Updated List Of All 15 LDS Missionary Training Centers (MTCs) Worldwide As Of March 23rd, 2011

For some reason, it is difficult to find an accurate list of all the Missionary Training Centers (MTC) operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide. The new LDS.org website does not make such information easy to find, and the Wikipedia entry is inaccurate, claiming 17 MTCs. MormonWiki also lists 17. Fortunately, the Deseret News has just filled the gap, albeit with a clunky slideshow.

MTCs fall into three categories:

-- Full Training: This is when an international MTC not only fulfills its primary function of training the locally-called missionaries, but can accommodate more missionaries — including those from North America — who are called to serve in the area. The "full" label means a missionary can receive a complete MTC training experience — including the full period afforded those learning new language.

-- Phased Training: Offer full training for locally-called missionaries or for North American missionaries already fluent in Spanish. For those others from North America, they spend three weeks at the Provo MTC and the final six weeks of the training at one of these "phased" international MTCs.

-- Basic Training: This is my own label for it; this describes MTCs that focus solely on training missionaries without a new-language emphasis.

Here's the complete list. Each MTC is co-located with a temple, either on site or elsewhere in the same city or area:

(1). United States (Provo, UT): Full training
(2). Spain (Madrid): Phased training
(3). South Africa (Johannesburg): Full training
(4). Philippines (Manila): Basic training
(5). Peru (Lima): Phased training
(6). Mexico (Mexico City): Basic training
(7). Guatemala (Guatemala City): Phased training
(8). Ghana (Tema, near Accra): Full training
(9). England (Chorley, near Preston): Full training
(10).Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo): Phased training
(11).Colombia (Bogota): Basic training
(12).Chile (Santiago): Basic training
(13).Argentina (Buenos Aires): Full training
(14).New Zealand (Hamilton): Basic training
(15).Brazil (Sao Paulo): Full training

The MTCs in Tokyo and Seoul referred to in Wikipedia have since been closed.