England to Paris to Belgium

Here is the group of missionaries in front of the England MTC the morning they left.

Jonah had to be ready to leave the MTC at 5:45 AM.  Here is the group on the plane ready to fly to Paris.

Jonah was happy that a good group of them were going to Paris.  He said it was hard to say goodbye to his friends from the MTC that weren't in his mission because he knew he wouldn't see them again.

Elder Loosli and Sister Cazer. 

Sister Munns posted some pictures and videos from the airport.

President and Sister Munns picked the missionaries up at the airport. Jonah said he met with them that day and said, "They are incredible! It's going to be amazing to work with them."

The Munn's greeted them at the airport and then they left and the missionaries rode the metro with the AP's to the mission home.  Jonah said they had him go on his own to talk to people and try and meet people.  He said it was terrifying.  He said his French is rough and it was hard to communicate, but he left the conversations feeling like he understood what was said, so that was good.  He gave out two Books of Mormon.  He got to message us when he got to the hotel to tell us he made it.  He told me about this experience and asked us to pray for him because this was going to be really hard to immerse himself and a very big adjustment.  All of the trainers were at the mission home and they got to meet everyone at dinner.  They told them they would find out who their trainer/companion was and what area they were going to the next day.

The mission home is right next to the Paris Temple.

Here is Jonah with President and Sister Munns. 

Sister Munns said it was their biggest group yet, 31 missionaries arrived that day.

13 of them were Elders.

They had dinner at the mission home when they got there. 

I got a Facebook message that night from Sister Hintze.  She told me that her and her husband are missionaries there and she had just had dinner with my awesome son.  It was so fun to hear from her.  They are Sister Munn's parents and he is the mission doctor.  Pretty cool.  She said she loved talking to Jonah and that her and her husband grew up in Provo.  She told me that she would send me a picture of Jonah with his companion the next day.  I got his picture of Elder Loosli with his new companion, Elder Zollinger.  Jonah messaged me in the middle of the night (thankfully I always seem to be awake when he messages in the middle of the night) and said, "Headed to Belgium! With the best companion I could have! I met him yesterday and was hoping I'd be with him." I asked him how he felt about all of it and he said, "It's so perfect, this was a miracle for sure."  I was so happy to hear that.  I had been worried about him, that's probably why I'm up in the middle of the night!

Here are the pictures Sister Munns posted of Jonah finding out who his companion was.  I love his big smile, he was very happy!

Then they told him he would be going to Belgium. 

I'm so glad Sister Munns posted all of these pictures. 

Elder Loosli excited about his new companion.

This is Sister Hutchison.  Her grandson played football for Provo High and told her that Jonah was coming to her mission so she was anxious to meet him and get a picture with him.

Here is the whole zone with President and Sister Munns.

After lunch they left the mission home to take a train to Belgium.

Jonah said they had a little extra time so they walked around the newer part of Paris.

He said he saw the Eiffel Tower from a distance, but not close enough to get a picture of it.

I know Jonah was feeling a little overwhelmed, but he's very good at being positive and taking it all in, the good and the bad.

I was surprised when Jonah called me Friday morning.  He was calling to tell me that he had already been pick pocketed.  He's not sure when or how it happened, but his wallet was in his shoulder bag and then it wasn't.  Luckily he didn't have his license in there, just credit cards.  I was able to call both of them and get them canceled right away.  Poor guy, that is a rough way to start your mission.  It was also very lucky that his mission debit card wasn't in there, so he will have his funds from that.  We will just have to send him a new credit card that he can use for extra stuff.  I was happy to see this picture on his google photos, hopefully the day ended better than it started!