The MTC

We entered the MTC on a Wednesday afternoon.  I am not sure how to describe the experience.  It was a youth conference without the youth or the dances but the most amazing speakers imagined.  The entire Quorum of the Twelve minus Elder Hales attended the full seminar.  Elder Hales attended Saturday afternoon and stood tall bearing testimony at the Apostle Testimony Meeting.

We saw members of the Quorum of the Seventy that we had met in Peru or through Lonny serving in the stake presidency.  There were 171 future mission presidents and their wives, too many to meet them all but we met many wonderful people going all over the world. The first day of the first morning we sat by the couple going to Honolulu, and people who know me knew that was my first choice of destinations.  When we were all introduced and they stood, Elder Allen said somebody had to go there.  That's what I said.  We had dinner with Elder Rasband and his wife one night.  She insisted we take a picture after giving us their great mission president advice.  The other couples here are going to the Marshall Islands (no, they don't speak Marshallese) and Scottsdale, AZ.  There are five missions in the Phoenix area and 4 have new mission presidents this year.  We have to stick together.

The MTC flower arrangements reminded us we were headed to AZ.

They have a wall with all 400+ mission presidents and wives so the missionaries can see what they're getting themselves into.  

 Carol and I intended to eat every meal with each other but we had meetings (or they did) so we managed to get together for three or four.  It was so fun and such a blessing to have familiar faces there, well at least familiar faces of people we actually know.  There were so many familiar faces.

This is the new mission president going to our Everett, WA mission.  They were also in our study group before the seminar.  We had a missionary farewell last week in our AZ ward for a young man going to this mission so I was glad I still had this photo on my phone to show him.

 This is Robert and Ruth Haynie from Seattle.  We met them many lifetimes (and twenty-five years ago) when his parents were in our West Seattle ward.  They were also in our mission president study group and they are going to the CA Los Angeles mission.

 All of these future mission presidents and one General Authority graduated from law school together.  It was so fun having lunch with them and reminiscing about the good old days.  The Haws are going to Mexico, the Bushs to Honduras and Elder Hamula was there just because he is a member of the Quorum of the Seventy.  Two of their other classmates just completed their 3 years as mission president and another,  Allen Haynie is also a Seventy.  The Haws and Bushs could not believe they were going to Spanish speaking countries and we were not.  Everybody has to have their turn :)

We loved that Sister Ballard and her husband stopped to ask us which mission was ours or that Elder Anderson mentioned Mesa as the place to go or riding the elevator with the Bednars at the hotel (who suggested we should go out street contacting together) or Elder Lawrence who said we had drawn the long straw with Mesa or Elder and Sister Cook who said they may see us when they visit their daughter or Elder Oaks who greeted us at the MTC entrance.  The Mission President Seminar earned an entry in the journal.