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After Church officials approve a prospective young Mormon to go on a mission, he or she will receive a letter, or “call,” stating where the missionary service will take place and the expected start date. Most families arrange a small gathering of friends and relatives and the missionary opens the letter in an atmosphere of suspense and jubilation. After the missionary’s destination is known, he or she must return a letter either accepting or rejecting their call.
Missionaries are generally given several weeks to make preparations before reporting to a Missionary Training Center, or MTC, where they will be taught the finer points of proselytizing and a new language if necessary. Parties and local church services are usually arranged to bid farewell to the missionary, and wish him or her luck and success on the journey ahead.
Missionaries and their families are expected to pay the major costs of a mission, including housing, food, clothing and any personal needs. Because the cost is considerable, families and children are encouraged to start saving from an early age, and “missionary funds” are common. However, if a family is unable to support the enormous expense of sending a young man or woman on a mission, the church will subsidize the cost.
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Training at the MTC is considered part of the mission itself. While there, missionaries are essentially cut off from normal life. “From one day to the next,“ says missionary Jake Erekson, “you’re taken from your regular everyday life to a completely different world.” Each missionary is assigned a full-time companion of the same gender and is introduced to a rigorous daily schedule. They wake early, study scriptures and pray during the day and return to bed by 10:00 p.m.—a similar schedule to one they are obligated to keep throughout their two-year mission. Missionaries remain at the MTC anywhere from three to ten weeks, depending on the language requirements for their destination.
Language study at the MTC is intensive, stressing basic grammar and gospel instruction. Despite the intensity of the program, missionaries generally arrive in their new country with only a modest grasp of the language. After immersion in the foreign country and a constant necessity to communicate in the local language, missionaries quickly become fluent.
There is a constant flow of new missionaries at these training centers, with hundreds arriving and departing each week. The Provo, Utah MTC—the largest of the 16 facilities located worldwide—houses between 2,700 and 3,000 missionaries at any given time on a campus consisting of 19 buildings on 37 acres of property.
Lights out at 10 p.m.? Study at 7 a.m.? Read about a day in the life of a Mormon missionary >>
Sources
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Missionary Training Center
 View a video clip
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The Mormon Church runs 16 MTCs around the world, with the majority in Central and South America:
Provo, Utah, USA
Preston, England
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Mexico City, Mexico
Santiago, Chile
Bogotá, Columbia
Lima, Peru
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Hamilton, New Zealand
Manila, Philippines
Tokyo, Japan
Seoul, South Korea
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Madrid, Spain
Accra, Ghana
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