#56527 Female endowment before marriage

[Wisteria]

crmeatball, that's also what I was informed when I went through the temple for the same reason as Dragon Lady- incidentally, also when I was 24. My dad actually pulled out the church handbook and read the section and there was no mention of a specific age.

[Dragon Lady]

See, that's what I was always told, too. But when my bishop pulled me in, he was very excited because he had just received a letter saying there was a change of policy and he knew how excited I would be. I suppose it could have been a change in stake or area policy, though, not church-wide.

[Laser Jock]

My dad actually pulled out the church handbook and read the section and there was no mention of a specific age.

For what it's worth, the Handbook itself is only updated every few years, so it does happen sometimes that Church headquarters will send a letter to local leadership that a new policy is replacing what the Handbook currently says. Until a new version is printed and distributed, the letter is the only place that the new policy would exist. (I don't know if that's what happened here, though, or if it was a local thing, like Dragon Lady suggested.)

[NerdGirl]

I was 19 and not getting married or going on a mission, but that was back in 2002 so things could have changed since then.

[Dragon Lady]

This was in 2006, for what it's worth.

[vorpal blade]

This is what the Handbook currently says:

Most single members will be interviewed for a recommend for their own endowment when they are called as missionaries or when they are to be married in a temple. Worthy single members who have not received their endowment in connection with a mission or marriage may become eligible for a recommend interview when the bishop and the stake president determine that they are sufficiently mature to understand and keep the sacred covenants made in a temple. Such eligibility should be determined individually for each person rather than using routine criteria such as reaching a certain age or leaving home for college or employment.

It is quite possible that a letter came out more recently (since 1998 when the Handbook was written) which clarified the issue. I understand a new handbook will be coming out this fall.