In my mission it was the sisters--they were all over 30. But the oldest elder was 26, and had already returned from Vietnam. A friend of mine knew an elder who was even older (28, as I recall) who had been an F5 pilot in the Canadian forces.

I'm assuming that this is now a rare thing.

My so-called "trainer" was 26.

This was Japan 89-91. He went home in February 1990 iirc at age 26.

I remember going on a job interview with him :-)

In the California mission, I knew a convert elder who was in his fifties. One morning he was gone, fled the mission and took a train back to his home in the Northeast. This was many decades ago.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2014 08:20PM by george.

We had an Elder that was in his 30's. He was the branch president where he lived and decided his branch needed someone to go on a mission. He looked around at all the members in his little branch and decided he was the only one capable of going so he filled out his own mission application papers.

10 years ago, the oldest elder was 27, which if I recall is now the oldest you can be according to the CHI.

I did, incidentally, meet the youngest HP I'd ever met on my mission. He was Tongan, and the missionaries who'd baptized him messed up their paperwork and put his age down as two years older than he actually was. He went out when he was 17, and got called to the stake high council in Tonga when he returned at 19.

I used to know a 20 or 21 year old HP who went on a mission from a high council position.

.....but that was in the mid-70s. My trainer was 24, and had only been a Mormon for a year when he went. He had already done 3-4 years in the military. We had several others who had done their 2-3 years in the military near the end of the Vietnam era, and when the Vietnam war wound down, they went on missions in their early to mid-20s.

We had another convert who was 26. He was a college graduate and was a schoolteacher when he joined the church and went out a year later.

Also, a 26-year-old guy in a branch where I spent 8 months went out just before he passed the age limit. We were buds, and we corresponded for several more months while he was serving in another mission in Australia.

If I recall correctly, at the time in the mid-90's during my mission, elders couldn't be older than 26 and sisters, I think, 28. And there were a few mishies in my mission that were about that age.

By the ripe old age of 26 men need to be married and keeping their 18 year old brides with child. Mature men would not want an 18 year old boy as their senior companion.

Went on my mission at 25 and came back at 27 in the early 2000s. Oldest young elder in the mission. Already had my MBA when I started. A big adjustment as most of my companions had never left home before going on a mission.

My first companion/trainer was 24 (and had only been out a few months). He was 26 when he went home. He was the oldest elder. We had sisters that were over 50. At least two of them that I remember. This was an European mission...sadly they never really learned the language.

In the ward I grew up in (San Antonio, Texas area) there was man that had joined the church after he had gotten divorced at the age of about 30. He had two children from that marriage. Somehow he was given special permission to still serve a mission. Apparently he came from a very wealthy family so the LDS church decided his kids would still be taken care of while he was gone.

What always seemed creepy to me was that he served in San Antonio...and met his second wife there while he was a 32 year old missionary. She was 16. He moved back to the area after his mission and married her sometime after she turned 18. I guess it turned out okay...by the time I knew them they had 6 or 8 kids. Guess he was just trying to emulate Joseph Smith.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2014 10:53PM by Jesse.

New Zealand. 1991

South island mission.

Sister Gernhoffer. Easily mid 60s. Poor sister Tupou.

Elders, Mill, from Adelaide, late 20s and also Teo from Tonga. Late 20s. I thought he was 20. Same with his mate Toa. I thought he was 30 but HE was 20

I had a gay comp from Huntley, some short guy. He said he was 21 but I think he was about 50. Nice guy

We really didn't have any senior missionaries in my mission but we did have one Spanish woman that was 31.

Elder Senior was his name and he was close to 30. This was
Shreveport Louisiana in 1975. On the female side, there were sister missionaries in their 50s and 60s.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2014 07:37AM by iris.

There was a guy who was in the Eugene, Or. mission in the mid 70's who was in his mid 30's. He was a new convert himself and was obviously gay. He was a really great guy, but seemed to be searching for something. I don't think he found it in mormonism.

I had in his late 30's

when he got off the bus I thought he was the bus driver...

My nephew is currently in eastern Canada and will return home at the age of 27, he turned 25 right before entering the MTC.