Hutchins to BYU

Nigel_Bikes wrote:

Opinionated guy wrote:It also said that their famous BYU football quarterbacks (Wilson, Young, Detmer, McMahon) did NOT serve missions. This all leads me to believe a mission is optional and that this young woman will not have to serve a two year mission unless she chooses to do so.

You do realize that Jim McMahon is NOT LDS and therefore would not be serving a mission, right?

And you do realize that the first three words of my quoted post above says "It also said" in reference to the quick search I did, the part you deleted. These are not my words. You also failed to quote the part of my post saying that I know little about BYU, their rules, or missions, and was asking for clarification from those who do.

I was curious if Ms. Huchins "must" serve a mission or if it was optional as I suspected. Several posters responded with the information and I am appreciative.

You skimmed the posts of this thread and pulled this out of context.....for what reason?

bobmarray16 wrote:

And she plans to graduate HS early in December and move to Florida to train with Julie Stackhouse before heading to BYU.

I think it's a good idea personally. She might have senioritis, I know I did senior year, and having an extra long break before starting college can sort of serve as a gap year to refresh and rejuvenate her enthusiasm for school as she heads into college.

Opinionated guy wrote:

Nigel_Bikes wrote:

You do realize that Jim McMahon is NOT LDS and therefore would not be serving a mission, right?

And you do realize that the first three words of my quoted post above says "It also said" in reference to the quick search I did, the part you deleted. These are not my words. You also failed to quote the part of my post saying that I know little about BYU, their rules, or missions, and was asking for clarification from those who do.

I was curious if Ms. Huchins "must" serve a mission or if it was optional as I suspected. Several posters responded with the information and I am appreciative.

You skimmed the posts of this thread and pulled this out of context.....for what reason?

Because obviously you were (still are?) unaware that Jim McMahon was not LDS. Why else would you include him with the three other QB's who are LDS and didn't serve a mission. School's over, you've been educated.

The dress code is very similar to the laws in Malawi under the life president, Ngwazi Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda in the 1970s-early 1990s.

What a coincidence that that coach of the year in cross country is usually from a 'high' altitude school, whether D1, 2 or 3! The great ones are all in the mountains, right? Diljeet Taylor, Mike Smith, Mark Wetmore, Ed Eyestone, ...

I didn't include him. The search did! I quoted the information from the search via copy & paste and left out Sarkasian (sp?) because I didn't feel he was an NFL relevant QB that they included. Are you having a rough day. Your comprehension skills today seem to be poor at best, even when explained logically to you, now more than once. Good luck with that in the future.

This is about as good as liberty university.

About the mission thing. First off, the young lady in question does not have the option of serving - unless she is an LDS Church member. In she's not, it is NOT optional: the only option is NOT to. So, unless she is a Church member, she won't be doing so.

Here's the deal for those growing up in the Church:

It has varied over the decades who is (very strongly) encouraged to do it and who is not. In the '50s, guys and girls both went, but not many compared to today. In know a lady who went - she was born in the early to mid '30s. Her brother and sister did not.

By the '70 into the '80s, guys were a little more strongly encouraged to go than girls were. Nevertheless, there weren't as many places in the world they were allowed compared to now. Back then, it was possible - perhaps common - to apply but not get called. More on that:

You can't just decide to go. If the Church doesn't call you, you're not allowed to do it. Applying was necessary but not sufficient a few decades ago. They just didn't need many compared to now so there weren't as many slots available. You turned in the paperwork and never heard back.

Forward to recent times. During the '90 and later, girls were discouraged and guys were extremely encouraged. This went for a while. Eventually, the application process went online and at some point, all who applied (and passed an couple interviews that were formalities) got a call. In the past couple decades, I believe it is very unusual to apply and get shut out. The point was reached that, effectively, if you decided to go, they let you. Keep in mind that much of world now lets them in and they could always use one more.

More on the application and interview process. I downplayed the interview, and that is because looking at the group that's attempting to go, nearly all pass. If you grew up with their values and truly lived day-in, day-out according to their principles, you meet the criteria and pass all tests.

Very recently, girls are going again after decades of very few. They do not seem to be discouraged as they have been inthe past. This may be inthe process of changing right now. Still, you must be called. The organization decides whether you can serve. It's just seems to be that they need enough now that if you do decide, they let you assuming there's no X-factor, and a lifelong believer isn't at all likely to have one.

Last thing: you must pay. Parents often pull this off, or grandparents cover a piece of it. It none of them can, someone in your local congregation will often step up, or a couple of them together cover it. That is all.

Truth, Thanks for the rundown.

Yeah, just not not a factor if she's not LDS. It's not a BYU thing, it's a Church thing. Even then, it's far from mandatory. A young man I know went a few years ago. His sister (not surprising at the time - perhaps changing with those just becoming of age right now) and his brother (a little surprising but not Earth-shattering) did not.

This is very interesting about the history, as I'm not old enough to know a lot of this. My grandmother was born in the 1925, and she served a mission, but I thought that may have been a bit unusual. I think World War II might have influenced that to some degree, as a lot of men who might ordinarily be serving were in the military. In my era (early 2000s), it was as you described in your section on the 1990s and later. The other thing, though, is that they "raised the bar" on certain standards during that time, so there were some who might have gone in the 1990s who were not accepted at this point. I knew a few missionaries like this (i.e. they were accepted before the change was made but wouldn't have passed if they were a year later).

With regard to applying but never hearing back, I only knew of one case like this. A missionary in my group at the MTC was 26 (which is pretty much the cutoff age for guys) and he told us that he had applied three times. He was a recovered drug addict and alcoholic, and the first two times he had applied at ages 21 and 23, he had suffered a relapse before he got his call, and his plans were canceled. The third time, at age 25, he had not heard back for several months, which is quite unusual, as applicants typically get their call within a few weeks. He said that he prayed and said he would go anywhere, even Salt Lake City (you don't really get to pick where you go, so he was just saying this for emphasis). He got his call to Salt Lake a few days later.

Finally, regarding your point on the cost, it is true that the missionary or the missionary's family is expected to pay, but it really isn't that expensive to go on a mission (in my time, it was about $10,000 total for two years ($425/month). And I've never heard of anyone who couldn't go for financial reasons. Even if they or their family or the local congregation (which seems like it might occur in third-world countries) couldn't pay, there's a general missionary fund too.

As someone who is not LDS and does not know much about it, could someone please explain what a mission is? They seem to last for 2 years, but what do they do during this time?

Thanks in advance.

robert678 wrote:

As someone who is not LDS and does not know much about it, could someone please explain what a mission is? They seem to last for 2 years, but what do they do during this time?

Thanks in advance.

Sure. Typically, a mission is full-time and is primarily about proselyting, but also typically includes some amount of community service. This can vary depending on where the mission is located (e.g. some countries have pretty strict rules about proselyting). A typical day would look like this:

6:30 AM-10 AM: Wake up, get ready, study, exercise, plan for the day

10 AM-12 PM: Missionary work (proselyting, service, meetings, etc.)

12 PM-1 PM: Lunch

1 PM-5 PM: Missionary work

5PM-6PM: Dinner

6PM-9PM: Missionary work

9PM-10:30PM: Go over the day, plan for the next day, get ready for bed

Missionaries have one day per week (usually on Monday, but it depends on the mission) that is called a "Preparation Day," in which they have the day mostly off from missionary work and will communicate with their families, go shopping or sightseeing, etc.

Hey bbg,

It's a little unusual to get the level of detail you and I seem to be aware of. I agree sisters didn't go for a stretch (probably your generation?) The 20-somethings I know didn't apply nor go, but the elders had heavy pressure. I believe this could be changing very recently due to a couple observations. I saw sisters wandering a city park on a weekend day when it was busy with a lot of families. A few days later I saw elders lurking in another park. I asked them about their generation and they said their sisters, cousins peers back home were going - the girls, that is. So, this that are 20 now might not be told not to, but I certainly agree that gals who were 20 at the turn of the century were effectively discouraged to the extent that very few went.

In your grandparents' generation, both went as far as I can tell. It hadn't become a male-only rite of passage and really still hadn't firmly as of 1980. One of each went from my high school, and that included a lot of guys and girls - big urban area with many members - both that either didn't apply or applied and didn't get called. About the latter:

The case you refer to is a rare one, as you know, in any LDS community. This guy was turned down because of an actual issue. What I was referring to was the scenario in which a common (again, in the demographic we're discussing) teetotalling teenager applies and simply doesn't get a call. I don't mean failed the interviews or had an unusual (in that world) problem. I mean nobody found a slot for him. Two things were different during the period in question than now:

About a third of world or less allowed them in back then. All the Warsaw Pact countries still did not in the early '80s. I doubt believe any were on the entire continent of Africa. I don't need to mention China, do I? It was essentially NATO countries, some British Commonwealth, Japan and South Korea (I think I remember that last one right). I hadn't heard of anyone, ever, going somewhere not on my list as of 1985. They just simply didn't have enough places to take every single LDS teenager.

The application process was not online back then. It was a packet of paper. You handed it in. Some heard back. Now, there's a yes or no answer. Maybe there aren't really any 'No's because of the last point. They literally need 6 times (or something like that - I don't have the actual numbers) as many as they did 50 tears ago. Either way, you're not wondering if it was lost in the shuffle. 40 years ago, nobody was told No. Well, not many anyway. There were probably a small amount of those like you mentioned. If you didn't get a call, that was that. Just like applying for a job. They might call you back. If they don't, well that's it. You didn't get hired.

At any rate, it's good that this info is getting out from those like us familiar with the whole deal. There have been a lot of misconceptions about the whole mission thing.

Yes, girls are going a lot more now than they did when I was a missionary (we still had female missionaries, but it was maybe 20 percent of the mission, whereas now I think the number is 30-40 percent). In my family, two of my sisters didn't go, as they were closer to me in age, but my youngest sister is 13 years younger than me, and she went to Australia a couple years ago. Also, on the list of countries you mentioned, the one big omission I noticed was Central and South America. There were lots of missionaries in Brazil, for example, in the 1970s.

Just a couple of additional insights with some more recent changes:

The missionary schedule is very regimented, even in the morning. It's not supposed to be a block of time that missionary can use however they want. Instead, missionaries have to fit in exercise (30 min), daily planning (30 min), personal study (60 min), companionship study (30 min), language practice (30 min), etc. The day itself is spent talking and teaching. In my mission (30 yrs ago), we spent one day/week serving in the community (nursing homes, hospitals, at risk kids, teaching English to refugees, etc). This schedule is basically the same 5 days/week. Sundays are often busier bc of church meetings. Mondays are often preparation day, and it definitely isn't completely free -- it still begins with study and planning before the missionaries have some free time until 6pm, when they return to work (but they still have to fit in groceries, laundry, etc during their free time).

The required 30-minute exercise is new -- when I was on my mission, I never had a companion who was willing to exercise so I NEVER exercised. I walked or rode bikes to appointments -- but neither kept me in shape. Also, the hours have now been adjusted to fit the culture of the country -- missionaries may wake up earlier/later and end the day earlier/later depending on the country.

This probably sounds crazy but my mission was the hardest most life changing experience of my very limited life up to that point. I learned much more than I gave. As I met individuals from literally every continent, I learned to listen more than talk. I heard stories from Holocaust survivors from Poland and Germany. From Chinese who had received asylum after the Tienamen Square massacre. From widows and widowers, from alcoholics, from abuse survivors, from former convicts. From normal people and extraordinary people. There were just so many stories.

Anyway, I always tell people, even if you don't want to listen, offer the kids a drink of water or a smile. It's incredibly emotionally and physically.exhausting to learn the lessons those kids are hopefully learning.

Yes, all of this is accurate. Since I was asked to explain missions to someone who doesn't know anything about them, I didn't think it was necessary to go into quite that much detail. But you are right. I forgot about studying on preparation day. In my mission (a smaller one that had a temple in its borders), we could go to the temple on every preparation day, and that counted as our study for the day. This had the added bonus of nearly the entire mission being downtown every week, so it was really easy to catch up with your friends. And as far as the hours being modified goes, my understanding talking to missionaries that served in other countries is that even if this wasn't official policy, I think it was in practice in many places. Mission presidents have a great deal of latitude about the specifics of their mission. The other big change is technology. We didn't have cell phones, but I think pretty much all missionaries do now.

Robert, asking Mormons about their missions is like asking Donald Trump how great are you ?

They will never shut up.

Here is the answer, they bust their butts to get new members so the tithing continues.

bbg95 wrote:

Sure. Typically, a mission is full-time and is primarily about proselyting, but also typically includes some amount of community service. This can vary depending on where the mission is located (e.g. some countries have pretty strict rules about proselyting). A typical day would look like this:

6:30 AM-10 AM: Wake up, get ready, study, exercise, plan for the day

10 AM-12 PM: Missionary work (proselyting, service, meetings, etc.)

12 PM-1 PM: Lunch

1 PM-5 PM: Missionary work

5PM-6PM: Dinner

6PM-9PM: Missionary work

9PM-10:30PM: Go over the day, plan for the next day, get ready for bed

Missionaries have one day per week (usually on Monday, but it depends on the mission) that is called a "Preparation Day," in which they have the day mostly off from missionary work and will communicate with their families, go shopping or sightseeing, etc.

Serious Question.

Is that 6:30AM-10AM time where they wake up, get ready, exercise, plan for the day the time when they BYU type athletes that are on a mission get in some training time? B-ball athletes go shoot some hoops, football players go lift weights, and the distance guys go for a 7-8 mile run while their companion rides along on his bike?

In general, no. Missionaries really don't have time to do a lot of training. If you have a companion that's cool with it, maybe, but it's hard to count on that. People usually only played basketball on Preparation Day (we had some pretty competitive games on our day off). As for weight training, when I first started, I had a companion that was a former D1 wrestler, and we woke up at like 5 so we could hit the gym for an hour before we started at the normal 6:30 time, but this was the only time (six weeks) that I really could do that. You only have 30 minutes a day for exercise, so maybe a distance runner could use that time to get a little work in, but I don't think it would really be enough to actually stay fit. As someone who has been lifting for 20 years, 30 minutes really isn't enough to do a whole lot. After I got transferred and couldn't go to the gym every morning anymore, I dropped close to 20 pounds and was really skinny when I got back. That block of time in the morning is usually more about studying and planning than it is about exercise. But like I said, it kind of depends if your companion cares that much about what you're doing. In general, the idea that athletes on missions are doing a lot of training is not very believable.