"Those serving for the first time have remained fairly steady, but we're finding those who go out have good experience and they're doing it again. If they can make whatever commitments they need to make and get out of their comfort zone for the first time, their likelihood of doing it again is quite high." Time commitment runs from six months to 18 months at a stretch.

The church asks older members to consider serving missions but issues a call to serve only at their request. Church leaders take into account the person's health, willingness to learn a new language, desired location and financial status. They are expected to finance the experience themselves, and expenses run anywhere from $1,800 to $4,000 per month.

Several thousand older Latter-day Saints also serve part-time as church service missionaries, living at home and volunteering for diverse assignments, from working with the poor to ushering for public events at the Conference Center.

Veda Hillyard and her husband, Max, left the comforts of their Smithfield home to live in a trailer miles from civilization in Wyoming to serve full-time as missionaries in Martin's Cove — an area the LDS Church considers sacred because hundreds of 19th century pioneers were trapped by winter snows there while making their way in handcarts to Utah. Many froze to death and are memorialized at the site.

He was 72 and she was 66 at the time. They initially agreed to go for six months but were asked to stay for 18. Despite the fact that "the wind blows most of the time, sand storms where you can't see 3 feet ahead, and you deal with bugs biting your head, mosquitoes and flies," she said there is no amount of money that could buy the experience they had.

She was emotional recalling "the overwhelming spirit you feel there. It's just such a peace, and it doesn't look like peaceful country. I can't put it into words, but I felt so close to my Heavenly Father there." Her great-great-grandfather was a 6-year-old member of the Martin Handcart Company for which the site is named.

Experiencing the rugged territory firsthand and helping explain the history to visitors who come by the thousands to pull handcarts there, she "came home with such a different priority and perspective" of what is most valuable. The experience "has just changed my life. . . . Actually, if I could do it again I would."

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com