May 2013 Update on Mission Calls Posted to YouTube

The surge in missionary applications is continuing.  The graph, “Mission Calls Posted to YouTube,” separates the calls to young women and men from November 2011 to May 2013.  In May, the total number of posted calls reached 202; the greatest number of postings at the end of a month to date.  For the second straight month, the number of postings by young men relative to young women decreased slightly.  Last month 61.3% of posted calls were to young men and 38.7, to young women.  In May, 58.4% of posted calls were to young men and 41.6%, to young women.  The number of postings appears to have plateaued at around 200 per month suggesting that the surge too has plateaued. 

 

The graph, “Mission Calls to Sisters” and “Mission Calls to Elders,” compares the year-to-year number of calls to sisters between November and May.  November was the first month selected because it is the first month that could show a response to the announcement.  The graph provides visual evidence of the faith of our youth.

The graph, "Three Month Moving Average of the Location of Mission Assignments," shows a three month moving average of the percentage of calls read on YouTube to seven geographic regions. They are the regions reported by the Church on the “Facts and Statistics” page of the “Newsroom” with one exception. I divided the North America region into two groups: the United States and the rest of North American (North American not US). As demonstrated in the March graph, the influx of applications does not appear to have precipitated a major change in the percentage of missionaries called to each region. This month, calls to the United States increased to 50% of total calls just as calls in May of 2012 increased to 50% of total calls. 

There still is no increasing in queuing.  I tracked the preparation period for eight months: in October, the preparation period was 106 days, in November, 97, in December, 98, in January, 106, in February 99 in March, 112 days, in April, 103 days, and in May, 96 days.  The shorter preparation period in May could be due to more calls being issued to missions in the United States.  As I noted in “The Wait to Enter the Mission Training Center,” the average preparation time for missionaries assigned to the United States is only 85 days.