Idaho Quadruplets Serving Missions at Same Time
Contributed By Valerie Johnson, Church News staff writer
“It happened … without our influence at all. We didn’t even say, ‘Have you thought about a mission?’ It was all on their own. … That was inspired because it was between them and the Lord.” —David Dunn
Article Highlights
- President Monson announced the missionary age change in the October 2012 general conference.
- Since then, many families have had multiple children serving missions at the same time.
“It’s just the most amazing thing to watch your kids grow and develop into ways they could never do at home. The Lord takes them, molds them, and teaches them in ways that they could never experience in any other way.” —Chris Dunn
Each week, the letters start coming in on Sunday night. First from Sister Chelsea Dunn, who is serving in the Philippines Cauayan Mission. Several hours later on Monday, Sister Holli Dunn, who serves in the California Arcadia Mission; Sister Lindsay Dunn, who serves in the Arizona Tucson Mission; and Elder Taylor Dunn, a Spanish-speaking missionary in the Florida Ft. Lauderdale Mission, follow suit.
“Monday is the greatest day of the week,” said Chris Dunn. “You definitely get a unique perspective on a lot of different places. It’s interesting because they all just really love and appreciate the people wherever they are. They love that part of their mission.”
Ever since the announcement of the missionary age change for men from 19 to 18 and women from 21 to 19, many families have had multiple children serving missions at the same time. David and Chris Dunn of the Eagle 2nd Ward, Eagle Idaho Stake, not only have four children serving at the same time, but these children are quadruplets.
Elder Dunn was the first to leave on a mission in July 2014. His decision didn’t surprise his parents. When each of the daughters independently decided to serve a mission too, “it kind of took us by surprise, really,” Sister Dunn said.
“All of our daughters went to college for a year before they went, and they all decided on their own,” Brother Dunn said. “Out of the blue, we received a letter one week from our oldest daughter—oldest by a minute—saying, ‘I’ve had a series of events happen here at school. I know that I need to serve a mission and I want to serve a mission.’ About a week later or so, we received a separate letter from another daughter who was at a different school that said basically the same thing.”
Their third daughter, Chelsea, had expressed no desire to serve a mission. “She just wanted to get going with college,” Brother Dunn said. “About a month later, she came to us with the same feeling. That was powerful because it happened on their own without our influence at all. We didn’t even say, ‘Have you thought about a mission?’ It was all on their own. We felt like that was inspired because it was between them and the Lord.”
On May 27, 2015, each of the Dunn daughters entered the Provo MTC.
“It’s just the most amazing thing to watch your kids grow and develop into ways they could never do at home,” said Sister Dunn. “The Lord takes them, molds them, and teaches them in ways that they could never experience in any other way.”
