Other posts discussing this area will follow either in the early hours of the 21st or else will be put up tomorrow afternoon. This post will serve as an overview of this area, then I will do a second post discussing the current 10 temples already operating within the boundaries of this area, and cap it off with a third discussing the temple prospects I see within this area.
If the posts start to be too cumbersome in their length and breadth, I may wind up subdividing them further, but for now, I am just planning on three posts to cover this area. That said, let's dive right in to the discussion of the countries, nations, and territories comprising this area.
The Pacific Area, as some of you may already be aware, comprises 20 main regions, referred to as nations or islands. They are as follows: Australia; Fiji; Kiribati; Marshall Islands; Nauru; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Samoa; Solomon Islands; Tonga; Tuvalu; Vanuatu; American Samoa (a territory owned by the US); Cook Islands (a free associate of New Zealand).
The French Polynesian region comprises the bulk of the remaining islands that are part of the Pacific Area, and the Church has a presence in the following regions from among those islands: the French-owned island nations of Tahiti and New Caledonia, Niue (an island in New Zealand that recognizes itself as belonging to Great Britain's monarchy), and Tokelau, which is essentially defined by its locals and the government of New Zealand as a nation, though the UN declared in 2007 that it was a non-self governing territory. For purposes of simplification, I will only be focusing in this series on those regions covered by a temple district.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. I will be back (probably tomorrow) with the remaining posts discussing the current and potential future temples within this area. 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.
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In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.
And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.