Christmas in France is always special. The Tours Elders were invited to spend Christmas Eve of 1984 dining with a sweet elderly sister and her side-kick. This sister had gone to the trouble of preparing a humble, yet enjoyable meal for us to eat, including oysters! Most Americans do NOT enjoy oysters, and we were no different! This sister, who was a little weak-sighted, stood at one end of the table opening the oysters for us and then putting them on our plates; she had at LEAST 6-10 oysters for each missionary.
My companion Elder Thompson was this sister's favorite missionary...she doted on him the entire meal, but especially during the eating of the oysters. He didn't care for them but didn't want to appear unappreciative, so he would put the shell to his mouth, throw his head back and then shake his head back and forth until the vile little creature was in his stomach (all the while looking at the ceiling). While he was busy with his head facing the ceiling, eyes closed, and trying to swallow that little booger, I reached over and took his oyster shells. This did two things, it made it look like I had been busy eating, and made the sister think that I had already eaten more than her favorite missionary!
I was laughing so hard on the inside because no one was the wiser. I don't know if I ever told any of the other elders how I worked my way clear of not having to eat more than that very first oyster.
They got their revenge though. I am a convert from Catholicism and had to suffer through 18 years of midnight mass on Christmas Eve and had thought those days were over. Since I had the inside scoop on how mass worked and 'what' would happen 'when', they begged me to take them to the Tours Cathedral for midnight mass. So I once again found myself having to sit through another boring midnight mass! :) Elder Jean-Paul Chaussé, submitted to the former site |