Couple Called to Serve in Ghana Missionary Training Center

NEWS RELEASE —  23 JANUARY 2014

ACCRA — 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has called Reid Adams Robison and his wife, Diane Laverne Flint Robison, to serve in the Ghana Missionary Training Center.

President and Sister Robison, together with two counselors in the MTC Presidency and their spouses, will welcome new missionaries from all over the world as they guide the elders and sisters through an 11-day training program before they depart for their assigned English-speaking missions throughout West Africa. Those missionaries who serve in French-speaking African countries and Madagascar stay in the Ghana MTC for six weeks of training.

President Robison and Sister Robison are from Provo, Utah, United States. He was recently released from a French-speaking branch presidency at the Provo Missionary Training Center and is a former president of the West Indies Mission, stake president (a stake is a group of Latter-day Saint congregations, similar to a diocese), bishop and missionary in the French Mission. Currently, he is an adjunct professor and director of organizational behavior and human resources at the Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management in Utah, United States. 

Sister Robison served on the Young Women general board for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She previously served with her husband in the West Indies Mission and is a former seminary and institute teacher and gospel doctrine teacher. They have five children.

Ghana MTC is one of 15 missionary training centers throughout the world, and one of two in Africa, along with the MTC in Johannesburg, South Africa.  

Life in the MTC is centered on a rigorous curriculum rooted in teaching others about Jesus Christ. It includes devotional addresses from Church leaders, daily practice teaching situations, learning good study habits and understanding how to spend all day, every day, with an assigned companion.

Missionaries in the MTC also learn how to live on their own. For many of these 18- and 19-year-old men and women, the missionary training center is their first experience living away from home. They do their own laundry, exercise daily, learn how to eat wisely and stay healthy.

President and Sister Robison will have a great impact on the lives of hundreds of missionaries before they depart for their assigned missions. Their leadership and guidance will teach the missionaries self-motivation and self-direction, creating a pattern for missionaries to follow during their missions as well as for the rest of their lives.

Couple called to serve in Ghana Missionary Training Center

NEWS RELEASE —  23 JANUARY 2014

ACCRA — 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has called Reid Adams Robison and his wife, Diane Laverne Flint Robison, to serve in the Ghana Missionary Training Center.

President and Sister Robison, together with two counselors in the MTC Presidency and their spouses, will welcome new missionaries from all over the world as they guide the elders and sisters through an 11-day training program before they depart for their assigned English-speaking missions throughout West Africa. Those missionaries who serve in French-speaking African countries and Madagascar stay in the Ghana MTC for six weeks of training.

President Robison and Sister Robison are from Provo, Utah, United States. He was recently released from a French-speaking branch presidency at the Provo Missionary Training Center and is a former president of the West Indies Mission, stake president (a stake is a group of Latter-day Saint congregations, similar to a diocese), bishop and missionary in the French Mission. Currently, he is an adjunct professor and director of organizational behavior and human resources at the Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management in Utah, United States. 

Sister Robison served on the Young Women general board for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She previously served with her husband in the West Indies Mission and is a former seminary and institute teacher and gospel doctrine teacher. They have five children.

Ghana MTC is one of 15 missionary training centers throughout the world, and one of two in Africa, along with the MTC in Johannesburg, South Africa.  

Life in the MTC is centered on a rigorous curriculum rooted in teaching others about Jesus Christ. It includes devotional addresses from Church leaders, daily practice teaching situations, learning good study habits and understanding how to spend all day, every day, with an assigned companion.

Missionaries in the MTC also learn how to live on their own. For many of these 18- and 19-year-old men and women, the missionary training center is their first experience living away from home. They do their own laundry, exercise daily, learn how to eat wisely and stay healthy.

President and Sister Robison will have a great impact on the lives of hundreds of missionaries before they depart for their assigned missions. Their leadership and guidance will teach the missionaries self-motivation and self-direction, creating a pattern for missionaries to follow during their missions as well as for the rest of their lives.

How Big Is Africa?

Few Latter-day Saints in North America realize how big Africa is.  Can you see that if you super-impose the United States, China, India and most of Europe, all would fit within the boundaries of Africa?

Welcome Message from the MTC President

Dear Prospective Missionaries and Parents,

Young men and women who are called by the Lord as full-time missionaries begin their service at one of the Church's 15 missionary training centers (MTCs) worldwide. The Ghana MTC in West Africa was established in 2002 and is a choice place where staff, teachers, and leaders strive to serve the individual needs of each missionary who comes to receive training.

The length of training for missionaries at the Ghana MTC is 11 days, with each group arriving and departing together. The number of missionaries in a group ranges from 50 to 65, with missionaries in the group divided into individual classes consisting of eight to ten missionaries each. Missionaries trained at the Ghana MTC come from and serve in a variety of African countries, including Benin, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Togo. Others who are called to serve in Africa come from nations outside of Africa—such as the United States, Great Britain, and the islands of the South Pacific—and come to Ghana for their training. Training is conducted in both English and French for those who already speak those languages, which are the two major mission languages in African nations.    

During your stay, you will develop increased understanding and love for the scriptures and the doctrine of Christ. Our training is focused on the scriptures and principles taught in the inspired volume Preach My Gospel. Through obedience, personal prayer, and study of the scriptures, your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will be strengthened and your testimony of His restored gospel expanded and deepened. As a result, you will become skilled in teaching the message of the Restoration in your mission language. As you learn to teach by the Spirit, you will become a mentor and righteous example for other missionaries. New friendships will be forged that will last forever and will reach across and beyond cultural and language barriers.

The typical missionary day is filled with class instruction, daily opportunities for teaching your progressing investigators, physical exercise and sports, and meals prepared by the wonderful kitchen staff. Weekly Sunday meetings and devotionals include instruction from members of the Africa West Area Presidency, MTC President and wife, and recorded talks by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. You will also have the opportunity to attend the Accra Ghana Temple during your stay at the MTC and have personal preparation time to read, ponder, and write to family and friends.  

The missionary training center experience can be fulfilling and spiritually edifying. Learning to teach the gospel in order to help in the work of establishing the Lord's kingdom throughout the world is a challenging task that will stretch your capacity and capability. The spiritual blessings that accompany this work will bring about great personal growth.

Sister Robison and I welcome you to the Ghana Africa Missionary Training Center. We know you are about to embark on an unparalleled experience. Our Heavenly Father will bless you as you faithfully prepare.                            

President and Sister Robison

Arrival in Ghana, January 21, 2014

President and Sister Robison arrived in Accra, Ghana on January 21, 2014 where they were greeted by President and Sister Graham, the outgoing MTC President and his wife, and Mathias Eguko, the Managing Director of the MTC.

Meet the Robisons

President and Sister Robison come from Provo, Utah, where President Robison was an adjunct professor in the BYU Marriott School and Directed Placement for business students in organizational behavior, human resources and strategy.  Sister Robison was recently released from serving on the General Young Women Board of the Church.  From 2006-2009, President and Sister Robison served a mission in the West Indies, where President Robison was the mission president.

In coming to Africa, they leave behind 5 children (four of whom are married) and 18 grandchildren. 

MTC President Training January 13-16, 2014

Each January one half of the MTC presidents are replaced because of the completion of their two year assignment.  This month 8 of the 15 MTCs located throughout the World participated in the MTC President Seminar in Provo from January 13 to 16th.  Included in the training were presidents and their wives headed to South Africa, Guatemala, Chile, Peru, Spain,