FIELD

Bonjour!!!

I guess I`ll just get right to the point - I`m serving in Quebec City, speaking French! I don`t even know where to start to sum up the past week! When we arrived in Montreal, our mission president explained how the language thing works here. In almost every other mission in the world, missionaries speak their assigned mission language their whole mission unless they are formally reassigned. Here, the Brethren generally make sure that each missionary speaks French and English by the time they`re done in the MTC. If they already speak both, sometimes they learn a third (Spanish or Chinese). Then you just kind of have to speak whatever language is needed where you serve. Even here in Quebec, calling members and investigators on the phone is weird because you never know if they`re going to answer you in French, English, or Spanish. Good thing my companion and I speak all three!

My trainer and I flushed into this area - meaning that we`re both new. When we arrived, we didn`t know a single person here, nor did we know how to get anywhere. We`re good friends with the map now. She spent the first 9 months of her mission in Laval, and this is only her second area. Crazy, right? Basically, this is an adventure for both of us. But it`s a lot of fun. I already love it here, even though the accent is sometimes hard to understand. Believe me, the first few days in the field, I was driving the struggle bus. Mainly because every time I opened my mouth, it was filled with Spanish. Awkward. Maybe by the end of my mission I`ll be able to switch between the three languages without mixing them up too badly. 

That`s the important stuff. I love being a missionary. I`m so excited to get to know this area and these people better!

Avec amour,

Soeur Shaver