some new missions will be announced pretty soon.

[daboosh]

just got word of a 3rd mission "New Zealand Hamilton Mission" opening here in new zealand soon. direct from a current mission president of the New Zealand Wellington Mission.

i'm expecting as well as this there will be a bunch of others announced shortly too, obviously to accommodate the surge of missionaries coming with the age changes. soo exciting.

[Wordnerd]

Here is a link to a news article about the 58 new missions announced today.

LDS Church announces creation of 58 new missions | Deseret News

It's very exciting, I'm so impressed with how the young adults of the church have stepped forward when called.

[skippy740]

Similar list from the Mormon News Room:

List of 58 Additional Missions Being Created

Two new missions near me: California Irvine and California Rancho Cucamonga. Never would've thought they'd be geographically large enough for missions!

[carlimac]

Two more in Argentina where I served. My husband thinks we need to prepare ourselves to be called to be mission presidents just in case. I felt that prompting recently, too. I just can't see it happening to us, though. I feel like too much of a slug. I've never been called to any leadership position other than a counselor in the Primary presidency and homemaking leader for just one event before our ward was split and I was released.

When you read the accomplishements of the wives, they nearly always have been president of at least one organization if not more. Also the president has usually been a bishop and often a stake president. DH has been in one college bishopric for one year and has been bishop for one year before we moved. He's been YM pres for 2 1/2 yrs. We have a brand new bishop in our ward and so unless we move again or some unusual opportunity comes up, I don't see us being qualified any time soon. It would be YEARS down the road and I'd need to become a whole lot more anxiously engaged than I am now.

[Wingnut]

My brother is currently serving in the Arizona Mesa mission, and the mission office is in Scottsdale. There will now be a Mesa mission, a Scottsdale mission, and a Gilbert mission, so I'm not sure where he'll end up.

[pam]

Since this forum is for "official" church news we should wait until there is an official announcement and not just hearsay.

So if you want the official news from lds.org here is the link:

Missions to Be Created to Accommodate Influx of New Missionaries

Here is also the announcement of new mission presidents for many of the new missions:

LDS Church News - New mission presidents by area for 2013

[Backroads]

I wonder how much of this influx was anticipated and just how much Church headquarters was caught off-guard.

[pam]

I think they were prepared. I don't think they could have set up so many new missions without much thought to it. All this happened since October. That was only 4+ months ago.

[estradling75]

I am curious on how they get the continuing manpower--(missionary power) to maintain all the new missions? I know there is a spike when the age dropped but I would have thought that after the spike wore down the numbers would go back to what ever the normal is/was.

I am sure they have it all figured out I am just curious

[Backroads]

I wonder if the age change for the girls will keep up the new missionary numbers. The boys who are going to go will go at 18 or 19, but now we have the all the girls who wouldn't have gone at 21.

[KevlarH]

I don't know where to put this, move it if you must, but this thread seemed like a good place. I just wanted to say how proud I am of my nephew. He is 21, and for a long time was into goth, and many odd ideas. He dressed in black, wore eye shadow, didn't really care about religion or did anything to prepare him for life. I often worried even that one day he might do something terrible to himself. This last year he decide to go to college and started taking classes, and we thought this was a big breakthrough. However, this past holiday season, he stayed with us during the holidays and had a neat haircut, no makeup and nice clothes. He acted more "normal" than I have seen him since he was younger. My brother, (his Dad) had a great time during his visit, and we felt so good about him.My brother took him with him on a split with the missionaries, and gave him his old missionary pocket hymn book. We had no idea what effect this had on him. He started reading the hymns and looking up scriptures when he went back home to his Mother, my brothers ex-wife. All on his own, he started talking with missionaries and the bishop and becoming excited about the gospel. Now he says he has gained a testimony, and has sent in papers to go on a mission himself! Never give up on a wayward child, you never know how the spirit may touch their hearts one day.

[pam]

What a great story.

[Guest gopecon]

I am curious on how they get the continuing manpower--(missionary power) to maintain all the new missions? I know there is a spike when the age dropped but I would have thought that after the spike wore down the numbers would go back to what ever the normal is/was.

I am sure they have it all figured out I am just curious

I think they are assuming that going forward there will be a lot more Sisters than we have seen in the past, along with a few additional Elders. They are creating these missions out of existing missions, so worst case scenario (total missionaries goes all the way back to the old numbers) then you just have smaller missions - giving mission presidents a few less missionaries to keep track of.

[Traveler]

Good greef! Two thought: First - at least two areas I served in during my mission are now missions. Plus - when I lived in Brown's Point in Washington, we were part of the Federal Way stake - that stake is now one of the new missions.

Second thought - A major step and sign of the last days is missionaries spreading the gospel. Is the spirit increasing the missionaries in a final or last hour effort? I am sure this brings us closer to the return of Christ.

The Traveler

[pam]

I wonder if President Monson still personally signs each mission call. If he does..he has to have a huge case of writers cramps.

[John_Pack_Lambert]

Actually, if you look back at the mission they created last year, includimng two new missions in the Salt Lake area, you can see it as building up to the surge. I am pretty sure that the brethren planned this change for a while, and that they took actions a year ago to prepare for it.

There are four anticipated reasons numbers will keep up. 1-with men being able to go at 18, the drop out between high school graduation and time to leave on a mission that is sometimes quite severe will be reduced. Many faithful men who would go on missions when they leave high school by waiting another year get distracted for that goal. This will not happen as much with the new time frame. 2-it is extemely difficult in some circumstances for people to leave on a mission when they have started schooling and more so if they go in the military. There are people who are faithful Church members who would have loved to go on missions but had other obligations. These people will be more likely to serve under the new rules.

3-The lower age for sisters will greatly increase the number of sisters going. The marriage/mission dilema will be less pronounced. I have had female friends who wanted to serve a mission, but then had a man they new return from a mission and decide to marry him instead. This will be much less likely with the new age rules.

4-In theory, more missionaries will mean more converts, and more converts will mean more missionaires.

[lds2]

There will be a big surge over the next month or two because a lot of college students wanted/needed to finish the year (like those who were committed to their lease contract through the school year, etc.) Also there will be a number of young men who turned 18 during the school year but were still in high school, they will now be available to go. So I would guess the largest numbers of missionaries will be this summer and then the number will start going down a little.

[reflexzero]

I wonder if President Monson still personally signs each mission call. If he does..he has to have a huge case of writers cramps.

Auto-pen machine has been used since the 70's. Computers aid the rest of the process.

See General Conference, April 2010, and Church news June 2, 1979.

[pam]

Auto-pen machine has been used since the 70's. Computers aid the rest of the process.

See General Conference, April 2010, and Church news June 2, 1979.

It was meant in humor but thanks for the clarification just the same. :)

[Lakumi]

-In theory, more missionaries will mean more converts, and more converts will mean more missionaires.

unless they're older

I'd be too old, not that I think I could be a missionary, I always had trouble learning new languages:lol:

[Pioneer47]

I love this stuff. It's such a powerful testimony of the church continuing to go forth unto all the earth.

[kapikui]

I'm actually a little concerned about this "surge" and all the expansion being done to accommodate it. It seems to me that we're seeing a vast increase in the number of people going on missions now because a lot who would have had to wait can now put in papers. Once this all shakes out approximately the same number will be entering the pipeline as before, they'll just be entering it earlier, and there won't be the numbers to support all the increased activity.

[Dravin]

Once this all shakes out approximately the same number will be entering the pipeline as before, they'll just be entering it earlier, and there won't be the numbers to support all the increased activity.

Actually, I can see the reduction in age leading to a permanent increase in the number of missionaries entering the pipeline as you'll probably see a reduction in those who get into trouble before they are old enough to go, get distracted, or decide upon other goals (such as a 20 year old sister deciding to get married). Just how large an effect this will be I don't know, but I'm sure the Church has thought out the initial jump-start and potential downstream implications. It may just be an administrative necessity of the moment, nothing prevents them from recombining missions if the initial influx dies down enough to justify it.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Dravin

[yjacket]

I'm actually a little concerned about this "surge" and all the expansion being done to accommodate it. It seems to me that we're seeing a vast increase in the number of people going on missions now because a lot who would have had to wait can now put in papers. Once this all shakes out approximately the same number will be entering the pipeline as before, they'll just be entering it earlier, and there won't be the numbers to support all the increased activity.

I don't quite think so. The Church had somewhere on the order of 55k missionaries before and this next January (a little over a year later) there could be 100k missionaries. Now simple math dictates that pre-new age rules about 27k missionaries went a year. So this past year there will be approximately 50k missionaries above the 27k average, meaning that at least around 25k new missionaries are going that wouldn't have gone otherwise. So while there will be a drop-off, it probably won't be from 100k back to 55k, it might be from 100k to 75k-80k.

[pam]

I read an article from the church not long ago (I'm trying to find it) that said they expect the numbers to go back down to a more normal number once this initial influx has gone through.