Sadly, it's never going to happen...

But what would his parents and his bishop say/do if a bright young 18 year old high school graduate said to them, "I'm going off to junior college and get all my required classes taken care of, and living at home, I can work and save money towards my mission. When I get my AA, I'll put in my papers and then go on my mission, and when I get back, I'll be 22, I'll be a lot more mature, and then I'll have figured out what to do with my life!"

Most don't have the conversation perhaps, but they do go away and get their first two yeaars in and then go on missions.

I don't think they'd have a problem with that. My oldest brother graduated highschool when he was 16 and then went to BYU and got most of his degree out of the way before he went on his mission. One of my companions was 26, he didn't want to go on a mission until he was finished with college.

Like all things Mormon it simply depends on the Bishop. I did a similar thing when I was 18, I was getting alot of pressure from the usual suspects to go on a mission. I didn't know what I was going to do. My Bishop liked to have all of the eighteen year old priests fill out their missionary application and then have them come in and sign it after graduation so that it would "be ready to be mailed off so you can get your call by your nineteenth birthday.

I had filled mine outseveral months before graduation but ran into a Navy recruiter in our high school lunch room. He had a real cool video on aircraft carriers and submarines. That looked way cooler than a mission plus you got paid twice a month. I told him I would consider it. Three weeks later, without telling my parents or Bishop, I enlisted in the Navy. when I told my parents they were very "disappointed". My Bishop was "concerned" and gave me a a guilt enducing talk and even said that Senator Hatch could probably get me out of going. I stuck to my guns and two months after graduation I was in Orlando, Florida for Bootcamp. My parents still loved me and I have no fucking clue what the bishop said or felt beyond his initial twenty minute "counseling" he gave me. Life went on and I never looked back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2015 05:57PM by whiskeytango.

And look how you turned out :)

LOL!!!! Good Point!

One problem with school before mission is that you cannot have student loans on your mission. You cannot defer them for a mission, so you would have to start making payments while you are not earning any money as a missionary.

They really discourage putting off a mission because your odds of going drop precipitously. It's a great tactic if you really don't want to go, but it's a bad idea to get too deep into your studies before you leave.

That said, I was glad I had a full year of college before my mission. It made the homesickness a lot easier and I felt more mature and independent when I went out.