Decades ago, much of the mission force and leadership hailed from in and around Utah, with returned missionaries often working or attending college along the Wasatch Front. It made for prime reunion participation.

But missionaries and presidents now come from across the globe and then return home or go elsewhere than to Utah for education, work and family.

Even for those with strong local ties, mission reunions tend to lose their drawing power after a few short years.

Kay Christensen, who attended a couple of reunions after his mission in England in the late 1950s and who has regrouped with returned missionaries faithfully twice a year after his presiding over the Ukraine Donetsk Mission ended in 2005, cites the end of schooling and the start of marriage and family as being impactful.

"They finished their schooling, get married and are gone," Christensen said. "There's a natural drop-off — we saw the same thing with the previous (Donetsk mission) president when we came home, and we see it coming for us."

Still, a number of mission reunions are thriving well beyond a half-century, such as the Mexico reunion for missionaries who served from 1942 to 1956 in an area than spanned from San Antonio, Texas, to Panama. That area now has 33 current missions in Mexico and Central America.

Moreno Robins, who served in Mexico in the early '50s, toiled several years ago to recompile the list of possible participants — his list still contains some 250 current names, the oldest former missionaries now in their late 80s. Participation has only recently dropped to just under triple digits.

Meanwhile, the Tongan mission reunion lists itself as spanning "1891 to 2009," although returned missionaries from the first few decades have understandably been absent for some time.

James Christensen, who served in Tonga from 1955 to 1957 and later as mission president from 1969 to 1972, said their reunion is a two-night affair, beginning with a Sunday night fireside. Last Sunday, some 700 gathered to listen to Elder John H. Groberg, whose missionary memoirs were chronicled in a book and a feature film.

Tonight, reunion participants will gather again for the Friday night program and dance. "That's when you let your hair down," Christensen said.

E-mail: taylor@desnews.com

179th Annual General Conference