The Daily Universe celebrates 50 years

"Called to serve" brought about numerous challenges for BYU's campus nearly 50 years ago.

Not only did it mean young men and women were inducted into the legions of missionary service, but they were also learning new languages before heading out to nations around the world.

Some of the General Authorities for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints first considered creation of a language-training mission during BYU president Howard McDonald's tenure on campus. The LTM gained popularity and was soon touted by the First Council of Seventy in 1947. The BYU Speech and Language departments made a pitch to develop such a center on campus when BYU President Ernest Wilkinson came on board in 1951.

In a statement to President Wilkinson, the department wrote: "Inasmuch as the missionary activities are the most intense they have ever been … we should have a dormitory on our campus … wherein students live on one floor and speak nothing, [but the native language they were to learn.] … This would weed out the nonlingual assignees and church authorities could be put over such a house for the pertinent training to augment our 'Y' faculty in its Mormon philosophy."

President Wilkinson was so moved that in 1952 he wrote of the several advantages of combining the Salt Lake Mission Home with a language training facility at BYU. He stated that BYU had personnel with the language skills to teach. He was told that the General Authorities preferred to have a mission home in Salt Lake City where they could more actively participate in the instruction of the missionaries. In addition, most missionaries at the time took out their endowments only days prior to entering the mission home in preparation for service.

In 1958, President Wilkinson appointed a committee to investigate the role BYU might play in the training of missionaries. A proposal was presented to church authorities in 1961.

Coincidentally, visa problems were creating a lag time between when missionaries began their service and when they could be sent into the mission field, creating problems as to what to do with them in the interim. The proposal for a special school at BYU while waiting for visas was given "pilot program" approval. It originally was dedicated to missionaries who were going to Mexico, but later included missionaries bound for Argentina who were having similar visa problems.

In November 1961, Ernest J. Wilkins, professor of Spanish in the Language Department, was named director of the new program called the Missionary Language Institute, and missionaries began arriving in downtown Provo at the Hotel Roberts. By December, there were 24 missionaries in residence.

The pilot 12-week program continued to grow and expand and included more than just language skills, but lifestyle issues as well. It became evident to those involved that the program was valuable.

By June 1962, the number of missionaries staying on BYU's campus grew to the point where Allen Hall, a residence housing unit on campus, was converted into the permanent home on campus. In 1962 there were Spanish and Portuguese languages added to the institute. By April 1963, the program was no longer a pilot program but was given full status. By September 1964, German was included in the LTM and was housed in the Amanda Knight Hall, southwest of campus.

By 1967, Navajo and French were added to the mission. Missionaries were allowed to attend football and basketball games, make purchases at the Bookstore and exercise in the Richards Physical Education Building. At the same time, demand on dining services was met with a complete cafeteria in the Knight-Mangum Hall.

Missionaries were also extended credit while studying at BYU, since they were basically enrolled for a semester. The academic credit was given at the end of service in the LTM. It was later canceled.

In the spring of 1968, church leaders decided that all foreign-language missionaries should report to the LTM prior to departure. There was additionally a decision to separate the languages taught at the BYU campus, with Scandinavian languages assigned to Ricks College and oriental languages assigned to Church College of Hawaii.

In 1969, the weeks expected in the LTM were reduced to eight. That same year, Italian was added to the curriculum, and Afrikaans was added the following year.

In November 1973, under the direction of Terrance L. Hansen, all language training activities were to be reunited at BYU. It was also announced that a major construction project was to be undertaken.

In a Daily Universe article, Don LaFevre, then director of media relations for the church, was quoted as saying, "…during the first phase of construction in 1973, the MTC was built to accommodate 2,000 missionaries … .

"This second phase of construction will increase missionary capacity to 4,200 when construction is complete."

The construction would put the training in a self-contained centralized complex of facilities under one administration. Groundbreaking occurred in July 1974. The buildings were completed in July 1976 and classes began in August. There were 23 languages taught in the facility.

In 1977, the first international training center was established in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In fall 1978, the name was officially changed to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) and all elders, sisters and couples called from the United States or Canada reported directly to Provo.

Further expansion of the Provo campus was undertaken in the early 1990s and included a gymnasium, conference halls and more sleeping quarters. They were dedicated in March 1994.

Its approximately 1,100 instructors, teaching in 48 languages, are mostly missionaries who have successfully completed their service and returned home or native speakers from around the world who have come to study at BYU.

The level of language proficiency achieved in just nine weeks by the missionaries, ranging in age from 19 through the mid-20s, is remarkable.

Today, every week some 475 young missionaries enter the Provo MTC, becoming part of the more than 60,000 strong in more than 120 countries. There are 62 languages taught in the mission currently.

"I think people at large marvel at the miracle that happens here," Gene Hill, associate administrative director of language training at the MTC, said in a press release. "It's common for us to pass in three days what many of them have learned in two years of high school language classes."

The center's goal is to have missionaries functioning in the basics of the language by the time they leave, he said. Fluency will come later as they are confronted in their daily teaching and contacting with the pressing need to improve communications skills.

The MTC in Provo is the largest of 15 such centers across the world.

Copyright Brigham Young University 1 Dec 2005