Sep 21

September 21, 2006

I started this day the same way I’ve started every day at the MTC, pondering whether I should wear the brown skirt or the flowered skirt. At least I found the jewelry I thought I had lost.

What an incredible day. It started with a lesson from Edgar J. Pinegar on the Book of Mormon and using it to teach people. He asked people for some scriptures they liked and when someone would talk about a scripture he would say, “oh, yes, that’s in Alma 23:12” or something like that. A direct quote: “That’s on P. 179 of the teachings of Joseph Smith.” Imagine knowing the gospel like that. He was brilliant and entertaining all at the same time. What an incredible man!

Our first challenge was to teach a lesson to a new investigator from the Book of Mormon. We had very little preparation for this – much less than for the other lessons. Our teacher said, “Rely on the Spirit. You’ll know what scriptures to use.” The Lord has said that He will bring all things to our remembrance, but you can’t remember something that’s not there in the first place. As we left class to meet our appointment we both confessed to an absolute stupor of thought. Neither of us could think of one story or scripture that we remembered from the Book of Mormon. We had been told not to use notes or the book they gave us or anything else—just the Book of Mormon.

We were seriously upset, but when our appointment knocked on the door and we started talking it was just amazing. Such a spiritual experience. We did remember things to say and scriptures and stories to use. All was just as the teacher had promised. Overwhelming!

Next was the Referral Center. Dad got to answer a call but I got two who hung up on me. Wow! What sins have I committed recently that the Spirit was that bad even over the phone line! Dad’s call was a 15-year-old girl from Cincinnati who said that one night she was waiting for the bus and was really scared when all of a sudden two young men appeared from nowhere. They talked to her and were very kind and helped her safely onto her bus. They also gave her a pass-along card and she now wants a Book of Mormon. She said she would like to have the missionaries visit, but because she’s under 18 she has to have parental permission and stepdad said no. But she’ll get the Book of Mormon and who knows what can happen.

At the end of the day two missionary couples spoke about their experiences in Africa and Cambodia. We also visited with a couple going to Burma. There are no banks there. They have to take all the cash they think they’ll need for 18 months with them when they leave here. They can write a check for their rent, but have to take everything else in 100 dollar bills. The two couples that spoke had great testimonies, but I’m thinking that reservation looks pretty good.

We finished up this very spiritual day with a trip to the Provo Temple. It was great sitting there thinking about all of our children being there at some point in their MTC experience. That’s something we truly love. We think about the kids all the time and love to be eating in the cafeteria where they ate, going to the classrooms, walking around in places they would have been. We can’t wait to talk to them again about their experiences now that we understand more about the MTC.

We’ve found that the cafeteria food is plentiful, and good for institutional food. However, it is definitely geared to a nineteen-twenty-one-year old appetite. They pretty much serve tacos and pasta in some form or other every day. Tonight, though, they had roast beef that was really quite good. We certainly aren’t losing any weight so guess we really can’t complain. We eat the ice cream bars and cookies right along with all the young missionaries, but haven’t stooped to eating cereal three times a day as some former missionaries we know reported doing.