Temple Site Possibilities: Pacific Area, Part Six--Potential Future Temples in American Samoa and Tonga; Area Wrap-Up

Hello again, everyone! I am back yet again with my sixth and final post about the Pacific Area to share my rationale behind supporting the idea of temples for Pago Pago American Samoa and Neiafu Vava'u Tonga. So let's dive right in and discuss those prospects, for which I provide some context.

First, for Pago Pago,, that was a recently added location which I put on my list primarily for two reasons. The most important one is that American Samoa ranks as the 7th of the top ten nations in the world that have the strongest Church presence but have not yet received a temple. Additionally, the Saints in American Samoa currently travel to the temple in Apia, which is 76.2 miles away. While that is not an inordinate distance by any means, it makes sense toa me that a temple could (and probably will) be announced sooner rather than later for this nation.


As for Neiafu Vava'u, the Saints in that part of Tonga currently journey 189 miles to get to their assigned temple in Nuku'alofa. While that is slightly below the 200 mile goal set by President Monson, it is close enough to it to make the idea of a temple there supportable.

Additionally, a second temple in Tonga would serve, at minimum, serve the four stakes in Neiafu Vava'u, and likely some in the surrounding region. But the biggest reason I see for a potential second temple to serve the Tongan Saints, the strongest reason is that the current district serves the 21 stakes and 2 districts based in Tonga, which further break down into 136 wards and 32 branches, or a total of 170 congregations. That is a lot for a single temple district.

With that said, this concludes not only my posts about future temple prospects within the Pacific Area, but also my coverage of the area as a whole. So that does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, especially to let me know about anything I missed or have not considered over these last six posts on 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 evevrything you do.

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.