My husband and I were out of town all weekend, but some of our time was spent traveling in the car. We were discussing general conference and how we were sad that we were missing it, but we were recording it at home. He said to me, “It’s been a long time since there has been any sort of big announcement at General Conference“. Just then, we decided to see if we could find it on the radio to listen to and we hear President Monson speaking of the changes to missionary work.
Apparently, for some time, on a case by case basis, some missionaries in other countries outside the U.S. have been allowed to serve a full-time mission at the age of 18 instead of 19. I was not aware that was the case. But, President Monson announced that effective immediately, any worthy 18 year old male, from any country, who has already graduated from high school can serve a full-time mission. And, in addition, the age for women to serve full-time missions has changed from 21 years old, to 19 years old.
My first thought was that this was a great decision by the first presidency. Especially for young women wanting to serve. Being a returned missionary myself, I knew I always wanted to serve a mission, and to wait until 21 years old seemed like a long time for me to wait. In fact, during the years between graduation and 21 years old, I had a few ups and downs and chose not to attend church for a while. It was a hard time in my life, but I have always been grateful for the lessons learned during that time. While I was obviously able to overcome those trials and serve a faithful mission at 21 years old, I do wonder if I would have saved myself some heartache if I had been able to serve sooner.
The young adult years are not easy ones. Youth are leaving home for the first time, and sometimes find themselves questioning their own faith, and the faith of their parents. While I strongly believe that every LDS youth should find out for themselves if what they have always been taught is true, I do believe that there will be less time for both men and women to find a wayward path between high school and missions with the lowering of the age requirement. For me, this is a wonderful announcement. I think that the number of women that will serve missions will go up too.