This morning, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans to create 55 new missions in 2026, bringing the total number of missions worldwide to 506. This marks the second most new missions to be organized in a single year ever (there were 58 new missions organized in 2013). There are now 84,000 full-time missionaries (teaching and service) serving - an increase of more than 12,000 since year-end 2023. The location and geographic distribution of these missions represents a dramatic shift in recent trends in new missions being organized and has significant potential to accelerate growth worldwide more in line with trends seen prior to 2000. I will provide additional analysis in the coming days. See below for a list of these new missions.
- Angola Luanda North (Africa South)
- Arizona Phoenix East (United States Southwest)
- Australia Brisbane South (Pacific)
- Brazil Guarulhos (Brazil)
- Brazil São Bernardo (Brazil)
- Brazil Sorocaba (Brazil)
- California Oceanside (United States West)
- California Ontario (United States West)
- California Victorville (United States West)
- Canada Halifax (Canada)
- Canada Toronto East (Canada)
- Cape Verde Mindelo (Europe North)
- Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan South (Africa West)
- Cote d’Ivoire Daloa (Africa West)
- DR Congo Kinshasa North (Africa Central)
- DR Congo Mwene-Ditu (Africa Central)
- France Paris South (Europe Central)
- Ghana Accra South (Africa West)
- Ghana Sunyani (Africa West)
- Greece Athens (Europe Central)
- Idaho Coeur d’Alene (United States West)
- Indiana Fort Wayne (United States Northeast)
- Kenya Kisumu (Africa Central)
- Liberia Monrovia West (Africa West)
- Malawi Lilongwe (Africa South)
- México Tula (México)
- Mississippi Jackson (United States Southeast)
- Missouri Kansas City (United States Central)
- Mongolia Ulaanbaatar West (Asia North)
- Mozambique Nampula (Africa South)
- Oklahoma Tulsa (United States Southwest)
- Papua New Guinea Daru (Pacific)
- Papua New Guinea Madang (Pacific)
- Paraguay Asunción South (South America South)
- Perú Lima Northwest (South America Northwest)
- Perú Tacna (South America Northwest)
- Philippines Lingayen (Philippines)
- Philippines Lipa (Philippines)
- Philippines Ormoc (Philippines)
- Philippines Ozamiz (Philippines)
- Philippines Puerto Princesa (Philippines)
- Samoa Apia East (Pacific)
- Senegal Dakar (Africa West)
- Solomon Islands Honiara (Pacific)
- South Africa East London (Africa South)
- Spain Madrid East (Europe Central)
- Texas Dallas North (United States Southwest)
- Texas Houston North (United States Southwest)
- Texas San Antonio South (United States Southwest)
- Togo Lomé (Africa West)
- Uganda Kampala East (Africa Central)
- Uruguay Salto (South America South)
- Virginia Norfolk (United States Northeast)
- Wyoming Cheyenne (United States Central)
- Zimbabwe Harare West (Africa South)
150 comments:
I have no words. This is amazing.
This certainly wasn’t what I was expecting to happen today. I’m personally most excited to see missions in Dakar, Athens, and Puerto Princesa. The only one I hadt heard of before was Sunyani Ghana. I’ll be going on my mission next year, I wonder if I’ll be going to any of these new ones.
This sets back the time when the number of announced temples will equal missions somewhat. Even if President Oaks resumes announced 30+ temples a year next year, the time when temples equal missions in set back at least to 2031.
The Senegal Dakar one is the one that I find the most exciting. Ivory Coast Daloa is also exciting.
Malawi getting its own mission will be great for both Malawi and Zambia.
Kenya and Mozambique getting 3rd missions is not too surprising. DR Congo North instead of doing a Kisangani Mission is an interesting decision.
Eastern Canada is basically going back to the number of missions it had a few years back.
4 new sets of temple presidents and matron were called. They continue the trend of calling in district temple leaders. 3 are for new temples and 1 for a renovated temple. 2 temples in the US and 2 in Mexico.
The US temples are Willimette Valley Oregon. No surprise there and San Diego California.
The two Mexican temple presidents in Torreon and San Luis Potosi and both not only resident if the districts but born in those cities. All 4 are former stake presidents. The one from Torreon is currently a patriarch. The one from San Luis Potosi is a service mission leader who was previously a mission president.
What will be interesting to see is if with New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cambodia if they call the First Temple leaders in district.
It will also be interesting to see of we call in district and not just in country with all 1st temple presidents in The Philippines and possibly a few other countries.
Lastly it will be interesting to see how soon they replace the Allen's who are essentially the last American expatriate temple leaders. They lead Abijan and were called back in 2021. That temple was dedicated in May 2025, so in theory they might serve until 2027 or even 2928. I suspect they will be replaced this year though. That is what they did in Cape Verde. They started with a Brazilian couple as temple leaders but replaced then after about 15 months of operation with a local Cape Verdean couple.
I am wondering if Fort Wayne Indiana Mission will have any influence on missions in Michigan. It is possible that it will take in the Toledo Ohio Stake from the Detroit Mission.
I believe there are Muncie, Lafayette, South Bend and then Fort Wayne Stakes. The other stake it could take might be Kalamazoo from the Landing Mission. Lansing Mission has 5 stakes and the Traverse City District. South Bend stake takes in some areas in Michigan just across the border.
Mississippi Jackson being restored is good news. Same with the two in East Canada. Norfolk Virginia is also a restoration.
Tulsa Oklahoma is not exactly because the old Tulsa was renamed Bentonville. I did not realize Tacna did not have a mission. That is very close to the Chilean border correct?
Angola Luanda North may allow for outreach into Kongo Province, which has been Christian at some level since before 1500.
We may finally see the Book of Mormon published in the Kongo language. A 4th mission in Kinshasa will mean that more mission resources can be focused on the west of DR Congo where Kongo language is also spoken. Linguala which dies have a Book of Mormon edition is somewhat close to Kongo,but I have no clue how close they actually are.
Is Missouri Kansas City in addition to Missouri Independence?
Togo getting its own mission is quite exciting.
Is this 4 countries getting first missions, plus Greence getting one again?
Mexico Tula is putting a mission basically in San Marcos, which is where the martyrs of 1915, Rafael Monroy and Vicente Morales, were killed. Were Pachuca and Tula previously in the same mission?
Is this the first time Wyoming has had a regular mission based in it?
Is the 5 new missions in the Philippines a high for there at once?
It is tempting to say that President Oaks being a former area president in the Philippines is why they are getting 5 new missions. I suspect if there is a connection it is not that he is pushing that, but the policies he put in place have lead to a point where that is needed.
It is interesting Nigeria gets no new missions and Mexico only gets one. Do the 3 new ones in California put us to an all time record, or are we sill below the peak?
2 new missions in Papua New Guinea does make sense.
I have to admit I am a little surprised Soerra Leone is not getting a new mission.
I am also surprised Cape Verde is getting a 2nd mission. Although this may be in part due to running Guinea Bissau.
This is likely more than the projected increase in missionaries. Slightly fewer missionaries per mission president makes it a little easer to manage.
In 2016, the first missionaries, humanitarian service missionaries, arrived in Senegal. On February 20, 2018, the LDS Church received official recognition from the Government. A district was crated in 2022 and next year they'll have their own mission.
4 countries gets first mission. Note: Greece Athens was discontinued in 2018 and being reinstated in 2026
Malawi Lilongwe
Solomon Islands Honiara
Senegal Dakar
Togo Lomé
The one that I'm most curious about is Missouri Kansas City. The KC metro area has long been served by the Missouri Independence Mission (Independence is effectively a suburb of KC). Will Independence remain as a full proselyting mission, with the KC metro area divided in half? Or will Independence be turned into some kind of separate historic site mission, with the new Kansas City mission taking over proselyting?
Other Matt here.
In Southern California, the new Oceanside California Mission is just bringing back the Carlsbad Mission that was dissolved some years back.
Likewise, the Ontario California Mission bringing back the Rancho Cucamonga Mission that was dissolved a few years ago.
The new Victorville Mission focusing just on the High Desert is the net new mission for Inland Empire (San Bernardino and Riverside Counties) .
I wonder if the current San Bernardino Mission will be renamed the Redlands Mission with the split to form Rancho Cucamonga and Victorville Missions.
Salto Uruguay surprised me a bit. Although that city is where I expect the next temple for Uruguay. I also suspect the Concordia district in Argentina might be part of this mission.
My old stake president and his wife were called!
Any chance the cumorah monthly news letters make a come back?
President and matron for the Willamette temple
I’m surprised they did not announce a American Sonia mission!
Somoa
The new Kansas City mission matches the larger base of members in the Kansas City metro. I doubt the Independence mission will be just historical sites.
I wonder why Spain Madrid gets a 3rd mission. Madrid has 3 stakes all other stakes are far away from Madrid. Why not create a mission in the south of Spain?
Looks like some of the locations we'd been predicting for new temples this time around got new missions instead.
It's a fair observation and trend that is bothering me a little in some other areas as well, like Paris. There are quite a few cities like Bordeaux, Toulouse or Nancy (where anecdotally the Church is seeing its most rapid growth in France) that could reasonably host a mission and be closer to many of the prospective areas than another mission home in Paris. I do feel like the geographic outlines of many of the Europe Central missions is becoming increasingly awkward.
Thomas Wagner, I know exactly what you mean. I was hoping that the news would be that the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was ordained on Thursday. Maybe next week.
I believe you meant Samoa/
But I would assume that the fact they have new missions would actually strengthen the argument supporting temples in those same cities.
I am estimating that the number of new mission presidents called to serve this year will be somewhere in the range of 170-180 or so. It is likely that at least one current GA Seventy and several current area seventies will be called as new mission leaders, though it is less clear whether those area seventy mission presidents will all be released in April.
Anonymous, that's cool. Thanks for sharing that. Based on current general completion estimates for some of the temples in the current construction queue, I project that we will also soon see the first leaders announced for the Phnom Penh Cambodia, Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala, Ephraim Utah, Port Moresby Papua New Guinea, Pago Pago American Samoa, Managua Nicaragua, Bacolod Philippines, Montpelier Idaho, Belo Horizonte Brazil, and Wichita Kansas Temples, each of which is anticipated to be completed by or before mid-2026.
I used to live in Ridgecrest, which I think will be part of the Victorville Mission
By having a piece of Madrid in all three missions, the missionaries can attend the temple. Having served as a senior missionary in the Barcelona mission, the missionaries there do not have that opportunity.
So even southern California is only going to previous high levels in this rearrangement. True, Victorville is a totally new mission, but since San Fernado mission is gone it is not an unprecedented number of missions. This may not even be a high number of missions.
Idaho I think hits its past high, since there used to be two missions in the greater Boise area, but the mission is in a new place.
Norfolk Virginia is Chesepeake Virginia with a new name. Fort Wayne returned the tei-state Michigan, Ohio, Indiana region to 6 missions, but it is really not replacing Clebeland.
Right now US Northeast Area has 19 missions and 20 announced temples. This will put it to 21 missions, although announced temples could go up before July.
The Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and New England (plus Delaware) region at present has 7 missions. It at one point had 12 missions.
Paris South is a totally new mission, but since there peaked at 7 missions in French and Dutch speaking Europe and this will bring us back to 4 we are brloe peak there as well.
Is Spain going to 3 or 4 missions with this change. I believe in peaked at 5, but Las Palmas mission Emma's never very large.
Is Brisbabe South a new mission or restoring an old one that was merged?
JRW I have to wonder if in some cases like Fort Wayne creating a mission can be preparation for a temple.
On the other hand the locating of a mission has many factors that make it different than a temple location decision.
Missions there is a general goal to balance them. With temples some are much bigger than others. Splitting up missions in large cities is the long standard. At one point the idea was to create larger temples in bigger cities. More recently we have seen more temples announced for large Metropolitan cities, but missions still tend to outnumber temples in those areas. Building temples in small isolated cities is often more pressing than creating missions in such places.
Also the preference has been to name missions directionally more than temples. If Temples were named like missions the Lone Mountain Bevada Temple would be the Las Vegas Bevada West Temple.
The missionaries from the Lansing Mission are at times allowed to come to the Detroit Temple. I am not sure of all the logistics of such, but I do not think that the temple access alone explains this.
One possibility may be that the Church is seeing higher rates of success with more diverse populations in large Metropolitan areas like Paris and Madrid.
I served in the Málaga mission (southern Spain) before it was discontinued in 2018. Being headquartered in Madrid would have been much more convenient for coordinating mission wide travel and temple attendance.
Spain peaked at 5 (Barcelona, Bilbao, Las Palmas, Madrid, Málaga) and around 2018 only had 2 (Barcelona and Madrid) until the Madrid Span North mission was created a few years later.
I have seen posts indicating one of the stakes in Bo, Sierra Leone just baptized 110 Converts at once.
So essentially mainland Spain will be back to the 4 it used to have.
I still have not worked out where the 5 new missions in the Philippines are. I look forward to Matt's more detailed reports.
Lingayen is rather close to where Urdaneta is, next to Dagupan City. Lipa, I presume is Lipa City, which is south of Manila, next to Taal Lake and the Taal Volcano. Ormoc is next to Tacloban City on the island of Leyte. Ozamiz is to the west of Cagayan de Oro on Mindanao, close to Dipolog City and Pagadian City. Finally, Puerto Princesa is on Palawan, which is a long island that stretches between the main part of the Philippines and Malaysia.
Matt, had predicted 2 of the 5.
Philippines Ormoc
Philippines Palawan/Mindoro - > Philippines Puerto Princesa
If anyone is curious, here is Matts 2025 Potential New Missions list that he posted last December 2024. which still holds true for this round. He got several correct in his projections from these 55 are on this list. If not specifically named.
For example, he projected a Australia Brisbane (2nd) mission which yesterday was announced as Australia Brisbane South.
He also in Africa had named the Cote d'Ivoire Daloa, Senegal Dakar and Togo Lome potential Missions.
You can review his predictions and see what percent he accurately predicted.
https://ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com/search/label/Potential%20New%20Missions
We'll see when he updates the list for 2027.
Along the lines of Church Growth, besides the rumored Tarawa Kiribati North District (from earlier social media) becoming a stake tomorrow. Are there any suggestions for any other new stakes this weekend? or we'll just see with the maps update on tuesday morning for this week's changes.
I miss them too, always very insightful
Miro, your comment raises the interesting question of how missionaries are allocated around the world. For example, perhaps factors like receptivity of the population, legal framework, safety, policy (like centers of strength policy, vs planting), cost (including travel to/from missionaries home -> MTC -> back home), strength of membership and local leaders, language difficulty, etc.
Missions are typically named where the mission office/home are located. If there's a change, this maybe easier done when mission presidents change.
The Kansas City metro alone has 2.4 million people plus several large stakes. That's just for the metro and not the rest of the mission(s). There are 8 Stakes in the metro plus 2-5 more in the surrounding area depending if it takes in Colombia/Chariton River Stakes from the St Louis Mission and Topeka from the Kansas Wichita Mission
I would assume the Mississippi Jackson Mission will take in its prior mission boundaries (all stakes with "Mississippi" in its name) before it was dissolved. Prior to the announcement, I was already hearing rumors that the Mississippi Jackson Mission will take in the Tupelo Stake from the mission I live in (Arkansas Little Rock).
While there's 5 stakes, there's only 46,000 people that live in America Samoa. Missions outside of Utah count in the millions, and hundreds of thousands for Utah proselyting missions.
There is currently an average of 164 traditional full-time missionaries per mission and 243 missionaries per mission when you count senior and service missionaries. With 55 new new missions, that puts the average to 146 traditional full-time missionaries and 216 missionaries/mission when you count seniors & service. This assumes no change in missionaries since year-end 2024.
Also note, Lansing is close to Detroit compared to outlying areas of Spain is to Madrid. If you look at a transit map of Spain, everything links to/from Madrid. Also, if the outlying areas are faster-growing, this wealth gets shared by multiple missions.
The naming of missions was a lot more dependent on mission headquarters location in the 1970s than it is now. Our mission her in Metro Detroit used to be called the Dearborn Mission. It is now called the Detroit Mission. The mission office is in Southfield Mission. There are missions with no city in their name.
The Washington DC South mission has none of Washington DC in its boundaries.
The Salt Lake South mission includes none of Sslt Lake City. That may be true for other Salt Lake missions as well.
On Samoa, the main part of Samoa I believe only has about 100,000 people. All of the Samoas I believe have less than 200,000 people.
With young service missionaries assigned to regular missions and young service missionaries serving from home local membership is a bigger factor in missio. Size.
Speculation here. With creation of the Idaho Coeur d’Alene Mission, this part of Idaho could be relocated into the United States Central Area. Currently, all states/countries with multiple mission headquarters (mission office/homes) are located within the same area. Being that the rest of Idaho areas are in US Central Area, I would assume this would be transferred.
Also, this is quite a large area for the US. Maybe a split of Idaho/MT/WY from the rest of the area (US North/US Central or US Northern Rockies/US Plains)? US Plains could also take in Oklahoma from US Southwest. US North can take Alaska from US West.
Official photographs of the First Presidency and of President Oaks have been released today. Interestingly, the First Presidency photographs have followed the same general format since at least 2007 (with the Church President seated, the First Counselor seated on a separate, slightly raised, chair, and the Second Counselor standing behind the Church President. My thanks once again to you all.
David, you make a great point about the United States Central Area. I think, based on your reasoning, that Couer d'Alene could move/has already moved to the US Central Area. I agree that splitting off Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming makes sense as well. I think I'd favor the US North & US Central designations above US Northern Rockies & US Plains, since the Church seems to favor geographical names for areas.
Based on the fact that the Africa West and Asia Areas are quite large as well, I could similarly see the Church splitting off Nigeria and Southeast Asia into their own areas. I kind of wonder if part of the reason the Church announced so many missions this go-round also opens the way for some forthcoming area changes, whatever those may be. We recently saw the Church transfer Mogolia into the Asia North Area and Venezuela into the Caribbean Area, so there's more than enough reason to split off some of these other larger portions of areas into their own regions. I hope it happens.
It looks like the Tarawa Kiribati North District became the Tarawa Kiribati North Stake last weekend, contrary to earlier reports. It already shows up in the meetinghouse locator, and facebook posts indicate it was created last weekend.
There are now 4 stakes on Tarawa Atoll, which is little more than a sandbar in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. The work of the Lord is incredible!
Is the Dakar Senegal Mission likely to be the one (of these 55) with the fewest wards and branches? Or the Athens Greece Mission? Any other possibilities
David, I like the way you broke that down. And I like the idea of 7 US areas, if only for the reason that, as they are, some of the 6 existing areas are rather large. I also wonder if we'll ever see a day where the US area presidency headquarters are all based in the areas they serve, rather than at Church headquarters. I also wonder how soon we might see a separate Nigeria area and/or a separate area for the southeastern parts of Asia.
I hope that we will see area changes this year in conjunction with the new missions. It will be interesting to see what happens there. Thanks for your thoughts on this.
Azerbaijan will be a small mission, for units, for sure.
I think a significant part of the growth and expansion that we see in this announcement is that some countries are receiving a second or third mission, like Mongolia, or Papua New Guinea, or maybe Zimbabwe or Angola. This allows more citizens of those nations to stay home but still serve their native peoples, hopefully being more effective for both the foreign missionaries coming in (learning the language, cultural nuances, customs, practices, sensitivities), and helping the native Mongolians and Papuans, etcetera, create stronger bonds and relationships.
I love to see the outgrowth in my native Indiana! So many counties and towns have no Restored Gospel footprint! May we go to more and more communities and doors! Christ is about His Church, for sure.
I stated speculation, but the better word is hypothetical. The only issue with more areas is that it becomes a lot reporting directly to Salt Lake.
We'll see how President Oaks wants it. I suspect there will be changes.
Athens is almost certain to take in Cyprus. Greece Athens could take in Europe Central Turkic and Persian-Speaking District which is currently not assigned a mission. Turkish and Greek are the two primary sides of Cyprus. Bulgaria could expand to take North Macedonia and Serbia due to less of a language barrier in that direction. However, there would be more government restrictions on the Turkish speaking side of the mission.
Senegal will also likely be a multi-country mission. Possibilities include The Gambia, Mali, and Guinea.
Azerbaijan wasn't announced. Were you thinking of another mission?
A lot of reporting to Salt Lake isn't a problem if there's sufficient manpower to cover it. I am projecting a high number of new General Authorities may be called, in April especially if changes are in the works for Church areas.
An elderly couple was baptized in my ward today. He's originally from Spain thru New Jersey. I don't know her story yet, I'm still getting to know them.
Like David above, my hypothetical scenario, with the new Idaho Coeur d'Alene Mission (incidentally my mother's birthcity), is either the REINSTATEMENT of the since defunct IDAHO AREA (791148), following the Territorial-Administrative Borders of the State of Idaho. Or as David suggests
the REINSTATEMENT of the defunct NORTH AMERICA NORTHWEST AREA (790095), and renaming it the United States Northwest Area (790095).
Or a merger of the two Defunct Areas into one. Either way taking the Missions, Stakes and Temples of Idaho from the responsibility of the US Central Area of influence.
Chris, David, I agree that the reinstatement of those areas would make a lot of sense. I also really liked how you laid that out, David! I could definitely see the advantages of such adjustments. David, I was curious about your "I suspect there will be changes." Are you thinking mainly area adjustments, something else, or both.
Assuming everything else the same, if Idaho was it's own area, it would be the smallest in membership and population in the US. It would have the fewest missions, the fewest temples, etc.
That's why I think Idaho would still be in a multi-state area if a single new area is created.
Given the membership numbers you cited based on your proposed creation of a seventh area in the United States, that would make sense. I agree that Idaho won't be its own area again, but it could combine into another area. And that's just based off of the numbers you mentioned (which I assume are from last year). Whatever this year's numbers turn out to be, they should be more than sufficient to support a seventh US area.
The question I have is, is one more area in the United States the more imminent prospect for potential changes, or would there be other changes that are prioritized either in conjunction with this or made first?
Yes, it's year-end 2024 stats. Below is also year-end 2024 when it comes to units (includes announced temples). It doesn't look as skewed when looking at temples and missions.
Unit breakdown, based on my hypothetical split above.
US Northeast: Temples 19, Missions 17, Stakes 129, Units 1,138
US Southeast: Temples 18, Missions 18, Stakes 127, Units 1,158
US Central: Temples 24, Missions 22, Stakes 162, Units 1,547
US Southwest: Temples19, Missions 16, Stakes 210, Units 1,688
US Northwest: Temples 26, Missions 13, Stakes 244, Units 2,134
US West: Temples 19, Missions 21, Stakes 197, Units 1,528
Utah: Temples 32, Missions 13, Stakes 640, Units 5,386
Awesome. I hope that these changes, which make sense for the reasons you mentioned, are made.
While Bulgaria taking in North Macedonia, Serbia and even Montenegro would make sense on account they all use the Cyrillic alphabet, there's the fact that Serbia and Montenegro are part of the Adriatic North District which it appears there is the intent to create a stake composing the former Yugoslavia (minus North Macedonia) with one ward currently possible in Serbia. Unless they change where a single unit can be served by different missions, I don't see any adjustments in boundary here in the short-term.
It wouldn't make sense for Bulgaria to take Serbia. When I was in the MTC the Macedonian missionaries were usually taught Bulgarian as it was more similar I guess, but Serbian and Croatian are essentially the same language. Splitting up Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, and Montenegro only makes sense once those countries warrant having individual missions. Until then, it is easiest to keep them together as between them there is 0 language barrier
Something else just occurred to me: unless I am mistaken, both Preston Idaho and Evanston Wyoming are technically part of the Utah Area. Also, technically, I believe that the Monticello Utah Temple is geographically in another area. Thanks. Would these proposed changes mean those parts of Idaho & Wyoming would go to US Central, while the entire state of Utah would now make up the Utah Area? Just wanted to clarify that point as well.
Interestingly, the Church has done more directional temple naming recently (e.g. Houston Texas South, Santiago Chile West, etc.)
I recall that there was an Idaho Area previously. Three Areas in Utah? Also, were there Mexico North and Mexico South Areas? I am not 100% sure on that one.
Do Idaho, Arizona, California, and Texas have large enough church populations to support their own Areas? I do see that adding a neighboring smaller state makes these potential Areas more functional overall.
BB, there are only 6 areas in the United States currently (US Northeast, US Southeast, US Southwest, US West, and Utah) and I don't believe David was proposing that the US be split into 10 areas, just that an extra US area would be helpful.
The Iadaho Area merged with what is now the US Central Area a while ago. Similarly, the three areas in Utah were merged into a single Utah Area at around the same time (around 2018, I believe). I don't believe that, on their own, Idaho, Arizona, California, and Texas have enough of a Church presence to each warrant their own areas, but that's just my personal observation, and David might feel and answer differently.
SImilarly, there was a time when Mexico & Brazil were split into two areas apece, but that has not been the case for around 15-20 years.
BB, you are right about the areas you list. Brazil also used to have 2 areas. South America peaked at 6 areas, it is now down to 3, although when it had 6 Panama was in the South America North Area, and Venezuela is now in the Caribbean Area.
The number of areas peaked in about 2004. In addition to the US Northwest, Idaho and 2 additional Utah areas there was also a North America East Area.
Under President Nelson there was a major reduction of US areas, by 4, near the start of when he was president. Since then worldwide areas have increased with the creation of Africa Central, Europe North and Canada. Over time the amount of functions handled by areas have increased. In about 2022 at least the non-US areas were for example given responsibility to oversee humanitarian services in their area instead of that program being administered fully from Church headquarters.
Outside the US there is no country that currently has multiple areas, although France is split between multiple areas because of the far flung nature of some of its oversees departments. US territories are not all in US areas but all US states are. France may be the only country at present where fully integrated parts of the country are in multiple areas other than the US which has 6 areas.
Based on actual area size I think the most likely next development in the US is a merger of the US Northeast and US Southeast into one area called US East, with a possible adjustment of boundaries.
On the other hand if there is a decision to go with smaller areas in the US I think they would also split the Africa West, Philippines, South America North West, Central America, Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines and South America South. Although Africa West seems the least likely to split.
Central America, South America Northwest and South America South could be rearranged from 3 areas into 4 maybe. Give Chile to the the same area as Peru and Bolivia, then create an area with Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and maybe even Nicaragua, and then have an area of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
I think merging the North America Northeast and North America Southeast Areas is more likely than the other proposal, but I do not think they would create a new area in the US without creating a few more new areas outside the US.
JPL, I'm not sure why you say the Africa West Area is "least likely to split" when Matt has said that the next most likely area change is for Nigeria to become its' own area. I also don't see how merging the US Northeast and Southeast Areas into a US EAst Area would be helpful, given the numbers David cited in an earlier comment.
Based on what Matt has said, the next most likely development is for Nigeria to become its' own area, followed at some point by several nations in Southeast Asia splitting off of the main Asia Area, which is currently the largest in the Church.
For the US, I think it is more likely that the US East Area will be restored from a division of the current US Northeast and US Southeast Areas. It would also make sense if the Church restored the US West Area. But the way David broke it down, I could see the current 6 US Areas first dividing ito create a seventh US area.
That being said, who knows what President Oaks may deem necessary or feel inspired to do. My advice: buckle up, and stay safe out there.
Other Matt here.
CdA and Spokane are considered by many as the same metro area as part of the "Inland Northwest" . I don't see CdA and Spokane being split into different areas. We also don't know yet which stakes are assigned to which mission.
Actually Redlands Mission was renamed the San Bernardino during the middle of the mission president tenure. In Southern California, most "Mission offices" are in existing meetinghouses that can be easily relocated.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/lindon-utah-temple-and-piura-peru-temple-are-in-the-news
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2025/10/breaking-temple-news-first-presidency_0124026039.html
I was proposing or investigating the idea of increasing the number of Areas within the United States to 10. Somewhere, someone also mentioned moving the Area headquarters from SLC to a city within the Area boundaries. With the abundance and frequency of flights from SLC, I am not sure if that is needed, but it is interesting to ponder.
I probably should have phrased what I said slightly different. I still think the US Southeast and US Northeast could be merged. That area would be about as big as the remaining 3 areas with in their name if that change was done.
The Africa West Area has significantly fewer members than the other areas I mentioned. There are logistical issues with the number of countries covered, and with the number of missions. I still would be surprised if it is split before 2027.
I have Bern wrong in so many of my predictions it is hard to say. A Nigeria area might end up with more members in it than the Canada Area. We will see.
I am glad we now have dedication dates for the Lindon Temple. It appears there is no announcement of who will dedicate it. President Oaks might. On the other hand President Christofferson partly grew up in Lindon. We will see what will happen.
I was hoping for more ground breaking announcements today. However I am glad to see the location announced for Piara Peru Temple.
How many temples are we still waiting for a location announcement on.
Thanks for clarifying that point, BB. I don't see Utah splitting off to separate areas again, personally. But I've been wrong before. I was the one who mentioned moving area HQ outside of Utah for the other US Areas.
I think it'll be President Oaks, but I've been wrong before. We've been awaiting a Lindon dedication announcement for a while, so I'm not surprised about that today. The Piura announcement was good news too. JPL,I track temples that lack any officially information in this document. The number you asked about now stands at 63.
I would defer to Matt's opinion on this. An Africa West Area split may not make sense on paper, but neither did Venezuela's move to the Caribbean Area, in my view. Isaiah 55:8-9 applies here, I think. I look forward to seeing what President Oask may do.
*Oaks*, not *Oask*.
2 states are missing from the BB list above: MD and WI. Nebraska should be NE not NB.
James, maybe you can help me clarify my question. From the "not so clear" of the Site location of the Piura Peru Temple on Avenida Tallanes and Avenida Prolongación. The only site i could find on Google Maps even similar to the drawing is with no other streets as geographical reference. Was next to the building called "Condominio Las Palmeras del Chipe" ? Do you come to the same conclusion ? Even on Ricks temple site as of writing this post. He hadn't bookmarked the actual site yet.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir//Condominio+Las+Palmeras+del+Chipe+Av+Prolongacion+Tallanes+S%2FN+Piura+20009,+Peru/@-5.1679679,-80.6280848,18z/data=!4m8!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x904a1008a6f4e38b:0xfeba35fac8f6b9c2!2m2!1d-80.6280848!2d-5.1679679?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MTAyMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
Chris D., happy to help. Did you see the specification that it is "on the northwest corner of Ave. Tallanes and Ave. Prolongacion"? That seems to be pretty specific to me. I would suggest checking that corner to see if it matches the area you're talking about.
Correction: 62
The numbering might be slightly off. The Church Temple Site lists 62 without official information. 13 of the 47 Temples with sites announced are still awaiting official rendering releases, though most we can already speculate the general floor plans for.
The Victoria British Columbia Temple has a site plan and rendering available on several local news releases but not yet officially released by the First Presidency.
We also know the general location of the Dubai Temple (District 2020), but not the exact site.
According to my source, no new stake changes this week. Looks like new unit creations slowed down considerably this last 6 months of the year. That we were well on the way to tying the 2016 max of 100 new stakes. I honestly don't believe we'll be anywhere near that annual total.
I thought there was already a Houston Texas North mission. Is Houston getting a another mission or not
47 site locations-35 with renderings=12 without renderings. That's per a recent correction by the Church Temples site.
1. São Paulo East Brazil Temple - probably the same floorplan as the Lethbridge Alberta Temple
2. Santos Brazil Temple - cannot determine, since the announcement did not include how many stories the temple will be
3. Vitória Brazil Temple - probably the same floorplan as the Helena Montana Temple
4. Charlotte North Carolina Temple - probably the same floorplan as the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple
5. Vienna Austria Temple - hard to determine what multistory is exactly; possibly Okinawa Japan Temple floorplan
6. Viña del Mar Chile Temple - same as Charlotte North Carolina
7. Cusco Peru Temple - same as Vitória Brazil
8. Iquitos Peru Temple - probably the same floorplan as the Grand Rapids Michigan Temple
9. Jakarta Indonesia - very likely the same floorplan as either the Bangkok Thailand or Bengaluru India Temple
10. Kananga Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple - different square footage than all recent temples, maybe a larger layout of the Helena Montana Temple
11. Florianópolis Brazil Temple - cannot determine, since the site announcement did not include floor area
12. Culiacán Mexico Temple - same as Vitória Brazil
13. Eket Nigeria - probably the same floorplan as the Nairobi Kenya Temple
I was going by this page:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/statistics/
I wonder why the numbers are incorrect there.
The chronology page has the correct amount listed without renderings. It might simply be an oversight on that specific tab, or maybe the webmaster knows something we don't.
Either or both is possible.
Other Matt here.
Houston North Mission was dissolved in July 2024.
It's now being reinstated.
JGS, that's because they're part of a mission in Utah. Monticello Utah is in a NM mission. There is plenty of examples of this. However, every mission based within a state or country is in the same area of the church.
Other Matt, When the Fort Smith Arkansas Stake split, the Oklahoma side became part of the NA Central Area and the Arkansas Side remained in the NA SE Area. Had the OK stake remained in the Bentonville mission, it would have remained in the NA SE Area.
Other Matt, I see a high probability that there will be changes with areas with these new announcements. ID & WA may end up being part of the same area. I'm just going off of methodology of how they're divided now. Things could change.
David, thanks for your explanation. That makes sense. So I assume any realignment of mission boundaries would, by extension, at least in some cases, affect area boundaries.
I see the two things that mattered when areas were drawn up:
1) Number of missions. Missions are formed where there's need, and Africa is the fastest-growing part of the church.
2) Political and cultural similarities/differences. (ie. division creating Eurasia, or the Middle East)
For Areas outside the US, the Area President ends up being the go-to person for government relations, meetings among religious bodies within that country, and their national media. Consequently, having one area in a country seems better. In the US, Government officials and media go directly to Salt Lake.
For large countries such as Brazil and Mexico, you'll find more area representatives within that area. Brazil has 24 area authorities while the Middle-East/North Africa Area has one.
Brazil has 25 area seventies. And yes, the Middle East/Africa North Area only has one area seventy, but he serves in the area presidency and is the only area presidency member actually based in the Middle East, so he may fill a similar role to the area president in other parts of the world.
I could see a near term decision to create a Nigeria Area. Eventually I think we will get a Nigeria Area, the Africa West Area based in Ghana and then another area that starts in Liberia and takes in places north and west of there. However that will probably not happen for a while.
The other thing I think will happen is that we will get an Africa Central Area based in Kinshasa and taking in Burundi. Rwanda, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Cameron, Central African Republic and maybe Chad.
The Africa East Area would be then in Narobi and take in the rest of what is now the Africa Central Area and probably the various island nations iff the east coast.
The Asia Area still has close to half the world population. If not over half. In theory it could be split. However membership is not high there. None of the new missions are in the Asia area.
I think a Nigeria Area is imminent. How imminent may depend on President Oaks, but it seems to be more likely soon. I would say this year or next year. I don't know that the rest of the Africa West Area will be ready for a split for a while after that. I don't think there is a near term need for a distinct Africa Central and Africa East Area. It was Matt who mentioned the prospect of the Asia Area split, so I would defer to his knowledge on that.
That being said, I think the Nigeria Area will be created this year or next year. The same timing could see changes made to the North America Areas, whether or not those match any configurations discussed here. Any other changes may be further down the road. But it'll be really interesting to see what President Oaks decides to do in that respect, or what the Lord decides to do through him.
It'll be interesting to see what happens with area changes under President Oaks. I would say changes of some sort are likely in the near term. What those might be and when they will happen is above my pay grade. But I do think we will see the new apostle named in the next week or two, if not sooner.
The newsroom certainly indicates it is next to the Condominio Las Palmeras del Chipe (Av Prolongacion, Tallanes S/N, Piura 20009, Peru). I was questioning if that was the true site, because on street view, on the corner of Av Prolongacion (the street is not labeled on Google Maps, nor is there a street sign), it shows the lot as empty, something befitting of where a construction site would be, yet going north on Av Tallantes, it shows the land occupied by a new-ish looking building labeled Edifica. However, the image capture of the Edifica building is from 2014, while the image capture of the empty lot is from 2022. It seems their website needs to be updated, because they show "next to UPAO university" as one of their locations.
https://edifica-com-pe.translate.goog/en/nogales-departamento-piura/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
Noah, are these analyses based on any official information or speculation from reliable sources? I ask because I haven't received these estimated standards for temples in Brazil. What I've heard is that the Church won't announce anything for São Paulo East until the subway station is ready, and that a new MTC will likely be built next to the temple. The current MTC would be converted into an international facility for Pathway.
Ryan Searcy, where are you getting that? All the Newsroom article says is that "This house of the Lord will be built on a 2.6-acre site located on the northwest corner of Ave. Tallanes and Ave. Prolongacion in Piura, Peru". Where in that specification does it "certainly indicate" it is next to the location you mentioned?
Several factors, the building in the depiction where the temple will be located looks identical to the layout of the Condominio Las Palmeras del Chipe (4 different buildings, each in an L shape and appears to be a square as a whole). That apartment building's address is Av Prolongacion, which is one of the streets listed where the temple is located. The highlighted property where the temple will be located is the exact same shape as what is between the apartment building and Av Tallantes (which on the map shows the road north of the intersection as Curumuy). The newsroom article states that it will be built on a 2.6 acre property and while not seeing the exact property lines, the property next to the apartment building is at max 3 acres.
Speculation, based on the fact that the Church is using a select few layouts for all the new temples. The released floor area and it being 2-stories makes it very similar to the Auckland/Lethbridge size/layout, unless it ends up being a unique floorplan.
Great! Thanks
Here is my list of 189 New Mission Presidents that i predict will be called over the next couple months to begin July 1st 2026 :
Adriatic North 2023-2026
Albania Tirana 2023-2026
Alpine German-Speaking 2023-2026
Angola Luanda North 2026-2029
Argentina Buenos Aires West 2023-2026
Argentina Mendoza 2023-2026
Argentina Resistencia 2023-2026
Argentina Rosario 2023-2026
Argentina Salta 2023-2026
Arizona Flagstaff 2023-2026
Arizona Phoenix 2023-2026
Arizona Phoenix East 2026-2029
Arizona Tucson 2023-2026
Arkansas Little Rock 2023-2026
Australia Brisbane South 2026-2029
Baltic 2023-2026
Benin Cotonou 2023-2026
Brazil Brasilia 2023-2026
Brazil Campinas 2023-2026
Brazil Feira De Santana 2023-2026
Brazil Florianopolis 2023-2026
Brazil Fortaleza 2023-2026
Brazil Guarulhos 2026-2029
Brazil Maceio 2023-2026
Brazil Manaus North 2023-2026
Brazil Recife North 2023-2026
Brazil Recife South 2023-2026
Brazil Rio De Janeiro North 2023-2026
Brazil São Bernardo 2026-2029
Brazil Sao Paulo Interlagos 2023-2026
Brazil Sao Paulo North 2023-2026
Brazil Sorocaba 2026-2029
Brazil Vitoria 2023-2026
Bulgaria/Greece 2023-2026
California Anaheim 2023-2026
California Arcadia 2023-2026
California Fresno 2023-2026
California Oakland/San Francisco 2023-2026
California Oceanside 2026-2029
California Ontario 2026-2029
California Riverside 2023-2026
California Roseville 2023-2026
California Sacramento 2023-2026
California San Jose 2023-2026
California Santa Rosa 2023-2026
California Ventura 2023-2026
California Victorville 2026-2029
Cameroon Yaounde 2023-2026
Canada Halifax 2026-2029
Canada Toronto East 2026-2029
Cape Verde Mindelo 2026-2029
Cape Verde Praia 2023-2026
Chile Santiago North 2023-2026
Colombia Cali 2023-2026
Colorado Colorado Springs 2023-2026
Colorado Denver North 2023-2026
Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan South 2026-2029
Cote d’Ivoire Daloa 2026-2029
Cote D'ivoire Abidjan East 2023-2026
Cote D'ivoire Abidjan North 2023-2026
Democratic Republic Of The Congo Kananga 2023-2026
Democratic Republic Of The Congo Kinshasa East 2023-2026
Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa North 2026-2029
Democratic Republic of the Congo Mwene-Ditu 2026-2029
Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East 2023-2026
Dominican Republic Santo Domingo West 2023-2026
Ecuador Guayaquil East 2023-2026
Ecuador Guayaquil North 2023-2026
El Salvador San Salvador East 2023-2026
El Salvador Santa Ana 2023-2026
Ethiopia Addis Ababa 2023-2026
Fiji Suva 2023-2026
Finland Helsinki 2023-2026
Florida Fort Lauderdale 2023-2026
France Paris 2023-2026
France Paris South 2026-2029
Georgia Atlanta North 2023-2026
Germany Frankfurt 2023-2026
Ghana Accra East 2023-2026
Ghana Accra South 2026-2029
Ghana Sunyani 2026-2029
Greece Athens 2026-2029
Guatemala Guatemala City 2023-2026
Guatemala Guatemala City Central 2023-2026
Guatemala Guatemala City East 2023-2026
Guatemala Quetzaltenango 2023-2026
Honduras Tegucigalpa 2023-2026
Hungary Budapest 2023-2026
Idaho Coeur d’Alene 2026-2029
Indiana Fort Wayne 2026-2029
Japan Kobe 2023-2026
Japan Sapporo 2023-2026
Japan Tokyo North 2023-2026
Kentucky Louisville 2023-2026
Kenya Kisumu 2026-2029
Liberia Monrovia West 2026-2029
Louisiana Baton Rouge 2023-2026
Madagascar Antananarivo South 2023-2026
Malawi Lilongwe 2026-2029
Maryland Baltimore 2023-2026
México Guadalajara East 2023-2026
México México City Southeast 2023-2026
México Oaxaca 2023-2026
México Puebla South 2023-2026
México Tijuana 2023-2026
México Torreón 2023-2026
México Tula 2026-2029
México Tuxtla Gutierrez 2023-2026
México Veracruz 2023-2026
México Xalapa 2023-2026
Michigan Lansing 2023-2026
Mississippi Jackson 2026-2029
Missouri Independence 2023-2026
Missouri Kansas City 2026-2029
Mongolia Ulaanbaatar West 2026-2029
Mozambique Maputo 2023-2026
Mozambique Nampula 2026-2029
Nevada Henderson 2024-2026
Nevada Reno 2023-2026
New Jersey Morristown 2023-2026
New Zealand Auckland 2023-2026
New Zealand Wellington 2023-2026
Nicaragua Managua South 2023-2026
Nigeria Aba 2023-2026
Nigeria Abuja 2023-2026
Nigeria Port Harcourt South 2023-2026
North Carolina Raleigh 2023-2026
Ohio Columbus 2023-2026
Oklahoma Tulsa 2026-2029
Oregon Eugene 2023-2026
Oregon Portland 2023-2026
Papua New Guinea Daru 2026-2029
Papua New Guinea Madang 2026-2029
Paraguay Asunción South 2026-2029
Pennsylvania Pittsburgh 2023-2026
Perú Chiclayo 2023-2026
Perú Lima East 2023-2026
Perú Lima Northwest 2026-2029
Perú Tacna 2026-2029
Philippines Angeles 2023-2026
Philippines Davao 2023-2026
Philippines Lingayen 2026-2029
Philippines Lipa 2026-2029
Philippines Manila 2023-2026
Philippines Olongapo 2023-2026
Philippines Ormoc 2026-2029
Philippines Ozamiz 2026-2029
Philippines Puerto Princesa 2026-2029
Philippines Quezon City North 2023-2026
Philippines San Pablo 2023-2026
Philippines Tacloban 2023-2026
Poland Warsaw 2023-2026
Puerto Rico San Juan 2023-2026
Republic Of Congo Brazzaville 2023-2026
Romania Bucharest 2023-2026
Russia Novosibirsk 2023-2026
Samoa Apia East 2026-2029
Senegal Dakar 2026-2029
Solomon Islands Honiara 2026-2029
South Africa Cape Town 2023-2026
South Africa East London 2026-2029
South Africa Johannesburg 2023-2026
South Africa Pretoria 2023-2026
South Carolina Columbia 2023-2026
Spain Barcelona 2023-2026
Spain Madrid East 2026-2029
Sweden Stockholm 2023-2026
Tahiti Papeete 2023-2026
Tanzania Dar Es Salaam 2023-2026
Tennessee Knoxville 2023-2026
Texas Austin 2023-2026
Texas Dallas East 2023-2026
Texas Dallas North 2026-2029
Texas Dallas West 2023-2026
Texas Houston 2023-2026
Texas Houston East 2023-2026
Texas Houston North 2026-2029
Texas Lubbock 2023-2026
Texas San Antonio South 2026-2029
Togo Lomé 2026-2029
Uganda Kampala East 2026-2029
Uruguay Salto 2026-2029
Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square 2023-2026
Venezuela Caracas 2023-2026
Venezuela Maracaibo 2023-2026
Virginia Norfolk 2026-2029
Washington Tacoma 2023-2026
Wyoming Cheyenne 2026-2029
Zimbabwe Harare West 2026-2029
There may be a few name changes among them with the realignment also.
For example, with the reopening of the old Greece Athens Mission. The current Bulgaria/Greece Mission, might be renamed just Bulgaria Sofia, or any other possibility reflecting the realignments.
It is also possible (it does happen once in a while) that a mission president might be moved from an existing mission to preside over one of the new ones.
There also are often a few mission presidents called as general authorities or otherwise released early. So I would not be surprised if the number of new mission presidents reported hits at least 195, and maybe even 200.
I guess something that I now see was missing from my original comment was "certainly seems to indicate." Guess we can chalk that up to not diligently proofreading before commenting. Would be nice if these comments had an edit option.
That is correct. It is also possible that a current mission president could be called as an area seventy. And although less likely, as was the case with Elder Bednar, a current area seventy or mission president could be called to the apostleship. I think the chances of that are slim to none, as the last 9 apostles have been current General Authorities.
Other Matt here...
While it's interesting to talk about new Areas or Area realignment, it's also important to think about how many Area Seventies serve under an Area. Perhaps there hasn't been much Area growth, but there could be more Area Seventies serving under the Area to lighten the load of the Area Presidency.
I guess there is not an Azerbaijan Mission yet. Counting my chickens. What are the next five new nations to get missions?
Any updates of completion dates for new chapels whether it be Northwest Arkansas, Dallas, Metro, or even new branches that have started meeting in the local funeral home. All of this is very interesting to me.
I think it’ll be a very long time before Azerbaijan gets a mission. Even though the church does have official recognition and a branch in the country, proselytizing by foreigners is illegal, so I can’t see missionaries going there for a long time. Before it gets its own mission, I think it would likely be assigned to the Armenia Mission first.
There have been 49 convert baptisms in my branch in the last 12 months. Since there were 142 convert baptisms in my entire stake last year, I suspect the number of convert baptisms in my stake will have risen significantly this year over last year, even with us loosing one of our wards to another stake in September.
Azerbaijan would maybe better be assigned to a mission in Turkey than one in Armenia. The antagonism between Armenia and Azerbaijan would make them being in the same mission very difficult. We will see.
I belive since David O, McKay became president of the Church only 6 non-general authorities have been called as apostles. Adam S. Bennion, Howard W. Hunter, Thomas S. Monson, Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks and David A. Bednar. Adam S. Bennion called in 1953 is the last apostle who was not a general authority when called who neither became president of the church nor alive today. There have been 36 aposltes called in that time, so for the last 74 years or so only 1 out of every six apostles have not been general authorities when called. Previously there were no more than 7 general authorities called in a row between non-general authorities being called. We are about to tie the record time, which is the 21.5 years from President Monson's call to President Nelson and President Oaks being called. We hit 21 years since Elder Bednar was called this month. I suspect the next apostle will be a general authority (I am much more certain of this than I am which general authority it will be) but I could be wrong.
President Hinckley is to date the only president of the Church to have served as a general authority outside the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles.
Though not a General Authority, President Nelson did serve as Sunday School General President from 1971-1979 prior to being called to the Apostleship in 1984.
Other Matt, I think that new areas or area realignments are easier to predict than area seventy changes. That being said, the number of new area seventies has been steadily increasing every year. In April 2024, 64 area seventies were sustained, with 52 releases announced, followed by 6 additional new area seventies sustained in October. That's 70 new area seventies, with 52 releases, for a net gain of 18. And last year in April, 78 new area seventies were sustained, with 65 others presented for release, followed by 2 new area seventies being sustained in October. That's 80 new area seventies to 65 releases, for a net gain of 15, which means that in the last two years, there has been a net gain of 33, which is almost half of a "full quorum" of 70. I think that by its' very nature, an increase in areas would almost certainly require some kind of significant increase in area seventies. But as I said, that's harder to predict, whereas it's easier to see geographically where area changes could be made.
But I do think plans to increase the number of areas would necessitate a coordinated increase in area seventies. By how much is harder to say. I hope this comment is helpful/insightful.
Interesting that these comments are coming on the same day this development is reported. I am interested in exploring that database further and hope mentioning it here is helpful.
At some point since it was mentioned above, the Church Temples site has fixed the discrepancy on the statistics page, which now reflects 13 temples with site announcements but without exterior renderings. Great catch, by the way.
Where is your branch located?
I would think it would be assigned to a mission in Turkey before Armenia. Armenia and Azerbaijan, to say it nicely, do not get along and hasn't since the fall of the Soviet Union. Probably for the same reason, they're in separate Areas of the church. The Europe Central Area is not contiguous as it skips over Armenia to get to Azerbaijan.
That being said, Armenia's alliances may change. so this could change as well.
Michigan, near Detroit.
I think there's going to be a change in areas under President Oaks, I just don't know what changes he'll make.
I know this is overgeneralized, but there's not a traditional rhyme or reason with creating areas. You've got some who's boundaries are tied by culture (ie Middle East/North Africa or Central America), some (such as Europe/Eurasia boundaries) separated by war, and others (ie Asia) who's boundaries covers many cultures, some practically at war with each other.
They vary greatly in population, membership and other demographics. There's nothing that states x number of participating members needed to create an area.
Unless there's leaked insider information, it will be hard to predict the next area realignment.
Elder Rasband was in Kenya a few days ago. He will also visit the Seychelles, Ethiopia, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Has an apostle visited either Ethiopia or the Seychelles before?
Yes. At a glance, that includes then-Elder Nelson in 2004 (he dedicated Ethiopia for the preaching of the Gospel), with subsequent visits by then-Elder Ballard, then-Elder Christofferson, and Elder Renlund. Elder Rasband's visit to the Seychelles is an apostolic first, so he may have been sent to formally dedicate that nation for the preaching of the gospel. Elder Rasband currently supervises the Africa Central & Africa South Areas, among other apostolic responsibilities.
I'd still take Matt's word that the creation of a Nigeria area is one of the most likely area changes in the near term. I don't believe he specified an estimate for when a southeastern Asia area might be created. I think some other areas may have too large a Church presence and would therefore be ripe for a division. Among those, I would include Europe, Asia, and parts of the United States. The timing of future splits is hard to pinpoint, but some areas may be split sooner than others.
The Church released the 2026 Churchwide Broadcast Schedule. A few interesting notes: the picture accompanying the February 2026 Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults event description includes a photograph of Elder Patrick Kearon and his wife, which to me indicates he will be the speaker for that devotional. The listing also includes specific direction for Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter Weekend General Conference. Just some interesting things that stood out to me. My thanks once again to you all.
My branch is not "near Detroit". My branch covers the south-east part of the city of Detroit and the Grosse Pointe Suburbs. I live in the city of Detroit itself, as do most (but not all) of the people who have been baptized.
James, I could see a possibility.
I will make mention the last two areas that were created was from international conflicts where it became more difficult to cross borders.
Hello! for my architecture school thesis I wrote a book on the potentials for LDS temple architecture! I hope you guys like it.
I would be very interested in any thoughts or comments you might have and can of course answer questions. The architectural drawings are better if viewed in a pdf viewer (not drive). (Also, please let me know if the link doesn't work)
Let me know what you think and feel free to share this with anyone who might be interested!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uwyf8iOPUWATxLHWlrvSLNK5MvTEciXo/view?usp=sharing
That is wonderful Hank, thank you for sharing.
David, I'm not sure I understand what you mean, and I don't know to which areas you are referring. Please pardon my confusion.
Thank you! I Really tried hard. All my professors (non-members) thought I had gone crazy
Has anyone heard of any new stakes or districts being organized tomorrow?
Europe East (Now Eurasia) and Canada. Eurasia was after Russia invaded Ukraine for the second time, and Canada was after the US/Canada trade and border dispute, creating a harder border in both cases. With exception of Yukon, ALL stakes that went across the border were also realigned to reflect a US/Canada split.
Canada is the smallest area of the church by all metrics (membership, units, missions, general population, etc) in the free world. 12 countries have a larger church body than Canada and only the largest four of them have their own areas. Why didn't any of the others get an area to themselves if that was the reason? The North America Northeast area could of been realigned to cover the entire country if it was about size. Eurasia is a small fraction in size as the rest of Europe.
The timing and size of the created areas points more to necessity due to political conflict more than splitting an oversized area.
Under President Nelson, the three Utah Areas were consolidated into one as with the two Mexico Areas. There was also a consolidation of other areas within the United States. Due to heavy growth Africa Southeast was split into Africa Central and Africa South. Europe was largely one area with Europe East only covering certain former Soviet Union countries until the 2022 Russia invasion of Ukraine when Europe was realigned into Europe Central, East, and North; Europe East was then lead by area authorities. Canada Area was created in 2025 after tariff and border disputes with the US. The remaining areas have remained primarily intact.
There were some transfer of countries to other areas. The largest being when Venezuela was transferred to become part of the Caribbean Area.
There is no set standard that I'm aware of that dictates divisions or consolidations of Church Areas. We'll likely see by April when the church releases new area assignments.
https://www.ldsliving.com/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-22-church-areas-and-the-work-of-area-presidencies/s/94294
Thank you for that clarification. The Eurasian Area was not created due to the Russia/Ukraine war. Are you perhaps thinking of Ukraine & Moldova not being directly assigned to a Church area? Because I believe the Church cited the conflict as the reasons n for that separate arrangement.
The Church did not, however, indicate that the creation of the Canada Area was due to the trade war between the US & Canada. In fact, the creation of the Canada Area was announced two full months before the US presidency changed hands, and it was only a month or two after that that the trade war started. The creation of the Canada Area was cited as simply a division of what had been the North America Central, North America Northeast, and North America West Areas, all of which are rather large even after that split, in view of the numbers you yourself cited here. Best not to read more into this than what the Church actually stated.
13 areas were created in 1984. I don't have the original list.
Since the list of 15 areas below (~37 years ago), there's one less area in Utah and no longer the NA NW area. The former North America Areas no longer extend outside the United States (with a couple of minor exceptions). Canada is now its own area. The Caribbean and Guianas is no longer part of North America Southeast. Central America and Mexico are now separate areas. South America's areas are generally the same. The Europe Area is now roughly six. Asia area is now roughly four. The Pacific Area is essentially the same.
Area boundaries are still governed by mission boundaries. In 1984, only parts of the world with missions had areas, now areas cover all parts of the world (except Antarctica is not included on the map).
First list of areas I could find ~ 1988 when there were 15:
Utah North
Utah South
North America Northwest
North America West
North America Central
North America Northeast
North America Southwest
North America Southeast
Mexico/Central America
South America North
Brazil
South America South
Europe (included Africa)
Asia
Pacific
David, I did a little digging on my end and looked through all of the Ensign magazines of the Church in 1984 for news of the areas in question. I found the announcement in the "News of the Church" section in August 1984.
According to that, the areas (and what was assigned to them) was as follows:
—Europe (Europe, British Isles, Africa)
—Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Hawaii)
—Asia (Japan, Philippines, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Thailand, India, Indonesia)
—Mexico and Central America (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua)
—South America North (Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia)
—South America South (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay)
And seven North American Areas were:
—North America Northeast (Northeast, Canada East, Midwest, Canada Central, North Central)
—North America Southeast (South Central, Caribbean, Southeast)
—North American Northwest (Northern Plains, Northwest, Idaho, British Columbia, Alberta)
—Salt Lake City North (Northern Utah, Ogden, Salt Lake City)
—Salt Lake City South (Granger, Murray, Provo)
—North America Southwest (Southern Plains, Arizona, Nevada, Southern Utah)
—North America West (Southern California, Northern California)
So the first areas were far less specific and covered more regions than they usually do today. I assume (but have not been able to verify) that area maps were included in the announcement of areas so there was no confusion about which regions were which.
It also seems that some prophets were more inclined to create new areas than others who preferred to keep the status quo. Thanks for refreshing my memory around the timing of the split of the European areas in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I had forgotten it was that long ago and somehow thought it was more recent.
We did seemingly see an unofficial acknowledgement by the Church that Ukraine and Moldova are no longer separately administered in this year's mission leadership assignments, which shows the Ukraine/Moldova Mission listed under the Europe North Area, when it had, in 2022, been separately administered. but does not seem to be so now.
As far as the new area in Canada, it had little to nothing to do with the US trade war and was instead created "to better provide leadership and support for all Church members in Canada." I don't read into that that the trade war had anything to do with it, and unless I am misremembering reports of the trade war in question, that didn't start until sometime this year, and the Canada Area was, as noted, announced in December 2024, and had been in the works for months before that.
Hope this additional information is insightful.
The stake center being built next to the Fort Worth Temple in Burleson Texas looks complete but i’m told it will not be used by the stake until after the temple dedication (Other than during the open house i’m assuming). It should be dedicated sometime next year.
The South America South Area is the sane as it was when created, and the Utah area covers what was 2 in 1984. The US West covers a good chunk of 1984 North America Northwest, but so does the US Central. Canada complicates North America but most if the rest has changed little. Europe covered what is now 7 areas, the most, but MENA and Eurasia are the two smallest. Africa has had the highest percentage in membership growth. The Caribbean area broke off from what is now the US Southeast.
The move of Hawaii out of Pacific is significant.
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