Friday, December 05, 2008
Today, just like Tuesday and Wednesday, we had one short class time to prepare Lesson 3 “The Gospel of Jesus Christ.” It’s amazing what you can do when you pray earnestly for the Spirit to be with you! We went from scared to death on Tuesday to “No Problem” on Friday. However, I’m sure that when it comes to the “REAL THING” we’ll be shaking in our boots until we do it several times.

What a week!! It went so fast, with our days jammed filled that I’m amazed we’re already at Friday. We’ve made so many new friends; it’s been just great. One of the Elders started a listing of the senior missionaries in our group. It’s interesting: Of 32 couples and senior sisters, 15 are from Utah; 4 from Idaho; 2 from California, Texas, Montana, and Canada; 1 each from Hawaii and other states. As a group we are going to every continent with 8 going domestic. We even have a couple going to Syria.

Well, it’s 8:45 pm and I can’t stay awake (too old, too tired).

This is a picture we took after our last class today of our missionary group – I’m not as easy to see as Walt.

Our District (Back Row: Elder and Sister Sessions, Elder and Sister Baxter, Elder Reimers; Front Row: Sister Jensen, Sister North, and Me [of course])

For Nate and Mary Lynn, Elder and Sister Sessions are going to the New Zealand Auckland Mission. For Margo and Al, Elder and Sister Baxter are going to Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Saturday, December 06, 2008
Today was our “P” (preparation) day. On “P” day you can dress down a bit, and I can wear slacks; however, you have to put on a skirt to eat as an example to the young elders and sisters. Breakfast starts and 7:00 am and ends at 8:30 am. We were up at 7:30 am, showered, and at breakfast at 8:15 am. Then back to our residence to change into slightly more casual clothing and catch the MTC Shuttle to the University Mall. We really didn’t go to the Mall for much of anything. We did get the shuttle driver to take us down a block, or so, on the opposite side of the street so Walt could go into SAS Shoes. With his big, long, narrow feet, there are few shoes that fit him well. When he was looking for shoes for our mission, he found a 14 “slender” (A width) which is narrower than “narrow” which is a B width. We had to order a pair from the Sandy UT store which will be shipped to the MTC.

From there we walked in and out of stores (Sister Missionary Mall, Deseret Book, Seagull Book, etc.) and wound our way back to the Mall where we were to meet another couple who had come with us and meet the shuttle at 12:30 pm.

Back at our residence, I took a two-hour nap while Walt went to the study in the residence hall to use the internet.

After dinner, we went down to the study (a lovely room) and chatted with two single sisters and others about our conversions to the church.

Sister Jensen, the sister in blue, had just received her 5th mission call. This is an interesting story. She lives in a small town in Alberta Canada and was receiving e-mails from the Germany Frankfurt Mission before she received her 1st mission call. At that time, 9 days before she was due at the MTC, she was called as we were to work in the office and was to leave for Germany early Saturday morning with no specialized training for the office. Then, when she arrived at the MTC on Monday, she was given a 2nd mission call that said she was going to serve in the Freiberg Germany temple and was still to leave on Saturday.

To make a long and frustrating story shorter, just this morning, she received an official but short letter from President Monson stating she would be serving in the Germany Frankfurt Mission Office and would leave a week later so she could take part in the office training. She had already packed her bags, but was very relieved to have the extra week and training.

Below are a few pictures of our residence hall and the study so you can see what I’ve been talking about.

This is the Joseph Hamblin Residence where most if not all of the Senior Missionaries are roomed.

This is the study that I spoke about.

Sunday, December 07, 2008
Sacrament meeting was from 8:00 to 9:00 am. Then, since it was Fast Sunday, we had a two-hour Mission Conference. “Preach My Gospel” makes the following statements:

“The Book of Mormon is powerful evidence of the divinity of Christ. It is also proof of the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith. An essential part of conversion is receiving a witness from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true.”

“The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that the Book of Mormon is ‘the keystone of our religion.’ On another occasion he stated: ‘Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none.’”

This morning we were told, “The sooner you can get your investigator prayerfully into the Book of Mormon and into the Sacred Grove, the better it will be.”

May favorite lesson that we taught this week was the one on Thursday where we picked a chapter from the Book of Mormon and taught an inactive couple as we applied, discussed, and testified of blessings as we read groups of verses. The power in the Book of Mormon is that it is so for our day. It was easy to listen to the issues as we interviewed and talked and find what seemed to be the absolutely right chapter to teach. I’m sure that as we get out into the mission field, we will grow ever more dependent on the Spirit in everything that we do. This principle has been forcefully evident this week as we have learned and applied that learning to teaching “investigators” or a less-active couple. What a blessing this week has been already!!

Tonight’s devotional was a re-broadcast of the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. Then we stayed to watch Testaments. Oh, what a beautiful movie. There’s something about the MTC, we’re crying half the time.