LDS Missionary: France Paris Mission

Transfer Two Ends

Finding, finding, and more finding. That's all we did in Alençon. It was starting to wear on me how difficult missionary work could become. We knocked on doors nonstop, and when we weren't doing that, we were in Centre Ville contacting people.

"If you could go to any city in the mission, where would you go?" I asked one day looking for any type of conversation in English because I was still struggling to understand and speak French. We were walking to an old investigator's house, Louise, who had spent the past couple of months out of town apparently, but now she was back in town.

"That's a tough question, I loved Angers, and I would go back, but I really want to go back to Belgium," Elder McQuay answered. "I was 'born' into the Belgium Netherlands Mission when I started, but the French-speaking part of that mission was closed in 2010 and incorporated into this mission. Which makes you part Belge in the mission."

I was considered Elder McQuay's 'son' in the mission, and he was my 'father.' I didn't really have a 'mother' in the mission, because it was whoever took you contacting on the first day, but our plane was so late that we didn't have the opportunity to do that. So I always considered Elder Schwind and Elder Helvey (mostly Elder Helvey, because I knew him better) my 'mother.' Your second companion is called your 'step-father,' but I hadn't met them yet. Since Alençon was my first city, I was 'born' here, and you 'die' in your last city. Even the members used this terminology, which was tough to get used to.

"Alright, so if you could go back to Belgium, which city would you choose?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation alive.

"I don't know. I would love to be a zone leader and serve in either Liège or Brussels," he replied simply enough.

"Alright. That's cool," I responded, apparently ending the conversation.

"Ahh, here it is," Elder McQuay said as we approached a house.

We knocked and an African lady came to the door.

"Oh, bonjour," she said simply. She obviously recognized who we were, but she still didn't budge from the doorstep. She said something else that I couldn't understand. Her French accent was much different from most of the other people I had met.

Whatever she said, it obviously wasn't any closer to letting us in. She stayed in the doorway and Elder McQuay ended the conversation and we walked away.

"She said that she was busy and couldn't talk with us right then, but she did schedule a day next week," Elder McQuay told me as we left because I obviously looked confused.

We went back the next week and she wasn't even there, but apparently this was a normal thing that happened to missionaries.

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The weeks flew by and, once again, the transfer was coming to an end. We had only been able to teach Louise once or twice, the branch moved to it's own building, which was wheelchair accessible, but the members that were in wheelchairs only showed up that one time for the first Sunday we were there. We had found plenty of potential investigators, but none were ever there when we passed back or called.

"Hello?" Elder McQuay answered the phone on deep cleaning day, which also happened to be the day President made calls for new leaders. "Hey, President! How are you? ... Really? I would love to go there!"

"Where are you going?" I asked after Elder McQuay hung up.

"Liège. I'm going to be a zone leader," Elder McQuay quickly responded.

"That's awesome. You'll be great. Any idea who is coming here with me?"

"No, I didn't ask, but I doubt he would tell me anyway."

The next day, we checked our email to see where everyone else was going. I was getting Elder Brady Park in Alençon, who was leaving Elder Barker from my MTC district. We also found out Elder Hoopes was leaving Cherbourg. I was going to miss him, he was one of the coolest missionaries I had met so far. He worked hard, had fun, and saw miracles. Elder Paul was getting Elder Shae Russell in Cherbourg who was also from my MTC group, just a different district. Everyone else was staying in the district.