MTC....WEEK TWO

This week is a little shorter as we leave Thursday to travel to HONDURAS!! It is amazing to think that we will be there in no time. President Gomez has assured us that we will be met at the airport and that he has several options for apartments for us to live in. We are excited to begin the new phase of our adventure.

This week is our WELFARE SERVICES training. This includes the Humanitarian arm of the Church. Monday we went to tour Welfare Square and to see the gigantic Humanitarian Center. It was unbelievable to us how much international service that the Church does all the time. They are really in partnership with many international organizations...the Red Cross, UPS, UNICEF, and the Catholic charities just to name a few.

At Welfare Square
Wayne with BALES of clothes
They receive 300-400 bales/week here

We also were able to have lunch with Elder Glen Rudd. He served as the Area President when my parents served in Fiji. We got our picture taken with him and were able to visit with him for a little while.

With Elder Glen Rudd

Wednesday is new missionary day at the MTC, and last week we were excited to find out that one of the great young men who was in our family on the trek was going to enter. We were able to find him and sit in on his orientation meeting. I have never been to that meeting...it is the one where the missionaries and their families come to the MTC, and then the missionary goes out one door and the family the other. It was a great experience. Elder Clint Solomon is now a missionary at the MTC and his ma and pa were able to see him while we were here.

With Elder Solomon

(Note the crutches from his first gym activity)

It is amazing how close we are to all the other couples that we have met while at the MTC...it will be so fun hearing what they are doing on their missions. One couple (Elder and Sister Taylor) are going to serve as the Medical Advisor for Central America. They are one couple that we know we will see again and again in our mission.

UPDATE.....We are getting ready to leave tonight (Thursday) for Honduras. We will overnight to Atlanta and then have a 6 hour layover before we go to Honduras. We then have about three hours to wait for a little commuter plane to take us to Tegucigalpas. The adventure really is here....we will make contact with you as soon as we can.

We just met with the other 11 couples that came in with us to serve as Welfare Missionaries. We are starting to leave to go all over the world. What a gospel and unbelievable experience this has been. We are all really anxious to get on with it!!!

Love, Wayne and Suzanne

MTC---WEEK ONE

In between classes at the MTC

It is Sunday after our first week at the MTC. It is impossible to put into words what we have done this week. We have been saturated with missionary experiences and have been placed well on the way to being ready to go to Honduras. I truly believe that the Missionary Training Center is a buffer from the world to prepare you to go back into the world. I had no idea what happens here....thousands of missionaries come in feeling so inadequate and leave feeling armed with power and authority. We have learned how to use Preach My Gospel and the lessons in there to present the message of the restored gospel. What a blessing it is in our lives!! One of the highlights of the week was going to Salt Lake City for training on the Perpetual Education Fund. I don't think that members of the Church have any idea what the purpose of the fund and the scope of the fund are. It is a testimony to me that our prophets are truly seers. The fund will help the Church as it grows to develop leadership and self-reliance throughout the world.

Our District

Another of the great experiences that we have had is having some of the young missionaries come up to ask and ask if they can practice bearing testimony to us. We have had many languages and some humbling moments as we have cried together. One little sister was so afraid the first time that we talked with her. It was the first day we were here and she was so nervous trying to bear her testimony in Spanish. We ran into them several times in the week and talked to them often. They would seek us out in the cafeteria...yesterday she finally looked at our name tags and said "Do you know Tyler Tomkinson?" Wayne just looked at her and said "He is my nephew...you must be Karisa's sister"....SHE WAS. We knew that she was here and had no idea that she was the sister that sought us out that first day!!
With Sister Crawford (Karisa's sister)
She was so glad to see us

Another highlight was our testimony meeting Friday night where all the Senior couples who are taking language training were given the opportunity to bear their testimony in their second language. What an experience. We had languages from all over the world, and some of the couples had only had three lessons before they testified. I am truly seeing the gift of tongues in action. Wayne and I both bore testimony in Spanish. We are excited to get to Honduras so that we can be immersed in the language all the time.

Today we went to church with my dad and mom in Riverton. It was fun, and we were sorry that we couldn't spend more time with them. (Mom had fixed a delicious meal)...but we needed to get back for Sunday night activities. We went to a fireside with all the missionaries. One of the prelude hymns was "The army of Helaman"....they changed the words to say...we are now the Lord's missionaries...it was amazing. Of course, I was crying....

This week we are going to have our Humanitarian training and Welfare Services instruction. Monday we get to go to the main Humanitarian center and tour those facilities. I can't wait to see all of the things that the Church does around the world.

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.

LANGUAGE TRAINING

The past couple of days we have been at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. It has been amazing experience as we have watched the workings of this amazing place. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, just after the last of the full-time missionaries reported for the week. Each Wednesday, several hundred young men and women come to Provo to receive training and learn what is expected of them as representatives of Jesus Christ. We were amazed as we ate dinner with them!!! They were everywhere!!! It was like an army of ants at a picnic. As soon as one group finished, the next group was swarming. And seeing so many hundreds of clean cut youth all in one place was inspiring. The spirit is so strong....even as you walk in the door you feel like this is such a great place.
We were able to meet for about 6-7 hours with our Spanish tutor, Benjamin Vera. He is from Veracruz, Mexico and is attending BYU. He works at the MTC teaching Spanish for all those missionaries that will be serving in Spanish speaking countries. We are making great progress in our vocabulary and Wayne has learned the secret for ROLLING HIS RRRRRRRRRRS.....he is becoming more and more expert at it!!! We learned some important skills that we will use in working with those people we will meet in Honduras. I think we are even starting to get our verbs right!!! Time will tell. I think that every time that I am making progress....I can't remem ber what to say next.
Wayne has spent some time with some dental specialists receiving help and advice on teaching some procedures in endodontics and oral surgery. He is also making some connections to help get dental donations for the school in Honduras. We are enjoying being with my parents and seeing our granddaughter Emily.
It is amazing to realize that we will be leaving on our mission so very soon. July 3rd will be here really fast.