Rumors of 19 year old females going on missions

[DWhitmer]

Membership down

Perhaps the main reason has been overlooked.



They borrowed a page from the military playbook - get them committed before they graduate from high school. Shouldn't the ages be reversed since girls mature sooner than guys? How would that play out? Sisters 18 and Elders 19?

[jay santos]

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

Am I missing a hilarious joke here. What gives?

[Uncle Ted]

Perhaps the main reason has been overlooked.



They borrowed a page from the military playbook - get them committed before they graduate from high school. Shouldn't the ages be reversed since girls mature sooner than guys? How would that play out? Sisters 18 and Elders 19?

Given that only about 30 percent of LDS young men, in the United States, serve missions and that few than half of the young men who do not serve missions remain active in the church that may be part of the reason.

[DU Ute]

Am I missing a hilarious joke here.

No.

[venkman]

I just started another mission fund...just in case.

My daughter is only nine and she and her little friend were pretty excited about the news. I think it's great.

[TripletDaddy]

Am I missing a hilarious joke here. What gives?

Am I not allowed to enjoy all of these anecdotes?

[TripletDaddy]

I just started another mission fund...just in case.

My daughter is only nine and she and her little friend were pretty excited about the news. I think it's great.

9 year old? This may be the best one yet.

[creekster]

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

That's too sophist-icated for me.

[DWhitmer]

Given that only about 30 percent of LDS young men, in the United States, serve missions and that few than half of the young men who do not serve missions remain active in the church that may be part of the reason.

Wow, I did not know it was that bad. What about this statistic from the same report:

“It is disturbing that 10 percent of the LDS young men and 7 percent of the young women admit, or perhaps brag, that they have physically hurt someone so seriously that they required medical attention from a doctor."

[LA Ute]

This is a pretty good piece on the change (which I think is great - so does my 15 year-old daughter).

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8...?s_cid=Email-4

[statman]

My two nieces both had first Bishop's interviews for preparing mission papers last night. They're both planning on having papers in by the end of October and hope to have calls by Thanksgiving. Both going through the temple as soon as the get home from BYU-I for Christmas & hoping to leave ASAP in the new year...

[statman]

That's a bold prediction. I think absent the "expectation", with missions being as hard as they are - financially and physically/emotionally - many yw will still stay home. While the numbers of sisters will increase, they won't come close to matching the boys. Should be interesting.

Talked with Bishop on Saturday night about mission finances. He'd already talked with Stake President about the likelihood of wards having to fully fund more missionaries. Moving the age for YM up is in specific response to losing too many between graduation and what for most is the end of their freshman year. Having YM delay in order to save money would be counter to the reason for the change. For wards that can spring for the $400 a month for however many missionaries they have serving, they'd rather have them leave sooner and have the wards pay some/more than stay have the missionary delay to save money.

And sooner-rather-than-later-if-the-ward-can-afford-it rule of thumb was received BEFORE the announcement was made. But it applies even more now...

(IMO - the change for YW was made just to get more missionaries out there. We'll need them when Romney becomes President.)

[statman]

Right. For all the attention this is getting, it changes very little in regard to the boys.

It's not a big change for boys - except that there are more that will clear the raised bar right after graduation than will graduation + 1 year. There will be a bubble of elders next year, but that after that we'll quickly see a steady-state for elders. The number of sisters is going to skyrocket though. I think because of the longer missions for men, we'll never get to have actual equal numbers of men and women at any given time. But I think that we very may well see more women going than men.

[statman]

Perhaps the main reason has been overlooked.



They borrowed a page from the military playbook - get them committed before they graduate from high school. Shouldn't the ages be reversed since girls mature sooner than guys? How would that play out? Sisters 18 and Elders 19?

They're not reversed specifically because they want a maturity gap between elders and sisters. It's not going to be nearly as big now as it was before, but it will still be there. They want more missionaries more than they want a maturity gap...

[Indy Coug]

But I think that we very may well see more women going than men.

I doubt that's going to happen, because when you get right down to it, there is no edict that "Every worthy young woman [must] serve a mission".