The Provo Missionary Training Center reopened for in-person training on Wednesday, June 23, when 248 missionaries arrived after completing a week of online instruction at home.
According to a news release from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, similar numbers are scheduled to arrive each Wednesday in the coming weeks. Missionaries will spend about two weeks training in person before traveling to their area of assignment. The Church also began a new era of online instruction at home for a week before missionaries head to the MTC.
“I think that we've noticed that relationships have already been built, because they're seeing the members of their district here,” said President Benson L. Porter, the president of the Provo MTC in the news release. “I think some of the anxiety that they may have felt before where everything was new, is gone. Now they have some friends, they have a district.”
The Provo MTC will operate at a reduced capacity for the foreseeable future as a precaution, and COVID-19 tests will be administered to anyone who exhibits symptoms during training. Only fully vaccinated missionaries can train in person at the Provo MTC as a temporary precaution.
Not all missionaries who have a mission call will train in person. Missionaries will also not receive in-person language training at this time according to the news release. But invitations for missionaries to receive training at the Provo MTC will expand as conditions continue to improve.
'Missionaries and local leaders will be contacted directly if they are invited to an on-site MTC experience. Unless otherwise contacted, new missionaries will continue with online training at home,' the news release said.