It is Sunday afternoon in the MTC. We have been to church, been fed, and for the first time since we have been here, we have some time to reflect. Here are some things, in no special order, that we love about the MTC.

1. The powerful feeling of being surrounded by priesthood. There is something awe-inspiring about the thousands of young elders in their suits, and white shirts and name tags and scriptures, hurrying from class to class. They really do shine. The spirit of the young sister missionaries is gentler, but no less powerful. It truly feels as if we are walking with the armies of Helaman.

2. The beautiful campus with its buildings and flowers,pictures and statues.

Everywhere we see quiet reminders

of our reasons for being here.

3. The amazing senior couples. All of them have unique and amazing stories. One couple, the Winders, had long experience in agriculture and ranching, and had been called to manage a church ranch in Nevada. At the beginning, I felt they were very different from us...and they were. Their spirituality, and readiness to work hard, inspired us all.

The others are former engineers, architects, policemen, homemakers, and ...teachers. Some have had extensive leadership experience, and some haven't. Most of us are on our first mission. To rub shoulders with people like these has been a great source of joy.

4. The enthusiasm, spirituality and knowlege of the young returned missionaries who have been our teachers. I hate, after all those years of teaching, to say that I learned about teaching from them, but it is true.

5. Feeling the spirit while teaching lessons. While that may sound strange, you need to remember that the lessons we have been giving have been role-playing experiences. While we were teaching a lesson to a sister missionary who was pretending to be a less active member, I felt prompted to give her counsel that wasn't actually in the lesson. She teared up a bit, and later said that she had been given something she really had needed. We all felt the spirit strongly. I guess there is no such thing as a "fake" lesson.

6. Being able to walk to the temple and do a session. Having the temple close adds to the feeling here.

7. Feeling the spirit of the mission begin to change our lives. It is a process, but from the moment we were set apart, we knew that something special was happening to us.

Having said all that, it also is exhausting. Someone said it was like being given a drink from a firehose. For me, it is simply hard to sit through all the meetings.


Betty and I have also already had a couple of “companionship inventories” to keep us on track. We tend to live at different speeds, and we are having to learn to deal with being so closely tied together, just like the young missionaries do. Just the same, we have made adjustments and are getting along fine. Divorce is not imminent.





This coming week the emphasis will be on welfare, and on the employment services. As much as we have loved the MTC, we will be happy to head off to Uruguay on Friday.