Temple Site Possibilities: Pacific Area, Part Five--Rationale Supporting the Idea of a Temple in Port Moresby Papua New Guine

Hello again, everyone! I am back yet again, with my rationale for supporting the idea of a temple in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea. Aside from being another location for which the Church has reportedly had land set aside for an announcement when it is warranted, I also wanted to note that New Guinea comes in as the second in the current top ten list of those countries with the strongest Church presence that do not have a temple.

Additionally, it would appear that a temple in that area would, at minimum, take away from the Suva Fiji district those 2 missions in New Guinea (the first of which was established in the Papua region), along with the 2 stakes and 12 districts of the Church in New Guinea, which make up 10 wards and 70 branches, or 80 congregations, along with the one district (made up of 5 branches) based in the Solomon Islands.

That in turn would leave the Suva Temple district with the 4 stakes and 3 districts in Fiji, the 2 stakes and 1 district in Kiribati, and the 1 stake and 3 districts based in Vanuatu. Some have advanced the idea of a temple for Kiribati, and I have it on my list for the distant future (since it qualifies based on its mileage from Suva, and also as the fifth of the same top ten nations with the strongest Church presence but without a temple), but I don't see that happening as soon as some might think. As my study of foture temple prospects continues to evolve, I will be sure to post any updates that would lead me to add it as a more imminent possibility.

So that is the summation of my reasoning behind the selection of Port Moresby Papua New Guinea on my list of future temples. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. 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.

Temple Site Possibilities: Pacific Area, Part Four--Overview of Temple Prospects and Exploration of Reasons for a Second Temple in New Zealand

Hello again, everyone! I am back yet again to wrap up my coverage of the Pacific Area by discussing the future temple prospects I see in the near future for this area. After providing the list of my personal picks, I will be commenting on the reasons for my selections of each. Let's get right to it.

I believe temples may be announced in the near future for the following locations (listed in order of likellihood): Auckland New Zealand, Port Moresby Papua New Guinea, Pago Pago American Samoa, and Neiafu Vava'u Tonga. Subsequent posts will explore the other possibilities on this list, but in this post, I wanted to focus on my reasoning for the selection of Auckland.

First, Auckland New Zealand has a couple of factors in its favor for a temple. The one temple in New Zealand serves the 3 missions, 30 stakes and 2 districts in New Zealand, which break down further into 173 wards and 51 branches, or a total of 224 congregations.

Auckland also has the best chances to be the location of the second New Zealand temple for two reasons. I got a tip about a year ago that the Church has held land in reserve for a temple in Auckland for several years. Auckland was also the city out of which the first mission in New Zealand was established.

Additionally, while the distance to their assigned temple is less than half of the 200 mile goal President Monson has set (being just 77.5 miles away from it), the size of the current district is compelling enough to venture an opinion that an Auckland temple is just a matter of time.

And a potential temple in Auckland would, at minimum take in the 13 stakes based in Auckland, which break down into 85 wards and 2 branches, for a total of 87 congregations at minimum. And since I don't know much about geography generally or that of New Zealand in particular, I would imagine that an Auckland temple would serve other congregations in the surrounding regions, which would split the Hamilton temple district roughly in half.

So that is the reasoning behind my selection of Auckland. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. 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.

Temple Site Possibilities: Pacific Area, Part Three--Composition of Current Temple Districts

Hello again, everyone! Having set the background information about the Pacific Area in general and the history of its 10 temples, we now shift our focus to a discussion of the composition of each of those 10 temple districts. As I did in the previous post, I will start that discussion by covering the 5 Australia temples in their chronological order, followed by a discussion of the other 5 temples in their chronological order. So let's get right into all of that.

With the dedication of the other four temples in Australia, that leaves the district of its first dedicated temple (in Sydney) with 12 stakes and 3 districts from the New South Wales region. Not a large district by any means. The second Australian temple (in Adelaide), now has 3 stakes from South Australia and the district located in Australia's northern territory. Neither of these districts seem likely to split.

The district of the third temple (in Melbourne), serves the regions known as Victoria and Tasmania, with the former having 8 stakes and 1 district and the latter having 2 stakes. With that district only covering 10 stakes and 1 district total, it is not likely to split anytime either.

The Perth Australia Temple district is likewise small, having only 4 stakes, all based in Perth (which are located in Western Australia). And the final temple in Australia is the one Brisbane, which serves the 11 stakes and 3 districts in Australia's Queensland region.

With these districts seeming to be fairly manageable in size, I don't see much need to split any of them. But if there is a potential for any additional temples to serve the Saints in Australia, let me know. The driving factor would likely be the distance from each stake to their currently assigned temple, which I don't have the time to calculate currently.

We now move on to the other five temple districts within the Pacific Area. The Hamilton New Zealand Temple is substantially larger and therefore likely to split, as it takes in 30 stakes and 2 districts located in New Zealand, as well as the 1 stake in New Caledonia. I will be offering my thoughts about how that district could be split in my next post.

Coming to the Apia Samoa Temple, its district is also quite substantially sized, as it covers 20 stakes in Samoa, and 5 others in American Samoa. I have a temple prospect in mind that would split this district as well.

Another large temple district for which I have a prospect in mind would split the Nuku'alofa Tonga Temple district, which is currently comprised of Tonga's 21 stakes and 2 districts. Next I wanted to note that the temple in Papeete Tahiti has another small district, with 9 stakes and 3 districts in French Polynesia, and 1 additional district located in the Cook Island region.

And rounding out the discussion of the current temple districts, we note that the Suva Fiji Temple district is also a large one that is likely to split as well. It is currently composed of 4 stakes and 3 districts in Fiji, 2 stakes and 12 districts in New Guinea, 2 stakes and 1 district in Kiribati, 1 stake and 3 districts in Vanuatu, and the 1 district in the Solomon Islands. The grand total for this temple district comes to 9 stakes and 20 districts, which is large any way it's considered.

So there you have it, a look at the composition of the 10 temple districts currently within the Pacific Area. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post (which should be up in the next half hour or so, covering the specifics of the future temple prospects I referenced above), I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.