The End of a Great Week at the MTC

July 5, 2010

Let me start with a recap of the last couple of days. Friday was our last day of classes and studies. We have learned lots. My favorite thing was just being with Dad all day and night. He has been lots of fun, like when we are on a trip. My second favorite thing was the cafeteria… not because of the food but because of all the fun cute elders and young girls that are there learning how to best serve Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ. In the cafeteria we could watch them come and go and interact.

Another favorite was the Tuesday night General Authority devotional. Sister Elaine Dalton, the president of the Church Young Women was the speaker and talked about self confidence.

One of Dad’s favorite things about the MTC was the French lessons. We had a girl teacher from Paris that Dad charmed… and she was really cute and patient with him.

After 3 days of 2 hour lessons, we had our testimonies memorized. Dad had been listening to the French lesson CDs much more than I had. When the teacher taught him how to say “Souveur,” Dad’s head snapped up and he said, “You say that just like the lady on the CDs.” She blushed and said, “I am the lady on the CDs.” She was very good and helped us lots with our pronunciation.


On Friday, we went to the MTC barber shop so I could learn how to cut Dad’s hair. YIKES! The things we do for this mission call.

By Ed:
On Saturday, we went to get Kriss’s hair cut. I tried to convince Mom that she could grow her hair long, but then I reminded her about the heat and the humidity, and how her hair would be sticking to her neck and very hot. She quickly decided to keep it short. This would be a big step for mom, seeing how she interviews hair dressers in Irvine, and asks everyone she sees with a cute hair cut “Ohhhh, where do you get your hair cut?" Now there is no pressure on me, but I have to learn to cut it for her, because we have been told that no one in our city will know how to cut a “White Person’s” hair. I will try to learn. We had fun at the shop. The girl showed me how, and I actually took the scissors and cut some of Mom’s hair. It was hard for me to get my big fingers in the little holes of the scissors.



We must have been a novelty, because we kept laughing and having fun and the girl that cut hair next to us said, “You guys are such a cute couple! I didn’t get to go on a mission, but when I grow up I want my husband and me to be just like you… ‘cause you are so cute."

We did our laundry at the MTC laundry with over 100 washers and 100 dryers!


On Saturday night, we celebrated the 4th of July. The MTC had a special fireside for all of the missionaries. It was all about how the Lord had a hand in bringing about the restoration of the church… all the way since Christ died and the dark ages. It talked about the reformers like Martin Luther, and the translation of the Bible into English, and Columbus and the revolutionary war. It was multi-media with videos and slide shows and a Missionary choir and live actors. It ended with the Joseph Smith Story. It was great. (This is a picture of how many missionaries are there when we meet together.)


Then the MTC president announced that they were going to let the missionaries out on the MTC south lawn to watch the Provo fireworks. The 2000 young missionaries cheered and then when we were outside they sang patriotic songs during the fireworks, impromptu.
It was fun. Nothing like the mall at DC, but it brought back lots of good memories of our East coast vacations together, and we once again appreciated the opportunities we have shared.

On Sunday we went to a farewell devotional for all the missionaries leaving this week. They had us stand up by where we were going. We were some of the last to stand up. We hadn’t seen anyone else going to our mission, but when they said “The DR Congo Mission” we stood up along with 10 very young and enthusiastic elders. We were excited to meet with them after the meeting and they came up and gathered around us. Three of them are headed to Point Noire, to serve with us first. They will only serve 3 or 4 places during their missions, but they will probably all serve in Point Noire at sometime. They fly over on Tuesday and Wednesday. We are excited to try to be a support to these guys. We are going to all be a long way from home. Maybe we can keep each other from getting too homesick.

Our testimonies have grown, just practicing them and being influenced by all the good people we work with, and the young missionaries. We are excited to go teach about Jesus Christ’s true church.
This is the door tag we put on our MTC door when we left.