Missionaries are often out in the sun. How many think to use sunblock to reduce UV damage to their skin? Encourage your local missionaries or your son or daughter on a mission to use sunblock and come back with healthy skin – skin that will stay healthy as they age. Consider sunblock as a gift. Consider a little nagging to get them to use it.
Young people rarely understand how much harm excess sun can do their skin when they are older. I don’t think many mission presidents think about the risk of excess exposure to the sun, but it’s an important factor. Let’s increase awareness and improve the skin health of our missionaries and others.
And you can probably guess that one of my ultimate pet peeves are youth activities, such as Scout camps or water activities, where the kids come back heavily burned. Adult leaders need to be more conscious of protecting the skin health of our youth.
I heartily agree! I’m fair-skinned with red hair, and I burn to a crisp easily. When I was on my mission, I received permission to wear a hat while tracting, so as to protect myself from the sun. It was a big ugly straw hat that was trying to look dressy and failing miserably, but at least I didn’t burn.
Amen.
On my mission we would regularly talk to field hands who had sunburned through heavy flannel work shirts (with a tan line where their denim overalls lay).
I never had the sense to wear sunscreen (stupid!), but must have had some extra protection from another source — I never burned once during my mission, though I have before and since in less harsh climates.