Making the Transition
For students across the U.S., college might seem straightforward. Unless a student wants to pursue graduate school, a doctorate or some other form of post-college education, college lasts two to four years, on average, with an expected graduation age of about age 22.
However, Utah is different. After starting a first semester of college, many students put school and their personal lives on hold in order to serve a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Returning missionaries can sometimes face difficulty in re-adjusting to a life of school, work and social interactions, but can also learn from their experience and use it to help them in their daily lives.
“Missionaries’ lives have been very focused on their missions,” said Phil Barlow, professor of religious studies at USU and Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture. “They have been able to suspend concern with many tasks, such as earning a living, choosing classes and a major, and active thought about career and their long-term life path. One adjustment they must make upon returning from their service is the wider complexity of life.”
Mitch Henline, who served his mission in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands from June 2008 to June 2010, said his return to Utah was “a little weird.”
“It wasn’t too bad,” he said. “(There were) things that I had to adjust to like putting the bread into the refrigerator, because it would go bad if you don’t down in the Caribbean.”
Henline is now in his second semester at Utah State after transferring from Snow College last fall. A former social work major who just recently switched to journalism, he said there was a social and language barrier to overcome when he came back.
“Every once in awhile I would say a few words in Spanish to people, and they would look at me funny, but I got over that pretty quick,” he said. “Something that was really weird for me was that in the Virgin Islands when you walk down the road and see someone, it’s rude if you don’t say, ‘Good morning,’ or, ‘Good afternoon.’ When I went back to Snow College, I kept saying, ‘Good afternoon, good afternoon,’ to everyone that I walked past.”
Kyle Stubbs, a senior majoring in political science and public relations, said getting back into school was a challenge after serving his mission in Cape Town, South Africa, from September 2007 to September 2009.
“I got back in September, so I had a few months – which I definitely needed – to work with my advisers and figure out a plan,” he said. “In those two years the catalog had changed and all of your expectations changed from when I had been a student before my mission.”
Henline said his mission experience helped him become more motivated to get good grades.
“Right before I left, I just kind of goofed around and slacked off with my grades,” he said. “My mission definitely helped in making me prioritize and work harder in school.”
Stubbs also said he benefitted from his mission in certain aspects of his life.
“It gave the skills on how to talk to people and communicate, how to be proactive in achieving and accomplishing tasks,” he said. “That was really big in getting back into school, being able to go after things and get the results that I was after.”
There are common and often prevailing stereotypes about returned missionaries, such as getting married immediately after getting back or continuing to preach LDS beliefs, Henline said.
“A small proportion of missionaries’ own families sometimes discover to their surprise, amusement or mild annoyance that missionaries so accustomed to the regimen of prayer and strict rules can return and be a little preachy toward others who have not been under the same strict discipline,” Barlow said. “This minority of missionaries may feel and express their disappointment with worldly ways out among their friends, but most have learned to be thoughtful and respectful, so far as I can discern.”
Heline said he fit the description of preachy, himself, and fell victim to the stereotype of early marriage.
“I guess I was still in missionary mode,” he said. “I started dating this girl after I got back, and she started saying that she wasn’t ready to get married after we’d only been dating for a few weeks. I had never even mentioned it.”
Barlow said a lot of desire for meaningful social relationships has either been put aside for two years or has been accumulating pent-up energy.
“Most adjust pretty well within a few months or a year,” he said. “They may not have been developing the social comfort and skills that others have while they have been serving, but in other respects many have been developing social ability relatively free from the self-interest of dating.”
Barlow said though returned missionaries are often cast into stereotypes, they learn a great deal about serving others.
“LDS missionaries work very hard, by and large, and they learn a good deal about unselfishness and maturity while on their missions,” Barlow said. “Often they learn about cultures and people beyond what has been familiar to them. They learn something of courage, of being less self-conscious, of getting along in new circumstances not always of their choosing. All these can be advantages when they return to school and ordinary life.”
– ej.jungblut@gmail.com
