SALT LAKE CITY – In order to accommodate an immense influx of prospective missionaries, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the creation of 58 new missions Friday.
The announcement follows the Jan. 31 announcement that a new missionary training center was being created in Mexico City, which is also a direct result of the LDS Church’s lowering its age requirements for missionary service.
Thomas S. Monson, the president of the LDS Church, made the age-change announcement during the church’s General Conference on Oct. 6, 2012. Previously, young men and women in the church could apply for missionary service at ages 19 and 21 respectively. Those ages were lowered to 18 and 19.
In the weeks following the announcement, missionary applications sent to the church exploded as an average of 700 applications a week mushroomed to approximately 4000 a week. Just over half of the applicants have been women.
“The enthusiastic response to the change in missionary age requirements has given thousands of young people more options to serve and they have responded with incredible faith,” said Elder Russell M. Nelson, one of the church’s apostles and chairman of the Missionary Executive Council.
According to a statement from the LDS Church: “The church periodically opens, closes and divides missions around the world to accommodate increases and decreases in missionary numbers and other needs.
“The new missions will function in the same areas covered by existing missions. No new countries or territories are opening to missionary work. These creations will bring the total number of church missions to 405.”
The new missions are listed as follows:
North America
- Arizona Gilbert
- Arizona Scottsdale
- California Bakersfield
- California Irvine
- California Rancho Cucamonga
- Colorado Fort Collins
- Idaho Nampa
- Idaho Twin Falls
- Georgia Macon
- Illinois Chicago West
- Kansas Wichita
- Ohio Cincinnati
- Oregon Salem
- Utah Salt Lake City East
- Virginia Chesapeake
- Washington Federal Way
- Washington Vancouver
Central America
- Ecuador Guayaquil West
- Ecuador Quito North
- El Salvador San Salvador East
- Guatemala Cobán
- Honduras San Pedro Sula West
- México Cancún
- México Ciudad Juarez
- México Ciudad Obregón
- México México City Chalco
- México Pachuca
- México Queretaro
- México Reynosa
- México Saltillo
South America
- Argentina Comodoro Rivadavia
- Argentina Posadas
- Bolivia Santa Cruz North
- Brazil Curitiba South
- Brazil Fortaleza East
- Brazil Juiz de Fora
- Brazil Natal
- Brazil Piracicaba
- Brazil Santos
- Brazil São Paulo West
- Chile Santiago South
- Perú Huancayo
- Perú Iquitos
Africa
- Angola Luanda
- Botswana Gaborone
- Ghana Accra West
- Liberia Monrovia
- Nigeria Benin City
Asia
- Japan Tokyo South
- Korea Seoul South
Europe
- Ukraine L’viv
South Pacific
- Australia Sydney North
- New Zealand Hamilton
- Papua New Guinea Lae
- Philippines Cavite
- Philippines Cebu East
- Philippines Legaspi
- Philippines Urdaneta
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MoriKessler
Copyright St. George News, StGeorgeUtah.com Inc., 2013, all rights reserved
Poor brainwashed women. tragedy that so many of them feel they must get married early to produce kids only to find themselves uneducated, unskilled, divorced and single with many mouths to feed.
Since the actions of these women will probably never ever directly affect you, please go away.
Good thing they have those many social welfare programs to fall upon while doing stuff the church demands of them, right?
Geography fail–Angola and Botswana are not in South America. Not blaming the author, he probably got the list directly from his source.