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SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the creation of 11 new missions around the world Friday, and two of them are in Utah.
Joining the announcement of the new missions was another announcement of the 2015 mission presidents.
The new missions, effective on or about July 1, will be located in Washington, California, Trinidad, Costa Rica, Perú, Bolivia, Argentina and Portugal. The Utah missions will be in Logan and Orem, according to the LDS Church News.
One of the smaller missions in Salt Lake City will be absorbed in the realignment of the surrounding mission boundaries.
When the LDS Church lowered the age for young men and women to be eligible to serve missions two and a half years ago, the number of missionaries serving rose from less than 60,000 to 89,000.
“When we created 58 new missions two years ago, we were preparing for what we thought we would need after the initial surge of new missionaries,” Elder David F. Evans, a member of the Seventy and executive director of the Missionary Department, told LDS Church News. “However, the younger brothers, sisters and friends of those who went out, I think, have watched the kind of really remarkable experiences that their older brothers, sisters and friends have had. Thus, young people are continuing to respond to President Thomas S. Monson’s invitation to serve missions, and they are doing it at a higher rate than we ever anticipated.”
We think it's a wonderful response to a prophet's continuing invitation to consider missionary service at the right time.
–Elder David F. Evans, executive director of the Missionary Department
As of Jan. 7, there are 84,728 missionaries serving for the church, Elder Evans said.
The church predicted the number of missionaries would fall after the surge in 2012, but it hasn’t diminished as significantly as projected, Evans said.
“We think it’s a wonderful response to a prophet’s continuing invitation to consider missionary service at the right time,” Evans said.
For LDS youths considering serving a mission, Elder Evans suggested reading and prayerfully considering the truth of the Book of Mormon and sharing the gospel with someone.
“We hope there’s a need to create even more new missions as we go forward,” Evans said. “As the rising generation continues to respond to President Monson’s invitation, to plan their lives, to counsel with their parents and with their bishops, and to prayerfully consider missionary service, I believe even more of them are going to continue to choose to serve the Lord in this way.”
New missions:
- Utah Logan
- Utah Orem
- Washington Yakima
- California Modesto
- Costa Rica San José West
- Perú Trujillo South
- Bolivia La Paz El Alto
- Argentina Santa Fe
- Argentina Buenos Aires East
- Trinidad Port of Spain
- Portugal Porto
