I was an 18 year-old missionary. For three weeks. Due to the scheduling of my call, I had my 19th birthday in the MTC. No big deal. I was also aware of some young men and women who were able to serve well before the age deadlines because of situations regarding their parents’ Church service.
In the press conference that followed the age change announcement, it was mentioned that 48 countries already allow missionary service for young men at the age of 18. FOML2 served with many 18 year-old Elders in his mission.
So, it isn’t really new. What is new is that many, many, US missionaries now have this option available to them, and it will impact the work. The flood of sister missionaries will impact the work even greater. Last week I wrote a little about my views regarding the change. (here.) In a nutshell, I think it is great, and I am always happy to support the prophets.
I did mention that I felt there was a bit of “peril” in the change. This was not meant to be critical, nor intended to imply a lack of faith in the new standards. I am fully supportive, and have tremendous faith that the entire world will be blessed because of the flood of missionaries.
What do I mean by “Peril?” I mean there are some things that we need to worry about, as prospective missionaries, leaders and parents. Some of these will seem pretty obvious, some might have absolutely no application to you. Some will cause you to slap your forehead, and others will cause some introspection – I can say this because that has been my reaction as I have thought about this whole this. If there is interest, I will follow up the “perils” with some thoughts on how to minimize them from my point of view.
(If I seem to be referring mostly to the young men, it is because I feel that these things apply mostly to the young men. I just have a little more faith in the young women… Sorry guys!)
Peril: Immaturity
I was 18 once. I remember it well. I was a doofus. I spent most of my 18th year at BYU. I will neither confirm nor deny that I spent part of that time running around at 3:00am, climbing in the elevator shafts at DT, and running around in the tunnels beneath campus, and doing a host of other really immature, stupid and downright dangerous things. In making this confession, no one need suppose me of any great or malignant sins. A disposition to do such was never in my nature. (JSH v.28)
Simply put: There are a lot of really immature 18 year olds out there. I was one of them. There are also a lot of immature 19 and 20 year olds as well, but it decreases with life experience. I’ll bet the Mission Presidents are thrilled about the change, and terrified at the same time. The last thing they have time for is to babysit immature and risky missionaries. Our young men will need to grow up: Faster.
Think about how difficult it would be for a bishop to tell a young man/woman and his parent’s that the missionary is not quite ready yet. I guarantee there will be some angry, insulted parents. We need to be careful to not let our pride get in the way of what’s best for our missionary, and in sustaining our leaders.
Peril: Age Pressure
If 18 is the new 19, will we push boys to leave at 18 that aren’t ready? Will we just move the unfortunate slacker stigma down a year? Or will we be wise and wait until our children/charges are READY, rather than of age. In the same press conference, Elder Nelson said, “Young men and women should not begin their service before they are ready spiritually and temporally.”
As a bishop, I was pretty adamant that the young men should always have their 19th birthday as their target for service, with the possibility to move the date back if needed – due to emotional, physical, spiritual, or financial issues, or lack of preparation. But 19 was the target. I don’t feel as strongly that 18 should be that same type of target – there is much more in play, and I hope that we all are very careful not to send out unprepared missionaries because a number is circled on the calendar.
That said, I still feel the need to encourage my sons to use 18 as a realistic goal for preparation. What happens if God wants a young man to serve at 18, but the prospective missionary had divined his own target date of 20? Also, a nebulous target of 18-24 would be just vague enough to be risky. So, in my home, we are aiming for 18, but we will try and be wise.
– Patience and preparation –
Peril: Finances.
It was only 5 years ago that both Elder Ballard and Elder Perry stood up in General Conference and mentioned the importance of having a job and earning money for a mission. (Links to the talks below) With a young man eligible to serve a mission at 18, he theoretically can finish High School and enter the MTC without ever having a real job, or providing any of his own financial support for his mission. Yikes! The FOML2 worked part-time during part of High School, and FOML3 worked the year post-High School. I knew that both of them could get up, get out the door, spend a day at work and earn some money. And even better, they both knew it. (Note: If you are still waking your seventeen year old up for church, school, or work – you have a problem!)
Self-funding a mission just got that much harder, and it is sad because contributing to your own mission cost has a great ROI. (return-on-investment) Elder Perry: “If promise great blessings – social, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual blessings – to every young man who pays for a significant part of his mission.” Do we want to cheat our sons out of these blessings to meet a non-existent deadline?
Extended families, friends, and ward families will need to chip in more often to pick up the slack. But that’s OK, because there are lots of blessings for that, too.
Peril: Ignorance.
When I say “Ignorance,” I mean the “lack of understanding of key gospel principles.” I also mean ignorance as in “he is such an ignoramus.” Yes, you know exactly who I’m talking about. Him.
Seminary, Priesthood quorums, FHE, family scriptures study and Sunday School just got even more important. Beyond that, the future missionary’s personal scripture study, prayer, service and devouring Preach My Gospel got even more important.
What got less important? Skateboarding, video games, sports, girls, TV, hobbies, and time-wasting. There just isn’t time anymore.
Warning! This could melt your brain:
Theoretically, a young man could…
a) Submit his mission papers
b) Receive the Melchizedek Priesthood
c) Receive his mission call
d) Receive his temple endowment
ALL BEFORE HE GRADUATES FROM HIGH SCHOOL!
That is an incredible amount of doctrine, experience and understanding of covenants to absorb in a very short amount of time. I know, or have known, precious few young men who could take this on, and be ready to go on their 18th birthday. It would need to be his primary focus of his life – at a time where many other things are vying for attention.
– Patience and preparation –
Peril: We Adults Don’t Get It.
Want to know a great way to sabotage a young man preparing for a mission? Surround him with adults who don’t get it. Who are these adults?
• Parents who don’t hold FHE, or daily family scripture study and prayer.
• Young Men leaders who play basketball or frisbee on a Mutual night. (Or other such time-wasters)
• Young Women leaders who have “make-over nights” or other vanity-related activities. (Or other such time-wasters)
• Bishops who are sloppy with annual interviews, or don’t dig deeply when they have the opportunity.
• Mothers who run around the day before the 18th birthday getting signatures for her son’s Eagle papers.
• Parents who rationalize that sports are important, to the exclusion of church functions.
• Teachers who do not take lesson prep seriously. (Seminary, quorum, class and sunday school)
• Parents who fight all their kid’s battles.
• Parents and leaders who turn a blind eye to the standards as set forth in “For the Strength of Youth.”
…there’s more, but you get the point.
Peril: A Shaky Testimony
This one deserves its very own post.
There are more perils, but this will do for now. What exciting times we live in! But I hope out enthusiastic embrace of the new age requirements don’t reap unintended consequences that can make missionary service more difficult, and less productive.
It was ten years ago this month that Elder Ballard spoke in General Conference and the concept of ‘Raising the Bar” for missionary service was introduced. “The Greatest Generation of Missionaries,” changed everything. Five years ago, Elder Perry gave a fabulous talk on missionary preparation called “Raising the Bar.” I highly recommend reading both of them.
May God be with you as you and your youth prepare! I still have two young men in the pipeline – and the pipeline just got shorter.
How did I miss this? I loved it. My one boy is only 7, so we’re working on baptism prep right now, but at least one of my girls (our almost-9-year-old) would be a great missionary, too. They’ve had great teachers so far, in all of the wards we’ve lived in, and we’re really good at doing nightly scriptures and prayers, but, for a whole host of unacceptable reasons, we’ve been really hit and miss with FHE (that said, a lot of our “casual conversations” turn into doctrinal discussions–at a really basic level, obviously–but that can’t replace direct, prepared instruction). This helped me feel more determined to step up the consistency. Thanks!
Love this post. I just had one quibble: the reference to ‘make-over nights’ for the Young Women as being an all-out time-waster. Could be, or maybe not. If a young man didn’t know how to tie a tie, teaching him how to do so wouldn’t be considered bad mission prep. Nor would teaching him how to iron a shirt or sew a button. Knowing how to use/not use make up, hair care products, the importance of wearing a slip (seriously), etc is just as vital for young women, and I say that as an RM. I certainly don’t think they should be frequent activities, but they are not all-out time wasters. I wish I’d had more of them personally, and there are ways to introduce gospel principles into an evening like that quite seamlessly and beautifully.
For me the time wasters were things like movie nights. ‘The Bodyguard’ is not good viewing for mutual. At least I didn’t have to play basketball night after night like some. And I loved, loved, loved my mission. I was jumping up and down when Pres. Monson made his announcement. The sisters are going to rock the house down.
Learning to sew or iron is not even a close to trying different colors of nail polish and eye shadow. I haven’t lived in a ward where the girls don’t have a pretty good grasp on vanity (fashion/accessories/makeup/hair) already.
Right there with you on movie nights. And basketball nights for the boys.
My oldest son will leave on his mission about a week after his 19th birthday. His first comment after the announcement was, “Dang, I could already be out!” He has been (truly) ready and anxious to get out there for months now.
Because of his older brother’s example and enthusiasm, my next son (16) is already planning how soon he can get out and share the gospel. He turns 18 during his senior year of high school, but because our stake president doesn’t allow the YM to be ordained an elder until after high school, he can’t even start his papers until he’s almost 18 1/2. I was hoping that our SP would reconsider with this new announcement, but the bishop has already met with the priest quorum and explained the SP’s policy. My son is so frustrated.
I understand the SP’s reasoning, but it makes it very hard to sustain him when it becomes a blanket policy rather than on a case-by-case situation. Ok, I’m done griping now.
I also have to share how excited my oldest son’s female friends are about the change. Several of them have already had their interviews and are just waiting for the calendar to hit that magic four-month mark so they can submit their papers.
Makes it hard to sustain him? Yikes. Them’s dangerous words. Better get repenting on this one.
If it makes you feel any better, I’m in the pipeline. I was thinking I had almost 3 years to get ready and save up. All of a sudden, I’m looking at leaving next July or August. SO no pressure or anything… 🙂
Thank you for your comments. I appreciate your experience and different perspective from mine. I & my husband have teens and have often been the square peg saying, it should be about more than “fun.” As a convert, sometimes I wonder if I understand incorrectly when I see the choices made around us, but then I listen to the Spirit and He makes up for what I don’t know through my experience. It is nice to hear another person with similar sentiments about the choices we need to make.
It is important that we consider each youth’s needs before they go on a mission. There is no way my son would have been ready for a mission at 18, at almost 20 he is finally showing the social responsibility and spiritual maturity to go and do well. This church while world wide is a church of individuals. Heavenly Father knows us all, and will let us and our leaders know what is best for us if we listen closely.
Thanks again!
Nan
The one peril I heard from an 18 year old boy in my neighborhood currently attending college; the current RRMs (recently returned missionary) is that the dating pool will greatly shrink in the near future.
I still think a lot of parents are missing some points with the financial question. Kids can work in the summer and even for limited hours during school. If you check the laws in your area, you’ll find age limits, hour limits, etc. I worked every single summer from the time I was 14 as did my husband.
I don’t see why our teenagers can’t work during the summers, gaining valuable work and life experience, and save for missions and school. In fact, preparing for a mission by working during the summers is good preparation and should be done.
Depending on the teenager, working during school is also an option. But really, every teenager should be working at least 20 hours a week during the summer. I lived in a tourist town which was very busy during the summer and I cleaned hotel rooms. It was disgusting and I hated it, but it was also honest work and taught me a lot. I learned I didn’t want to 50 years old, divorced and supporting my family with 3 or more minimum wage jobs. It’s humbling and makes you realize that you have to work hard and intelligently for a good future.
Tonya, I think you have to be creative about looking for jobs. Going to the employment center in your community might be a good place to start. Good luck!
I always worked in HS and during the summers too. But it is much tougher now to find a part-time job during the summer, and school is more demanding. Church also gets in the way of a good part-time job. I think it was easier in our day, but I also think there is much more emphasis on extra-curriculars now – especially sports.
Have you taken a look at the new youth curriculum yet? I think you’ll find that it addresses a couple of your concerns. Hopefully teachers, parents and youth will ALL be able to reach the bar that has now been raised for everyone!!
It is good, and I agree: It will help with some of my concerns – IF we use it!
If anyone knows of any job openings for an almost 18-yo who has been looking for a job for a year, let me know. It use to be that your mom dropped you off at the door of McDonald’s or a grocery store and said, “Go apply for a job” and you got it. Tough times now; my son has been turned down for at least 6 jobs in the last 6 months. If he could do manual labor or had any manual dexterity at all, it might be easier. But he’s scrawny and works much better with his head than his hands (as evidenced by the nightmare that was his first assembly-line type job). I don’t know what we’ll do exactly about the mission, but I don’t see him being ready in 8 months to go.
Check job listings for banks and/or credit unions in your area. They are great jobs.
Excellent. I’ve been thinking a bit about these young men having to grow up faster. It’s probably high time they get beyond the oft-wasted teen years and into “real” things… just like in the olden days when teen years didn’t even exist.
My biggest concern was the financial question. I’ve wanted our son to contribute to his mission, but now, that’s going to be a bit more difficult!
My son decided that he will wait until he’s 19. He has all the money saved for his mission (a big accomplishment for a 17 year old) but he had some health problems when he was younger and feels as if he wants the extra time to ‘catch up’ on the missing years. We’re completely supporting him in his decision. I hope the ward members do, too.
You (and your attractive, bright and loyal commentors) raise some REALLY thought provoking, interesting, insightful points and concerns . . .
I am going to have to share these ideas with extended family and friends . . .
Thank you (ALL of you) for sharing your thoughts on the matter . . .
My first reaction upon hearing the announcement from Pres. Monson was to get super excited for my little brother who will be 18 in Feb and graduate in June. He, however, did not seem so excited. I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t super pysched. Then I thought about it. His preperation time had now been cut in half and his plans to go off to school next fall were in limbo. My family has all backed off pressuring him about it and are letting him decide when he is ready to go.
Thanks for this article, and can I add just one thing: Please stop teasing, prodding, and pressuring the young men in your wards to serve missions. It is NOT helpful. Be supportive and understanding. Not everyone is ready at the same time.
My 12 year old’s birthday is in December. His first comment after the announcement was: I was planning to work those seven months after graduation before I turned 19. I told him he still could. Honestly, this particular son could probably go right now. We shall see. We shall see.
No hard feelings here. 🙂 I was just trying to say that we parents need to step up, too. And, mostly I was thinking about my shortcomings while I wrote. 🙂
Come on ladies. If you want to squabble about feminism, there are plenty of other blogs that love to flog that dead horse.
Great advice, MMM. I have one thought in regard to trainer missionaries. I think a lot more emphasis needs to be placed on trainers nurturing their new “greenies.” Many trainers are so focused on initiating their greenies that they forget to nurture and teach. I know of a few instances where a more nurturing trainer could have kept a struggling elder on his mission. A trainer can make or break a missionary. More preparation needs to be done at home, but more preparation needs to be done by the missionaries in the field as well. It seems like there should be a section in Preach My Gospel or elsewhere on how to train a new missionary in the field. Just my 2 cents.
Anah, what do you think about women voting? Do you think that women should be able to own property? Should men be able to beat their wives? Should women be able to have short hair or wear pants? Should women be able to work outside the home? Should birth control be legal?
I think you may be a feminist and not realize it. You’re definitely a feminist by Parley P. Pratt’s standards.
My problem with feminism lies with the women who treat men like they can’t do anything right. And those who act like they’re better than men at everything. The women who refuse to fulfill their own role as a woman and despise their gifts and instead take on the male role because they think that we don’t need men. Women can do everything because we’re awesome like that, right? We’ve screwed up the roles so that no one really knows who is supposed to do what. The movie “Brave” is a great example of what I hate about feminism, and this is what I mean when I talk about feminism – the screwed up roles.
Along with Elders Ballard and Perry, Julie B. Beck was also prophetic in her “Mothers Who Know” talk (given five years ago too!). She said: “Think of the power of our future missionary force if mothers considered their homes as a pre–missionary training center. Then the doctrines of the gospel taught in the MTC would be a review and not a revelation. That is influence; that is power.”
That was an amazing and very humbling talk. I have 5 sons and I have been consciously trying to prepare them since then. I need to go back and reread it. Thanks for the reminder.
I agree – Sister Beck’s talk was one of the all-time greats.
I was just reading Parley P. Pratt’s Autobiography and he says that when he was just 16 he and his cousin walked over two hundred miles into the wilderness to find a spot for their home. At 16 he WALKED 200 miles into the wilderness. And then commenced to WORK to pay for the land he wanted. I think that we as a society have become lazy. Especially in teaching our children how to become prosperous, productive, work-loving, God-fearing adults. The gender roles have been blurred so that the men don’t know or understand their patriarchal role and the women shun and despise their duties. (I blame feminism, evil feminism.)I agree that we as parents need to raise the bar not only for our children, but for ourselves. We need to teach by example how to work hard and how to love the Lord. And how to not squander away our time on the internet or with other eternally unimportant “idols”. We need to be actively engaged in a good cause – any which build the kingdom of God on the Earth. And teach our children to do the same.
Maybe these are exactly the reasons the age has been changed. The fact is that our kids ARE growing up faster today. At least in my country they sure are. Way faster than in my time. So maybe the church is just simply keeping up with it.
I was 19 and 1/2 when I left. I struggled with homesickness and immaturity. I readily admit it. It took me a full year to finally be into the real swing of things and be okay. I can honestly say that there is NO WAY I would have made it as an 18 year old missionary. I like that it is just an option. I hope young men don’t feel pressured to leave at 18 if they feel like they’d be MORE ready at 19.
I really appreciate your comments, you reflect a lot of my concerns. I think the last comment above hit it on the head. There are some individuals who may be 18, lazy, stupid, and don’t think they have a testimony but need to go on a mission because in that environment they will discover that they really truly do have a testimony and will thrive. There are also many who are focused and diligent and need to go when they are ready, and end up going at 25. The trick is knowing how to handle each individual and what to do for each of them. Thankfully, that’s what the Spirit is for.
IMHO – each and every peril can be addressed by simply “raising the bar”. At home, in church, in schools, in society.
The Lord made it clear that we need more missionaries. Our job is now to GET THEM READY. It doesn’t start at 17 now so that they are ready at 18. It starts at birth so that immaturity, finances, ignorance, shaky testimony are all addressed as they add each candle to the birthday cake. I think it puts the pressure on ALL of us (even an empty nester like me but serves in YW) to make sure that each and every activity we do, lesson we teach, FHE we hold, is directed to maturing our kids in the gospel more than ever.
Yes. (BTW, what does the “H” stand for when YOU type “IMHO”?
Humble.
I know that’s what it is for most people, but I was wondering what it means for mCat.
I agree totally. The prophet and brethren have been telling us for a long time now that we can’t rely on the church or others to prepare and protect our children. It’s ALL up to the family. If we are following the prophet with exactness, we need not fear about a simple age change. We will be raising Stripling Warriors who are prepared at a young age to act like men (and women) of God.
Great post…you seem to write about the things I am thinking.so well done. Some thoughts: I know you post was about the young men, but we have only daughters, and many of them want to serve. They talked about it before this announcement. We have one daughter currently serving, and 3 more eligible daughters within a year. Ya Three. [a 20 year old and 18 year old twins]That could make Four missionaries out from our family. A sobering thought on many levels. One of my first thoughts was towards the Mission Presidents. Is this going to feel like an extended YSA Super Activity? Joking of coarse, but all of these Mission presidents will have to be at the top of their game, and they already are. My thoughts also went back to the talk you referenced about Elder Ballard and the bar has now been raised across the board: families, youth, and youth leaders. We all have to step up our game and focus on preparing and conversion. These youth can do it. Financing 4 missionaries sounds impossible. Yet we have had several ward members come up and tell us they will pay for one of our daughters or help us out. Money should not be a worry. That part will work out. Miracles, blessings.. it will be fun to watch it happen. The kids are going to have to simplify their lives [the whole Good,Better, best thing] so they are making time for what matters most. Having a job in highschool is good for them. It might become a must-have for several reasons.
Joseph F. Smith served at 17, and he survived. We have to remember that this is inspiration from God…and He will provide–everything if we put forth the faith.
I really enjoyed this post and what I love is that at conference they told us that there will also be new manuals for the youth. If anyone has had time to look into those new manuals then they know they are going to be fantastic. No more laid out lessons. They will require serious prayer and scripture study to be prepared for a lesson that is no longer a lecture style but a conversation. We as leaders and going to be focusing on the issues that our youth needs rather than going only off of what is next in the manual. This will get the youth talking and thinking more about gospel principles and for leaders to be able to answer the questions that the youth need answered.
Great post! I lived in Sweden for a number of years with my husband, who had served his mission in Sweden. Young men graduate from high school at 19. 19 is also the age of military service, so most of the young men in our ward (and there were many) started their missions in their 20s. Their parents typically expected them to earn the money for their missions so they went when they had enough money saved. I have no idea if this announcement will make a difference for this area. But I liked how the announcement was given with a level of flexibility. The age change seems designed to give families greater flexibility in managing mission times.
I had another thought about earning the money for one’s mission. With more and more young men becoming addicted to pornography and video games, perhaps it would be a blessing for young men to work after school, giving them less time to squander on useless and addicting activities. Perhaps this will give them focus and direction.
My husband and I are saving for our children’s missions. My husband’s parents paid for his mission and he felt very keenly the responsibility to do well as a missionary because of what they were sacrificing for him. But not all missionaries respond to the sacrifice their families make for them. While we are saving for missions, I still expect my teenagers to get jobs during the summers and if possible, jobs during school.
My older son left for his mission when he was almost 20. That is when he was ready. My younger sons will be 18 way before they graduate, so the change to 18 will not affect them much, unless they start to feel bad that they can’t leave as soon as some!
The child this has affected the most at this time is my turning 19 next month daughter. It has brought new possibilities into her life and she spent most of conference weekend quiet and thoughtful.
Thank you for this. As an RM sister, I have seen first hand so much of this “peril” while I was out. The most effective missionaries, boys and girls, were the ones who had done the work of gaining their testimonies and not just coasted through church, seminary, etc. It’s not a coincidence that they lowered the missionary ages at the exact same time that they changed the youth Sunday curriculum, which is an amazing change all on it’s own. The Lord makes the age change and then gives us the tools to prepare for it. Pretty sweet.
Thank you for this post. As a parent of a HS senior, this is affecting us right now. I am seriously contemplating giving this post to my wonderful, if not overly zealous, bishop. I do hope he understands that not all boys will be ready at age 18. FOML#1 served a great mission and would have been totally ready at age 18, if that were available at the time. FOML #3 — not so much. We still have the rest of the school year to go, so we’ll just have to see what happens.
Living in the “heart of church headquarters” I am very concerned about the social stigma that may so easily arise if one doesn’t serve right at 18 (or right out of HS).
Yes, yes, yes and yes. I have been thinking about all of these things, too. I’ve wondered particularly about the social and spiritual maturity of these younger men and women who will serve. I also grew up a lot in my freshman yeat at BYU. (Maybe it was you I heard bangning around in the elevator at all hours of the night while I was trying to sleep so I could get up for my 7 am classes….)
But at the same time, I have felt in my heart that the Lord inspires his prophets, so I’m not too worried. When I look at our ward’s near-18-year olds, I’m also pretty impressed.
But I do appreciate and agree with your concern about 18 becoming the new 19 (and 19 the new 21 for sisters). I guess we’ll see how it all plays out.
(Saddest days of my service as bishop were when two young men I sent out (from two different wards) came home early. Intellectually I know those men were mission-ready, yet they didn’t succeed. I felt bad for them, and for those who loved them, including me.)
I am inclined to believe that if the young men and young women couldn’t be spiritually, temporally and emotional prepared to serve missions at 18/19, then the Brethren wouldn’t have changed it. Something that us old people need to realize is that this generation of kids were specifically sent here at this time to help the gospel roll forth to every nation and people. We shouldn’t worry…we should be excited and like others have said, step up the preparation process.
While I completely agree about this generation, I would like to mention that my recently returned son served part of his mission in a district in which NONE of the missionaries left at 19. Most were 20+ when they left.
I absolutely loved this post. The age 18/19 mission option ups the game for us as leaders (and parents especially).
We can’t do it all as leaders and too many times parents look to us to do the majority of the mission prep for their kids. The pressure to up the standard of our gospel teaching and learning is even greater now. I’m going to use this new mission age for YW in particular to train our YW leaders in our stake about the importance of having fantastic, spiritually uplifting and meaningful activities and lessons. We don’t have time for “time waster activities”. This age change enables me as a stake leader to be more diplomatic in addressing fluffy lessons and activities.
Great points, all of them!
Super post. Thank you. I have a 16 and 1/2 year old son and I watched him go pale when he got the news about the age change. We haven’t really talked about it since. We are giving him time to process it and make his own decision about when he is ready to go. You have covered many of the fears that I have about my son going at 18. I do remember the talk (President Monson, I think) where the speaker talked about parents fasting and praying for a boy who was unsure about a mission. While my son has been preparing and saying he is going to go (although he hasn’t said anything since this age change news), I have started today fasting for him weekly so that he can make the proper decision with regard to missionary service. Also will keep his name in the temple. While we, as parents and teachers, should all do all we can to prepare our children for missionary service, we must never forget that God can do much more than we ever can because these children were all His before they were ours and it is Him they will serve.
Well said! I appreciate the spiritual efforts you suggested – that I completely neglected.
Thank you!! Very well put and said. These are some of my own thoughts since the announcement was made. I could never have put it down on paper like you have.
That being said…..I totally agree with you …..that just because these possible concerns cross our minds that in no way does it mean that we do not support the brethren or the call to serve at a younger age…or have a lack of faith.
It does mean though that we are very aware of the need, as PARENTS, to “raise the bar” in parenting…..in preparing our youth to BE prepared in all areas, if they so choose to go and serve at 18 or 19….BEFORE they go out.
Thank you. {I have a newly returned missionary son. One leaving in about 3 weeks. And a 16 year old itching to go! ; D }
Wow! You talked about so many of the things my EC and I did. We were talking about the pressure now to really step it up to help our kids be prepared.
Thank you. We’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and again had some things to think about after Stake Conference this weekend, all while sitting next to my nearly 16 year old son. You’ve given us more to bring up 🙂