Week 4

Bonjour!!
This has been a very crazy week!! I say that... and then I think... what even happened??? :) Well the biggest surprise came on Monday. My companion received a note in our mailbox that he was going to San Franciso on Thursday and the rest of us in our district hadn't recieved notes that we were going yet so he was kind of rubbing it in and then about thirty minutes later the Travel Services lady came on the intercom in our classroom and called up Elder Allen, Elder Dorton, Elder Garlock and myself to go to the Travel Services office. (The lady was Brazilian and had a very difficult time saying Kirkpatrick... it was pretty funny). So we all went up there and she told us that we were going to San Franciso the next day!!! The office had been so busy that they weren't able to get notes out to us in the mail. So we were all excited that we were going except my companion was kind of bummed because he wasn't able to go with us.

So, on Tuesday we had to be at the Travel Office at 5 in the morning so that we could make our flight. I had to get up at 4:15.... YUCK! There were a total of nine of us, four from my district and then five from other districts in our French Zone. We got on a big charter bus with all of the missionaries leaving on tuesday, and there were a ton of them, it was slightly depressing because we knew we were coming back to the MTC that night and not heading out to the field yet. We got to the airport and bought breakfast, yes mom I was in the SLC airport and in SF so no one stole my debit card :), and then our plane left at 8.

We got on this skinny little airplane that only had two seats on each side of the aisle and I was almost too tall to walk upright down the aisle because the ceiling was so low. After we made it to San Franciso, we called our van driver who would drive us around for the day. They gave us a cell phone to use! It was like some bizarre far off technology in a long-forgotten dream or something. :) Just teasing! So we called Edgar, our driver, and he took us to the consulate which is right in the middle of the city in San Fran. It was so cool driving through the city like we used to when Holly and Chad lived there. We made it to the consulate and we went through metal detectors and they checked our information and everything before they would allow us in. They called us up one at a time, the church gave us our passports back and our visa applications and our flight itinerary for when we leave! I leave on the 27th of September and we leave Salt Lake around nine and go to Atlanta and then from Atlanta we fly to Paris, on a 747!, and then from Paris we fly to Toulouse. It is going to be such a long day!!! I think it was about 19 hours of total travel time. So we leave the morning of the 27th and then make it to France on the morning of the 28th with all of the time zone changes and everything. It is going to be such a long day!! But, I absolutely cannot wait!!

So after they took our paperwork individually and they had to get finger prints from all of our fingers on both hands and our thumbs, which I thought was a bit excessive, we got back on the van and Edgar asked where we wanted to go. We all decided to go to Pier 39 and spend some time there before going back to the airport. We got to the Pier and it was so crazy!! Everyone looked at us weird and would stare at our tags. As missionaries people look at you differently, with respect, with interest, with curiosity, with disbelief, it's a very odd feeling. We definitely stuck out in our suits with all of the casual tourists. We were walking down the sidewalk to the Boudin Sourdough Bread factory... MMMMM and this, most likely homeless man, saw us and raised his beer in the air and said, "Ezra Taft Benson," really loudly. Haha it was so bizarre. We just walked away and could not help but laugh.
Another funny story, we were sitting down eating and a homeless man smoking a cigarette and missing a ton of teeth came up to us and said, "You Elders have a nice word and a good gospel. There are a lot of Christians around here who really need you guys." It was just so random. There are a lot of very different people who have been influenced by the church in different ways and although they don't currently go, they have great respect for it. It's very nice to see. We also met tons and tons of members walking around and they said Hi and talked with us quite a bit. Some even took pictures with us. We were practically celebrities. :) We always heard French everywhere! There were tons of people speaking French. We were all very surprised. We talked with some for a bit too.

Some of the other Elders went off and were trying to teach people and such and they got one rejection and came back with their tail between their legs. They said, "Let's call the driver and go back. We are so done. This is just ridiculous." I'm not sure if they were expecting people to just straight up jump into the baptismal font but they were just so discouraged about it and had horrible attitudes. We told them that there was no way we were leaving. How many opportunities would we have to be in San Francisco just walking around and enjoying it?? None. Fortunately, those Elders are going to Paris on their missions. We don't need that kind of attitude in Toulouse.

Once our driver did pick us back up, we headed to the airport. Our flight was supposed to leave around 4:30 but it got super delayed so we weren't able to leave until 6:30. They gave us meal coupons so that was nice. We finally made it back to SLC pretty late and didn't make it to the MTC until after 10. It was a very long day but it was so awesome!!!

It was really nice to get out of our little 1/4 mile block and to be in the world and talk with everyday people. None of us were ready to go back, other than the reason that we are so very unprepared to speak French with people but I still can't wait to get out there!!

The rest of the week was pretty much more of the same. Nothing overly thrilling or exciting. Just a lot more French and a lot more teaching. I still worry about the French but I look at the progress that I have made in the last three weeks and it is unbelievable. It's crazy! So in six more weeks, the difference should be incredible.

Well, I love you all very much and I hope that everyone is doing great! It has been so beautiful here and the weather has been awesome. A little raining but nice. I hope to hear from you all, have a great week!

Elder Kirkpatrick