On my first day in the field, I thought I was delusional from sleep deprivation when my trainer called me her “daughter”. Then, I just thought she had some sort of weird superiority complex. Turns out, it was fairly basic mission lingo that everyone used to refer to someone they train (teach how to be a missionary; a first companion).
I would have loved to know these terms in advance, so we’re providing this list for future missionaries to study up on and returned missionaries to feel nostalgic about. The list was collected from 1) our own experiences and 2) our social media pages. ~Enjoy~
Lingo About Missionary Relationships
Mom/Dad/Daughter/Son
As explained in the intro, this is how trainers and trainees often refer to each other. The trainer is the mom/dad, and the trainee is the son/daughter. This can be extended further to sister/brother (another missionary that your trainer has trained), grandpa (the trainer of your trainer), aunt/uncle (the previous companion of your trainer (as long as they weren’t a trainee)), cousin (the trainee to the previous companion of your trainer), etc. All of these relationships are configured using basic logic stemming from the “parent” relationship.
Used in a sentence: “Sister Johnson is my mom.”
Posterity Object
Oftentimes, missionaries leave “inheritances” of a sort to their trainees to be “passed down from generation to generation”. This object is often an article of clothing like a tie or skirt. The trainee that receives the object is supposed to give that object to the first person they train, and so on.
Used in a sentence: “My posterity tie has lived on for 4 generations.”
Dear John
This term is well-known amongst most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Days Saints, but I thought it would be worth it to include anyways. A “Dear John” is a breakup letter from a missionary’s girlfriend. If a sister missionary is getting “Dear John-ed”, it’s often called a “Dear Jane”.
Used in a sentence: “Elder Johnson got Dear John-ed yesterday so he’s not very focused on missionary work.”
Lingo About Missionary Timeline
Birth/Dying
When you enter the mission field, you are “born”, and when you go home, you “die”. This one tends to cause particular confusion when a new missionary hears “Sister Johnson died”.
Used in a sentence: “I was born last April.”
Greenie
When you are “born”, you become a “greenie“. This is a term for a new missionary, and it usually applies for their first two transfers. “Greenie fire” can be used to refer to the passion and energy that new missionaries tend to have about missionary work and the gospel.
Used in a sentence: “He hasn’t learned that yet because he’s just a greenie.”
Lingo About Missionary Attitudes
Trunky
A missionary is “trunky” when they clearly want to go home. This is an old linguistic echo of packing your “trunks”/suitcases to leave. A trunky missionary might be sleeping in, daydreaming about water parks and romance, and not putting much effort into their studies.
Used in a sentence: “Sister Johnson is so trunky that she’s making me feel trunky too.”
Lingo About Breaking Rules
Baptize/Confirm the Car
The concept of baptizing and confirming your missionary vehicle changes from mission to mission, but in my mission, “baptizing” the car was driving through standing water (a BIG no-no) and “confirming” the car was driving fast over a bump to catch air. During my first zone conference (big meeting of missionaries for training), my mission president said that anyone caught doing either of these things would be sent home immediately. I’ve also heard “baptizing” a car as going over 100mph.
Used in a sentence: “I would get in so much trouble if President Johnson found out my car was baptized.”
Piling/A Pile
I had never heard this one until it was submitted on social media, so you may or may not hear it in your mission. I also had two different people describe it to me in two different ways.
“Piling” as a verb means being lazy, and “a pile” as a noun means a lazy missionary. Specifically, these terms apply when someone is wasting a lot of time (long meal breaks, flirting, hanging out at members’ homes for hours) instead of working.
Used in a sentence: “C’mon Elder, stop piling with the Sisters, we gotta go finding.”
Diss
A clip of the word “disobedient”. Pretty self-explanatory.
Used in a sentence: “I know this is so diss, but I hugged an Elder today.”
Lingo About Missionary Activities
Whitewash/Shotgun
These are two different terms for the same phenomenon. “Whitewashing” or “shotgunning” is when two new missionaries are transferred into an area. Standard protocol is that, when transfers come around, one missionary stays in the area and the other leaves, so that one in the companionship has a strong grasp for the work happening in the area. When missionaries “whitewash”/”shotgun”, they are both new and have to learn about the area together.
Used in a sentence: “This transfer has been really hard because we’re whitewashing/shotgunning.”
Bluewash/Pinkwash
This is whitewashing, but with a gender. When sisters take over an area that was previously inhabited by Elders, it’s “pinkwashing”. The opposite is “bluewashing”.
Used in a sentence: “Pinkwashing is the worst because Elders always leave the apartment so nasty.”
Eternegator
This is a term for an investigator (now officially called “friend”) who works with the missionaries and learns about the gospel for a seemingly large amount of time without moving towards being baptized. “Eternegators” are often seen as a waste of time to work with, but opinions vary.
Used in a sentence: “They seem like they’re teaching a lot of people, but they’re all eternegators.”
P Day/P Day Eve
Most people have heard of “P Day” or “Preparation Day” before (it’s the missionaries “day” – but more like a few hours – off every week). “P Day Eve” is the night before P Day. Missionaries tend to feel more relaxed on P Day Eve, almost like how Friday feels, and they might plan activities for the next day.
Used in a sentence: “Every P Day Eve, Sister Johnson and I go to the local burger place for dinner.”
Dunk
A slang term for baptizing someone.
Used in a sentence: “Mrs. Johnson is getting dunked this weekend.”
White Bible
Another term for the Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ, the set of basic rules that apply to missions worldwide. There is a main version and a supplemental version. It’s called the “White Bible” because most missionaries put their two versions in a little white sleeve provided to you.
Used in a sentence: “That’s definitely against the White Bible.”
Basher
Refers to someone who wants to “Bible bash”, or have a heated debate/argument with the missionaries over specific quotes from the Bible. “Bashers” are notorious for trying to “prove you wrong”.
Used in a sentence: “We were excited for the lesson but it turned out to be a basher.”
— I’m sure we’ve missed lingo so please comment if you think of anything we haven’t covered! —