Senior Missionaries

Single men over 40 may now serve, and opportunities for single sisters are expanding.

“Senior missions are some of the best-kept secrets in the Church.”

Think of this as a job board for senior missionaries, and a lot of the opportunities listed are of “critical” need.

Church leaders have also adjusted a policy: Prospective missionaries can submit their missionary recommendations up to 150 days prior to their availability date instead of 120 days.

The Church’s new Serve a Mission landing page can help answer questions for prospective young, service, and senior missionaries.

Can you name the locations of all 10 of the Church’s Missionary Training Centers?

“Our message to all of our mature couples is simple: we dearly need you. The times cry out for it. There are people who need you.”

“We found, when you start thinking of serving a mission, all these obstacles come up. What you have to do is persevere and realize the Lord intervenes when He needs to intervene.”

The opportunities for senior missionaries are vast, and more missionaries are needed. Still, there are a lot of misconceptions about this important volunteer work.

A January 29, 2021 notice from the Temple Department to local leaders in the United States and Canada shared a new opportunity for senior service missionaries—serving in their assigned temple where they live.

Sister Amos missed perhaps one of the most significant moments of her career at NASA when her team put a rover on Mars because of her desire to serve with her husband in the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission.

To understand what led Si and Grant foster to formally put on black nametags, you have to understand where they’ve been.

As they approach later life, Latter-day Saints share many concerns with people of all faiths, such as financial planning, maintaining good health, and future association with family and friends. But some things are unique. Latter-day Saints live longer and have a different set of values than people of other faiths, which impels them toward a more active life of service and personal development. The high value they place on family life also makes a significant difference. Finding fulfillment in later life will depend on a number of factors, several of which are within our own volition. As we “embrace the future,” with all its opportunities and challenges, we should remember with Longfellow that “age is opportunity no less Than youth itself, though in another dress.”1

For many retired people, serving a senior mission can sometimes seem a distant dream, but recent changes to missionary service put this goal well within the reach of many couples. And no matter what your age, if you want to serve a senior couples mission, you can start preparing for it now. Read on to find out how.

“Senior missionaries are absolutely critical to our work, and we have thousands of them serving. But we only have about half of what we need,” said Elder Brent Nielson, executive director of the Missionary Department.

Roberta Blain, a member of the Huntsville Utah Stake, shares a miraculous story about the power of a priesthood blessing that occurred while she and her husband were serving as Military Relations senior missionaries in Atlanta, Georgia.

According to David Williams, global operations manager for the Church-service missionary program office, the demand for senior missionaries is about 50 percent more than the 6,300 senior missionaries currently serving.

Serving a senior mission can be a sacrifice, as Sister and Elder Kartchner know all too well. After many sacrifices that required faith, the couple had just enough money for food, gas, and rent while they served their mission in New Zealand. But there was one other challenge that would require faith and sacrifice when Elder Kartchner, who had no fingers on his left hand, was asked to play the piano for his branch.

LDS couples of all ages talk about serving a mission together when they retire. For some, their senior mission will be the first full-time mission they serve, and they are excited to finally fulfill a lifetime dream.

Senior missionaries give meaningful service while they spread the gospel, but who would have thought that service could be so Halloween-festive?

Although he wore a white shirt and missionary name tag by day, 64-year-old senior missionary Loueni Huni from Tonga wore fins and a snorkel by night. Donning his swimming gear, which included an underwater flashlight and spear, Huni swam beyond the reef to gather fish for the poor.

Remarkably, Richard Norby said he has had a complete lack of pain since the moment a terrorist bomb at the Brussels airport burned and broke his body. He and his wife, Pam, have exhibited no lack of faith as he has worked his way back to walking again.

Though the initial surge of missionaries after the age change has subsided, the Church thinks those numbers will gradually increase again. With 75,000 serving in 400 missions, there are exciting things ahead for the Church's missionary program.

Belgium doctors placed Elder Richard Norby, 66, in a medically induced coma following a lengthy surgery for injuries he received during the Belgium terrorist attacks Tuesday.

The types of missionary experiences available to seniors are as diverse as the people who fill them. Options exist both at home and abroad, in the field and at Church headquarters, for long periods of time or for a few hours a week. If the options seem overwhelming, here’s a simple list of 10 mission opportunities for seniors. Learn more about these opportunities by visiting LDS.org.

In the past two years, more seniors have answered the call to serve full-time missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The influx follows the age change that allowed young men and women to serve at a younger age. As of this week, eight percent, or 6,609 of the 83,471 missionaries currently serving around the world, are seniors (age 40 and older). Before the age change, there were 5,778 senior missionaries serving. The increase in senior missionaries is up a total of 14 percent, according to the Church’s Missionary Department.

There is a great need for more senior missionaries, but a few myths about serving have kept some senior members from signing up. Learn the truth behind what it takes to be a senior missionary:

“Dear LDS Senior couples – where are you?! We Need You!!”

A new page on LDS.org features stories of Church members who served as full-time senior missionaries.