Mission Paperwork Details and Screenshots – Description of Application Form Sections from Missionary Online Recommendation System (MORS)

If you are soon to be filling out your mission papers for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you may have wondered what information will be needed to fill out the full-time missionary application. Well, my family is presently (2022), going through the process for the second time in as many years and I have taken screen shots of the Missionary Online Recommendation System (aka MORS, mission papers, or online application form) to help you know what to expect. As the Church tells you when you first login, be prepared for it to take a while–it will probably take a couple of days or even weeks to get everything filled out and ready to submit.

Below you will find screen shots and descriptions of much of the information you will need to fill out for your missionary application, but let me start by giving you the high-level outline of the MORS, that outline is referred to as the Main Menu, as you can see in the first screen shot above. The Main Menu is divided into three areas: 1) Interview Preparation, 2) Individual Information, and 3) Medical and Dental Evaluations, which are then sub-divided into multiple sections as follows:

• Interview Preparation area has only one section:
  • Review Interview Questions
• Individual Information area is divided into the following sections:
  • Personal Identification (Name, Address, Citizenship, etc.)
  • Education and Experience (Language, Education, Work Experience, Military, Special Circumstances, etc.)
  • Financial Commitment (Personal Finances, Sources of Funds to Pay for Mission)
  • Health Insurance
  • Health History (General Health, Blood and Diseases, Mental Health, etc.)
  • Photo and Other Documents
  • Privacy Agreements
• Medical and Dental Evaluations area is divided into the following sections:
  • Print Personal Health History Form
  • Print Physicians Evaluation Packet
  • Print Dentist Evaluation Form
  • Obtain Physical Examination
  • Obtain Dental Examination

The screen shot above is what the Main Menu will look like when you first login to the MORS with all sections in a non-started state. But before you get to the Main Menu, when you first login, there is a pop up window with instructions and an explanation of the icons. The icon to the left of each section indicates your progress in filling it out. An empty circle means the sections has not yet been started. A half-filled circle indicates that the section has been started but is incomplete. And a check mark means that the section is complete.

Interview Preparation: Review Interview Questions Section
The first section of the application is a review of the standard missionary interview questions. All priesthood leaders across the Church use these same standardized questions when meeting with young men and women who are thinking about going on a mission. Before the mission application is ultimately submitted, these are the interview questions that your bishop and stake president will ask you to help make sure you are spiritually, mentally, and physically ready to serve a mission. The questions are placed at the beginning of the application process as a reminder of the qualifications to serve a mission.

Individual Information: Personal Identification Section

This is where you put your legal name, availability date to serve a mission, contact information, address, email, phone number, citizenship, identity documentation, and various other personal data points.

Individual Information: Education and Experience Section

The Individual Information: Education and Experience section has sever sub-sections, the first of which is Language, where you specify your primary language and any other languages you know.

In this sections, you also rate yourself on your level of interest in learning a new language and how successful you feel you would be:

The next part of the Individual Information: Education and Experience Section is about Education. This is where you put information about your schooling and formal educational achievements, including participation in Seminary and Institute.

The next part of the Individual Information: Education and Experience Section is for you to input your Work Experience. This is a work resume of sorts. Here you will list jobs you have had and professional skills you possess, including military experience.

The final part of the Individual Information: Education and Experience Section is for Other Experiences such as extracurricular activities, talents, accomplishments, and previous church callings you have had. You are also given the opportunity in this section to explain any special circumstances that the Brethren should consider when making your mission call.

Individual Information: Financial Commitment Section
In the Financial Commitment: Source of Funds section, you will be asked to describe how you will be paying for your mission. You will indicate how much money will be contributed from your own savings, how much your family will contribute, and if necessary, how much will be contributed by your ward or branch or other sources. The Church asks these questions because they want to may sure you and your family will be able to fulfill the financial commitment to cover the cost of a mission.

Individual Information: Health Insurance Section

Individual Information: Health History Section

The Health History section is quite extensive, so be prepared. And be aware that all of the Health History items need to be filled out before you can print your medical forms and take them to the doctor for your mission mission physical exam. The first part of Health History is a General Health Section with questions about the health of your brain, eyes, ears, lungs, skin, and more.

The next Health History section is the part on Internal Organs. It asks if you have had health issues with your heart, digestive tract, liver, kidneys, etc.

Then comes the Health History section on Blood and Diseases including immunization information. The form states that you  must be willing to receive the immunizations that are standard to the mission where you are called. Immunization requirements are generally country specific–many countries won’t let you in unless you have had certain vaccinations.

Then comes the Mental Health part of Health History. Here you will be asked if you currently, previously, or never have had mental health issues such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, anorexia, drug addiction, been a victim of abuse, or other emotional problems.

Finally, comes the Medications Section of Health History. This is where you will list any medications you take, whether they be prescription or over-the-counter. Word to the wise, if you mention in the comments that you do something as small as use a cream for occasional eczema, you need to list it. Otherwise, your mission call could be delayed for weeks until the doctors at Church headquarters who review your application are told what it is.

Individual Information: Photo and Other Documents Section
We’re getting close to the end, and the next section to fill out of individual information is to upload your photo, driver’s license, and possibly other documents. Please remember that the photo should be of you dressed in missionary attire that follows the dress and grooming standards.

Individual Information: Privacy Agreements Section

Medical and Dental Evaluations Area

The final area of the mission forms is the Medical and Dental Evaluations Area and it has five sections:

• Medical and Dental Evaluations: Print Personal Health History Form Section
• Medical and Dental Evaluations: Print Physicians Evaluation Packet Section
• Medical and Dental Evaluations: Print Dentist Evaluation Form Section
• Medical and Dental Evaluations: Obtain Physical Examination Section
• Medical and Dental Evaluations: Obtain Dental Examination Section

For each of these sections, you are simply asked to specify, Yes or No, if you have done them. Did you print your medical and dental forms, take them with you to the doctor, and have them filled out by the doctor and mailed to your bishop? You need to do that, select yes, and then those sections are done.

Complete and Ready to Submit

When all the sections are complete and you are ready to submit your mission application, there will be a green check mark beside each section in the Main Menu as shown below.

At this point, you click the “Submit Recommendation Forms” button, and this will send your mission application paperwork to your bishop. Please remember that your bishop and stake president review the application before it is sent in, and ultimately, after additional priesthood interviews, it is the stake leaders that submit your mission application to Church headquarters.

After watching my daughter spend several hours over a couple of months filling out these forms, I expected fireworks when it was finally submitted, or at least big green letters saying SUCCESS, but it turned out to be a much more subtle notification for the successful submission. Here it is:

After you submit it, your bishop is automatically alerted by Church computer systems that your mission application is ready for him to review. He may reach out to your, but to be on the safe side, I would reach out to your ward and stake executive secretaries right away to schedule those final interviews with the bishop and stake president. You’ll want to time your interview with the stake president, as closely as possible, to be four months before your mission availability date because the stake can only turn in your application four months in advance. See my article with a suggested mission application timeline for more details, and congratulations on getting your mission papers submitted!