Why Pre-service Missionary Sisters Are More Likely to Marry

My Hypothesis

I postulate that LDS girls are more likely to get married in the time between receiving their mission call and the time they are shipped out, than before or after that period of time. I will refer to this critical interval of time that all pre-missionary sisters pass though as "Business Time."

Qualifications and Authority to speak on the subject

• In the 3 years I worked at the MTC, I developed one-on-one with over 4,000 sister missionaries.
• I have had over 50 girl-friends serve missions.
• I have dated at least 10 girls that have already received their mission call.
• I conducted the following scientific survey.
• I am the admin of this blog, so I can say whatever I want.

The Guy's Point of View

My supposition was that once a girl has declared her intent to serve a mission to the world, this would deter half-hearted suitors from approaching her. Therefore, an unspoken understanding would exist between both the pre-missionary and those still interested in dating her. Either there would be a hopeful expectation that something might happen in their relationship that might keep her from serving, or the dates would be completely relaxed and expectationless ( coincidentally, the perfect atmosphere for developing meaningful friendships that naturally lead to something more.)

Girl's Point of View

Mission papers act as a type of emotional armor for sister missionaries. Similar to the guy's perspective, "Business Time" is a safe period in which they can date for fun in a more relaxed atmosphere, confident that they will soon be serving the Lord, far from there; again, setting aside artificial expectations; allowing for the couple to really get to know one another.

Data Collection

I sent the following likert-scale survey out to 10 of my girlfriends who are preparing to, or have already, serve missions:

[Enter Name] I'm writing a blog post about Pre-missionary sisters and would love to include you in one of my statistical studies. If you are willing to help me out, please answer the following questions:

1. Did you date during the time it was known to society that you were going to be serving a mission? If no, skip to question #5.

2. If yes, did you date more frequently before or after your "coming out"?

3. If you dated less after your "coming out", do you feel like guys, in general, asked you out less because of the fact that you were preparing to serve a mission?

4. If you dated after you received your call, did you feel like those dates more "meaningful" than the ones you went on before the call?

5. Do you feel that it is improper for sisters with missionary calls to be steady dating [looking for marriage]?

6. Do you feel like you would have accepted a proposal of marriage during this pre-mission period if the right guy came along?

7. Do you personally know anyone who got married during this interval between mission call and being shipped out to their area of service? (This includes their time in the MTC.)

Thank you for your time and honesty :)

Data Analysis:

Of the 10 surveys sent out, I got 5 responses within 12 hours. Three more rolled in over the next few days—plenty of data to give a strong indicator as to what is going on.

Collectively, the girls agreed that "if Mr. Right proposed marriage [at any time], they would say yes." The interesting thing was that all three returned missionaries who took the survey responded that they would have absolutely married if the opportunity arose during "Business Time." The one girl that will be entering the MTC at the end of the month concurred that she would marry someone days before leaving, but was less enthusiastic. The girls planning to put their papers in also agreed but said the guy would have to be very special.

My Conclusion

Marriage is more important to sister missionaries than serving their mission.   They just need to feel like their suitor is Mr. Right.

My next study will be on, "How sister missionaries determine whether or not potential husband is Mr. Right."