P-Day (Preparation Day)

It is great being a Senior Missionary because you still have the opportunity of seeing your children.

Fortunately for us we have Heather, Ethan, Brooklyn and James who live close enough to come and spend the day with us since it is our P-Day.

They came about 12:30 p.m. and we went to BYU and had lunch at the Cougar Eats.  After that we went to a museum on the BYU campus.  Brooklyn and James really enjoyed it.  We then went and walked around the Provo Temple.

We finished the day by eating at Los Hermanos Cafe and getting ice cream at the BYU creamery.  We love our family and love spending time with them.

Outside the main hall is a statue of two missionaries on bikes.  Every time we go to a meal or a meeting they remind us of the importance of missionary work and we are excited to be a part of it.

August 27, 2011

Last day of training on Preach My Gospel

Today was our last day of Preach My Gospel training.  We interviewed a less active (mock) member and then we had 20 minutes to prepare a lesson meeting their needs.  It was hard to prepare that fast.  Some of the senior missionaries are leaving tomorrow.  We will miss seeing them and our instructors.  We had fantastic instructors.  They were Brother Barney (just married in August 2011), Brother Albertson (married just a little while with a 2 month old baby) and Brother Sillitoes (young and waiting for his girlfriend to return from a mission).  It was a great week but a lot of work.

Here are some thoughts for this week.  A new parable I give you "Thou shall be flexible so you don't get bent out of shape."

The young elders and sisters are encourage to "Lengthen your stride" the Senior Missionaries are encouraged to "Lengthen your shuffle."

We also learned a great way to teach the Law of Chastity.  It goes with the song Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

     Head - Think only clean thoughts.
     Shoulder and Knees -  Anything in between is off limits.
     Toes -  Stand in holy places
     Eyes - Don't look at pornography
     Ears -  Listen to uplifting music
     Mouth - Speak only uplifting words.
     Nose -  The prophet KNOWS what is best.

We had the opportunity to attend the Provo Temple this evening.  When we came out the sunset was beautiful.  It is great to see God's handiwork all around us.

Remember:
Testimony is to know and feel
Conversion is to do and become

August 26, 2011

Discussion on the Plan of Salvation

Today we did our final mock discussion.  It was to a 82 year old widow.  We were asked to talk about the Plan of Salvation with her.  She was a wonderful woman and because of that the discussion was easier to present.

This time in the MTC is certainly helping us to grow.  Neither one of us likes public speaking and get very nervous about it.  We are not really knowledgeable about the scriptures so we spend a lot of time studying.

Tonight we had out last computer class.  It was on the Excel program.  We kid that we were sent on a mission to learn more about modern technology.

Tomorrow we role play on dealing with less active members.

August 25, 2011

Teaching of the first discussion

They say there is no rest for the weary.  Well they are right but we think that there is no rest for the righteous.  I think that we have been in retirement too long and we now have to start early in the morning and our days are filled with classes, activities, devotionals and lesson preparation.

Yesterday we spent the whole day in preparation to teach the lesson on the Restoration to a non-member (which was actually a member playing the part of a non-member.)  Then today we went into a room with the investigator who was a man named Gerald Jensen who is 80 years old and gave him the lesson.  This assignment was way out of our comfort zone.  They then video taped us and later reviewed with us what we did right and how we could improve.

The motto they want us to use is that you teach people not lessons so we are to follow the Spirit in teaching

In fact we were to teach the lesson on the Restoration but Gerald said he lost his wife 12 years ago and wanted to know if he would ever see her again.  So we changed our lesson to the Plan of Salvation which was scary because we hadn't really prepared for that lesson.

We have to do another discussion tomorrow afternoon.  The discussions are really hard for us.  We wrote down a goal to use more scriptures in our teaching so we will be busy tonight looking up scriptures that are relevant to the discussion.

The new missionaries came today so we went to the front at lunch to watch the parents drop off their sons/daughters.  The elders and sisters seemed very happy to be here.  The parents not so much.

August 24, 2011

Apartment at the MTC

Our apartment is like a motel room in that it consists of a bed with two desks and two closets and some drawers.  We also have a small bathroom with a sink located outside in a small hall.  The outside hall looks like it would in a dorm.  It is enclosed with doors on both sides.  We have taken a few pictures on Don diligently studying.

Arrival at the MTC

Today Don and I entered the MTC   (Mission Training Center)  in Provo to begin our 18 month mission to Wellington New Zealand in the Records Preservation Department. We were grateful to Ronnie and Ferris for our transportation from St. George to Provo.  Their SUV was very inexpensive.

The MTC is an amazing place.  There are 2,600 young missionaries and 75 senior missionaries at the MTC today.  It is fun eating meals with that many young sisters and elders.

We had orientation today and then tonight we had a computer class.  In the building with the computers are the language classes.  We kept seeing missionaries on couches outside the classrooms practicing their different languages.  You can tell they have divine help in learning the language.

This week we do Preach My Gospel and next week we do training on the special equipment we will use in New Zealand.

August 22, 2011

Mission Farewell

On August 14th Don and I gave our mission farewell talks at church.  We were supported by our immediate family and extended family.  All of our children and grandchildren were here and also Ronnie and Ferris, Bob and Merna, Nate and Catherine, Karen and Pat and Shannon,  Michelle and Bryan and Wayne.  It was also Ronnie's birthday so it was a fun day. She thought we did the lunch just for her.  That's what happens when you turn 65.

The activities began on Friday night when three of our children (Kirk, Heather and Kristina) and their families went to Tuacahn to see Little Mermaid after dinner at Michelle's to celebrate Courtney's sixth birthday.  Then on Saturday night we all went to Tonaquint Park for a bar-be-que.  We thought it would be super hot but the weather was under 100 and it was nice.

Then everyone came to our house after church on Sunday for lunch.  We love having family that is so supportive and it was nice to see family that we haven't seen for awhile.

On Monday, Kirk and Rebecca had to leave which was followed by Kristina and Mark and Kevin and Jeanette on Tuesday.  The last to leave was Heather on Wednesday.  It was super hard to say good-bye to our children and especially to our grandchildren.  Thank goodness for modern technology so that we can talk to them and Skye them and see them grow.

It was fun to do so many activities with our family.  We fed the ducks at the park, went swimming at Sand Hollow Pool, did miniature golf and arcade games, played in the water at the park on Main Street and went to a bounce house.

Family is what life is all about.  We have such a great family that it is fun to get together.

August 14, 2011