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  • #16
    Originally posted by wuapinmon View Post
    Is it lawful for a missionary to eat dinner at your home after 6PM without an investigator? NO!

    Is it lawful for a missionary to eat dinner at your home on the weekend without an investigator? NO!

    Is it lawful for you to give a ride in a 5-seat car to a set of elders and a set of sister missionaries? NO!

    They cannot be "broken up" and must sit as companionships. The opposite gender must not come in contact with the other. So, if you're given an "assignment" you have to make two trips. Keep in mind, these missionaries have a car. That's right, they have a car.

    Seriously, these are some rules that are handed down by the independent prelate of a mission president, and we're given putative 'assignments' to drive these missionaries to meetings, but we're not allowed to have them ride in cars together. It's ridiculous and I refuse to do it anymore.

    I don't trust the missionaries. We don't know them. They are often weird and self-centered. There's no way I'm passing along the names of my friends to people who I don't know and don't trust.

    The missionary program is broken. You cannot serve if you've committed certain sins, denying the Atonement to many. You cannot serve if you're overweight, because we have an image to uphold. You cannot serve if you play video games, because who in the hell knows why.

    I'm getting fed up.
    I would just tell them to get their asses in the car and I'm all of their companions.
    Will donate kidney for B12 membership.

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    • #17
      Originally posted by The_Douger View Post
      I would just tell them to get their asses in the car and I'm all of their companions.
      Nay, nay. One of the sister missionaries wrote, "Dinner must end by 6PM" on the missionary meal calendar. That's right, she underlined it.

      They'd actually feel ennobled in refusing to do something like that. "Obedience brings blessings" never mind the fact that she is an adult in the 21st Century. If these missionaries want to have sex, good heavens, let them be responsible for the consequences of their own actions. Treating them like late-Victorian Quakers isn't going to make a bit of difference.
      "Yeah, but never trust a Ph.D who has an MBA as well. The PhD symbolizes intelligence and discipline. The MBA symbolizes lust for power." -- Katy Lied

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      • #18
        Originally posted by wuapinmon View Post
        Nay, nay. One of the sister missionaries wrote, "Dinner must end by 6PM" on the missionary meal calendar. That's right, she underlined it.

        They'd actually feel ennobled in refusing to do something like that. "Obedience brings blessings" never mind the fact that she is an adult in the 21st Century. If these missionaries want to have sex, good heavens, let them be responsible for the consequences of their own actions. Treating them like late-Victorian Quakers isn't going to make a bit of difference.
        I get tired of that pious crap about the rules. In my second to last area, we led the mission in baptisms a couple months in a row, we were an older companionship, and we got up late and wore Dockers instead of suit coats like our mission president asked. My mission president told me that the people we baptized would not stick with the church and would not be blessed because we did not follow the rules. One of those families got sealed in the temple a few years later.

        There's more to missions than the rules and it's unfortunate that so many of the young people serving don't get that.

        I live in Utah. I see the missionaries about three times a year in passing. From the sound of it in some of these threads, it's probably a good thing.
        Will donate kidney for B12 membership.

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        • #19
          Originally posted by wuapinmon View Post
          Is it lawful for you to give a ride in a 5-seat car to a set of elders and a set of sister missionaries? NO!

          They cannot be "broken up" and must sit as companionships. The opposite gender must not come in contact with the other. So, if you're given an "assignment" you have to make two trips. Keep in mind, these missionaries have a car. That's right, they have a car.
          That doesn't describe my mission at all. My forward-thinking mission president started elder/sister splits because there were so few sisters and they wanted to get away from their companions, too. It had to be one elder and two sisters or vice versa.
          Not that, sickos.

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          • #20
            Originally posted by thesaint258 View Post
            That doesn't describe my mission at all. My forward-thinking mission president started elder/sister splits because there were so few sisters and they wanted to get away from their companions, too. It had to be one elder and two sisters or vice versa.
            That would have worked perfectly in my mission because the lookers were always companions with the sweet spirits.
            “Every player dreams of being a Yankee, and if they don’t it’s because they never got the chance.” Aroldis Chapman

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            • #21
              Just a thought - but if these folks don't meet the weight thresholds, what makes you think you'll be able to get 4 of them into a 5 passenger car with you?

              For the record - most of those seem like pretty silly rules. Part of me thinks (a big part of me) that we're talking about adults here. So give them some guidelines and trust them with those guidelines.

              I'm sure that there are some missionaries out there who love to hang out at member's homes - on weekends or evenings after dinner, etc. While I agree that the church doesn't need lazy missionaries - the reality is that having them around can do a great deal of good for many families. Even active ones.

              To be honest - I don't have a problem with the weight thing. I had a companion who was morbidly obese. It was difficult getting onto buses during busy hours, I had to walk S L O W L Y everywhere we went because he couldn't keep up and got winded easily. And I imagine that with the number of heath issues associated with being overweight - it is a pragmatic rule more than anything. I don't know the limits - so I hope they are reasonable. But I can agree that having them in place is probably OK.

              We've got a set of missionaries in our stake that I see all the time. Usually in the gym playing basketball. During ward ball, we have games on Friday evenings beginning at 6:30 and going until 9:30. They are there the entire time, with one of the elders playing with one ward or another. I've run into them during the week mid-day in gym shorts with some folks who were obviously not missionaries playing. They also show up during our wards "practice" night once a week (along with the other wards nights in our building).

              I was speaking with the EQP a couple of weeks ago about a family they are working with. He said he attempted to speak with the missionaries about this family a couple of times, but that they kept changing the subject and seemed more concerned with making sure they knew what days/times the EQ would be playing ball that week.

              Yeah - they don't come across as the kind of guys I would be referring my neighbors to. And with what I've seen of them - I can understand why some mission presidents would set extra rules that make them seem like unreasonable slave-drivers.

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              • #22
                Originally posted by thesaint258 View Post
                That doesn't describe my mission at all. My forward-thinking mission president started elder/sister splits because there were so few sisters and they wanted to get away from their companions, too. It had to be one elder and two sisters or vice versa.
                That is exactly how my mission was. As a ZL I went out with the sisters more than once.
                "Nobody listens to Turtle."
                -Turtle
                sigpic

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                • #23
                  I've been WML for two years and it's the best calling ever. I would probably refuse if they tried to give me a different calling.

                  You guys that have bad attitudes are missing out bigtime. Sharing the gospel is tits!
                  "I'm going to go back to CUF now, where the censorship is less, the average IQ is higher, and we don't have to deal with so much of this nonsense. Goodbye." - SoonerCoug

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                  • #24
                    Originally posted by Surfah View Post
                    That is exactly how my mission was. As a ZL I went out with the sisters more than once.
                    One of the best experiences I had on my mission was as a DL while training a new missionary. The sister companionship was in the other ward that shared the building. In hindsight, I'm almost certain that my "greenie" companion had Asperger's Syndrome but that condition was probably not diagnosed back then. I was fairly "old-school" and lacking in patience and empathy for this Elder.

                    Meanwhile, the Sisters were having significant companionship problems as one was near the end of her mission and had mentally packed her bags; to pass the time she claimed to be sick. As DL, this became my problem. So the routine became to leave Sister I'm-too-sick-to-leave-the-apartment behind and me and my companion would go out and work with the other sister. She helped greatly with my companion and as we worked together I learned many tips on dealing with him. I became much less "old-school" to the benefit of everyone. We soon all became very good friends and he started referring to us as his "Ma and Pa". It ended up being one of the most productive periods of my mission with respect to teaching and baptizing.
                    “Not the victory but the action. Not the goal but the game. In the deed the glory.”
                    "All things are measured against Nebraska." falafel

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                    • #25
                      Originally posted by Eddie View Post
                      Just a thought - but if these folks don't meet the weight thresholds, what makes you think you'll be able to get 4 of them into a 5 passenger car with you?

                      For the record - most of those seem like pretty silly rules. Part of me thinks (a big part of me) that we're talking about adults here. So give them some guidelines and trust them with those guidelines.

                      I'm sure that there are some missionaries out there who love to hang out at member's homes - on weekends or evenings after dinner, etc. While I agree that the church doesn't need lazy missionaries - the reality is that having them around can do a great deal of good for many families. Even active ones.

                      To be honest - I don't have a problem with the weight thing. I had a companion who was morbidly obese. It was difficult getting onto buses during busy hours, I had to walk S L O W L Y everywhere we went because he couldn't keep up and got winded easily. And I imagine that with the number of heath issues associated with being overweight - it is a pragmatic rule more than anything. I don't know the limits - so I hope they are reasonable. But I can agree that having them in place is probably OK.

                      We've got a set of missionaries in our stake that I see all the time. Usually in the gym playing basketball. During ward ball, we have games on Friday evenings beginning at 6:30 and going until 9:30. They are there the entire time, with one of the elders playing with one ward or another. I've run into them during the week mid-day in gym shorts with some folks who were obviously not missionaries playing. They also show up during our wards "practice" night once a week (along with the other wards nights in our building).

                      I was speaking with the EQP a couple of weeks ago about a family they are working with. He said he attempted to speak with the missionaries about this family a couple of times, but that they kept changing the subject and seemed more concerned with making sure they knew what days/times the EQ would be playing ball that week.

                      Yeah - they don't come across as the kind of guys I would be referring my neighbors to. And with what I've seen of them - I can understand why some mission presidents would set extra rules that make them seem like unreasonable slave-drivers.
                      5'10" can't weigh more than 258 lbs. And is having to walk slowly enough of an inconvenience to deny someone the blessing of serving? I'd argue that no, it's not. "If ye have desires to serve, ye are called to the work."
                      "Yeah, but never trust a Ph.D who has an MBA as well. The PhD symbolizes intelligence and discipline. The MBA symbolizes lust for power." -- Katy Lied

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Originally posted by wuapinmon View Post
                        5'10" can't weigh more than 258 lbs. And is having to walk slowly enough of an inconvenience to deny someone the blessing of serving? I'd argue that no, it's not. "If ye have desires to serve, ye are called to the work."
                        Interesting, as there is a missionary in my ward right now that is probably 5'8" and at least 275.
                        Everything in life is an approximation.

                        http://twitter.com/CougarStats

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                        • #27
                          Originally posted by Indy Coug View Post
                          Interesting, as there is a missionary in my ward right now that is probably 5'8" and at least 275.
                          Being stateside, it's very likely that he put on weight. It's left up to the "bishop's discretion" in the memo I saw. But, bishops vary.
                          "Yeah, but never trust a Ph.D who has an MBA as well. The PhD symbolizes intelligence and discipline. The MBA symbolizes lust for power." -- Katy Lied

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Originally posted by wuapinmon View Post
                            Being stateside, it's very likely that he put on weight. It's left up to the "bishop's discretion" in the memo I saw. But, bishops vary.
                            I have no idea what his "starting weight" was, but he's fairly solid and has an athletic background.
                            Everything in life is an approximation.

                            http://twitter.com/CougarStats

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Originally posted by wuapinmon View Post
                              5'10" can't weigh more than 258 lbs. And is having to walk slowly enough of an inconvenience to deny someone the blessing of serving? I'd argue that no, it's not. "If ye have desires to serve, ye are called to the work."
                              Having to walk slowly was an inconvenience, but I was OK with it. I really liked the guy.

                              All that aside - I still believe this is a health thing. I think they've discovered that folks who are that big are more likely to have additional health issues. As a parent, I want my children taken care of and returned to me safely. I imagine there are less health issues for folks within the set height to weight ranges.

                              I hope it isn't all about who can fit on a bike, etc. But I suppose there is some of that.

                              As for "If ye have desires to serve, ye are called to the work." I agree. And if you have desires to serve, you should prepare yourself in order to do the work. That might mean not just studying scriptures and going to church, but dropping some lbs. too.

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                              • #30
                                Originally posted by Eddie View Post

                                As for "If ye have desires to serve, ye are called to the work." I agree. And if you have desires to serve, you should prepare yourself in order to do the work. That might mean not just studying scriptures and going to church, but dropping some lbs. too.
                                That's a cop out. Preparing oneself to serve is found nowhere in the words of Jesus. He called people and they left their nets.
                                "Yeah, but never trust a Ph.D who has an MBA as well. The PhD symbolizes intelligence and discipline. The MBA symbolizes lust for power." -- Katy Lied

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