10 Missions To Combine
To better align resources and adjust to the ever changing needs of the Church, 10 new missions will be organized in July, while 14 other missions will be combined with neighboring missions. The resulting number of missions will be 340. Ref. Source 3
I cannot say THE reason for this move, but I can say my opinion on what usually happens. Combining missions tend to be as a result of no existing need. There is no need to have a separate mission set up for a certain designated area if that area does not need it. The same usually goes for Branches / Wards. Why have 3 Branches with 10 people attending and you have to find 3 leaders to fill the roles in each Branch giving the same result when you can have one with 30 people and just one leader and possibly training people to get a better result as a whole?
LDS_forever contacted the Church News about their info and after some clarification I must say most of it - the way it is written is confusing. Therefore a lot of the Threads we placed here about mission changes may not be accurate.