This is what missionaries used to do.
In fact, old guys like me sort of romanticize about the old days and all the time spent traveling.
I still like the photo a lot. It epitomizes a lot of sacrifice in the past.
Nowadays, missionaries spend most of their time teaching and they are prepared better than ever to "invite people to Christ". What is needed most is members providing folks for them to teach.
I thought I would show you a little more of this place during our second week here.
Security is very tight, but I have never seen a guard, other than a couple of twenty year olds at the entrance gate. This is the only sign that hints that there is a Missionary Training Center around. There are no other signs on buildings or anywhere that this is the MTC.
Every building, I mean EVERY building is locked at all times and you cannot enter without a magnetic strip photo ID card that you are issued as you check in.
This is the box at each entrance of a building that you slide the card through. Notice the white on the wall above and below. They are used constantly.
Below was our classroom the second week.
We are learning to work with all the software and are being introduced to some of the tasks to keep a mission running.
Couples who are serving in a Humanitarian and Public Affairs capacity are trained in Salt Lake. Couples who are called as Leadership and Member Support left for their missions after the first week, along with Family History, Record Preservation, and many other different areas of work. If you are interested in doing something, just call the Missionary Department in Salt Lake and believe me they will accommadate you and fix you up for whatever length of time you can serve and whatever you can afford.
These are missionaries practicing teaching in a foreign language.
Here is a district working in a language lab.
I had to take a photo of this Elder. I know just how he feels. It is not easy to keep up with the routine even though everyone is in bed by 10:30 PM.
The basement under the cafeteria is filled with washers and dryers.
The gym, treadmills, and jogging around the complex is always popular.
The thing these photos can never explain is the feeling here.
I can't explain it either. No one is lecturing to us.
We are just slowly internalizing what we read, and we mostly talk with other couples who are headed around the world. They all have parents, children and grandchildren. Some are on their fourth mission and appear to be approaching eighty years old, if not older. Money doesn't seem to be a factor. I chatted with one fellow whose home is underwater and he hopes it will be in the black when he returns. It is now rented, and if the economy hasn't recovered enough, he'll probably have to walk away from it. Some have sold their homes, most have someone else living in them.
Whatever the reason, Kristi and I seem as close as we have ever been.
The future seems challenging and bright.
I feel the love of God and Jesus Christ.
I suppose we are about ready to step out in to the dark and dreary world.
