To me, it's an attempt to get 'em younger, less time on the internet, no 1 year as a college Freshman (for the males) to distract them......

LD$, Inc. is obviously worried about dwindling numbers of missionaries, missions and converts.

You can still be 25 & go, so they're just trying to boast about how many missionaries they have, so that TBMs won't think the church is shrinking.

But it is.

And it is still a fraud.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2012 05:43PM by PapaKen.

It is so much harder for a boy at 18, never having even left home for college, to say no to a mission. They don't know themselves yet. They are much more dependent on their parents and afraid of being cut off if they don't obey. Smart move by the church, which is what makes it so devious.

sofia Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is so much harder for a boy at 18, never having
> even left home for college, to say no to a
> mission. They don't know themselves yet. They are
> much more dependent on their parents and afraid of
> being cut off if they don't obey. Smart move by
> the church, which is what makes it so devious.

This is why kids that young are allowed in the military, and why, back in the Vietnam era, the draft age was so low.

Many people out here in the mission field already have to suppress a smile when a 19-year-old introduces himself as "elder" and offers to "teach" them.

Maybe the Brethren should just go all the way and recruit the missionaries from Primary.

I am sure my 3 yr. old grandson will have a few lines down toward his mission assignment in the not too distant future.Sickening how they are brainwashed so young. His other grandma will be telling all her grandkids how happy she is that her last child (boy- 15) will be on his mission in 3 yrs. now and not 4. MY grandson will hear this over and over til his older cousin is gone. And of course it will be a big day with a huge celebration when he leaves. One of the chosen ones to go at 18.

I'm sure glad it wasn't like that when I was 18 or I'd have never have had the courage to say no to a mission. Not having had any experience in life other than high school.

I changed my mind about a lot of things in the year between 18 and 19.

This sounds like the morg is getting desperate. Get 'em while they're young and stupid.

I can't imagine growing up in a small town. Never having been anywhere. Suddenly i'm in a foreign country. I see a lot of nervous breakdowns coming down the road.

Need more missionaries...send women earlier...lower the age for men to maintain superiority.

Sorta reminds me of 1945, when the Germans started enlisting the Hitler Youth to fight when Berlin was crumbling around them. This will work well for them for a few years, but then the church's lack of growth is going to really hit the missionary force. Not too many years after that, the church may reach Community of Christ-level irrelevance.

Wait, what?

Boys are now told/encouraged to go on missions at 18 and girls at 19?

This is not going to end well.

I feel sick for all the VERY young teenagers who will head off on missions and get their asses handed to them. It happened to me at 21--if I had gone at 19 I shudder to think...

I'm starting to think that, as with so much other LDS practice, this change is about money.

The equalized mission expenses (clothing and monthly allotment) amount to about $12,000 over the 2 year missions. Which looks an awful lot like the amount one would spend for 2 semesters at an average college. Tuition and living expenses come to about $15,000 but most kids still work during college too.

So rather than seeing the kids savings used that way, they can shortcut that money into missionary work by committing them at 18. Saves the church from having to use other money for that with donations down from the bad economy.

dogblogger - good observation. I didn't think of it that way but I'll bet you are right.

It is going to increase the number of missionaries for a couple years as both 18 and 19 year olds go on a mission and more girls decide to go. But after the initial bump the missionary force is going to start to dwindle. Nowadays kids are figuring out the fraud even before age 18. They might keep a few more because they don't go to college and start thinking but after they come home being a returned missionary doesn't guarantee a lifelong active church anymore. Any ex-mormon group either online or in real life is full of them.