what the trunky calls...

let me explain a serious disease that creeps into missionaries toward the end of their life with the badge...it's a sickness worse than cancer becuase there is no injection, no chemotherepy that can reduce it's evil effects. it affects the eyes, ears, and brain and then if left untreated goes straigt for the heart. once it gets inside you, you can only sit back and watch it happen. you can't work. you can't sleep. you can hardly focus. all you talk about are the movies and music that came out while you were gone. what you are going to do on dates...often sentences start with when i get home...

it's called trunky. it dates back to the early 20th century when missionaries came equiped with not just your basic pair of ugly shoes but a large trunk to put them in. and over the years that trunk has come to represent the return to the real world. that trunk has become the emblem of the dying missionary, the reentry to life, the liberation of the badge and the exchange of closed toed clogs for the little pair of strapy sandles that go really great with my black skirt....uh...so trunky. a missionary that has her mind more in her suitcase and what's at the end of that flight home than the people God has placed in her path that need her. i'm trying my best to avoid and protect myself from this disease.

but there comes a time in the life of every missionary when the office calls and gives you your flight information for your grand entry into life as it was...and well mine came today. and you can imagine why they are called trunky calls...and along with that call came the report of all the missionaries that just went home who are now happily engaged and awaiting their upcoming eternal commitement. both ideas make me a little queasy and i want to throw up in the trunk that awaits me. blah!

other than all this talk of home, the 4 month, 120 some odd day count down, life is good. it's hot. i'm tired. i'm frustrated with everyone that fixes an appointment and then doesn't show up. i'm in love with my companion and french olive oil mustard vinigerette. seriously folks. it's so good. last week we ran out of olive oil and didn't know what to eat. all we could think of was cereal. i don't know what i ate before...

baptisms coming up, progressing amis, sunny picnics next to fountains. it's all going well. if i can just find some sort of anti trunky vacine...

shai