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Most observers predicted the dramatic rise in the number Mormon missionaries during the past two years — from about 58,000 in 2012 to nearly 90,000 at the end of 2014 — would fall back into the 70,000s by now.

It hasn't. Instead, it is holding steady, at 84,728 as of Wednesday.

That means the average LDS mission had 217 missionaries by October 2014, compared with the historical average of 163 from 1979 to 2011.

If The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were to maintain this historical average, independent LDS researcher Matt Martinich noted recently, it would need to establish an additional 134 missions.

On Friday, the Utah-based faith announced in the LDS Church News additional steps toward that end by creating 11 new missions — while combining two Salt Lake City missions into one for a net gain of 10 — including one in Logan and another in Orem.

The others are Modesto, Calif.; Yakima, Wash.; Buenos Aires East, Argentina; Santa Fe, Argentina; San Jose West, Costa Rica; Trujillo South, Peru; La Paz El Alto, Bolivia; Port of Spain, Trinidad; and Porto, Portugal.

Two years ago, the church created 58 additional missions to handle the influx of new young proselytizers, David F. Evans, a member of the Seventy and executive director of the Missionary Department, told the LDS Church News, thinking that would be enough.

"However, the younger brothers, sisters and friends of those who went out, I think, have watched the kind of really remarkable experiences that their older brothers, sisters and friends have had," Evans said. "Thus, young people are continuing to respond to [LDS Church] President Thomas S. Monson's invitation to serve missions, and they are doing it at a higher rate than we ever anticipated."

More than 100 of the soon-to-be 416 LDS missions have as many as 250 missionaries, Evans said. The goal will be to have "a maximum of about 200 missionaries per mission."

Mission presidents and missionaries, he said, do better by staying in that range.