Short Update From Strasbourg, France - Week 10

Well hello from France! It's been a while since the last P-Day email, so there's a lot of recap to do. Let's go back to last Monday, the 22nd.

After packing all of our things, all 13 of the missionaries going to Paris met at the travel office of the MTC at 1:30 in the afternoon to get on the bus. We got to the airport, had some time to call our families before getting on the plane, and got on. The plane wasn't actually too full, so most of us got to sprawl out over a few seats and got to have a little extra room to ourselves. Not much happened on the plane itself, and we ended up just trying to sleep as much as possible the whole flight over. After 10 hours of flying, we touched down at Charles de Gaulle Airport, got our bags, went through customs, and met the APs and President and Sister Poznanski in the airport. They took us outside and gave us some pastries to start off our day. The 13 of us followed the office Elders through Paris to go to the Prefecture to become legal and make sure we don't get deported. We contacted people on the way to the Prefecture and back, and I was surprised by how much French I was able to understand from everyone around me. In conversations, there actually wasn't too much I wasn't able to understand or say. It's a good thing we had such great MTC teachers! 

That isn't to say that French is easy; I just thought I would go through a transfer or two without understanding what people say.

After dinner at an ironically American restaurant titled Buffalo Grill, we slept in the mission home for the night.

The next morning, we went to a place called Consecration Hill, as is tradition for the new missionaries. This hill is basically a huge park that overlooks the city of Paris, and the office missionaries had us set goals for our mission. After that, we went to the center of Paris, saw Notre Dame, met our trainers, and went off to our new areas. I'm currently assigned to Strasbourg on the German border with Elder Dunn as my trainer or, as he is called in the mission, my father. Papa Dunn has a good ring to it.

Our trip to Strasbourg had a slow start to say the least. We bought tickets to get to Strasbourg from Paris, but our train kept getting delayed. We finally got on two hours after we bought the tickets, but the train engine never started. Apparently, someone cut a cable on the track, someone else jumped in front of a train (I suppose it could have been the same person that did both of those things, but probably not), and the workers at the train station went on strike ... all in the same day. So, we didn't actually get to Strasbourg until 6 or 7 hours after we bought the tickets. I suppose I know the interior of the train station fairly well now though. Sorry, but that's the best "look at the bright side" I could come up with. 

So now that you're all finally caught up to how I got here, I'll note a few observations about France:

• I think nearly every single cereal has chunks of chocolate in it, and the chocolate is probably better than the chocolate that comes in bars in America.
• Everyone here smokes all the time.
• This keyboard is ridiculously difficult to type on since all the letters are switched around.
• Cheese and wine sections in stores are probably larger than the rest of the store combined.

We went into a fromagerie for lunch yesterday and bought a bunch of different, exotic cheeses. Of course, we bought a fresh baguette for a euro at the patisserie around the corner from our apartment as well. It was SO good. 

I'm sorry I can't write much today ... we spent too much time in the store buying good food. I'll hopefully have more time to talk about what I actually do and about our investigators next week. In the meantime, have a fantastic Halloween! 

Love you all,

Elder Wilson

French keyboard

First Day in Paris - Week 9

Some pictures of Trevor's first day in Paris. After a 10 hour flight, all the new missionaries look pretty rested and happy to be there. They landed at 10:45 in the morning and then off to the mission home for food, introductions, interviews with the Mission President, and dinner out at a restaurant. The next morning, they met their new companions and learned where their first area will be. Strasbourg ... here he comes!

Meeting President Poznanski for the first time.

A mission tradition: To welcome the new missionaries, Sister Poznanski gives them French pastries - pains au chocolat!

Outside the Mission Home.

Meeting the APs and waiting to be interviewed by President Poznanski.

First meal in France. And do you notice what they are eating? Cheeseburgers and fries! So American ... okay, except for the French fries.

Trevor meeting his first companion, Elder Dunn. Please take good care of my son, Elder Dunn!

Meeting the new companions.

... And Made Contact

Well ... sort of. We just received a letter and some pictures from President Poznanski. Here are some excerpts from it:

            "... Sister Poznanski and I were delighted to welcome your son, Elder Trevor Ford Wilson, into the France Paris Mission on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012.  He and his MTC companions were enthusiastic and all arrived in good health.  He spent his first day eating some home cooked food, napping, visiting with me, contacting non-members in the heart of Paris, and sharing testimonies in our home.  We enjoyed his spirit ...

            ... We feel very privileged to work with your son.  We also realize the responsibility we share with you to help him continue to grow spiritually as he faithfully performs his duties.  May the Lord inspire us all to sustain him in this challenging and exciting assignment.  We hope you will join Sister Poznanski and me in praying each day for your son, his companion, investigators, and all of us serving in the France Paris Mission.

            A positive, supportive letter from home every week does wonders to sustain a missionary’s morale.  Proverbs 25:25 states:  "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country..."

The first area he will be serving in is Strasbourg, right on the German border. If you would like his apartment address, please contact me, his mom. My email can be found in the link above "How To Contact Me." 

So exciting. Can't wait to get his first letter/email to hear about all his adventures so far!

The Elder Has Landed!

Trevor left the MTC at 1:30 pm yesterday to fly from the Salt Lake City airport to Paris, nonstop. There are 13 missionaries all flying out together. Their flight left at 4:44 pm our time and arrived in Paris at 10:45 this morning Paris time, 2:45 am our time. He was able to call us while he was waiting to board the plane and we had a great talk for about half an hour. He sounded fantastic and SO ready to really start his mission. We are expecting an email from him soon and a mission Facebook update. Sister Poznanski, the mission president's wife, is really great at keeping the page updated and will be taking and posting pictures of the new missionaries arriving at the airport and meeting their new companions. She said she will post them tomorrow or Thursday. You can click the link on the top of this page to get to the Facebook page. 

Below is a picture of the real time flight status of his Delta flight ... and YES ... this mother stayed up all night watching the little plane cross the Atlantic until it landed safely in Paris at 2:45 am!