The Mormon church is moving forward with its plan to arm missionaries with iPad minis and broaden their proselytizing to social media.
A test program that began last fall with 6,500 missionaries serving in the United States and Japan went well, prompting the initiative's expansion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a news release this week.
Church leaders expect to have the specially configured mobile devices in the hands of more than 32,000 missionaries by early 2015.
Using the iPad minis has proved an effective tool for missionaries to communicate with church leaders and keep in touch with people who have expressed interest in joining the Mormon church, said David F. Evans, director of the church's missionary department, in a video posted on Mormonnewsroom.org.