What a beautiful way to remember Utah. There was about six inches of snow on the ground the morning we left to go to the MTC. No Abe didn't shovel that much. But it was a beautiful wonderland. This is in Craig's back yard.

The soap that kept giving

While at the super 8, because there was no room at the MTC I felt it necessary to do some laundry. Since I have done that for the last year it didn't seem strange to either of us so I began the process. First I bundled up the dirty clothing that needed cleansing, then I went looking for soap. It wasn't in the laundry room so I went to the front desk and sure enough they had some for .50 c per box each box being enough for one load. I bought two of them. I got back to the laundry room and put the whites in one machine and the darks in another. See, I know what I'm doing. Then I discovered that I didn't have enough quarters to do the job. So I hid the two boxes of soap because even in Zion there are those who love soap more than their religion. I successfully acquired the extra quarters and returned to the laundry room to finish my job. I got both machines running and went back to my room to the comforts and relaxation awaiting me there. Finally it was time to put the wash into the dryer but as I began to pull the wash out of the first machine I noticed little pieces of cardboard all through the clothing. Some of the pieces were a little bit large. The only item in that load of wash that could have held cardboard was Wanda's workout pants. So, I began to complain to her and ask why she would subject the wash to all that card board. She insisted that she did not have cardboard in her pockets. Then I began folding the clothing and a whole lot more cardboard came out of each of the pieces of clothing that I folded. Then I remembered where I had hid the soap while going to the front desk. Yes, you guessed it, under the cloths in the first washer. It got two boxes of soap while the second washer got none. I didn't even have to open it. Abe

Gaining power

We were sitting in a meeting the other day when the speaker challenged us to bare our testimonies to one of the young missionaries as we passed in hall. I thought it sounded a little insincere but thought we might get a chance to do it before the week was out. We walked out into the hall after the meeting and the first missionaries Wanda saw she asked if she could bare her testimony to them. Of course they agreed and she bore a wonderfully strong testimony. When she was through I added mine like a cowering car behind a snow plow. Afterward I ask "hon what has happened to you, your usually not the one that leads out in situations like this. Her answer was very simple but powerful, she said "I've been set apart now." I guess I'm going to have to rev it up a little and get on the ball if I'm going to keep up with this little firecracker. All in all the MTC was a great experience and reminded me of my time there as a Branch president 25 years ago.

One of the truly good things about being together 24/7 is that we are learning to get along in a way that we have never had to before. We have always had our separate responsibilities and now our job is together all the time. It is surprisingly different but turning out to be really good. Abe

Winding Up at the MTC

Thursday started out pretty much the same only we learned a lot more about so many important things pertaining to working with leaders and being organized and how to find contacts. Today we had to role play trying to gather information from an investigator so we would know what he needed to learn the most. It was such a real situation and even became an emotional one. It felt good and made us know that this is something even we could do.
Today (Friday) was another full day of winding everything up. We role played again only this time we talked to a newly baptized member and taught the follow-up lesson to them. Many of these volunteers have been coming to the MTC for years to help with these exercises. Many are in their 70's and 80's. They are really good at role playing and are really performing a great service for the missionaries. We learned more about working with bishops, branch presidents and leaders and of course finding and teaching investigators
The final exercise was our testimony meeting where we all bore our testimonies in the language of our mission. It was great to see or hear the progress everyone had made.

Tender Mercies of the Lord

On Tuesday we had to role play to practice teaching the gospel to an investigator. In talking with the lady we taught, after we were through, we learned that her son served his mission a couple of years ago in the Philippines. We had fun talking to her and she was able to tell us a few things about the Philippines even though he had served in a different mission than us. We felt that it couldn't have been a coincidence that we were assigned to her.

On Wednesday we had to role play again teaching a different part of the gospel to another investigator. He said he was a widower and that he had never joined the church. He missed his wife who had been an active member and had raised their family in the church. He said the Bishop told him if he came there to take the lessons he could get ready to join the church and prepare himself to be with his wife when he leaves this life. He was so convincing that it was a real experience. What had been so frightening became quite fun.

We needed to go to the Travel Office to ask a few questions. We didn't have much time so I thought we had better stop and ask someone in one of the offices for directions. I passed by one office and was determined to stop at the next. It just so happened that working in the office was a couple who returned from their mission to Tacloban last year. What a find. I call it one of the tender mercies of the Lord. Neal and Jackie Beecher have become great friends. They were so wonderful to tell us all about our mission area. They really went out of their way to make maps, type directions to restaurants, stores, banks, show us pictures and souveniers and spend their time to answer all our questions and tell us all they could in the time we had. They were so excited and enthusiastic about Tacloban and told us how they loved the people and wished they were going with us. They told us a lot of undesireable things about the culture there but also showed how much we will love being there. We feel we will be much better prepared to go because of what they did for us.

Missionary Training Center

Well we are done. We have graduated. We entered the MTC on Monday January 26, 2009 and had five days packed full of classes, learning and feeling the spirit. We don't fly out until Monday February 4th so we will spend tomorrow going to the temple and having lunch with some of our children. We are going to have to say goodbye again. Denise and John will take our car back home with them on Sunday so we will use the shuttle to get back and forth to the MTC and to the airport. We have a few pictures to share but need to have Denise show us again how to add them to the blog.
We had such a great experience at the MTC. The young teachers are awesome. They seem to be able to say everything we would like to say in such a compact, concise way and always with the spirit. We learned so much and hope we can retain a large portion of it to take to the mission field.
The young missionaries are wonderful! Always happy, sometimes goofing around (outside). We saw a whole table of missionaries stand by their chairs when a couple of sisters joined them for dinner. (How impressive is that?)
Our days were pretty rigorous. We got up at 5 a.m. each day, exercised, showered and dressed then went to breakfast at 7 a.m. Then we went to class from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with breaks and meals in between.

Saying Goodbye

After saying goodbye to our family in the South, we went North to visit the rest before entering the MTC. We had a wonderful dinner at Dave's home with some of Abe's brothers and sisters and their spouses. The food was great and the company even better.
We spent the next day having lunch with Irene and staying with Mack and his family. We went to church with them the next day and heard him and his family sing in Sacrament meeting. They did a great job. It happened to be Hannah's birthday that day so it was extra special. She turned eight years old and will be baptized next month. Sorry that we will have to miss it.
We then spent the rest of the day with Craig and his family. We had some great visits and said many goodbyes.