With a welcome of drums and dancers, Pacific Area President, Elder Peter F. Meurs, and Area Seventy, Elder Robert Simpson, recently formed the first new stake in Papua New Guinea in over a decade.
On 23 September, Saints in the northwest coastal city of Madang celebrated the creation of the Madang Stake from the former Madang District. The Pacific nation’s newest stake has five wards (congregations) and is growing rapidly through the efforts of Church leaders, members, and full-time missionaries.
The first stake in Papua New Guinea was created in the nation’s capital of Port Moresby in 1994. The next stake followed in 2011, in the western Papua New Guinea city of Daru, near the nation’s border with Indonesia.
Now, 13 years later, Madang joins Port Moresby and Daru as Papua New Guinea’s only stakes. The rest of the Papua New Guinea’s 37,000 Saints gather and worship in 11 districts.
A Saturday afternoon leadership meeting was held for Madang branch and district leaders.
The conference was held adjacent to the ward meetinghouse under several tents—one for the speakers on an elevated portion of land, and the rest under broad tents to offer shade to the roughly 1,000 attendees. The newly called Madang stake president, Nyman Hota, said that “creating this stake at this time is a manifestation of the Saviour’s love. It will help more of our members receive the blessing of the temple.”
Members of the Church from across the Pacific Area can receive assistance to visit operating temples to receive ordinances and make covenants for themselves in temples. Thousands of members from Papua New Guinea and other nations have travelled to temples in Hamilton, Suva, Nuku’alofa, and Sydney to receive blessings only available in the house of the Lord (temple). Receiving these blessings now is helping Church members prepare for the additional blessings that will come when the Port Moresby temple opens in the coming years.
Once the temple is completed and dedicated, many more Madang Saints will be able to make the relatively short trip to Port Moresby to make holy covenants with the Lord.
The two days of meetings that culminated in the creation of the new stake were attended by over 1,000 Church members. President Meurs, Elder Simpson and others provided counsel and training, and hundreds attended a cultural dance festival on Saturday evening featuring local youth.
The stake was formally created during the Sunday morning conference session. A highlight of the meeting was a group of primary and youth singing “I Love to See the Temple.” (See video clip below.)
Following the Sunday morning meeting when the new stake was created, hundreds stood in line under the tropical sun to shake hands with Elder Meurs and Elder Simpson.
Afterwards, Elder Meurs offered praise for the newly called leaders, and the members who will support them.
“As we interviewed the district leaders in preparation for our prayerful selection of a stake president, we were amazed at the depth of their testimonies, their understanding and commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, their understanding of how priesthood works to bless their families, their love of the temple—this is as good a set of members as you will ever meet.”
Elder Meurs sees a bright future ahead for the saints in Madang.
“We’re just so excited to see their potential. And that’s the people of Papua New Guinea—their amazing natural capabilities, love for the Lord, and a real desire to improve spiritually and temporally. The Church of Jesus Christ will bless this nation as it continues to grow incredibly and as we bring people to Christ.”
