(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) At a dance at the Salt Lake University Institute of Religion, Friday Nov. 16, 2012 in Salt Lake City.
Zeke Richards and Sarah Sturt, like many high-school couples, aren?t sure where their relationship will lead.
But the chance it will last improved with the recent decision by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to lower the ages that young Mormons may leave for missions.
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Mormon missions by the numbers
281,312 ? Number of LDS converts in 2011
58,000 ? Number of full-time Mormon missionaries
24,000 ? Number of missionaries at Provo Missionary Training Center in a year
2,700 ? Average number of missionaries at Provo?s MTC at any one time
347 ? Number of LDS missions worldwide
15 ? Number of MTCs worldwide
Source: lds.org
Before the historic announcement, it was possible Richards, 17, would have returned from his mission just as his girlfriend, now 18, left for hers. Under this courting calculus, the two Cottonwood High seniors might not have seen each other for more than three years.
Now, with women able to leave at 19 and men at 18, the two likely will serve missions around the same time. Before the change, women couldn?t go until 21 and men 19.
"We can date when we get back again," Sturt said.
Added Richards: "She?s a really sweet girl. I was thinking there?s a good chance she?ll get married while I?m on my mission. Now, I don?t have to worry as much about that."
During the next few years, countless young Mormons will feel the romantic ripple effects of the new mission ages ? though no one yet knows exactly how. Now that men and women can go on missions around the same ages, perhaps more young couples, such as Richards and Sturt, will stay together. Or knowing their missions are just around the corner, teens may avoid serious relationships.
Maybe Mormons, returning from their missions at younger ages, will marry younger as well. Or, being younger, perhaps they?ll feel less pressure to wed soon after their missions.
"We just have to kind of wait," said Jim Brown, associate director at the Salt Lake University Institute of Religion, "and see how it plays out."
At this point, it?s anyone?s guess. But this much is certain: The LDS dating dynamic ? and marriage math ? will change.
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A dry spell? ? Brown hopes the change increases the number of marriages.
"They?ll both be in the mission field and come home at about the same time," said Brown, speaking as an individual, not on behalf of the LDS Church. "Hopefully, it will lend itself to increased dating and more marriages."
That could be good news for Mormon leaders who have been emphasizing the importance of getting married. At General Conference in April 2011, apostle Richard G. Scott urged young men "of appropriate age" not to "waste time in idle pursuits." He urged young men to "get on with life and focus on getting married."
Scott was echoing church President Thomas S. Monson, who the day before had scolded young Mormon men for needlessly delaying marriage.
"Brethren, there is a point at which it?s time to think seriously about marriage," he counseled the all-male priesthood, "and to seek a companion with whom you want to spend eternity."
Marriage is a core LDS teaching; temple marriages, which Mormons believe can last forever, are necessary to reach the highest level of Mormon heaven.
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