Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley says single women shouldn't feel any pressure to serve church missions.
The church will regard women who don't serve 18-month missions just as highly as those who do, Hinckley told students at the Institute of Religion at Weber State University on Tuesday."Girls should not feel pressure to go," Hinckley said.
The church strongly encourages single males to serve 24-month missions, but missionary service for female members is optional. Hinckley said the women should get an education to equip themselves for the future.
More than 2,000 students packed the institute's chapel and gymnasium and watched on monitors in classrooms for the first visit to the facility by a president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Hinckley himself requested the visit a few weeks ago.
The 86-year-old church leader, accompanied by his wife, Marjorie, called Weber State a "great university."
Then he joked, "Someone gave me a W to put on my coat. I wonder what it stands for, Winnemucca?"
He encouraged the students to persevere in school.
"I know it's a grind. I know it's difficult," Hinckley said. "Keep on and keep hammering away."
Hinckley gave no prepared remarks but instead answered questions submitted in advance.
"What are the qualities you admire most about your wife?"
"Endurance," he said, drawing laughter.
Hinckley said he and his wife - who will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on April 29 - love, honor and respect each other.
"I hope we will have one another for a while longer and then die on the same day," he said.
Asked what he would advise young married couples, Hinckley said they should respect each other.
"Don't look for all the little faults in one another. If you do, you will find them," he said.
As Hinckley left, walking through the audience shaking hands, he had one last word of advice:
"Don't be late to class."