Raising the Bar

[KillerDog]

It's funny, but you're right. Every talk by a missionary in my ward has come straight out of PMG. They talk about the wonders of the book, etc. Nobody ever revered the discussions like that.

Sometimes they even make it sound like scripture. My guess is that making a change from one set of instruction to another requires an extreme indoctrination. The resulting "testimony" of Preach My Gospel will eventually die out.

[JohnnyLingo]

Sometimes they even make it sound like scripture. My guess is that making a change from one set of instruction to another requires an extreme indoctrination. The resulting "testimony" of Preach My Gospel will eventually die out.

You know PMG was introduced over seven years ago, right?

And I doubt "extreme indoctrination" was required to make the change. Missionaries in the MTC weren't going to revolt if the new system was introduced with little fanfare. A simple "The First Presidency believes this new system is what the missionaries need to use now" would have sufficed.

[Indy Coug]

I'm surprised at your experience. Surfah supports what I've seen. Maybe your lack of cynicism is interfering with your perception.

I'm sure if someone would burn down my house, kidnap my children and inflict me with sores that I would begin to have the same filter on life you do.

[byu71]

I may or may not have shared this before on here but what the hell....

Fall of 1992 I decided I needed to put my life in order and go on a mission. I met with the Bishop and started the repentence process and got myself ready to go.

Meet with the Bishop....check.

Meet with the Stk. Pres....fail. He wont sign my papers until I figure out how to repair the relationship I didn't have with my younger brother. Because if I couldn't love family I couldn't serve effectively as a missionary.

Two months later:

Meet with the Stk. Pres....check.

Mission papers get sent in...

1 week goes by...nothing
2 weeks go by...nothing
3 weeks go by...nothing
4th week...I get a letter from Church HQ. Not the missionary 8 1/2 by 11 envelope you see in Called to Serve, but the type of letter a bill comes in.

It basically says...

Brother Tick,

We recognize that you have done things in your life to be found worthy to serve a mission. We are concerned with your weight (400lbs) and at this point are going to request that you lose additional weight before you have the opportunity to serve a mission.

Once you find yourself healthier please feel free to re-submit paperwork.

Regards,

Elder David B. Haight

I was understandibly upset.

I call me Bishop and go visit. He calls church HQ (he has some special number) and really loses it. Told them that they didn't know what I had done to prepare (I was at 440 to start) and what I had been through. Told them that if they didn't send me on my mission then he wanted to be released immediatly. I thought that was pretty cool.

Fast forward 2 weeks...

We are at the house having FHE (watching MNF as a family) and the phone rings and here is what transpires:

Mom - hello?...no really who it.....quit pulling my leg...one moment sir

Mom - Tick...you have a phone call.

Me - Who is it?

Mom - Elder Haight.....

Me - hello?

So we talk for a few minutes and he lets me know that they have changed their mind and I should be recieving a mission call shortly. To continue my goal on weight loss and look to the Lord for guidance.

Mind you this was on Monday night.

Wednesday rolls around and I have the traditional Called to Serve envelope in the mail.

Moral of the story....

They probably never should have sent me on my mission. I lost another 40 lbs. while out in the field, but I wasn't the most effective missionary.

My companions felt it their personal goal to ride my ass into the ground. They were going to bike me because I was slowing them down.

I wasn't recieved as well as a skinny missionary would have been. Pure and simple.

2 young and healthy looking missionaries are going to get into more homes that 1 that in yound and healthy and 1 that is obese. Heaven forbid if it is 2 obese Elders at the same time. Will just never happen.

Now I wouldn't have had all the great memories that I do, and I wouldn't have my wife and children right now.

But in reality I wasn't physically fit enough to do what they wanted me to do for sure.

Thanks for sharing. I wouldn't have come to the same conclusion you did, but I am looking at it from the outside and you lived it.

One great thing about my mission was that it taught me good people come in all shapes and sizes. They come from various locals. Some speak well, some don't speak so well. Some are intellectual, some disciplined and some not.

I found there was no standard for people I liked. I think I probably liked 90% of the missionaries I got to know. Overweight Elders, non athletic Elders, cool and uncool Elders. I especially gained respect for Idaho Elders which really shocked me.

It was at least a blessing for me and my life that all kinds of Elders went on missions.

[KillerDog]

I'm sure if someone would burn down my house, kidnap my children and inflict me with sores that I would begin to have the same filter on life you do.

Am I that bad? C'mon Indy...I know you aren't a fan but I'm not that cynical, am I?

[jay santos]

Am I that bad? C'mon Indy...I know you aren't a fan but I'm not that cynical, am I?

Don't feel bad. Indy accuses a lot of people of that.

[Sleeping in EQ]

The roll out of PMG felt like a sales pitch (and probably was; publishing has plenty of overhead and bean counters know how many copies of PMG the Church needs to sell to make the switch worth it. Letters to MPs, Bishops, and whomever encouraging them to testify of the book, and to encourage ward members to buy it, are sales letters, plain and simple).

I'm sure there was no need for intense indoctrination in the MTC over the change to PMG as most missionaries have already had years of cranial massage.

PMG is an improvement over the six pack.

[wuapinmon]

The roll out of PMG felt like a sales pitch (and probably was; publishing has plenty of overhead and bean counters know how many copies of PMG the Church needs to sell to make the switch worth it. Letters to MPs, Bishops, and whomever encouraging them to testify of the book, and to encourage ward members to buy it, are sales letters, plain and simple).

I'm sure there was no need for intense indoctrination in the MTC over the change to PMG as most missionaries have already had years of cranial massage.

PMG is an improvement over the six pack.

And, even with all this enthusiasm, the MPs still pick and choose what they want to enforce. Under the "Requirements for Baptism" section, it says "attend several sacrament meetings." According to many MPs, this means two, when the definition of several is "more than three."

Grrrrrr. Attending the LDS Church twice and getting baptized is not good. Unless, you've read the Book of Mormon and have a solid testimony from that experience, two times at Church does not prepare you for what you're getting yourself into.

[Indy Coug]

Grrrrrr. Attending the LDS Church twice and getting baptized is not good. Unless, you've read the Book of Mormon and have a solid testimony from that experience, two times at Church does not prepare you for what you're getting yourself into.

With the previous MP, the requirements were even less stringent than that. My wife and I were YM/YW presidents when we first moved here and we had several youth that we would be told about their baptism on Sunday with about 3 hours heads up and neither of us had seem them at church nor at a YM/YW activity. Needless to say, none of those baptisms stuck.

The current MP, in response to all the feedback he got from various unit leaders (and probably with a healthy dose of his own common sense), put out a lengthy document listing all of the requirements for a baptism under his watch.

Baptisms have gone way down, but those that have been baptized in our branch have fared much, much better.

[Green Monstah]

I was out of town last weekend, and I thought I'd be home in time to teach by GD class. As it turns out, I misread my itinerary, so I was scrambling on Saturday night/Sunday morning to find a substitute.

I decided that I could ask the missionaries and that they could definitely teach a 35 min lesson on just about anything. Our missionaries are not very outgoing so I thought it would be a great chance to get them involved and let people get to know them. I left a vm, then texted them. They texted back, you want us to teach gospel doctrine?" I replied "yeah." 15 mins later my cell rings, and it's a member of the bishopric. The missionaries said they weren't "comfortable" teaching gospel doctrine and asked if the bishop could find a sub. At this point, I'd already emailed half the ward and the SS prez asking for help finding a replacement. 10 mins later I get a text "Called bishop...he'll find sub."

My response? "Pansies."

I realize the mishies aren't my substitute teachers, but is this just another example of the shy, backward, introverts that are supposedly setting the bar so high? It seems like this is the type of fellas we get in my ward (I don't think it's a "leadership" area, but could be wrong about that).

[Moliere]

I was out of town last weekend, and I thought I'd be home in time to teach by GD class. As it turns out, I misread my itinerary, so I was scrambling on Saturday night/Sunday morning to find a substitute.

I decided that I could ask the missionaries and that they could definitely teach a 35 min lesson on just about anything. Our missionaries are not very outgoing so I thought it would be a great chance to get them involved and let people get to know them. I left a vm, then texted them. They texted back, you want us to teach gospel doctrine?" I replied "yeah." 15 mins later my cell rings, and it's a member of the bishopric. The missionaries said they weren't "comfortable" teaching gospel doctrine and asked if the bishop could find a sub. At this point, I'd already emailed half the ward and the SS prez asking for help finding a replacement. 10 mins later I get a text "Called bishop...he'll find sub."

My response? "Pansies."

I realize the mishies aren't my substitute teachers, but is this just another example of the shy, backward, introverts that are supposedly setting the bar so high? It seems like this is the type of fellas we get in my ward (I don't think it's a "leadership" area, but could be wrong about that).

LOL! I wonder if we share the same mission (I think we might) and if that is the case then I know how you feel. We had one stud elder back a couple years and since then it's been horrible. It got so bad that no one would invite them over for dinner. The WML had to beg peoople to feed them.

Then they replaced them with sisters who were almost just as bad. We did just get lucky and have two pretty good sisters, but man it was at least a two year drought of bad to horrible missionaries.

[PharmCoug]

I was out of town last weekend, and I thought I'd be home in time to teach by GD class. As it turns out, I misread my itinerary, so I was scrambling on Saturday night/Sunday morning to find a substitute.

I decided that I could ask the missionaries and that they could definitely teach a 35 min lesson on just about anything. Our missionaries are not very outgoing so I thought it would be a great chance to get them involved and let people get to know them. I left a vm, then texted them. They texted back, you want us to teach gospel doctrine?" I replied "yeah." 15 mins later my cell rings, and it's a member of the bishopric. The missionaries said they weren't "comfortable" teaching gospel doctrine and asked if the bishop could find a sub. At this point, I'd already emailed half the ward and the SS prez asking for help finding a replacement. 10 mins later I get a text "Called bishop...he'll find sub."

My response? "Pansies."

I realize the mishies aren't my substitute teachers, but is this just another example of the shy, backward, introverts that are supposedly setting the bar so high? It seems like this is the type of fellas we get in my ward (I don't think it's a "leadership" area, but could be wrong about that).

I would have jumped at the chance if someone gave this opportunity to me while I was on my mission. What better way to gain the member's trust, especially yours. I remember that anytime we did something like this for a member, we had an awesome friend until we were transferred. Those Elders were pansies...

[PharmCoug]

I was 6'2 and around 175 lbs when I left on my mission. I probably gained about 10 lbs in my first area which was quite a feat for me at the time. I was pounding down doner-kebabs and getting a quite a few dinner eats while also being in a car area. The doner-kebabs really kicked ass and if I were more enterprising, I would go back to Germany and recruit a few turks to come over here and start up a doner-kebab shack. I'd even go out and talk to the right people to get them smuggled up here from Mexico.

Count me in as in investor when you decide to start the Kebab shop! I loved them while in Australia, and have had a hunger for them that hasn't been quenched in years.

[RC Vikings]

My response? "Pansies."

I realize the mishies aren't my substitute teachers, but is this just another example of the shy, backward, introverts that are supposedly setting the bar so high? It seems like this is the type of fellas we get in my ward (I don't think it's a "leadership" area, but could be wrong about that).

I got this from my son yesterday. He's not the most patient kid and my guess is most of his comps are ready to get rid of him also but it sounds like they could lower the bar a little so they could get more kids out that have a personality.

my comp is driving everyone in the ward crazy he doesnt not talk with anyone at all. Right when church ends he is waiting by the door waiting to go, he is 23 years old but acts like a 14 year old. It has been super hard I'm ready to get a new comp, i am going to talk with president in interviews about the type of comps i have had. I am not happy at all with the comps i have had in my mission. I only have like 11 months left i don't want my whole mission to be with comps that don´t give a crap about anything.

[Green Monstah]

I got this from my son yesterday. He's not the most patient kid and my guess is most of his comps are ready to get rid of him also but it sounds like they could lower the bar a little so they could get more kids out that have a personality.

Thats rough. Hope he gets a killer comp next go round.