Ibiza

Today is a historic day in the mission - for the first time ever missionaries are being assigned to the island of Ibiza! Elders Allphin and Roco fly out tonight to officially begin missionary work there.

We currently have an official group organized on Ibiza, part of the Poniente Branch in Palma de Mallorca. We have had a small number of members on island for some time. Several months ago Pte. Balcazar of the Poniente Branch flew  to Ibiza to meet with the members, and began to discuss with me and the district president the need to at least organize a group and call a group leader. Hna. Hinckley and I visited the island a few months ago and met with the members. Following that trip we established a formal group and called a group leader. We have spent a few months looking for a missionary apartment there which could be used by members as well as missionaries and we put the pieces in place to build a branch. We were able to sign a contract on an apartment this week and Elder Allphin and Elder Roco are at the airport as I write this.

Elders Roco and Allphin prior to leaving for Ibiza

We have about 12 active members on the island in three families. Most of the members are part of a large family from Paraguay, but we have one other mother with two daughters and an elderly sister who was baptized about two years ago and recently endowed. One of the Paraguayan sisters is married to a man from Ibiza who was also baptized about two years ago and they were endowed and sealed just a few months ago. We believe there are other members on the island, and the members have at least one additional family they have been preparing for baptism. We are excited about the potential to create a new branch from this little group of the Poniente Branch!

Ibiza

The island has a population of about 150,000, large enough to support Church growth in membership. It is a popular tourist spot in the summer month, so much so that we will probably pull the missionaries out before the season gets into full swing, but during the off-season it is as quiet and tranquil as its sister islands, Mallorca and Menorca.

The members are very excited to finally have some missionaries on the island. They see themselves as pioneers for the Church on the island, and are anxious to built a strong branch of the Church!