Our Missionary Training Center (MTC) Experience

Well, here it is.  I will try to prove to Mary that I can be interesting without being too wordy!

Our daughter, Kate, dropped us off at the Provo MTC two minutes ahead of our scheduled arrival time on Monday, September 21, 2015.  This facility is located adjacent to the Brigham Young University Campus directly at the base of the Wasatch Mountain Range.  The mountains are so close it looks like you could reach out and touch them.  It is the first of 15 such centers located around the world. 

See this link for more information on MTC's: 

https://www.lds.org/locations/missionary-training-centers?lang=eng

Kate dropping us off at the MTC

(Josh, you will be happy to know that I finally learned to add pictures to the blog.  Josh is my 13-year-old grandson who is our main IT support person.)

The MTC is like a well-oiled machine.  It sort of has to be to get 45 senior couples checked in, settled into a room, through the travel office to check plans, to the MTC store to get last minute supplies, get them oriented, and to lunch on time.  (They even allow designated napping areas for those who need them.  For real!!  Not sure if that was a joke or not, but Mary and I laughed about it.) This has to be coordinated with the 2,000ish young missionaries who are in training.  It is organization extraordinaire with a guide at every turn.  We could tell that the week was going to be well-planned with very little time to goof off!

Sister Nance, our afternoon instructor.

We had great instructors and curriculum and learned how to be missionaries in 4 and a half days.  Once again it was proven that we are trainable. 

We made some great friends.

With the Reeds

We met the  Reeds from Provo bound for our home mission in Milwaukee!!  They were bound from where we came from!!  I was just released from that mission presidency to serve a mission myself.  They had lots of questions for us.  What's the winter like? Answer, Lock in the Four-wheel drive on Thanksgiving and take it out on Easter!  They were worried.

With the Edmundsons

We walked a couple of miles with the Edmundsons  from College Station, Texas to the closest CVS Pharmacy to get flu shots.  It's amazing how the distress of getting a flu shot can create a bonding opportunity.

It was suggested that we sit with the young missionaries at meal-time and encourage them.  We took that to heart and had the greatest time.  It seemed they were providing us with as much encouragement as we were providing them.  They are great and so ready to serve the Lord!!  We met missionaries from all over the world.  One lunch was spent with Elders from Costa Rica (that's where our Adam served his mission in the mid-90s), Australia, and Mexico, and two Sisters from Ghana and Samoa.  There were a couple of dozen Americans who were called to serve in the Philippines and a dozen or so who will be serving with us in the Adriatic North Mission.  We met missionaries bound for Spain, Italy, Germany, Mongolia, New Zeeland, Marshall Islands, and the list goes on. 

One of the highlights was a devotional on Tuesday night with all 2,000 plus missionaries and a Seventy, Elder Cardon who spoke with his wife.  The messages were great and encouraging but the real thrill came when we all sang “Called to Serve”.  We rattled the rafters with that one!!  Lyrics for those not familiar with that hymn:

1. Called to serve Him, heav'nly King of glory,
Chosen e'er to witness for his name,
Far and wide we tell the Father's story,
Far and wide his love proclaim.

[Chorus]
Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;
Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;
Forward, pressing forward, as a triumph song we sing.
God our strength will be; press forward ever,
Called to serve our King.

2. Called to know the richness of his blessing—
Sons and daughters, children of a King—
Glad of heart, his holy name confessing,
Praises unto him we bring.

By Friday, we had completed our training and Kate picked us up.  The plan was to spend the weekend with her family and she would drag us and our four 50lb bags and overstuffed carry-ons to the Airport in Salt Lake City on Monday the 28^th for our long travel day to Zagreb, Croatia.  Stand by for more!!  Dovidenja i vidi mo se!!  (Translated: good bye and see you later)