“When it comes to tattoos, if you didn’t have it when you left, you shouldn’t have it when you get back.” There’s a lot of wisdom in this old adage. Sadly, many of us don’t pay close enough attention to the wisdom of this statement.
For some of us, missions was an alternative to university–our first chance to venture out on our own. Especially with the younger generations, this usually involves some kind of self-inflicted rite of passage, such as punching holes in their eyebrows or permanently embedding ink in their skin. You can debate the scriptural validity of such actions, but even apart from scripture, age and experience have persuaded me that these things are usually bad ideas.