Called to Serve. Paris, France: Super Pumped and Super Nervous

Elder Bigler at the Beach

Well, as you may have noticed, I didn't have time to write an email yesterday, the members were super nice and took us all around our area to show us cool tourist sites. We got to see the ocean, England, a rainbow, craters made from bombs from World War II, and a massive bunker where they kept a cannon that was meant for destroying ships. Super sweet stuff. (Photos Below)We also had two mangez-vous in the process, since the two French elders we have are leaving. I ate SO MUCH food yesterday. French meals are usually kind of a three course thing. But anyway, we actually had a pretty exciting week that I want to talk about!

Calais World War Museum

Well, really, the first half of the week was pretty regular. It got exciting around Thursday when we had district meeting and Elder Jones (my first district leader, now my zone leader, but not anymore cause of transfers) and I headed back to Calais on an exchange for the baptismal interview with Isabelle! We have to have someone who's never taught her before do the interview, to be unbiased and all that. So, not surprisingly at all, she was totally ready to be baptized! That was Friday, and Saturday was her baptism, which pretty much took up most of our day, between filling up the font (which takes forever) and talking to members afterwards. Well, we had a whole bunch of people show up, and two dunks later (cause the first one didn't quite make it) she was baptized! Super great day. :) She was so prepared for everything we taught, it was just great to see.

The next day we had church, and she got the gift of the Holy Ghost. I had the wonderful opportunity of being able to perform the ordinance, which was both awesome and SUPER stressful. It was in French, of course, so that didn't help. But I did it, and she seemed happy as could be afterward. :)

So, that was the start to our Sunday. After church, we got to eat with the Requillart's (again because Elder Perez is leaving) and that was super good, despite being kind of seafood-y. Then, it was Sunday afternoon, the last day of the transfer, which is the time where we anxiously await a call from the Assistants or Président telling us about leadership positions and stuff. And, since my companion had been district leader, I wasn't too suprised when I got a call from Elder Dussere, who was Elder Alexander's trainer. But, what he said surprised me. "Elder Bigler, there are a lot of new missionaries coming in this transfer. President has prayerfully pondered and fasted and feels that you should train one of the new missionaries coming in." Oh boy, was that surprising! I'm only starting my 5th transfer, and now I'm gonna be in charge of teaching another missionary how to be a good missionary here in the France Paris mission. So, that means that I'm going to stay in Calais for 12 more weeks, and that I'll be going back down to Paris tomorrow (Wednesday) to meet my new companion, mon bleu. I'm super pumped for the challenge, and super nervous too, but I think I'll be able to handle it. Elder Evans called me to congratulate me. :) So, that's the big news there. Elder Perez is going to Lorient to be in a trio, and Elder Tidwell is going to be our district leader.

So, anyway, that's the news for the week! I'm sure next week will be pretty exciting, at least for my new collègue, who just got to France a few hours ago probably, but for me too. :) Thanks for all the love from home, and keep it coming. :)

Elder Bigler