page_title: Culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
section_title: Missionaries
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints / Missionaries
caption_attribution_description: English: The Missionary Training Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Provo, Utah, United States.
context_page_description: The basic beliefs and traditions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a cultural impact that distinguishes church members, practices and activities. The culture is geographically concentrated in the Mormon Corridor in the United States, and is present to a lesser extent in many places of the world where Latter-day Saints live.
  In some aspects, Latter-day Saint culture is distinct from church doctrine. Cultural practices which are centrally based on church doctrine include adhering to the church's law of health, paying tithing, living the law of chastity, participation in lay leadership of the church, refraining from work on Sundays when possible, family home evenings, and home and visiting teaching. The church also emphasizes the moral standards that Mormons believe were taught by Jesus Christ, including personal honesty, integrity, obedience to law, chastity outside of marriage, and fidelity within marriage.
  The majority of Latter-day Saints live outside the United States. Therefore, even though the global differences are important, there are some common traits around Latter-day Saints worldwide.
context_section_description: The LDS Church has one of the most active missionary programs of any world church. During the church's general conference in October 2014, Thomas S. Monson noted that there were in excess of 88,000 full-time LDS missionaries serving without pay around the world. Young men can begin serving for two years at age 18, with young women able to begin 18-month service at age 19; missionaries frequently learn another language and typically are assigned far from their homes.
  Missionary work is a fundamental principle of the church and has become one of its most readily identifiable characteristics. Church headquarters assigns missionaries to their area of work, which can be in any part of the world where governments allow them. It also directs the missionary whether to focus on proselytizing, humanitarian work, or family history work.
caption: The Provo Missionary Training Center
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