Manaus Brazil Stake Is Number 1,700

When the Manaus Brazil Stake was created in mid-October, it became the 1,700th stake in the Church, the 57th in Brazil, and the first in the Amazon Basin. The new stake was organized by Elder David B. Haight of the Quorum of the Twelve, assisted by Elder Helio R. Camargo of the First Quorum of the Seventy, who is also First Counselor in the Brazil Area Presidency.

Eduardo Alfieri Soares Contieri was called to be stake president. A retired Brazilian Air Force officer, he is now a businessman. President Contieri and his wife, Josefina, recently served together in the Brazil Brasilia Mission, where he was president.

Manaus, an island port city some two hundred miles south of the equator, has a population of about one and one-half million people. A port of free trade and former rubber-producing center, Manaus lies on the banks of the Negro River a few miles from where it flows into the Amazon.

Baptisms in Manaus account for half of the one hundred baptisms per month in the Brazil Brasilia Mission.