Beginning Nov. 1, guided tours for visitors on Temple Square will be provided exclusively by full-time sister missionaries, said Ralph O. Bradley, director of the famed Square.
Under the new policy, sister missionaries from the Utah Salt Lake City Mission will lead guided tours on the Square, and retired married couples called to Church-service hosting positions will serve in the two visitors centers. All other guides will be released from their service at the end of October.Some 68 sister missionaries and 22 couples will be assigned to the Square, said Bradley.
"All the tours and presentations will be handled by the young missionaries," he said. "The couples will serve as counter information specialists, greeters, group leaders and in other leadership positions."
He expressed appreciation to the contingent of nearly 900 volunteer guides presently serving. "These volunteers who take time out from their busy schedules to take visitors on one tour a week, or who serve a periodic shift as hosts or hostesses in the visitors centers, have provided a great service to the Square and its thousands of daily visitors," said Bradley. "We commend them for it."
Until enough young full-time missionaries with foreign-language-speaking capabilities are available, however, several foreign-language-speaking volunteers will be retained temporarily on an on-call basis, he said.
