Sunday, June 12

It's Official

Being fed at the MTC

What a difference a week makes.  You've all heard about being fed with a firehose.  We have lived through it!  There were 108 senior missionaries (most of whom were couples), and we had a fantastic week of instruction in Preach My Gospel (PMG).  Our very young instructors (all are RMs) were very good and very knowledgeable.  In spite of our many years of church service, this was something we have never experienced before. It has left us optimistic and excited for the work before us.  For those of you who are awaiting your turn to come here or will come sometime down the road, I must warn you of two very important things:  #1. Our challenging regimen consists of sitting and eating, repeated 3 times a day.  You may very well gain weight here if you are not careful. and #2. In case you didn't know, I'll break it to you - every hallway, every classroom, every anything here is populated by angels from the unseen world who will suddenly spring upon you and fill your eyes with tears, leaving you temporarily blinded.  The spirit is so strong and so prevalent here.  We were here maybe 30 minutes on Monday and we were all together for an introduction to the MTC, and we were singing an opening hymn, "Called to Serve".  I love this song and I always sing it with gusto.  First verse down.  Check.  Second verse down.  Ummm.  Well.  The full meaning of the words of the chorus came rushing suddenly to my eyelids.  Game over.  This was but a small indication of what was to come over the course of the week.

Estonia, here we come!

As you see, we have taken the obligatory picture all new missionaries must take while at the MTC.  We can barely reach Estonia on the map.  We are so excited to go and serve the people there.  It will be a grand adventure and it just so happens that we're just the sort of people who enjoy adventures.

On Tuesday we had a special fireside with Elder Bednar and his wife.  This was a really great meeting as it was transmitted to all MTCs throughout the world.  

Elder and Sister Bednar

He talked about how Christ blessed others, one-by-one and that we should remember that there is "one" and maybe many "ones" in the world that we are being sent to find and invite to Christ.  He also debuted a song that he wrote (the lyrics) and had Paul Cardall put to music.  He had 5 children sing it with a huge chorus of MTC missionaries behind them.  It was a stellar event.  You will be pleased to know that it will appear in the July issue of the New Era.

Yesterday we went to Brigham City to visit my baby brother Kevin.  We had lunch at the Idle Isle Cafe.  I had the turkey dinner (think Thanksgiving).  We had a great time catching up on what he's doing these days.  We also had a chance to visit the new Brigham City Temple and the Box Elder Tabernacle.  This was really great.  We really like this place.

With Kevin in front of his house

Brigham City Temple

Box Elder Tabernacle

On our way back, we shopped for cold weather clothes.  We ended up with down filled jackets, boots, socks, scarves and thermals.  The best part was that Michael, Brittany and the little ones met us at the Outlet stores and saw to it that we were well taken care of.  And to top it all off, it was all heavily discounted since it is now summer.

Sister Allred's cute boots, etc.

Elder Allred's bargains

But wait, there's more.  When we returned to Provo, we had a dinner date with the Thackers (Sierra and her parents).  Of course we talked about Caleb a lot and had a great time together while eating at Gurus.

Sierra in the middle

Bryce, Shelly & Sierra

We have 3 more training days here (for CES) and then we depart on Friday morning, the 17th.  Hurrah for Israel!