The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has decided to bring many of their missionaries home because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles made the announcement Friday in a letter to church members. This follows previous announcements canceling sacrament meetings and restrictions on the April General Conference. In more detail, here are the announcements they made today:
- In the coming weeks, based upon world conditions, substantial numbers of missionaries will likely need to be returned to their home nations to continue their service. This will be done in a systematic way based on the urgency of travel restrictions, the level of COVID-19 concern, and other considerations.
- Returning missionaries will go through a 14-day period of self-isolation and then may be assigned to serve within their home country, based on local conditions.
- The term of service for missionaries returning to or serving within the United States will likely be reduced to accommodate the large number of missionaries returning from around the world.
- Missionary training centers (MTCs) worldwide will not receive new missionaries. MTC training for missionaries will take place through technology, and missionaries will be sent to their assigned mission as soon as possible.