Hello Elder Tomkinson

July 7th...we are now official missionaries. Wayne and I entered the MTC today with about 75 other Senior Missionaries. There are about 14 others who are going to be serving as Welfare Service Missionaries. What a delight when we saw Ralph and Reva Brooks. They are in our group and will be leaving for Brazil about the same time we go to Honduras.
It was so good to see them. For those of you who remember Kyle McEuen...his inlaws are also in our group. Elder and Sister Rees will be going to Romania to serve in the office there.

With Ralph and Reva Brooks waiting for SHOTS

We have spent the last day reading and studying Preach My Gospel. We already have a testimony of the sacred nature of this book. We were told that EVERY member of the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve had input into the book. Elder Maxwell edited it from his hospital bed and Elder Haight was almost blind by the time he died, so he had someone read it to him. They said that the book was 100 pages longer when they first finished...and they knew that they needed to cut it down. Every word is there for a reason.

This afternoon we get to teach our first discussion. We are studying and teaching about the Restoration. We have someone come and volunteer to be our investigator. It will be interesting to see if Wayne (Elder Tomkinson) and I can do this together. We had to find someone to bear testimony to today. We visited with 3 Spanish elders that are going to Chile, and bore our testimony of the Restoration. Elder Tomkinson also shared his testimony of Brother Joseph and his experience with Grandma Welker and her love of the prophet.

With our "Investigator" Sister Sitaway

Tonight is a devotional that is once a week at the MTC. There is usually a visiting General Authority and the Senior Missionaries get reserved seating in the front. We are really catered to here and it is marvelous to feel so SPECIAL. Love you all and we are looking forward to your emails. That is one thing that is so great about being an OLD missionary...you can email anytime that you have time to.

Those of you who know me well will be glad to hear that I am doing better when we sing "Called to Serve". I am sure that I will be overwhelmed by it this evening. I'd better remember to take kleenex with me.