AN Aberystwyth teenager is preparing to spend two years working as a missionary in France.

Oscar De Sousa, 18, has jetted off to Utah in the USA for training, ahead of leaving for Lyon in September for two years of missionary work.

Oscar, a member of Aberystwyth’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is a former pupil of Ysgol Gymraeg and Ysgol Penweddig but will experience life in France as he works as a missionary.

He said: “I’m serving a mission for my church. In our church they persuade each young man to do that at 18.

“It’s quite scary, but it’s a great opportunity. It’s going to help lift my confidence and help me going forward.

“It’ll help my French. I did French at GCSE but I’m not fluent. My parents are fluent. It’s a really good opportunity.”

While the church chooses the location for missionaries, Oscar, who has four siblings, said he had been keen to learn another language and was pleased to have been chosen to go to France. But first he will spend several weeks in Provo in Utah at the church’s Missionary Training Centre after flying out on 15 August.

Speaking before he left for Utah, Oscar, a keen footballer who has played for Llanilar and has coached youngsters, said: “I’ll be leaving for Utah for the training centre where I’ll some training for missionary work and learn some French.

“Then in September I’ll be going to Lyon. I won’t have much time to email my family over the next six weeks, but after that I’ll be emailing each week.

“I’m really nervous, but I’m really excited as well.”

Oscar will return to Aberystwyth in 2019 and is hoping to attend university in Bath to study mathematics.

He has said he hopes to become a teacher and his experience in France could mean that he considers looking to teach in French.