PROVO MISSION TRAINING CENTER

by Sister Edvalson

Today was the first day of the rest of our lives.  I know we can always say that, but it did seem more profound today.  It’s very organized here and so many people helping in such good ways and so much wonderful life changing information coming at us.  I was wishing I had gone on a mission when I was younger and could handle all this inspiration and  information easier.   If this were a conference, I’d just be sitting back and taking it all in and being fed.  But as a missionary and a representative of Jesus Christ, I feel more responsibility for what I learned today and how to serve and make a difference.  

As Dave and Mary drove us up to the door of the MTC, several young willing Elders came running out and immediately took charge of all the heavy lifting and quickly got us settled in our dorm apartment.  130 Senior Missionaries checked in today and we quickly found out there are many ways to get to know people.  We stood in a few lines and met lots of couples that way.  There are also some Senior Sister Missionaries here.  We had several small group meetings to go over day to day schedules, how to get around without getting lost, etc.  We met another couple who are also serving in Leeds.  We took a picture of the four of us in front of the historical Mission Map of the World where we could point out where we are going.  We also met other couples going to Manchester England, Frankfurt Germany,  Paris, France (second time) New York, Lubbock, Texas, etc. and even a couple of young Elders heading for Albania and several musical Elders going to Portland, Oregon - one even sang “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing” which was sung at our farewell.  We ate lunch and sat with our new friends from Sacramento who are heading to Leeds.  Tim was also so happy to see a fellow Italian  missionary who was also his roommate at BYU for a time and who is now the Mission President of the MTC, President David Martino.  Each of us stood and introduced ourselves including where we’re from and where we’re going.  Then each couple was  matched with another couple to do practice teaching throughout the week.  They also put us into Districts as a way to connect.  Each District has a leader who is the communication channel between the people in the district in case of questions or concerns.  That means there would be only 17 people calling and asking questions of the coordinators instead of 130.  Tim is a District Leader and we have two other couples and two sisters in our district. So - this morning we went there knowing no one and by the end of the day we had ten new friends.  We had a wonderful surprise to see our friends from back in the days when we were attending the Portland Singles Ward together - Derrel and Eileen Clark who are heading for Sao Paulo, Brazil.   As some of you will remember, Derrel and Tim lived at the Multnomah County Morgue while attending Dental and Medical School.  We thought it was interesting that one of their other roommates, Reed Robinson is also on a mission in Norway.  

After dinner we had an orientation  discussing missionary responsibilities.  I always loved learning from The Lectures on Faith because it’s where I first realized how possible and important it is to learn and understand about the nature of God.  It’s more than believing in Jesus and being saved.   It’s about trying to become like Him and our mutual Father in Heaven.    In order to do that, we must learn about the character of Christ and the reality of the love of our Father.  We can help lift the faith of every one we meet and as we invite them to learn more about Jesus Christ we can help them get answers to their questions.  The Book of Mormon is nothing more than a tool to help us all get the obstacles out of our way and clear the path so the Lord can reach us and change our hearts and minds. 

 

Then we heard a talk from Elder David Bednar as a Family Home Evening lesson - also about learning the character of Christ which means always reaching out to help others instead of looking inward and equating everything with how it effects me.  It was an amazing day of discovery.