Each week, hundreds of families across the globe say farewell to their sons and daughters as they embark on an 18- to 24-month journey as Mormon missionaries. Because it’s a very demanding lifestyle — one devoted entirely to teaching others about Jesus Christ and helping the needy — each missionary’s first stop is one of the Church’s 15 missionary training centers (sometimes called MTCs), where they spend two to nine weeks in training (those not learning a foreign language stay at an MTC for up to two weeks) before departing for one of the Church’s 400-plus missions.
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Mormon missionaries generally arrive at an MTC with a foundation of religious knowledge gained from years of instruction at home and church. Many Mormon families study the Bible and other books of scripture together daily. Many youth also attend weekly high school and college religion courses the Church offers. And on top of this are weekly Mormon worship services, held on Sundays for three consecutive hours.
But it should be noted that MTCs provide a decidedly more rigorous curriculum rooted in gospel fundamentals. The meat and drink of MTC life is daily practice teaching situations, intense gospel classroom instruction from teachers who are former missionaries, weekly devotional addresses from Church leaders and MTC staff, and weekly service opportunities.
The Provo MTC teaches more than 50 languages. (See the list below for languages taught at the 14 international MTCs.) Each instructor who teaches a language is either a native speaker or is fluent thanks to his or her own missionary service. In addition to language instruction, teachers provide cultural training to help missionaries make a smoother transition into their assigned foreign country.
Missionaries in the MTC also learn how to live on their own. For many of these 18- and 19-year-old men and women, the MTC is their first experience living away from home.
Missionaries (frequently with the help of family and friends) fund their own missions — an approximate cost of $10,000 to $12,000 per missionary. They also do their own laundry, exercise daily, eat nutritious meals provided by each MTC cafeteria and stay in touch with family and friends via weekly emails.
Following the pattern Jesus Christ established in the New Testament, full-time Mormon missionaries are sent out two by two (see Mark 6:7). They spend all day, every day, with an assigned companion (once they depart the MTC, companion changes occur every couple of months).
See also Missionary Program.
The Church currently operates mission training centers in 15 locations:
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Areas Served: Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay
Training language: Spanish
São Paulo, Brazil
Areas Served: Brazil, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Angola
Training language: Portuguese
Santiago, Chile
Area Served: Chile
Training language: Spanish
Bogota, Colombia
Areas Served: Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela
Training language: Spanish
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Areas Served: Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, West Indies
Training languages: English (native speakers only), French/Creole (native speakers only), Spanish
Preston, England
Areas Served: Great Britain, German-speaking Europe
Training languages: German, English
Accra, Ghana
Areas Served: West Africa, DR Congo, Madagascar
Training languages: English (native speakers only), French
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Areas Served: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama
Training language: Spanish
Mexico City, Mexico
Areas Served: Mexico, other countries of North, Central and South America
Training Language: Spanish
Auckland, New Zealand
Areas Served: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga
Training languages: English, English as a Second Language, French (native speakers only), Samoan (native speakers only), Tongan (native speakers only)
Lima, Peru
Areas Served: Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru
Training language: Spanish
Manila, Philippines
Areas Served: All missions in the Philippines and Asia areas
Training languages: Cambodian, Cebuano, English, Indonesian, Mandarin, Mongolian, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese (all languages except Tagalog native speakers only)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Areas Served: Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Training language: English (native speakers only)
Madrid, Spain
Areas Served: Belgium, Cape Verde, France, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine
Training languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Russian (all languages except Spanish and Russian native speakers only)
Provo, Utah, United States
Areas Served: Worldwide
Training Languages: 50 different languages