LDS Church announces 36 new missions, 3 in Utah
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- Missionaries preach in the Philippines.
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- Sister missionaries preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in Paraguay.
When Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called on couples to think about serving a mission during October’s semi-annual general conference he had no idea what the result might be.
Apparently many heard the plea.
“The missionary portal (on the church’s website) went down,” Rasband said, explaining that tens of thousands of couples were needed.
According to Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve and chairman of the Missionary Executive Council, the growth in full-time proselyting and service missionaries has grown substantially, causing a need for new missions to be formed to help spread them out so mission presidents can give more direct help.
On Wednesday — to facilitate that growth — the church announced 36 new missions, including three in Utah: the Utah Salt Lake City East Mission, Utah Saratoga Springs Mission and Utah Spanish Fork Mission.
Many of the new missions are being created from other missions, according to Elder Marcus Nash, General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Missionary Department.
“We are incredibly grateful for the response we have seen by so many young people to our beloved prophet’s clarion call for missionary service in April of last year,” Cook said. “We are witnessing an increase of enthusiasm for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world. These new missions, spread all around the world, will be a blessing locally as we desire to have more missionaries supporting the units of the church.”
This is the second-largest increase of new missions in one year. Fifty-eight were created in 2013 when an age change was announced. By July 1, 2024, there will be 450 missions worldwide. Currently, there are 414.
Cook noted that, at the end of 2021, there were a total of 56,000 teaching missionaries, service and senior missionaries serving. As of Wednesday, there were 72,000.
Service missionaries will serve under a mission president along with teaching missionaries and couples from whom they can get more direction and help, according to Nash. Adding the service missionaries to regular missions has added to the new mission growth.
“Service missionaries are called by the prophet, assigned by the committee and are considered missionaries through and through,” Nash said.
“The savior didn’t just teach, he served and ministered to the people,” he added. “It’s pretty powerful what is going on. It will put a set of missionaries in each stake of the church. We are sending out missionaries with the good news of the gospel to teach with love.”
Cook calls it “a missionary miracle.” They are sent out with as many tools as possible to help them teach, including the second edition of “Preach My Gospel.” Cook helped President M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve in writing the first “Preach My Gospel.” He said in just one month the update has had a profound effect on the missionaries.
Cook and others assign mission areas to the applicants twice a month. “It’s a very spiritual experience,” he said.
Also new is the change in time between getting a call and entering a mission. “To better support missionaries in their preparation, candidates can now submit recommendations to church headquarters 150 days before their available date, which will help with any delays and shorten the time between their availability and start date. It used to be 120 days,” according to church information.
Sister Amy A. Wright, first councilor in the Primary General Presidency and member of the Missionary Executive Committee, noted that when children turn 8 and are baptized, they have covenanted with the Lord to be missionaries.
“It is part of their nature to be missionaries,” Wright said. “This rising generation has a lovely, spiritual maturity. Every member is a missionary.”
New missions are coming to 18 of the church’s 22 areas around the world. These additional areas of service will be created in the following locations effective July 1, 2024, along with the three Utah missions:
Africa Central
- Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa South.
- Democratic Republic of the Congo Kolwezl.
- Kenya Nairoibiu East.
Africa South
- Madagascar Antananarivo North.
Africa West
- Ghana Accra North.
- Ghana Takoradi.
- Nigeria Calabar.
- Nigeria Port Harcourt North.
- Sierra Leone Bo.
Asia
- Cambodia Phnom Penh East.
- Thailand Bangkok East.
Asia North
- Japan Sendai.
Brazil
- Brazil Manaus South.
Caribbean
- Dominican Republic Santo Domingo North.
Europe Central
- Germany Hamburg.
Europe North
- Portugal Porto.
Mexico
- Mexico Mexicali.
- Mexico Puebla East.
North America Central
- Montana Missoula.
North America Southeast
- Florida Tallahassee.
- South Carolina Charleston.
North America Southwest
- Nevada Henderson.
- Texas Dallas South.
- Texas El Paso.
North America West
- California Modesto.
Philippines
- Philippines Dumbaguete.
- Philippines General Santos.
- Philippines Tuguegarao.
South America Northwest
- Bolivia Cochabamba South.
- Ecuador Quito West.
- Peru Lima Northeast.
South American South
- Argentina Tucuman.
- Chile La Serena.
By adding three new Utah missions, that will put 13 missions in the Beehive State.