Lowering the minimum missionary age for young women from 19 to 18 was meant partly “to reduce the age of marriage” for couples in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
So said recently installed church President Dallin H. Oaks in an interview he and his wife, Kristen, had Saturday with the church-owned Deseret News and faith’s own public affairs department. The interview occurred in Burley, Idaho, where he dedicated a new temple.
“In the time that we have lowered the age for young men and for young women in the past, we’ve seen an increase in people who meet someone in the mission field and marry them,” Oaks went on to say, “which is perfectly appropriate if it doesn’t start too early in their missionary service.”
That is “part of the Lord’s plan to overcome the tendency of waiting until the late 20s to have a first marriage,” Oaks said. “I think we will see a reduction in the age of marriages for Latter-day Saints.”
The 93-year-old church leader and his wife have encouraged young Latter-day Saints before not to delay marriage and having children.
“Marriage is central to the purpose of mortal life and what follows,” Oaks said in a worldwide devotional in 2023. “We are children of a loving Heavenly Father who created us with the capacity to follow his commandment to multiply and replenish the Earth.”
Here are a few other key points from the Oakses’ Saturday interview, which was posted in a Sunday news release:
• How being president differs from being an apostle — “It feels new, and the way it feels new is that I feel the responsibility. There is reference to the mantle of the prophet. I’ve been used to seeing the mantle on other people, but now I’ve had the experience of feeling the mantle — and it’s heavy and continuous. It’s a very holy responsibility, and I’m trying to grow into it.
“... I have not aspired to additional jobs. I’ve just tried to be sensitive to the Spirit of the Lord on what the Lord has prepared me to do. And that same answer applies to being president of the church. I’m just sustained by the fact that the Lord has prepared me and now called me to do something. I don’t flinch from that responsibility.”
Kristen Oaks added that her husband is “so diligent in what he does, and so focused and so concerned about the kingdom. I have been aware of him being a different person.”
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) President Dallin H. Oaks and his wife, Kristen, at the Burley Idaho Temple on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. President Oaks dedicated the temple on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026.
• Whether temple announcements (like his first in Portland, Maine) will continue to be made outside of the church’s twice yearly General Conferences — “That was a strong impression that came to me early in my knowledge that President [Russell] Nelson had transferred to heaven. It has occurred to me for a long time that the best place to announce a temple is in that temple district. And the best person to announce it is the … leader in that area, which can be an apostle on assignment to a stake conference or another meeting, or it can be the area president if there’s no apostle in the district when a decision is made by the First Presidency to have a temple there. … It’s a pattern that we will follow as long as I have influence in determining those things.”
• How his wife has expanded his views on the church — “For one thing, she’s a returned missionary. [Because of the Korean War, Oaks was not able to serve a full-time mission.] For another thing, she had a long period of time being single. Also, she is a convert to the church. And in those three respects, she helps me see a whole host of responsibilities that I feel toward missionary work when it’s possible. … I’ve learned an immense amount from her in our 25 or so years of marriage that has helped me make decisions and think about subjects that are important to the church.”
• His advice to members about the state of the world — “Be happy. Don’t be depressed. Trust in the Lord. It’s always been that life has terrible challenges. That’s what we’re put here on Earth to learn how to overcome. As I was growing up, in my teenage years, we were in the years of World War II. Later on, there have been other challenges. I’ve just determined that the Lord gave us the gospel, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the scriptures, and the teachings of leaders to get us through these difficult times. And, by all means, people shouldn’t be depressed because we’re surrounded with challenges, whether they’re economic or political or social. That’s part of what we were put here to experience.”
• On losing President Nelson, fellow apostle Jeffrey R. Holland and other loved ones — “We are pained when we lose the association of a close friend, as I was when I lost my wife, June, the mother of my children. There’s an adjustment to be made in trying to go on with your life without their association and example. But basically, death is a graduation to be celebrated. It’s part of the purpose of life on Earth — to do what we can with it, and then go on to another world, another set of associations, and another set of responsibilities and opportunities for growth that we know very little about.
“We grieve as I grieved at the loss of President Nelson, as I’ve grieved at the loss of President Holland. I’m applying the same things that I grieve at the death of my first wife and many other relatives, parents and others. It’s not an occasion for prolonged grief. It’s an occasion for the kind of grief that helps us through a difficult time. But we get on with our life.”
• His message to Latter-day Saint young people — “They shouldn’t be pessimistic. We should be optimistic. That is a message the temple gives us. Temples dot the Earth to remind people of what the gospel of Jesus Christ means to us. The visual image of the temple, like this beautiful temple we’re about to dedicate, is a powerful symbol for the youth. We’re thrilled that the youth are going to the temple in greater numbers and with increased efficiency.”