Most men go on their missions after their freshman year so they must cope with returning as sophomores while most of their friends are seniors. But Bishop Dahl says that Harvard is a relatively easy place to leave, because "there is a lot of encouragement to take time off and have other experiences. When the students come back, they seem to fit right in."

Several Harvard students mention, however, that it would be easier to leave schools such as Brigham Young University and the University of Utah, where the majority of students are leaving for, and returning from, missions.

Rich, who decided to go on his mission right before sophomore year and incurred a late fine for cancelling his enrollment, solved the problem of coming back to Harvard by rooming with his freshman year roommate, then a senior. This year he is living with two other returned missionaries, Edward C. Peterson '88-'90 and Benjamin H. Ball '88-'90.

And Tolk devised a different plan for returning to school several years behind his friends. He got married to a Harvard classmate a year after he returned. Tolk, who went to France, Belgium and Luxembourg after his freshman year, says that his mission "helped me with discipline and gave me a lot of direction."

Luke Lambert, who travelled to Mexico, was spared the problem of returning to his college after an absence. He spent his freshman year and sophomore fall at Dartmouth College, and when he left for his mission, the school's rules required him to withdraw. He says he had been thinking of transferring to Harvard, and, when he returned from his mission, the separation made it easier for him to do so.

Each of the returned missionaries highly recommends the mission experience, although, according to Rich, "there are major possibilities for messing up, wasting your time or making [the mission] the greatest two years of your life."

Another Mormon student, Benjamin R. Kahrl '89, is currently deciding whether a mission is the correct choice for him. Kahrl converted to the Mormon Church after his freshman year at the age of 19, and converts cannot go on a mission for at least a year after their conversion.

Kahrl says that he prays about the decision a lot, and that he has to figure out if he believes everything that missionaries teach. He says the decision is not an "intellectual" one, and that the answer, which will come from prayer, "may not be the answer that is expected."