- April 26, 2024
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Six months ago, three 19-year-old women all had the same realization at the same moment, in different parts of the country.
Last October, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced in a worldwide broadcast that the age for becoming a missionary was going to change. Traditionally, Mormon men leave for two-year missions at 19, and women can serve for 18 months at age 21. That age is now 18 and 19, respectively. As it has always been for church members, a mission is seen as an obligation for men but an option for women. As a result of the age change, the number of missionaries worldwide has grown from 58,000 a year ago to about 85,000 now. The number of Mormon missionaries assigned to Flagler County has increased from two to four for the first time since 1990, thanks to more women deciding to serve.
Camille McClellan, 19, watched the broadcast from Palm Coast. She hadn’t been planning on serving a mission, thinking that she would likely be too engrossed in college by the time she turned 21. But as soon as she heard that the age had been lowered, she recalled, “My mind was set. I was like, ‘I’m going.’”
Since then, the Flagler Palm Coast High School graduate has been working to earn money. It costs about $400 per month to be a missionary, and families have to pay the money themselves. To try to reduce the burden on her parents, Camille sold Cutco knives, did a lot of babysitting and has been working full time at Tee Times USA, in Flagler Beach, helping customers arrange their golf vacations.
She will be just the second woman to become a missionary from the Bunnell-based congregation since Brenda Tucker Boyd in the late 1970s.
The two Jensens
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, in Riverton, Utah, Toree Jensen had a similar experience when she heard the October 2013 announcement. “It kind of messed up with my plans,” she said with a laugh. She decided to put her art school plans on hold but still wants to pursue a career in typography and advertising when she returns.
Ashley Jensen (no relation), of Spanish Fork, Utah, never planned to be a missionary. Then she heard the announcement and changed her mind. “I thought that going on a mission was the most important thing I could do right now,” she recalled. When she returns, she wants to study sports medicine and become an occupational therapist.
The two Jensens, Toree and Ashley, are now serving together in Flagler County. They wear identical name tags that say, “Sister Jensen,” so they get a lot of “Jensen squared” jokes. They work from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, talking to as many people as possible to help them come closer to Jesus Christ.
Only about one out of every 12 people they talk to actually want to hear what they have to say, Ashley said. But even when they don’t teach people about the Mormon church, they still have rewarding experiences, she said.
On Ashley’s first day in town, they met a woman who agreed to have the two sister missionaries pray for her brother. Days later, the woman called them again and said her brother had died.
“She thanked us in tears, and that was just an eye-opener with her, because we didn’t know what she was going through,” Ashley said.
Toree added: “It wasn’t sorrowful tears, but tears of joy and peace.”
“That really touched both of us,” Ashley said. “I just love the people, and being out here makes me happy because I get to see how other people come closer to God. Whether it be through me or someone else, that’s what brings happiness.”
So long, farewell
Camille occasionally drives the two Jensens around town to appointments as she prepares for her own missionary work, in Boise, Idaho.
“You have to buy clothes and buy a suitcase, but the most important thing for me is just becoming,” she said. “I’ve been studying the scriptures and praying and trying to learn as much about the gospel as I can before I go.”
She’s preparing for a talk she will deliver to the congregation at 10 a.m. on her last Sunday in town, March 23. It’s a tradition in the church for a departing missionary to address the congregation at the church, 402 N. Palmetto St., in Bunnell, right by Bunnell Elementary School. The public is invited.
