couples!?? Does anyone know if the morg allows single widowed elderly men to serve missions alone? Or do they need to be Temple married with a wife to go with them!??

Interesting question. I've only heard of single women being allowed to go on missions without a spouse. But now days, with the lack of interest in the Mormon church, they may have changed the rules. The Mormon leadership seems so concerned with males having sex when they are not married that I'd doubt it would be allowed. I'm pretty sure you would have to be married if you are male and older than your 20's. They feel that single, older men are evil just being single when there are so many single sisters looking for LDS mates. I'd pretty much bet the farm they would dig up a sister and tell you to marry her. ; )

There was an elderly sister in my mission. Her and her husband submitted their papers, but then he died. She was stuck tracting with the young sisters instead of the lax couples mission she had dreamed of. It was extremely hard on her. They might have let her husband come out if it was the other way around, but they probably would have stuck him in the office or something...permanent financial secretary...

I know my mom almost went as a divorced/widowed Women. I never heard the men couldn't do the same.

The divorced widowed is funny because the ward/bishop/RS Pres and my mom referred to her as divorced. And it seemed to result in her getting "lesser" callings: nursery assist, but nothing that taught or was a leader. Then my father passed and suddenly everyone referred to her as a widow.
Then she got called to be the RS Pres

Because there are so few "widowers" as compared to widows; so they do not advertise or seek out older single men for missions.

However, they do call them for MLS missions. https://www.lds.org/help/support/bc/clerksupport/MLS-changes.pdf?lang=eng

Which is basically, stay at home but be a support to our wards and stakes. But we'll place our magic hands, say abracadabra and Voila! Suddenly you'll be a Magical MLS Missionary, TA DA!!!

I was asking as when my or if my TBM Dad ever retires, I hope the morg doesnt come begging for him to do a mission!! He's got his family at home taking care of him..

At a regional priesthood leadership meeting, during the question and answer portion this question was asked to Elder Perry. His response was basically you men are worthless without a spouse. If you are widowed and want to go on a mission, find a spouse, get married, and then put in your papers.

I actually liked Perry. He continued with the story of when his first wife died. He had decided he could devote more time to his calling by spending extra time working in the COB. He would bring microwave dinners to stay late in the evenings. One day Spencer K went to his office and told him he needed to find someone to marry.

Yes, there was an older brother who was never married in my last ward that served a mission. I don't recall what the category was called in how he functioned but he continued to live in his apartment, go out with the elders to teach, went to Idaho for training session s twice a year for two weeks each, and helped young members find an apartment to live in when they came East to attend college. He served for the full two years and was exhausted and physically sick by the time his mission ended. He said, he loved the experience. He was alone, retired with no family. So it sounded like the experience gave him purpose, new friendships and a feeling of achievement. He joined the church in his thirties and missed the mission experience of the 19 year olds. The bishop asked him if he wanted to serve a mission so they made a lot of accommodations for the process to work for him. If a older man wants to serve in some way, why should he be deprived? The church has so many hang ups about different lifestyles, it is a wonder any people in the church are left.

Howard W. Hunter's second wife was a trained nurse. That's basically what their marriage was all about. She never gave talks or did the normal wifely duties of a prophet's wife. After he died she faded out of the picture and refused to talk about their marriage. She always spoke of her time as his wife simply as her calling. The same could possibly happen with TSM.

About a million years ago an older in-law felt the spirit move her to obey the call to go on a mission. The crazy old bat had one kidney, a host of health problems, and some VERY weird personal habits. She grew up on a dry farm in Idaho and never got over the habits of that thought time. She was a hoarder of classic proportions though she was very organized about it. But she also had weird personal habits like she didn't flush toilet paper but placed it in the trash can and used an inch of water in the tub to bathe. Everybody who knew the old biddy was supportive of her going on the mission to her face BUT commented how horrible it would be to be her companion behind her back. Eventually Salt Lake set an age limit.

The father of a certain fiddle-playing ex-Mormon had an old guy as a companion. I think that was probably early 1960's.

A single male friend of mine would dearly love to go on a mission, but says that is not permitted. He is long divorced and retired.

Does this mean your dad is contemplating a mission, southern idaho inactive?

I certainly hope not! He's got too many health problems and a lot of us here know that the morg just doesn't care!! Besides who is going to take care of him besides family!!?? I asked for help with our house and property from the morg over and over. I got nothing. Yet he pays them thousands a year in tithing!???

It wasn't until my TBM dad and myself called my youngest brother and his family to live with us that our home and property got fixed. The morg had nothing to do with it. Yet they claim they help others like widows, but not widowers!!

I thought no one over 70 was allowed to go on a mission. If the cult has changed this, that is abusive.

My step-father was in his 80s when he and my mom went on a mission. They started as a missionary couple in one of the proselytizing missions in California. Most of their time was spent visiting inactives and trying to figure out how to get them to come back to church. That was very hard on them so after a few months they made a change and spent the rest of their mission working in the Washington DC temple.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2015 12:50PM by othersteve.

I know that where I live people over 70 are serving. Just this week one of our papers had morg wedding anniversary. It said that the couple has gone on 7 missions for the morg!! Talk about devoted to the morg!! I wonder what their grandkids(about 40) and their great grandkids (about 100) really feel !???

Steve-0 Benson son is whacked old horse glue . Please refrain from sniffing that. Smoking weed is evil. Don't chew tobacco. Plant flowers and shop at Deseret Industries.

The only thing I've heard are senior missions, and they tend to favor those that are married to serve, so that often leaves out widows or widowers.