I wasn't one of them.
Cool beans for everybody who didn't want to go to college before the mission. Hooray for all the girls that won't have to wait until they don't get married to go (I know, I know, double negative. It's fine.). For me, my timetable hasn't changed in the slightest. I'm probably going to go after I finish a year, unless I can get a job really soon, in which case I'll probably take the downtime between semesters and my mission to work.
However, it is an interesting development, so I thought I might as well pitch my two cents about some slightly less obvious results of this decision.
The norm for mission age is going to shift way down, especially in Utah. Something not everyone recognizes is that mormon guys in Utah are defined by their mission papers starting right after Christmas of senior year. If you see someone you know and you are within a year of being eligible to serve a mission, the first thing you talk about will be your papers. There's a ton of pressure to go as soon as possible. The 18 year old rule just means that guys will start feeling the pressure starting after junior year.
Not in and of itself a bad thing, but it does hold guys to a higher standard. If you aren't ready to leave the country for years within two years of learning to drive, you are now the "slacker" guy that no girl wants to date. To make up for this, I think the young mens program is going to have to adapt. Frankly, most of the high school seniors I know haven't got a clue what the Bible says. The guys of that age in my ward are not even close to ready, so this year will either be a huge growth experience or they are going to struggle to meet the new standards.
I feel like most guys need a little experience living on their own before they go. A senior companion shouldn't have to be a babysitter.
Even more interesting are the consequences surrounding the announcement for sister missionaries.
Lowering the age is probably going to triple the number of girls that serve missions. More missionaries means more converts, and probably more missions opened. I don't know that the quality of sister missionaries will go up, however, as social pressure to go will probably push quite a few sisters into the field that never even considered going before.
The stigma surrounding sister missionaries will probably more or less disappear. No longer will sisters serve only if they can't find a husband by twenty one, and no longer will they be missing their prime marriage years if they go.
When the guys get back from their missions, there probably won't be a whole lot of options waiting for them. Most guys marry girls that are twoish years younger than them. These girls will be high school seniors, and therefore dateable only by total creepers. No one within a year of their age will be there, because all of them will be on missions. Freshmen coeds will be more comfortable dating RMs because the age difference will be significantly less than before, and there won't be much opportunity for commitment because the coeds will have their papers in.
The net result of this change is that the average age for marriage will probably shift up for Mormon couples. The result of that shift is a subtle decrease in the LDS birthrate.
Interesting stuff, but only the bit about RMs having trouble getting married affects me, and even that really don't do much to me. Lydia is probably never going to let me forget that she was right about going on a mission before getting married though.
Even missionaries won't have as much trouble getting married as BYU has playing football. Good night, it has been painful to watch! Our next two games are going to be even more pathetic. We can't compete with top 25 teams. I've never been more happy to have a dual loyalty to USC. Go Trojans!
Highland is basically the bomb. There is food... for free! Do you know how much I've missed red meat? Plus it is fun to be immature again. I finally engaged in an epic Banks-style battle with Tyler, Brenden, and Brevin. In our tournament, I was bested only by Tyler, who managed to cut off my right hand...twice. I then won an epic string of brawl duels with Jayden Banks, who is actually pretty good, but wasn't quite able to get the upper hand against my incredible Sheik/Wolf/Link-ness.
I will make one quick plug for my other blog. I'm writing a fictional blog following me and Spencer attempting to survive the Apocalypse. It is called the Survivor Chronicles. I'm trying to make it as realistic as possible so don't expect me to start sniping zombies (who won't be making any real appearance at all) from a mile away or taking on a bunch of thugs with my bare hands. Or eating anything resembling salad. I'm actually putting a good bit of work into this so hopefully there is some measure of quality to it. Give it a whirl, at thesurvivorchronicles.blogspot.com.
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