MTC-The People

We were only there two weeks, but we met so many fun people that we wished we could have known longer and served with in the same missions rather than scattering to the four corners of the world.  How blessed we were to cross paths with these amazing people and hear about their preparation and sacrifices to serve missions.  They were amazing!

Our MTC group

This couple is on their way to Rome to do records preservation for family search.  I can't remember their long Italian name, but the elder served as a service missionary in the USLCH mission and had his farewell lunch the same day we did.  We took this picture in the cafeteria on our first day and sent it to the mission presidency and their wives in Salt Lake.  They loved it.

Monday evening, we met with the branch presidency for the senior missionaries during their time at the MTC.  As soon as I saw his face, I knew he had to be related to a friend from Amarillo--but then when he introduced himself with the same last name and I heard his voice--I know they must be brothers.  This is President Mike Hendricks, younger brother of Scott Hendricks.  How fun to take a picture which he sent to Scott.  Scott Hendricks and his wife and family were close friends of my parents.  He currently serves as the stake patriarch of the Amarillo Stake.

Monday afternoon, we met with our MTC district for classes for the first time.  It was a day or two later that we discovered that we shared a mutual friend--Judy Hutchinson Courreges.  Elder and Sister Christl had lived near them for many many years and at one time, Elder Christl had worked for Judy and her then husband's company.  We took this picture and sent it off to Judy over messenger.

Everywhere, there were young elders and sisters--always holding the doors for us, saying hi to Jena, smiling and laughing--it was fun to interact with them in brief moments.

Randomally, one of these sister is Sister Ferrell from Mountain Green.  She knows my niece, Melissa Manning.....and I actually worked closely with her dad at one point when he was a Bishop and I worked at Family Services.  I didn't share that with her, of course.

Our first district---the other three couples were all assigned to the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission so it was awesome to answer their questions and share some of our experiences.

Floras, Christl, and Deweys

These are Jan and Rob DeGiulio.  They are from Salt Lake City--living in a condo just south of Temple Square as he worked for the Church in family search for the past 14 years.  More about them when I talk about the classes.  They are serving as historical sites missionaries in New York--living and serving in the Peter Whitmer Farm.  We can't wait to get together with them after our missions and play games.

These were some "two weekers" because they walked around knowing what they are doing.  It turned out that they have a niece in our mission so we took these picture of her aunt and uncle (who were leaving for Peru) and sent it off to her.  We hope to meet her niece someday.

During our second week, we found more "old" friends---

Elder and Sister Bigelow who are serving as senior service missionaries and provided some of the member leader support training our second week.  They live in South Jordan now, but lived at the end of our cul de sac in West Jordan in the mid-1980s.  It took me a free minutes to figure out how I knew them, but it was fun to catch up during the break.  Weirdly, I could first remember their daughter's name-Mikaela--before their first names.  They had one daughter and six sons.

And this is Jill Eyring...she was our backdoor neighbor in the same neighborhood as the Bigelows.  She and her husband give tours and welcome missionaries on Wednesday to the MTC.  We arranged to meet up for dinner on the second Wednesday we were at the MTC.

and finally, some new friends--Sister and Elder Stephenson.  They arrived to the MTC our second week and they are also serving in our same mission.  They are office missionaries over housing and other duties.  We sent this photo to the Collins.

You never know who you might meet when you come to the MTC!

It is a grand adventure!