Facts and Statistics

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    French Polynesia

    30,022

    Total Church Membership

    1-in-

    11

    Stakes

    10

    94

    Congregations

    74 Wards
    20 Branches

    30

    Family History Centers

    30

    1

    Temples

    1

    Missions

    History

    In May 1843, thirteen years after the Church was organized in the United States, four men were sent by Joseph Smith to be missionaries in the islands of the Pacific. Addison Pratt, Noah Rogers, and Benjamin F. Grouard endured great hardship for six months on the whaling ship Timoleon, bound for the Society Islands, now part of French Polynesia. Knowlton F. Hanks died at sea. Pratt started alone in the small island of Tubuai, where he baptized 60 people in the first year. He is considered to be the first missionary to a foreign language area in modern Church history. He baptized many people and established a branch (a small congregation).

    Rogers and Grouard went on to Tahiti, arriving at a time when religious freedom had been declared for all. Though they met with many hardships and much opposition from other religions, they were able to proselyte on more than nine islands. With Addison Pratt, who joined them later, they baptized over 1,000 before Elder Pratt's return to Salt Lake in 1848. Elder Pratt came back with his family in 1850. This promising start for the Church was halted when French government restrictions led to the mission being closed in May 1852. This expulsion of the missionaries left the Church in the Pacific islands struggling on its own for many decades.

    Missionaries returning in 1892 started branches again among those who had remained stalwart, and constructed Church buildings that helped speed the work. Completion of the New Zealand Temple in 1958 was a blessing for the Tahitian Saints, who proved to be faithful attendees.

    On 23 May 1963, in the worst recorded sea disaster for Latter-day Saints in the South Pacific, 15 members of the Maupiti Branch, about 160 miles northwest of Tahiti, lost their lives when the boat in which they were returning from a Church building dedication crashed on the Maupiti reef. Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, then of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, visited the bereaved members to offer solace and comfort.

    In 1964, the Church constructed an elementary school in Tahiti, and in 1972 the Tahiti stake (diocese) was organized. The Papeete Tahiti Temple was dedicated 27 October 1983. Tahiti's second stake was created in 1982, and its third stake in 1990.

    For Journalist Use Only

    Richard Hunter
    New Zealand
    Phone:  64(9)488-5572
    Mobile: 64-21-240-7804

    E-mail: Hunterra@ldschurch.org

    Africa

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    933,511

    Members

    2,927

    Congregations

    Missions

    54Missions

    Family History Centers

    575

    Temples

    6Temples

    Asia

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    1,316,373

    Members

    2,145

    Congregations

    Missions

    51Missions

    Family History Centers

    419

    Temples

    11Temples

    Europe

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    513,534

    Members

    1,290

    Congregations

    Missions

    37Missions

    Family History Centers

    665

    Temples

    14Temples

    North America

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    9,733,719

    Members

    18,426

    Congregations

    Missions

    187Missions

    Family History Centers

    3,106

    Temples

    131Temples

    Oceania (Pacific)

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    607,302

    Members

    1,290

    Congregations

    Missions

    17Missions

    Family History Centers

    321

    Temples

    11Temples

    South America

    Total Church Membership

    Members
    Congregations

    4,392,463

    Members

    5,599

    Congregations

    Missions

    104Missions

    Family History Centers

    1,459

    Temples

    29Temples