The church has recently taken steps that may seem small to outsiders, but telegraphed change to members: inviting a woman to say a prayer at the church’s general conference, revising the Sunday school curriculum so that females and males learn the same lessons, and instructing bishops and regional “stake” presidents to consult with the leaders of the parallel women’s organizations in their deliberations.

However, the church will go only so far: Ordaining women as priests is out of the question because it is a matter of doctrine, leaders in Salt Lake City said in an interview.

“Culturally there’s an understanding that women’s roles are going to be more and more important, but doctrine is not going to be changing,” said Michael Otterson, who directs the church’s public affairs efforts worldwide. The new wave of returning female missionaries, he added, would amount to an “injection of really theologically well-trained women” and enrich the church “if they can make the transition back.”

In South Korea, Ms. Farr, the former beauty pageant contestant and future businesswoman, was knocking on doors and setting a baptism date for her first convert, a teenage girl with whom she had formed a deep connection. But her mind had also been turning with new business ideas: a novel way to export and sell pearl jewelry, and restaurant chains that would sell some of the cheap Korean treats like rice burgers to students at Brigham Young. “I have to do the market research when I get back,” she said.

Ms. Farr grew up loving the church, but was unwilling to rely on the old expectation that a man would support her, her mother, Emily Farr, said in a phone interview. Ashley’s father had cancer when she was younger, and then his business slowed for a time, said Mrs. Farr, who helped support the family with her job as a speech specialist.

Still, she sounded a bit uncertain about how her daughter’s grand plans would work out. Ashley dislikes the kitchen and cannot prepare much beyond cookies and toast — still apostasy for a Mormon wife. Her boyfriend “would like it more if she were to cook,” Mrs. Farr said.

But the daughter brushed those concerns away.

“I am what I am,” she said, adding that she was in no rush to embark on marriage. “Even if I waited until I was 30 or 35, that would be O.K.”