Has the raised bar been beneficial to missionary work?

[Topper]

There's no excuse (well, hardly ever an excuse) for being morbidly obese when you're 18 or 19. It limits where you can call the super-duper fat kids within the mission. I was in an area with a bike that required me to sometimes ride 20-25 miles a day. I can't imagine someone that's 5'10 weighing 260 lbs, unless you look like Zac Stacy, being able to pull that off.

Though I do admit it would be hilarious to see them try.

This cultural phenomenon of morbid obesity is a recent event. When I served, the problem really didn't exist. It's not that people were better people, but for some reason the combinations of bad diets, increased problems with genetics and less physical activities have created a group that historically have not existed. I have compassion for people like that, but it doesn't seem unreasonable for an organization to limit who can and cannot represent it. And given the health risks already attendant with missionary service by teens and young twenty somethings, it makes sense to draw lines, as long as exceptions can be made where the individual is otherwise healthy.

[Topper]

True, I was eventually sent home.

You weren't supposed to stay three years, dope.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

You weren't supposed to stay three years, dope.

I was supposed to stay 2, at least that's what the letter GBH sent said.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I have a niece that would really like to serve a mission. She can't at this time, she is at least 75-100 pounds overweight (I think she only needs to lose 15-20). Like most morbidly obese young people she has the deadly combination of genetics, and terrible dietary habits. I think she would be a great missionary, and I think it would change her life. However, I know if she is able to develop better eating habits, and learn how to effectively exercise, it will definitely improve, and most likely extend her life. Should the church be in the body coaching business? I don't know. However, if we really believe what we are asking these kids to preach, then I don't disagree with helping them learn at a young age they have the ability to change themselves for the better.

An anecdote: we generally feed the missionaries 1-2x/month. My wife is fantastic cook, and even a better baker. The missionaries all love whatever she makes for dessert. My kids all-time favorite elder was Elder Jackson from VA. They were surprised when he turned down strawberry pie. Of course my youngest asks why. He proceeds to take a picture from his wallet of a much, much heavier kid. He tells them that was him a year ago. He was told he needed to lose weight. He had tried several times in HS, but was always unsuccessful. He asked his bishop for a blessing, where he was promised if he did his part, he would be able to serve. He decided right then and there he wasn't going to drink soda, and would exercise daily (at first he could barely walk around the block). He then began to cut back on portions, as was able to start jogging a little, then eventually running. His take was because he had a "desire to serve God" he did what he had to do to "be called to the work:

The kid in our ward had a similar experience. Changed his life. He has kept the weight off and is doing great.

[Topper]

This is the kind of thinking that perplexes me. Rather than dealing with the consequences of failure amid the unique learning experience that is someone willing to give 10% of their then life over to an organization that says it's the Lord's human-led arm on the earth, we try to make everyone fit a certain mold. Rather than treating them as humans with desires to serve, we tell them they can't go if they've made a mistake or two or twenty. We place restrictions on the body types that can serve, an age difference on the genders, and worry about how to administrate rather than minister.

In doing so, we ignore the enormous toll that rejection carries, psychologically, emotionally, spritually, and socially (especially in Washing County, Utah--in this case). We might pay lip service to it, but then we admonish and tell people to buck up and make themselves ready and other rhetoric. Far be it from me to speak for God, so I'll just let him say it himself:

You forget the Tanakh has the Talmud, the Qu'ran has the Hadiths, and the Christian scriptures have the LDS missionary standards and guides.

[Topper]

I was supposed to stay 2, at least that's what the letter GBH sent said.

Sorry about changing that two to a three. When did you figure it out?

[pellegrino]

Consistency would be to let everyone try to serve and deal with the consequences of their failure. Let everyone serve that has desires. Anything else goes against the Scriptures.

meh, that means that any middle aged man having a mid-life crisis could abandon his family and go be a missionary. That doesn't really sit well with me.

Not a fan of the missionary program, but if they're going to run it like a corporate sales force (which is what has been going on since WWII) then they kind of have to have some sort of quality control. That said, deemphasizing the cultural significance of serving a mission is probably the best solution to all of this, but that's about as likely as a deacon getting laid at the Stake Valentine's Dance.