Quote:
Originally Posted by Indy Coug
So how is the church doing there? How many members? How many baptisms per year? Any stakes yet?
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First LDS missionaries were sent there when Mada was part of the Durban, South Africa mission in the 1990's. Rumor has it that the mission president there used the island as something of an Alcatraz for his less obedient elders. Apparently the missionaries spent a lot of time in the wealthier natives' pools, and two elder died racing a train to the crossing in their car. Other details I'm more sketchy on.
In 1998 the Antananarivo, Madagascar mission was created. In 2000 a stake was created. Early direction from the Area Presidency kept all the missionaries in the capital city of Antananarivo. The months leading up to the stake creation recorded around 1200 baptisms. Later research showed that of these 1200 members, only around 200 were still active.
When I first arrived, there were 70+ missionaries in the capital city which had around 1.5 million residents.
When I left, there were 6 wards and 4 branches in the stake. The work was going fairly well... the mission probably averaged 80 baptisms a month or so for 20 companionships.
About six months before I left they started sending missionaries to other cities on the island and as far as I know they have elders in Tamatave (on the eastern coast) and Antsirabe (90 miles south of Tana) now.