In defense of sister missionaries – McKay Coppins on MormonTimes.com

When

I started dating the girl who would become my wife she

already had decided to serve a mission. This put some extra pressure on

me to be a stellar boyfriend. After all, if a date didn't go well or

the chemistry was off one night, there was always a stack of incomplete

mission papers awaiting her when she returned.

Long

story short, she decided to stay home and marry me. I was, needless to

say, thrilled, but I couldn't help but feel a little guilty for keeping

a potential kingdom-builder home from a mission.So, in an admittedly

bizarre attempt at Mormon penance, I helped prepare her roommate for a

mission. I figured I owed the field a sister missionary.

Within weeks she had received a call to Brazil, and according to her latest letters she is teaching up a storm.

Of

course I'm (mostly) kidding about the whole penance thing, but I'm glad

Annie's friend chose to serve. I happen to respect and admire sister

missionaries very much, and believe they play a crucial role in

the church's proselyting efforts.

(I'll pause here to let male RMs everywhere roll their eyes and groan. Done? OK, let's move on.)

It's

no secret that there is a cultural perception among some in our church

that sisters are just on missions because they couldn't get married and

they provide no real benefit to the missionary program. I had

heard that joke my whole life, but never realized people actually

believed that until I got to BYU.

In