Provo MTC

We were set apart on the evening of Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11th at 8:00 pm by our dear Stake President, President Mark Longhurst. He was kind enough to meet with us at our church building despite it being Mother’s Day. It was also our granddaughter Elsie’s 10th birthday! After our Sunday dinner, we had a birthday party for Elsie with presents, ice cream cake and candles. Oh how we love that sweet, kind, gentle empathetic girl! Can’t believe she is now 10 years old!

After Elsie’s birthday party, then we celebrated both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. We decided that since we will be in Australia for Father’s Day, it would be great to celebrate mom’s and dad’s together. Tami’s mom, step dad, two sister’s, Shauna and Jill and brother-in-law Paul, were with us to celebrate Elsie’s birthday plus Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Duane’s mom was not feeling well, which was too bad because she was really looking forward to being with us that Sunday. Our son Logan was not able to make it up from St. George, we missed having him and his family with us.

We met Pres. Longhurst in the Steeple Chase Relief Society room and had a wonderful visit with him before our setting apart. Tami was set apart first. One of the many blessings she was told was that she would make eternal friendships while on her mission. Both of us were given beautiful, inspiring blessings that gave us great confidence that we would be blessed and supported in our missionary labors. We also received powerful assurance that our family would be greatly blessed through our consecrated service.

We had been previously instructed to arrive at the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Center) at 9:42 AM on Monday May 12. We were also told not to arrive early and not to be late! The arrival and check-in process at the MTC is a well-oiled machine! We ended up one to two minutes late due to the length of the line to get through the security gate.

We were escorted into the main MTC building and checked in at what is known as the Senior Expo. This is an opportunity to meet with representatives of all the major departments there. We were given our missionary name tags, and it was exciting and sobering to be able to put them on. To be privileged to wear the name of the Savior every day is a great responsibility and honor.

After completing the check-in process, we were treated to some simple refreshments. I met one of my former patients there, who is also just beginning her mission. She will be serving as the mission secretary in Auckland New Zealand.

After lunch we had an orientation with the MTC presidency and their wives, which was wonderful. We then met one of our MTC instructors and the rest of our MTC district. Our district consisted of three couples, all of whom were called to serve as medical missionaries. Elder and Sister Sundberg are from Southern California and are called to serve in Australia Adelaide Mission. Elder and Sister Ballou are from Hurricane, Utah, and are serving in the Adriatic North Mission based in Croatia. They are all wonderful people and we immediately felt a great connection and friendship with them.

Over the course of five days, we developed a strong bond and grew to love them. We will have the opportunity to work closely with the Sundbergs during our mission, as Adelaide is one of the missions that we will support. We felt empathy for the Ballous, who were also trying to learn Croatian in addition to everything else! At lunchtime, we hurried down to the County Health department to receive a couple of immunizations that neither of us could find any documentation of.

Back at the MTC, we were given a short tour by our instructor, Sister Creager, and further oriented as to what to expect in our MTC experience. We were shown all the important locations at the MTC, including the small store where we could purchase ice cream and snacks.

After some brief lessons and reflections, we finished the day with a meeting with our MTC branch presidency and got to know them and their wives. It was a long but wonderful day. The Spirit at the MTC is palpable and very powerful.

Because we live within 30 miles of the MTC, we stayed at home during our week there. Shortly after our arrival home Monday evening. we were visited by Sisters Diane Reese and Janae Hakes of the Stake Young Women’s presidency, with heartbreaking news…they told us of the accidental death earlier that afternoon of Noah Scribner, the 18-year-old son of Scott and Jenny Scribner in our stake. Tam had previously served as a counselor to Sister Scribner in the Stake Young Women’s presidency and knew Noah and the Scribners very well. Noah is a great guy and Tami loves him so much! Noah’s passing was really hard to wrap her heart and mind around! So many tears and prayers were given for their sweet family! Noah had been killed in a motorcycle accident in American Fork Canyon just hours before. We were shocked and devastated to learn this horrible news. He was to graduate from high school just 10 days later and was preparing for his own mission, having just received his mission call to Honduras.

The spiritual high that we felt from our day at the MTC was somewhat tempered by the grief and sadness that we felt, but we were comforted by our knowledge of the great plan of happiness that teaches us of the gift of resurrection and eternal family relationships. We are so eternally grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for His infinite atonement!

We arrived at the MTC Tuesday morning about 7:50 am and met our other MTC instructor, Sis. Hyatt, who was just as wonderful as Sis. Creager. Our classes each day were with our small district and were facilitated by one instructor in the morning and the other instructor in the afternoon. They were very much focused on the “Preach My Gospel” manual and were very interactive. They were fantastic and, as previously mentioned, the spirit was very strong. We were assigned to meet with another couple of senior missionaries from a different district, and to get to know them. Our couple was Elder and Sister Elkins, from South Texas, who are now serving as Military Relations missionaries in Connecticut.

We grew to love them and spent quite a bit of time with them over the week. We eventually prepared and taught a lesson to them based on what we perceived their individual needs to be, and they did the same for us. We had a lot in common, and in fact discovered that they know our nephew Spencer Burgon’s new bride, Kennedy, quite well. They had also met Spencer, who served his mission in that area.

We decided to sing in the MTC choir for the Tuesday evening devotional and ate a quick dinner before hurrying off to choir practice. The General Authority who will speak to the weekly devotional is never announced ahead of time, and everyone always wonders who it will be. They announce who will be speaking just a few minutes before the meeting starts and Sis. Nelson wondered aloud if it would be a member of the Twelve; she even guessed maybe Elder Patrick Kearon. Sure enough, when the announcement came, she was correct, Elder and Sister Kearon were the speakers. We were thrilled! Sister Nelson is always so inspired! We sang our hearts out and were inspired by the messages of both Elder and Sister Kearon. They counselled us not to compare ourselves to others, and to be joyful in our approach to our work. It was such a wonderful devotional to end the day.

Wednesday was another wonderful spirit-filled day. Our instructors were so outstanding and did such a great job of inviting the spirit into our lessons! Preach My Gospel is such a great inspired book and filled with so much wisdom. Though our mission will not be a teaching or proselyting mission, we will be constant examples and representatives of our precious Savior Jesus Christ in all we do, and will certainly have opportunities to share the gospel with those we interact with in our normal daily activities.

Wednesday evening, we attended a fireside called the Character of Christ, based upon a talk given by Elder David A. Bednar at the MTC several years before. It was outstanding and we felt so uplifted and inspired to better try to emulate the Savior in all we do. He is truly our perfect example and we are so indebted to Him! We love Him with all our hearts and feel so blessed to serve Him!

I should briefly mention the food at the MTC. The food in the cafeteria was plentiful and pretty good, though the options were somewhat limited. I’m glad that I don’t eat at a buffet all the time, as my willpower with food is not great! We always tried to sit by a group of young elders and sisters, and it was a lot of fun to talk to them. We met a young missionary, Elder Mandla, from Brisbane, who was called to serve in Japan. We loved getting to know him better as we talked throughout the week.

Thursday was another long day of classes, but because they were so engaging, inspiring and interactive, the time flew by. We loved all our interactions with our district and really grew to love and appreciate them, as well as our instructors and the Elkins. Thursday evening after class we were able to hurry over to the Orem Temple to do a Sealings session. We love the temple and it was amazing to be there!

Friday was our last day at the Provo MTC, with a final class session in the morning, and a safety and security seminar in the afternoon. We thoroughly enjoyed our MTC experience and felt so uplifted by the things we learned, the relationships we made, and the spirit we felt. It definitely exceeded my expectations, which were already pretty high. Our limited interactions with the young elders and sisters were amazing, and we were so impressed with their dedication and spirit. We were sad to see our week come to an end. Our prayers continue to be with the Scribner family!