We’re Getting Baggy!

No, this has nothing to do with our anatomy, although it sounds fitting for senior missionaries. This refers to an old mission expression and is one of several characteristics that were unusual and perhaps unique to the Guatemala – El Salvador mission of yesteryear. In most missions the expression was “Trunky”. It refers to a common condition that afflicts some missionaries who think they are getting close to going home. The implication is that they have already quit working and have packed their “trunks” and are sitting on them, waiting for their ride home. Depending on the missionary, trunkiness could set in anywhere from a week to several months early!

Now we of the Guatemala – El Salvador mission were smart enough to realize that, even 40 years ago, no one was packing trunks to go on missions. That ship sailed many years before. So we preferred the updated term “Baggy” as we all traveled by air and had bags, not trunks. (“Suitcasey” just doesn’t work.)

In our case, however, we are not getting “baggy” to go home, but to get to Guatemala! We planned to take this week to finish our preparations, get our bags and our apartment packed up and to move out this coming Saturday. But after just two days of working on it, both efforts are mostly complete and we have six more days of civilian life left! So our bags are literally almost fully packed and we are ready to go. We are going to have to take a couple of days off so that we don’t end up on the street too soon!