The Missionary Training Center- Week 1

Sister Jones called the MTC being in heaven surrounded by angels.  I only felt it is the best place on earth.  The Holy Spirit is ever present and the Lord walks among us.  It is the finest gathering of people you will ever be associated with.  All are united in a desire to serve the Lord.

There are 130 in our group this week.  We were divided into 5 sub-groups for pictures. Sister Jones is in the red top and I am behind her.  Couples in the group will be going all over the world to places like Japan, New Zealand, the Congo, South Africa, England, several South American countries as well as throughout the United States. 

We are divided into districts for small group instruction.  Brother Swallow on the left was one of our trainers.  Elder and Sister Thurman were from Blackfoot, ID and going to the Fort Worth, TX Mission to be leader/member support for a branch composed of members from the Marshall Islands.  The Jordans are from Chandler, AZ and will be serving a mission in Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City in family history or administration.  The Tonas are from Hawaii and will be in Tokyo in the Asia North Area office. 

Sister Clark was our other trainer.

Here is the district in Room 225 of Building 4M where we had our small group classes.

Wednesday evening, the District went to the Provo City Center Temple.  It was a beautiful experience in a beautiful temple.  The session was packed with people.  It was unusual to us to see so many young people in the temple including officiators.   It was a late night as the shuttle got us back to the MTC at 10:30.  

On the grounds is this statue of Samuel Smith, the prophet's brother, who was the first missionary who started in what is now the New York Rochester Mission. 

Our instruction this week centered on the missionary guidebook, Preach My Gospel.  We did a lot of role playing in missionary settings.  For some, people from the community are brought in to take on the role of an investigator.  

We saw a video by Elder Bednar entitled "The Character of Christ," which was of a talk he gave at the MTC a couple of years ago and is only shown at the MTC.  We hope to see it again this coming week.  

On Tuesday evening, there was a devotional by an Emeritus Member of the Seventy, Elder Marlin Jensen.  In the early 1990's, he served as Mission President in the NY Rochester Mission.  His talk was on degrees of faith.  

The facility and food were first class and everything was very efficiently organized.   Being around the young missionaries was invigorating.  They treat the senior missionaries with respect, always opening doors and greeting us.

The week was the best week of our lives.  We are eager to get our training completed and return to New York.