LDS Missionary: France Paris Mission

Trip to Brussels

'There's that terrible alarm again,' I thought as I lay in bed wishing I had just a little more time to sleep. The alarm was set on our phone, but today it was even earlier than normal because we needed to catch an early train to Caen and then Paris.

I was summoned to Paris because of legality in Belgium. I would travel to Paris and then up to Brussels, then back to Paris. It was going to be a lot of train riding today. I looked forward to it because I would be able to see some of my group there. I held out hope for my whole district to be there, so that we could hang out all together again.

Elder McQuay and I got up, got ready, and headed to the gare to catch the train. Even though we were going to Paris for four days, it was still way too early to be awake and moving around. As missionaries we only get eight hours of sleep, but with the amount of walking and things we do in a single day, eight hours didn't even seem enough.

Luckily, it was a 45 minute train to Caen and then an hour and a half to Paris from there after a short layover. Before my mission, I barely could even sleep in a car, but now, I got on a train and was asleep almost before we left the gare.

Upon arriving to Paris, we headed straight to Saint-Merri, where we met a group of other missionaries.

"Elder Abel!" I heard someone yell as we walked into the courtyard of Saint-Merri. I turned to see Elder Barker. "How is the field?"

"Barker! Man, I've missed you," I said. "It's good, how about for you? Is anyone else here from our district?"

"Yeah. Pieper and Livingston are here already, but I think that's it from our district. the field has been fun. I miss Paris though," Elder Barker said. He was one of the few people that actually got moved after the first transfer. He started in Antony, but now was in Poitiers.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you moved after your first transfer, how was that? Sweet. I was hoping to see some of those guys."

"It was tough leaving Antony and Elder Horne. We had a lot of fun. I miss Paris P-days though."

"I bet you miss hanging out in Paris too."

"Elder Abel, quoi de neuf?" I heard behind me in that familiar southern accent that I spent way too much time around in the MTC.

"Pieper! Livingston!" I said as I turned around and saw Elder Pieper was with Elder Livingston. "How are things in Reims and Évry?"

"Évry is great," Elder Livingston said. "How's Alençon?"

"Dude, France is awesome. Reims is awesome too," Elder Pieper said.

"Alençon is good. It's a tough city though. We just find all the time," I told them.

"Yeah man, I heard it was one of the hardest cities," Elder Livingston said as we were all gathered up and started making our way to the Gare du Nord.

"I heard it was the punishment ville," Elder Barker said. "I've heard president sends missionaries that he doesn't want to have to deal with there."

"That wouldn't surprise me," I said with a laugh. "But thanks for that, Barker. Apparently President Staheli hates me."

"Well, did you give president a reason to hate you?" Elder Barker asked more seriously than I had anticipated.

"Of course not," I responded as we arrived at the gare and boarded the Thalys train to Brussels. "It's only our first couple of transfers."

"What about when you argued with president about the Utah/BYU game?" Elder Livingston decided to pipe in.

"That's the only reason he would send me there, I guess," I said now in thought about the possibility of President Staheli being upset with me. "But I feel like that isn't a good enough reason. Plus, we all know it's by inspiration."