Mormon missionaries are one of the first things to come to mind when thinking about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but how much do you know about them?

Mormons are a very misunderstood faith group – many people make assumptions about them all of the time, with very few facts actually to back up any misunderstandings. We want to make sure that people of all faiths become knowledgeable about each other, and that is why we have put together these facts about Mormon missionaries. How many of them did you know?

With how often they are seen and how iconic their look is, many people assume that every single young Mormon person has to go on a mission, but that is not how it works. Of course, they are culturally encouraged to go, but they it is not mandated by the religion.

A mission is not a holiday, and it is not meant to be up to the missionary to decide where they go. Many missionaries are encouraged to give a preference, and every now and again, you will find someone who went exactly where they wanted to go – but there are over 400 mission stations in the world, and some of them are more desirable than others, and, more often than not, others need missionaries more than some of them.

For many years, 80% of the Mormon missionaries were young men under the age of about 30 – but now everything is balancing out a little better. More and more female Mormons are hearing the call to go on a mission. In fact, after the President Monson announced the decision to lower the missionary age limit to 18 years old for young men and 19 years old for young women, the number of Mormon women who chose to become missionaries more than doubled.

You will almost always see Mormon missionaries go around in pairs, but you cannot go with a friend. That is not to say you cannot become friends with your companion. The mission president will decide who is paired up with you, and every six weeks you have the possibility for a transfer, but even so, transferring is not guaranteed.

30 mission locations in Japan and America use iPad minis to spread the Mormon gospel. That number is rapidly increasing. By early 2015, church officials hope to have mobile technology integrated into over 150 locations with 32,000 missionaries using devices.

For more information on Mormon Missionaries, check out this infographic from Mormon Newsroom.

Resources

• Mormon.org
• Huffington Post
• LDS.org
• Mormon Newsroom – Thousands More Mormons Choose Missionary Service
• LDS4U.com
• Salt Lake Tribune
• Mormon Newsroom – Missionary Program

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