The Great Folks of Fuengirola and The Horses of Jerez

The Deeres and me

This week I have decided to tell you a bit about the people I work and go to church with. First off are the Deeres, who are a great family. Unfortunately I don't get to see them a ton (just a bit on Sundays and President and Sister Deere at our Monday office meetings), and the only picture I have is the one someone took when I got here (I didn't have enough presence of mind to get one myself so I had to "procure" the one off the mission blog). They have two children living here with them right now, and one of those leaves in Sept to attend BYU. They are great people to work with and I feel very fortunate to be in their mission!

The Castillos and office missionaries Flint and Dansie
(and a bit of Hermana Chantrill)

Next up are the Castillos. They are the only mission couple here in the office right now (we are getting another before too long) and I already consider them great friends. She is a great photographer, and is generous enough to share them; many of the pictures on this post (including the horse above and the ones of the ward party on a previous post) were taken by her. Thank you Hermana Castillo! I won't embarrass them by telling you how generous, kind, loving, and sharing they are - feeder and champion of missionaries, young and old alike, but you get the idea. They are the ones who instigated and planned the trip to Jerez I so enjoyed :)

Hermana Chantrill

And this is my great friend and companion, Hermana Chantrill. She doesn't like to have her picture taken, so I had to enlarge one Hermana Castillo took ;) ... she's also in some general ones you can check out. We have a great time together - she's even enough of a good sport to go wandering with me around town and trail me up all (or most of) the flights of stairs I am want to tromp up. Yesterday was her birthday and we celebrated by getting some delicious artisan icecream (there are tons of little stores that sell it here) and walking along the shoreline in the surf collecting interesting rocks and shells. Everyone had been telling me how cold the water was, so I waited for a warm day to try it. They don't know cold apparently (doesn't even touch the Washington and Oregon Pacific!); swimming is definitely in my near future!
Hermana Chantrill has a great sense of humor and tells a great story. This is her second mission (the first was a temple mission to the Dominican Republic so she has some great Dominican recipes), and she's been out 7 or 8 months already so I get to enjoy her company for a while yet!

The other members of our office staff consists of the young missionary companionship that takes care of finances, travel, and the legal stuff that lets missionaries stay in the country. We have a third right now who is training to take over finances. This is a picture inside the arena waiting for the Andelusian horse show in Jerez. Nearest is Elder Castillo, then me, Hermana Chantrill, then the finance person Elder Flint (who sang in church today and has a great voice), then the travel / visa (and other stuff) person Elder Dansie, and then Elder Buckway, who is taking over Elder Flint's job. They are great young men and I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them. We have some interesting, fun times in the office and they are great at their jobs (making great improvements)! Elder Castillo likes to give them a hard time, and Friday they made a big jello mold and put a bunch of his desk stuff in it (stapler etc). Big mistake. As Elder Castillo said, "Revenge is a dish best served cold".... :)

So... a bit about the horse show I got to enjoy last weekend (I'll tell a bit more later although I don't have pictures of the show as they wouldn't allow them). The Spanish Andalucian horse breed is very old and is the forebearer of the Lipizzan Stallions. We got to watch them do their "airs above the ground" (rearing, then jumping up while kicking back with their hindquarters and other stuff) and basically equine "ballet". It was TOTALLY awesome and I absolutely loved it. A very great day.

Fuengirola Spain

So I decided to give you all a little tour of my ciudad here in Spain. Down at the Mediterranean, there are several pieces of sand art that are really quite good. There is usually an "artist" there working on some minor part, but I'm pretty sure it's not the original artist as after a while parts of the faces start to fall off, and they'll just be fixing the table or whatever. I think this might just be the original though - I saw him later actually redoing the people who had started disintegrating. I guess he needs someone to collect all the donations though. Our missionaries aren't allowed at the beach (even the one who had a doctor's note saying it would be good for some medical condition or another) because Spaniards are, shall we say, quite cavalier about whether certain pieces of clothing are completely necessary. I try to keep to the cooler times of the day :)

The Med in a calm mood

The Med in an unusually wild mood

The last few days it has been pretty wild down there (unusually so - lots of people were taking pictures) with the water coming all the way up to the wall in some places. There were even people surfing the waves were so good!


Two days after I got here Fuen celebrated International Day, and there were all kinds of food booths representing different countries (you could have a Kangaroo burger from Australia, and it seems many countries like to cook slabs of meat propped up around a fire).




There was a parade down the center of all the booths with performers from 10 or so different countries, incl. Spain (of coarse), some African countries, England, Ireland, Japan, and I'm not sure who else. It was pretty cool! :)






They also had booths you could buy stuff from the various countries and I got a necklace and a carving of Mary, Joseph, and Christ from Israel.

There was also a carnival that had a lot of familiar looking rides, but I thought this one was very cool. They locked the kids in these big hamster balls and let them run around in a pool. It looked like a lot of fun!



The ward also had an activity to celebrate the day, and it was done as only Spain would do, with much style and a very easy going attitude. There were desserts representing a lot of different countries, including Iran (from a Sister who was in a very unhappy arranged marriage and fled Iran, but was not allowed to take her 10 yr old daughter, and in fact can't even contact her at all (the husbands have ALL the rights in Iran) and was just baptised a couple months ago).

The chapel/cultural hall combined - on the left is our Branch
President and his wife from Great Britain.

There was also England (of coarse! And I got to finally try Trifle), the US (brownies and PBJ samples), the Philippines, and I can't remember where-all else. We had a lot of time to druel over them though, because the dinner (Mediodia) was supposed to start at 2pm, but the paella (a traditional Spanish rice dish with lots of curry and various meats which I thought meant that there was seafood paella, beef paella, etc. - but it had seafood AND chicken AND beef) didn't come until 3:30 (the Spanish are even more easy-going about time than US LDS folks are!) The desserts were worth waiting for though - very yummy!

Well, this page has run out of space (and I have run out of time), so I guess I'll have to continue another day. A teaser of future blogs:

A Day in the Life of an Office Missionary in Spain

The walkway by the Mediterranean I enjoy

So you may ask, what is it like to be on an office mission in Spain?
Well, I usually wake up when I wake up, around 6:30 or 7 or so. Then I read scriptures, maybe write in my journal, then do exercises. Right now that consists of MWF doing major muscle strength training with weights, then I run the 6 flights of stairs in our apartment building 10 times, then stagger into our piso (apartment). Tu/Th I work on the more minor muscles and do some band (elastic) exercises. I haven't figured out cardio yet.

Our front door and my nemesis THE STAIRS

Then it’s breakfast (oatmeal with fruit of coarse for those who know me) and shower, then get ready for the day. We usually get to the office around 10, then I check to see if there are any new referrals, and do any of them (send them to the right mission if it’s not in ours, or to the right Elders/Sisters if it is), then work on my project to get the Spanish missionaries ready to take the English test at the end of their mission. I’m still working on getting the referral system and my other project up and running well, but once that’s done I’ll find more to do. Right now there are just us two single sisters, one couple (which includes the nurse), and two office elders in the office. Another couple should come in a couple of months, which will help. We work until 2pm, then take a two hour “mediodia” (as per Spanish custom), then it’s back to work at 4 for another couple hours or so. It’s pretty relaxed though - if not much is going on and we need something, we’ll take off to get it, or whatever. Right now we don’t have internet at our piso, so anything we want to do online has to be done at the office. So sometimes we stay a bit extra. Like I said, pretty relaxed. Then it’s home for a snack (the major meal of the day is mediodia) - for me usually some VERY yummy bread with cheese (I’m trying different ones - yesterday I found some goat/sheep/cow cheese that’s actually pretty darn good!) and some fruit.

One of the many local fruit stands

Then I like to take a walk along the Mediterranean, maybe write some, study Spanish, or whatever else I need to get done. Then bed by about 10:30 until the next day. Some “specials”:  Every Monday we meet with President Deere and go over any planning or changes that need to happen in the office. Then once a month is “concilio” where all the younger missionary leaders come for training, then two Hermana (sister) missionaries come to stay at our place for a night, which is fun. Then there are transfer days, and days when new missionaries come in, which get kind of wild (although not particularly for us). That’s all I’ve come across so far. Then there are the fun days. Once in a while we’ll go with the office elders on a P day (my Pdays are on Saturday) to somewhere for fun, and sometimes all the senior missionaries get together for some fun. I’m looking forward to those days :)  This next Saturday we’re going to the Jerez horse show (which I guess is pretty famous) that I’ll try and report on.
I do have a companion, Hermana Chantrill, who has already been here about 7 months. whom I really enjoy. We have a lot in common, and I enjoy her personality, and she even does fairly well keeping up with me, even though she’s a fair amount older. We share thoughts from what we’ve learned in scripture study that morning, and plan to have FHE together. She was pretty lonely before I came, so I felt pretty welcome :). This is her second mission. The first was a temple mission for 2 years in the Dominican Republic and today she cooked mediodia from things she learned there, incl. plantains (cooked kind of like mashed potatoes), and poached eggs and veggies and salad. It was very good and I had no trouble eating my share :).  I did the cooking last week, and actually made my own spagetti sauce instead of going the jar route, so that’s something new for me. Like I said, the bread and pasteries here are to die for (yes, I’ve tried the chocolate wrapped in a light pastery like a crescaunt, which is SO good and the "hot chocolate" [very thick so you can dip your churros in it and so rich I could only finish half]), so I have to limit the bread to once a day, and freeze most of the loaf for later.

Yummy hot chocolate and churros

 It’s actually much easier to cook this time than when I first got to Switzerland, which is a relief. And there are TONS of fresh fruits and vegetables in little stores all over which I have really been enjoying (I try to get a new and unusual fruit when I go there too. It’s been interesting and very good :)). All in all I’m having a GREAT time, and have also been enjoying the awesome spirit of the great people here I work with too. No better place to be!

Spain!

With my Mission President Pres. Deere and Sister Deere at the airport

Hurray! The adventure has finally begun!  I’ve had my first full week of serving the Lord and the people of Spain and it’s been totally awesome.
My first chore was to get here. The plan was to fly from Salt Lake to Minneapolis-St. Paul, then from there to Amsterdam, then to Paris, then to Malaga. I left Marie’s house about 6am, and the plan was to arrive in Malaga about 1 pm the next day. With the 8 hr difference, that made for 23 hrs of travel. Well… the flight to Minn-St. Paul went fine (except that I discovered I had left my computer cords in Utah), but the flight from there had some late connecting flights they waited for, so we got to Amsterdam way late - after my flight to Paris had already left. So I got to sit around in Amsterdam for 8 hours (I got to know that airport very well!). Fortunately they fed us decently on the transatlantic flight, and I had some food I brought from Marie’s, so I was fine. The flight over was actually pretty decent, although I didn’t sleep at all. I got to watch some movies I’d been meaning to watch, so I wasn’t too bored, but just as I was settling down to try and sleep the kids around me woke up, so I never did get to sleep. I think I may have dozed off an hour or so in Amsterdam (I set my cell alarm just in case), and for another hour on the flight to Malaga (maybe - that one had crying babies pretty much the whole way), but other than that not much sleep. Once I got to Malaga it took a while to collect my luggage (although customs was no problem, and miracle of miracles my bags were all there!), but  the Deeres (my Mission President and his wife) were there to meet me and boy was it good to see them!  It turns out that the mission office and home aren’t in Malaga itself, but in a smaller city about 20 min away called Fuengirola. So by the time I got “home” it was about 8pm and I had spent about 30 hours traveling, almost all of it awake. I actually didn’t feel all that bad then, although of coarse with jet lag I didn’t sleep all that well the first few nights. But by Friday night I was sleeping just fine (although still dragging a bit) and the last few days have been pretty good, so actually it hasn’t been bad at all :)!

Malaga from the air

First I’ll tell a bit about the area I live in. Fuengirola is very much a tourist town, and I live maybe a block from the mission office, and a couple blocks from the beach. That has a walkway that goes alongside it for as far as I’ve been able to walk (and see from there) in both directions, and the Mediteranean Sea is a beautiful blue that I just love. The sky has also been blue almost all the time (except for a couple hazy mornings) and the trees and flowers are blooming… it’s a very beautiful area. The streets are clean and everything is orderly, and it’s hard to get too lost between the mountains on one side and the sea on the other, although I did manage it once for a while. I’m lucky though - my piso (apartment) is on a one-block very narrow (just enough for one car and less than a yard on the sides to walk on) street that just happens to have two veterinary clinics /pet stores on it, with accompanying two feet square very green signs on both ends of the street to mark them that I have been able to use as landmarks. I haven’t visited them yet (they’re open kind of weird hours), but it’s on the agenda :).  There are a ton of tiny shops selling pretty much everything imaginable, and a couple of larger grocery story closeby too, so shopping is absolutely no problem. There are a bunch of tiny “Chino” stores that have a little bit of everything - I found weights to exercise with in one and the owner gave me both for the price of one! (11.5 euros, or about $16.50 - not bad). I also found some crock-type shoes there for like $5. Some other landmarks where I live - the “naked lady” fountain (that’s what they call it here) with mermaids and mermen that marks the major road (still pretty narrow by our standards) through town and which is near home and office, a “fair” grounds - like a parking lot most of the time, but fills with booths a couple times a week - and advertizing signs that look like street signs trying to get you to go visit (the street signs are tiny signs on the buildings that usually aren’t there and as the street names typically change every couple of blocks it makes navigating challenging if that’s what you’re going by. I just usually wander around and don’t have anyplace specific to go, so no problem :) The chapel is about a 20 minute walk from home, so that’s no problem, and I have plenty of offers of cars available, so I can pretty much do what I want that way. They often go exploring different areas on Saturdays, so I look forward to that!  More later….

The Mediterranean at Fuengirola

D minus 12 hrs! Goodbye USA, Hello Spain (and some MTC)

     Here I am on the eve of my mission and I am feeling a lot of emotions. I especially feel grateful to my Heavenly Father for helping me get to this place in my life. It hasn't always been easy, but He has always been there for me. I'm also grateful for all those who have helped me along the way, both family and friends (you know who you are :) ). I'm also excited to finally get to Spain and meet my friends there. And yes, there's a bit of sadness at leaving friends and my family (esp. the littlest ones) and of trepidation - it'll be a big change, and a very long plane ride, but that will soon be behind me. I KNOW I am doing what the Lord wants me to do, and that makes all the difference.
     To go back to my MTC experience, to top off Elder Andersen and President Uckdorf, Tuesday Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Sister Oaks came to speak. I was very touched to hear Sister Oaks - she cares so much about the missionaries that she came to speak, even though her mother is on her death bed. As she said, "This church is true!  And if someone asks you how you know, you can just say because Sister Oaks told me so!" She also gave a few pieces of advice:  1) We are not alone - angels attend us.  Don't be too tired or discouraged! Be humble and faithful, keeping the spirit of the Lord. Don't turn away from the still small voice - it will guide you. 2) Be persistent! Life is a calling - what you make of it is up to you. You will make mistakes - use the atonement and never give up!  3) This is our time to unplug. When you go back home, make sure you leave time to listen to the Holy Spirit.  and 4) Love your companions (there were knowing looks and a few snickers between the seniors at that one). She urged us to cultivate Christ-like attributes, then bore her testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was very impressed by her - a great lady for sure.
     Then Elder Oaks spoke, calling us his "fellow missionaries"  :)  and in true Elder Oaks fashion, clearly and plainly outlined our purpose: to 1) Proclaim the doctrine of Christ, 2) Establish the Church, and 3) Affirm and demonstrate with our actions the need to press forward and endure to the end in order to gain eternal life. To do this, he challenged the younger missionaries as they transitioned from teen to mature missionaries. Most apply to those of us a year or two out of our teen years too :) I'm sending this to my son, Elder Nielson, so I'm going to be as complete as I can...
1) Challenge to change.  Break free of prior patterns, work hard, use time effectively, and shed bad habits.
2) Challenge to achieve specific skills and particular responsibilities (learning the gospel, perhaps a language, learning to teach many different kinds of people, and preparing and giving effective talks).
3) Challenge to BECOME. To become a missionary is more than just doing - you need to have a "mighty change of heart", become truly converted, and become what Heavenly Father wants us to become.
     If you're doubting, be of good cheer; as President Monson said, who the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies! It won't be easy, but it will be possible. Desire what is right, and ask/pray for help. Labor diligently that you may be perfected in your ministry (D&C 88:84). You need faith and performance as a missionary (which comes from US!  Our heart, where you are, how well you've prepared).
     The Savior is the Ultimate Good who paid for the ultimate evil of all the sin in the world. Offer all you can offer. We're not here to be thanked, but to serve. Learn doctrine, and how to keep alive (like how to cook), but first you need vision; you need to see the big picture, who you are, and what you are called to do. You are Sons and Daughters of God! Royalty! Don't get bogged down in the little things. Keep your eye on your calling, which is to introduce righteousness and the laws of heaven on earth, and to bless and save the people on the earth, both living and dead. You are here for the salvation of mankind!  Pray for this vision and for understanding.

Elder Oak's council:
1) Physical Health:  Take care of yourself!  Think safety, nutrition, physical exercise, take your medications if needed, and follow the safety rules to prevent accidents. We need to do all that we can do before depending on the Lord's help.
2) Instruments in His hands:  Alma 17. Have no desire than to do His will. Do His work and do it in His way!
3) Prepare yourself to act in His service:
     - Keep yourself clean and worthy. Keep the commandments and obey your leaders.
     - Study the scriptures.
     - Be intense and consistent in your prayers for assistance.
     - Keep away from pornography, course language, loud music, etc.
     - Honor and listen to your two lines of communication with your Heavenly Father, your personal line, and your priesthood line (through which you are guided and directed). Be worthy and obedient so that you can be taught and directed.
4) Remember who you are!  (No silly pranks.)
5) Work to establish the church. This isn't measured by baptisms (although they are important), which is an incomplete measure. Think of this in all of your activities: teaching, retaining, and reactivating.
6) Teach and testify. Brigham Young said that only a testimony brings light, knowledge, and repentance. Carefully prepare and learn the principals of the restored gospel. Act under the Spirit. Use the language that fits the needs of each individual investigator. Teaching must be individualized, in the order they need them to be.
7) Get commitments. Sometimes you need to lovingly leave those who aren't really interested
8) Nurture. Teach them to study pray, pay tithing, and go to church each Sabbath day.  Help converts and immature converts especially to overcome addictions (which takes several months to totally overcome).

Conversion is not an event, it is a process that is ongoing throughout our and their lives.
This is "The only True and Living Church", but that doesn't mean being arrogant, nor that God loves members more, nor that there is no truth elsewhere. It is "true and living" because it has the fullness of His doctrine and the power of His priesthood, needed to bestow the Gift of the Holy Ghost and other ordinances. It is also a unique testimony of Jesus Christ.

Then Elder Oaks went over some of the lessons, specifically the fullness of doctrine, Priesthood authority, and his testimony of Christ and His relationship to Heavenly Father and us. Christ is the Savior who cleanses us and is the source of strength to bear the burdens and infirmities of this life.
Remember the fundamentals of the church are embodied in Christ. We are the followers of Christ and we are His servants. Work and testify in His name!

I absolutely love the MTC - it was a great experience and I'm already plotting my return ;).  I learned a lot, made a lot of good friends, and absolutely feasted on the strong spirit there. Like I've said before, I highly recommend it!

So - next post will be on the other side of the ocean!   Have a good one!

A Glorious Easter Morning at the MTC - with President Uchtdorf!

What a glorious Easter this has been! To be able sit at the feet of a true and living Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ as he recounts the Easter Story and brings added meaning and joy into that beautiful account! It is a beautiful, warm, sunny, blue Easter morning here in Provo, Utah and my heart and spirit are full.  We had a special Easter Devotional here at the MTC and what a joy to go into the auditorium and find that we were going to be able to feast on the Spirit, love, and words of President Uchtdorf! If I were able to chose who I would like to hear out of anyone on this earth, he would be in the top two or three. I feel so blessed! And to think I almost didn't get to hear him!  I am truly blessed. 

A view of the MTC (center and left) from the temple

He first spoke of how sometimes people question whether we as a church celebrate Easter enough - but that we celebrate Easter EVERY week as we partake of the sacrament, and should ALWAYS keep Him in remembrance as we say our prayers every day. He broke the bands of death and provided the way for us to be purified so that we may be worthy to return to live with our Heavenly Father!

Then  Pres. Uchtdorf spoke of how Christ's rising from the tomb changed a frightened, confused group of disciples into a dynamic group of missionaries and leaders, and how He can do this for us, too. Right after the Savior was crucified His disciples huddled in unbelief, frightened and in grief. Then Pres. Uchtdorf gave a beautiful overview of Christ's resurrection - the coming of the angels, the appearance to Mary, and to his Apostles... and the change it wrought in those Disciples. He told of Peter, who had faith to walk on water, and then feared. Who declared he would never deny Christ, and yet who did so three times... changed to one who declared Christ Risen boldly and without fear to common people and rulers alike, no matter the consequences. One who was a champion of faith!

So keep preaching! Be bold! Why fear?  Christ is risen! Death is conquered!  So there is no need to fear! We are ALL (you included!) disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, spreading the happy and glorious news of the gospel. Keep teaching! Keep testifying! Then we all, like Peter, will be able to see the fruits of Christ's Atonement and Resurrection in our lives. We have to ask ourselves - will I take a few sips of the water of Life, or will I let the Living Waters spring up and fill me with energy and divine power? Catch the vision!  Serve with all of your might, mind, and strength! 

Then Pres. Uchdorf told a story of a couple of missionaries - one bold, and one not so much, and used 3 Nephi 5:13  "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." We are ALL disciples of Jesus Christ, called to serve His people! (Yes, even you!)

Be bold, but not overbearing, and do all things with love, and you will not offend. Listen to the Spirit and follow its guidance. If you want to "punch Satan in the mouth" - preach the gospel!

Work hard! Depend on the Lord! Seek the Spirit! Be obedient! Fear no man!

Then he pronounced an awesome blessing on us missionaries in the name of Jesus Christ that I shall treasure. After the closing song and prayer he went back up to the mike, and told us how very much he loved us -  you could just feel the love radiating from him!  Then he went out amongst us and shook as many hands as he could. He came right next to me (I was separated a bit to the side just as a precaution in the very off chance I might have something catching), and offered his hand, but I told him I'd better not - but we bumped elbows ;)  Almost as good!  I'll tell you, that man loves the members of the church sooo much. We are VERY lucky to have him as one of our leaders!
All in all a totally awesome, Spirit-filled morning.  I love being a missionary!

After lunch I took a walk up to the temple and around the neighborhood a bit. The Provo temple is growing on me :)

And finally - the building (2M, the Jacob Hamblin building) that I call home.

MTC PMG: Week one in the Missionary Training Center

Hurray! I finally made it into the MTC!   I thought I'd keep a blog (we'll see how THAT goes) to keep everyone who's interested up to date on my mission. I may get a bit long winded on here as this is how I plan to keep my "travel journal", so you're welcome to skip through it :)

I had planned on entering the MTC on Mar 1, 2014, but Spain had other ideas. As soon as I got here (I planned to spend about a week with Marie and her family), I found out that the Spain consolate had decided it needed an additional two forms to add to all the stuff I had already sent for my Visa. So they decided to delay my entry into the MTC until it came. And I waited. And waited. I was kind of worried I might not be able to get back in time to be home for Sam (who is on a mission in the Central Salt Lake Mission), so they set a firm date of April 14th (a Monday) and the week before that, my visa came!  It was great cause for celebration!

Entrance to the MTC:

Marie and Joshua drove me down (thank you Marie and James for all your help and hospitality!) to Provo... it was so exciting to enter the gates of the MTC!  I got my official "missionary badge", security and meal card (you have to swipe to enter the grounds and all the buildings), and misc. information, dropped my bags in my room (with the help of some very nice Elders), then headed to the chapel for orientation. Btw - I'm staying by myself in a very nice room, much like a small hotel room, on the third floor of the building that houses the MTC book store. Orientation was the normal introductory stuff, plus they divided us up into "districts" that stayed together for classes etc.

All the "senior" missionaries in our group :

My district consisted of the Bradshaws, who were from Alpine Utah and was going to serve in their stake as Leadership Support; and who had already served a mission in Hungary; the Maynards, who were from South Jordan, UT, and were headed to France to serve the Young Single Adults of the area; the Martins, who were on their second mission in the Family History Archives division, photographing records in Olympia, the capital of Washington; my companion, Sister Tilley from Colorado, who was going to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii to do whatever they wanted her to; and myself, from Medford, Oregon, going to the Spain Malaga Mission, as office support.  We had two wonderful young teachers that were students at BYU, Sister Holland, who had her very last final Friday and was moving on to the "real world", and Elder Lystrup.

This week was dedicated to "Preach My Gospel" training, which is similar to what the younger missionaries go through. First we learned our purpose - to teach PEOPLE, not lessons, with love and simplicity, where they are at. Next we learned how to teach the Restoration of Jesus Christ's true gospel, using quick summaries, scriptures, and questions, with some experiences and our testimony thrown in. Then we practiced on each other, and the next day practiced on some volunteers from the community who pretended not to know anything about the church, which was quite scary for some people, but since I'd already done some of it (thanks Kelly and Dee!) I thought it was fun! One of the most challenging parts was learning to work as a team with your companion. I had lots of practice developing this talent as I kept getting new partners as my companion got sick and missed a fair amount of time. It kept me on my toes! Then we taught the Plan of Salvation as a followup lesson to volunteer "investigators", which was really easy with ours - he kept saying "I have a question about (something), and then proceeded to tell us all about it and state that it made total sense to him!  The challenge was sneeking some teaching of our own in!  Finally, each couple made up a scenario where we pretended to be members who weren't coming to church any more, then we had an introductory meeting with another couple (not of our group), and each couple had to come up with a lesson to teach to that particular couple's needs. We were encouraged to use true examples in our lives, and the couple we "taught" was a family where the mom had fibromyalgia and was using that to abuse prescription pain pills and get as much money/support as she could from the government and church. It was interesting! (How to be tactful and yet helpful.... we ended up encouraging her to try other doctors and to  try out the church's Addiction Recovery Program. We also reminded her of the help that comes from Christ's atonement).  Finally they went over working with Stake and Local church leaders. All in all it was a very interesting week - great teachers, and great information. The hardest part though was staying awake that hour after lunch, no matter how good the teachers were!

One kind of funny thing:  I wrote how I've been without a partner for the last couple days - well, they decided it was okay if I just did the community teaching thing by myself, so I went in there, introduced myself, and start teaching. Suddenly another sister appears and sits down with me...apparently they realized I was "alone" with a single (married but w/o his wife) man  (it's in the gym with partitions between everyone but open to the middle where the instructors were so I didn't think it was any big deal) and decided that wasn't a good thing after all! 
Some more about the MTC:   The food is served in the cafeteria, and on the whole is excellent (or as excellent as mass produced food can possibly get). There is always fruit and salad, and usually several choices. It's easy to find way too much that I want to eat! We've had Mexican, Chinese, Papa John's pizza, the Creamery (college) icecream (all you can eat!), wraps, all kinds of burgers, chicken steak sandwiches, and on and on...  I found the luggage scale Wednesday, and decided that a bit less food and a bit more exercise was in order ;)  I also "found" (or he found me) L.T. Hoak Thursday. It was so fun visiting with him!  He looked great! The Elders here are SO nice - I rarely have to open a door, and they (and the Sisters) always have a big smile and cheerful greeting. There is an exercise room with 2 treadmills and 2 bikes on my room's floor, and a big exercise room in the basement everyone uses, so I have no excuse not to exercise (which I've been trying to do). And there are beautiful flowers everywhere outside, and beautiful pictures everywhere inside.

 There is also a world map where it's a tradition to have your picture taken while you point to where your mission is. I couldn't resist :)

Another tradition - every Tuesday we have a "devotional" in which one of the church leadership comes to give all the missionaries an inspirational talk. This last Tuesday  Sister Kathy Andersen and Elder Neil Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke. Sister Andersen spoke on treasuring the words the Lord has given us through His Apostles during conference (it was interesting to hear an insiders report on how much care and thought and prayer go into the talks). Elder Andersen spoke on Laying Hold upon the Doctrine of Christ - Follow, and Do! Understand the Atonement and put it into your own life - live it, and it will make your faith immoveable.
Something really neat - they had a bunch of missionaries (mostly the young folk, with a few older) form a missionary choir that I got to sing in. It was TOTALLY AWESOME!  Think of all those men's voices (usually a rarity). Very powerful. And the director was VERY good - he really gave us a sense of the meaning of the hymn. A great experience.
What was funny though, although we were having an apostle come to speak to us Tuesday, all that day the whole MTC was abuzz about what a GREAT devotional we were going to have on Easter Sunday. I can't wait to see what they have planned for us!  At least hopefully I can go. Remember I wrote about my companion being sick?  Well, she apparently was generous enough to share with me, because I woke up with *ahem* bowl problems this morning. So far it's only been the one time (it's 5pm right now), so if it stays fine, I'll be able to go tomorrow, but they think she may have norovirus, which is VERY contageous (we found this out Thur, after I've been partnering with her for 3 days) and she is under quarantine, so we'll see.  It kind of tanked all my plans for today, but at least it's a nonteaching day, so I'm only really missing exercises, temple, and shopping. And I made time to go to the temple here Thursday night (what a beautiful temple inside!), and it gave me time to write up this blog, so it's all good.

The very best thing about the MTC is the spirit here - I love feeling the Holy Ghost bear witness to me that what I am doing and what I am teaching is very true and that I'm doing what the Lord wants me to do. Can't get better than that!