I served a mission in the late 90s to early 2000s in a city with very high elevation, close to the equator. I remember the wives of both mission presidents I served under always giving health tips so we wouldn't get sick as much so we could keep working all the time. I don't recall ever being told to wear sunscreen and warned of the extremely harmful effects of the sun where we were at. I guess I should've known better without having to be told, but if you're going to constantly remind a bunch of dumb 19 year olds how to properly wash their hands and to not stick their dirty fingers in their mouths, why not tell them to wear sunscreen and avoid the sun as much as possible?

Couldn’t be because they only cared about us going out to work every day like good little robots and putting up big numbers to make their husbands look good and didn’t care about our future health, could it?

Maybe I should ask for a PH blessing and rub consecrated oil on my skin cancer! :)

IMO awareness about the necessity for sunscreen has grown over the years. It's been a process. When I was a kid in the 1960s, most sunscreens were SPF4. A really heavy-duty sunscreen was SPF8. Some "sunscreens" were in reality just skin oils.

Lately I've noticed that manufacturers are gradually eliminating sunscreens with lower SPFs.

So while it would have been good if your mission presidents warned you about sun exposure, their own knowledge might have been lagging.

I never heard the word "sunscreen" when I was a kid in the 60s. We'd splather ourselves in baby oil to soak up that sun and get a Farrah Fawcett tan. They say that the way you treat your skin in your youth is the most determining factor in development of skin cancer. So far, I'm safe but lost a friend.

However, my kids were born in late 70s/early 80s and sunscreen was all the rage then. By the change of century timeframe, the long-term effects of sun exposure were very well known. There really isn't an excuse for your not being encouraged to use it when you were out in the sun. I think it would be worthwhile for you to write to the missionary department and tell your story and encourage that to be a part of missionary wife training. Whether you're still in or not, I'm sure you don't want to see anyone else suffer from a possibly-avoidable illness.

I think by the 1980s I was on board with skin cancer prevention. From that time I normally stayed out of the mid-day sun, and used a good sunscreen. Now for much of the year, sunscreen is a daily item for me.

But I think a lot of people continued to be oblivious. If you don't read magazines or watch the news, you might not have known.

I hope to have a dermatologist check my skin. I think it's in pretty good shape, but I'd like an M.D. to sign off on it.

Maybe the Holy Ghost was too busy chewing on coca leaves to warn the MP about such things.

Yeah, that’s too bad about the skin cancer. If you want it to go away, I can hook you up.

I was a missionary in the mid 70's. It was in Finland, not particularly close to the sun, but it did have long summer days. I just had melanoma surgery in March with the resultant 25 stitches on my chest. I plan on bragging I had been in a recent knife fight. I had Mho's surgery at Emory in Atlanta 10 years ago, as the recommended surgeon practiced there, to remove a cancer the size of a quarter that was on my cheek. It is hardly visible now. Great surgeon. I have had 7 basal cells removed in the past 20 years.

I cannot blame the mission for all of these. I feel it was a major part of why I have had so many skin cancers. It was the only time in my life where I was outside all day long and did not wear sun screen. Missionary work in Finland was just door knocking. It was rare to ever be let inside.

By the 1990's, the connection between skin cancer and exposure to sunlight was well known. I'm surprised with your being on the Equator that your mission leaders didn't forewarn you.

My dermatologist told me on a recent checkup that the best suncreen is no less than one with 30 spf.

Get your check ups often and then whatever follow up care you need. Don't let this slide. Good luck.