Sister Janice Hylton remembers walking to the car with her late husband, Vivian “Bud” Hylton, and their young children the day they were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1970. It was a beautiful spring day in Atlanta, Georgia, and the flowers were blooming.
“One day, we’re going to serve a mission,” Bud Hylton told her. And they did.
Sister Hylton and her husband served four full-time senior missions together before he died in 2020. Now, as a single woman, Sister Hylton is serving her fifth full-time mission.
“I felt like I really needed to serve another mission, and I’m so glad I did,” Sister Hylton told the Church News. “I am just so happy to have the opportunity to serve the Lord.”
Sister Hylton, who this month turns 89 and concludes her 18-month service, serves in the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission as a medical screener for senior missionaries and a nursing instructor at Ensign College.
“My testimony has really been strengthened every mission — every mission. This one here, too,” she said, referring to her current assignment. “It’s just amazing. I’m working with choice people, and I get to work with the couples and senior sisters that are anxious to serve. Their testimonies have strengthened mine.”
A desire to serve — again
Elder and Sister Hylton served in the England London South Mission from 1998-2000, Philippines Quezon City Mission from 2004-2005, Utah Salt Lake City Church and Family History Mission from 2008-2010 and Washington D.C. Temple Mission from 2012-2014.
Sister Hylton said their mission experiences have blessed their five children, 21 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, including a granddaughter getting ready to leave on her full-time mission.
A few years after her husband died, Sister Hylton was watching October 2023 general conference when Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke directly to senior Church members.
“As an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I ask you to serve as a missionary in the gathering of Israel and perhaps even serve again. We need you — we need you," Elder Rasband pleaded. “We are grateful to you seniors for the lives you have led and the examples you have been in your homes, wards and stakes. I now invite you to take your know-how, coupled with your time-honored testimonies, and go on a mission.”
Sister Hylton recalled: “I heard Elder Rasband talking about seniors, how they really needed seniors. So I thought, ‘Why not? I can do that. I’ve been blessed with good health and energy, and so yes, I can do that.’”
With a doctorate in urban studies and more than 30 years' experience as a nurse, Sister Hylton said her mission as a senior medical screener and nursing instructor has been “ideal.”
“I have really found out that there is a mission for everyone,” Sister Hylton said. “I hope people understand that the Church certainly takes into consideration where they would like to serve, the length of time and what they would like to do.” It doesn’t always turn out exactly as desired, she added, “but the Lord knows where they should go, and it all works out.”
Senior single missionaries
Sister Rebecca L. Craven — who serves with her husband, President Ronald L. Craven, as mission leaders of the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission and is a former member of the Young Women general presidency — said Sister Hylton’s background in nursing and her sensitivity for others “make her invaluable in her work.”
Senior single sister missionaries like Sister Hylton “play a critical role in the gathering of Israel,” Sister Craven said.
“They have remarkable life, family, work and Church experience. They have spent a lifetime developing their spiritual gifts. When they choose to serve a mission, they bring with them a plethora of wisdom and talent. They understand that enduring to the end means growing, learning and serving to the end.”
In November 2024, the Church announced expanded opportunities for single senior missionaries, both men and women. For several decades, senior single sister missionaries had been able to serve in limited assignments, while senior single men previously were not called to serve full-time missions.
Elder W. Mark Bassett, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Church’s Missionary Department, said: “These new opportunities for our single senior members of the Church will be a blessing to them and to those they serve as they strive to follow the example of the Savior to care for their fellow man.
“We are grateful for these adjustments and look forward to more of our faithful members participating in building the kingdom of God as full-time missionaries.”
Learn more about the expanded service opportunities for full-time senior missionaries at SeniorMissionary.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
