Seven new missions created
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With the announcement of 129 new mission presidents and their assignments by the First Presidency this year comes the creation of seven new missions and the consolidation of five others. The number of missionaries in many other missions worldwide is also being adjusted. Changes become effective July 1. More information on these changes and maps will be included in next week's Church News.
The new missions are: Cape Verde Praia, Nigeria Ibadan, Nigeria Uyo, Colorado Colorado Springs, Washington Kennewick, Arizona Mesa and Texas Lubbock.
Missions being combined with other missions include: Austria Vienna, Netherlands Amsterdam, England Bristol, Italy Padova and Portugal Lisbon North. These changes bring the total number of operating missions to 335.
Also, the name of the Lithuania Vilnius Mission is being changed to the Baltic Mission. The Baltic Mission is headquartered in Riga, Latvia, and includes the countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"These mission changes reflect a desire to better use missionary resources as we continue to take the gospel to the nations of the earth," said Elder Charles Didier of the Presidency of the Seventy and executive director of the Missionary Department.
"One of the important considerations in combining missions was how many missionaries were serving in each ward and branch. Some Church units have too many missionaries, others not enough. The intent is to spread missionaries more evenly in the wards and branches."
Among the newly organized missions, the Cape Verde Praia Mission, off the coast of western Africa, is being created from the Portugal Lisbon South Mission.
Two of the three missions in Nigeria are being divided to create two new missions, creating five missions in total. The Nigeria Ibadan and Nigeria Uyo missions are being organized from the Nigeria Lagos and Nigeria Port Harcourt missions.
"The two new missions in Nigeria reflect the continuing growth of the Church in that nation and will allow us to give leadership to the increasing number of West Africans now serving missions in Nigeria," said Elder Didier.
The Colorado Colorado Springs Mission is being created from Colorado Denver North and Colorado Denver South missions.
The Washington Kennewick Mission is being created from the Oregon Portland, Oregon Eugene and Washington Spokane missions.
The Arizona Mesa Mission is being formed out of the Arizona Phoenix, Arizona Tempe and New Mexico Albuquerque missions.
The Texas Lubbock Mission is being created from the Texas Dallas, Texas Fort Worth, Texas San Antonio and Arizona Tucson missions.
"In a couple of instances, missions from neighboring countries are being combined together," said Elder Didier. "There is no intent or desire to diminish our missionary activity in either country. Each nation involved will still have missionaries speaking the same languages they have been speaking. The only change will be a mission office headquartered in one city instead of two."
Among the missions being combined is the Austria Vienna Mission which will become part of the Germany Munich Mission to create the Germany Munich/Austria Mission.
The Netherlands Amsterdam Mission is being realigned with the Switzerland Geneva and Belgium Brussels missions to form two missions, the Belgium Brussels/Netherlands Mission and the Switzerland Geneva Mission. Because of the change in the mission headquarters, the Netherlands will be realigned with the Europe West Area from the Europe Central Area.
The England Bristol Mission will be realigned with the England Birmingham, England London and England London South missions.
The Italy Padova Mission will be combined with Italy Milan and Italy Rome missions.
Much of the Portugal Lisbon North Mission is being combined with the Portugal Lisbon South Mission to create the Portugal Lisbon Mission. A portion of the former Lisbon North mission is being realigned with the Portugal Porto Mission.
"President Gordon B. Hinckley a few years ago in general conference spoke of the future of this work," said Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve and chairman of the Missionary Executive Council. "President Hinckley said that 'if we will go forward, never losing sight of our goal, speaking ill of no one, living the great principles we know to be true, this cause will roll on in majesty and power to fill the earth.' (Ensign, Nov. 1977, 68.) We are going forward, and the work is rolling on, and these new missions demonstrate our response to that growth."
E-mail: shaun@desnews.com
