MTC-Week Two

Our second week at the MTC was a bit different than the first.  Our training was focused on office responsibilities like housing, transportation, finance, transfers, correspondence, etc.  Our group consisted of only 5 couples.  They were assigned missions in Arkansas, Nebraska, Mexico, Italy and of course, Ghana.  Instead of practicing teaching the gospel, we spent our time starring at computer screens.  Believe it or not, there were still times when we felt the spirit and began to see how  temporal things are also spiritual.  It helps to constantly think of our purpose, to “Invite others to Come unto Christ.”  Once again our teachers were mere “children,” matured by full-time missionary service and superb computer skills.  All of them spent considerable time serving in the office of their respective missions.

Our young and awesome teachers

Our little Office Training class

During our training, a member of the church Global Fleet(vehicles) team, shared his expertise and experiences.  Our mission only has about 10 vehicles, mostly assigned to seniors.  A couple in our training will be responsible to oversee the maintenance of 100+ cars in Omaha, Nebraska.  With inexperienced drivers who are 18-21 years old, you can imagine the challenges and the need to be very specific about tasks like oil changes, filling the car with gas and how to drive in winter weather.  

This was the scene in the cafeteria the last two weeks.  It was amazing!

The Tuesday evening devotional speaker was Elder Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Quorum of Seventy.  He was encouraging and helped us keep our focus.  He spoke to all the missionaries, but spent considerable time looking at us seniors and made many comments specific to us.  One thing he said was our mission will be the hardest thing that we will ever do but will be the most rewarding.  Also, he encouraged us to make the decision what kind of missionary you will be and to serve the Lord because we love Him.

Since our MTC experience was flexible in the evenings, we were able to catch up with some of our friends in Utah as they “sprang” us from the missionary complex.   We forgot to take pictures of some of those we met, so we asked them to send us photos so we can remember them.  We are still waiting for some people to respond.

Pat and Roy Ottley are good friends from Hillsboro.  They recently moved to American Fork, Utah.

Kay and Julee Anderson from Provo, Utah.  We met them on a Middle East tour and since then have also been to Central America and Antarctica.

David and Zina Cox, from Lehi, Utah, also taught English at Shandong University in China with us. 

At the University Mall we met Carsons, Yowells and Rasmussens who were friends from Hillsboro and now they all live in Utah.

Steven and Judi Morse (absent in the picture) were friends from our senior year at BYU and we spent several years together in Hillsboro.  They now live in Lindon, Utah.

Marla, Stan's sister and her husband, Jamon Scott, enjoying a favorite family pastime.

Stan's mom, Verla

Wednesday night a senior couple organized a game night in the lounge area of our housing complex.  We enjoyed visiting and sharing experiences as well as participating in a group game that pitted the women against the men.  The men won the first round and the second time we called a draw since we reached a stalemate.  A few other couples came in at that point, including two who were born in the Philippines and are returning as senior missionaries.  It is amazing that from 4 missionaries arriving in that land in the 60’s that now the church membership there is nearly 1 million and 21 missions.

We were finished with training on Thursday afternoon but our flight out of the US was not until Sunday.  We were fortunate to obtain tickets to the Provo City Center Temple open house, prior to its dedication in March.  This building was built in the 1800’s and used as a church and community center.  A few years ago there was an electrical fire and it burned to the ground except for the exterior walls.  The church decided to restore it and convert it to a temple.  All the décor is historic to that period.  An original piece of woodwork was saved from the fire and incorporated into the pulpit in the chapel.

We really didn’t want to leave the MTC.  It was like living in the Temple.   Everyone on that campus qualified to have a temple recommend, which means trying to live a righteous life and endeavoring to keep all the commandments of God to the best of their abilities.  In addition, we were all there to learn and to support each other.   Plus we were praying that we might meet the challenge of our callings and be an instrument in the hand of God in the effort to invite others to come unto Christ.  We loved it and felt the Spirit bearing testimony to our spirits, that this Work is true.  What an honor it is to represent the Savior to the people of Ghana.