Sunday, Feb 7th, was Fast Sunday. We attended an MTC Branch and had a wonderful Testimony Meeting. It was a small group but was filled with testimonies from young elders and one young sister. It was great to feel of their strength and desire to serve the Lord. From there we went into a Mission Conference with all 2300 missionaries. The Mission Presidency spoke along with Elder and Sister Jackman. She spoke about how much work a Mission President is called on to do and encouraged the missionaries to be kind to their presidents. Elder Clegg, one of the MTC Presidency, spoke as did Levon Cardon and his wife, that evening when we were all together again for a Fireside.
Monday morning we started our office training. I was so relieved to get into the computer lab and find that I already knew what they were teaching. I just needed to brush up a little on my Word and Excel. They taught Outlook which I have not used before and then we learned IMOS which is the main program used by missions in the Church. It seems pretty simple. We are just going to need a little time to remember all that we are supposed to be inputting into it. We had a wonderful group of 16 in our class. It was fun getting to know them better and our classes were lively because we were so familiar with each other by then.
Tuesday evening Elder C. Scott Grow, of the Seventy, came to speak at a Devotional. He was a very good speaker and really got you motivated. He spoke of setting goals and brought a charge from President Monson to "come to the rescue" of less active members.
Thursday was our last day of classes. It was a bittersweet day. We have gotten so close with some of the other couples and it will be sad to leave them all but we are all very anxious to get to our final destinations. We gathered for a group picture before everyone went their separate ways.
Friday began the LONG weekend. We had nothing on our schedule so we planned our own day. In the morning we went to the Provo Temple where I was lucky enough to find a pair of earrings that I had left there last Saturday.
It was a great session and we really enjoyed the walk to and from. After lunch we discovered that is was Free Fare Friday on the city buses so we hopped on and went down to the Provo Towne Center. We actually only shopped at JC Penney but I hit a gold mine. I really did not have enough time before we left to shop for the cotton blend blouses that were suggested. They were having a half price sale and I found several. We hopped on the bus back to the MTC and made it in time for dinner - very important that you do not miss those FREE meals. After dinner we decided to do our laundry instead of waiting for the morning.
Saturday we decided to take the MTC shuttle to the University Mall in Orem. We had a nice exercise session as we walked the mall for an hour. I did find another blouse at Macy's and was happy to think that there is a Macy's on Guam. I prefer that over Kmart. After lunch we were all ready to take it easy when we remembered that we are responsible for cleaning our rooms before checking out. We did not want to have to do it on Sunday so we spent a few hours doing a thorough cleaning job. We will just have to do a damp rag once over Sunday night now. In the evening, we and the Brobergs and Smiths went to see the Young Ambassadors perform. It was an excellent program but I worried as the time got later and later. It ended at 10pm and we had to call the MTC security to get a shuttle back. I was afraid they would lock us out for being past the curfew. Not to fear though, Wayne checked and found that the senior couples do not have a curfew. We can do what ever we want - within reason that is.
The photo below is of our dorm - the Jacob Hamlin building. They are starting renovation to add onto the east end for the Bookstore. We were told that they were closing down the building for two weeks starting Monday. I was a little worried since there are still 4 couples in the building but we all leave tomorrow so the building will be empty by 2pm. We are ready to leave since for the past two days we have had a recurring sewer gas smell in the hallways. The security guy who drove us home last night said that this is something that happens every once in a while and they do not really know why.
Today we went to a Sacrament Meeting with the young elders and then we watched Music and the Spoken Word on a huge screen. David Foster (think Andrea Bocelli's The Prayer) played the piano while the choir sang. It was beautiful. At noon my Auntie Caye picked us up to go to her church. We had a BIG box that we took to her house which Jeannie will pick up next month and take back home for us. We definitely do not need the warm clothes we have been wearing here. We had dinner with Caye and Carol Ann and then we came back to the MTC in time for the weekly Fireside. One of the MTC administrators by the name of Richard Heaton spoke. He emphasized the need to focus not on how we are doing in teaching but what the investigators are thinking and what their needs are. If we do that then the Lord will direct us in what we need to focus our lessons on. I am going to miss all the Devotionals and Firesides. They have been so good.
And so we have come to the end of our time here. We are packing up the last little things we needed for today and we will be going to bed early. Our shuttle leaves for the airport at 5am. We have 17 hours of flight time and about 6 hours of layovers to look forward to. Our route is SLC to Portland to Tokyo and then on to Guam. We will arrive at 1am Wednesday morning. I think that will be about 7 or 8pm Tuesday for you at home. We will be losing Tuesday since we will cross the International Date line.
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