LDS Missionary: France Paris Mission

Elder Park

Transfer day began early in the morning as Elder McQuay and I got up, got ready and headed off to Caen to send off Elder McQuay. I was going to be staying with the zone leaders, Elder Rueckert and Elder Holcombe, so I wasn't alone.

Upon arrival in Caen, I met up with the zone leaders and Elder McQuay caught the next train to Paris. Only minutes after Elder McQuay left, I received a call. Something I had been dreading since I took the phone. It was near impossible for me to talk to people in French on the phone.

"Oui, allo?" I answered in probably a super nervous voice.

"Elder Abel! It's Elder Barker," the other person said in English. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well. What's up?" I said curious about why he would be calling me today.

"I just wanted to give you a call after Elder Park left for Alençon to warn you," Elder Barker responded quickly. "He's super fun and a good guy, but sometimes struggles to be motivated."

"Perfect, because we have SO much work to do in Alençon," I said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I've heard Alençon is pretty rough," Elder Barker said. "You should be fine with Elder Park, but I just wanted to warn you."

"Yeah, it could see how it could get missionaries down," I said. "Thanks, Elder Barker. I'll be sure to keep him working."

"Good. He's a good missionary when you get out of the apartment," Elder Barker said. "Oh, and he might try to convince you to play Pokemon."

"Pokemon? Why?" I asked confused.

"Because I got him playing it," Elder Barker said. "Elder Horne and I would play it all the time on P-day. It's the thing the missionaries in Paris are doing."

"Ok. That's -- weird," I said. "Thanks, for the head's up though. I'll talk to you later, Elder Barker."

"Yep, have a good transfer," Elder Barker said. "See ya."

"See ya," I said as I hung up. That was not what I was expecting.

Elder Holcombe and Elder Rueckert took me back to their apartment, and we did studies there before going out for a little bit of contacting. The phone only rang one more time, but I struggled my way through the conversation with Sister Cespedes in French.

It didn't seem long before Elder Park was arriving in Caen, and we headed back to Alençon. Elder Park was a little shorter than me and had short dark brown hair that was spiked up randomly, wore glasses, and looked like he could be a funny person.

"Hey, I'm Elder Park, and I'm kind of a big deal -- people know me," Elder Park started, quoting Anchorman, when we sat down after moving his bags onto the train. I couldn't help but get a big smile because finally, I had someone that seemed to like movies as much as me.

"Hey, I'm Elder Abel," I said. "I'm glad you know movies exist. Elder McQuay wasn't much of a movie person."

"Yeah, I heard you're a big movie guy from Elder Barker," Elder Park said. "Elder McQuay is weird. He was in the MTC with me. We're going to have a lot of fun this transfer."

"Good, because I've wondered if the mission is just incredibly hard work with no fun since I arrived," I said.

During the first week of the transfer, I didn't understand what Elder Barker was talking about. Elder Park was ready to work right on time and was a good companion that was also willing to make fun out of our finding each day. He brought up Pokemon once, but I just battled it, and he dropped it.