Every week, families from across the country — and around the world — make the drive to a campus just north of BYU for one of the most emotional errands in Latter-day Saint life: dropping a son or daughter off at the Provo Missionary Training Center. If your family's turn is coming up, this guide is for you. It covers how drop-off day actually works, how to plan the trip around it, how to stay connected once your missionary is inside, and a few things about the MTC that surprise even lifelong locals.
A note on our approach: everything below about MTC procedures was verified against the Provo MTC's own official pages, because the rules are specific and they matter on a day when emotions are running high. Policies can change, so treat the MTC's site — and the instructions in your missionary's travel packet — as the final word.
What the MTC Is
The Provo Missionary Training Center is the largest of the missionary training centers operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sitting at 2005 North 900 East in Provo, directly north of the BYU campus. New missionaries spend a few weeks here — longer for those learning a language — studying, practicing teaching, and adjusting to missionary life before departing for assignments all over the world.
One thing that has changed in recent years: most missionaries now begin their MTC experience with online training at home, meeting with teachers and fellow missionaries virtually before traveling to Provo to complete the on-site portion. So by the time drop-off day arrives, your missionary has usually already been "in the MTC" for a while — the drive to Provo is the second beginning, not the first.
Drop-Off Day: How It Actually Works
This is the part families most want to get right, so here it is plainly, per the MTC's official arrival instructions.
The farewell is at the curb. Since 2009, families do not go inside. One vehicle per missionary family may enter the MTC grounds, and it should carry the missionary, their luggage, and a few members of the immediate family. Other relatives and friends will not be able to drive in or walk onto the campus — so if grandparents, cousins, and best friends want to say goodbye, plan that gathering somewhere else, earlier in the day or the night before.
Timing is scheduled. Arrival times generally fall between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m., and each missionary's specific slot is published about a week before the on-site arrival date. The MTC asks that you come at the assigned time — hundreds of missionaries arrive in a compressed window, and the system works because everyone keeps to it. If you're running late, call the information desk at 385-384-2900.
The goodbye is short — by design. When you pull in, you'll be directed to a drop-off spot. You'll have a few minutes to unload, take a photo, hug, and say goodbye before a pair of host missionaries — themselves only a few weeks in — meet your missionary and walk them up into their new life. The MTC's own advice is to keep farewells brief and to have your real farewell activities before you arrive. Take your photos beforehand, too; the curb moves fast.
A few practical details: tall vehicles like RVs can't enter the drop-off area. If you're driving in from the north, take I-15 exit 269; from the south, exit 263. Missionaries who must fly in early to make their arrival time may come the day before, and anyone arriving by airport shuttle should come straight from their flight rather than waiting for the scheduled slot.
If it helps to hear it from parents who've done it: almost every family says the abruptness is the hardest part and also, somehow, the mercy of it. The long goodbye happens at home. The curb is just the door.
Planning the Trip Around Drop-Off
If you're traveling any real distance, build a day around the fifteen minutes.
Come in the night before. An unhurried morning beats a white-knuckle drive to a 1:15 p.m. slot. Our where to stay in Provo guide breaks down the hotel zones — the near-campus and downtown zones put you minutes from the MTC.
Plan a last meal that feels like your family. Some families do a big breakfast; some do an early lunch near campus. Downtown Provo and the restaurants around BYU give you plenty of range — from a celebratory sit-down to one final round of local favorites your missionary will be dreaming about for the next while. Our food guides can help you pick, and if drop-off falls near a weekend, note that many Provo restaurants close Sundays — our open-on-Sunday guide covers who doesn't.
Leave time for a quiet stop. Many families like to walk temple grounds together before drop-off. One heads-up so you don't drive to the wrong place: the temple directly adjacent to the MTC — renamed the Provo Utah Rock Canyon Temple — is closed for reconstruction. The Provo City Center Temple downtown has beautiful, open grounds, and several other Utah County temples are a short drive away. (Our temple guide for out-of-town guests lists all six currently operating temples in the county.)
Plan something for after. The drive away from the curb is famously the hardest mile of the day. Families who fare best usually have somewhere to be — dinner reservations, the Y hike your missionary just told you to do, or a slow loop through the valley. If you're staying the weekend, our 48 hours in Provo itinerary gives the whole visit a shape.
Staying Connected: Letters, Calls, and P-Day
Once your missionary walks up the hill, communication settles into the missionary rhythm.
Preparation day is the connection day. Missionaries may read letters and messages during the week as time allows, but they reply — by letter, email, online messaging, or audio/video chat — on their weekly preparation day, which ends at 6:00 p.m. Special occasions and emergencies are handled per missionary guidelines. Expect a weekly cadence and treasure it.
Getting the mailing address. Missionaries receive their full MTC mailing address by email a few days before traveling to Provo, and it's different from the MTC's street address. Your missionary has to give it to you — MTC staff are not authorized to release missionary addresses, and emails sent to the information desk won't be forwarded.
Sending Packages (Read This Before You Ship Cookies)
The MTC's mail rules are specific, and well-meaning families run into them constantly:
What works: US Mail and commercial carriers — UPS, FedEx, and Amazon — delivered to the missionary's mailing address. One quirk worth knowing: Amazon delivers to the MTC only Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and carrier delivery-confirmation texts aren't always accurate about when a package actually reaches the MTC mail room. Once it does, staff put a notice in the missionary's mailbox and they pick it up at the service window.
What doesn't: no perishable food of any kind — no fast food, nothing requiring refrigeration — because there's no way to keep it safe by the time it's picked up. And no freelance deliveries: DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats orders are turned away at the security booth, as is anything handed over the fence, dropped at the booth, or passed to a missionary during temple visits or gym time.
The approved local route: the MTC publishes a list of approved same-day delivery services, and it doubles as a very Provo answer to "how do I spoil my missionary from 2,000 miles away." General packages can go through BYU Mail Services, PostMart in Provo, PostalAnnex in Spanish Fork, or Rushly. For treats, the approved list includes some genuine local institutions: Provo Bakery, Shirley's Bakery, Crumbl Cookies, BYU Dining's Milk & Cookies, Nothing Bundt Cakes, and Great Harvest Bread — plus Called2Serve.com for gift boxes. Two local pharmacies, Art City Pharmacy and Maple Mountain Pharmacy, handle medicine deliveries. Order from the current approved list on the MTC's site, since vendors can change.
The Visiting Rules (They're Strict, and They're Real)
This is the section that saves families heartache: you cannot visit a missionary at the MTC. The MTC asks that family and friends not attempt to visit missionaries at the training center, during their temple attendance, or anywhere near the MTC — and not to meet them at the bus, the train station, or the airport as they depart for their missions. However tempting it is to "just happen to be" at the right terminal, the missionary is the one put in an impossible spot. The goodbye at the curb is the goodbye.
Yes, the Public Can Tour the MTC
Here's the part that surprises people, including plenty of locals: the MTC offers tours to the general public — not just to church youth groups, but to families and anyone curious about what happens behind the fence.
The onsite tour is a roughly one-mile, hour-long guided walk through campus that includes the cafeteria, the gym, a residence hall, and classrooms, and it ends with a couple of currently serving missionaries sharing what their MTC experience has been like. There's also a live virtual tour guided by recently returned missionaries, and a video tour on the Church's Newsroom YouTube channel for anyone who can't schedule either. Sign-ups are on the Provo MTC's tours pages.
Two honest caveats: tours are scheduled, not drop-in — and a tour is not a workaround for visiting your own missionary. But for a younger sibling preparing for their own future mission, or grandparents who've sent off generations of missionaries without ever seeing the inside, it's a genuinely meaningful hour.
Quick Reference
Provo MTC — 2005 North 900 East, Provo, UT 84602 (physical address; mailing address differs). Information desk: 385-384-2900, staffed 24 hours. Email: MTCInfodesk@ChurchofJesusChrist.org (not forwarded to missionaries). From I-15: exit 269 southbound into Provo from the north, exit 263 from the south.
Sending a missionary is one of Utah Valley's defining family rituals, and Provo has been the backdrop for it for generations. If your drop-off day is coming: plan the morning, keep the curb short, and know that the whole town has stood where you're standing. If we've missed something families should know, tell us at hello@provo.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can families go inside the Provo MTC on drop-off day?
Can I visit a missionary while they're at the MTC?
Can the public tour the Provo MTC?
How do I send a package to a missionary at the Provo MTC?
What time is drop-off at the Provo MTC?