Would the policy change have affected you?

[PaloAltoCougar]

I might have gone a year earlier due to cultural pressure, if such had developed, but missing my freshman year would have been a huge loss for me. I made friendships that year that remain very strong, and I learned more about both the Church and me that year than in the 18 prior years combined.

[clackamascoug]

I entered the MTC on Aug 8, 1978. With a July birthday there's no freaking way I would have been ready for a mission after high school. The summer of '78 while I waited for my mission, was the best summer ever. I golfed, and got my pilot's license. I flew all summer, completed the requirements, got my license, and left the next week. I've never flown again.

[venkman]

If I could have gone at 18 I'm sure I would have. I'm glad though that I didn't get the chance. I didn't turn 18 until two months after HS graduation. Being able to work a couple of summers and go away to BYU for a year before a mission was not only damn fun, but it helped me to mature some and gain more confidence that I didn't have right out of high school.

[Levin]

I don't think I would have. I remember being apprehensive/nervous/scared about going on a mission, and the thought of being able to wait until I was 19 and to start college was a relief b/c it put off the mission a bit longer.

[marsupial]

My past 19 year old self is extremely jealous. :-) I wanted to go since I was a little kid so I remember being jealous of all my guy friends from freshman ward at BYU, wishing I could go out when they went out.

Same. I really wanted to go on a mission when I was 19, but by the time I was 21, danimal was home and I really just wanted to have sex. We got married at 21.

[thesaint258]

The difference for me would have only been a few months. With an early birthday, I was almost 19 by the time I graduated, so the difference wouldn't have really mattered.

[smokymountainrain]

Same. I really wanted to go on a mission when I was 19, but by the time I was 21, danimal was home and I really just wanted to have sex. We got married at 21.

Lol. But seriously, who could put a mission before sex with Danimal?

[Surfah]

If the policy was 18 when I went I likely would have served then. It also probably would have kept my p out of a v that kept me from serving until I was 20. My whole life would likely be different. My high school sweetheart was a grade younger so I would have left and been home about the time she finished her freshman year at BYU. I know I would have been a better student because anything would have been better than my 1.something my freshman year. Maybe I would have gone into medicine like I had planned to do. I wonder though if I would be as happy as I am today.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Yes I would have left right out of HS and been even more immature, had that been possible.

I am sure though that since it was revelation that called me Sacramento, everything else would have been the same.

[marsupial]

Yes I would have left right out of HS and been even more immature, had that been possible.

I am sure though that since it was revelation that called me Sacramento, everything else would have been the same.

Did you ever have the pleasure of serving my neighbors in beautiful Calaveras County?

[Solon]

I agree with the posters on here who suggest that this will be a greater impact on women are considering a mission but are still waiting around until they're old enough.

One of the great disservices we do to women in the church is to make them play two sides of the same game, simultaneously.

On the one hand, get an education; on the other, be prepared to drop education for family (or to move to Kentucky for hubby's dental program).

On the one hand, get married.
On the other hand, you should serve a mission if you want to.

I hope this new policy helps LDS women resolve their life-planning conflicts more easily.

As for the men, I see a lot of changes in young men between that first day of Freshman year and that last day of spring semester 8-9 months later. I think there are real disadvantages to sending out even greener, less experienced young men.

It's also a potential kick in the ova to the women that these even younger men are going to be their priesthood leaders on mission, but that's always been the case I suppose.

[DrumNFeather]

I think I would've gone straight from high school and skipped my first semester at Ricks. I'm not sure what level of difference it would've made in my case, and I loved that first semester at Ricks, but I think I would've been better off to just go after hs.

[Portland Ute]

It will be interesting to see how this affects dating in the LDS young single world.

If a young man leaves in his mid 18's, he'll get back at about the age of 20.5 after two years.

Most girls will be graduated from HS by 19 and will be able to leave at 19, returning home at age 20.5 after 1.5 years.

Of course, there will be some exceptions.

However, returning RMs, male and female, will be much, much closer in age then preivously when YM returned at about 21 y.o. and YW returned at about 22.5.

This has aleady been mentioned, but I think this dynamic will also lead to more HS sweethearts both serving missions at about the same time and getting married upon returning home at the ripe old age of 20ish. Not sure that is a good thing at all.

[wuapinmon]

I would've put my papers in in July instead of October. I left in February.

[Mrs. Funk]

I graduated from undergrad at 19 with no debt. I absolutely would have served a mission at that point. By the time I had committed to go to law school a year later, a mission wasn't really an option.