THE MISSIONARY TRAINING CENTER - PART 1

Monday, January 18, we entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT at 10:00 AM and were impressed with the organization and kindness of those greeting us and starting us on our missionary journey.



We had lunch in the cafeteria with 2,200 other missionaries. Next we met with all of the new senior missionaries. There are about 50 of us all together. The Provo MTC Mission Presidency with their wives were all present, along with a couple called the Senior Missionary Coordinators, Elder and Sister Buchanan. We received some inspirational messages and general information about meetings, health, etc. Steven was assigned to be a District Leader and we have two other couples in our district. One couple in our district is going to Nauvoo and the other is going to Australia.



This is a picture of our district. The Mertins are at the left. They both quit their jobs and left their youngest daughter, 19 with their other daughter and her husband to go on this mission. They will go back to work when they return home. They are going to Australia. The couple in the center is Elder and Sister Wilcox. They both lost their spouses after 50 years of marriage and have been married 18 months. They are going to Nauvoo on a restoration mission. Elder Wilcox is a bricklayer and Sister Wilcox will work in the historic sites.

Here we are in the traditional spot for pictures at the MTC - out in front by the sign. One day, while we were at the MTC Post Office we ran into Laura Mitchell from the Tickle Creek Ward. It was fun to see someone from home.

Here is Steven outside our room at the MTC. We stayed in the Jacob Hamblin Building, but some of the senior couples had to stay at a nearby Motel 8 because they are remodeling the building.

These two pictures show our room. We had about as much space to live in as our bedroom at home, though there was a common "family room" downstairs that the senior couples could use to study or use wireless internet. There were often 7 or 8 couples using the internet at a time in the evenings. We were in class all day from 8:00 AM til 5:00 PM and then had reading assignments in the evenings.
It is fun to visit with other senior missionaries, learn of their lives, and where they will be serving.

The highlight of the day Tuesday was attending the Tuesday Evening Devotional with 2,200 other missionaries. The senior missionaries didn't have to stand in line and had reserved seating in the front. We were able to sit in the second row. It was powerful to sing prelude hymns with all of the missionaries and especially touching to sing Called to Serve with them. We were blessed to hear from a general authority and his wife. Elder David Evans of the First Quorum of the Seventy and his wife spoke. His wife spoke about the blessings of obedience and Elder Evans emphasized using the Book of Mormon in our Gospel study and teaching and in our lives. We thought it was a very spiritual experience to be with so many missionaries and feast on the words of Christ as shared by the general authority.