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SALT LAKE CITY — The number of missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints decreased after the surge from the 2012 missionary age change, and there are now roughly 75,000 full-time missionaries in over 400 missions across the world.
“At the beginning of this year, we had 418 missions in the church,” Elder Brent H. Nielson, of the Quorum of the Seventy and executive director of the LDS Missionary Department, said in a statement. “We've just created the Vietnam Mission, which is now officially in place, and by July we will have created two other new missions in Africa, which will give us a total of 421 missions.”
The age change, media initiatives and technology have helped LDS missionary efforts in the last several years.
“We work regularly to make sure that people know about our church and understand what we believe,” Elder Nielson said.
Part of the church’s missionary efforts are seasonal media campaigns, such as “A Savior Is Born” and “Follow Him.”
“Those initiatives really are to try to educate people about Jesus Christ and our love of him and his message,” Elder Nielson said.
Some 20,000 missionaries, or about 30 percent of today’s missionaries, are female.
“I don't ever want to downplay our elders because they're amazing, but these sister missionaries are really quite incredible. And we are so grateful to have the large numbers that have come,” Elder Nielson said. “In every mission now we have what's called sister training leaders. And they're called to supervise a number of sisters in the mission. They're part of the mission leadership council. So every month when the mission president meets with the leaders, those sisters are there.”
To make the transition to missionary life easier, new missionary prep courses will be available soon. Another course, this one for missionaries coming home, is coming out.
“We realized that many times they wonder how do I take this wonderful experience I've had as a missionary and translate that into my life today?" Elder Nielson said. "We've come up with a wonderful online course that's called My Plan."
To read more, visit Mormon Newsroom.
Deseret Cattle and Citrus
An LDS Church-owned cattle ranch and agricultural operation in Florida, Deseret Cattle and Citrus, “has been going strong for 65 years,” according to the LDS Church.
The ranch sits on roughly 295,000 acres between Orlando and Melbourne.
“We operate in a natural system,” ranch general manager Erik Jacobsen said. “Because we are in a natural system, Mother Nature kind of requires you to operate in a way that’s sustainable.”
Over 350 wildlife species live at the ranch, including nearly 250 bird species and white-tailed deer, American alligator, Osceola turkey, wild hog, Florida bass and nesting bald eagles.
According to Mormon Newsroom, “Deseret Cattle and Citrus is one of the Church’s investment farms, which operate as taxable commercial ventures. Unlike the Church’s welfare farms, which provide food and commodities for bishops’ storehouses to help the poor and needy, investment farms and ranches support the church’s mission and principles by serving as a rainy-day fund.”
Cattle production is the ranch’s core business, Jacobsen said. About 45,000 beef cattle are under the care of the ranch. Also on the ranch are about 200,000 citrus trees.
“We try to be world class in our agricultural operations, but also in our environmental responsibility,” Jacobsen said. “We've been able to manage the ranch in such a way that the two fit well together. We’ve developed the ranch to have a mosaic of pastures, wetlands and forested areas which create both wildlife habitat and grazing for cattle.”
Tours of the ranch are available weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“Tours need to be scheduled in advance, so visitors should call or email ahead of their arrival,” according to the LDS Church.
To learn more about the ranch, visit Mormon Newsroom.
Spring concert
The Orchestra at Temple Square and Temple Square Choral will give a spring concert later this month.
The orchestra will perform an excerpt from the suite from "The Wise Virgins" orchestrated by William Walton from music by J.S. Bach and "From Death to Life" by C. Hubert H. Parry during the first half of the concert, according to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
During the second half, the orchestra will accompany the Temple Square Chorale in performing the Utah premiere of Mack Wilberg’s oratorio “The Prodigal.”
“This concert will mark the Utah premiere of Wilberg’s oratorio ‘The Prodigal,’” according to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. “Commissioned by the University of South Mississippi Choral Activities, the work was first performed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on Feb. 12, 2015. The music is set to a text by David Warner based on the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15.”
Two sacred musical settings — “Let All the World in Every Corner Sing” and “Te Deum” — will be performed prior to the oratorio.
The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Tabernacle April 29 and 30. Tickets are available free of charge. They can be obtained starting at 10 a.m. April 12 on lds.org/events or by calling 801-570-0080.
