Our first missionary letter!

What a wonderful week!  Our introduction to Utah was lots of snow and it is still here!  The temps were anywhere from -2 degrees to 18 degrees yesterday.  I was never so grateful for a heavy coat, fleece tights, high boots, gloves and scarves!  We stayed at the Marriott Hotel and that was fun!  Pretty fancy for senior missionaries.  Don’t think we will have that in Iowa!  This week we move into the MTC for this last week!

The MTC was quite the experience!   It was all on Preach My Gospel!  For those who teach your older children from it, it will be the best thing you can do for them.  We had great people in our “District”, so some of the role playing we did was easier and even fun with them.  Mark was almost ready to call in sick before the first one……not his favorite thing to do.  However he really got into it by the last day.  I learned to simplify my teaching!

Some of my favorite moments were:

1.       Being around all those young missionaries.  They were so good to us, opened the doors, let us go to the head of the line at the cafeteria, always smiled and said “hello”!  Their parents taught them well and I’m sure they are talked to in the MTC.  They all are so happy!  And they look so young! 

2.       So many video clips, in our classes, of Elder Holland addressing the missionaries!  So powerful!  Boy….we are counseled not to shrink, and to “Lengthen our shuffle”.   Also a great video clip of Elder Bednar! 

3.      Tuesday Devotional with Elder Quentin L. Cook and his wife.  Great stories from them both!

4.      The Missionary Choir which sang at the Devotional!  Wow!  They were marvelous. 

5.      Just being a part of the missionaries there when we sang “Called to Serve”!  I thought it would feel a little trite…..but nope!  Made me cry!

6.      Our instructors were all young returned missionaries and they were delightful.  They had corny jokes, interesting lives which they shared, and were amazing teachers of the Preach My Gospel.  I thoroughly enjoyed them.

7.      Running into Lindsie Wong.   She works at the MTC and found us in the cafeteria.  It was so good to see someone from home!  What a sweetheart!

It was most interesting to meet all the Senior couples and hear their stories and where they are going.  One couple’s son was a mission president and requested his parents to be in his mission.  They were excited.  Another couple, going to Bakersfield, CA…..the wife had been legally blind for 40 years.  I couldn’t even tell until she mentioned it.  She was a temple coordinator, gospel doctrine teacher, Relief Society President and uses a special computer and Ipad.   She soon knew who we all were by the sound of our voices.  Not much slowed her down!  Another couple were going to Albuquerque, NM Mission to work with the Navajo Indians.  They had to bring a car and his big truck and any tools he had.  He was chosen to go there to teach maintenance work in every way possible.  She is to help with nutrition, cooking, gardening, sewing and anything else she could teach them.  They get to wear jeans, except when attending a church meeting.  Another couple was sent to Italy Rome Mission.  She was to be the nurse and health advisor to the Mission President and he was office specialists like we are.  There was a couple there who were on their 5^th mission!  Wow!

This is all the Senior Couples starting the MTC our week.

 Our "District" with whom we practiced our Preach My Gospel role playing.

 

We have one more week here.  It is all on office training!  Hope we can remember everything.  Pray for good weather when we start our trip to Iowa next Friday.  One forecast predicts snow, but Mark said that has changed!  Whew!

We are enjoying our life here and especially being a missionaries!  The gospel of Jesus Christ has been our foundation and our greatest strength.  I know it is true!

Love to you all!