This is a fictionalized account of my experiences as a mormon missionary in France and Belgium in the early 1970s. Though the circumstances and events are real for the most part, it is fiction and represents how I would have liked my mission to be.
Gary
True Companions
Part I - Coming Together
I arrived at the gare (train station) in Liege, Belgium and found Elder Millett waiting for me on the platform. He was my new senior. I just transferred from Charleville in France. It was the middle of January and the air was biting cold. I had been in the mission for about 5 months and this was already my 3rd city, even my 3rd country. My first city was Luxembourg but that's another story.
Elder Millett was from New Mexico. He was my height, about 6 foot, around 160lbs and wore a broad smile that welcomed me to my new companionship. So far, I hadn't been too lucky in the comp department. My first city had 3 of us so one always was in the apartment while the other two went out. My second companionship was with a guy getting ready to go home who decided to break all tracting records and worked me really hard while never saying a word in my direction. He was dealing with some tough issues I guess. Here I was with my 3rd companion and already I liked it a lot better. He wore the standard issue hat which we were required to wear from October to April, had a long coat on with a hefty scarf wrapped 3 times around the neck and tucked into the coat.
"Welcome to Liege!" he said while extending a large hand towards me.
"Thanks", I responded while I drank in his blue eyes and friendly countenance.
"Let's go get your trunk and we'll get a taxi to go to the apartment. We actually live in Seraing which is a little bit west of town. Then we'll have to come back and get your bike later."
We got my trunk filled with all my worldly possessions and grabbed a taxi which took me to my new town, Seraing. Our apartment was on one of the main streets down by the Meuse River nestled between two steel mills! It was the only apartment on my mission that didn't have a shower or tub or heat for that matter. We lived above a record shop that played French music all day long.
We lugged my trunk up the steps and Elder M. welcomed me to my new, one room, cold apartment. There was a small gas powered heater at the one end, one wooden table, a wardrobe which we shared, two beds along one wall that were end to end and a small rug. A small room was attached that served as a kitchen. It had a sink and a two-burner gas stove and some shelves. The toilet was down the hall. That was it.
Elder M. lit the heater and showed me my bed and my half of the wardrobe. He took off all the outer layers and left his blue woolen sweater on over his white shirt. Then, while I proceeded to try to organize myself, he went in and cooked up the standard missionary fare of pasta and hamburger with a white sauce, some green beans and bread. By the time he was finished, the room had heated up and we both removed our heavier sweaters. As he took his over his head, I was pleased to see a well-built, slender body under the layers of clothing. I was looking forward to seeing more!
We ate lunch and talked about our lives before Liege. He had been out a year and was from Las Cruces, New Mexico. After a year at the Y, where he studied biology, he came out to the mission field. He had a girl friend back home (dang!) and seemed pretty normal. He grew up in the Church unlike me, a convert at the age of 19 and a missionary when I was 21. Consequently, though Elder M was the senior and district leader, I was older than him by a year. The only other major thing I kept looking at was Elder M's shock of red hair on the top of his head! That and his freckles belied the fact he came from the Southwest. And his smile! He was always smiling and spoke in kind, gentle tones.
After lunch, we re-packaged ourselves and headed back out to Liege to get my bike. He showed me around Seraing - not much to see. It was a dirty, grimy steel town where you needed a handkerchief to wipe the grime off your brow. It was located on a steep hillside along the Meuse River. We took the bus into Liege and picked up my bike. Elder M had brought his so the two of us rode around Liege and then on back to the apartment. We didn't have any appointments so that night we went tracting. I was not surprised to see that Belgians had the same response to our door approach that the Luxemburgers and the French had (Je suis Catholique et je rest Catholique!). It was cold. We returned home with some frites (French fries) from a street vendor and warmed up some milk and had our dinner.
After dinner, we talked some more then wrote some letters and got ready for bed. The beds lined one wall with our heads together in the middle. They weren't very comfortable but I was tired. Missionaries carried blankets from apartment to apartment but there were a couple of extra blankets as well. Elder M warmed up a large pan of water for us to wash up with. The room was fairly warm with the heat and he stripped down to his garments. One piece garments were always fun to watch because the opening in the back almost always allowed some skin to show if not a full shot of your companions ass. I noted he wore cotton garments and carefully tried to not look like I was trying to see his body. But I was. He was well built with strong arms from working on his family's property in New Mexico. I watched him wash his face and arms and brush his teeth at the sink. Then he put on his robe and walked the 10 feet to the toilet down the hall. We were the only ones to use this toilet so it wasn't much of an issue other than it wasn't heated!!! When he came back, I had washed up and then went to the toilet.
When we were ready to go to bed, we knelt by his bed and had our first companion prayer together. It was short and sincere. We knelt side by side almost touching. Afterwards, who Elder M had taken up the habit of hugging his companion, stood up and turned to me and with that broad smile put his arms around me and told me he was glad I was his companion and he knew we'd have success together. I was taken somewhat aback but was thrilled to be in his arms with only our garments between us. As we broke away from each other, I had to try to hide my tenting crotch. I looked down at his genitals area and could barely see the outline of a manly cock fully filling out his garments. A nice patch of read hair poked out of the "smiling" top of the garment.
We laid down to sleep, our heads near each other. I felt as though I had finally found a companion I could be friends with and have the type of experience that had led me to join the church in the first place several years before - a spiritual bond between two men. We chatted a little after the light was turned out and the heater turned down. Then we were quiet, each with our own dreams and feelings to fill the black void. I could hear the gentle snoring of Elder M. and my thoughts turned to home and friends and what life could be.