From Deseret News archives:
Older LDS missionaries get a transfer in Provo
They're moved to main MTC; Senior MTC is torn down
Married for several decades, the couple is preparing to embark on a mission to Hungary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in August.
This will be the third mission for Delwyn Richardson and the second for his wife. But serving in Hungary will be a far cry from his first two missions — one to Mexico in 1957 and one 32 years later to El Salvador, where he served as mission president with his wife.
Though their ages qualify them as "seniors," the Richardsons get their Hungarian language lessons at the church's Missionary Training Center for young missionaries — who are mainly 19-year-old males.
That's because the Senior Missionary Training Center, which was once a hotel, is being torn down a few blocks away following a period of vacancy.
"Because of the number of international MTCs, the number of young missionaries at the Provo MTC is down, and there was thus space available," explained Steve Graham, who oversees the senior missionaries at the MTC.
Graham said they transferred the senior missionaries in November to the main facility, where there are 47 special apartments designated for the older group.
Meanwhile, the Senior MTC was been turned back to Brigham Young University, which owns the land. BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said that "a final decision has not been made as to what will be done with the property."
When their departure date gets closer, the Richardsons will stay for several days at the MTC — something they are looking forward to.
"We weren't there five days, and we weren't with the young missionaries," Wilhelmina Richardson said of their 1997 stay at the Senior MTC, which included frequent trips to the main training center.
Still, those who spent time at the senior MTC are sad to see the center go.
"I think it's kind of sad that they're tearing down that landmark, but things progress," said Salt Lake resident Karyl Holtkamp, who served two LDS missions with her husband.
Like most adult couples, the Holtkamps spent just a few days at the center before their first mission to Nigeria since they didn't need to learn a new language to work at the mission office there.
The short stay was fine with Holtkamp — in retrospect — as he noted the unique challenges in Nigeria made the things learned at the MTC less relevant to their service.
Ursula Gamble of West Valley City, however, said she enjoyed her time at the training center before embarking on two of her three missions. It helped prepare her, she said, to spend 24 hours a day with the young female "companions" she was assigned to.
