Temple Site Possibilities: Europe East Area

Hello again, everyone! I am continuing my series of posts on potential future temple prospects, and this post will discuss the current and potential future temples in the Europe East Area of the Church. Again, I have no desire whatsoever to cut off or end the discussion of possibilities in previous areas; I very much hope that will continue. But I wanted to open up for discussion my thoughts on this area as well.

The Europe East Area contains the following countries: Armenia, Azerbajan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The Church does not yet have a significant presence in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Additionally, while the members of the Church living in Belarus are very steadfast, the Church has not seen much growth in that region. In Bulgaria, the Church only has one mission, and 9 branches that are administered by that mission. There is only 1 district (comprised of 4 branches) in Estonia. The Church in the Eastern European country of Georgia only has 2 congregations, both branches, and there are also just 2 branches of the Church in Kazakhstan.

The Church's presence is slightly stronger in Latvia, where 5 branches operate. There are also 5 branches in Lithuania, and the Church is strong enough there that those units are organized into the Vilnius Lithuania district. The interesting thing about Vilnius is that Elder Ballard proposed a temple there in May 1993. Obviously, that will not happen until the Church is more established there, but that is something to look forward to perhaps within the next 30-50 years, if not sooner. And finally, Turkey has 1 mission (called the Central Eurasian Mission), and 8 branches.

Having summarized the situation of the countries in this area with a small or nonexistent Church presence, I can now move on to discuss the one temple in the Europe East Area. That is the Kyiv Ukraine Temple, and its district covers the 3 stakes and 16 districts scattered throughout Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, and Romania. Since the dedication of the Kyiv Temple in 2010, only 6 districts have been established. That said, the Moscow Russia district was upgraded to a stake in June 2011, and the Saratov Russia district was upgraded to a stake just 2 years ago this month.

With all of that in mind, I wanted to note that, as recently as the beginning of this week, I did not have any potential candidate cities from this area for a future temple. But as I did more research on all of that, I added one very likely possibility to my list: Moscow Russia.

I added that location for a few reasons. First, there are 6 missions in Russia, along with 3 stakes and 9 districts, which further break down into 17 wards and 83 branches. Anywhere the Church has a minimum of 100 congregations (which is the exact number in Russia), there is reason to look at a temple.

Next, with Moscow being located more than twice the 200 mile goal President Monson has set for Church membership worldwide (it is 536.5 miles exactly from Kyiv), Russia qualifies by that metric. But perhaps most significantly, Russia ranks as the 4th of the top ten nations in the world with the strongest Church presence that does not yet have a temple in any phase. For all of these reasons, I think a Moscow temple may be announced very soon.

Having shared these thoughts, I want to hear from you. How did I do? Did I overlook any other possibilities in this area? What are your feelings on Moscow's chances of getting a temple? It's your turn to sound off in the comments below.

That does it for this post. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.