MTC week of training

 We had a marvelous week at the Missionary Training Center(MTC) in Provo, UT. We checked in Mon morning, picked up all of our materials, got our missionary name tags, checked into our room and went to the cafeteria for lunch.  The routine at the MTC is: cafeteria, classroom, cafeteria, classroom , cafeteria and bed. The food is good and we ate our intimate meals with 2000 other missionaries, mostly 18 and 19 years old.  It was fun to see these excited and scared young people that are good looking, clean cut and  worthy to go on a mission. After an orientation and getting acquainted with the other senior missionaries in our cohort, about 50 of them, we started to study "Preach My Gospel", (PMG)  the workbook and guide for missionaries.
We spent most of our time studying the PMG workbook and then discussing the chapters and doing role playing. The second day we actually had to prepare and present a 30 minute lesson to another couple of senior missionaries and they in turn presented to us.  At the close of the lesson we presented  them with a challenge for the night and they presented us with one.  The challenge for each of us was looking at a church video and reporting back the next day.  The video we watched was a talk given by Brad Wilcox, a professor at BYU, entitled "His Grace is Sufficient", a story about forgiveness through the atonement of Christ.  It is worth watching.
Thurs. night we had a chance to visit our grandson, Ethan Ingersoll, who is serving a mission in Provo, Utah, Spanish Speaking.  He looked terrific, recovering from a broken foot, in a walking mission. We visited for about 45 minutes and then had good, affectionate farewell.  Friday we finished late afternoon, and we were happy to get back to our home. We enjoyed a wonderfully spiritual week, great preparation for the mission, made some wonderful new friends and toward the end got used to being call Elder and Sister Parrish.
Love,
Joyce and Stan