The MTC

We spent this week in the Provo Missionary Training Center where we were trained, along with 98 other Senior Couples, on how to teach lessons to those in need. It has been an incredible week and here are some brief snipets of what we experienced:

- We attended eight hours of church services and various devotionals on Sunday including a Devotional by Sheri Dew. The spirit is so strong here that we concluded that the only two things we could possible do was to cry or sleep due to spiritual exhaustion.

Tuesday, we sat at the feet, literally as we were near the front, of an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, Elder Gong, and were instructed on Gospel Truths.

473 more younger missionaries arrived on Wednesday, making over a thousand total being trained here right now. There is a unique spiritual power here that is powerful! All of these willing servants of the Lord.

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Part of our training included “app training” which was being trained on how to use Gospel Apps on our devices. Picture a couple dozen young types trying to teach 100 Senior Missionaries, some who had never used a device before, on how to find scriptures on their phone. Kind of amusing……….

We were able to attend the Provo temple Thursday evening, which is right across the street from the MTC. We could look out of our window and see the temple.

On Friday, volunteers from the community came to the MTC and we practiced teaching them. This was not role playing, but a real live situation where we were to discern a need and prepare a lesson to help them with it. This was a great experience for us and gave us a bunch of confidence.

And here is a great experience we had here this week:

They assigned us another couple, one not in our District, to be our “others”. We have started calling them our special friends. We were assigned to eat all meals with them, sit with them at group meetings and hang out with them. They are from here in Utah and are going to the Republic of Congo (Cammaroon in specific). I had to look that up on a map. It is in Western Africa right on the Equator. They left the lines on the mission application as to where to go and what language to speak and what to do there absolutely blank. So they will be speaking French, which they will have to learn, and doing MLS just like us. He has been a Bishop and was just a High Councilor. She was just a Stake Young Woman President. Frankly, there is no way we would have chosen them ever to be friends with. We viewed them as way above our level. But our assignment was to get to know them, discern a need, and then prepare a lesson and invitation based on that need. As we got to know them, we absolutely fell in love with them. We are more alike than we thought. Hanna and the Sister are like two peas in a pod. Talking about kids and scarves and hats and spending significant amounts of time peering over the cafeteria buffets before deciding what to eat. He owned a CPA firm. And he basically hates to talk to people, pretty much like me. And discern a need? These people appeared to be perfect. Even their kids appeared perfect. But as we got to know them a bunch, they let their guards down and as we shared some of our trials, he told us he had never had a trial of his faith and wasn’t sure he had enough faith to deal with trials that will obviously come up as he serves in Africa. (I can only imagine). I was shocked when he said this. I mean, he has accepted a call for two years to leave his business and family, to learn French, and to serve in AFRICA. That is a crazy mission. And would require a ton of faith. As we prayed about them, the spirit told us to focus on how much God loves them, will protect him, and that his faith is enough. We were inspired to invite them to read in D&C 121:7-9 regarding the blessings Joseph Smith was promised as he survived the Liberty Jail. As we gave our 20-minute presentation, he openly sobbed. We were so touched, partly by the spirit, but also because we love this humble couple and want to do anything we can to strengthen them. Great experience! The experience gave us confidence in our abilities to listen to the spirit, make friends with anyone, and give a lesson that is really needed.

We love our mission!!

The name tag on this statue at the MTC says "Elder Stewart". Is that ME when I was 19???