White collared shirt, dark suit, boring colored tie, and a black plaque with my last name. This was going to be the best experience of my life. I was headed to Paris France on my LDS mission.
Missionaries seem odd to people that are not members of...
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After the daily routine of waking up and getting ready we headed to the classroom, but this time was different. It was much colder outside than normal, and there was this white stuff on the ground. It was only October 27, and it was already snowing!
'This is gonna be a long winter in Provo,' I thought as we trekked through the thin layer of snow on the ground.
Having moved to Southern Utah when I was 8 years old, I rarely saw snow. It was a desert down there in St. George. The years we did see snow were few and far between. I had never seen snow in St. George stick on the ground for longer than a 24 hour period. I remember one time while I was still in middle school, we woke up to snow on a Saturday morning. I had a city league basketball game that day and after my hour-long game, the snow was gone.
Another time, when I was a senior in high school, it snowed right as classes were over. It was the most snow I had seen in St. George. It was insane trying to drive with all those high schoolers who had no idea what they were doing, including myself. I made it home and school was cancelled the next day. It was the greatest thing in the world. There wasn't a lot of snow, but in St. George, there are no snow plows to clear the roads. The snow was gone by midday the day of our "snow day" though.
Provo was much more accustomed to this sort of weather, so not many people were phased. We had class like normal and the day moved by, quicker than the other days, but not as quick as I would have liked.
The snow must have been a fluke, because there was no snow the next day. I woke up this time even earlier than normal. I was being summoned by the French consulate in San Francisco to apply for a French Visa.
'Man, it gets dark in here,' I thought as I turned off my wristwatch alarm. 'Ugh. 4:30 is way too early. I don't know how I'm going to climb down and get ready without turning on a light.'
'Wow, I am awesome,' I continued to myself as I climbed down from the top bunk in complete silence and slowly opened the door.
Light flooded into the pitch black room. I snuck out quickly and mostly shut the door behind me. If it shut all the way, I would have to wake someone up because it locks automatically. I showered and got ready for the trip.
Elder Barker and Sister Turney were the only other people going with me from my district and the only people I knew were going at all with me. So Elder Barker and I made the trip to the edge of the MTC. It was obviously too early for either of us because neither of us spoke as we trudged towards the warm van.
We were apparently the last ones there because everyone else was relieved to see us. We weren't even late, so I don't know why everyone was worried.
We climbed in the 12 passenger van and the chauffeur got in the driver's seat and took off.
"Elder Abel?" The driver called out a few minutes into the drive.
"Yeah," I said groggily.
"Here," he said as he passed something back to me on the first row of seats. "Take this, it explains what you all need to do."
