Mission Training Center Week

I am not going to lie--I was disappointed when I realized that we would not be able to experience the traditional MTC experience.  Being surrounded by all of the missionaries, hearing the different languages spoken, and being in that setting with the mountains hovering nearby--all of it except the big containers of cereal that I have heard people talk about--I am not a cereal person. But I quickly realized that the MTC was only a small part of the experience.  Perhaps another time we will have that chance!

And as it turned out, I am SO glad that we didn't have to pack up and be ready to be at the MTC on October 26th.  With all that has happened over the past several weeks, we would not have been ready for that.  I was quite content to fall asleep in my own bed on Sunday night and wake up bright and early for our MTC experience.

A small blue plate that was Mom Hall's

October 26--a first day as missionaries and MTC--

My "MTC" space-- downstairs

I had to prop up my camera with books, but later in the week, Gary figured out how to attach it to the top of my computer which worked better.

Gary's MTC space--in his office.  I love that he has his parents' desk now.  He will be spending lots of time there while we serve from home.

Our MTC experience went like this:

8-12:00 Monday through Thursday we had class with our teachers, Sis. Peterson and Sis. Becker.  Then we had assignments to work on as homework which we did in the evening with Jena so that she would feel a part of our experience.  We watched videos including 12 Safety Zone videos that the Church produced for missionaries (And now I have to fill my gas tank around 1/2 full because that is a missionary safety rule.  Gary is happy about that.)  We had to practice sharing a message with someone and issuing an invitation  (We did that at Gary's and Vonette's house on Wednesday night where we had dinner and played games--blessings for feeding the missionaries, they said.  Kayla and her husband and daughter were also there.) 

I usually took a nap each day in-between trying to get other things done including our homework.

Our lesson material was all taken from Preach My Gospel. My personal take away is that no matter our assignment we are called as the Lord's missionaries and our charge is to preach His gospel and serve others as He would.

Here is our MTC District:

Elder and Sister Quinn---on the bottom right are going to be serving at BYU-Hawaii where our friends, the Olsens are serving.  They had been talking to them already as they were setting up their housing.  Elder and Sister Brown in the top right corner are from Garland, Texas, and will be serving at the McAllen Temple construction to record that whole process.  They lived about 10 years in their early marriage and knew my family and several other Amarillo friends I knew.  Small world!

Jena joined us for the picture as we wanted to introduce her to our district.  Elder McFarland was our teachers' supervisor and joined in when we needed a extra person to practice with.

We finished out the week on Friday with a safety seminar with some of the security staff at the Church Office building.  That was another Zoom meeting that included all of the senior couples doing MTC this past week.  There were about 20 couples or so.  It was fun to see others outside of our district and get a sense of being part of a larger whole of senior couples.  Three of them will be joining us next week as they are also serving in the Headquarters Mission.

I don't know how Gary felt about it because he has something to compare it to, but I loved it and felt I came to understand more about my calling as a missionary.

This week it is more training, but this is specific to our assignments in our mission.  We will be in class mostly from 8-3 Monday through Thursday and then on Friday we will receive our actual assignments.

(Now Gary has been getting stuff from Family Search including a name of his supervisor and his "team" which includes several senior missionaries.  I haven't been getting that, so who knows what is ahead.  That is the adventure of it all.)

We learned that when we go outside our house (except for yard work), we are always suppose to wear our tags even when we exercise.  Here are some of our first outings with our tags.

After running some errands, I told Gary that I felt like a Catholic nun because people, noticing the tag, would call me Sis. Hall.  I am not used to that in public settings.  I guess I will get used to it!  And I truly do love it.

And there you have it!  Week One as senior missionaries---in the book!