"Who me? Trunky? Nah..."

     "Hey, Elder, how far away do you think that plane is?"


     "Hmm... About three weeks."  This is the conversation that myself and my companion have every time we see a plane flying through the sky, beckoning us home.  See, something curious has happened.  My new companion, Elder Crowther, and I both go home on the very same day. I have no clue why or how this happened, but it did.  So, if you ask either of us if we are trunky, we will reply with a series of other ridiculous rhetorical questions such as:  "Is the Pope Catholic?" "Does a bear poop in the woods?" or "Does John Madden love his turducken?"  The answer is, of course!



Brought to you by: Elder Crowther!



     Now, to any of you unfamiliar with the missionary terminology, trunkiness is a form of homesickness that a missionary is often afflicted by when he or she is about to return home.  Basically, the origin of the word is that when a missionary is soon to die (go home) they have their trunks (see what I did there?) mentally packed.  They're ready and itching to get on with life.

     Many people have a negative connotation with the word "trunky".  This isn't entirely unjustified, many a trunky missionary have given a bad name to the rest of us, but I think it's time the world gave us trunky missionaries a chance.  See, in the humble opinion of this slightly trunky missionary, there are two types of trunkiness.  For lack of better words, there's good trunky and there's bad trunky.

     Bad trunky is when a missionary thinks they've done all the good they can on the mission, so they just stop doing good, and start doing... not so good.   They slip into disobedience or just plain laziness, and justify it by saying "Oh, it doesn't matter, I go home in three weeks (give or take) anyway."  It's just not cool.

     Good trunky, on the other hand, is something completely different.  It can be a very strong motivator.  With the knowledge that "home" is right around the corner, and that we have very little time left to do the Lord's work here, we go like heck!  We want to do the most good before we are forced to leave our little corner of the vineyard.  I say "we" because Elder Crowther and I (for the most part) fall into this category.  We're not going to fizzle out or die down right before our missions are over. We're running across the finish line, and leaving it all out here.  Go out with a bang, as they say.



It's to protect the planner!



     Now, this isn't to say that I don't think about home... often.  For my planner cover this transfer, I used my recently acquired flight itinerary.  It's just so I don't forget what day I get home, okay!?  Alright, so I may be a bit trunky, but let's face it, it could be a whole lot worse.



     So, to all of you younger missionaries looking at my generation (group of missionaries who I entered the mission with) and thinking, "You trunky pieces."  Give us a chance!  We've been trained, we know how to do missionary work, if we know how to do anything, this is our time to shine!  And to all of you missionaries who may be dipping into the ugly side of trunkiness, it's never too late to make the most of your mission.  At least until you go home.  Then it is eternally too late. So, repent now!

     Well, I have no idea how to end this blog post, so I will leave it in the capable hands of my companion, Elder Crowther.  Tune in to his blog, SMILE, for the exciting conclusion!  I love you all!

See you soon! (not a trunky statement)

Elder Jordan Sharples