April 23, 2014 - Clark

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

I’m recording events of the past couple of days.  We have 4 couples in  our MTC district: Lavulo, Rasmussen and Untch.  Our teachers have been Brother Carver, Brother Rowe, Sister Bateman, Sister Sanford.  There are around 40 couples in total.  We meet at a chapel that is adjacent to the MTC and we enter through a secure fence.  Everything here is by secure entry.  Even the elevator doesn’t work without your identification card.  

The cafeteria food has been good but not on a par with Lindsay and mom.  It is nice to have someone else take care of all you food needs however.  We have tried to sit by new couples each meal in order to get to know more people.  I have enjoyed studying and preparing with Shell.  She has such good insight and teaching together seems so natural because we can anticipate one another’s thought process.  

Last night we had Elder Oaks and his wife come for a devotional.  They both spoke on missionary service and gave the missionaries an 8-point program for success.  We had an assignment to prepare for today and our first teaching role play.  We were to meet with an investigator for 45 minutes to give the first lesson on the Restoration.  The first 15 minutes is get to know you time and then you transition into a 30-minute with a prayer.  

Our investigator’s name was Mike Taylor who lives in Highland.  He graduated from Utah State and was about our age.  We had a wonderful time together and although it was a role-play, we got all choked up in bearing our testimonies and promising him blessings.  He has 4 children, 13 grandchildren and is already retired.  He worked for Atari video games and I think he is fairly wealthy.  We had a great experience and yet recognized ways we could improve our teaching and working together.

Tonight we attended the Provo Temple.  It has a beautiful view and nice gardens (not as good as Brigham City) but nice.  It reminded us of attending Ogden with the same floor plan and building layout.  We went early and got right in.  Afterward we went out for dinner in an effort to escape.  It can become pretty restrictive in a hurry.  We went to Kneaders and so mom was right at home.  

We  have spent most evenings in our room preparing for the following day.  Tonight we worked on lesson 2, the Plan of Salvation.  We have another live investigator session tomorrow morning.  Following that we reviewed a couple of French grammar sections from our workbook and read 5 verses from Alma chapter 40 in French.  

The time is passing quickly and we have enjoyed the together time for the most part.  We are still in post-tax season adjustment mode but no big issues yet.  We seem to fill up the days and usually get to bed around 11:00 and get up at 6:30.  Well good night and I’ll try to write more later.

Love, Dad