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SALT LAKE CITY — The number of LDS missions around the world will shrink from 421 to 407 after the creation of five new missions and the boundary realignments of 19 missions in July 2018, according to a statement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Thursday.
The Utah Logan mission will be merged with adjoining missions. It is the only mission in Utah to experience changes.
Adjustments to mission boundaries are common, the church said. Since the change in ages for missionary service in 2012, the church has created 76 new missions to accommodate an initial surge of growth. The number of missionaries grew from 58,000 to 88,000 but has since receded to about 68,000 missionaries — a loss the church said it expected.
Fewer missionaries means the church needs fewer missions but also a “heightened importance of a more strategic placement of missionaries in areas of need around the world,” the church said.
“We want missionaries to be in the best possible place and position to help people, whether through sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ or community service,” said Elder Brent H. Nielson, executive director of the Missionary Department and LDS Church Seventy. “The pattern established by the Savior is to make a difference in individual lives, one by one, all over the world, which requires continuous planning and organizing.”
The following five missions will open in July 2018:
- Brazil Rio de Janeiro South
- Cote d’Ivoire Yamoussoukro
- Nigeria Ibadan
- Philippines Cabanatuan
- Zimbabwe Bulawayo
- Australia Sydney North
- Bulgaria Sofia
- California Modesto
- California San Fernando
- England London South
- Greece Athens
- Illinois Chicago West
- Mexico Ciudad Obregon
- Mexico Reynosa
- Mississippi Jackson
- New York New York South
- Ohio Cleveland
- Portugal Porto
- Romania/Moldova
- Russia Samara
- Spain Malaga
- Ukraine L’viv
- Utah Logan
- Washington Federal Way
