Overview
The following list highlights the nine countries with the most Latter-day Saint stakes that currently have only one temple—either dedicated or announced. Stakes are among the most reliable predictors of temple announcements, as they reflect sufficient membership, activity, and leadership to sustain both stake and temple operations. In recent years, due to the Church’s rapid pace of temple construction, all countries with at least 24 stakes now have multiple temples announced or dedicated. This is not a traditional “Top 10” list, as four additional countries or territories (American Samoa, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and Switzerland) each have five stakes and one temple. Including them would extend the list to 13 entries, so this post focuses on the nine countries with the highest stake counts under that threshold. Countries with the Most Stakes and Only One Temple (Dedicated or Announced)
| Country | Stakes | Districts | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Côte d’Ivoire | 23 | 8 | Most likely to receive a second temple; Yamoussoukro or western Abidjan are likely candidates |
| Nicaragua | 12 | 4 | Low growth in recent years may delay second temple; nearly all stakes are in Managua |
| Paraguay | 11 | 9 | Stakes are concentrated in Asunción |
| Sierra Leone | 11 | 3 | Bo, with 4 stakes, is a strong candidate for a future temple |
| Zimbabwe | 11 | 2 | Bulawayo (3 stakes) is the top prospect for a second temple |
| Costa Rica | 10 | 1 | Nearly all stakes are in San José |
| France | 10 | 0 | Southern France (e.g., Toulouse) could be considered for a future temple |
| Panama | 7 | 4 | Slow growth; second temple unlikely soon as nearly all stakes are in Panama City |
| Liberia | 7 | 2 | Likely remains a one-temple country for the near future, as all stakes are in Monrovia |
Outlook
Among these, Côte d'Ivoire is by far the most promising candidate for a second temple due to its high number of stakes and geographic spread. Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe follow, based on stake density outside the capital. France also presents a realistic medium-term possibility, while other nations may require more growth and geographic diversification to warrant an additional temple.
247 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 247 of 247The Church Temples site lists this as the potential district for Abidjan:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/abidjan-ivory-coast-temple/district/
Also, the Syracuse Utah Temple dedication is on June 8, not June 1, so that temple dedication will be two weeks after Abidjan is dedicated, not one. Sorry if that's nitpicky.
As per usual, r/MormonShrivel is only reporting some of the story. As quick check on the meetinghouse locator will show the Ogden Utah Stake has 9 wards and a branch, one of which won't be affected in the realignment of the other wards and one of which is a Spanish ward that will still exist. That will give the stake 5 wards and a branch. We should really doublecheck before we repost r/MormonShrivel. It can be helpful information, but often isn't the whole story.
Really interesting article on the church in Kenya for any who are interested, includes some commentary from Matt (paywall free link): https://archive.ph/dkoGq
The Church News ran a very interesting article on Elder Soares dedicating the temple in Nairobi Kenya.
Elder Soares observed whenever he had a missionary who was not yet endowed arrive in the Lisbon mission the first thing he did was send them to Madrid to be endowed. No more waiting over a year with a temple reachable. Elder Soares was a missionary for over a year after there was a temple in Brwzil before he was endowed.
Marcus Martins who was a missionary in Brazil about the sane time got endowed far sooner. I believe Elder Martins was serving in Sao Paulo, while from Rio while Elder Soares was from Sao Paulo but serving in Rio.
Elder Thierry F. Mutombos wonderful big smile comes through a lit in the pictures and article.
The article confirms that Rwanda and Burundi are assigned to the temple. The deducatory proceeding were translated into French, Swahili and Amheric.
They mention Rome people traveling 30 hours by bus from Kigali, Rwanda.
Then I hit the mention that one person who attended was Ernest Rwamucyo. Rwanucyo is the Ambassador of Rwanda to Kenya and a member of The Chuelrch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Yeah Samake was also there. I knew he existed, he used yo be Mali's ambassador to India. He has gotten dome coverage, and is the only Latter-day Saint politician or government official from the entire African continent H could name off the top of my head. I know there is a Latter-day Saint woman in Edo State, with its capital in Benin City, who is the chief justice of that state, but I have forgotten her name.
I am not dure why Yeah Samake was at the Nairobi Temple dedication.
Elder Matthew S. Holland, (my former BYU professor), represents the Church of Jesus Christ at the Pope's inauguration:
https://www.ksl.com/article/51315673/church-of-jesus-christ-sends-representative-to-inauguration-mass-for-new-pope
He apparently was asked to represent the Church at that inaugural mass because he is the Executive Director of the Church's Communication Department. He also had a brief audience with the new pontiff, where he presented Pope Leo with a letter from the First Presidency.
It appears that the reports on the Nairobi Kenya Temple dedication and the confirmation that the Natal Brazil Temple groundbreaking took place on Saturday as scheduled are the only major temple construction updates we are going to get this week. My thanks once again to you all.
If I calculated it right, late this year, early next year Brazil will surpass Mexico as the world's second largest country in the way of total members.
I think the goal at the moment is largely just to catch up to the needs of the Church. There was a stretch between about 2004 and 2018 where the Church was growing way faster than the rate of temple construction could handle. And heck, in Utah, the new announcements are mostly just so that ward youth leaders don't have to schedule baptism trips a year in advance (I'm almost not exaggerating in some temple districts). We're not even close to the point of "temple construction for convenience instead of need."
Brasil already has more than 50 Stakes, comparing with México.
I recently saw a mapped published by the Europe North area displaying some stats relevant to the area. I was surprised to see that Guinea-Bissau was displayed as part of the area. I knew Cape Verde is part of the area, but was unaware of this. I believe Guinea-Bissau is listed incorrectly as part of the Africa West area on Wikipedia (unless Guinea-Bissau is ecclesiastically in one area and administratively in another, which is possible -- although Ukraine and Moldova are officially unassigned, they are in fact under the auspices of one area for ecclesiastical purposes and another for administrative purposes).
--Felix
2 dedications thus far this year with another 7 with dates. Burley and Alabang are having the final touches done, and others that I feel certain will be dedicated this year based on projections are Harare, Lindon, Phnom Penh, Willamette Valley, Davao, and Ephraim. These ones are projected to be completed in the next couple of months at the earliest and depends on how much time it takes to plan the open house and dedication. Port Moresby and Montpelier COULD be dedicated this year or at the very least could be the first couple for 2026, since they are projected to be completed towards the last few months of the year. Pago Pago, Cleveland, Managua, and Yorba Linda, while stated they can be completed this year at the earliest, unless construction ties up sooner than expected, I don't see them being dedicated this year.
With 9 "set in stone" dedications, 2 awaiting dates, 6 that I feel are very likely to happen, with some wiggle room for another 2, I feel we can optimistically anticipate 19 dedications this year. I doubt we'll have any dedication dates announced for June because that's next month (or if they have, like, a 2 week open house), (just throwing some guesses here) Burley could have a date in August, Alabang, Harare, and Lindon in September, Phnom Penh and Willamette Valley in October, Davao and Ephraim in November, with Port Moresby and Montpelier in December.
It's likely we'll see another pair of temples dedicated on the same day, since there's been one set since 2022 (Belem & Quito in 2022, McAllen & Feather River in 2023, and Salta & Layton in 2024), and of course our first trio in 2023 (Brasilia, Bentonville & Moses Lake). Looking back at the chronology, there are actually other duos I missed (all in 2000), because I thought before this set, Halifax & Regina were the only ones. Ciudad Juarez & Hermosillo (only duo dedicated by the same person - President Hinckley), Memphis & Reno, Nashville & Villahermosa, and Montreal & San Jose.
Hey, Ryan! I certainly hope you're right but personally think you might be a little too optimistic. According to various sources of mine, aside from the San Diego California Temple, which is almost certainly a lock for rededication this year, and the Burley Idaho, Alabang Philippines, Harare Zimbabwe, and Lindon Utah Temples, whose dedications seem almost certain by the end of this year, any other deductions are likely to be deferred and scheduled for next year. So I hope you're right, but it seems unlikely at present.
Ciudad Juarez and Hermosillo were dedicated a day apart. Not even President Hinckley could dedicate two temples in one day.
Dedications are now always held on Sunday. That was not the case in the past, which is why you have unexpected dates and times of dedications.
With baptisms for the dead, the push is now to make this s home centered, church supported activity.
While we do have various ward and branch temple activities, the hope is that most people attend motored than that.
That is now the vision for youth doing baptisms for the dead. It is a vision much easier to realize for those close to temples. At times in the past due to the huge demand on baptisteies it was hard to even think of.
Likewise the move to allowing priests to baptize and to anyone who could be in the temple at all to be able to be a witness was also a huge game changer.
On another note, Elder Soares may yet live to displace President Hinckley as the holder of the record of most temples dedicated. It will not happen for quite some time though.
On the chronology page, it says Ciudad Juarez was dedicated on the 26th-27th of February, while Hermosillo was just the 27th. That shows that dedicatory activities were done at both Ciudad Juarez and Hermosillo on the same day. However, reading on Ciudad Juarez's page, it says Gordon B. Hinckley did the first of six dedicatory sessions for that temple (the 26th), but the rest were done by Thomas S. Monson while President Hinckley left to dedicate Hermosillo (the 27th).
That then begs the question of which specific day is the dedication for temples with sessions on multiple days? The most recent multi-day dedication was the Rome Italy Temple from March 10-12. Should we only consider the 10th as it's formal date, because that's when the first session was held or should it be the 12th since that's when the final session was completed? If it's the former, then Ciudad Juarez and Hermosillo were not dedicated on the same day, if it's the latter, then shouldn't Thomas S. Monson show up as the person that dedicated it, since he did the remaining 5 sessions?
A multi-day dedication is a multi-day dedication and should be considered as such, full stop. I strongly suspect that the rededication of the Salt Lake Temple will span several days or as much as a week when it occurs in 2028.
In saying that, I am aware that President Nelson said that the reopening of the Salt Lake Temple will be celebrated on 2027, but depending on how much of the April-October period is an open house and how much is the celebration of the reopening, it will probably take several months after October 2027 for the Temple to receive it final cleaning prior to its' rededication, so I don't see the rededication happening before 2028.
Felix, There's no official church presence in Guinea-Bissau. Missions in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) serve congregations in its neighboring countries, which is part of the Africa West Area.
It seems no missions will be created this summer. Makes sense. From an efficiency/operational standpoint, probably makes sense to guide mission pres. turnover close to 1/3 of missions per year. Obviously hitting this balance would be a secondary consideration. There are 449 missions and 165 new presidents called this year. Last year there were 149 called (including the 36 new missions). If more missions are needed, I think we’ll see some created next year.
I would like to see church be 2.5hrs… Sacrament Meeting/break/EQ-RS/break/Sunday school: 50/10/40/10/40. And for primary, bring back sharing time by a primary presidency member.
Does choosing a leader from a particular area aid in church growth in that area? Is that region's activity in the Church energized when a churchwide leader is called from that area?
The Catholic Church chose a pope that spent much of his time in the US, Peru, and Italy. I know here in Arkansas, Elder Bednar's name is brought up quite a bit as he's served 17 years in the state including. There is now several stakes covering the area he served as stake president. Brazil, where Ulisses Soares is from, now has more stakes than Mexico and soon to be more members as well.
I don't know of a single member that joined because a Churchwide leader was from there, but how much of an impact does having a leader from an area have on that area? Or does that area see impact?
Would calling a native African help motivate Africans to fulfill leadership roles (the biggest challenge seen by the the Church's fastest-growing continent)?
These are interesting considerations. I don't think personally that having Elder Uchtdorf called to the Twelve had a massive impact on Church growth here in Germany, but I believe it has aided leadership development and awareness for the needs and also the opportunities to serve in leadership positions beyond the local level. The awareness of what kinds of traits Church leaders at the stake level and beyond need to develop is certainly quite far-spread and there are quite a few who are very willing to rise to the occasion and go where the Lord needs them. For starters, I wish we had more local Mission Presidents. Why we keep calling Americans to preside over German missions is completely beyond me; I can think of probably two dozen men in my stake alone who could easily preside over a Mission. That preparedness is probably a partial result of having a German Apostle.
As far as Africa goes, I think the Church will eventually send an Apostle to live in Africa for a few years, similar to what has been done in the Philippines and in Brazil. Based on history and the assumption that by then, there isn't a native African Apostle called, my best guess is that it would be Elder Renlund.
@John Pack Lambert
My interest was piqued by your mention of "visions connected with a copy of a Readers Digest article" in Nigeria.
I looked it up, since I hadn't heard the story, and found this Church article on Anthony Uzodimma Obinna, called "Beautiful Building in His Dream."
It's a pretty cool story about the miraculous event that led to the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ in Nigeria, so I appreciate you mentioning it.
I'm sharing the link here for others who might not be familiar with it.
https://africasouth.churchofjesuschrist.org/beautiful-building-in-his-dream
I agree, i imagine new missions for 2026.
Why would they add back half an hour after cutting an hour? There is clearly no need for Sunday School classes and Priesthood/Relief Society to meet every week, or the transition to 2-hour Church wouldn't have been done. The current system is reliant on us as Church members and families taking charge of our own learning. Adding back weekly meetings makes about as much sense as culling another hour of Church, IMHO.
I don't believe there are any areas in need of apostolic supervision akin to what we saw in the early 2000s. I fully believe that Elder Edward Dube's elevation to the Presidency of the Seventy makes him a prime candidate for the apostleship, since each of President Nelson's apostolic picks have come from that group. If Elder Dube is not an apostolic pick before he turns 70, I could easily see one of the other Black Africans as potential Apostles.
James,
It’s possible the results of the 2-hour church pilot program and the church-wide rollout of 2-hour church had different outcomes. And btw your 1st and 3rd assertions seem to include a logical fallacy.
Agree to disagree.
The underlying goal is to formulate Church meetings in a way that best leads people to come to Jesus Christ. It is possible that at some point this might be better obtained by extending the length of meetings beyond what thry are now. For any number of a wife variety of reasons. I am not good at predicting the future.
At best I got 2 of the 15 temples right. Even having correctly predicted there would be 15 temples announced. I had a list of 9 predictions for general authorities, which I have not shared. The only person on that list who was called was Elder John Amos.
I would say that having a black apostle might have some impact on the ability to baptized African-Americans and maybe other black people. I think it would have the least impact in Africa, and the greatest in the US, even if he was from Zimbabwe or elsewhere in Africa.
I say this from having had people complain on being shown a picture of the 12 on my mission of all white men. I am not actually sure that the result of one black man in the group would be widespread acceptance. It might be gripes that there is just one black man.
On the issue of sending apostles to live in Africa. Both Elder Renlund, for about 5 years, and Elder Soares,for much less time, have actually lived in Africa. There may be advantages to having an apostle as area president, but especially Elder Renlund is not going to gain a significantly enhanced perspective that way.
Now there are no current apostles who have lived in the Africa West Area. There may be an advantage to sending an existing apostle there. Also Elder Soares and Elder Renlund actually lived in South Africa. Maybe having an apostle actually live in Lenya would help.
Keep in mind though that President Oaks was called directly to be an apostle and had never lived outside the US at all. President Holland had only served in the Europe North Area before his call as an apostle.
I actually think if there is an area where sending anapostle to live there right now would help a lot it is not any of the Africa areas at all. It is the Caribbean Area. Although because that area includes multiple areas where there is strong antagonism to the US, I think the best choices would be Elder Uchtdorf, Elder Soates or Elder Kearon.
With Elder Corbitt, who both served his mission and was a mission president there about to become part of the area Presidency and with the call of Elder Brown, the third general authority who is native to the island part of that arra, and another who is a native of Venezurla, things are better in the Caribbean than ThecPhillipp8nes in 2002.
As of 2002 there was 1 temple in the Phillipp8nes with no more announced, but numbers of members there I think were higher than in Canada.
The Caribbean today has 3 temples with 2 more annoyances, although 2 and 1 if you do not include Venezuela. Outside of the Dominican Republic the Church has few members, and in the Dominican Republic levels of church participation could be higher, but that is true most places.
Is Elder Brown being called as a general authority going to work wonders for Jamaica? Probably nothing super spectacular, but we shall see. I did by comparing old articles realize that in 2013 when Kevin and Nadine Brown were called to lead the mission in Jamaica where thry then lived thry had 4 children, he was then 36. They now have 5 children.
Kevin G. Brown having been the mission president over all Jamaica, and having g been resident in Jamaica when called as mission president has caused me to wonder if there are other current general authorities who were mission president over a mission they were residents of before their call as mission president.
I know Elder Richard G. Hinckley was mission president in Salt Lake City and previously resided in that mission's boundaries. He was also emeritized about 15 years ago. He is the only other example of a general authority who served as mission president over a mission where he had been immediately prior to his call resident. Elder Rasband had in the past resided in the boundaries of the New York New York North Mission but not immediately prior to his call as a mission president.
I could see church being extended again once they start building meetinghouses again. Right now the emphasis is on building as many temples as possible. Once we reach a saturation point (since temples are being built at a faster pace than the church is growing), I see us building chapels again, and then when there is space, I could see us going back to a 3-hour block.
Rick just updated the newly dedicated Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple District on his website.
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/units/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/abidjan-ivory-coast-temple/district/
With as far as i can tell, include the same 41 Stakes and 15 Districts in the Africa West Area. That I had predicted here in my post last week.
Here are the remaining 36 Stakes and 13 Districts assigned to the Accra Ghana Temple District, from Ghana, Togo and Benin.
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/accra-ghana-temple/district/
Gary, let me know how to edit your own posts after they are already published. If there's a way, I'd like to know how.
Likewise.
My mistake. Apparently delete is the only option on this blog.
On the meetinghouse locator I noticed the new Hasselt Branch (Brussels Belgium North Stake). There is not meetinhouse icon yet. This is the second new branch in Beligum this year (after Arlon).
At the St. Gallen stake conference during the Saturday Evening Session Elder Gerard metionend that in 2024 convert baptisms in Europe Central Area were up 25% and 1Q 2025 up 30%
https://www.youtube.com/live/OVDykOEZ7SI
at 1:40:15 Elder Gerard's talk is in english (confernce in german)
I do not now how long the viedo will be available. propably for this week.
The Sunday Session is also available on https://pfahlstgallen.ch/pfahl/versammlungen/
I was going to bring up the new branch in Belgium, but didn't because I was going to be updating my Europe map in June. Since we're on the subject of Europe, it also appears the branch in Sevastopol, Crimea was discontinued, and now the only congregation on the peninsula is in Simferopol.
Does anyone know the creation dates for the three new Arizona correctional facility districts? I am working on a massive blog update for the past couple months of changes.
According to my source, it was on May 4th.
Also, looking at the Meetinghouse locator map, I see in the Cairo Egypt District, in the country of Morocco, there are 2 branches currently, one in Rabat and the other in Casablanca. If they had one more i think it could be enough for a Morocco District. But that's just me thinking out loud.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/475149
Curious...is the Nile River Branch (Arabic) new? I don't remember ever hearing about it.
For at least the last couple of years, there's been two branches that meet in Cairo. One is English speaking. The district center is now in Jordan even though Jordan only has one branch and is not centered like Cairo. It also appears Beirut is not part of that district anymore.
Feel free to correct me. Feel free to post if you have any additional incites as well. Three temples announced more than 5 years ago with no groundbreaking announced:
- Russia Temple: The church is known as an American church. This is probably not the best thing to be known as if you're trying to move anything forward. Heavy restrictions on the church and its members has increased substantially after the Russian invasions, but at least our church is still allowed to operate (although no proselyting, Family Search, Church website, etc.). However, President Nelson has a history of making inroads in Russia when others haven't.
- Dubai United Arab Emirates Temple: This is the biggest surprise as the church semi-officially announced that it will be built at the Expo 2020 site after the expo was completed. It also appeared that the government was on board and even encouragement. The expo ended March 2022 and still no temple.
- Shanghai People's Republic of China Temple - I'm not sure about our church but religious persecutions in general have increased in mainland China since this announcement was made.
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