Rumors of 19 year old females going on missions

[KillerDog]

The prohibition on dating as a missionary will be lifted in less than 5 years. The largest predictor of temple marriage for a young couple is whether the parents are married in the temple. Therefore, the Church is going to try and create a surge in temple marriage through artificial means and raise up a more righteous generation. I can't wait to see it.

"Of course you can have sex with her Elder. The Lord said multiply and replenish the earth and Elder Oakes Fall 2012 Conference address reinforced it. You just have to marry her first. I recommend P-day then you can go on splits with her."

[Hypoplastic]

This is the thread to share your interesting anecdotes about 19 year old females going on missions. Nubile Twitter feeds, friends in bishoprics passing along inside info, young relatives making appointments in the middle conference....please share any and all information here in this thread.

This thread will help us answer once and for all: will lowering the mission age to 19 result in MORE females serving missions.

Thank you for your participation!

My secretary's sister (19) is meeting with her bishop this week to get her papers started.

[Pheidippides]

The more I think about this the more I think the effect on men is marginal. 18 instead of 19. Big deal. Yeah, college and sex and all that. Marginal.

But dropping the age to 19 for women is going to do major things. While we Mormons get married young, not a ton of girls are getting hitched at 19. I know some, sure, but that's young even for us. If this is in effect when I was a lad, no doubt my wife would have gone. No doubt. But instead I came home and we got married.

So the first thing that will happen is that you see more women going. I also can envision this becoming a de facto cultural requirement - i.e., the social pressures to go will go up for women. Second, I agree with whoever says that you'll probably see more women than men out there at some point.

Neither of these things are bad. Both are a step towards women getting the priesthood IMO, which is the announcement I would have loved to hear but don't expect in my lifetime.

[LiveCoug]

My 22 year old RM nephew at BYU told me that within 4 hours of the announcement, 7 girls in his ward had set up meetings with the bishop about going on a mission...

[Moliere]

The more I think about this the more I think the effect on men is marginal. 18 instead of 19. Big deal. Yeah, college and sex and all that. Marginal.

But dropping the age to 19 for women is going to do major things. While we Mormons get married young, not a ton of girls are getting hitched at 19. I know some, sure, but that's young even for us. If this is in effect when I was a lad, no doubt my wife would have gone. No doubt. But instead I came home and we got married.

So the first thing that will happen is that you see more women going. I also can envision this becoming a de facto cultural requirement - i.e., the social pressures to go will go up for women. Second, I agree with whoever says that you'll probably see more women than men out there at some point.

Neither of these things are bad. Both are a step towards women getting the priesthood IMO, which is the announcement I would have loved to hear but don't expect in my lifetime.

Yeah, the impact is big on women, not so much on men. I'm more excited about how this will change the YW program. Instead of it focusing so much on marriage, it'll have to change to focus a bit on missionary prep and other relevant skills. I have much higher hopes for the YW program after this change and I hope by daughers (still a couple years away for the oldest) will get more out of the program. I'd also love for my daughters to serve missions and that probability just went up 10 fold as of last weekend.

One interesting caveat is that sister missionaries are typically the worst when it comes to issues. I know a mission president that stated that sisters made up 20% of the missionaries but he spent 80% of his time on sister missionary related issues. I do wonder if this change will flip this stigma so that the perception of sisters is equal with that of elders. I think it will as you'll see more "normal" (meaning psychologically sound and physically able) sisters going on missions instead of getting hitched at 19-20.

[TripletDaddy]

My 22 year old RM nephew at BYU told me that within 4 hours of the announcement, 7 girls in his ward had set up meetings with the bishop about going on a mission...

I love it! These anecdotes are fantastic! Please keep them coming.

[TripletDaddy]

The biggest impact will be on sister missionaries currently in the field. They are going to be pissed when a bunch of hot 19 year old chicks show up and take all the attention away.

[Jeff Lebowski]

A couple of interesting articles by Joanna Brooks speculating on the impact this may have on gender equality in the church:

https://askmormongirl.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/im-overjoyed-by-the-big-change-in-mormon-women-serving-missions/

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/joannabrooks/6486/lds_church_drops_missionary_age_for_women_to_19/

Similar article by Catherine Jeppson in the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/lds-church-change-in-missionary-age-may-promote-equality-between-mormon-men-and-women/2012/10/08/704514cc-1183-11e2-ba83-a7a396e6b2a7_blog.html

[hostile]

One of the nurses that I work with is dating a guy who teaches Spanish at the MTC. I told her she better put the pressure on to get married before her boyfriend has all these 19 year olds batting their eyes at him.

[Moliere]

A couple of interesting articles by Joanna Brooks speculating on the impact this may have on gender equality in the church:

https://askmormongirl.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/im-overjoyed-by-the-big-change-in-mormon-women-serving-missions/

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/joannabrooks/6486/lds_church_drops_missionary_age_for_women_to_19/

Similar article by Catherine Jeppson in the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...b2a7_blog.html

I really like what Joanna has to say on this topic. Having been in a room with a 19 year old girl that wants to serve badly at the moment the announcment was made I have to say this is a pretty cool thing.

[mtnbiker]

Yeah, the impact is big on women, not so much on men.

I love it! These anecdotes are fantastic! Please keep them coming.

Well, in general priesthood mtg I sat behind a ym in my ward who turns 19 next May. He was looking for the ward exec sec to schedule a mtg with the bishop to get things moving sooner. He said all his buddies were doing the same thing, but their female friends were sad that the guys would be gone that much sooner.

[creekster]

I love it! These anecdotes are fantastic! Please keep them coming.

Despite your cynical thread starting post, the topic obviously has some interest for many here. You shouldn't be so jaded.

[All-American]

Despite your cynical thread starting post, the topic obviously has some interest for many here. You shouldn't be so jaded.

Kareem had the hook. Jordan had the jab-step. Stockton had the one-handed pass. DDD is a cynic. It's his signature move. And when you're the board MVP, you go with what works.

[TripletDaddy]

Despite your cynical thread starting post, the topic obviously has some interest for many here. You shouldn't be so jaded.

Cynic? I can't help it. I'm Hellenistic at heart.

[Solon]

Cynic? I can't help it. I'm Hellenistic at heart.