The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full report, CLICK HERE.
Fourteen months after closing its 10 missionary training centers worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is preparing to reopen three teaching facilities for new missionaries, leaders announced in a news release Monday.
In a phased and cautious approach that adds on-site training to its online teaching, the Provo, Ghana and New Zealand MTCs look to invite a small number of missionaries to train on location beginning in late June.
Opening dates will be evaluated weekly and may be adjusted to local circumstances and guidelines from local health officials.
Since the pandemic closures in late March 2020, the Church has moved to online training — often referred to as “home MTC” — to train more than 30,000 new missionaries. The online training originated from the Church’s 10 MTCs worldwide, with missionaries meeting in classroom groups — or “districts” — with online instructors, many of whom have been at the MTCs for the streamed training via videoconferencing technology.
As MTCs resume on-site training, most new missionaries will begin their training online at home, then travel to an MTC for the remainder of their training. The phased approach allows missionaries to continue to experience many of the positive elements of online training that have been realized during the pandemic period of training new missionaries.
Also, the online training of new missionaries is expected to move to a Monday start, from the traditional mid-week arrivals at MTCs that continued as a starting time for new missionaries beginning their online training.
“These plans for on-site MTC training have been carefully considered, and protocols will be in place to ensure a safe environment and experience for new missionaries before they leave to their assigned area of service,” said the news release.
To read the full report, CLICK HERE.
