My daughter and her husband dropped the grandkids off with us and took off for a weekend with her husband's TBM family. They came over tonight for dinner and boy did the stories start. My SIL's nephew who is 18, goes with the missionaries almost daily has just been told by his Stake President that he cannot go on a mission because he is too big. Not because he is fat but he is too big. He does not fit the imagine the Stake President has for what a Missionary should look like. The boy is tall 6 foot 4 1/2 inches tall and about 330 lbs. The boy is healthy and strong.

I do not know who their Stake President is but I am guessing he is a short man in many ways. I guess the Mormon God is a respecter of man especially when it comes to height.

That's Mormonism fer ya!

any MLM Mormon leader rests with 100% confidence that their decisions / actions will NEVER be questioned by the upstream boss, at least in front of those effected...

It 'HAS TO BE THAT WAY', don't ya know?!

I had a comp who was 6'8' but was a lean and 225 lbs. People use to think he was my father and I was the child, I was actually the older one, ha ha. Being 300 lbs happens, they may keep him state side however. Riding a bike is going to be fun. If he keeps pushing they won't keep him back, the church doesn't care.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2015 11:14PM by poopstone.

At 330 lbs and 6'4" his BMI is 40. Maybe not as healthy as you think. Statistically he is at risk for big problems. Steroid abuse?

well you know if you don't look a certain way, non members might get the impression you only interest is weight lifting or sports. you are a bad person because you are obessed with muscle mass instead of reading the book of Mormon. golly gee he will give out the wrong impression of a good Mormon boy.

Hogwash. I had a companion that was 6'9. If he WANTS to go and passes the physicals, I don't see what the SP problem is.

"When I have grown a foot or 3......"

That is a shame, but by those measurements he is consider obese and that might be against their "health" standards for a mission.

RMM

We had a guy that played O line in the NFL. He filled a doorway when he went through. I don't think size is the issue.

Have a good friend who was denied insurance because he is 5'6 and 190 pounds. Insurance guys said he had to be too fat. This was within 4 months after he won an Olympic Gold medal in wrestling at 184 (approx) weight class. He was muscle with less than 3% body fat at the time.

Now he is still the same height but is closer to 160 pounds as he isn't pushing all the opponents across the mats and hitting the weight room.

His insurance agent went to bat for him and the policy was issued.

Shawn Bradley went on a mission and he was a very lazy 7 foot 4 inches or so.

I was friends with a girl that was 5'10 and at least 300lbs. Her dad was the bishop and a very well know TBM family from Arizona - mormon royalty for generations. Grandad came to Canada and all the way up here to start a branch. She was denied going on a mission because she was "too heavy." And yet she was involved in everything at church, wen to BYU and became an accountant, never married during that time, and all she wantes was to be a servant to the Lord as a missionary.

I felt incredibly sad for her when they said no.

I hope I'm not casting aspersions where I shouldn't, but is 'too big' the reason his family are deciding to give?

Either way, bullet dodged.

Actually, it's not the SP who makes that determination. The Morg has specific guidelines, and will require that the missie lose the weight. Too many issues of climbing stairs and riding bikes if too overweight.

My bishop's son had to lose the weight prior to going, served, came home and immediately put it back on.