LDS Missionary: France Paris Mission

Cubed in Cherbourg

“Let’s go back to Cerisé,” Elder McQuay said after we finished lunch on January 2. We had just finished with church where I had to give a talk. I was so terrified of messing up that I read the whole thing. It was slow going, and I know there were tons of mistakes, but oh well. It’s not like there were hundreds of people there listening. We only had had 14 people and I finally got to meet the third Boixel sister, Sophie.

The missionaries loved the Boixel sisters because they were always giving the missionaries things. They all had served a mission of their own of some kind also, so they spoke decent English. Marina served in the Brussels, Belgium mission before it was merged with the Paris, France mission. Sophie had served in the Toulouse, France mission, and Delphine served a mini mission in the Paris, France mission.

The missionaries and Boixel sisters also played games on certain days and did deep doctrine study, which was a good break from everything.

We headed out to Cerisé and started knocking on the doors around the city. We just continue where we left off the last time we were in the city. So far Cerisé hadn’t produced anything, so I was starting to be wary of the place.

We kept trekking though. We came to a long cul-de-sac type alleyway. It was a lot narrower than a circle, but the houses faced out toward the street like a circle, which was different from what I generally imagine as an alley.

We made our way up the circle or alley or whatever you might call it, and found nothing throughout the left side. My mind started to wander and get bored since Elder McQuay and I didn’t always talk a lot while out porting.

‘I wonder how my family is doing,’ I thought, as we got to the top of the circle and kept porting.

As the houses started to turn back down the other side of the street, the top house on that side was guarded by a gate. Generally, we didn’t go through the gates because it was more trespassing than anything, so I turned away to go to the next house as my mind continued to wander.

“No, wait, Elder Abel,” Elder McQuay said. “This gate is unlocked.”

“But we don’t usually go through gates,” I said in a semi-bred, semi-frustrated tone. Elder McQuay was standing in the now open gate.

“I know, but look at the yard. There’s toys all over the place,” Elder McQuay said. “They have kids. Let’s just try it.”

“Alright,” I replied and mosied toward the gate.

We walked up to the front door and knocked. A woman opened the door with a couple of littler kids trailing behind her.

“Bonjour, nous sommes les missionaires de l’Église de Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours,” Elder McQuay began. The woman looked confused as her eyes grew wider.

“Je...ne….comprend pas,” she responded. She didn’t understand what was being said. She held up a finger and disappeared for a moment. She reappeared with a man in a wheelchair.

“Sorry, my wife doesn’t understand French yet,” he said in French after giving us a quick look up and down.

Elder McQuay explained who we are and presented a message about Jesus Christ.

“I’ve been wanting to learn more about Jesus Christ and His followers since moving here,” the man said. “We are from Laos and just moved here. It would be better if you could come back another day though because Sunday is our family day.”

“Ok, we could do that,” Elder McQuay said.

‘Finally, some success in Cerisé,’ I thought. They proceeded to set a rendezvous for Thursday evening. ‘Maybe Alençon and I are ready for some miracles.’