Day 1 of the MTC – Monday, September 9, 2013

We arrived about 10:05 a.m. and checked into the Provo MTC.  We were greeted by many senior couples who work at the Provo MTC full time as missionaries.  We parked the car, checked into the desk and that is where we found out that we will be staying at the Provo Marriott Hotel until Saturday, the 14^th until 11:00 am.  They gave us a packet of information and went through it quickly as there were 84 senior missionaries entering the MTC on this day.  There are 6 single sisters and the rest are couples.  After we received our packet, we were told to go to building M2 and then we had 4 stations to go to:  the travel office, the bookstore, the immunization office and the general office – all at the MTC campus.  At the travel office, they gave us a check to pay for mileage and 1 night of a hotel stay on the way to Ventura.  At the bookstore, we picked up a package that had everything we need for our mission – as far as books go.  Each type of mission would get a different package. For example, we have in our group many who are going on a Perpetual Education Mission, some on Humanitarian and some medical.  There are 3 couples going on an office mission.  They are going all over the world – 3 couples to different African countries; 1 to Sri Lanka, some to countries in Asia, England, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Samoa and Australia, New Zealand, India – and even Orem.  After the bookstore we went to immunization and cleared that hurdle and then to general where we gave them money for eating at the MTC.

One funny story, there is a couple here whose last name is Roos and it is pronounced just like our name.  You will never guess where they are going – to Samoa on a Perpetual Education/Self Reliant mission.  That is the one that we were trying to go to.  Do you think they got our call????  So every time they call our name, they have to spell it.

After we did the 4 stations (it was like a scavenger hunt), we were sent over to the Stadium Chapel and then were introduced to a couple by the last name of Thomas.  Their mission is to take care of all of the senior missionaries and train them and be their guide while they are at the MTC.  They are very, very nice.  After our orientation, we then went to the cafeteria where they feed about 12,000 missionaries and it is incredible to see!  They will soon have about 20,000 at the MTC!  The cafeteria is usually open for 2 ½ hours to give them all time to eat.

They have 7stations in the cafeteria – and you could even get a box lunch and eat it outside or if you have to leave before breakfast, lunch or dinner – they will do that for you.  Everything you could imagine.  And – you should see the huge plates filled with food!  In the hallway outside the cafeteria there is a billboard that will show the menu for the day.  It reminded me of when we were on the cruise ship and would hurry to the ballroom to see what the menu was and we would do that every day – first thing in the morning!

After lunch, we went back to the chapel to meet the MTC Presidency – but they were all gone on a retreat.  However, President and Sister Hacking (President Hacking was our Stake President before Jimmy Trent) were there to speak to us and that was really fun to hear from them.  He had us all introduce ourselves, tell our name, where we are going, and if this was our first mission.  There was one couple there who have been on 5 missions previously.  Some of the missionaries look really old – we look really young compared to some.

Then we had more training after lunch about what to expect during the week – and then we were dismissed to have dinner at 4:00 and go check in at the hotel.

The MTC campus – they call it that – is huge!  But not big enough – so they will start adding on to it this fall.  Beautiful pictures hang on the walls at the MTC of missionaries in their assignments from all over the world – some are very, very old.

On Day 2 (Tuesday, September 10), we started our Preach My Gospel training with return missionaries as our teachers.  We were divided up into districts of about 8 people.  In our district Brother and Sister Singly from Santa Marita, California (which is in our mission) are going to Laos – where they will do a LDS Charities mission working on water purification.  He is our district leader while we are in the MTC.  The other 2 couples are going to Equador and Ghana.  In class we learn about how to teach lessons and then we practice on members who have volunteered to role play as investigators.  We had our first one today and Kelsey and I did okay – but we need to keep it more simple.

Later last night we went to a devotional that is held in a smaller Wilkinson Center type auditorium and they couldn’t get all of the missionaries inside because there are so many.  So, those missionaries that are in the “west campus” (the apartments that the Church is leasing) had to watch it by satellite.  Elder Martino talked and it was wonderful.  They have a certain saved section for the senior missionaries on the floor.  The young elders and sisters were in the choir and they were ½ of the auditorium.  We got back to the hotel late and we were exhausted.

Today was more training and tomorrow we will do another try at teaching another investigator.  Also, today 624 new young missionaries arrived.  We could tell when we went to dinner – because there was hardly a seat to be had in the dining room.

Here is a picture of the MTC – it is incredible and we can’t believe we are having this experience!  This map shows the buildings on the MTC campus.  You will see the red arrow below - that is building M19 and where we had the devotionals.  The small building are all dormitories for the missionaries.