Raising the Bar

[Sleeping in EQ]

I am the EQ's representative to the ward mission. Mostly I attend missionary correlation meeting and say "I don't know" when prompted to show signs of life.

Anyway, the WML doesn't like the set of missionaries we have right now. He finds them arrogant. Ward members are finding them difficult to work with. There's one of those unofficial "referral famines" going on as word has gotten around that these two missionaries aren't good.

The WML is a "lathered horse" kind of guy when it comes to Church service. He's often volunteering to help others and takes service seriously. His vocal, but circumspect criticism of these missionaries is not typical for him. He's more of an "appropriate," "keep sweet no matter what" kind of guy.

The following is a dramatized reenactment of a conversation between myself and my WML after missionary correlation meeting on Sunday:

WML: Those two (missionaries) think they're the cat's pajamas.

SIEQ: You can't have a two-minute conversation with them without one of them mentioning how "the bar has been raised."

WML: I haven't thought of it that way, but now that you mention it--yeah.

SIEQ: In truth, I'm not sure the bar has been raised. Maybe more work gets done with fewer deadbeat missionaries out in the field. But I think it's more like the turnstyle has been narrowed. If you were cool enough to get laid in high school you're out, and if you were such a reject that you spent weekends compulsively eating, you're now too fat and you're also out.

WML: "The bar has been raised" has become just another way that these guys declare how great they are without having actually improved. It's another gold star for attendance. It's empty blather.

SIEQ: Like the "You're the best generation ever" nonsense that the youth are fed.

WML: So how do we "lift where we stand?"

SIEQ: We minimize their impact on our ward. When they're transferred it'll be addition by subtraction.

[Indy Coug]

That sounds like a much better approach than mentoring and constructive criticism.

[wuapinmon]

According to the current height/weight requirements, I would've not been allowed to serve a mission.

I would've left the Church had I not been allowed to serve because I was 15 lbs over the "limit."

[DrumNFeather]

Sometimes the best approach is to "wait it out."

I was recently released as WML in my ward and I had a few missionaries come through that were like this and wanted to challenge me, the bishop, the EQP on how we were doing our callings etc. He wasn't very effective.

[Indy Coug]

According to the current height/weight requirements, I would've not been allowed to serve a mission.

I would've left the Church had I not been allowed to serve because I was 15 lbs over the "limit."

Is there an official height/weight chart?

[wuapinmon]

Is there an official height/weight chart?

Yes. I've seen it when I was Exec. Sec. I wrote about it on my blog and was rebuked by my bishop for sharing private information from bishopric meeting in a public setting.

5'10 and 290 is too fat, according to the chart.

[Sleeping in EQ]

That sounds like a much better approach than mentoring and constructive criticism.

Neither of us is up to that sort of thing with these two. I think the WML has tried to mentor them, but he is frustrated. He's a good guy at the end of his rope.

[Surfah]

Is there an official height/weight chart?

I have never seen one either. Is it like BMI? I'd be interested to see where I would have fallen. I wasn't too large when I went out on my mission, but I gained about 60 lbs on my mission. What happens if you do that? Do they send you home? There was a missionary in one of my wards once who gained 12 suit sizes on his mission and the ward was asked to help him get a suit. He actually didn't look obese. Just very husky. I think he only weighed about a buck twenty in the MTC and had eclipsed 200 by the time he served in our ward.

[Mormon Red Death]

I have never seen one either. Is it like BMI? I'd be interested to see where I would have fallen. I wasn't too large when I went out on my mission, but I gained about 60 lbs on my mission. What happens if you do that? Do they send you home? There was a missionary in one of my wards once who gained 12 suit sizes on his mission and the ward was asked to help him get a suit. He actually didn't look obese. Just very husky. I think he only weighed about a buck twenty in the MTC and had eclipsed 200 by the time he served in our ward.

Doug Kafusi (O Line for the U) gained 130lbs on his mission.

[wuapinmon]

I have never seen one either. Is it like BMI? I'd be interested to see where I would have fallen. I wasn't too large when I went out on my mission, but I gained about 60 lbs on my mission. What happens if you do that? Do they send you home? There was a missionary in one of my wards once who gained 12 suit sizes on his mission and the ward was asked to help him get a suit. He actually didn't look obese. Just very husky. I think he only weighed about a buck twenty in the MTC and had eclipsed 200 by the time he served in our ward.

For every inch in height, it went up about 12 pounds. It's not BMI, it's height and weight, and says that bishops can "use discretion" when athleticism or muscle mass is obviously the cause for someone being outside the allowed parameters. When I read that I was so hopping mad that I almost got up and left the meeting. Not only do we all have to look alike in white shirts and ties, apparently now anyone who doesn't physically look "clean cut" is unworthy to serve a mission. That is so fucking lame.

[Slim]

None of my best friends from the mission would have made it out there. Man I'm glad I went before this raising the bar thing.

[byu71]

There are just some personalities when some authority figure makes a general statement that the "finest" or "best and brightest" or "most faithful" are only good enough, these folks just take the ball and run with it.

They are the same types that proclaim anyone who doesn't want to go to BYU has to be someone who can't qualify. As long as these types are kept to a minimal number, as I suppose they are, we are still safe.

Heaven help us all though if we ever see the GA authority ratio get up into the 80% level that are BYU grads or worse yet if above 50% are Ricks grads.

[Mormon Red Death]

For every inch in height, it went up about 12 pounds. It's not BMI, it's height and weight, and says that bishops can "use discretion" when athleticism or muscle mass is obviously the cause for someone being outside the allowed parameters. When I read that I was so hopping mad that I almost got up and left the meeting. Not only do we all have to look alike in white shirts and ties, apparently now anyone who doesn't physically look "clean cut" is unworthy to serve a mission. That is so fucking lame.

My wife's cousin in Alaska was rejected from going on his mission. They told him he had 4 months to lose 30lbs. He didn't lose the weight so they wouldn't let him go on a mission. I thought if you had desires to serve God you were called to the work.

[Indy Coug]

Yes. I've seen it when I was Exec. Sec. I wrote about it on my blog and was rebuked by my bishop for sharing private information from bishopric meeting in a public setting.

5'10 and 290 is too fat, according to the chart.

Is this chart in the HOI and nowhere else?

[cowboy]

None of my best friends from the mission would have made it out there. Man I'm glad I went before this raising the bar thing.

The best and worst missionaries I knew in the mission field were wild as hell in high school. The thing that always bothered me about raising the bar was that it seemed to say "the atonement isn't for you."