MTC Week 1

 Where does one start? This week has been one of the most amazing floods of the Spirit of the Lord that I have ever experienced. Our training this week has been focused on "Preach My Gospel". The young missionaries get three weeks on that curriculum, and we got one, so that part of it has been much like drinking from a fire-hose. It all started when we drove up to the MTC on Monday morning. There was about a dozen young missionaries there and they cheered and applauded as we drove up. They then grabbed all of our bags, and set them aside while I parked the truck. Once we were settled in our room, we went and got checked in. It was then that we were given our missionary name tags, and our ministerial certificates. Tears came easily as I contemplated what those two things mean. When I put that badge on, I literally took upon myself the name of Jesus Christ. For the next two years we will be duly appointed ministers of His gospel. To me, that is an immense responsibility. After that we had our first experience in the cafeteria with about 2,000 hungry young men and women. It was like being in a feeding frenzy of very polite and sweet sharks. These kids are amazing! There were several other orientation type meetings for the rest of that day. We went to bed exhausted, but on a spiritual high. The next morning we were up and running. Breakfast at 7 and classes all day with a lunch break around noon. That evening there was a General Authority devotional (they have them every Tuesday here). We had the opportunity to be part of a choir made up entirely of missionaries. There were almost 1,000 voices in that choir, and we sang Mac Wilburg's arrangement of "Redeemer of Israel". The rehearsal for that event was amazing enough, but what came next blew our socks off. The speakers for this week were Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve and his wife Susan. The Spirit was so thick that you could almost cut it with a knife. Another late night, and then back at it on Wednesday. Training all day, and then another special devotional entitled "The Character of Christ". It was another spiritual feast, and another late night. Thursday was another full day of training and then we were able to attend the Payson Utah Temple. It was a wonderful experience, and that temple is beautiful. I'll definitely want to go there again some day. Another late night and Friday was the day to finish up the "Preach My Gospel" training. Throughout the week we were asked to pair up with another missionary couple, the Bakers, from a different district. There were several teaching and inviting exercises that they had us do with them. It turns out that the husband is an amazing artist. They gave us a small print of a work that he did which he has entered in a contest to be able to have it in a gallery exhibit at the Church History museum. I'll include a photo of it with the other pictures that I'm including this week. On Friday one of the things they wanted us to do is to take an hour and do something with the other couple to provide some service and get to know them better. Sister Baker came up with the idea to approach some random young missionaries and offer to take a picture and send it to their parents. It turned out to be an amazing thing. We'd take the photo, and then get the phone numbers of parents, and text it to them. In every case, the missionaries were thrilled to let us do that, and what was even more fun was to get the responses back from mom and dad. I'll include some of those photos. In one case the mothers of the two missionaries used the thread to talk to each other. Apparently one of the Elders had struggled and his companion had been a major influence in helping him get his bearings. You could almost feel the tears of gratitude being shed by these two wonderful moms. 

Today's "p-day" and we've been able to do our wash, go to the Bean Museum, and start getting ready for the move tomorrow. We're going to be going from the MTC to a motel because they'll be bursting at the seams here next week. Sorry for the length of the epistle. It's been a really full week, and we're super excited for what's facing us next week. The Church is true, and this is the highlight of our lives!

Elder y Hermana Musser

Click here for the pictures.

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