Recently, the Deseret News shared the reactions and insights of sister missionaries after the Church announced that sister missionaries now have the option to wear slacks, except when attending church or the temple.
"This is truly optional," Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women general president and member of the Missionary Executive Council, said in a news release. "The sisters can wear dresses, they can wear slacks, whatever will help them in their service as they're out amongst the people."
Summer Hopper's legs swelled up when she began serving in Guatemala in 2015 because of mosquito bites she suffered wearing dresses and skirts. She said she developed a rash and got sick.
Hopper, 22, a junior in economics at BYU, said a number of women in the mission also got sick back then. The following year, in 2016, church leaders announced that women in areas with a high risk of those diseases could wear slacks during the rainy season. For Hopper in Guatemala, that meant year-round: "We had the wet season and the less-wet season."
To her surprise, she found herself conflicted about wearing pants.