"Therefore if ye have desires to serve the Lord ye are called to the work." [D&C 4:3]
Monday at the MTC was quiet. We drove through the unloading area up to the front door. We were the only car. A man came out and kindly gave us a parking pass and told us where to park. We felt like we were the only ones arriving, but that was not true as 38 couples and one senior sister are being trained this week, as well as 4000 young missionaries. At the beginning we attended an orientation [with very warm senior volunteers & enthusiastic young teachers!] anthen were directed on to "my purpose as a missionary": to bring souls to Christ through baptism and reception of the Holy Ghost. They waste little time getting us involved. We were assigned to be in District 3, and Don was asked to be the District Leader. We were encouraged to read PREACH MY GOSPEL [we had reading assignments each night] and to use it at any/all times, as it is inspired scripture. We were told to continue to read our scriptures and to learn about the people, culture and language[s] of our missions. Oh, yes! And "to remember to have a good time!" Our P-Day is Saturday for our 2 weeks at the MTC, and will probably also be Saturday in London. We were given all of the needed materials, schedules and pamphlets in a black binder with our names and missions on the cover. We have name tags, so we are official missionaries. We were met by Sister Rowe, one of Portia's friends at the temple who's also an MTC volunteer with her husband. The Rowe's were mission presidents in Leed's, England. Sister Rowe shared a sweet spiritual experience with us, a personal miracle, really. The Buchanan's were our "go-to" supervisors -- if we had any questions or problems they knew the right answers. Portia knows Sister Buchanan from the temple, and one of their sons [Eric] was on Seminary Council with our son Rob. We say over and over, "it's a small world in the Church," no matter where you are/live in the world. Another sister Portia recognized was Sister Read, the senior single sister missionary [widow] going to serve in the Missionary department at Church Headquarters in SLC. She also worked at the Mt. Timpanogas Temple.
Preach My Gospel is an amazing book! It certainly is inspired! So much truth concentrated into one book. It is fast becoming one of our best reference books and guidelines. Thank goodnes Don encouraged both of us to do some "preparatory studying!" We received encouragement in using PMG: Don't be concerned about doing all of the assignments [at the end of each chapter]. Gain a basic understanding of the basic gospel principles. PMG is designed to help us teach others. We can teach in the ways we are most comfortable, and at the speed and according to the circumstances and preferences of those we teach. Listen for how the Spirit will guide, suggest and lead us.
One of the early teachers was a Dr. Bruce Woolley, who spoke via a DVD recording. One thing he said stood out to us: "Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost." [1 Cor 6:19.] Another thing he said was quite uplifting: "Who are the Righteous People? They are the people who simply try to do what is right each day."
Tuesday: We taught the first lesson on the need for prophets, the role of the Savior and His ministry, the Great Apostasy, the Restoration, and the Book of Mormon. [Acts 17:29; Moroni 10:3-5; John 3:16, James 1:5] Sister Hawley is a great missionary, but she is learning that for herself; she felt a little scared as did all of us missionary-trainees. One thing Portia found helpful were the times we went looking for scriptures that added support to our lesson plans. PMG gave her the "how-tos", the outlines and the ways to put teaching plans together. It was a fun challenge to find ways to introduce and insert gospel principles and commandments and definitions of terms that we LDS members use often but that investigators or less-actives or new members don't know. We taught a sister volunteer who role played the part of a friend of the Church. The MTC teachers keep asking or reminding us to not be shy, but to be bold [OYM: Open Your Mouth] and reach out to people to tell them of the restoration of the truth in our time. Elder Abrea of the First Quorum of the Seventy (Emeritus) and his wife spoke at a fireside in the evening. Some of the young missionaries [a huge group!] sang in the choir. After the fireside we rushed home to read the materials for Wednesday. The Spirit of the Lord is present in a very real way at the MTC. Every one is upbeat and positive. The teachers are great, and so are the senior couples. There are some real stories to tell about thier trials and yet they serve and do not let obstacles get in the way of missionary service. Many are leaving on their second or third [or more] missions.
Wednesday: We prepared and taught the second lession on the Plan of Salvation. D&C 14:7 -- "And, if you keep commandments and endure to the end, ye shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all gifts of God." This was perhaps the hardest day. We were tested, and tried to do our best, but things move so very fast and new situations come at one with little preparation time. We just jumped in and tried to do our best. The Plan of Salvation is so wonderful. We taught this older gentleman,, another volunteer posing as an investigator. He was kind to us and did not give us too many questions, and stayed "in character." We were happy it was a shorter day than Tuesday, ending about 5 PM. Portia said she was grateful for her husband's missionary and teaching experience, as it was a great help to her in seeing how to teach lessons.
We got ourselves meal tickets, and we are driving ourselves to the MTC each morning, having decided to sleep in our own bed at home during our MTC training. We are amazed at how fast they get all of the 3,000 to 4,000 missionaries fed at every meal. They have quite an efficient system. The food is good, just too many carbohydrates for us. So we are only doing lunch there for the rest of the week. BYU ice cream is available on Wednesdays!!! Young missionaries arrive and leave on Wednesdays and it is so organized here that hardly a ripple is felt as these changes take place.
Thursday: In the morning we received training by B/S Burns on strengthening new and less active Church members. They began their mission in Nigeria, then received an unexpected transfer to . . . Minnesota and Wisconsin! Quite the culture shock! They had much success in developing the methods they taught us, and they shared several personal experiences with much enthusiasm. We prepared and taught lessons for less-active or part-member families. In return, we took the role of a part-member family and were taught. Then we switched couples and reversed the roles where we did the teaching and they role-played. This is good to get us out of our comfort zones and it also builds some confidence that it is not too hard or too impossible to do. Fear and anxiety are always something most of use deal with in our lives. Confidence in the Lord and faith are essential to progression. We also received training on working with local Church leadership, and suggestions in working with many types and personalities and cultures. This training carried over into part of Friday, when we were taught by two senior sister missionaries who served the full 18 months in a "bush" town in Australia.
Friday: We prepared and taught Lesson 3, the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His role as Redeemer and Savior. We are so blessed by the Love of our Savior. This is the message all who are on the planet need to hear, that they may understand how He overcame "death and sin" and made it possible for us to gain eternal life through obedience, repentance, baptism by immersion [with the Gift of the Holy Ghost], and faithfulness. We taught this lesson to Brother and Sister Rollins, whom we have known for over thirty years. They wanted to do a lot of talking on a variety of gospel topics, and we had a hard time covering the teaching material we'd prepared. It was fun, but a little frustrating. [Usually the advice is that we should not be assigned volunteers who know us, but it was too late to make a change; we also saw Fred & Harriet Gummow, who waved at us through the classroom door window, & who are volunteers on Tuesdays, and on Friday we also saw Pres/Sister Tueller, former Church members in Portia's Walnut Creek Stake [Concord Ward], and one of Don's UCSF Dental School professors.]
Some other scriptures we found helpful and inspirational are: 1 Ne 10:17 [faith]; D&C 76:116 + 2 Ne 26:24 [love]; D&C 20:77-79 [obedience]; Mosiah 18:3 [desire that salvation should be preached to all]; D&C 64:34 [being willing]; D&C 138 [doctrine of salvation for the dead]; Ether 12:27 [strength thru humility]. One-liners: BE PREPARED TO BE A CHAMPION. // PREPARE TO BE INSPIRED OF GOD. // OPEN YOUR HEARTS TO BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD. // YOUR WORK IS IN THIS WORK. // WITHOUT COMMITMENT THERE IS NO PROGRESSION. // FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER. // Nelson Mandela: "YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD." // Maya Angelou: "I CAN BE CHANGED BY WHAT HAPPENS TO ME, BUT I REFUSE TO BE REDUCED BY IT." // WE ARE ON JESUS CHRIST'S ERRAND. //
On Friday about 4:15 p.m. we had a closing meeting and parted. Most of the couples are off to their "fields of labor." There are some, like us, who will spent another four days next week receiving training in an area for individual specialties. Ours is to prepare for mission office service. We will be taught computer basics, Word, Excel, the church [i]MOS system, about managing a fleet of vehicles, managing and finding apartments, and of course the financial part of keeping the mission running. Most of the record keeping is done electronically. We look forward to the challenge. Portia told our group that it was my 64th birthday and invited any who could to come by the house to help us celebrate. We ordered pizza and had four couples + Sister Read come. It was just the right amount of people -- we could visit with each one comfortably. We had a great time. Nice to find people who love the Lord and are willing to sacrifice and serve. They are just good people, willing and kind. We shared with each other how and why we decided to serve missions at this time in our lives. We ran into a young couple only 48 years old, who had a dream that they were going to lose their employment and go on a mission. Two months later he was laid off from a long-time job as an accountant and they are now on their way to Montevideo, Uraguay to serve as the Mission Office Couple in that mission. They should met Keith and Teri Wilson, who are Temple Missionaries there. And they are learning Spanish!! And we worry about our few problems!!! When they come home they will need to find employment and begin again. What dedication! But the Lord is kind and loving . . . enough to give use challenges that we might grow and learn to chose the good and right.
We are putting together a list with photographs for all the couples in our MTC group: each will get a list of couples' names, their home locations, email addresses, and a photo of the couples to help us put names with faces and remember [with all the rest that we want/need to remember this week!]. We plan to email this info to each couple.
We have sold both cars, but not the house at 176 East. I have a cold so we did not attend church today in hopes to get well enough to go to training on Monday. We have our challenges, and realized that the other couples have theirs, too. As we go forward we want to express our gratitude to the Lord and Heavenly Father for sustaining and supporting us in our preparations. We also are excited to discover, as we serve, the reasons for this call and its location -- we know that many blessings await us. Portia is great, awesome and wonderful, trying to do things to help me get better. She's now much more confident in teaching and trying new things. Good for her!!! We feel we are getting successful at team-teaching, and the how-tos of short, medium and long teaching opportunities. We know we will be busy in the office, and that we will also be assigned to a branch or ward outside the Hyde Park Chapel/London city area, which will broaden and expand our experiences there. We are still looking online for a flat that is close enough to the office and to the grocery store for convenience, and yet still within our budget, and not too small, and fully furnished, and with a council tax that is not too high! Thank goodness for all the wonderful people who are sharing their experience with us!
The Gospel is true!! How great is our God!! Our blessings are many! We are so grateful to be able to give back a small portion for all that we have and have been given. We love you, and pray for you, and ask for many "blessings upon your heads."
Elder & Sister Hawley
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