2nd largest MTC opens to LDS missionaries

2nd largest MTC opens to LDS missionaries


12 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — A new missionary training center in Mexico is now open to accommodate an influx of missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mormon Newsroom reports the first group of missionaries showed up at the 90-acre campus in Mexico City Wednesday morning. Before becoming an MTC, the facility was home to a private church high school, the Benemerito de las Americas.

Previously, the Mexico City MTC was located in a smaller building near the church's Mexico City Temple. That facility accommodated approximately 125 missionaries at a time, mostly from Mexico and Central America. The new location can house more than 1,000 missionaries — nearly 10 times more. That makes the Mexico MTC the second largest of the church's MTCs worldwide, smaller only than the MTC in Provo, Utah.

Mexico MTC President Carl Pratt said the larger MTC will allow more missionaries from North America, Central and South America serving in Spanish-speaking areas to train together.

"I think it will be a tremendous benefit for all the missionaries," President Pratt told Mormon Newsroom. "The missionaries who already speak Spanish will be exposed to English, and the missionaries learning Spanish will be more exposed to Spanish all the time."

In the Mexico MTC, missionaries who are learning Spanish will train for six weeks; those who already speak Spanish will train for two weeks. Once training is complete, missionaries will serve in Spanish-speaking missions in Central America, South America and the U.S.

The New Facility includes …
  • 90 acres
  • Classrooms
  • 50 homes and two large dormitories that will be used to house missionaries
  • Kitchen, dining and exercise areas

North American missionaries assigned to serve in Mexico will continue to train at the Provo MTC, in order to facilitate obtaining visas. Approximately 70,000 missionaries are currently serving around the world, and the church says thousands more will be trained at MTCs worldwide this summer.

The influx of missionaries follows the lowering of age requirements announced last October.

MTCs around the world

Staffing
Approximately 30 teachers from the Provo MTC will work in Mexico in the coming months for six weeks at a time.

Eventually 150 part-time teachers will be employed at the Mexico MTC. - Source: Mormon Newsroom

Buenos Aires, Argentina
São Paulo, Brazil
Santiago, Chile
Bogota, Colombia
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Preston, England
Accra, Ghana
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Auckland, New Zealand
Lima, Peru
Manila, Philippines
Johannesburg, South Africa
Madrid, Spain
Mexico City, Mexico
Provo, Utah

Photos

Related links

Related stories

Most recent Features stories

ksl.com

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast