Missionaries serving in the Cape Verde Praia Mission report that sometime this month the first stake will be organized in Cape Verde. The new stake will be headquartered in Praia and include the entire island of Santiago. At year-end 2010, Cape Verde was the country with the fifth most members without a stake.
New mission president for Mozambique
Paulo Vicente Kretly, 50, and Adriana Quatel Silva Kretly, four children, Mozambique Maputo Mission; Ferreira Ward, S? Paulo Brazil Ferreira Stake. Brother Kretly serves as a counselor in the Brazil Missionary Training Center and is a former stake president and counselor, bishop and missionary in the Brazil Recife Mission. CEO, FranklinCovey Consulting Brazil. Born in Bauru, S? Paulo, Brazil, to Jo? and Otilia Moreno Kretly.
Sister Kretly serves with her husband in the Brazil MTC as a counselor in the Relief Society presidency. She is a former stake Young Women president, counselor in a stake Primary presidency, counselor in a stake and ward Relief Society presidency, Primary president and seminary teacher. Born in Campinas, S? Paulo, Brazil, to Francisco Pereira Silva Filho and Nilza Maria Quatel.
Read more at LDS Church News.
Two new stakes in Nigeria
Two weeks ago, the Church created two new stakes in Benin City, Nigeria. The Benin City Nigeria Ugbowo and Benin City Nigeria Siluoko Stakes were organized from the Benin City Nigeria New Benin and Benin City Nigeria Ihogbe Stakes. The Benin City Nigeria Ugbowo Stake includes the following eight wards: The Adolor, Edaiken, Evbareke, Eweka, Okhoro, Oluku, Ugbowo 1st, and Ugbowo 2nd Wards and the Benin City Nigeria Siluoko Stake includes the following six wards: The Egor, Ogida, Orominyan, Uwelu 1st, Uwelu 2nd, and Uwelu 3rd Wards.
Read the entire post at LDS Church Growth.
New Area Seventies called
During General Conference this past weekend, several area seventies were called from Africa:
- Edward Dube, 49, Harare, Zimbabwe
- Aniefiok Udo Inyon, 56, Uyo, Nigeria
- L. Jean Claude Mabaya, 51, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
- Adeyinka A. Ojediran, 44, Lagos, Nigeria
- Daniel Yirenya-Tawiah, 45, Tema, Ghana
First district to be created in Cameroon
Missionaries report that this Sunday the first district of the Church in Cameroon will be organized in Yaounde. It is unclear whether the new district will just include the four branches in Yaounde or also the two branches in Douala. The Church has experienced steady growth in Cameroon over the past decade as membership has increased from slightly over 100 to over 1,000 today and from a single branch to six. Currently the Church in Cameroon has the second most members of any country without a stake or district after Botswana.
Prospects appear highly favorable for the organization of a separate LDS mission in Cameroon in the near future, although there have been no formal plans announced by the Church.
New mission in Ghana
The Church recently announced a third mission in Ghana: the Ghana Kumasi Mission. This mission is created from parts of the Cape Coast and Accra missions.
Read more at LDS Church Growth and LDS Church News.
Elder Holland mentions Africa will receive new missions this year
This year Church leaders will create the 3,000th stake in the Church and Africa will see seven or eight new missions, Elder Holland said. But there will still be only 3 members of the First Presidency and 12 Apostles.
also
“Little by little, we’re going to see this continent covered by temples,” he predicted.
Read more at Church News and Events. Also read about some predictions on mission and temple locations.
South African called as new mission president
Leon Arthur Holmes, 58, and Elizabeth Anne Holmes, five children, Rynfield Ward, Benoni South Africa Stake. Brother Holmes serves as a Sunday School teacher and is a former national public affairs director, stake president and counselor, stake mission president and bishop. Director for temporal affairs in the Africa Southeast Area, Corporation of the Presiding Bishop. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, to Arthur James and Irene Carr Holmes.
Sister Holmes, a stake Primary president, is a former ward Primary president and counselor, Relief Society president, counselor in a Young Women presidency, seminary teacher, Cub Scout leader and nursery leader. Born in Oranjemund, Namibia, to Thomas Snowdon and Enrica Maria Redaelli Gibson.
Read more at LDS Church News.
Swiss baptisms planted gospel seed in the Congo
In 2007, 28 years after baptizing a young Congolese couple, Mucioko and Mutombo Banza, in Geneva, Switzerland, Dickson Call and Todd Clement learned that the baptisms had assisted in the establishment of the church in the Congo and the conversions of thousands in the years since. At the time of the baptisms, however, the young missionaries feared the Banza family might never live their newfound religion.
via Swiss baptisms planted gospel seed in the Congo | Deseret News.
Senior missionary couples leave the DR Congo Kinshasa Mission
Due to political instability caused by the recent presidential election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the LDS Church has withdrawn its non-African senior missionary couples serving in the DR Congo in the DR Congo Kinshasa Mission and is currently housing them in Johannesburg, South Africa. Senior missionary couples serving in nearby Cameroon and the Republic of Congo – two nations also part of the DR Congo Kinshasa Mission – appear unaffected. It is unclear whether the mission president has also withdrawn from the country or whether senior missionary couples were withdrawn from the DR Congo Lubumbashi Mission. Almost the entire full-time missionary force is staffed by native Congolese members and it is unclear whether these missionaries are under lock down or continue to proselyte in the Kinshasa area.
Read more at LDS Church Growth