Temple Site Possibilities: South America Northwest Area, Part Three--Composition of Current Temple Districts

Hello again, everyone! I am back with my third of four posts covering the South America Northwest Area. In this post, I will be discussing the composition of the current temple districts, detailing how many stakes and districts are served by each. Let's get right to it.

First of all, to me, it makes sense to approach this subject methodically, So we will start with the Arequipa, Lima, Los Olivos and Trujillo Peru temples, then turn our attention to the Barranquilla and Bogota Colombia Temples, followed by the Guayaquil and Quito Ecuador Temples, then finish with the Caracas Venezuela and Cochabama Bolivia Temples.

Starting in Peru and working chronologically, we first take a look at the Lima Peru Temple. That district currently comprises 73 stakes and 11 districts from Central and Southern Peru and the Peruvian Amazons. The temple district will be broken up somewhat when the Arequipa Peru Temple is dedicated, and will be further divided once the Los Olivos Temple is constructed and dedicated. It will be most interesting to see how those divisions occur.In the meantime, the Trujillo temple district, by comparison, is much smaller, as it takes in 25 stakes and 8 districts from the northern part of Peru.

The Bogota Colombia Temple takes in 28 stakes and 10 districts within Colombia, and that district will be divided once the Barranquilla Colombia Temple is dedicated (which is, as previously noted, anticipated to occur late next year). Again, it will be interesting, to be sure, to see how that division plays out.

As for Ecuador, the temple in Guayaquil serves the Saints in 39 stakes and 1 district from Ecuador, in addition to 1 stake and 1 district from the southwestern portion of Colombia. With the Quito temple anticipated to divide that district somewhat, it will be interesting to see what happens in that regard.

We now come to Caracas Venezuela, where the temple in that city serves 34 stakes and 6 districts. Again, the subject of whether or not an additional temple could be built in this nation to more evenly disperse those stakes and districts will be discussed in my next post.

And that brings us to the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple, which serves 32 stakes and 8 districts in Bolivia, in addition to 3 other stakes from southeastern Peru. That district is not perhaps as much in need of a split, but I will address if and how I feel that could happen in the next post.

As this wraps up my examination of the current districts within the South America Northwest 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 come shortly and will discuss my thoughts about potential future temple locations, which will wrap up my discussion of this area), 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: Temple Site Possibilities: South America Northwest Area, Part Two--Overview of Church Units and Temple History

Hello again, everyone! As I advised you all that I might do, I have changed my thinking since putting the last post up, and I now believe it will be more effective for my purposes to focus this post on how many units this area covers within the five countries which fall within those areas (which again are Bolivia, Colombia,Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela), as well as a review of the history of the six temples operating.

 That in turn will be followed by a third post focusing on the size of the current temple districts, and a fourth post capping off my coverage of this area will explore the possible future locations for which I have felt a temple will be announced in the near future.

With that said, I would like to pass along to you the information I have been able to gather about the number of missions, stakes, districts, and congregations (wards and branches) within each of these 5 countries that comprise this area. We will be discussing those 5 in the same order I listed above.

So, let's start with Bolivia. The one temple in that nation was dedicated on April 30, 2000 as the 82nd operating temple of the Church. President Gordon B. Hinckley, under whose leadership so many smaller temples were built starting in 1997 (and to some degree is still continuing in areas where it is more practical to have a smaller edifice), presided at the dedicatory services for the temple.

Bolivia has five missions within its boundaries: two each in La Paz and Santa Cruz, and 1 in Cochabamba, where, as noted, the only temple currently serving that nation is located In terms of congregational numbers, Bolivia has 32 stakes and 8 districts, which in turn comprise 187 wards and 68 branches, for a total of 255 congregations. As noted, I will go into specifics about the Cochabamba district in my next post.

Turning our attention now to Colombia, the temple in Bogota became the 57th operating temple in the Church when it was dedicated by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley during a three day period spanning April 24-26, 2000. The nation is also the home of 5 missions of the Church, 2 of which are located in Bogota, with the other three in Barranquilla, Cali, and Medellin.

In terms of congregations, there are currently 29 stakes and 11 districts which are further divided into 169 wards and 82 branches. Because the total number of congregations currently stands at 251, it is easy to see why the Church is building a second temple for the nation in Barranquilla. If we divide that number of congregations between the two, each temple would serve 125-126 congregations. That will be a better scenario for the Saints in Colombia, but is there a reason to believe the Church could announce another temple or two for Colombia in the near future? That will be explored in more detail in my final post for this area.

We now move on to Ecuador. As noted in the previous post, the one operating temple in that area had a 14-year wait between its announced and subsequent groundbreaking, one of the largest such time periods in Church history. The one good thing about that is that, once the groundbreaking occurred, the temple was constructed fairly quickly, and it was dedicated during August 1-2, 1999, again by President Gordon B. Hinckley, making it the 58th operating temple of the Church.

As for the number of Church units, the Church in Ecuador has five operating at the moment, 3 of which are based in Guayaquil, with the other two in Quito. With 39 stakes and 9 districts, the congregational tally, including 236 wards and 67 branches, comes to a grand total of 303. Once the temple in Quito is built and dedicated, between the two, the congregational average for each temple will be 151-152. In my final post covering this area, I will offer my thoughts regarding whether or not Ecuador needs another temple.

For now, we turn our attention to Peru. As noted in my previous post, the Church has temples in operation in Lima and Trujillo. The first was dedicated as the 38th operating temple of the Church between January 10-12, 1986, and President Gordon B. Hinckley presided at this dedication as well.  The interesting thing with that dedication is that President Hinckley had been asked by President Kimball to preside over the services prior to President Kimball's death on November 5, 1985. When President Benson succeeded President Kimball as prophet 5 days after the latter's passing, the new Church president allowed President Hinckley to fill that last assignment from his prophetic predecessor.

It was not until June 21, 2015 (almost 30 years after the Lima dedication) that the second Peruvian temple was dedicated in Trujillo. By that time, President Monson was not able to preside at temple dedications, so he assigned President Uchtdorf to preside at that temple's dedication.  It became the Church's 147th operating temple.

In addition, a third temple for Peru is under construction in Arequipa, and will either be dedicated during late 2019 or early 2020. Also as noted in the previous post, the Los Olivos temple was announced last year to help serve the Saints in Lima, which is the Peruvian capital city, and if all goes well, a site announcement and groundbreaking may occur within the first half of next year.

Peru's four temples aside, the nation has 13 operating missions serving its people, 5 of which are in Lima, with 2 others in Trujillo, and 1 each in Arequipa, Chiclayo, Cusco, Huancayo, Iquitos, and Piura. Additionally, Peru has 101 stakes and 19 districts, which are further divided into 618 wards and 129 branches, for a total of 747 congregations. If we divide that number by the 4 temples, then each covers an average number of 186-187 congregations. Could we see another temple in Peru? I will discuss that more fully in my final post covering this area.

We now come in our discussion to Venezuela, the last nation alphabetically in this area. When its only temple was dedicated on August 20, 2000 by President Hinckley, it became the 96th in operation worldwide. Home to four missions of the Church (which are located in Barcelona, Caracas, Maracaibo and Valencia), there are currently 34 stakes and 6 districts within that nation. Its congregations, which include 195 wards and 51 branches, total 246 in number. Since that is a large district, could the Church split it with a second temple to serve the nation? More on that in my final post for this area.

Having discussed all of this, the next task will be to go into specifics about the 6 temples which currently serve the district. Since that is a discussion requiring its own post, that does it for this one. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. 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: Temple Site Possibilities: South America Northwest Area, Part One--Area and Temple Overview

Hello again, everyone! While I am not anticipating many views for my blog during the next two or three days, since my wife and I will be spending our 7th Christmas together stuck at home with illness, I have time to continue my series of posts about potential temples. As we begin the discussion of the final five areas of the Church which I have not covered, we come to the two other areas of the Church in South America.

As most of you are likely aware, South America is another substantially-sized continent, and, as such, the countries within it cover large areas. The Church has established three of its areas to cover the nations in South America. Since we have covered the first of those earlier on in this series, (the nation of Brazil is sizable enough and has enough of a Church presence that it is its' own area), that leaves us with the South America Northwest and South America South areas, which cover the remaining nations of that continent.

The next several posts I will do in this series will explore the first of those, the South America Northwest Area. My current plan in beginning the coverage of this area is to do three posts for it; this first one will provide an overview of this area and the temples in it. That will be followed by a second post for this area, in which I will share a history of the dedications of those temples and the composition of each of those districts, and my third and final post for this area will be discussing the potential locations for which I have felt that the Church could announce new temples. If it turns out that I need to do more than the three posts, I will be sure to let you know of any additional ones that are necessary. With that said, let's get right into it.

The Church's South America Northwest Area covers the nations of Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. In terms of temples, this area has 10 temples in various stages: 6 in operation (including the Bogota Colombia, Caracas Venezuela, Cochabama Bolivia, Guayaquil Ecuador, and, in Peru, the Lima and Trujillo Temples.

Two others are currently under construction in Barranquilla Colombia (which is anticipated to be dedicated during the 4th quarter of 2018) and Arequipa Peru (which may either be dedicated in late 2019 or early 2020).

And the final two temples in this area were both announced in April 2016 for Quito Ecuador and Lima Peru (which, as we know, will be the second temple in that city, and will be known as the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple).

While there has been no indication of a site announcement or groundbreaking date for either temple, we do know that the contractor for the latter said in March of this year that it would take a year of preliminary planning for the site before a groundbreaking could take place.

This means that we could see that temple have a site announced and a groundbreaking within the first half of 2018. Speaking optimistically, I believe that will happen sooner rather than later. As for the Quito Ecuador Temple, while I don't know exactly when we might see progress there, I do not believe that this second Ecuadoran temple will be subject to anywhere near the 14-year delay that occurred between the site announcement and groundbreaking for the first temple in that nation (which was built in Guayaquil).

This wraps up my introduction to this area and the current and future temples that serve the Saints within its boundaries, so 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 come later today), I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.