The MTC July 8-15

Margie drove us from her home in Salt Lake to the MTC in Provo on the morning of Monday, July 8.  We had spent the weekend with her family, having flown from Portland, and it is so hard to say goodbye to your kids and grandkids for two years!  We'd been told that new missionaries are just dropped off and met at the curb these days, so that's what we anticipated, but guess what?  Senior missionaries get to have their families come inside while they get signed in, so that was a nice surprise.  So, more hugs and pictures taken out in front.

The MTC is the Missionary Training Center.  This is where most of our young missionaries spend a few weeks to learn teaching skills and materials and, in many cases, a foreign language.  The atmosphere there is filled with energy, spirit, and love.  We were there at rather an historic time, as the lowering of the age limit for young missionaries has caused a huge influx.  The week we were there saw 3400 missionaries in the MTC.  This is way more than it can currently accommodate, so a second campus has been created in a couple apartment complexes the church has leased.  Many of the senior missionaries, ourselves included, were housed at the Marriott Hotel in Provo, and our meetings and classes were held at the church building next door to the MTC.  There were 84 of us who arrived on July 8, all headed for missions in different parts of the world.


The senior missionary curriculum, for most of us, consisted of a week's training in the book "Preach My Gospel."  We were taught, as the young missionaries are, by young returned missionaries, which surprised me at first, but they were excellent teachers and we all learned so much from them.  Of course, we were already familiar with the content, but they helped us to improve our teaching skills.  On three days, we had experiences in the TRC.  Now, I can't even tell you what 'TRC' stands for, but we did some role-playing with volunteer 'investigators,' pretending to teach them.  It was amazing how, even though we were only role-playing, the Spirit could be so strong in those situations.

The Tuesday evening devotional was held at the Marriott Center (BYU's huge sports arena), to accommodate such a number of missionaries.  Hundreds sang in the choir, and the speaker was an emeritus general authority, L. Lionel Kendrick, who gave an excellent talk with some wonderful missionary stories.

Mealtime in the MTC was fun, as we ate in the cafeteria with the young 'ens.  They're just fun to watch, but also inspiring, when you consider that all these ordinary young people are taking 18 or 24 months away from school, family, friends, working, and playing, and devoting that time and all their efforts to serving the Lord, many at their own expense.  We ran into two young women we knew from home - - Chelsie Kunz, who is also going to the Philippines, and Heidi McGill, who will serve in Korea.

Staying at the Marriott, we were just a couple blocks from the old Provo Tabernacle, so we walked over there one evening.  It was pretty well gutted in a fire a couple years ago and is being rebuilt as a new temple.  It's an amazing project - - they have it up on jacks right now, as they build a basement under it.  Pictured is an artist's rendition of the finished product.

Saturday was a free day for us, and a group of us spent the morning at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, which is gorgeous.  (The Provo Temple is across the street from the MTC, but it was closed for maintenance while we were there.)  We were happy for a chance to go to the temple once more before leaving, since we may not be able to while we're in the Philippines.  That afternoon, Margie and Josh came down from Salt Lake and we spent the rest of the day with their family . . . then had to say goodbye all over again.  : (

Our Sunday services were held in smaller 'congregations,' except for an evening devotional with everyone together, all with wonderful speakers.  Also, we had a meeting of all the missionaries who would be heading out in the following week - - 974 of us!  We got to see who was going where, and there were twenty-some headed for the Philippines.  This was all charged with the Spirit, and it was kind of sad to see our MTC time winding down, but exciting to get on with the work.  As we left the next morning, I thought, hey, every time we go on another mission, we'll get to start it off with another MTC experience!  There's nothing like it in the world.
M.A.