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This past week we had a ward service project. Our sister missionaries showed up and I wanted to die. Mismatched, frumpy, disheveled, I was embarrassed for them and for the church. Earlier in the day I had be proselyted by the JW ladies. They were stylin’. As I looked at our girls that night I wanted to pull a “What Not To Wear On Them.” It broke my heart. I could spend hours chic-splaining my position but I will spare everyone those details. Today, as if the angels heard me weeping, the following in Missionary attire options was posted. I could hear the heavenly choir rejoicing with me.
http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/faith/lds-missionaries-now-sporting-sunglasses-and-wide-brimmed-hats/article_bc09de17-12d5-52b4-99e3-59dddb6bd1e9.html ” class=”bbcode_url”> http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/faith/lds-missionaries-now-sporting-sunglasses-and-wide-brimmed-hats/article_bc09de17-12d5-52b4-99e3-59dddb6bd1e9.html Now all I need changed is the message and the routine. Then I should be happy.
Hooray for hats, sunglasses, jewelry, and cool shoes.
I couldn’t see anything new in the guidelines — maybe I’m out of touch, and I couldn’t see the wide brimmed hats anywhere, which was what I found interesting. The hats are under “outerwear” for some reason. They have winter hats there too. Sunglasses are under accessories. Actually, the pages have changed quite a bit since we were buying stuff for my son last fall. We were concerned that he was being sent to a hot sunny place because he has had a couple of suspicious spots removed in the past – both on his head. This does us no good since sending him stuff in Brazil is practically pointless*. I do plan to inform him since his MP likely won’t, and I may encourage him to purchase an appropriate hat there. *We’ve heard countless horror stories about sending stuff to Brazil, to the point where most people give up. We sent a package in January because his birthday was in February. The tracking arrived in Brazil and cleared customs fairly quickly, in less than two weeks. However, it wasn’t listed as delivered and he said he didn’t get it. In early April it showed as “lost” (the USPS didn’t notify us of this, I had to look myself). He did finally get his package the week before Mother’s Day with some contents missing.
mom3 wrote:Today, as if the angels heard me weeping, the following in Missionary attire options was posted. I could hear the heavenly choir rejoicing with me.
http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/faith/lds-missionaries-now-sporting-sunglasses-and-wide-brimmed-hats/article_bc09de17-12d5-52b4-99e3-59dddb6bd1e9.html ” class=”bbcode_url”> http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/faith/lds-missionaries-now-sporting-sunglasses-and-wide-brimmed-hats/article_bc09de17-12d5-52b4-99e3-59dddb6bd1e9.html Sunglasses weren’t on the list before? I know I’ve seen ours wearing them, though now that I think about it, they always took them off before knocking on a door, so maybe they were more or less ignored while in transit. (It’s north central Texas; good (as in dark – I’ve been known to wear lenses that matched a shade 5 welding mask) sunglasses are very good to have at times.)
Eye and head protection from the sun – finally! Wow! PANTS!!! According to lds.org “News” – dress slacks approved for sister missionaries in areas with mosquito-borne diseases. And DEET-containing bug spray supplied by the church.
Pretty cool.
I was surprised by the pants thing, too. Here’s the link, with pictures of appropriate pants: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/missionary-dress-guidelines-revised-help-prevent-mosquito-borne-diseases ” class=”bbcode_url”> http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/missionary-dress-guidelines-revised-help-prevent-mosquito-borne-diseases Note that there are still restrictions and this does not apply to all sister missionaries and to those for whom it does apply it doesn’t apply at all times. However, since it was announced by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve it must be revelation!
Having a son serving in a zika/dengue/mosquito infested area I also think it’s interesting the church says it will pay for permethrin and DEET. I’ll be very interested to see how that plays out in his mission. (We did send him with a supply of both, but it won’t last two years.)
I’ll also be very interested to see how this all plays out with MPs who love to add additional rules and who will decide that in their missions the appropriate season for pants is about 2 weeks and only while they’re in their apartments. I realize that this example is extreme, however in real life we have a sister serving from our ward in Arizona and her MP requires them to wear sweaters whenever they’re in public (really, really). She of course did not bring many sweaters with her and Mom had to buy more and send them to her. There’s another local missionary who isn’t allowed to wear paisley ties – even though paisley ties are pictured as appropriate on the attire page. Mission presidents have nearly phenomenal cosmic power (and not an itty bitty living space).
The examples of style that the church posted were not exactly “stylish”. But pants .. That is a big step. Does this mean I can wear pants if I decide to go to church??
amateurparent wrote:The examples of style that the church posted were not exactly “stylish”. But pants .. That is a big step.
Does this mean I can wear pants if I decide to go to church??
I agree they’re not so stylish.
We have a sister in our ward who doesn’t attend weekly (they travel often) but when she does come she often wears pants. I don’t know that anyone has ever said anything to her about it. She’s kind of a tough lady, so she’d probably give someone a piece of her mind if they did.
I remember elders wearing sunglasses on their missions when I was serving. Of course we were in an area where there weren’t any members peeking between their curtains trying to bust the missionaries doing something against the rules. 
I’m probably going to regret this but…
What are the repercussions of a woman wearing pants to church?
For one nobody can accuse her of having too short of a dress/skirt [emoji3] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
There are quite a few women where I live you wear pants to church. Geographical culture roulette. I am happy to see these changes. They are good changes.
That’s great that sister missionaries can wear pants to cut down on the possibility of mosquito borne diseases – but only sometimes. How are the mosquitos supposed to know that they are to refrain from biting sister missionaries’ legs on the Sabbath? It’s an interesting approach to pants-wearing. A woman may represent Christ while her legs are clad in a bifurcated garment, but must wear a skirt on the Sabbath – and women still can’t wear pants to the temple even though you only wear your street clothes for a few minutes before changing. So pants (and skirts) have lost some of theirsymbolic value but they still hold on to some of it as well.
Of course, Jesus never wore pants
🙂 Women can wear pants to the temple. They aren’t going to be turned away if they are wearing pants – at least, not as a rule, since I can’t claim to know what every person at the desk will do. Usually, with the smaller temples, they are happy simply to have someone be there, (almost) regardless of what they are wearing. I have gone to the temple in khakis and a polo shirt. Nobody said a word.
nibbler wrote:What are the repercussions of a woman wearing pants to church?
I think Ray’s right about it being one big spin of the roulette wheel. In some wards they don’t bat an eye; in my neck of the woods you go onto the short list of women to tisk-tisk about.
How darn easy would be to take thirty seconds in general conference to explicitly say that dresses are not required, that they have no spiritual significance all by themselves, and that we shouldn’t infer anythjng about a woman wearing pants to church.
Says Ann, who always wears a dress to church. But who has sisters who don’t and feels bad for the crap they get for it.
The press release says that sister missionaries will still wear skirts/dresses to the temple, as well as to baptisms and conferences. So while it may be possible for women to go to the temple in pants, it’s not allowed for sister missionaries. (Of course, a lot of the time it doesn’t matter what the dress code is – lots of missionaries don’t have the opportunity to attend the temple frequently or at all during their mission.)
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