The Church recently organized its first district in the Central African Republic (CAR). The new Bangui Central African Republic District was created from the three mission branches in the capital city—Bangui 1st, Bangui 2nd, and Bangui 3rd (the latter two organized only a few months ago). The district is supervised by the Cameroon Yaoundé Mission. It is unclear when the new district was organized, but it appears to have been created on August 3rd or 10th. The Church has maintained a branch in Bangui for over 30 years and has experienced essentially stagnant growth for most of this time due to remote location, infrequent mission leader visits, and no assigned proselytizing missionaries until 2025.
This milestone makes the CAR the second nation in 2025 to receive its first district, following the creation of the Conakry Guinea District in March. Districts function similarly to stakes, with a district presidency overseeing multiple branches within their boundaries.
The organization of the Bangui Central African Republic District marks significant progress for the Church in the country. The creation of the district suggests that there is sufficient local leadership to staff both branch and district callings, with perhaps ambitions in the near term to organize additional branches in Bangui (population 1.68 million). As of year-end 2024, Church membership in the CAR totaled 281.
187 comments:
This is an amazing development, Matt! Thanks for sharing it with us. My understanding from my mom (who's a native South African and has heard this from her friends with connections there, and from my "uncle" who just reported on his mission presidency experience a few months ago), is that the Church is having very unprecedented growth all through the continent.
So I think Africa is becoming a stronghold for the Church. With that in mind, I wouldn't be shocked if the Church has its' first native African apostle within the next decade, though I hope it happens sooner than that. Elder Dube's current membership in the Presidency of the Seventy would make him a prime candidate (as all of President Nelson's picks thus far have been from that group).
Anyways, thanks again for this great report.
It has officially been announced that a new stake will be created in Centerton Arkansas on Sep 14. While which units will end up where is currently unknown, it will primarily be a split from the Bentonville stake, with the Metfield Ward and Rogers YSA Branch of the Rogers Stake also being pulled in.
Right now Bentonville has 13 wards and no branches. Rogers has 9 wards, a YSA branch, and a Spanish branch, both branches currently cover both stakes. If there are no new wards created with the stake creation (could very well add more), it will leave 14 wards and a branch between the Centerton and Bentonville stakes, and leave 8 wards and a branch in Rogers.
A stake center for Pea Ridge was just added to the agenda to the Pea Ridge planning commission for October, with the rumor mill stating that the building is likely to be completed at the end of 2026.
Earlier this year I assumed they were just going to split Bentonville down the middle and then Rogers would also be close to being able to split down the middle as well. However the Berryville Ward was taken from Rogers to form the Branson Stake, and now two additional units are being taken for Bentonville, taking Rogers from 12 units to 9 within a single year. All three stakes will now be just about the same size. So if they do indeed intend to create another stake at the end of next year, there will be a lot more movement needed to make it work.
My guess is Bentonville will remain much larger than Centerton, and then when Pea Ridge is finished all the units that meet in the Bella Vista building will form a stake with Pea Ridge if membership numbers are sufficient. SO essentially a 2 to 3 split now, and then another 2 to 3 split with Bville and Rogers end of next year. If not, Pea Ridge may just have a stake center that doesn't function as such for a few years until membership quotas are hit.
For some context, Pea Ridge was a single branch as recently August 2021, and is now slated to have a stake center completed by the end of 2026.
Do you have any idea if the Centerton wards have attendance warranting a split?
I don't. Morningside and Highlands wards were both just created last November and are basically Centerton 4th & 5th, so it would surprise me if they were already ready for another split. If they did a total overhaul of ward boundaries in the stake I'm sure you could slice it to make it work.
Update on a historic chapel originally owned by the church in Washington D.C. https://www.deseret.com/faith/2025/08/13/washington-chapel-sale-plans-and-opposition/
Will the Postdam New York district be upgraded to a stake this year? Besides corrections districts and the MTC could get to a point that there is not a conventional district in the United States.
I think there are a couple of branches in Texas that are under the supervision of the mission. Not sure of any others. Enough branches get created than a district can be formed. They are still under the direction of the mission. However can have more independence.
In areas were there are districts unless theee is a policy change, the Mission President or counselors have to sign temple recommends, interview people for priesthood advancement. Interview and set apart missionaries, conduct membership counsels.
If there are no districts in a mission than a mission President can give full time service to the missionaries under his care,
Doesn’t seem like there are very many stakes being discontinued. Districts becoming stakes causes a loss there. Only dissolved districts are reported here.
When a stake combines easy to have two functioning patriarchs there. Stakes downgraded to districts unless the patriarch moves have an ordained patriarch in there boundaries.
Stakes have multiple functioning patriarchs when there are large amounts of people requesting patriarchal blessings and one patriarchncant do them all in a timely manner.
Spencer...my son served his mission in New York Syracuse Mission. He served in one of the branches in the Postdam District. I was able to return to that mission with my son and we attended one of the branches in Postdam District. My son said that was a typical branch for that area. Sorry to say but Postdam has a long ways to go before it could become a Stake. The branches are very small.
It should be notes that many of the things done by a stake president in a stake are done by the mission president in a district.
The Edmonton Alberta North Stake, Edmonton Alberta Gateway Stake, and Edmonton Alberta Riverbend Stake all have a stake conference scheduled for the 20-21 September this year. With 12, 14, and 8 units respectively I think there is a strong possibility 1, perhaps two (if my dreams came true), new stakes get created in Edmonton next month. If the boundaries were different, and assuming this is what is happening, I think it would have just involved the North and Gateway Stakes, but their boundaries are seperated by the Riverbend and Bonnie Doon Stakes. The Bonnie Doon Stake is not scheduled for a stake conference until November, so it is possible that Riverbend is involved in any reorganization in order to avoid having a stake with split boundaries. Furthurmore, regsrdless of whatever happens in September, I think there is a strong possibily of a Tagalog/Spanish Stake in Edmonton forming in the not-too-distant future. There are already two Tagalog Wards and one Spanish Ward, all located within the Gateway Stake (heck, maybe that's the new stake that gets made in September haha) and both Tagalog wards were organized within the last four years. If the growth rate is maintained another Tagalog Ward would get organized in a few more years (the second one was just recently organized) and then a fourth in perhaps six to eight years from now. That would give the five wards needed for a new Stake. In my lay opinion, this means that eight to ten years from now, there could be anywhere from another two to four additional stakes in Edmonton, but already Southern and Central Edmonton are really pushing building capacity with the meetinghouses they have, and the Edmonton Temple is a small one built as part of the push for 100, with a temple worker discussing with me how the Edmonton temple, according to their statsitics, is the busiest temple in the world for ones that size, and is beginning to show the need for a second one, apparently. I think if Edmonton got another temple of similar size to the current one that would be amazing. So I think the next decade will bring a lot of exciting growth and news for Edmonton, the question is just how exciting it will be.
Oh also, one more thing, about language units in Edmonton. There has been significant growth in French work in the Edmonton Area. The first officially called French Speaking missionaries have been called this last trasnfer and are working all around the city, with there already being three French Sunday School classes in Edmonton (one unofficially, but is working to show sustainability so the teacher who is currently working off of an assignment, can be formally called) and five friends on date for baptism so far. There was some French pre-work being done in the mission last transfer with a different companionship working to show the mission president the viability of French work in Edmonton. A year or so ago there was a French Sacrament meeting held with city-wide inviations to all members interested in attending. I do not know what the numbers looked like for attendance. Lastly there is also the potential of a Mandarin Branch forming in the future. An official committee has been working for a few years now to hold events and activities to build connections and they are all very well attended. There are four mandarin missionaries in Edmonton and talks of forming a branch have ebbed and flowed the last couple years. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.
Recently interviewed by an Area Seventy at stake conference. Generally, when a stake patriarch is handling 50 blessings a year, a 2nd functioning patriarch can be called.
I still can't get over the fact that the church sold that chapel. It is so beautiful.
Where is there room to split if all buildings in the area have 5 units meeting at them? I don't know if there's a building in the area where they can rent out, but I'd imagine unit creation will come after a new building is dedicated.
The following link has my nearly updated. I've removed the "Other 70"(formerly "Other 80") category, and replaced it by two groups of 60 with 2nd 60 being more likely than 3rd 60. "Third 60" has 57 which means I need to add three more.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1G7hdBBWl07qNmfixCPEyCf7dAOKzzjw&ll=10.028608009536745%2C0&z=3
Let me know:
1) What three temples need to be added to the "third 60" category.
2) If any needs to be moved up or down and why.
Categories:
Top 20 (20 locations including one that's simply labeled "Wasatch Front"): These are the most likely to be announced.
Somewhat Likely 40 (40 locations): The 40 that didn't quite make the "Top 40" list.
Second 60 (60 locations)
Third 60 (currently 57 locations)
Miscellaneous (currently 54 locations): This is not a list of predictions, but rather than a list of considerations.
Note: for my counting purposes, I only count announcements made within the prediction's perspective temple district. ie. I would count my Madang Papua New Guinea prediction if it's announced in Lae or Minj instead.
If for some reason, multiple temples are announced in a predicted temple district, then only one will be counted. If a temple is announced in two predicted districts (ie. an announcement in Hattiesburg Mississippi which is in my Mobile - "Top 20" and Jackson - SL40 lists), I count it only once using the highest level prediction (counted "Top 20" and not SL40 for the hypothetical case of Hattiesburg).
I plan on finalizing my predictions less than 2 weeks from now.
Last spring was a miss for me as only 6 of the 15 were in my top two lists (top 60). I consider my prediction good if half came from the two lists comprising of my top 60.
* 4 came from my "Top 20" which included all three announced in the western US. Spanish Fork Utah. Spanish Fork. San Jose del Monte Philippines. Caldwell Idaho, Flagstaff Arizona. Counting San Jose del Monte was almost a stretch although it did very well fit the vague definition of Angeles/Metro Manila. For Oct 2025, I've become more specific on some of these. For Caldwell Idaho, I placed and kept the icon on where I think the temple site location is to be prior to it being announced.
* 2 came from my "Somewhat Likely 40". Rapid City South Dakota and
Campo Grande Brazil
* 5 were from my "Other 70" list (Reynosa Mexico, Chorrillos, Peru, Porto Portugal, Greenville South Carolina, and Norfolk Virginia), and
* 4 I did not predict (including those on my Misc list).Rivera Uruguay (Had it been announced across the border a few miles away in Livramento Brazil, it would have been counted as my Santa Maria Brazil prediction which was then on my top 20 list.), Uyo Nigeria, Nouméa New Caledonia, Liverpool Australia.
I believe it was reported (by Adam) previously that land was being sought out for new chapels. One said location is a new stake center for Centerton AR Stake when the building is completed. I believe the estimate for completion was reported at least by the end of the year, I think the earliest estimate was August (this month).
Did a quick search and located the new chapel. A post from late June said it was being built across the street from Osage Creek Elementary School. The post did note there was some construction delay, but said to be completed sometime this fall. The exterior appears to be a similar design to one of our chapels here, so a decent size. Ours has the bishop's offices between the hallway and the chapel itself. Probably not an identical floorplan to that chapel, because ours only has parking on 3 sides of the building, so while the north side has a very large foyer, the one on the south side is very tiny.
The new Centerton stake center won’t be ready until at least November. I suppose they will hold off on creating new units in the area until it opens, but I’ve been told that when it opens all church buildings in these stakes will immediately go to 5 units in each. I believe that includes moving the Highlands Ward out of the Anderson MO building and the Cave Springs Ward out of the Springdale building. The means 3 new units will be created. I am guessing one ward on the Rogers side, one on the Bentonville side, and a Marshallese branch in Rogers.
Also, a more accurate completion date for the Pea Ridge stake center is end of 2027. BTW, there’s also another new stake center planned to be built on Belleview Rd in western Rogers, it it’s expected to be completed around the same time as the Pea Ridge building. My prediction is that they will create a new stake in 2027 centered in Pea Ridge. By that time, based on current growth trends, the Pea Ridge Ward will probably be ready to split.
I’m hoping that between 2027 and 2030 the Springdale stake will also grow to split and create a Fayetteville stake. The church is looking for possible new building sites down that way now, such as in Farmington, where a new ward was created this year from the Prairie Grove ward.
What exactly is driving this high level of growth in NW Arkansas today? I think this has been asked before but I wonder if the answer may have shifted a bit too. I know historically there has been a lot of move-in activity to the general area, but what is being reported sounds like more than the BYU-Walmart pipeline could reasonably account for all on its own. Are there a lot of baptisms happening as well?
Mostly move ins. Strong economy, overall population growing significantly. Conservative population. Added bonus of being significantly cheaper to live than Utah and most of the west.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2025/08/16/mission-leader-mexico-recovering-after-attempted-robbery-shooting/
You’re completely right.
Why are we seeing this more in Arkansas than other metros, in Texas, Missouri, other Central and Eastern states?
There are constantly people moving to the area, but there are also a lot of baptisms. I was told recently by stake leaders that the Rogers stake is one of the most baptizing stakes in the NA Southeast area. My ward has 29 convert baptisms in the past 2 years.
Elder Bednar has often talked about (off the record) how in order for the main tent post (New Jerusalem) to be raised there needs to be more stakes surrounding it to hold it up, and that is why people are being led to places not too distant from Jackson Co, MO.
Considering also the growth of the church in the Kansas City metro and surrounding cities like Springfield MO and Tulsa OK, this holds true.
I was told by someone who’s lived here a long time that Elder Bednar prophesied—I think back when he was serving as stake president here—that the 4 main wards (at that time) in NW Arkansas: Rogers, Bentonville, Springdale, and Fayetteville would each become stakes in Zion. So far, the only one of those yet to be created is Fayetteville.
I can’t confirm the truth of Elder Bednar’s supposed quotes, but I’ll assume their accuracy for now.
When I look at the church in the Intermountain west, I see tremendous membership from Rexburg to Phoenix, and also significant membership in Vegas.
That’s a large area. We see high growth in areas with new housing for exactly the reasons Ohhappydane points out.
But it’s quite unusual to see this pattern— 5 wards per building, talk of 3 new stake centers in an area with 2-3 stakes, rumors of more planned, outside of the intermountain west, at least domestically.
I’m thrilled to see it, and I find it significant that it is closer to Jackson County than much of the intermountain west is to Salt Lake City. Elder Bednar’s comments about a central tent post and stakes makes perfect sense to me and it is thrilling to see it organically start.
Also, a Marshallese ward in Fayetteville and the potential for a Branch in Rogers as well is encouraging and shows at least some diversity in the membership there.
Have there been any reports of any new Stakes today?
Matt, from your updated Stakes list. Was the Guimba Philippines District (614068), renamed the new "Muñoz Philippines Stake" listed?
Which includes 2 Muñoz Branches in the Meetinghouse map.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/614068
So far, I only have found 2 Curitiba Brazil neighboring Stakes had conference today. But combined they have only 11 congregations, so i don't expect any changes there, unless they consolidate to 1 larger stake.
I wonder if the Rio de Janeiro and Rio de Janeiro Madureira Stakes could combine next sunday 08/23-08/24. Unless they just planned Stake conference the same weekend.
Another oddity fond on the Meetinghouse site, both the Red Deer Alberta and Sherwood Park Alberta Stakes had a Stake Conference today. But they are not neighbors. The Edmonton Gateway Stake is between them (one of the 3 scheduled for same weekend in September). But the oddity is that Red Deer has another conference in the same 6 months scheduled for 12/06-12/07. So i wonder if todays conference was "Special" conference. Next years biannual stake conferences are scheduled for may and end of november 2026. None in august 2026.
Northwest Arkansas is a fairly fast growing metro area overall. While there are specific links there that have lead a high percentage of members to move there, in general being a fast growing area will lead to more church members moving in.
There is also a factor that when people move long distances in some cases they seek a new church home. This especially applies in the era of the independent mega churches. It often applied in earlier eras, because a lot of Protestants wee not supper denominationslky loyal and more identified with their congregation that their denomination.
For these reasons church growth is not always an either move ins or Converts. You can have the convert move in phenomenon.
The Farmington New Mexico Temple was dedicated. One of the speakers at the dedication, a Navajo who used to be president of the Chinle Arizona Stake, gave at least some of his remarks in Navajo. I do look forward to the day when there is a Chinle Arizona Temple.
I had a friend at BYU whose father was the president of the Chinle Arizona Stake. Her mother was Navajo and her maiden name was Brown. I wonder if Romero Btown was her uncle, but Brown is a name that shows up so much, I know that is unlikely.
Was able to confirm today that the Edmonton Gateway and Riverbend Stakes will be meeting together and a new third stake will be forming. I alerted the member of the North Stake also having stake conference at the same time and it's size, and they agreed it's possible, but hadn't heard anything official. So there is definitely at least one new Edmonton stake forming on the 20/21 of September.
Looking at the Gateway, Riverbend, and North Stakes, I was able to come up with the possibility of 3 stakes becoming 5. I am rather limited on what information I have, so this is purely based on what congregations are there.
Edmonton AB Gateway Stake could consist of 5 wards and 2 branches, the Crawford Plains, Lee Ridge, Silver Berry, Rio Vista [Spanish], & Wild Rose [Tagalog] Wards and the Tofield & Wainwright Branches.
Edmonton AB Riverbend Stake could consist of 6 Wards, the Greenfield, Rabbit Hill, Rutherford, Terwillegar Park, Woodbend, and Yellowbird (Gateway) Wards.
A new Beaumont AB Stake would consist of 6 wards, the Beamont, Blackmud Creek, Camrose, Devon (Riverbend), Ellerslie, and Wetaskiwin Wards.
Edmonton AB North Stake would consist of 6 wards and 2 branches, the Belmead, Griesbach, Namao, St Albert, Lago Lindo [Spanish], & Meadowlark [Tagalog] (Gateway) Wards and the Athabaska & Slave Lake Branches. Since both the Spanish and Tagalog-speaking wards use the river as the ward boundary, I felt it made sense for the set in the north to be in the same stake, as well as the ones in the south being in the same stake.
A new Spruce Grove AB Stake would consist of 6 wards and 2 branches, the Barrhead, Drayton Valley (Riverbend), Onoway, Pioneer, Spruce Grove, & Stony Plain Wards and the Hinton & Whitecourt (both from Riverbend) Branches.
At least in the greater Bentonville area most come for Walmart. It is a standard joke when people are giving their first talk that they also are here for Walmart, or gets more laughs if they didn't actually come for Walmart. Many retiree couples also coming to the area. It's generally hard to recruit a lot of people to Arkansas just because it's "Arkansas", but when you have been in Rexburg for four years anything sounds good. Usually if people are willing to visit they make up their minds quick that it is a place they want to be. We do have many actively choosing to come here because it is more affordable, something Utah is failing at lately.
I'm in Pea Ridge, our ward didn't have any convert baptisms for over a year but we are having our 4th in two months this Saturday, so it's something. Just had a family move from one of the Centerton wards. They had it carved up as apart of new ward creations in November and he said their attendance was already back up to 300 and they were about to create a third nursery, so there could potentially be further splits with the new stake center. We thought we were doing good with ours also splitting in November and getting our attendance back up over 230 this past week.
We have a former bishop who does buildings with the church. He is saying Pea Ridge should be completed by the end of the year in 2026. They should have all the city approvals within the next two months, so would just be whether they can get it built in 14 months. They likely have the membership and units to create a new stake, but they would have to include wards where Pea Ridge wouldn't be their closest stake center due to Bentonville's superior positioning next to the interstate like Bella Vista or Sugar Creek.
I heard that a special stake conference is being held this week (August 23 & 24) to create a third stake in Star Valley Wyoming. The new stake will be created from a division of the Afton Wyoming Stake and the Thayne Wyoming Stake.
There is a possible split in Pocatello Idaho area that weekend also.
The Harare Zimbabwe temple open house and dedication have been announced this afternoon. The temple will be dedicated by Elder Gerrit W. Gong on Sunday, March 1, 2026. The open house will begin Thursday, January 22, and continue through Saturday, February 7, 2026, excluding Sundays.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/open-house-and-dedication-dates-announced-for-the-harare-zimbabwe-temple
For Star Valley, this is what I came up with on how the stakes could be split.
Thayne WY Stake (7 wards, 1 branch): Bedford, Cedar Creek, Etna, Freedom, Thayne 1st, Thayne 2nd, & Willow Creek Wards and the Star Valley (Spanish) Branch.
Afton WY Stake (7 wards, 1 branch): Afton 1st, 2nd, & 3rd, Auburn (Thayne), Grover (Thayne), Meadows (Thayne), & West Hills Wards and the Star Valley YSA Branch.
New stake (could either be called Afton WY South or Osmond WY, consisting of 8 wards): Afton 4th, Bitter Creek, Cottonwood, Dry Creek, Fairview, Osmond, Salt River, & Smoot Wards.
I believe this is the last temple announced by President Monson to be dedicated. It wasn't even one of the last temples he announced--it was announced clear back in April 2016.
Here is the announcement from the church news as well: https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2025/08/18/harare-zimbabwe-temple-dedication-open-house-dates-gerrit-w-gong/
I was listening to an episode of Ben Hancock's "For All the Saints" podcast this morning where he interviewed the lead architect for the Preston England Temple and he went over the story of the approval process for that temple. It was fascinating to hear that the planning commission had initially denied a permit, but essentially the moment he actually presented his case for the temple to a community council, it was unanimously approved. It really illustrated the difference for me between good-faith and bad-faith opposition to temples.
Community residents do often have real, good-faith concerns and questions about the logistics and impact of a temple, and it's not fair to be dismissive of them, but it's pretty clear in cases like Fairview that the primary motives are bad-faith obstructionism, irrational NIMBYism, and religious bigotry. When there are good-faith concerns, they are usually easily resolved because the Spirit can play a role.
Here's the episode if anyone wants to give it a listen; it was really good.
https://youtu.be/PMFboz_RjDk?si=7Y1i73Jhj6l0aKtO
And here is my analysis:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2025/08/breaking-temple-news-first-presidency_01707058809.html
My thanks once again to you all.
Jonathon F., Harare is indeed the last temple announced by President Monson to have a dedication announced.
Also, it is one of the last 9 he announced, and given that his last 2 sets of temples were announced in his last two April General Conferences, I'd still personally consider Harare to be one of the last announced by him. But that's just my take on this.
Matt, Recently organized in the Mozambique Beira Mission, the new Tete Mozambique District (2302055)
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2302055
Finally! Thanks Chris - I have been surprised it has taken about 5 years to create this new district even though the four branches have been there this whole time. Sounds like they have had leadership development problems.
Yes, this is from the Guimba Philippines District becoming a stake.
Harare Zimbabwe Temple will be the last temple announced by President Monson to be dedicated. This will be at least the 4th dedication by Elder Gong, 5th in you Count rededications. He has done Winnepeg, which also put us to less than half the dedications done by President Hinckley, 13 years after President Hinckley died. Elder Gong has also done Taylorsville, Utah on the location where his wife grew up going to church and Puebla Mexico. He also remediate Hong Kong. Am I missing any?
JPL, no you are not missing any temples dedicated/rededicated by Elder Gong, which can be confirmed in the following document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w_RAy_dGdiS0YOhkjfA2Fm4lIT5D8W7xKYL5MkXeRoc/edit?usp=sharing
For those interested in current temples-by-state in Nigeria:
36 Nigerian States/Capitals:
STATES W/ TEMPLES: 5
STATES W/O TEMPLES: 31
Abia - Umuahia: 1
-Aba
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/aba-nigeria-temple/
Adamawa - Yola
Akwa Ibom - Uyo: 2
-Eket
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/eket-nigeria-temple/
-Uyo
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/uyo-nigeria-temple/
Anambra - Awka
Bauchi - Bauchi
Bayelsa - Yenagoa
Benue - Makurdi
Borno - Maiduguri
Cross River - Calabar: 1
-Calabar
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/calabar-nigeria-temple/
Delta - Asaba
Ebonyi - Abakaliki
Edo - Benin City: 1
-Benin City
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/benin-city-nigeria-temple/
Ekiti - Ado Ekiti
Enugu - Enugu
Gombe - Gombe
Imo - Owerri
Jigawa - Dutse
Kaduna - Kaduna
Kano - Kano
Katsina - Katsina
Kebbi - Birnin Kebbi
Kogi - Lokoja
Kwara - Ilorin
Lagos - Ikeja: 1
-Lagos
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/lagos-nigeria-temple/
Nasarawa - Lafia
Niger - Minna
Ogun - Abeokuta
Ondo - Akure
Osun - Osogbo
Oyo - Ibadan
Plateau - Jos
Rivers - Port Harcourt
Sokoto - Sokoto
Taraba - Jalingo
Yobe - Damaturu
Zamfara - Gusau
1 Territory/Capital:
1 Temple
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) - Abuja: 1
-Abuja
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/abuja-nigeria-temple/
Jonathan F. - Thanks for sharing that podcast link. Super inspiring stories. The Lord's hand is manifest in this great temple building work.
Mozambique is perhaps the one country in Africa where massive membership growth in the last couple of years has not resulted in a lot of congregational growth. Expect that to change in the next couple of years.
I was watching a video made by the Not By Bread Alone -History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the DR Congo (I think they will alsp cover at least Rwanda as well) project a few days ago. It is narrated by Junior Bonza, who was the first person baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in what was then Zaire. His parents were baptized in Brlgium. They were mentioned in Rlder Renlund's talk in April 2019 general conference. In the film they have a map showing DR Congo going from 5 centers of strength in the past to about 18 as of 2023 or so.
The only place that was a long standing center of strength without a temple announced in Kolwezi.
The Church News just ran an article on members and missionaries in Guinea doing a service project. This line caught my eye "Right now, Guinea has missionaries who came from Peru, Morocco, Tahiti, Nigeria, Ghana and Congo." I am a little surprised there are no missionaries there from Ivory Coast. I think from what the article says Guinea has 12 missionaries assigned to it. I am also surprised there is a missionary from Morocco. I had no clue such existed.
I am not too surprised there are no Americans. The lack of any Brazilians, Mexicans of Filipinos seems a little surprising, but since this is a current snap shot of 12 missionaries is not that unexpected. It would be nice if they had a Senegalese or Malian missionary, but those are probably not that common yet at all.
It appears that the Church is on track to organize over 100 stakes this year. Could this year mark the highest number of stakes ever created?
JPL, Morocco has 2 Branches (Rabat and Casablanca) that are currently assigned to the Cairo Egypt District.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/475149
In a previous comment above I mentioned I think Morocco could be the next country to organize a Area District. I think the Rabat and Casablanca Branches together with the Tunis Branch, in neighboring Tunisia, could be possible considering its distance from Rabat or Casablanca to the District center in Amman, Jordan on the other side of the continent.
But that would leave the Cairo Egypt District with only 2 Branches (Nile River (Arabic), and Cairo (English)).
But this is just my opinion.
So with 2 branches, in the Kingdom of Morocco. I could see at least 1 missionary from there. I don't know enough of local politics about having Moroccan citizens teaching in the Kingdom, or if proselyting is legal in Morocco currently.
Scooter, I beg to differ, according to my math. We currently have 58 new Stakes organized in 2025. That leaves 42 in 4 months. Just to reach 100. That means 10+ new stakes every month. including Holidays. This last sunday there were no new stakes. and almost all of July no new stakes. So, in my humble opinion, unless we organized 2-3 new stakes every sunday for the rest of the calendar year including Christmas sunday. I don't see us reaching that lofty goal.
Now i pray that my math is not the same as the Lord's math. He sees things in the future that i can't see.
I am quite certain that we will get there. The time from July to mid-August is always very slow. Based on what we are hearing from around the world, we are likely going to end up in the 110-120 range, which would be the most of the century but not the all-time high I believe.
Prep work going on for Victoria, BC Temple:
https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/langford-considers-proposal-for-new-mormon-temple-11097685
I have the YoY totals going back to the 90's, there were 128 stakes created in 1997. This century the highest is 92 in 2016, followed by 75 in 2017. So it'll be close, but substantial nonetheless. We've only had over 50 stakes created in a year six times this century.
I would be much more excited if we crossed 400 new congregations, which has only happened three times this century. The past fives years haven't had it over 200.
^^^ Those numbers were "net" new stakes by the way, or YoY increase.
Strongly agree that net new congregations would be much more exciting. The non-US stakes are impressive, but many of the US stakes do seem to be "low hanging fruit." New stakes for the sake of new stakes doesn't mean much if there isn't real, underlying growth.
Last post on this topic. I went back to 2012 to see how often stakes are created each month. We've averaged around 60 stakes a year since 2012, so roughly 5 a month. Here is how many have been created per month.
Jan - 3.3
Feb - 3.2
Mar - 4.8
Apr - 3.6
May - 6.4
Jun - 9.1
Jul - 2
Aug - 4
Sep - 6.1
Oct - 4.4
Nov - 7.4
Dec - 6.1
You can see the monthly averages pick up the last four months of the year. So if we are mid-way through August, that would mean we have historically created 57% of the stakes through mid-August. We are at 58 official stakes, so that would mean we would finish at 101 new stakes. Subtract the closures and we would be under 100.
It'll be close!
While we're at it...how is everyone feeling about 400,000 convert baptisms this year? This would require a year-over-year increase of just under 30%.
I think this could get close too, given the commentary that about halfway through the year *all* parts of the world saw increases year-over-year greater than 20%, which leads me to assume that some parts of the world probably saw quite a bit more as well. It will be interesting to see for sure if we can sustain this pace.
Interesting. The article states there are multiple locations being considered, however, 2750 Leigh Rd was specifically mentioned as being the most central location (noted on Rick's site as the unofficial location).
Matt, with just a few weeks before October Conference 2025, are you getting ready to post your updated list of Potential New Temple Sites to be announced in October? I'm surprised no one has started posting their wishlists yet.
I have heard that some congregations in Barcelona, Spain have begun to be conducted in the Catalan language, though the only source I can find was a strange article that references Barcelona as the "European capital of Mormons," so I'm unsure of how reliable it is. Currently, Catalan is not an option in the language menu for congregations (meaning none exist), but it would be interesting to see what might come of it. Units that could be affected by this: the Barcelona, Elche, Hospitalet, Lleida, & Valencia stakes, and the Baleares district.
Not sure if this should constitute a separate comment, but I also saw the news that the open house committee for the Davao Philippines Temple is in the beginning stages, so we might get an announcement of dates soon.
Mine is continually being updated until about a month before conference. Then I freeze my predictions until at least a couple of weeks after conference.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?hl=en&mid=1G7hdBBWl07qNmfixCPEyCf7dAOKzzjw&ll=10.028608009536745%2C0&z=2
I was browsing on the meetinghouse locator, and I was interested to see if there were any chapels in the El Paso area that had empty space on the property, and I found four (from south to north). I'm imagining a temple no bigger than the Farmington New Mexico Temple (29,066 square feet). Of course, that's no guarantee these locations will be selected.
1) https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/meetinghouses/5184207-01-01
This location I feel is too small, and absolutely would not have room for a temple the size of Farmington (barely has room for Colonia Juarez). In addition, I feel the location is a bit too out of the way.
2) https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/meetinghouses/5039746-01-01
This chapel has a ballfield in the back that easily could house a temple. This location is very close to I-10, the El Paso International Airport, and Fort Bliss. By far has the most wiggle room for a temple the size of Farmington, though there are a lot of houses in the area.
3) https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/meetinghouses/5039444-01-01
This location is next to a golf course, not many houses, and at the end of a paved road, that probably won't see much through traffic (meaning most traffic would go either to the chapel or the temple). It is between I-10 and the Rio Grande River. Can comfortably fit a temple the size of Farmington.
4) https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/meetinghouses/5503760-01-01
This one is probably very unlikely for similar reasons to #1. The chapel here appears to be roughly half the size of a standard "small chapel" (like the building I attend). It could theoretically house a temple the size of Farmington and provide room for expanding the chapel, but that would be awfully cramped. This temple would actually be in New Mexico (very close to the border with Texas), though it is about halfway between El Paso and Las Cruces.
Hey, Chris! If memory serves, Matt posts his temple projections at some point in September, so it's a bit early for that post yet. But I understand, appreciate, and share your excitement regarding discussion of temples most likely to be announced in October. That's why, on my blog, I have recently posted this updated list of all near-term temple prospects I see, and this one showing a conference-by-conference breakdown of areas of the Church in which President Nelson has announced a temple during his prophetic administration. My more-specific projections for the upcoming General Conference is at the bottom of that document.
I will just add one other observation: The Church now has 382 temples in any phase. I have heard from several sources statements purporting to be from General Authorities of the Church that seem to indicate that the prophet's goal is to have 500 temples in any phase (operating, under construction, or announced) by the 200th anniversary of the Church's reestablishment (which will occur on Saturday, April 6, 2030). So I further project that a minimum of 18 temples will be announced in October, bringing us to a minimum of 400 in any phase.
Take this with the proverbial grain of salt, because I haven't been able to verify personally the reports of statements from general Church leaders on President Nelson's plans. I would think that, if he had a goal to get the Church to a minimum of 500 temples by that bicentennial date, he would likely have made that public over the pulpit or via social media. But it wouldn't shock me if the Church had more than 500 temples by or before that bicentenary date.
That's why I'm saying to expect a minimum of 18 temples in October. Hope those documents and this comment are helpful to all who review them.
Hey, Ryan! The Church Temples site notes on all temples currently under construction that "the open house and dedication generally take place several months after completion". Major construction has not yet wrapped up on Davao, which is behind both the Lindon Utah and Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temples in the construction queue, and an open house committee generally forms months in advance of when a temple is actually dedicated.
So my personal current estimate for Davao's dedication is in April of next year at the earliest, but that's me being optimistic. I expect we will see opening arrangements announced for Lindon either this upcoming Monday or the Monday after that, with opening arrangements following for Miraflores 2-4 weeks after Lindon, and Davao's opening arrangenments following Miraflores 3-4 weeks later, at very earliest.
So at earliest, that would put Davao's opening arrangements only being announced in October, at some point after General Conference at earliest. Make no mistake, I've been wrong before, and I joyfully welcome any temple announcement, whether my own thoughts about the timing of those events is right or wrong, but I have observed the construction queue and the correlation of the timespan between when construction wraps up on a temple and when those arrangements are actually subsequently announced.
So these are no more and no less than my own observations and analysis based on what I've studied on temple construction. So FWIW, I hope that this comment helps put the announced formation of an open house committee into context.
I was merely trying to state that the preparation stage of the open house has begun. While I don't know just how much planning goes into an open house, it appears to me that they are already trying to nail down the details, such as forming a choir and finding temple workers to fill the void once Davao is dedicated.
I don't always state things in an obvious manner, but I will try to be more clear. Even with how much I criticize and edit my own comments before posting, sometimes the message doesn't quite get across in the way that's needed.
Sorry, Ryan, to hear that you're struggling so much. I think we are all our own worst critics, so I'm sorry if I have exacerbated that for you.
If it helps, I've been wrong on several of my own assertions plenty of times before. I've been privately and publicly expecting an announcement for Lindon's opening arrangements for weeks now and was shocked that Alabang and Harare were scheduled first.
I've been told that Lindon could be dedicated before the end of this year, but that's looking more unlikely now that Alabang and Harare have had dedications announced first.
I've been constantly self-critical for a while now and I hate to hear I may have brought that out in you. In my case, that's been exacerbated by some online harassment from someone who's launched their online crusade against me just due to something I allegedly said or did to upset one of their extended family members.
So I'm sorry that my comment upset you. My intent is always to be helpful and to try to be uplifting and encouraging, but I clearly fail about as much as I succeed, and my good intentions aren't always as apparent as they should be. I didn't mean to throw cold water on your excitement about Davao.
But I rejoice in every temple construction announcement we get, and I'd love to be wrong about Davao the same way I was about Alabang and Harare.
I will try to keep my own self-criticism in mind when responding to comments here. Thanks for making me aware you are dealing with that on your end.
It occurs to me to wonder if any of the locations you mentioned could be chosen for the El Paso Texas Temple by knocking down the chapels & relocating the meetinghouse elsewhere. The Church has done that before for temples, including others currently in the pipeline. But I don't know where else the chapels might go in any of the four cases you mentioned, so maybe that's not the plan for El Paso.
Not at all upset, but thanks for being considerate.
I know it is not El Paso, but in Las Cruces, only about 40 minutes north, in New Mexico, there is property owned by the church that is large enough for a temple and a new chapel.
Though, looking at the newest aerial view, I'm not sure what all the activity is on the property, unless the church is allowing it to be used as a staging area for the road construction nearby or the church sold it.
76C6+C89 Mesilla, New Mexico
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Jbj7WNpCe6GYqeBg7
Let's try that map link again.
I have advocated for a Las Cruces New Mexico Temple for a while now. The announcement of the El Paso Texas Temple doesn't rule out one for Las Cruces New Mexico in my view And I could see a Las Cruces Temple on the spot in question.
I to get excited about the construction of, and this prospects for, new houses of the Lord throughout the year. I am 69 years old, been a member all my life, and lived in many places.
I realize that much of the growth in the church is our children and grandchildren growing up and having families of their own, yet we are all children of God.
When you get to be my age, one of our great pleasures is being able to take an interrupted nap because we don’t typically have little children around us to wake us up. We get to have a lot of dreams… Some which mean nothing, some are very personal revelation, and others are insights into the marvelous work of the kingdom of God.
I just had a lot of those marvelous dreams, and it’s hard for me to put into words here.
I am not the prophet and therefore I cannot speak for church nor organize anything in behalf of the church.
Most of my life, I grew up in San Antonio, Texas and saw how much my Evangelical Christian friends loved teaching at vacation Bible school and sharing their memories of VBS while they were children.
In my dream I saw what ‘could be’ for our children and grandchildren during the summertime, using our chapels worldwide, for a program called “I am a child of God“.
This program in my dream, was under the auspices of the stake primary presidency where each chapel combined all the words and branches that use that building into a summer program for children and taught them the Bible, the Book of Mormon, pertinent church, history, songs and prayer, church leadership and programs, the different priesthoods, and personal genealogy so that the children could identify who they were at an early age, and And about missionary work.
Under the auspices of the state primary presidency, the ward and branch primary presidencies were very much involved in collaborating together, in each building, to ensure qualified, retired couples and individuals, the missionaries, and other called youth and adults were there to not only serve as teachers and guides, but also there to provide support and security for our children.
It was absolutely breathtaking to me what I saw in my dream and it’s hard for me to describe now because it was so beautiful.
Is was a program for children during the time of year when they’re not in school.
Since the older youth who live close to a temple can go basically anytime of day, but if they don’t they could be a part of a program like this, in addition to the older people in the wards and branches, as well as the missionaries assigned to those different buildings.
I would like to get thoughts from you on what you think about this…
So sorry for the wordiness, but it couldn’t be explained and anything but all these words.
Again, thoughts for any of you?
Other Matt here...
Future growth of El Paso is moving East, like Horizon City or Homestead Meadows. I wonder if the Church will simply build on the outskirts on Hwy 62 (which is being converted into a freeway), with a new temple and meetinghouse.
If the temple built of that side of town, then there's a need for a Las Cruces NM Temple in the future.
Sorry, what I had in my dream was not about teenagers but was for the little children. Most teenagers have nothing to do with vacation Bible school other than that they’re as mentors for the little kids. And yes, it would be difficult to do remote areas, but in areas of strong membership, I saw my dream
Maybe it was just a memory because I remember years ago when we moved from Utah to Texas, everybody had primary on a weeknight. And it was more difficult for people who lived way out to get into the ward, but they did it. They carpool or whatever to get in, and of course, those who lived in outlying areas we weren’t able to attend as much as those who are closer to the building, but they still did it
Some recent Church news growth
The tiny country of Nauru recently had their only LDS branch reorganized, and the church became officially registered. I don't know for how long it hasn't been organized, but there are about 130 members there.
Also, the Moriba Town Sierra Leone District had 120 baptisms today, only a few weeks after there were 100ish baptisms there.
The McAllen Texas Stake posts baptisms there on facebook. They seem to average between 6 and 10 convert baptisms a week, which is a lot for a smaller US stake.
I wanted to share with you all here a comment I just posted on my blog: "on this Saturday, the Church held groundbreakings for the Brazzaville Republic of the Congo, Tampa Florida, and Vancouver Washington Temples. Elder Andersen, in presiding at the groundbreaking for the Tampa Florida Temple, noted that the following temples will soon be dedicated: Grand Junction Colorado (dedication set), Yorba Linda California, Elko Nevada (dedication set), Cleveland Ohio, Harare Zimbabwe (dedication set) Alabang Philippines (dedication set), Phnom Pehn Cambodia, Bahia Blanca Argentina (dedication set), and Port Moresby Papua New Guinea. He also noted that the contractor assigned to build the Tampa Florida Temple previously built the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple and is currently working on the Lethbridge Alaberta Temple as well."
Elder Andersen currently chairs the Temple and Family History Executive Council, so I'm sure he knows what he's talking about temple-wise. But it is interesting that some of the temples he mentioned are only currently anticipated to be completed sometime next year. So I was slightly intrigued by that, and I wanted to share that here. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
That is an interesting list, especially because of those he included that don't have dedication dates set, only Yorba Linda and Cleveland even have presidents called, which usually happens several months before a dedication date is announced.
What's more interesting is that he doesn't mention Lindon (which theoretically should be dedicated sometime this year), Miraflores Guatemala City, or Davao, all of which have presidents called.
If I had to guess, he wasn't trying to share any kind of comprehensive list, and was probably just rattling off examples of temples that are well along in the construction process.
He did specifically state that the temples he named would "be dedicated soon", but the omissions of some temples surprised me. Since he didn't mention Lindon, I assume that Lindon will be dedicated this year. The Church Temples site has updated the general completion estimates for several temples to match up with what Elder Andersen noted.
As a comparison, contrast, this document shows where those estimates stood as of two days ago, and this document shows where they now stand.
So quite a few shifts in that queue over the last few days. My thanks once again to you all.
Other Matt here...
Here's the message from their stake presidents about the creation of the new stake.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have approved the creation of the new Centerton Arkansas Stake to be organized on September 14.
This is a much-anticipated, historic milestone for the Church in this part of the Lord’s vineyard! We continue to experience an increased gathering of faithful Saints as the Lord hastens His work of salvation and exaltation.
The following units will be impacted by the creation of the Centerton Arkansas Stake:
· Bentonville Stake: All Wards
· Rogers Stake: Metfield Ward and YSA Branch
We invite each of these impacted wards to attend the Sunday General Session of the Bentonville Stake Conference on September 14, 10:00am-12:00pm. Please note: the Rogers Stake Conference will continue as scheduled on August 23-24.
In the near future, each impacted ward listed above will be assigned a designated viewing location for the live September 14 broadcast. The following buildings will be used for viewing the broadcast:
· Bentonville Stake Center
· Rogers Stake Center
· Bella Vista Building
· Centerton Building
· Anderson Building
· Grove Building
To the non-impacted wards in the Rogers Stake, we thank you for allowing Bentonville Stake members to view the broadcast in your buildings. Details regarding a change in your meeting schedule to the afternoon on Sunday, September 14 will be forthcoming.
President Nelson said, “The Lord is hastening His work to gather Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today.” What a blessing it is to be united in the effort to create a new stake in Zion!
With loving regards,
Paul Van Slooten & Rand Waddoups
Bentonville & Rogers Stake Presidents
He didn't specify or quantify what he meant by "soon", which is a relative term and is largely open to interpretation. But I think we could see a fair few of these temples dedicated in the first half of next year, if all goes well. His omission of Lindon Utah gives me hope that the Church will dedicate that temple before the end of the year. Not sure why he didn't mention Phnom Penh Cambodia, or Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala (where major construction has wrapped up for both temples), but I'm sure those temples will be dedicated within the next 8-10 months, if not sooner.
In any case, I estimate that the first half of next year will see a minimum of 9 temples dedicated, but that's a low approximation, so there could be more than that. It'll be interesting to see what works out in that respect.
The Newsroom has provided this report on the three temple groundbreakings that occurred today. Since that report was released tonight, I don't anticipate that the report will be the only major temple construction announcement we get for the week. As I've stated above, I fully believe that the dedication of the Lindon Utah Temple will be announced on Monday or on the Monday following that. But if the Lindon dedication is not announced on Monday, I could see the Church setting more groundbreakings on Monday, or releasing site confirmations and/or exterior renderings.
I am also hoping we see some more movement in the current temple construction queue in terms of the now-11 temples for which groundbreakings have been held but full-scale construction is still pending. I likewise hope that the Church is able to continue with the construction of the Bengaluru India Temple soon.
My thanks once again to you all.
James: the Lindon temple dedication will be announced when it is ready to be announced. It is what it is or will be. Obsessing over it with multiple posts isn't going to change it.
Coban Guatemala Temple had its president and matron announced after its dedication date was announced.
I am very interested to see if the temples in Cambodia and PapuaNew Guinea will have local presidents called.
I was watching Kenya and Zimbabwe for such and they did. Thailand did as well.A little earlier Cape Verbe had a Brazilian couple called as leaders. Called earlier than everyone mentioned above, the temple leaders in Ivory Coast are Americans whose closest connection to Ivory Coast before their call was leading the MTC in Accra.
I could see the first temple president in Papua New Guinea being a former mission president there from somewhere in the Pacific, but we will see. Cambodia I more expect a local as the first temple president, but a temple president from Thailand would not shock me either.
James is a valued member of this community who actively contributes to and moved the conversation forward. He has ever right to comment on an issue he finds interesting. If Matt determines that a topic or comment is inappropriate, it is his purview to curtail it. It certainly isn't yours Dane.
This is the second time in recent months that some commenter has tried to police comments when they don't like them.
I’ve been thinking about the Brazzaville Republic of the Temple a lot lately. I’m overjoyed that it took so short a time for it to go from no information announced to under construction. Specifically, I’m happy that the site location, rendering, and groundbreaking date were announced all at once, and it’s got me thinking about something else.
For a while I’ve been speculating to myself about when and how information will be released for the Dubai UAE Temple. Seeing how they already know what area of the city it’ll be in, and seeing unofficial news about negotiations about the temple’s size, leads me to believe that they may already have a prospective site location and exterior rendering that they just haven’t released to the public yet. This made me think that once they finish negotiations about the temple’s size, they might release all the information about the temple at once (site, rendering, and groundbreaking).
However, I never mentioned these thoughts on this blog because they were just my thoughts, and there was little evidence besides my speculation that proves that the church would be willing to release all the information at once. However, when all the information was released for the Brazzaville Temple, some credibility was added to these speculations. Will it actually happen? Perhaps. Will any information be released in the near future? Maybe, but I just can’t tell. If they’re still negotiating about the size of the temple, it may be a little while.
Just my Sunday morning musings. Take them as you will.
Boo hoo JTB. So a very mild criticism means that I am policing comments. Get a life. And just for the record, James has criticized plenty of others' posts here.
I have decided to put together my list of new temples for October 2025. I feel I am still a little early, but I might n9t be able to have another time to compile the list.
I suspect there will be 18 announced, taking us to an even 400. I would love to see more, but that is what I expect.
Here is my list of 18 in no particular order:
Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Lome, Togo
Bo, Sierra Leone
Kinshasa DR Congo 2 (probably close to the airport)
Toulouse, France
Prague, Czech Republic
Sendai, Japan
Angeles, Philippines
Resitencia, Argentina
Otavalo, Ecuador
Sorocaba, Brazil
Antigua, Guatemala
Poza Rica, Mexico
Henderson, Nevada
Thousand Oaks, California
2nd Weber County, Utah
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Somewhere in New Hampshire
4th Dallas Metro Temple
Waco Texas Temple
Augusta Maine Temple
Really high candidates I could not fit on the list above:
Appleton Wisconsin Temple
Santa Maria, Brazil
Xalapa, Mexico
Hobert, Australia
Olongopo, Philippines
Legazpi City, Philippines
Yamosoukro, Ivory Coast
Cotonou, Benin
Somewhere in eastern North Carolina
Little Rick, Arkansas
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, West Virginia
Ciudad Obregon, Mexico
Medical, Mexico
Temples that I think less likely:
Canberra, Australia
Ottawa, Canada
Olympia, Washington
Eastern Oregon
Salem, Oregon
San Francisco, California
Santa Rosa, California
San Luis Obispo, California
Chinle, Arizona
Surprise, Arizona
Provo Temple #3
Provo Temple #4
Rigby, Idaho
America Falls, Idaho
Preston, Idaho
Morgan, Utah
Park City, Utah
Murray/Sandy/Holliday, Utah
West Valley City, Utah
Harriman, Utah
Springville, Utah
Gunnison, Utah
Delta, Utah
Satanquin, Utah
Alpine, Utah
Roosevelt, Utah
San Luis Valley, Colorado
Topeka, Kansas
2nd Temple for metro Kansas City
Columbus Georgia Temple
Gainesville, Florida Temple
Appleton Wiscons Temple
Long Island New York Temple
Harrison/White Plaines New York Temple
Utica/Albany New York Temple
Fortaleza Temple 2
Abijan Temple 2
Benin City Temple 2
London England Hyde Park Temple
Tempe Arizona Temple
Champaig Illinois Temple
Paducah Kentucky Temple
Lafayette Indiana Temple
Midland Michigan Temple
Munich Germany Temple
Leeds England Temple
Bristol England Temple
Gotteborg Sweden Temple
Valencia Venezuela Temple
Kingston Jamaica Temple
Port-of-Spaon Trinidad and Tobago Temple
Greensboro North Carolina Temple
Dayton Ohio Temple
Bloomington Indiana Temple
Topeka Kansas Temple
Lincoln Nebraska Temple
Iowa City Iowa Temple
Luputa DR Congo Temple
Kolwezi DR Congo Temple
2nd Papua New Guine Temple
Haapai Islands Tonga Trmple
2nd Nukualofa Tonga Temple
4th greater Manila Philippines Temple
4th greater Lima Peru Temple
3rd Sao Paulo Brazil Temple
JTB, thanks for your kind words in my defense. This is the second time in as many months where something I actually or allegedly said or did caught the ire of someone online. I think that says more about them than it does about me. In many ways, I pity and feel sorry for people whose lives are so messed up, miserable, and empty that they resort to bashing, belittling, baiting, bothering, or outright harassing people online. In any case, it's always nice to hear my contributions, such as they are, are appreciated and valued. Thanks again for your kind words in my defense.
Always a victim. Woe is James.
I hope you're right. I'd love to see more instances where all information is released about a temple in a single announcement. There are a minimum of 8 temples that could have groundbreakings soon, in my view. The only question is how soon we might get word of additional groundbreakings.
My gut instinct is to project that the opening arrangements will be announced for the Lindon Utah Temple this week or next week, and that the weeks after that will be big ones for groundbreakings, site location confirmations, and exterior renderings.
Case in point.
JPL, just to clarify, for "Medical, Mexico", you meant to type "Mexicali, Mexico"? Or did you mean another location?
I'm concerned about the original reply attacking my friend James Stokes, whose contributions I deeply appreciate, and very much hope they continue.
But I'm also concerned about the comments attacking Ohhappydane, who I have never messaged directly enough to call him my friend, but who is a valued member of this community who keeps this optimistic community grounded. I likewise appreciate his commentary and hope he likewise keeps commenting.
“ James is a valued member of this community”
Speak for yourself JTB,
I side with Dane on this one… on top of James’ frequent grammar policing and conflicts with others of differing opinions.
Most of James’ comments are look at my blog and copy pastes from church news articles that I personally dont get much value out of.
C'mon. we can be better than this.
Did anyone get the names of the 2 new stakes organized today in Pocatello Idaho and Star Valley Temple Districts?
No, but I believe in addition to those stakes, there was also a stake organized in Shelley Idaho today.
Rick, told me this stake split from Pocatello Idaho Highland.
"Pocatello Idaho Highland South Stake
- Highland 1st Ward
- Highland 2nd Ward
- Highland 6th Ward
- Highland 7th Ward
- Highland 8th Ward
- Highland 10th Ward
- Highland 14th Ward
And has been updated on his Temples site.
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/pocatello-idaho-temple/district/
I think James' posts are fascinating, and it is amazing how accurate his predictions are. Too much speculation can be harmful, but it seems to me he has hit the right balance of just enough guessing to make things more interesting.
I agree 100% Kimberly.
People on Facebook saying Simpsonville SC had a stake created today, with four new wards created at the same time.
I saw that post in the members around the world facebook group. Seems legit enough. Both Greenville stakes did have stake conference today. A 1 to 5 ward split is insane though. That means that there were probably at least 1,000 active members in that ward. Though, of course, there was a 1 to 4 ward split early this year in Washington, UT where there were about 1,600 active members in a single ward. My 7-ward East SL County stake has probably around 1,200-1,300 active members total, so I can't imagine a ward that big.
After doing a little Facebook digging, I can confirm that a new Simpsonville South Carolina Stake was created today. The Greenville South Carolina East Stake was also renamed the Spartanburg South Carolina Stake. At least 4 new units were created. A publicly available drive of the information, posted on the Greenville Stake Facebook, can be found at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1J9xyZxeCkyb-0aQvZ0gMGaYyjp3DpVfn
Other Noah here.
Happy Sabbath everyone. I have good news from the Medellin Colombia Mission which i see haven't been shared yet.
Over the past few months the Istmina Family Group has reported almost weekly baptisms, finally resulting in the creation of the Istmina Branch! It is directly under the supervision of the Medellin Mission.
It is also interesting to note that, for a while, the Quibdó Family Group was leading in baptisms and likelihood of becoming a branch, but it seems that, due to safety issues there, the progress has slowed down a little.
Thanks everyone for reading, may the Lord bless you today
Other Noah here
That is mind boggling! What a strong ward for it to be divided into (almost) an entire stake!
FYI, for anyone interested. I just started a new personal Church Mapping Project. I have started downloading all of the Cumorah Foundation's International Atlas, Missions and Stake boundaries from Matt's site. And I am now reorganizing them by Areas and subdividing by Missions. So I can later make corrections to boundary changes and merge the Missons and Stakes that are split over State or county borders. To get a personal picture of the Missions and Stakes worldwide without the 30k+ Wards or Branches. I can easily find those on the official Meetinghouse site.
Here is the link to my project, of what i'm working on so far for North America, Central America and Caribbean.
https://earth.google.com/earth/d/1bo0tn35wzHS64lPFnTSIc-6dcUEBb6zU?usp=sharing
I have given anyone with the link access to edit it or make corrections as they find them. I will add my own corrections as i make them from my offline working original copy.
The Spartanburg South Carolina Stake will have these 6 Wards and 1 Branch, from that link,
379093 Boiling Springs Ward
45535 Gaffney Ward
2077965 Inman Ward
2297191 Roebuck Ward (to be organized)
47511 Spartanburg Ward (old Spartanburg 1st)
174009 Tyger River Ward (old Spartanburg 2nd)
133973 Union Branch
I speak from my truth and understanding. It is said about how much our church is growing in parts of the African continent, and it should also be noted that religions in general are growing or have grown greatly there.
In my case, as a Chilean from the city of Santiago, who has known the church since 1990, I have seen its growth, stagnation, and decline. This is sad. Our country once became a beacon for the church. Today, it is no longer the case, and it shows. The area has moved to Argentina, and they have the financial resources that Chile once had.
I love every time I see our church growing, even if it's just a little. We can have thousands of baptisms, but the reality is that very few of them are still active. Our church is growing in number, not in the number of newly baptized people. That's what I've seen over the years.
Chile is a country that needs more temples nearby, like many other countries. Money is not a problem in our church. I hope they announce a temple in Punta Arenas, Osorno or Temuco, Curico or Talca, Rancagua, La Serena, Iquique, Atacama, Valparaiso, Rancagua, and two more temples in Santiago. I say this because temples have been announced in places with fewer than 5,000 members.
The temple is a blessing, being able to attend and perform the ordebanzas for the deceased family. In Santiago, few people attend the temple. I feel that we have not yet converted to constant temple attendance. We have leaders with little love, despotism, and nepotism. Even so, we do the best we can.
The new Simpsonville South Carolina Stake will have these 6 Wards and 2 Branches, from the above link.
2059436 Cedar Falls Ward (old Simpsonville 3rd)
1908472 Five Forks Ward (old Greenville 5th)
2297167 Fountain Inn Ward (to be organized)
44865 Greenwood Ward
133981 Laurens Branch
379085 Rocky Creek Ward (old Simpsonville 2nd)
159719 Simpsonville Ward (old Simpsonville 1st)
2103583 Greenville YSA Branch
This surprises me. At least prior to this weekend, the Greenville SC has 7 wards and a branch. The Greenville SC East Stake has 8 wards and two branches. This makes 5 wards in each stake (before ward splits). Now there's a lot of positions to fill (stake and ward leaderships) and a temple on the way that would also need positions filled.
Remaining Greenville South Carolina will have these 7 Wards from the link above.
2297159 Anderson 1st Ward (to be organized)
45306 Anderson 2nd Ward (old Anderson)
46639 Easley Ward (old Greenville 1st)
182648 Greenville Ward (old Greenville 3rd)
118958 Greer Ward (* new or old Greenville 2nd)
118958 Roper Mountain Ward (* new or old Greenville 2nd)
47465 Seneca Ward
I meant Mexicali, Mexico.
I think both Paraguay and Chile could have additional temples announced but I have not worked out where. Colombia and Peru could also see an additional temple but I am not very sure where. Other than the 4th metro Lima Temple.
Now that a new stake was formed in northwest South Carolina the Greenville South Carolina Temple makes more sense. With the amount of time it takes to prep for a new stake, the changes in the Greenville area may have Bern submitted prior to past April conference.
In her book on President Nelson Sister Dew includes a quote from him where he laments we too often build a nice stake center before a temple, and he feels that is not how things should be.
Greenville is now a clear example of announcing a temple as soon as local Conditions justify it.
This does make it harder to predict new temple announcements when they essentially proceed by almost 5 months the events that make them justified.
While a Greenville Temple with 3 assigned stakes was doable, one with 4 makes more sense.
Since several wards were formed in Greenville area when they split the stakes predicting this was even harder.
Predictions of sny kind are difficult.
Many of you have asked if there is any update on the Lindon Temple Open House and Dedication. After counseling with our Area Leaders, we have been asked to share the following: no date has yet been announced, and we do not expect to hear an official announcement for another month or two. What we do know is that the Open House and Dedication will not occur in 2025 but will most likely take place in the spring of 2026.
Email from Stake Presidency
A really large stake can be 3-4 times bigger than a really small stake. This is why I looked at number of wards/branches when it's under 5 stakes. That being said, a large ward can be multiple times bigger than a small ward. The number of wards/stakes maybe quite imperfect but is the best I've got.
I think Greenville was announced when it was partly because of how many stakes are in the Columbia South Carolina Temple (a small temple).
Is this a building availability issue? New building finished, ward can split, etc? Similar to what we seem to be seeing in NW Arkansas?
Seems like several buildings had extra room.
I informally follow a discussion group on Facebook about the Heber Valley Utah Temple, and according to a very recent post in that group, the district court judge's ruling means that, even though the citizen's group has appealed the temple's approval to the Utah Supreme Court, there is nothing legally stopping the Church from going ahead with the construction of that temple in the meantime, and full-scale construction is anticipated to begin later this week. My thanks once again to you all.
It appears that the city of Quibdo is part of the new Istmina Branch.
Unknown, thanks for the information, which is more than I had on my end. Based on the fact that we hadn't gotten an announcement of those arrangements yet, my assumption was that dedicating it this year was unlikely. In my mind, "in the spring of 2026" is a relative term that is largely open to interpretation based on how one personally defines "spring". Calendar-wise, that's mid-March to mid-June. Let's hope it's not the latter end of that window. Until further evidence or official sources indicate otherwise, I'm adjusting my personal estimate for Lindon's dedication to sometime in mid-to-late March. Thanks again for sharing that information. I appreciate it.
Thank you for all of your efforts to visualize this information on Google Earth! I for one appreciate it and will be following along as you update it
It's interesting to me to see a formal pre-groundbreaking announcement for the utility installation and site work preparation for the Lehi Utah temple. I don't recall off the top of my head other temples getting an intermediate update between the site announcement and the groundbreaking ceremony announcement. Curious as to why that may be.
I believe that both Lethbrige Alberta and Vancouver Qashington had announcement of pre-groundbreaking site work.
In the discussion about the El Paso Temple location above I wonder if one key to Farmington New Mexico was considered.
More broadly there are 6 ways to utilize an existing chaple site for a temple location. It almost seemed like thry were discussing just one option, and Farmington New Mexico is a different.
The way used extensively for the 1998-2000 doubling of temples was build the temple on land not used by the Chapel where a Chapel exists, land that the Church already owns, but is currently basically without improvements.
Way two is the Copenhagen and Vernal method. Make an existing building the temple.
Way 3 is the Farmington New Mexico and Taylorsville Utah method. Demolish a Chapel and build a temple on the location.
Way 4 is a slight variation, demolish the building, then build a new Chapel and the temple. This makes sense if the Chapel is in the center of the lot.
Way 5 is build the temple on land purchased by an existing Chapel site. I almost think this is the Fairview plan, but the church may have has the excess land their a while.
Way six is demolish or remodel the existing building into the temple while also adding more land. That is Provo City Center.
A lot of more recent temples are at newly purchased locations. Grand Radips, Tampa and Vrussels are the three examples that come to mind the fastest.
Building a temple on available land adjacent to a Chapel the Church owns is the fastest, but it limits size and can lead to less pleasing sight lines. Demolishing the existing building requires demolition which takes time and additional permits, but it gives you more location and size options.
NEW STAKE
Pocatello Idaho Highland South Stake (2282976) - 24 August 2025
- Highland 1st Ward (25704)
- Highland 2nd Ward (2270285)
- Highland 6th Ward (188484)
- Highland 7th Ward (218022)
- Highland 8th Ward (218030)
- Highland 10th Ward (2014483)
- Highland 14th Ward (2270293)
Assigned Mission: Idaho Pocatello Mission (2013010)
Assigned Temple: Pocatello Idaho Temple (2101653)
NEW DISTRICT
Wasatch Range Utah District (Correctional Facility) (2289210) - 19 August 2025
- Atherton Branch (Correctional Facility - Female) (437093)
- Bonneville Branch (Correctional Facility - Male) (376000)
- Fortitude Branch (Correctional Facility - Male) (1990152)
- Geneva Fields Branch (Correctional Facility - Adult) (2254565)
- Glendale Branch (Correctional Facility - Adult) (272388)
- Orange Street Branch (Correctional Facility - Female) (476056)
Changes in the Greenville area have started but are incomplete. I haven't seen any changes to the Shelley or Star Valley stakes.
The Church could theoretically convert the old El Paso Chapel into a temple, but that is unlikely. Much more likely for the Honolulu Tabernacle to be converted into a temple.
Something I observed on the meetinghouse locator, it appears three branches in the Adriatic North District have been discontinued, which now only shows 10 branches. The Karlovac Branch in Croatia has been combined with the Zagreb Branch, while the three branches in Serbia have merged into a single branch.
Matt, if any of my comments are problematic, feel free to delete them. Today's temple update:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/preliminary-work-on-the-lehi-utah-temple-to-begin
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2025/08/25/pre-groundbreaking-site-work-begins-for-lehi-utah-temple/
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2025/08/breaking-temple-news-first-presidency_01045896373.html
I wonder if this might be in preparation to eventually create a stake in the area. I've made some connections with members in the Adriatic North District whenever they have come here to attend the temple. Two to three times a year, they bring three big buses full of members (some 150 in total, all adult and youth). The drive is between 10 and 15 hours each way. So they have a very faithful and active base of members that also seems to be growing and that I think could probably support a stake in the next few years.
I know a missionary who recently returned from the Adriatic North Mission, whose boundaries are the same as the district. They REALLY want a stake there. Personally, I think it is kinda silly to combine the three branches in Serbia, for example, into a ward-sized unit that meets in three different places each Sunday, but the local leaders know best. They are definitely trying to prepare for a stake there, and honestly could probably accomplish it pretty soon, though I have no idea how big all the branches are.
I don't really see it as possible in the short term (at least not likely in the next five years or so, but never say never), considering the combined membership for all five nations (assuming the numbers are current) don't meet the raw membership requirements for a stake, totaling just barely over 1600. Bosnia and Montenegro both showed to have double digit raw membership, so not large enough for a ward in those countries by themselves. Serbia now being under one congregation has the raw membership to be a ward (also considering all three branches are in the same part of the country). Slovenia is actually close to having enough raw membership for two wards (less than 50 under), but then there's the question of how that is distributed between the two branches in the country (at least geographically, it looks like each branch covers nearly half of Slovenia, with Ljubljana covering a bit more area). Croatia has less than 100 members to go to have the raw membership for three wards, but same with Slovenia, it's hard to determine how that's distributed. The Karlovac Branch being merged with Zagreb certainly paints the idea that Zagreb probably has the raw membership for a ward, I don't entirely know what other branches are large enough that could constitute the second ward in the nation. The five largest cities in Croatia each have a branch.
From my experience in living in Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia, I would say that a stake could, maybe, be on the horizon. Combining all 3 branches in Serbia would give the 150 members necessary for a ward, however I would guess that there is still probably only 11 active priesthood holders amongst the three (but things have suredly changed since I was last there 3 years ago, so give or take a few). Combining the Zagreb and the Karlovac branches would provide enough membership and active Melchizedek priesthood holders for a ward. The real question is where would the third ward be, Slovenia maybe? Admittedly, I have no idea what things are like in Slovenia, as I never lived there, but from what I understand, the Ljubljana branch, if combined with Maribor and Celje as Serbia did, would probably be able to be a ward. No other combinations of branches really makes sense, so I could see a stake of the Zagreb ward, Ljubljana ward, Beograd ward, Osijek branch, Rijeka branch, Sarajevo branch (I think Banja Luka was previously consolidated to the Sarajevo branch), Split branch, Zadar branch, and Podgorica branch, once the membership threshold is reached.
I think a stake in the next few years, can only happen, if they get exceptions to some of the new stake requirments. Like Ryan said so far they do not have the 2000 needed. It is also very likly that some of the 1600 member on the countries list are not assinged to any units and so do not count towards the 2000 requirment for a stake. Ljubljana, Zagreb and Belgrade might know fullfill some ward requirments. Maribor might do as well, but as far I know all oder branches are small (fewer than 150 members on the list and a ward needs now 250). But I doubt that nay branch meets the new requirment of 100 participating adults. But maybe the are granted some exsptions and become a 4 ward stake where the wards only meet the old requirments. I personly know that exeptions for the stake requirements have been granted in the past.
Durham Cleere, if it helps, I know that the First Presidency made a similar announcement about the Vancouver Washington Temple in March of this year, before the June announcement of that groundbreaking, which was followed by the groundbreaking just last Saturday, along with the groundbreakings for the Brazzaville and Tampa temples.
So in some cases, the Church makes such announcements, usually as an acknowledgement of the next steps towards groundbreakings. I hope to see that happened again for many other temples. Sorry I didn't see your comment sooner. I didn't mean to duplicate your report on Lehi with my comment below from yesterday.
Correction from my above post.
The Spartanburg South Carolina Stake was not renamed from the Greenville South Carolina East Stake.
It is a new Stake recently organized as Spartanburg South Carolina Stake (2297175).
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2297175
The Greenville South Carolina East Stake (437379) was retained.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/437379
Also, no news on CDOL or Meetinghouse this week for the planned Simpsonville South Carolina Stake yet.
Although it could still be organized in theory at the Stake Conferences on November 15-16, 2025 scheduled for both the 7 congregations left in the Greenville South Carolina East Stake (437379) and the 5 congregations Greenville South Carolina Stake (504025). Which is odd to have 2 Stake Conferences in the same 6 month period of the year. (08/23-08/24 and 11/15-11/16).
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/504025
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/437379
The boundaries do not yet reflect the changes, most of the name changes have taken place, the new wards do not yet show, and the boundary for the Greenville SC and Greenville SC East Stakes are evidently their old boundary (no boundary for Spartanburg SC Stake yet). The link only mentions the Greenville, Simpsonville, and Spartanburg SC Stakes, but no Greenville SC East Stake. Selecting the Greenville SC East Stake shows units that the link states belong to the Simpsonville SC Stake, which suggests to me that the Greenville SC East Stake will be renamed the Simpsonville SC Stake once the map is updated.
And that may be the case. So again, I was not wrong that the Spartanburg SC Stake is the new Stake. And the renamed Greenville SC East stake may become the Simpsonville SC Stake.
Currently, the Simpsonville 1st Ward is one of the 5 wards and 2 branches of the East Stake.
It appears that your Facebook group was correct. The Church News announced today that construction is starting.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2025/08/26/construction-heber-valley-utah-temple-underway/
Construction is now officially underway on the Heber Valley Utah Temple:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2025/08/26/construction-heber-valley-utah-temple-underway/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/heber-valley-utah-temple/
Interesting temple progress nugget. I was at the Cleveland Temple site earlier. I didn't realize I was not allowed (there were no signs or barriers prohibiting entry into the parking lot) until a security guard came up to tell me to leave.
What's the point? Well, this security guard told me I was welcome to come back in 4 weeks. Based on the context of the situation, I am guessing that is when major construction on the exterior will wrap up, and full attention will turn to the interior.
Take it for what it is worth. First time I've come close to being run off Church property.
Is it still a "hard hat" four construction zone? Probably asked to leave for insurance and liability and safety reasons.
Construction sites of all types, no matter the owner, are not generally open to visitors. Consult your state and/or local laws for more details.
Yeah. It was definitely a liability thing. The security lady explained it all to me. Totally makes sense. Temple is looking beautiful. Looks like they just need to put the final part of the spire on.
For those interested in the news, Elder Cook recently met with the President of Argentina, Javier Milei while on tour with the Choir.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2025/08/28/elder-quentin-cook-meets-argentina-president-milei-south-american-100-anniversary/
Also, an update on the new sign for the Salt Lake Temple,
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2025/08/28/salt-lake-temple-square-renovation-updated-holiness-to-the-lord-panel-assembly-room/
Also, the Greenville South Carolina East Stake (437379), has now been renamed the Simpsonville South Carolina Stake (437379). As was mentioned above by Ryan Searcy.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/437379
The new stakes created, even if they're more driven by the lower stake requirements, I see as a positive gain, because they'll provide more stake leadership positions overall, and more opportunities for leadership experience.
Didn't stake requirements go up in most countries but down in the USA and Canada?
@L. Chris Jones
I was referring to the US and Canada Stakes.
I'm guessing there won't be any now stakes organized tomorrow, Since no one here has reported any rumors of new stakes all this week. There is only one planned so far for all of September on the 14th in Centerton is the only "rumor" on this site. Matt used to get updates weeks or months in advance. But nothing this year. I wonder if we really will make it to 100 with 1 new stake for all September. Last week there was a rumor for Shelley Idaho but nothing has changed on the map since.
San Fernando California Stake (Spanish) (521922)
Discontinued on 24 August 2025
There is also the new stake in Edmonton on 21 September.
That would leave 2 Spanish-speaking stakes remaining in California.
Los Angeles County (minus Lancaster & Palmdale): I count 26 wards and 3 branches that are Spanish-speaking.
-EAST LOS ANGELES CA STAKE (5,1) Belvedere 1st, Belvedere 2nd, Boyle Heights, Glassel Park, & San Gabriel Wards and El Molino Branch
-Arcadia CA Stake (7,1) El Monte Ward, Buena Vista Branch [San Gabriel Ward]
-Cerritos CA Stake (5,1) Cerritos 2nd Ward
-Chatsworth CA Stake (7,0) El Camino Real Ward
-Downey CA Stake (7,0) Bell Gardens Ward, Huntington Park Ward, Santa Fe Springs Ward
-Glendora CA Stake (7,0) Badillo Ward
-Hacienda Heights CA Stake (5,0) Los Altos Ward
-Inglewood CA Stake (5,1) Figueroa Ward, Inglewood Ward
-La Crescenta CA Stake (10,0) Tujunga Ward [Glassell Park Ward]
-La Verne CA Stake (7,0) Pomona Ward
-Long Beach CA East Stake (7,0) Ximeno Ward
-Long Beach CA Stake (5,0) Long Beach 16th Ward
-Los Angeles CA Stake (9,0) La Cienega Ward, Los Angeles 6th Ward
-North Hollywood CA Stake (8,0) Magnolia Ward, San Fernando Ward
-Palos Verdes CA Stake (7,2) Cabrillo Ward
-Pasadena CA Stake (6,0) [Belvedere 1st Ward, Belvedere 2nd Ward, Boyle Heights Ward, El Molino Branch]
-Torrance CA North Stake (5,1) Hermosa Liahona Ward
-Valencia CA Stake (5,1) Santa Clarita 1st Branch
-Whittier CA Stake (6,0) La Esperanza Ward
Orange County: I count 12 wards, 3 branches that are Spanish-speaking
-SANTA ANA CA SOUTH STAKE (8,1) Bristol, Buena Park 3rd, Jardines, Raymond, Rio Vista, San Juan, Santa Ana, Santa Ana YSA Wards and Costa Mesa 2nd Branch
-Anaheim CA Stake (5,1) [Jardines Ward, Rio Vista Ward]
-Brea CA Stake (5,2) [Raymond Ward]
-Cypress CA Stake (5,0) [Buena Park 3rd Ward]
-Huntington Beach CA Stake (8,1) La Rosa Branch
-Laguna Niguel CA Stake (7,0) La Paz Ward
-Mission Viejo CA Stake (8,0) Esperanza Ward
-Newport Beach CA Stake (8,1) [Santa Ana Ward, Costa Mesa 2nd Branch]
-Orange CA Stake (6,1) [Bristol Ward, San Juan Ward, Santa Ana YSA Ward]
-San Clemente CA Stake (8,1) San Juan Ward
-Sunset Beach CA Stake (5,1) Bolsa Chica Ward
-Yorba Linda CA Stake (6,1) Linda Branch
Seems like the only units retained were the Magnolia and San Fernando Wards and those were reassigned to the North Hollywood Stake
At the Detroit Temple we are about to transition for 1 shift doing 2 Spanish-language endowment sessions every 5th Saturday to moving the Spanish-language sessions to another Saturday so it happens monthly. They also do baptisms, initiators and sealing in Spanish. The sealing are done by Brother Shurtz, who was temple president in 2004-2007, before that a counselor to President Webber the first temple president. He served in the Central American Mission (one of his companions was Jefferey Allred, he was present when Jeffrey Allred first met Silvia Hernandez, who Jefferey would marry, the Alfred's would lead the Paraguay mission in the 1990s and Sister Allred would serve in the general relief society Presidency). Brother Shurtz and his wife served as missionaries assigned to the Mexico City Temple shortly after they were temple president and matron.
Aside from the rumors that many units of San Fernando Valley were quite small for a long time, I wonder if immigration policy has something to do with lower attendance numbers. If I had a family that speaks enough English to make it in an English ward, I would seriously consider switching.
Rocky, the Ingomar Ward (Spanish) (160725), went back to the old name, El Camino Real Ward (Spanish) (160725). And was reassigned to the Chatsworth California Stake (503711) also.
My branch had 2 more baptisms today. We have 2 more people scheduled to be baptized next week. We had 1 baptism last week and 2 the week before.
So why is your branch still branch?
"An investment in the future of BYU–Hawaii: Ground broken for major renovations to renew Laie campus
Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson participates in groundbreaking ceremony for renovations at BYU–Hawaii, including 5 new buildings"
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2025/08/30/byu-hawaii-groundbreaking-mckay-complex-president-camille-johnson/
@John Pack Lambert
That's awesome that your branch is having success with baptisms. :)
San Fernando Valley part of LA has been in decline in membership due to rising crime, demographic shifts, and poor schools since it's in LA Unified School District. Covid did not help with many members who work in the film industry, left California for Utah and elsewhere during that time, with LA County having strict Covid mandates at the time.
Other members in SFV move out to Santa Clarita, Ventura County, or out of state.
San Fernando Valley has a large Persian and Arab population, along with other ethnic groups (Korean, Filipino, etc) , that SFV could backfill church buildings with a lot more different language groups and branches. I know there are a lot of Single Adults who live in the Valley, but there's no real organization for them. So more potential to have another SA Ward would be helpful.
FYI, I posted this link a week ago with my Consolidated Version of Matt's International Atlas of Mission and Stake Boundaries. Consolidated from his hundreds of smaller maps.
I have since complete all of North America (including Central America and Caribbean countries), and the Brazil and South America Northwest Areas (finishing 100+ Stakes and Districts of Peru).
https://earth.google.com/earth/d/1bo0tn35wzHS64lPFnTSIc-6dcUEBb6zU?usp=sharing
The above link anyone here can edit or make changes for my or Matt's errors you can find. In fact, it is appreciated if you can.
The is rumor on Facebook page of Special Conference yesterday 08/30 for the Wellington New Zealand and Upper Hutt New Zealand Stakes. A possible merger of the two.
https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=upper%20hutt%20new%20zealand%20stake
Each of the two stakes currently has 5 congregations each.
This just told to me :
"Here's another post from this weekend regarding the Pacific Area:
Tarawa Stake Conference, Elder Tuione from Tonga presiding.. Elder and Sister Maile Mission Leader from Australia spoke.. the Moroni High School dorm students choir sang with great spirits today, and all Missionaries invited to sing "Called to serve"..
There were 17 Melcezedek Priesthood sustained today
Next month at the Tarawa West Stake conference there are whispers of another Stake being formed, and later in October the Temaiku District will be made a Stake.. there are exciting things happening in Kiribati especially with the construction of the new Temple.. so this part of God's Kingdom is definitely expanding"
Considering that A-we have had many people move out. B-baptizing adult males does not give you melchizedek priesthood holders for quite some time. People moving out is however an issue that needs to be kept in mind. When you start moving people forward, them relocating is often an early action. In the last three weeks I have done the welcome for 4 adult males into elders quorum. That will not translate into 3 additional active melchizedek priesthood holders until at earliest sometime after the first of the year.
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