Called to Serve. Paris, France: Being Taught When You Least Expect It

Hey fam!

Coming to you as usual, live from the France Paris mission, but a really big handful of kilometers away in Lorient, next to the Atlantic Ocean. Believe it or not, it's already been 2 transfers since I got here. And, as we learned recently, Elder Lloyd and I will be doing another one here together. We're getting 31 new missionaries this week, and probably about that many again the next transfer, so our mission just might burst at the edges! Other than the influx of missionaries, the transfer announcements were pretty relaxed this time, so nothing else super big to announce there.

Today is the start of my 9th transfer, out of 16, meaning I've made it over the hill! It's said among missionaries that once you've made it to this point, your mission just starts to blaze by. I'll keep you posted on that one. :)

So, as far as the week goes, it was honestly kind of...boring. I think a lot of that just comes from Lorient retransforming into well...Lorient. It's been a pretty tranquil week here. Last week, when we woke up to the fireworks from our balcony at 1:00 am, we could still see people walking around and talking. Now...well, after 8:00, you're lucky to find more than 5 people walking around. It all just has a different vibe now. It's like the awkward emotional transition after watching a really exciting movie. It just feels...weird.

But, despite that, we were able to have a couple pretty good lessons with this young girl we're teaching named Iona. She's the grand-daughter of one of our members, and has been taught by missionaries a whole bunch of times. She's wanted to learn guitar for a while however, and Elder Lloyd happens to be really good at that. :) So, we've kind of started teaching her guitar and restarted teaching her the Gospel. She really likes it all, but, like most teenagers, has trouble getting up on time to come to church. We had really tried to stress the importance of it this week, but...she still didn't make it. Honestly, this is the most like a parent I've ever felt. Trying to get a teenager to something, when the other option is sleep...not the easiest task. We even got to the point of sending her a text Saturday evening reminding her to go to bed early so she could get enough sleep to make it to church. It's frustrating, and a little heart-breaking to have someone you care about, and really want the best for, not do what you know is good for them. And that's a lesson that I'm sure you guys, Mom and Dad, have learned over and over again with us kids. :) It's interesting to me that, and this is something I've seen many, many times on this mission so far, it took me leaving my family and travelling 5 000 miles away from them, to really learn how much they did for me. The patience they had, the love they always showed, and the way that they always knew what was best for me, even when I thought they were wrong. But, as some of you are learning right now, even when we do what we want, when we don't follow their counsel, they'll always be there to back us up, to help us out of the hole that we dug ourselves into or to simply come down into it and tell us it'll be okay. That's what parenthood means. And that's what I'm slowly realizing you guys did for me, and that's something I'll always be thankful for, and that I'll never be able to pay back.

It's taking a while, but I'm learning a lot out here. It's weird how the Lord works, teaching you at the times where you least expect to be taught. But it's great. :)

Well, I'd better get going! I've got a busy 6 weeks in Lorient ahead of me. :)

Elder Bigler

Frenchism: As you would've guessed, the French are really into their wine. Some supermarkets have more than 5 full length aisles alone dedicated to it.

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