Sister Missionary Age Change!

[ZealouslyStriving]

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/women-missionary-service-age-18?fbclid=IwdGRzaAONfbZjbGNrA419qmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHvpoQM6uxiZtAT2u5fS9bIWXCld9UKeCzEvIPCq8OR0I7GikwS5n-3rrVHgK_aem_TnRcpLlkzOkCQLe_D9m_nw

Great news!

[longview]

Well. It is already apparent that women tend to be MORE mature than men.

[bluebell]

It’s good that the policies are equal now, and it’ll probably increase the romance rate between sisters and elders in missions some so yay for the mission presidents and their wives!   

Hopefully it won’t be as traumatic of a change as the last age change, but at least we got weekly phone calls out of that increase in mental health stress.

[ZealouslyStriving]

16 minutes ago, bluebell said:

It’s good that the policies are equal now, and it’ll probably increase the romance rate between sisters and elders in missions some so yay for the mission presidents and their wives!   

Hopefully it won’t be as traumatic of a change as the last age change, but at least we got weekly phone calls out of that increase in mental health stress.

I'm not entirely sure that is an unintended consequence.  🙂 Pres. Oaks did just reemphasize us being a family church and with dating getting harder to navigate, what better place to find a faithful potential future marriage partner than while serving the Lord? I think Mission Presidents should encourage making connections, but reserve dating until finished.

Early Latter-day Saint missionaries found wives in missions all the time.

Edited November 21, 2025 by ZealouslyStriving

[bsjkki]

I missed your post. I just put this on the main board. Sorry! 

I think this is a great change.

[Calm]

2 hours ago, ZealouslyStriving said:

I'm not entirely sure that is an unintended consequence.  🙂 Pres. Oaks did just reemphasize us being a family church and with dating getting harder to navigate, what better place to find a faithful potential future marriage partner than while serving the Lord? I think Mission Presidents should encourage making connections, but reserve dating until finished.

Early Latter-day Saint missionaries found wives in missions all the time.

Have they moved away from teaching young men and women no thought of romance should enter their heads when on a mission as that would be a distraction from the Lord’s work, that’s it’s okay to get to know each other on missions in order to consider some as candidates for later relationships? (That no romantic thought should enter your head when looking at sisters/elders was the mantra of my youth, it seemed to me, perhaps it was more my bias or a local thing, but the later age for women was described typically as a discouragement for both romance between elders and sisters and for women to go on missions rather than choosing to get married earlier and start having babies.)

[ZealouslyStriving]

44 minutes ago, Calm said:

Have they moved away from teaching young men and women no thought of romance should enter their heads when on a mission as that would be a distraction from the Lord’s work, that’s it’s okay to get to know each other on missions in order to consider some as candidates for later relationships? (That no romantic thought should enter your head when looking at sisters/elders was the mantra of my youth, it seemed to me, perhaps it was more my bias or a local thing, but the later age for women was described typically as a discouragement for both romance between elders and sisters and for women to go on missions rather than choosing to get married earlier and start having babies.)

Hopefully.

My cousin's oldest boy had several sisters write to him after they went home, while he was still out, looking for a relationship with him after he got home. So obviously there was some attraction happening and being pondered upon.

[bluebell]

21 minutes ago, ZealouslyStriving said:

Hopefully.

My cousin's oldest boy had several sisters write to him after they went home, while he was still out, looking for a relationship with him after he got home. So obviously there was some attraction happening and being pondered upon.

The same happened to my son. 

[MorningStar]

15 hours ago, bluebell said:

It’s good that the policies are equal now, and it’ll probably increase the romance rate between sisters and elders in missions some so yay for the mission presidents and their wives!   

Hopefully it won’t be as traumatic of a change as the last age change, but at least we got weekly phone calls out of that increase in mental health stress.

I think for those who are waiting for girlfriends/boyfriends, they can serve at the same time and be less of a distraction to each other because they'll be so busy. One of my "mission sons" has a girlfriend waiting for him, but she says he has to wait for her when she serves her mission. Now he won't have to wait for her as long! I'm so excited for him! They have a two year age difference. 

[bluebell]

7 hours ago, MorningStar said:

I think for those who are waiting for girlfriends/boyfriends, they can serve at the same time and be less of a distraction to each other because they'll be so busy. One of my "mission sons" has a girlfriend waiting for him, but she says he has to wait for her when she serves her mission. Now he won't have to wait for her as long! I'm so excited for him! They have a two year age difference. 

I agree that’s a good thing!