We have completed our week of missionary training at the Provo MTC and what a week it has been. On Monday we registered and got our name tags in the morning. That afternoon we were welcomed by the MTC Presidency and the Buchanans — the couple who can answer any question and know just about everything. They are wonderful (a word I will over use in this entry) and totally amazing (another word I will over use) — always happy and friendly and loving. We eat in the cafeteria with the young missionaries. What a treat! (the food and the missionaries!) Tuesday started the real thing, in class by 8 with only a short break for lunch and finished about 5 pm in time to join the young missionaries for dinner. The returned missionaries who are teaching us are trying to get us to simplify what we know about the restoration and the plan of salvation (not an easy task.) Try to tell someone in less than 5 minutes the 8 important facts about the restoration, bearing testimony of each thing you say as well as each point your companion makes. Tuesday afternoon we met and gave a first discussion to a non-member (actually a member pretending to be a non-member.)  I was scared wit-less. However, we did it and we didn’t get stoned or run out of town on a rail. It was an amazing experience. I would recommend that everyone get a Preach My Gospel book and read it. What a wonderful tool the apostles have given us for the spreading of the gospel. After reporting our triumph and eating dinner there was a devotional for everyone. The young missionaries sang the prelude music. I have never heard hymns sung with such fervor. Then a member of the Seventy spoke to us about the Book of Mormon. The spirit in this place is amazing, always present and always bearing down. At the end of Tuesday, and every other day we have been here, I am totally exhausted, mind and body. I don’t know how the General Authorities live 24/7 like this. Maybe you can get used to it, I don’t know. Wednesday was another full day. We had a second discussion with a ‘non-member’ in the afternoon and I wasn’t quite as wit-less. After dinner, we had language training (Swedish, of course.) Our trainer took us to meet the 10 elders who are leaving for Sweden May 24. They were totally awesome. We bore our testimonies to them at the end of our time together — in Swedish!! They were very polite and complimented us on our Swedish skills, which are practically non-existent. Thursday was another full day of learning, teaching, being over-whelmed with the spirit, and language. Friday was a repeat, except that at the end of the Friday night session of language tutoring all the couples who are learning foreign languages had a testimony meeting together. We each bore our testimonies in our own foreign language. What a powerful and wonderful meeting! There were Swedish, Danish, German, Mandarin, Albanian, and whatever they speak in Singapore. I have had 2 full days to try to recover and am still absolutely exhausted. I am so grateful to be a missionary, to be here in the MTC learning how to be an effective tool for our Father. The gospel is true. The Book of Mormon was translated from sacred plates by the Prophet Joseph Smith. We can return to live with our Father in Heaven again by obeying the principles and ordinances of the restored gospel. Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. I love you all, Mom
