah YSA 1st
Provo Utah YSA 20th
Provo Utah YSA 21st
Provo Utah YSA 22nd
Provo Utah YSA 2nd
Provo Utah YSA 3rd
Provo Utah YSA 4th
Provo Utah YSA 5th
Provo Utah YSA 6th
Provo Utah YSA 7th
Provo Utah YSA 8th
Provo Utah YSA 9th
The Tallahasee Temple media days happened today. Elder Andersen, who at one point lived in Florida, was there. So was Elder Ahmed Corbitt.
The rededication date for Toronto was announced. President Holland will rededicate the temple. There will be an open house in late February and early match.
Elder Kearon will dedicate the Auckland New Zealand Temple. We are now down to only 3 temple presidents called for temples without dedication dates. Those are for Antofagasta, Chile; Farmington, New Nexico and Abijan, Ivory Coast.
Saints Volume 4 is available on the church's website and Gospel Library app today - a day earlier than announced. I listened to the first 1/4 of it today.
thank you for the information about saints! I'll take a look at it
I was disappointed to hear that the reopening for Toronto was delayed again, but happy to hear that there will be an open house and rededication. I believe it was originally supposed to reopen this past June
Wow, I have had a hard time tracking my comments between the last two blog posts. Apologize for the randomness, but I appreciate the chances to interact with everyone. The information is stimulating, and it motivates me.
What are the next three countries in the world to get missionaries?
I am still waiting for my physical copy of Saints Vol. 4. I made it into the 1980s. I was surprised they did not have more on Official Declaration 2 and it's impact. They had quite a bit and I learned some things. There may be more coverage of the impact later. For example I have not come across any mention of the first baptisms in Nigeria and Ghana, so I suspect it will come up.
I am to 1982 and the process of getting the BYU Jerusalem Center, but sometimes they mention past ebmvents later.
They did cover Marcus Martin's and his decision to go on a mission even though he was engaged. They did not mention the detail that he was originally going to have married in May 1978. Also I think they were scheduled to marry in July 1978, so I am not sure just saying he was engaged quite captures the issue.
I probably should hold off on more thoughts until the end. I did see two minor mistakes that unless I misunderstand thinks need to be corrected. At one point they say the Swiss temple was the 7th operating temple. It was actually the 9th. Another they say Niue is part of French Polynesia. Nieu is an associated state of New Zealand, although at that time it might have been technically a New Zealand Colony. Either way it was not part of French Polynesia at all.
The topical essays connected with Saints are very helpful. The one on finances is very insightful although I wish it were longer.
One thing I learned was that in 2019 under the direction of President Nelson the corporation of the Presiding Bishopric and the Corporation of tye First Presidency were merged into a new corporation called dimple The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am surprised I had not realized this occurred.
For more information on the details surrounding Official Declaration 2, there is an excellent book that just came out titled "Second Class Saints" by Matthew L. Harris. Highly recommend!
The Salt Lake Wasatch Stake and the Salt Lake Butler Stake were merged this weekend, with the remaining stake being remained to the Cottonwood Heights Utah Butler Stake. Wards were reorganized so that of the 10 wards and 1 branch that existed in the two stakes previously, there now remain 7 wards and 1 branch. (The 1 branch is the Brighton Branch, up Big Cottonwood Canyon)
Thank you, Cfunk. Just a minor name correction.
Verified on Mapsite.
Salt Lake Butler Stake (503975) has been renamed Cottonwood Heights Utah Butler Stake (503975), and includes the 7 wards and1 branch mentioned.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/503975
But the Salt Lake Wasatch Stake (502731) is still active on Meetinghouse Locator also with 7 wards and 1 branch. I'm not sure which was the merged stake.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/502731
It was the Cottonwood Heights Utah Wasatch Stake (512931) that was discontinued. Not the Salt Lake Wasatch Stake (502731).
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/512931
I guess President Nelson's smile has dimples.
Thanks Chris D for the correction.
If any are interested in Early Church History (up to December 31st, 1930) as I am. I found this digital copy in the BYU Library - Digital Collection, a few years ago,. Published in 1941, as the Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, compiled by the Church Historian of the time.
https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/BYUIBooks/id/2691
With the following short histories of these Units that existed :
TEMPLES (7 + 2)
MISSIONS (30)
STAKES (104)
STAKE WARDS/BRANCHES (1000)
MISSION BRANCHES (868)
I can understand the confusion. The original "Salt Lake Wasatch Stake (512931)", was organized on February 24th, 1980. And was renamed the "Cottonwood Heights Utah Wasatch Stake (512931)", on November 12th, 2017.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/2010/2/2/23268855/united-states-information-utah/
"1111 / Salt Lake Wasatch / 24 Feb 1980 / Richard G. Peterson"
And the "Monument Park West Stake (502731)", originally organized on September 29th, 1957. Was renamed twice. Became the Salt Lake Foothill Stake (502731) on January 14th, 1974, when all Stake names at the time added the US State/Canadian Province, or Country name after the local city names. And was renamed the Salt Lake Wasatch Stake (502731) last year 2023. I don't have the precise month or date from 2023 that the change became effective.
"249 / *Salt Lake Foothill
Monument Park West / 29 Sep 1957 / Frank Carl Berg"
"(* Stake name changed 14 Jan 1974 or as indicated otherwise.)"
Check out this news, published by ABC Australia, about church growth in Mulga Bore, an aboriginal community in the Australian Outback. Apparently, all 70 or so people who live there are now members of the church. This likely means a group has been organized there, which could definitely become a branch soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWkRqgvpBAo
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-30/nt-mormon-church-remote-indigenous-communities-missionaries/104475466
It also appears there is a group functioning out of two young missionaries' home somewhere in the outback, a place the article refers to as Angkula. I can't
easily locate it on a map. Perhaps a Mulga Bore group and this group are one and the same. Still, the article states that there have been 127 baptisms across the Northern Territory in the last 12 months - an impressive total, especially when considering there are only 4 official branches in the Northern Territory.
Thanks for sharing Cfunk, super cool article. Is anyone aware of any other communities (anywhere on earth) that are 100% comprised of nominal Latter-day Saints?
Based on who recommended the 2nd class Saints book above I will warn others it is almost certainly full of bitter lies and meant to fuel hate and apostasy. That is the same commentator who has been spreading malicious lies against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he should not be trusted. He seeks to undermine faith and attack the work of God. He is a hater of African-American people who delights in keeping them from the blessings of the gospel just as much as Jesus gleefully rejoices in the fact that people in the northern suburbs of Dallas are being deprived of adequate access yo the temple by a bigoted micro-suburb city council that is deliberately spreading falsehoods to stop the building of a temple on a road with 50 mile per hour speed limits across from multiple businesses on false assements and outright lies about the lication.co siding the lies he has spread in that context the book he endorses is also surely full of hate, lies and sheer attacks.
I got my physical copy of Saints Vol. 4 yesterday. I began reading it from the start, even though I had gotten up to almost the end of the freeze in Ghana. I am gaining some new insights on my reread.
We need far more coverage of the growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints among people of African descent since 1978 than exists. This is a topic that is very under covered. I understand why there is coverage pre-1978, and I understand that recent historical scholarship is hard, but we need far better coverage on the post-1978 period.
I do know that Saints Vol. 3 has some, and although I have read the full listing of sources I will hold off from saying too much on it until I complete.
There is also the fact that some of the most interesting developments post-date 2020. 2020 general conference where Saints Vol. 4 ends might however be close to a pivot point in some regards.
That is where we get the first case of 2black general authorities called at once paired with the first calling of a black member of a general Presidency.
I believe currently there are only 5 black temple presidents. I am pretty sure only Accra, London, Aba, Praia, and Kinshasa Temples have black presidents. I know Baton Rougue has in the past. I do not believe Johanesburg or Durban have as of yet.
I could see us having 5 black temple presidents called this coming year. The number if black mission presidents called from the US has now reached I believe at least 8. Worldwide numbers are hard to know. But the numbers of both black mission presidents and area seventies total over time is probably over 50. I am not sure black temple presidents over time yet exceed 15. I think we will see changes soon.
I think Elder Mutombo may have been the first black man to serve as a mission president in the US, and Elder Corbitt may have been the first African-American to be mission president.
I just realized my above statements had forgotten Haiti. So we have at least 6 black temple presidents. I am not sure about temple presidents in the Dominican Republic.
OK. The current temple president of the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple is from the Dominican Republic. His last name in Dominguez. I am not sure from his picture if he is of African descent. I know some might say I am wading into a racial minefield.
As I probably have said my wife is African-American. I live in Detroit.
We have a long way to go, but we have made more progress than anyone might have hoped. The most exciting event of 2019 in outreach by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not President Nelson meeting the Pope. It was President Nelson speaking to the atonal assembly of the NAACP. I do not just say that because I was present for the later. Of course the NAACP speech is not as big an event as several other rings that have happened since. Such as President Nelson's joint statement with NAACP leaders, the plan of collaboration, the development of MyBaby for me that cut down inner city infant mortality rates, the expansion of that program from Memphis to other cities, President Nelson getting the Ghandi-King-Mandela prize from the MLK Chapel at Morehouse College. The end result right now is Elder Corbitt opening a joint arena concert with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and the glee clubs of Spellman and Morehouse Colleges, but the impact will be broader.
While Saints Vol. 4 does give a bunch of coverage to DR Congo, I am not sure if we get any of East Afeica. An interview with Sister Sitati, who was the first Kenyan woman to attend the temple (her husband is yo date the only Kenyan general authority) is a source, but they do not have interviews with Joseph W. Sitati listed as sources. To be fair East Africa has been a very small part of the Church until after 2020. It is at least if you define it as Mozambique, Kenyan, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenyan, the horn and the islands still site to 0 temples, with 1 under constructions and 4 more planned. It has 18 stakes, les than Provo. However things are looking up throughout the area, and the Nairobi Temple will hopefully be done in not too long, and Harare Zimbabwe will hopefully help those in central Mozambique a little making going to the temple doable at least once in a lifetime. Hopefully the 4 planned temples can be started on Doon.
I did watch some more films created about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Congo under the project jnown as Not By Bread Alone that were very good. One was the story of Sabwe "Willy" Binene and his wife Lilly Binene released to coincide with the release of Saints Vol. 4. The other was about Norman Kamosi. They one really helped understand some of the extremes of Belgian colonial paternalism. Kamosi was baptized as a refugee in the Washington DC area, and later was head of public and government relations for the Kinshasa Temple project. He was a key and wealthy figure under Mobotu and fled at regime change.
I think I will hold off on saying anything more about these issues until I finish Saints Vol. 4.
I have been meaning to read that one. I just finished "American Zion" by Benjamin Park that is a fascinating history of the church within the broader context of the United States. I would highly recommend that one, I devoured it in 3 days.
Get a life
LOL. Sounds like you DEFINITELY read the book and aren’t just poisoning the well here.
I think most people can read difficult things without their testimonies shattering. It’s an important part of church history and, yes, difficult to face, but also incredibly important.
I’m not on some crusade against the church, but even if I was, certainly I’d give people more credit than you’re giving them: my little comments here and there shouldn’t destroy their worldview.
Please try not to be so myopic on your topics. Thank You.
I just read a report from someone who had just been on the grounds that the Miraflores Temlle in Guatemala City will probably be dedicated sbout the middle of next year. I am hoping we will see at least 20 temple dedications in 2025, but I may be too enthusiastic.
I am also hoping we see at least 40 temple ground breaking over the next 12 months. OK, I am really hoping we break 50. I would really like to see a major change around in the pace of things.
Not that I specifically know of JTB, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were a couple. For example, in the Ha'apai Island Group in Tonga, the Church actually lists slightly more members than the official government statistics for people living there, leading me to assume that some of the villages spread throughout the island group consist entirely (or nearly entirely) of baptized members of the Church. Depending on how you define community as well, there are definitely whole large neighborhoods in heavily LDS cities, like Provo-Orem or Rexburg, where basically everyone is LDS. I wonder which town within the Pioneer Corridor has the highest percentage of nominal members. I imagine there are quite a few that are 90%+ members, but most of these towns are likely under 1,000 people. I wonder if there are other communities across the Pacific Islands or amongst Indigenous groups that are nearly all LDS.
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