New Orleans ward is back on the map

President Scott N. Conlin stood at the pulpit of the small uptown chapel Dec. 6. The president of the New Orleans Louisiana Stake informed attendees that effective immediately, the New Orleans 1st Branch would become the New Orleans 1st Ward.

The chapel's pews couldn't seat all the members in attendance; some listened to an audio feed in the Relief Society room. All told, 126 members raised their right hands to sustain branch president Terry Seamons as their new bishop.

In January 2006, President Conlin had presided over a very different scene in the same chapel. More than four months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, he dissolved two wards and a branch and combined the remnants of the three units into the New Orleans 1st Branch.

He estimates 15-20 people attended Church services that day.