Missionaries decide when to resume their service, while universities try to anticipate effects on enrollment
Anderson Clements poses for a portrait on Thursday, April 30, 2020, in front of his home. Clements returned early from Tijuana, Mexico, where he was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on April 3, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thursday was the church's deadline for missionaries to decide whether they would resume their missions as soon as possible or at a set time in 12 to 18 months.
Anderson Clements poses for a portrait on Thursday, April 30, 2020, in front of his home. Clements returned early from Tijuana, Mexico, where he was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on April 3, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thursday was the church's deadline for missionaries to decide whether they would resume their missions as soon as possible or at a set time in 12 to 18 months.
Anderson Clements poses for a portrait on Thursday, April 30, 2020, in front of his home. Clements returned early from Tijuana, Mexico, where he was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on April 3, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thursday was the church's deadline for missionaries to decide whether they would resume their missions as soon as possible or at a set time in 12 to 18 months.
Anderson Clements poses for a portrait on Thursday, April 30, 2020, in front of his home. Clements returned early from Tijuana, Mexico, where he was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on April 3, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thursday was the church's deadline for missionaries to decide whether they would resume their missions as soon as possible or at a set time in 12 to 18 months.
In early April, Anderson Clements returned home to North Ogden from Tijuana, Mexico, where he was serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has decided to resume his mission as soon as the current pandemic situation allows.
OGDEN — Many missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who’ve temporarily returned home from their service due to the COVID-19 pandemic, faced a unique decision day Thursday.
In a letter from church leadership sent to missionaries on March 31, they learned that they had until Thursday, April 30, to decide between two options for resuming their missions.
The first option was to resume their missions “as soon as conditions allow,” with their original assignment or a temporary one, the letter says. The second option was to resume their missions during a set time window, within 12 to 18 months. Those who return as soon as possible would keep their original release-from-service date, while those who return to service within 12 to 18 months would receive a new one.
Similar options were offered to missionaries who had received mission calls or completed online missionary training, the letter says.
Mission assignments, whether original or temporary, would be determined by the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, according to the letter.
Anderson Clements, who’s currently living with his family in North Ogden, returned from his mission in Tijuana, Mexico, on April 3. He was originally told he’d be immediately reassigned to a new mission, he said, but shortly after returning home he learned of the options in the letter.
Clements first leaned toward delaying his return for the set time frame, but he ultimately opted to resume his mission as soon as possible.
“(The decision) was actually quite difficult for me,” Clements said. “I really wanted to be in a situation where I had more control … but now that I’ve kind of made up my mind, and I’ve kind of been in that headspace for a little longer …. I feel good about it.”
Clements says most of his friends and acquaintances in this situation made the same choice he did. He gets updates from them by doing Zoom chats every morning with his friends who’ve also returned; sometimes they meet for socially distanced outdoor movies. He also communicates regularly with a group of temporarily returned missionaries organized by his home stake (a collection of local congregations).
The choices of the missionaries Clements knows seem to be representative of most missionaries. According to a press release shared by the church Thursday, “most missionaries have expressed a desire to begin or continue serving as soon as possible.”
Clements says he knows his choices could have implications for how his young adulthood unfolds.
After returning from his mission, he’d originally planned to attend the University of Utah to study engineering. However, because of the current uncertainty, he enrolled in independent study courses at Weber State University that allow him to move at his own pace. He plans to hit his coursework hard, so that he’s able to complete it quickly if called to return to his mission. He’d love to go back to Tijuana if he can, he said.
Clements has strong ties to Weber State, since many members of his family are graduates of the institution. At times, he’s felt conflicted about his choice to attend the University of Utah, which has programs that were a better fit for his plans.
Clements’ summer courses at WSU will give him a taste of the school that he might not have had, he said. It’s possible the experience could even change his plans, depending on how his coursework goes.
“If (Weber State) ends up being something … that really resonates with me, that could affect decisions in the future,” he said, “so I was happy to have the opportunity.”
When the choices of individuals like Clements are multiplied by thousands of missionaries, they can have ripple effects in other domains, like higher education.
After the church lowered mission age requirements to 18 for males and 19 for females in late 2012, a surge of young people left for their missions at an earlier age, causing declining enrollments at Utah universities. When that same group returned, enrollments surged at the same institutions, according to reporting from the Standard-Examiner and The Associated Press.
The current situation may unfold differently, since the effects of the pandemic have been unpredictable, according to Jed Spencer, director of financial aid and scholarships at Weber State.
In its Thursday press release, the LDS church said that the process of reassigning missionaries to missions in their home countries had already begun. Some missionaries have received their new assignments and some had even started their reassigned service, according to the release.
But there is early data that gives some indication of what the near future holds.
“We are seeing that many of those students that did defer their scholarships for their missions are contacting us letting us know that they want to come back to school,” Spencer said.
Some are enrolling in summer courses only, hoping to return to their missions. However, more missionaries overall — some who’ve returned temporarily and others permanently — are enrolling in summer and fall courses at Weber State, Spencer said.
“Weber State has capacity for them and … when they come back, if they choose to come to Weber State, we’ll do everything we can to accommodate them,” Spencer said.
What most affects enrollment, however, is the Utah economy, Spencer said. When it slows, people tend to seek education.
“The fact that the missionaries are home and the Utah economy is slowing down a little bit may have an impact in fall in bringing students into school,” Spencer said.