Called to Serve. Paris, France: December 8 - Eng Sprooch geet ni duer... (One Language is Never Enough)

Hey guys!

After a long, crazy, crazy week, it's that time again: transfer week. Elder Gomez is off to Chartres, by Paris, and I'll be getting a new companion, Elder Jenness. I think I may have met him once before, but other than that, I don't know much about him. We're pretty sure that he doesn't speak any Spanish though, which leaves a lot of...concerns for us here in Luxembourg. Almost have of the ward are Spanish speakers, and Ramiro, who has a baptismal date fixed, pretty much only speaks Spanish. It's gonna be a stressful change, with a lot of prayer and more hard work on the Spanish. But we'll be alright here. After 10 weeks, I feel like I mostly know my way around the area, and we should be able to survive way out here.

Anyway, in other news, this week was crazy, like I said.

Monday evening we spent with the Jallohs, teaching Steven and setting up a baptismal date for him. He such a funny kid, and he's pretty smart too!

Arch de Triomphe

Adam and the View of Paris from the Top of the
Arch de Triomphe

We spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday going to Lorient and back. Well, Tuesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon. Because of the hours that the prefecture (the place to pick up my Titre de Séjour) in Lorient was open, we decided that we'd spend two nights in Paris. To give a brief rundown of the trip itinerary, we left Tuesday around 3 and got into Paris around 6. Before heading to the Cergy apartment for the night (where Elder Perry is) we stopped off at the Champs Elysées for a minute and saw the Christmas marché and went up the Arc de Triomphe really fast (which is tiring with all those stairs). Always some nice sights there, and it really got us feeling the excitement of Christmas.

The next morning, to catch our 7 AM train to Lorient, we had to wake up at 4:30. We made it without any problems though, and got to Lorient around 11 where I picked up my visa without any problems. Before leaving there, I was able to meet up with Elder Lloyd for a minute and have a kebab and visit Frère Plante and briefly see Frère Habrant. It was kind of nice. :) Then we headed out from there around 3 again and got into Paris right near the Eiffel Tower, with not much else to do (and there really isn't that much you can do missionary work wise in the heart of Paris like that) so we went to the Eiffel Tower.

Adam at the Eiffel Tower

We had enough time, and since I'd never have the chance to do it at night again, we went up to the top! Unfortunately, it was kind of foggy, but I was still able to get some pretty good pictures. (See More Photos Below.) After all that was over, we headed to Nogent, where we were staying for the night. And that was so cool! Going back to my old ville, back in that old apartment, talking with those guys about all the members and stuff, it was pretty great. :) You're really able to see how much of an influence you have when you go back.

Thursday morning, we took yet another train back to Metz, because we were going to try to do Elder Gomez' legality there, but they were all booked for the day. So, after a little more waiting, we were finally able to catch that last train ride home to Luxembourg and crash at the apartment. We were both pretty dead, especially Elder Gomez, having been a little sick for most of the trip.

Friday we had district meeting, weekly planning, and we went to the Jalloh's again, and got to play an intense game of Rummikub with Steven. He almost beat us, thanks to his Mom. :)

Saturday was kind of a weird day, finding out about transfers and all that stuff. After a little bit of stressing and stuff, we spent a lot of the time packing.

And Sunday was pretty good overall, although I don't remember much because I was translating for the second two hours, and, at least for me, when I'm doing that, it mostly goes in one ear and well...back out from my mouth. :) It's fun, but it kind of wears me out. As we were leaving, we told the oldest Gilstrap boy that we thought his tie was cool, because it has the Luxembourg lion on it. Later, as we were waiting at the bus stop, they pulled up next to us and he stuck his hand out the window holding his tie and said "Here, Elder Gomez, this is for you because you're leaving!" It was just the nicest little gesture, we both just kind of stood there for a minute in shock that he could just be so nice like that. He'll be leaving on his mission in a few months here, and that alone tells me that he'll be a great missionary.

Anyway, overall, it was a pretty good week. Not the most spiritual of my mission, and one of the more tiring, but lots of fun. Going back to those two cities really helped me get back to my mission roots and rethink about a lot of the things I want to accomplish before I leave. I realize more and more each day how fast time is going, and I really want to have accomplished more before I go back to the states. With Christmas coming up, and new year's, it's a great time to really think about all of this and set some good goals for the future.

Well, I'd better get going before I write a letter bigger than Mom's. ;)

Schéinen Dag nach! (Have a Nice Day!)