The Vanuatu Port Vila Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized this month, with President Larry Evan Brewer as the first mission president.
President Brewer and his wife Maryanne Anstee Brewer were greeted warmly by local members of the Church on Saturday 7 July 2012, soon after they arrived in Port Vila.
The Vanuatu Port Vila Mission takes in Vanuatu, The Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. Previously, Vanuatu and New Caledonia were part of the Fiji Suva Mission and The Solomon Islands were part of the Papua New Guinea Port Moresby Mission.
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President and Sister Brewer have four children and come from Colonial Springs, Utah in the United States. President Brewer has served in several leadership positions for the Church and as a missionary in the Northern India Mission and Cape Verde Praia Mission. He is a retired teacher from the Ogden School District. He was born in Logan, Utah.
Sister Brewer also has strong experience serving in the Church including in leadership roles in the Church's women's organization, the Relief Society, as well as the Young Women's and Primary [children's] organizations. She has also served as a senior missionary with her husband. Sister Brewer was born in Salt Lake City, Utah.
This takes the number of missions in the Pacific Area to 14. A mission is a geographical area that may cover part of a country, an entire country, or a number of countries. Each mission is led by a misison president.
Approximately 150 to 200 young missionaries and senior missionary couples serve for 18 months to two years in each mission, teaching people about the gospel of Jesus Christ and serving communities in other ways.
There is one stake in the new mission, in New Caledonia; and four districts — three in Vanuatu and one in The Solomon Islands.
A stake is a grouping of congregations called wards, where the Church is more established and membership is larger. A district is a grouping of smaller congregations, called branches. There are forty Latter-day Saint congregations in the Vanuatu Port Vila Mission, including four wards and 36 branches.
"The Church continues to grow throughout the Pacific Area, and the organization of this new mission is a reflection of that growth," says Elder James J. Hamula, Pacific Area President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"We are seeing individuals, families and whole communities being richly blessed as they learn about and embrace the restored gospel of Jesus Christ."