Perks...

... of being Senior Missionaries at the Provo MTC:

Preferred seating at the devotionals.

Young Sisters and Elders hold doors for you

And welcome you to the MTC

And let you cut in front of them in the food line

(although no one has been brave enough to come between a hungry elder and his dinner)

And they take your food tray when you're done.

Everyone here keeps reminding us to

Pace ourselves

And to stay hydrated

And to take it easy.

Mormons Mormons Everywhere

Elder Gillette and his companion

are heading to the Manila Mission

in about a week.

He bore his testimony in Tagalog.

Sounded good to us.

But so far, we can only say

Kamusta po kayo

Mabuti

Magandang gabi po

and "oo"

(that means yes)

Becca LaLane's parents are

in our group of

31 Senior Missionary Couples.
When they get to their mission in Alaska,

it'll take 3 more days on a ferry to get where they're going!

Spiritual Bootcamp

And these are the

Drill Sargeants!

Annoyingly energetic,

cheerful,

upbeat,

and wonderful.

Teachers Extraordinaire!

We had a district leader too.

It was his job to assign someone

to give the closing prayer every day.

Did a remarkable job!

First Day at the MTC

You're going where?

Who cares - do something

about that growth on your head!

President Brown (no pic?), MTC president,

thanked us for our courage in being here.

Should we be worried?

Are there crocodiles (Linda O'B) at the MTC?

Or in the Philippines?

Well, as the speaker in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday said,

"The Lord knows his children. We need to be open and willing

to let Him move us around a bit and use us."

We're not afraid.

We're brave.

He said there are defining moments in our lives---

and we've just embarked on one.

He pointed out that there are too many people praying

on our behalf for us to fail.

Our names are on prayer rolls in temples.

We're being prayed for by

Prophets

Apostles

Children

Grandchildren

Friends

Neighbors.

Thanks all !

MTC???????

For us it is!!

The regular Missionary Training Center

accomodations for Senior Missionaries are being

refurbished, so that left them no choice but to

find us these alternative digs.

Heading Out of Town

Happy little helpers

delivered us to the Airport.

Yes, it took this many

people to get us there.

No photos available of comedy

of errors at SLC Airport

when we tried to do this

on our own.

Phony staged farewell shot.

They whined, "People are looking!"

It was more authentic when we

glanced over shoulders, rounding

the corner on the way to our gate.

Through tears, it looked

like they really were

waving.

The Last Night

We had a family dinner at Chili's right before meeting President Hales and his wonderful wife and getting set apart as missionaries.

Great food.

Great company.

Great times.

Gonna have to last two years!!!