On July 10th, Dewane's daughter Aimee and her husband Tony McClellan dropped us off at the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC). Several stout young men (referred to as "Elders") helped us wrangle our bags up the stairs to our little dorm room. There is no elevator in our section of the building, (although there is a "courtesy luggage elevator" which may or may not work for you,) so we were assigned to this older section because we said we can climb stairs in our application papers.
Tony and Aimee, Sister and Elder Rooks
About 35 senior couples arrived today at the MTC, to join 35 already here. 35 couples will leave by the end of the week. They are assigned to missions ranging from Alabama to Botswana, from Colorado Springs to Berlin to Taipei. We can be seen toward the right of the picture. I am the short one wearing a green skirt.
Our "digs," as Elder Rooks calls our little dorm room.
The giant map in the entry hall where your picture is taken, pointing to where you will be going. Hamilton, New Zealand, for us.
The MTC campus, indistinguishable from the Brigham Young University campus
One evening we attended a devotional with a 1,000-voice choir of young elders and sister missionaries. It was thrilling to hear them sing. There are currently 1,600 young missionaries at the MTC. It is at times alarming to enter the cafeteria when all of them are at lunch, or try to do your laundry when it is actually open and you are not receiving training, which is continuous. They are, however, unfailingly courteous and kind to senior missionaries.
Another shot of the MTC campus with flags of the world all around
One of the most beautiful "chandeliers" I have ever seen, hanging over two stories inside the T4 building. This reflects the Plan of Salvation, along white strands of fiber-optic lights. In the center is the blue globe of the earth, surrounded by small white fluttery "spirits" spiraling up and down, representing pre-mortal souls coming to earth and returning to heaven at the end of mortality.
The campus from the T-4 building against the Wasatch mountain range
After our first full day of classes
The famous Bicyclist statue
This is our "district" of four senior couples. We are going to Togo/Benin, Africa (the Rodriguez); Spokane, Washington (the Sharps); Hamilton, New Zealand; and Santiago, Chile (the Romos). Our young afternoon teacher Bro. Aguiñaga is of Basque heritage, from eastern Idaho, who served a mission to Peru. He and our morning teacher Sis. Rich have been teaching us Gen-Z words like Tea, Queen, Ick, Slay, Periodt, Hot Take, and Cheugy (def. “Out of date, not trendy, trying too hard”) which describes all of us senior missionaries.
We have another week of classes at the MTC, but hopefully we will get more sleep than we did in the past week.
