Did you know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has ten Missionary Training Centers across the globe? At one point the Church owned and operated 17 MTCs, each in a different country. Here are where you can find missionaries receiving formal gospel and language training around the world today.
When it was dedicated in 1977, the Brazil MTC was the second MTC established by the Church (after Provo). It was first housed in the old mission home in São Paulo but was soon moved to be adjacent to the newly dedicated São Paulo Temple. The Brazil MTC has a maximum capacity of 646 missionaries. Missionary training here includes language instruction in Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese.
The Colombia MTC is located in the city of Bogota and was dedicated in February 1992, and approximately 13,000 missionaries from all over Central, South America, and North America have received their training here. The MTC in Colombia can host as many as 96 missionaries and trains missionaries in the Spanish language.
The Colombia MTC is scheduled to close its doors in January 2023.
The England MTC first opened in 1985 in London as part of the London England Temple complex but was relocated to Preston once the temple there was completed. The MTC can house as many as 108 missionaries, but on average hosts around 60. Missionaries sent here for language training are taught in German, English, English as a second language, French, Greek, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.
The Ghana MTC was dedicated in 2002 and sits 15 kilometers east of Accra. According to Deseret News, the Ghana MTC can house 320 missionaries—both young adults and senior missionaries—with possible expansion to accommodate up to 500, if necessary. Language training at the Ghana MTC includes English, English as a second language, and French.
The first Mexico City MTC was established in 1979, where 40 or 50 missionaries were taught by stake leaders and lived at the Brasilia Hotel. In 1983 missionaries were moved to the temple complex in Mexico City and received training at the old Aragon Stake Center where 150 missionaries could live and learn. After the age requirements for young missionaries were lowered in 2012, the Church-owned school Benemérito de las Americas was transitioned from a private high school to a robust missionary training center campus. Today the Mexico City MTC is able to accommodate 1,000 missionaries and provides language training in Spanish and Haitian Creole.
Like Brazil’s MTC, the New Zealand Missionary Training Center was established in 1977, and in 2010, the New Zealand MTC was moved from Hamilton to Auckland. The center’s maximum capacity is 106 missionaries and training languages include English, English as a second language, French (native speakers only), Samoan (native speakers only), and Tongan (native speakers only).
The first MTC in Lima Peru was established in 1986 in the former Peru Lima South Mission home and could house 46 Spanish-speaking missionaries. A new center was constructed within walking distance of the Lima Peru Temple and dedicated by then-Elder Russell M. Nelson in 1998, increasing its capacity to 144 missionaries. Missionaries who are sent here for training are either native-Spanish speakers or native English-speaking missionaries who are learning Spanish.
The Philippines MTC has undergone more changes than almost any other international missionary training center location. First established in 1982, it began as a small rented house training just 26 missionaries. A second house was soon rented on the same street to meet increasing demand. Then in the 1990s, a new MTC facility was constructed across from the Manila Philippines Temple where 80 missionaries could live and learn. Since that time, five additional buildings have been built on the complex, and the maximum capacity for the center is currently 280 missionaries. Missionaries training here may learn one of many languages: Cambodian, Cebuano, English, English as a second language, Hiligaynon, Indonesian, Mandarin, Mongolian, Tagalog, Thai, Urdu, or Vietnamese.
The South Africa MTC opened its doors on July 24, 2003, with just 14 missionaries. Today, the MTC shares a building with the South Africa Johannesburg Mission and has a capacity of just 38 missionaries, who learn and study, and may be trained in language: English, English as a second language, or Malagasy.
Provo, Utah, has been a training place for Latter-day Saint missionaries since the early days of the Restoration, including at the Brigham Young Academy in 1894. The current Provo MTC location just outside Brigham Young University’s campus began teaching and serving missionaries in 1978. Today, the Provo MTC campus has 21 buildings on a 39-acre site, with a capacity of housing and training 3,700 missionaries. Since its inception, over Over 600,000 missionaries from nearly every country in the world have come to the MTC for training and may learn one of 55 different languages.
Former MTC locations
Tokyo, Japan—open from 1979–2009
Seoul, South Korea—open from 1986–2013
Santiago, Chile—open from 1981–2019
Madrid, Spain—open from 1999–2019
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic—open from 2000–2019
Buenos Aires, Argentina—open from 2000–2019
Guatemala City, Guatemala—open from 1986–2020
You can learn more about each of the Church’s current MTC locations on the Church’s website.
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