I have heard so many times that when preparing for a mission, you shouldn't date exclusively. Some people ignore that counsel, while others take it so extreme that they stay away from the opposite gender and gain no useful experience.
I'm somewhere in the middle, not completely against dating before your mission, but also understanding that it does make it harder while serving. Of course, I have no experience inside the guys' mind, so I've no clue how much harder it makes the mission for them, but I feel as if it wouldn't be terribly hard for me to concentrate on my work as a servant of the Lord. I think it would be less a distraction and more of a comfort to know there was someone thinking about me back home.
That being said, I really have no experience in the situation. In fact, rather than exclusive dating, I have had a sudden and huge increase in the amount of dates I've been asked on. Almost two a week!
I can't figure out what is going on, except for with the "things will get really hard before your mission" aspect. Not that going on dates is hard, but the more I get used to going on them, the more I am going to suffer when I have to suddenly turn my flirtyness off. Me on the mission-- "Uhhh... how do I talk to guys again?"
I've decided that whatever happens happens, I'm just going to continue to be who I am, but not go out chasing. If they come to me, great, but they will have to wait a year-and-a-half.
I've found a couple quotes on the whole subject of dating before the mission. Of course most of them are directed at the young men of the church, but you can make your own judgments based on them, and I wish you the best of luck in your own experiences or in counseling others whom you care about!
"You can do nothing more important [referring to mission]. School can wait. Scholarships can be deferred. Occupational goals can be postponed. Yes, even temple marriage should wait until after a young man has served an honorable full-time mission for the Lord. And I would admonish you to date only faithful young women who also believe this and give you that encouragement.---------------
...
Our Heavenly Father wants you to date young women who are faithful members of the Church, who encourage you to serve a full-time mission and to magnify your priesthood."
(Ezra Taft Benson, General Conference April 1986)
"One can have all the blessings if he is in control and takes the experiences in proper turn: first some limited social get-acquainted contacts, then his mission, then his courting, then his temple marriage and his school and his family, then his life's work. In any other sequence he could run into difficulty." (Spencer W. Kimball, "The Marriage Decision," Ensign, Feb. 1975)---------------
"Begin to prepare for a temple marriage as well as for a mission. Proper dating is a part of that preparation. In cultures where dating is appropriate, do not date until you are 16 years old. 'Not all teenagers need to date or even want to. ... When you begin dating, go in groups or on double dates. Make sure your parents meet [and become acquainted with] those you date.' Because dating is a preparation for marriage, 'date only those who have high standards.'
Be careful to go to places where there is a good environment, where you won't be faced with temptation.
A wise father said to his son, 'if you ever find yourself in a place where you shouldn't ought to be, get out!' Good advice for all of us."
(Thomas S. Monson, General Conference April 2010)
