Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Our MTC experience

This was our District in the MTC.  From Left to Right - The Neiburg going to Sweden, Masons going to Alaska, Provinces going to Guatamala and our morning trainer Brother Rowe.
We got very close to this group while in the MTC and we are already planning a reunion in Canada.

 This is Brother Jacobs our afternoon trainer - another awesome teacher and great guy.


Everyone gets to use the laundry mat while your here - this is only 1/4 of them and they are busy all the time 

 We got to know some of the Samoan Elders and Sisters because we would ask anyone who looked polynesian where they were from.  Anyway the sister in red it Tongan and the other two live in Pago Pago in the ward we will be in.  We met them several days ago and always had a good visit when we would see them.  They are cute, they said they had emailed all their relatives and that about 100 people were going to show up at the airport when we arrive.  He He  we will see.
Wendy and I had the pleasure of celebrating our 42nd wedding anniversary here in the MTC.  It was awesome.  Wendy couldn't pucker up to kiss me on the cheek because she just came back from the dentist where she had a root canal and was still all frozen up.  Doesn't get any better than this.
 Our manager of the Senior couples was Elder Thomas.  He is here on a 2 year mission to manage things.  He was so helpful and helped Wendy around for her dental work etc.  This is a really good man.  Wendy called him her lucky charm.  He was funny, organized, helpful, you name it.
 This couple are going to El Paso Texas to teach institute.  They are the Godfreys from Utah and of interest their son just moved to Calgary to Douglasdale by the South Hospital and has a new dental practice.  Their son actually golfed with Doni Miller a few weeks ago.  Very nice couple. We liked them.
Elder and Sister Bird are full time missionaries called to oversee all Senior Missionary couples applications.  They were so fun.  They were at Ricks College when Wendy and I were there.  Wendy knew Sister Bird as Sister Bird was in Student body affairs and met with Wendy on committee work from time to time.  Bro. Bird has been a seminary teacher all his life.  They told us that there are 6000 seniors serving right now and the current Mission Presidents have requested an additional 8000 (4000 couples) as soon as possible.  
Wendy and I really connected with this wonderful couple.  They will be serving a Military mission in Portland.  He is X military.  They served their first mission in England and came home with 75 new sons and daughters that they called their children.  They have such strong testimonies and are just wonderful wonderful people.  We really hope to see them in 2 years.  

 It's always so inspiring to watch all the new missionaries show up on Wednesdays.  This is CJ's nephew that showed up to go serve in Germany.  We were fortunate to be there and take some pics for them and see James and Denise Burton and their family send another son on a mission.  Go Burtons.
 Well, this is our farewell missionary Elder Godfrey from our Cochrane Ward.  We watched Elder Godfrey get dropped off a week ago and had a quick hug and visit with his mom and dad (Dave and Cynde Godfrey).  We would see Elder Godfrey every few days while we were here and this is the last day before we left.  I wanted to show him mom that he was healthy and had a healthy appetite.  He is a big boy and needs his lunch.
Wendy and I loved seeing the new missionaries show up on Wednesdays.  They are so well taken care of and have so many people here that just make their first hour, first experience so wonderful.  We are very impressed at these wonderful young people.  They are the best.
They call this a lounge for the Senior couples on our floor of apartments.  I don't know why they call it a lounge because no one has any time at all to lounge.  There is a fridge but who would want to put anything in it - the cafeteria feeds you way too much already.  Anyway it was really nice to know they were thinking about our comfort while here at the MTC.  They really do take good care of you and provide great facilities.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Finally made it to the MTC (Missionary Training Centre)

Well it seems like it has taken months for us to get into the mission field and it has.  But we have now had our farewell with family and have made our way to the MTC.  Life here is very exciting and full of training, learning, firesides and new friends, with so many couples going on missions.  There are 80 couples that arrived on monday with us.

Here were are at the Calgary airport heading thru customs after saying good bye to all the Calgary kids and grand kids.  It was hard to leave them but here we go.



And before you know it we are in Provo Utah and have our orientation and name tags as Sister Saunders and Elder Saunders - Samoa Apia Missionaries







We finish our class room work each evening at 4:30 and Wendy and I were restless having sat for 3 days so we took a walk/hike us Rock Canyon just east of the MTC and Provo Temple.  It is a considered a great hiking area in the Provo area.  The peak you see here is called Squaw Peak and it's a 8 hour hike to the top and back.  We hiked a few hours but look forward to hiking the peak on Saturday when we have our day off.


Beautiful Rock Canyon hike


Elder Garrett Godfrey from our Cochrane ward arrived around 1:20 on Wednesday so Wendy and I just had to go see his arrival and say hi to he and his Mom and Dad.  It was great to see them and see how excited they were as they dropped him off for his mission to South Korea.  He will be a great missionary