Hi, this is my first time posting to the RfM (though I may be posting more, as things have gotten a little more complicated in my life).

I am a nevermo, but have lived in close proximity to a Mormon town; I attended school there too.

Anyways, my former music teacher and her husband are going to be going on a mission later this year. They are both at least in their late 50s, early 60s, and I think it's a safe bet her husband already went on one when he was younger. My question to everyone out there is: is something like this common, early seniors going on a mission?

If this is rare, and the morg really is on the verge of collapsing, would this be a sign of desperation on the church's behalf?

Senior missions have become pretty common in the last ten years or so. It seems to be a real badge of honor to spend your retirment years and money serving TSCC instead of spending time with your grandkids, traveling or just relaxing.

I don't think it's a sign of desperation. I just think TSCC found a new source of unpaid labor to exploit.

The church has used senior missionary couples for decades. In fact, I believe they even predate the 19 year old missionaries. However, they discovered a long time ago that the gray hairs were pretty much useless as salespeople, so they only send the young ones door to door, or use them to teach the lessons.

Oldster missionaries also don't have to follow the same rules as the 19 year old kids. They get to watch TV, go see movies, read newspapers, and even have sex with their companions.

So wait a minute...they DON'T go door-to-door? I was always under the impression they did.

When you think of it from a business standpoint, it makes more sense.

The younguns require much more training. Secondly, the younger ones are a bigger liability. Though they tend to be healthier than their older counterparts, they're at a stage in their life where their value systems could easily shift...and not in the favor of the LDS church.

If you're 60 years old, and you and your spouse are faithful enough to commit yourselves to a mission, you're probably not going to leave on them...unless it's for reasons of health.

From what I've seen, they take good, stable, older mormon couples out of a functioning ward, and move them to a remote ward/branch where they will provide support as MEMBERS, not as proselyting missionaries. So... they run and/or assist in the functioning of the ward or branch.

This is exactly what I have seen as well.

Going door to door is a young man's game. It is very exhausting work, not just because of the physical activity of walking up to every door on the street, or sometimes entire neighborhood, but the constant rejection. Imagine going tricker-treating in a very uncomfortable outfit, carrying a lot of props, then discovering nearly everyone one the street does not celebrate the holiday.

TSCC actually advertises "senior missionary opportunities" which are actually just professional jobs that any other corporation would PAY a professional to do.


But instead of paying a professional to do a professional's job, they "strongly encourage" seniors with professional credentials to PAY THEIR OWN EXPENSES as they practice their profession for TSCC FOR FREE.


Pretty neat, eh, when you can con a highly skilled (oftentimes licensed) professional to do a professional level job FOR FREE?



Recently, a senior missionary couple I know went out for 24 months. He is a licensed psychologist who has practiced in the field for 30 years as a paid professional. Now, he'll be acting as a licensed psychologist for TSCC for free.


In fact, he will have to pay his own expenses to do their work.


His wife - who is not a professional woman - will do clerical work for the LDS Social Services office where he is assigned.


So TSCC is getting two free workers -- one a licensed professional - out of this one "senior missionary couple's calling."

Will the church pay expenses for senior missionaries like they do for the young ones? Or, do they only do that for the young men since they're "required" to serve regardless of finances?

If you are PROFESSIONAL enuf (big tithes) you go to cool places like Hawaii, Europe. If not well--Guantanamo, countries I won't name in the former Russia--you get the idea.

This is very common for BYU Professors and church employees.

At the church historical sites the couples give tours all day, then clean the building their giving tours in during the evening. So basically they are house keepers for the churches museums.

When we lived in a university town. We had several senior couples in our ward. They spent their days at the genealogy library tracking down dead people.

My mother and father mapped church property for several years.

A former co-worker announced that she was taking early retirement to care for her husband who had numerous health problems and had been unable to work for several years. At her retirement party, she announced that they had been asked by their SP to consider a senior mission. They prayed about it and.....yes, God wanted them to serve a mission in a South American country where her husband's access to the health care he needed would be limited.....but God will provide if you're faithful enough.

Dum, dum, dum, dum.....

I told my wife that I do not want to serve a senior mission. I prefer to spend my few years with my kids and my grand-kids.

Beside, I do not want to do some dip-shit stuff at some church outpost they paid too much for with my tithing or work in the COB replacing a paid employee.

My grandparents were in their early-to-mid-60s when they were on their mission in the late '70s. More for moral support than anything for the local members in the country they were sent to. They lived in very spartan arrangements in all the towns they lived in, & had to follow the rules as the elders & sisters, pretty much. My grandfather hadn't been able to serve because of the depression, & with my grandmother also serving, my mom ended up being the only one in her immediate family to not go on a mission. Interestingly, all of them went to foreign countries.

When I was a freshman in high school, my friend's gradma (divorced? widowed? both maybe? I don't remember) was serving a mission and would call the grandkids every couple of weeks just to talk. At least that's a nice perk that the elders and sisters don't get.

Our TBM family doctor is 67 and heading for a 2 year LDS medical mission in October. He is a wonderful man and physician who has done many short stints in 3rd world countries for years when he takes holidays. We knew this was coming but will still miss him. Haven't decided if his replacement (also TBM) is a good fit for us or not.