I have updated my temple prediction map in preparation for General Conference in October. The size of the Church in a specific geographical area (i.e. number of stakes and districts, the number of wards and branches), the age of the oldest stake in a specific geographical area, church growth trends, the distance to the nearest temple, traffic/transportation, the square-footage of the nearest temple, the historical number of weekly endowment sessions scheduled at the nearest temple, and member and missionary reports regarding member activity, temple attendance, and convert retention are variabl ..read more

At the end of July, the Church announced that it had received government recognition in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is the most populous of the three Caucasus nations with 10.6 million people - more than the combined populations of neighboring Armenia and Georgia where the Church has maintained an official presence for decades. The Azerbaijani population is homogeneously Muslim (97.3%), and there is a small number of Christians in the country (2.6%) who are concentrated in urban areas, particularly Baku. The Church operated a small branch in Azerbaijani capital city of Baku during much of the 2010s ..read more

Kenya A new stake was created in Kenya on July 14th. The Kyulu Kenya Stake was organized from the Kyulu Kenya District (organized in 1992). Information on which of the 10 branches in the district became wards remains unavailable. Notwithstanding its rural location, the Kyulu area was one of the first locations to have an official Church presence established in Kenya. Villages with branches in the Kyulu Hills generally have populations of less than 5,000 people (the largest urban centers with an official congregation are Madinku [branch organized in 2023)] and Mtito Andei [branch organized in 2 ..read more

Before I got through the country-by-country updates, I wanted to point out that there have been at least 28 stakes created in 2024 thus far which was four more stakes than were created during the first half of 2023. This is a significant accomplishment considering the increased standards for the creation of new stakes that went into effect January 1st, 2024. Moreover, there have been at least 14 new districts organized thus far in 2024 - approximately twice the number of districts created for the entire year for 2023 (7) as well as during previous years spanning 2020-2022. This development sug ..read more

Yesterday, the Church announced that an official missionary training center (MTC) will open in August 2024 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) to train missionaries in French destined to serve in this region of Africa. Although the Church has previously operated an unofficial MTC in Kinshasa for a couple of years, the new MTC will be housed in a new building with capacity of up to 200 missionaries at a time. This MTC marks the third MTC in Africa following MTCs in Accra, Ghana and Johannesburg, South Africa. The announcement of the new MTC comes at a time when the Church h ..read more

With many new stakes organized in the United States recently, the Church surpassed 1,700 stakes in the United States for the first time. As of this post, there were 1,705 stakes and 8 districts in the United States. Utah  Five new stakes were created in Utah. The Salt Lake Utah Central Stake (Tongan) was organized in May 19th from the Salt Lake Utah West Stake (Tongan) which was organized in 2019. The new stake includes the following seven wards: the Kearns 9th, the Kearns 13th, the Midvale 14th, the Oquirrh 11th, the Taylorsville 5th, the Taylorsville 6th, and the West Jordan 8th Wards ..read more

The Church organized its first stake in the African nation of Malawi on June 2nd. The Lilongwe Malawi Stake was organized from the Lilongwe Malawi District. All seven branches in the original district were reorganized into wards. Moreover, a new branch was also created when the new stake was organized. The new stake is comprised of the following congregations: the Kalambo 1st, the Kalambo 2nd, the Kawale, the Kasungu 1st, the Kasungu 2nd, and the Presidential Way Wards, and the Chinsapo Branch.  The Church has had struggles for many years in Malawi with member retention and leadership dev ..read more

The Church recently completed its Tshiluba translation of the Book of Mormon that can be accessed here. Tshiluba is the primary language spoke in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo - an area that has experienced some of the most impressive growth in the Church. Tshiluba is spoken by approximately 6-7 million people ..read more

Today, the Church reinstated the Juba Branch in South Sudan. The Juba Branch was initially organized in November of 2009, but the branch closed in 2013 due to civil war and political instability. A member group operated in Juba prior to the reinstatement of the new branch. The new branch is under the direct supervision of the Uganda Kampala Mission. The population of South Sudan is approximately 11-13 million people. So far, there do not appear to be plans to assign full-time missionaries to South Sudan. Prospects for rapid growth appeared favorable in the late 2000s prior to independence. At ..read more

The West African country of Guinea-Bissau was recently assigned to the Cape Verde Praia Mission. This marks the first time that Guinea-Bissau has been assigned to a mission, as the country has been under the administration of the Africa West Area through the Africa West Area Branch for many years. Guinea-Bissau has a population of approximately 2.2 million. Muslims constitute half of the population, whereas Christians and followers of folk religions comprise most of the other half of the population. The Church reported 45 Latter-day Saints in Guinea-Bissau as of year-end 2013, but there has ne ..read more