MTC:
Week 1
It
is tradition for missionaries to have their picture taken at the “Go Ye Into
All the World” map, which is at the MTC, so here we are! At this time, we are the only couple assigned
to go to the DR Congo and we know that all six couples who are currently
serving there will be coming home by August.
So, for those who read this, will you please join us in a fervent prayer
that Heavenly Father will touch the hearts of ALL couples who COULD serve a Senior
Mission and especially for couples who will be willing to serve the
Lord in the DR Congo Kinshasa Mission.
It
is hard to describe our first week in the MTC.
Maybe “Spiritual Boot Camp with Angel DI’s” would begin to give you an
idea. For an overview of the MTC, click
HERE
Senior
Missionaries are honored and made to feel special at every meeting, whether
small or large. We also hear some funny (but loving) comments that we can all relate
to and appreciate. For instance, in a combined
meeting one night, the 2,000 young Elders and Sister Missionaries were asked to
look over at our Senior Missionary area.
They were given examples of some of the types of sacrifices that older
couples make and were told that we are “Silver-Haired Energizer Bunnies”. By
the end of the day, most of us are not feeling all that energetic and some of
us are even more tired because we are taking an additional (optional) 2-hours
of language after dinner. So, my day
begins with wake-up at 5:30am and we get back home at 8:15pm. Then we answer our emails, do our assigned
homework, shower, say our family prayer and collapse into bed… after which George
reads a chapter from the scriptures out loud and I listen attentively. J
We
are in a group of 30 new couples who entered the MTC February 6. Some stay for one week, but we’ll be here two
weeks for office training. When the next
batch comes in tomorrow, we’ll be the old pros. In this week’s group, we had
all sorts of destinations and all types of assignments. Just a small sampling: Jakarta, Indonesia;
various cities in Russia & former USSR countries; Mongolia; Australia;
Dominican Republic; Canada; various Polynesian islands; a Navajo Reservation in
Arizona; Philippines; London, England (to work with a Slovak ward); India; The
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Brother
Tom Peterson, the MTC Director of Training, has been a very dynamic and
humorous instructor. After he greeted us
the first day, he began to ask the couples about their different destinations
by saying “Where is the couple who are going to (then he would name a
location)?” The couples who answered to
“Russia” were told, in serious tones…“Be sure you have a VERY thick coat and do
enjoy this beautiful weather we are having here!” (It was 20 degrees!) To the couples going to India “Be sure to
have a hamburger before you go!”
Finally, he asked about the couple going to the DR Congo (just us) and when
we raised our hand, he said (leaning forward and speaking in an ominous voice
which trailed off without completing the sentence) “We know we can GET you
there……!” It reminds me of an LDS video
which I think was called “Saints in Africa”.
The video gave so much credit to the early Protestant and Catholic
missionaries who were responsible for converting large numbers of Africans to
Christianity. (95% of the DR Congo is
Christian, mostly Catholic) Those brave missionaries were only given one-way
tickets to Africa because it was assumed they would die while on their mission.
Today
we have enjoyed a full Sabbath Day. The
class rooms of the MTC Administration Building became the locations for
numerous Sacrament Meetings staggered throughout the morning. We went to our assigned room and found it
filled with young men and women from around the world. One of the speakers that most impressed me
was a strapping, handsome Samoan who spoke of the day that he felt the earth
tremble just before boarding a school bus.
Moments later, the students on the bus saw the nearby ocean suddenly
withdraw and then come back with a tsunami which hit the bus. He spoke of the calmness he felt as he heard
the screams of so many people who were crying out for God’s help. Now he is going out to serve the people whom God
has prepared to hear His message.
Tonight,
we had a Sunday “Fireside” with Richard I. Heaton, the Administrative Director
of the Provo MTC. He was followed by a video of the talk which
Elder David A. Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave on Christmas
Day Sunday 2011. He spoke of the need for us to not just have a testimony, but
to be fully converted to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Simply put, we use our testimonies and the Grace of Christ to grow more
like him. To the extent we do this, we
are converted. That is why Christ said
to Peter, who already had given a powerful testimony, “When thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren.”
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