Letters from First Presidency online? Missionary Application Picture Guidelines?

My Bishop seems to recall (and thinks it may be in a letter from the First Presidency), some guidelines and instruction on the pictures should look like when submitted with missionary application paperwork.

Specifically something about how the Brethren's first look and impressions sometimes comes from seeing that picture, when the application is opened up.

So - Two questions...

1 - Does anyone recall this?

2 - Is there an online database to lookup past/previous letters/notices that are sent from the First Presidency?

Any help is very much appreciated!

- Aaron

I can't answer the first question. The answer to the second is that there is an Official Communications Library at letters.lds.org. Access to it is limited based on calling.

I'm pretty sure that the message your bishop is referring to was a 27 Sep 2012 note that appeared in the Missionary Online Recommendation System itself. I don't think I should quote it completely here, but it was titled "Missionary Photos" and began: "Brethren, Please remember that the missionary photo that is attached to each recommendation will be in front of the Brethren when they make the missionary assignment."

Anyone with access to the Missionary Online Recommendation System can see that message by signing in and going to the "What's New" link on the left-hand side.

aarondbritt wrote:My Bishop seems to recall (and thinks it may be in a letter from the First Presidency), some guidelines and instruction on the pictures should look like when submitted with missionary application paperwork.

(Alan beat me to the What's New entry.)

There is also some similar information on the Checklist for Full-Time Missionary Recommendation form in the To the Bishop or Branch President portion of the Instructions. The bishop can get to this item by selecting Print Blank Forms > Missionary Recommendation Packet. (He doesn't have to actually print the forms. He can read the information in the window that will open.

But the item in What's New should be exactly what he is looking for.

Are there any published specifications for Missionary Application Photos? We are getting mostly head shots, which would not show enough of the body to insure grooming standards are met. The referenced instructions from above don't address this issue and are vague at best.

W4yjc wrote:Are there any published specifications for Missionary Application Photos? We are getting mostly head shots, which would not show enough of the body to insure grooming standards are met. The referenced instructions from above don't address this issue and are vague at best.

Yes. In the Help system (under Completing Recommendation Forms > Completing Online Forms > Attaching Photos and Documents > Photographs) it says:

• The missionary candidate should be dressed and groomed according to missionary standards. The candidate should discuss these standards with the bishop before the photograph is taken.
• The photograph should show the candidate's head and shoulders, with his or her face well lit (no full-body shots). Photographs of senior missionary couples should include both the husband and the wife.
• The photograph should be in color.
• The photograph should have a plain background.

aebrown wrote:

W4yjc wrote:Are there any published specifications for Missionary Application Photos? We are getting mostly head shots, which would not show enough of the body to insure grooming standards are met. The referenced instructions from above don't address this issue and are vague at best.

Yes. In the Help system (under Completing Recommendation Forms > Completing Online Forms > Attaching Photos and Documents > Photographs)

Now the phrase "Attaching Photos and Documents" appears nowhere on the "Completing Online Forms" page. Any hints as to what the path to the instructions is now?

chrisgrant wrote:

aebrown wrote:

W4yjc wrote:Are there any published specifications for Missionary Application Photos? We are getting mostly head shots, which would not show enough of the body to insure grooming standards are met. The referenced instructions from above don't address this issue and are vague at best.

Yes. In the Help system (under Completing Recommendation Forms > Completing Online Forms > Attaching Photos and Documents > Photographs)

Now the phrase "Attaching Photos and Documents" appears nowhere on the "Completing Online Forms" page. Any hints as to what the path to the instructions is now?

Okay, I just discovered that though you apparently can't browse to the instruction page from "Completing Online Forms", you can get there by searching for "photos" in the search box.