Yet another MTC is closed...Guatemala

[_I have a question]

The missionary training center in Guatemala City, Guatemala, will close effective January 2020, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Sept. 19.

Church spokesman Daniel Woodruff said plans for the future use of the missionary training center facilities will be determined in coordination with local leaders.

“This decision comes as part of a long process of learning, planning, and determining the best use of resources worldwide according to the needs and demands of each area,” Woodruff said in a Newsroom release. “Specifically, this move will allow for the better use of the Mexico MTC which is well equipped to accommodate large groups of missionaries who are being trained in the Spanish language.”

https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/20 ... ter-161087
It’s worth noting that the Guatemala MTC was refurbished and rededicated in 2014.

With the closing of four of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ missionary training centers in Spain, Chile, Argentina and the Dominican Republic, one might expect a subsequent decrease in the number of missionaries being trained at international locations.

However, more missionaries have been trained outside of the flagship Provo Missionary Training Center for several years — and that trend is expected to increase this year and in years to come.

Elder Brent H. Nielson, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Church’s Missionary Department, points to the size and potential of several of the largest international MTCs — specifically the Mexico, Brazil and Philippines MTCs, along with the one in Provo, Utah.

“We have the capacity of 1,100 missionaries at a time, and right now, we usually have about 250 or 300,” Elder Nielson said. “We can triple the size of missionaries going to Mexico.”

https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/20 ... -mtcs-5094

As of September 2019, there are 11 MTCs throughout the world. In 2010, the New Zealand MTC moved from Hamilton to Auckland. The previously open MTCs in Tokyo and Seoul have closed.[14] Following an LDS Church announcement on March 29, 2018, the MTCs in Santiago, Chile and Madrid, Spain closed in January 2019.[8] On December 12, 2018, the LDS Church announced the MTC in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic would also close in January 2019.[15] Following an initial announcement on February 8, 2019, the MTC in Buenos Aires, Argentina closed in July 2019.[16] On September 19, 2019, the church announced it will close the MTC in Guatemala in January 2020.[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionar ... st_of_MTCs

[_AZCaesar]

...Elder Nielson said. “We can triple the size of missionaries going to Mexico.”

Wow, think how many more baptisms there will be when they have 18-foot tall missionaries.

[_Dr. Shades]

LOL, AZCaesar!!

[_The Dude]

OMG, 18 foot tall missionaries.

But seriously, closing so many training centers in the last 10 years seems like a negative sign for an organization that emphasizes growth and missionary work.

[_Shulem]

But seriously, closing so many training centers in the last 10 years seems like a negative sign for an organization that emphasizes growth and missionary work.

As opposed to opening so many training centers as a positive sign for an organization that emphasizes growth and missionary work. Indeed, the church is shrinking and they are adjusting to downsizing their entire organization.

[_Mormonicious]

AZCaesar "Wow, think how many more baptisms there will be when they have 18-foot tall missionaries."

[_Quasimodo]

Wow, think how many more baptisms there will be when they have 18-foot tall missionaries.

[_I have a question]

OMG, 18 foot tall missionaries.

But seriously, closing so many training centers in the last 10 years seems like a negative sign for an organization that emphasizes growth and missionary work.

It’s worse than that. The MTC’s weren’t ready for the explosion of missionary numbers seen following Monson’s age reduction, because they had no advance warning. So they spent the following years and l;ots of dollars increasing capacity to cope with the increase, just in time for the bubble to burst and the numbers to drop. Now they have far too much capacity, in the wrong place, and so they are having to close MTC’s around the world so that the massive MTC in Provo, upon which millions and millions (a billion?) dollars has been spent, doesn’t lie half empty.

[_Philo Sofee]

IHAQ
It’s worse than that. The MTC’s weren’t ready for the explosion of missionary numbers seen following Monson’s age reduction, because they had no advance warning. So they spent the following years and l;ots of dollars increasing capacity to cope with the increase, just in time for the bubble to burst and the numbers to drop. Now they have far too much capacity, in the wrong place, and so they are having to close MTC’s around the world so that the massive MTC in Provo, upon which millions and millions (a billion?) dollars has been spent, doesn’t lie half empty.

Proof of the prophetic power which resided in President Hinckley, "The Lord is at the helm brethren. Ye need not doubt or fear, the Lord is at the helm!"

After all, whats a mere couple of hundred million when yous gots billions of dollars laid up unto yourselves in storage for the last days?

[_I have a question]

I’m not sure the leadership of the missionary program really knows what’s going on...
Mr Nielsen in 2016

"As that surge passed, we're now down to around 75,000 missionaries, which is where we think we'll stay for a period of time as that gradually increases," said Brent H. Nielson, executive director of the LDS Missionary Department.

https://kutv.com/news/local/lds-mission ... ange-surge
But the numbers kept dropping...