How often does the church change policies? To be completely honest the frequency of policy changes in church are never consistent and sometimes are not that big.

Are policy changes quick to happen? Most certainly not! Though it can seem that way. Church leaders spend a lot of time in deliberation of church policies.

Did I really fall down the stairs? I sure did! Let me tell you more.

During your Junior and Senior years of high school, you are expected to begin the search for colleges and what your profession will be for the rest of your life. Researching careers, completing reports about growth opportunities, income, and what degrees you would need is important. Then there is the search for schools that offer those degrees, the pricing, student life, opportunities for networking and all other aspects are considered when reviewing schools.

For members of the church, when it comes to education after high school, though not required, you are encouraged, or at least expected, to attend one of the church colleges; Brigham Young University – Provo, Idaho, or Hawaii. A degree from any of these schools supposedly has a high reputation. Luckily, as the years have passed since I was in high school the low level yet consistent expectation of attending one of these schools has dropped.

These schools put an emphasis on religion with education and have higher standards in regards to a code of conduct that students are expected to uphold while attending school. As part of this, you are expected to be active in religious services and uphold the standards of the church. You also need approval from your local bishop (clergyman) to attend and this is to be renewed each year. There are other expectations that I will get into more in later posts but this gives you the general idea.

At this time I am still in high school and my search for colleges is limited to really only 2 of these schools as Hawaii is expensive and my parents would not let me attend there. I review the two schools that I had available to me. I wanted to go to the Provo location as many of my friends from church were applying to attend there. I applied to both Provo and Idaho and was only accepted to Idaho. It was my safety school but as I was doing more research I saw that it might be a better fit for me.

Idaho was closer to home, smaller in student numbers thus class sizes were smaller and all professors are supposedly professionals and have career experience in the fields that they teach. I was excited and was happily making the lists of things that I would need for school, from tech to dorm supplies it was great. Then General Conference came as it always does every six months in April and October.

General Conference is, as you may have guessed, a conference of the church. This time is specific for our church leaders to address our worldwide membership, and the world in general to be honest, in a broadcast. Conference lasts for an entire weekend. Three two-hour sessions on Saturday, and Two more two-hour sessions on Sunday. Each session has speakers chosen to address us. One of the speakers is always our current prophet. Every time he speaks everyone pays closer attention as he may announce something new and exciting.

It is also common practice for church members to take notes during the talks. Their thoughts, impressions, and sometimes the very things that they hear from those addressing us. On this particular weekend, I had forgotten my notepad so I quickly ran upstairs to get it.

On October 6, 2012, our current prophet at that time, Thomas S. Monson announced that the age requirement of young men of our church to serve a mission has dropped to the age of 18 instead of the standard 19…QUEUE THE THUMPS, BUMPS, AND FLAILING LIMBS. I had by that point fallen down the stairs in my home as I was intently listening to the prophet as I descended the stairs. My whole plan at this point was up in the air.

The biggest reason that this announcement was so big was twofold. One, the whole world membership expects young men from the church to serve a two-year mission preaching the gospel to people all over the world. It is not required but highly encouraged. Two, I was at this time barely 18 years of age and now able to serve a mission with this new policy. Before this change, I had chosen to attend a year of college instead of working before going on my mission.

This change gave me now a whole new conundrum. I have been accepted to BYU-Idaho, I already snagged a place in my dorm and was already working on reviewing my courses so I could register as soon as I was able to. Now I could set all of that aside and decide to go on a mission. That would involve putting in a deferral with school, undoing my placement with the dorm, finding work to save while I prepared my mission paperwork and additional interviews.

Two weeks later after discussing with my parents, other local leaders, and prayer and a few sit-downs with my dad to review logistics…I opted to postpone serving my mission and to attend at least one year of school prior. This would allow me to have the opportunity to live away from home, manage money and build my independence prior to serving my mission. While at school I would have access to my parents when needed while on my mission I would only be able to email them once a week and talk to them twice a year.

Did I get negative influences from others for waiting to serve my mission? Nope! At least not that was presented to me in person.

Why is this relevant to my blog? As the subtitle states, this blog is to present to you my life. I will iterate now and probably again in future posts; even though I am gay, not every post I make will revolve around that fact. My life does not revolve around it, so my posts will not either.

How is this relevant? If you must know, at this time even though I was done with high school and an adult, I was still very closeted, even adamantly suppressing my attraction for men. A mission and going to a church school would just further increase the ability to hide from others, and to me, that I was gay.