page_title: Mission (LDS Church)
section_title: Mission president
hierarchical_section_title: Mission (LDS Church) / Administrative structure / Mission president
caption_attribution_description: English: The Mission home of the Bulgaria Sofia Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sofia, Bulgaria Български: Сграда на Мормонската мисия в София, България
context_page_description: A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not any of the church's missionaries live or proselytize in the area. As of July 2018, there were 407 missions of the LDS Church. On January 2, 2019, the LDS Church announced changes that will close 12 missions through boundary realignments and open up 4 new ones, effective July 1, 2019. When these changes take place, there will be 399 missions of the church.
context_section_description: All missionaries serve in a mission under the direction of a mission president, who, like individual missionaries, is assigned by the LDS Church president. The mission president must be a married high priest in the Melchizedek Priesthood; his wife is asked to serve alongside him.  In 2013 the mission president's wife was given additional leadership roles in the mission. Mission presidents are typically in their forties or older, and usually have the financial means to devote themselves full-time to the responsibility for three consecutive years. The church provides mission presidents with a minimal living allowance but it normally requires them to supplement it with their own funds. Often, the mission president must learn the local language spoken in the mission, as the missionaries do (although many mission presidents today have either previously served a mission in the mission language or speak the mission language as their native language).
  The mission president has at least two counselors, who are Latter-day Saints usually from the local area who keep their regular employment. The role of the counselors varies by mission, but they typically serve as liaisons between the mission and the local membership of the church.  In some areas where the church is newer senior men who are serving full-time missions along with their wives may be called as counselors in the mission presidency.
caption: The mission home for the Bulgaria Sofia Mission. A mission home is the official residence of a Mission president.
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