Officially Missionaries!

First of all . . . 

If you are not a member of our Church and have questions about anything, please feel free to contact us directly via letter or email - or go to the link located to the right on this blog. 

We were set apart as Missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by our friend and Carrollton Texas Stake President, David Blake, on June 29, 2017.   We have to say that we know without a doubt that the Lord truly knows us; our desires, our concerns, and our needs.  The blessings that President Blake was inspired to give to each of us, were filled with love and were exactly what we needed to know in order to serve on this mission to the best or our ability.  We indeed felt the Spirit of the Lord and angels on the other side of the veil in attendance.  

On the beautiful morning of July 10, 2017, we drove from Draper to Provo, Utah, 

and entered the MTC (Missionary Training Center).   

We tried to park here, but no luck!  Ha-ha!

We were promptly “tagged” and “bagged” (UNLOADED our bags, that is!) and shown to our cute little room that was to be ours for the next two weeks.

We couldn’t help laughing at the sign by the elevator, the wheelchairs 

by the vending machine, and the obvious defibulator!  

When they say “SENIOR Missionaries” they really mean VERY OLD PEOPLE!  Ha-ha!

Of course, we HAD to take the infamous “MAP PICTURE”!

The MTC is a bustle of beautiful, happy people - mostly young!  Everyone you meet says a smiling “Hello” and usually “Where are you from?” and “Where are you going?”  It really is a wonderful and unique place!  I would maybe compare it to the City of Enoch because you just feel like you are SO out of the world; surrounded by goodness and the Spirit; and probably could be “translated” at any moment! 

The people we met and the friendships we made there are the best part of the MTC experience!

This was one fourth of the Senior Missionaries that entered the MTC with us.

We were thrilled to see our friends, David and Rachel Weidman, at the MTC!  

David was a former member of our Stake Presidency and is currently serving in the MTC Presidency.

The first week we studied “Preach My Gospel” and met in large and small classes.

The Morning Group with Sister Anderson

(Sister George, Sister Bown, The Griffiths', The Theurer's, Sister Anderson, Us)

The Afternoon Group with Brother Brock

We were assigned a "Companion Couple" and were so very blessed to get to know and love Mike and Susan Moore who will be serving in Brazil!  We learned so much from them as we taught each other Gospel lessons - and we laughed a lot too!  

The second week we were divided into our specific areas - ours being Humanitarian Service.  Our classes were SO interesting, as we were instructed by specialist after specialist in Humanitarian Affairs. 

We received extra "Humanitarian" training from Gary and Susan Winters and we can't even begin to say how invaluable that training was!  Just under two years ago, they served in the calling we will have in New Zealand! They are so generous and kind and we are so very happy to have made such wonderful new friends!

Richard and Carol Lasson are in charge of all the Humanitarian Senior Missionaries and work in the Church Office Building.

These are our "Buddies", Craig and Jennifer Meldrum from Canada.  We became true "Pals"!  This is their third mission and they are going to serve in Laos.

Our Humanitarian Group

(L-R  Meldrum - Laos, Us - South Pacific, Olson - Macedonia, McIver - Philippines, Doyle - Myanmar, Harmon - Hong Kong, Donovan - Tibilisi, Georgia, Swendsen - Serbia, Walton - Church Office Building working with Humanitarian Missionaries)

We also took a tour of Welfare Square in downtown Salt Lake City and had lunch and instruction at the beautiful Joseph Smith Building.

At the end of our second week, all of our friends left that Friday for their missions throughout the world and we were so jealous, as we had to wait for three weeks to fly to New Zealand!  Believe us, when you finish the MTC, you are SO psyched to just go and do the work!