MTC Devotionals - Amazing!

 Every Tuesday evening the missionaries attend a devotional.  Either a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or one of the General Authorities come to the hundreds of missionaries here.  For our first devotional experience this week Elder D Todd Christofferson and his wife spoke.  He taught that repentance is a blessing and an opportunity to change our hearts and points us to Christ.  He emphasized that the Lord’s forgiveness never ends and is always possible through our sincere desire to turn our hearts back to Him and is only possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  We know, and testify, that this is true.  We have experienced this forgiveness for ourselves and have felt His unfailing love for us.  While sitting at the feet of an Apostle this Spirit confirmed his Apostolic mantle.  What a powerful witness for which we are both grateful.

 This is our email from the MTC on February 17th...

We don't even know where to start.  What a wonderful week of learning new things, meeting amazing people and enjoying the blessing of being in such a place as the Provo Missionary Training Center where the Spirit of God is felt everywhere at this dedicated and wonderful place.  We were moved to tears of gratitude so many times.

Until we get settled in Cheboygan, Michigan it won't be possible for me to load pictures into an email using the computers here.

Highlights:

During this first week, we had classes in the morning and again all afternoon after lunch and we trained on "Preach My Gospel" (an amazing book), technology, safety and security.  We practiced lots of teaching skills and we met and chatted with the younger Elders and Sisters every chance we got.  We met missionaries from Arizona (some we know), and missionaries going all over the world to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Memorable moments this week:

Tuesday's MTC Devotional gave us the opportunity to sit at the feet of D. Todd Christofferson, an Apostle, and his wife, and be taught by him regarding the blessing and opportunity to repent (meaning to turn back to God.)  

Wednesday we attended a "Character of Christ" experience.  So fabulous!  They played clips of Elder David A. Bednar's MTC talk given here at the MTC on Christmas Day in 2011.  It can be found on YouTube if you haven't heard it.  Between short clips there were discussions and the responses of the younger missionaries were so inspiring.  They are so impressive with what they already know and understand.

There is a newer training building here with huge murals depicting scenes from the scriptures.  I wish you could experience them.  There is no way to sufficiently describe their beauty.  They are "back lit" and so any light in them just pops.

Again, for pictures and details see the blog.

We are experiencing our first "transfer" tomorrow evening.  We've been staying at the MTC all week, but are being asked to transfer to a nearby hotel.  So many Senior Missionaries are arriving each Monday we have to take turns.  BUT, at least we get to transfer together unlike the younger missionaries.

We will leave for Michigan next Friday when we finish our last class at approximately 12:00 PM and are choosing to start driving. We will be stopping somewhere in Wyoming the first night.

We love you all!  You are in our prayers.