Adventures can be challenging and rewarding

Not knowing where to begin this week's blog is an understatement. So, I will begin with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's poem he used in a training film we watched this week entitled "Real Life":
                                    Come to the edge, He said.
                                    No, we will fall!
                                    Come to the edge, He said.
                                    No, we will fall!
                                    So we came to the edge,
                                    He pushed us . . . . and we flew!
That in only a few words expresses my feeling of the experience we have had this past week at the Missionary Training Center (MTC).

Being in such a place where everyone here is of one heart and mind has been truly humbling. We are surrounded by thousands of young, beautiful young people who are sacrificing two years of their lives to serve the Lord. I generally see such love, respect, excitement on their faces. But there are those who are overwhelmed by where they are and what they are doing, and I see fear and such exhaustion. I have felt all of the above also. LeRoy and I are being stretched!!



Mail is so important!

Food is equally important!

Our days begin early--up at 6 a.m. for breakfast and then in class by 8 a.m. with about 85 other Senior missionaries. Sixty-six of those are all  going to Nauvoo!! We spend our day being taught and then learning how to teach and testify of our Savior and of the Gospel we know and love. In a word, we are learning to "open our mouths" and testify of what we have always known. Role playing is an important part of that. When asked by one of our teachers how we feel about role playing, I instantly said, "I hate it!" Now I would reply, "I can see the importance of it," and mean it.

Our teachers are young BYU students who are returned missionaries. Yes, they teach us seniors to "lengthen our shuffle". I have been taught by the best this week. They love missionary work, and you know what? So do I. I have literally stepped off that edge this week. Now, whether I will be able to fly remains to be seen as we wear our missionary badges proudly and are no longer playing a role.

Our District and Bro. Lee

Brother Meyer and Sis. Thurston

The role playing involved people from Provo who volunteer to come here to the MTC where they play the role of someone who is investigating our church. LeRoy and I then approach them as if that were the real situation and we play the missionaries who teach them. One scenario involved an 84-year-old man who loved to fly his glider (true story). He still does so, but has to be helped into his plane before taking off. When he is soaring he looks up at the canopy of his glider where he has written "God loves me." He wants to believe in prayer, but doesn't really know how it is done. And his other concern is that he had been challenged by previous missionaries to read the Book of Mormon, but he had not done that because he really doesn't believe that it could possibly be true. Forty-five minutes later LeRoy and I shook this delightful gentleman's hand and felt that maybe we could teach such concepts and feel the guidance of the Holy Spirit even when play acting. It was really amazing and testimony building.

Lunchtime each day has been spent singing the songs we have been assigned to learn for our Nauvoo plays we will be participating in. Thank goodness for very musical people here with us! There is hope!

Being Senior missionaries gives us much more freedom than the young ones. Supposedly we know enough to stay out of trouble, right? So, we were able to meet our dear friends the DeWolf's for dinner and much catching up since our time together in Yakima. Without them in our lives, we would not be here.

Then we spent Saturday with our son Brent and his wife Ashley. How we enjoy them. They know we love to eat, hike, and play "Hand and Foot", so we did all that plus made two receiving blankets for the cute little toad to come. They are expecting their first child and Ashley looks adorable, although she doesn't quite see it that way. It is a blessing to look forward to a fifth grandchild.

We finish our stay here by doing some Visitor Center Training--which may not ever apply to our specific duties at Nauvoo, but it helps us learn how to approach people and how to engage them in conversation which might then lead to their wanting to know more about Nauvoo and what went on there. Ultimately, we want to invite everyone to Christ.