I recently learned that my uncle got Hepatitis A during his mission in the early 70's from eating some bad meat. This man slowly went blind from this. He also had cancer (passed away last year). He suffered a long and slow decline. But wow does nobody have a problem with it? My father served a mission in the same country as this uncle and he has had so many health problems during his life. Not sure if he has any as a direct result of mission life, but it has me thinking....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2018 05:49PM by bluebutterfly.

I served a mission in the Dominican Republic (DR), 1979 - 81. I got parasites and lost almost 50 pounds. I almost was sent to the U.S. to finish my mission, but I begged my Mission President to keep me in the DR. He worked with me and transferred me to Santo Domingo to see a GI specialist. I slowly recovered and had gained 25 pounds by the time I finished my mission. After my mission, I suffered from severe gastro/intestinal (GI) problems for the next 25 years. I suffered from a range of GI issues ranging from Irritable Bowel Syndrome to a severe case of Ulcerative Colitis. My physicians always reminded me that this was because of damage to my intestines from the parasites. Fortunately, I've been stable for the last seven years.

I got bugs on my mission too...Caribbean islands. Didn't bother me until I got home (other than basically having the runs for 2 years while out), developed bleeding ulcers and had to be hospitalized for a few days due to internal blood loss, and had bad gastro problems for about 10 years after that.

Thanks god.

Health problems are common on missions. I had a native mission president who didn't follow any of the health instructions in the missionary handbook. Eventually contracting parasites, ameoba, bacterial infections, I myself succumbed to long term intestinal problems. The whole notion the church follows that, "if you aren't healed by a blessing, it's because you lack faith", is like a scarlet letter. I really feel for those who go through health problems and these sorts of abuse because it can affect them for a long time.

If you are looking for health answers for your dad, I'd definitely consider his time there as a component. I always joke about the 50ft tapeworm living inside former missionaries I encounter. Once during a discussion with a young woman, her 2-3 year old son started coughing a lot and eventually couldn't stop itching his nose. It looked like a booger started falling out of his nose, till it took on a life of it's own and began twisting and poking in various directions. The mom threw her son and started screaming from the top of her lungs about a bug in the kids nose. Not knowing what to do myself, I yelled for toilet paper and went to work grabbing firmly and pulling. I pulled a parasite out of his body about 2 ft long. Yeah, 3rd world is no joke at times. Hope I didn't gross too many people out. I've always wished, though, somewhere out there, is some healthy grown man who has made a positive difference in others lives. Guess I went a little off topic, sorry. Makes for great dinner talk though. ;)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2018 02:42PM by veilworker.

How is that even possible? The Lard protects missionaries 24/7. Plus they wear bulletproof underwear for extra measure.

>> I recently learned that my uncle got Hepatitis C during his mission in the early 70's from eating some bad meat.

I think you mean Hepatitis A...that's typically food born. Hepatitis C is spread by shared needles, contact with infected blood.

I had Hepatitis A when I was 7 years old, not sure where I got it, but it wasn't fun, I pretty much lost that whole summer because of it.

Ahh...ok thanks for the correction! I will fix the OP. Leave it to my mother to spread erroneous details.

I was repeatedly bitten by the Love Bug. I have no way to know how, or even if, this helped or hurt my mission experience.

I was in Brasil but seemed to avoid any major illness. There was a couple of elders that were hospitalized, but I forget now what it was.

I was at BYU afterwards, and was showering at the end of the a gym class one day. There was a guy who was a friend of a friend and who been in South American somewhere, not sure where. I heard some screaming and swearing and apparently at the end of his shower, a big old tapeworm (that's what they called it, although I'm not sure) exited his body from the hole at the end of his body :)

I forget all the details but someone said he'd had stomach pains for weeks. Not sure it was the only time or not.

I'm glad you didn't tell this story at the Red Iguana!

I suffered from an amoeba and lost so much weight (I was already thin) and was so sick. 3 weeks before I left, I had an awful cough, fever, etc.Went to the dr. At home and found out I had walking pneumonia. My health was never the same after all that. Oh yeah, the magic underwear really helped.Damn stupid cult.

I am still pissed off that the church not only fails to protect its volunteers, but they discourage basic health protection.

I strongly believe that the LDS Corp should give a free, comprehensive health screening from reputable medical staff (not some Mormon shill that has agreed to certify 98% of serving missionaries are healthy) about 1 year into their service.

There have been too many horror stories shared about these volunteers refusing sound medical treatment at the request of LDS leaders.

One of my companions in Argentina contracted amoebic dysentery. He was skin and bones They made him stay. Terrible bullshit

I am so very glad my children got out right before mission ages. I hope that everyone considering a mission would read this or something like this. I know missionaries are legal adults. But, most of them are naive and believe the lard will make everything ok. Reality is not even close.

In our mission in Europe we were forced to ride bicycles incredible miles.No one had cars plus we were forced to skip meals. In the first six months i went from 200 lbs down to 150. The missionaries were so pale looking that the mission president hoped the summer would make everybody look better. Also numerous biking accidents.Try a european traffic circle on a bike sometime.

That is so pitiful. I wonder how many missionaries have actually died from neglect and abuse. I'm sure it's kept under wraps and excused as some other cause of death. I wonder.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/2018 08:53PM by Aquarius123.

I just posted the other day about my recent skin cancer diagnosis. I mostly blame my 2 years on a mission near the equator at very high elevation with no sunscreen and hats against mission rules.

Oh man I'm so sorry! My cousin went to equator and he got skin cancer too! :( another of my uncles got parasites and my friends brother has terrible stomach problems ever since his mission. It makes me sick to hear these things! Plus my dad got shot at on his mission there was that one missionary that got shot and I heard of this one girl who died on her mission and her parents were like "well at least she died doing what she loved spreading the gospel" how would they feel if they found out its a cult? All this crap happening to people on there missions and for what?! SO sad stupid cult needs to go down!!!! I'm grateful I never went on a mission it sounds like hell!

My DH got parasites when he was in Guatemala.

Somewhat chubby when he left he gradually became almost skeletal. His MP kept telling him he only needed to drink a vile form of yerba (herbal tea) prepared by the MP's wife ("you can trust her; she has treated LOTS of elders!!")

DH's comp became so concerned that he smuggled a photo of DH (looking like a scarecrow in the suit he had worn out to the mission) back home to DH's parents.

My MIL was a nurse. She took one look at that photo, got on the phone, and ripped the MP a new one. I wouldn't be surprised if she told the MP that if her son did not get IMMEDIATE and APPROPRIATE medical treatment, she would come down there herself and castrate the MP. (And I would not have doubted this for a moment.) She'd have made a fine job of it, too.

Son got sent to a hospital in the capital city, stayed for a couple of weeks, and got rid of the critters.

He knew that his mother had "convinced" the MP, but he was never sure how she did it. The version I got directly from his mother was VERY colorful. She was a Jack-Mo with little respect for a lot of the mumbo-jumbo elements in the church.

She wasn't anyone you would want to get crosswise with. Fortunately, we had a lovely relationship.