The Provo Missionary Training Center — the largest of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ 10 MTCs worldwide — is expanding its on-site language training this month. It will also resume training in 14 languages, bringing the total number of languages at the Provo MTC to 17 by the end of October.
Also, the Peru MTC reopened to limited on-site training late last month, and the Mexico, Colombia and Brazil MTCs will all join in the on-site training of select missionaries within the next month. When that happens, nine of the Church’s 10 missionary training centers will be back to training new missionaries in person.
Meanwhile, on-site operations at the New Zealand and Philippines MTCs — which opened in June and July, respectively — remain on pause because of local COVID-19 conditions and precautions.
“We are grateful that with vaccines becoming more and more available worldwide, increased numbers of missionaries will have the opportunity to receive training on-site at missionary training centers around the globe,” said Kirsti Vogeler Polo, assistant administrative director of MTCs.
“It’s been miraculous to see the benefits of online training, and adding the benefits of gathering large groups of missionaries will only enhance the experience,” she added.
The Provo MTC reopened on June 23, 14 months after the Church closed all 10 MTCs because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the pandemic-forced closures in March 2020, the Church transitioned its missionary training to online instruction, which is often referred to as “home MTC.”
The online training originated from the Church’s 10 MTCs worldwide, with missionaries meeting — via videoconferencing — their companions, instructors and other new missionaries in classroom groups or districts.
With the first MTCs resuming on-site training in June 2021, most new missionaries who have the opportunity to do combined online/on-site training begin online at home for a third of their training then travel to an MTC for the remaining two-thirds of their training. The phased approach allows missionaries to continue to experience many of the positive elements of online training that have been discovered during the pandemic.
After its June 23 reopening of on-site training for fully vaccinated missionaries in English, the Provo MTC expanded its operations on August 8 to include missionary training in Spanish and again on September 8 to include training in Portuguese.
Throughout the month of October, 14 training languages will be added at the Provo MTC, leaving nearly 40 other languages without starting dates. Training in some of those other languages could begin as early as next month.
The 14 languages beginning this month with missionaries arriving at the Provo MTC are
- October 5 — Romanian and Tagalog
- October 12 — Hiligaynon and Korean
- October 19 — French, German, Haitian Creole, Japanese, Mandarin, Tahitian, Thai and ASL
- October 26 — Danish and Hungarian
Other missionary training centers throughout the world offer languages — like Greek and Swahili — that aren’t part of the training program at the Provo MTC.
Because of differing vaccination statuses, travel restrictions, COVID-19 precautions and limited on-site operations at MTCs, many missionaries worldwide are still training only online.
With the exception of the Ghana MTC, all missionary training centers that have been approved to resume on-site training require missionaries to be fully vaccinated, said Kelend Mills, director of MTCs. The vaccine is still not widely accessible throughout much of West Africa, but because the case count is very low in Ghana, Church leaders have approved the resumption of on-site training in Ghana. However, vaccination is required for North Americans assigned to attend the Ghana MTC, Mills added.
With the additional languages being added at the Provo MTC, the number of missionaries doing on-site training is expected to rise from the mid-700s to more than 1,100 by the end of the month. Then, the training center will likely see its traditional drop in missionary totals through the end of the year, as experienced annually.
The Provo MTC did hit a total of nearly 1,200 several weeks ago. By the end of October, the number of missionaries training tacross all MTCs could total upwards of 1,500.
Here is a closer look at on-site training operations at the Church’s nine other missionary training centers throughout the world:
Ghana MTC, Accra: The Ghana MTC reopened in late June, welcoming missionaries training both online and on-site.
New Zealand MTC, Auckland: After reopening to on-site training in late June, the New Zealand MTC has paused on-site operations since August because of local COVID-19 conditions and precautions.
Philippines MTC, Manila: Like its counterpart in New Zealand, the Philippines MTC — which reopened for on-site training in July — has paused its on-site operations since August because of local COVID-19 conditions and precautions.
England MTC, Preston: The England MTC resumed on-site operations in September — on September 1 for Europeans serving in the United Kingdom, on September 8 for European missionaries training in German, and on September 22 for U.S. missionaries serving in the United Kingdom.
Peru MTC, Lima: The Peru MTC reopened on September 30 for on-site training for North American missionaries assigned to serve in Peru only.
Mexico MTC, Mexico City: The Mexico MTC will reopen on-site training on October 12 for vaccinated missionaries from Mexico and the United States, with the latter group being those who will be returning to Spanish-speaking assignments in the U.S. The Mexico MTC anticipates welcoming U.S. missionaries training to serve in Mexico as early as next month.
Colombia MTC, Bogotá: On-site training will resume at the Colombia MTC on October 20 for missionaries from the South America Northwest Area and from the United States.
Brazil MTC, São Paulo: Beginning November 3, the Brazil MTC will reopen for on-site training for missionaries from Brazil serving in the country.
South Africa MTC, Johannesburg: Approval to reopen for on-site training is still pending.
