Missionary Training Center/MTC

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Hello Family & Friends...
Its been a busy yet amazing couple of weeks...This is my first attempt at using the Blog Katie set up for us...So here goes!

We've been in training for the past nearly 3 weeks...the first being learning the Missionary Medical program for us to take care of medical needs of the missionaries in the entire Alaska Mission...approximately 200 Elders and Sisters combined.  It's a very impressive system..and we can see how much effort the church goes to in taking good care of their missionaries.  The first day, however, I was totally overwhelmed...there was so much information and learning to do and I coudn't see how we could ever do all that and have the timme to do our main calling of teaching and taking care of the Institute kids and the 2 wards consisting of the young adults.  That was a brief outburst...meaning I cried and then got over it...knowing the Lord will guide us and we wll know what needs to be taken care of first...etc.  We will have to prioritize our time and just do our best.

This past week, we have learned the same lessons as the young Elders and Sisters as they prepare to prosolyte...Using Preach my Gospel which most of you are familar with...it has been an extremely spiriitual and inspiring week.  I thought they would be "easy" on the old missionaries...but we begin at 7:30 each day in class...we have lectures, small group studies, group teaching...we prepared and taught lessons...taught investigators that came into the MTC.  We had a couple short 10 minute breaks during the day and about 1 hr. for lunch.  We would then go back to classes until about 4:45 each day.  Plus attending an evening devotional after dinner.  ...he learning curve was quite steep but we enjoyed the challenge and the work.

One funny thing that happened on our second day, I was sitting down just outside a classroom waiting for it to begin when another Senior sister missionary came up to me smiling to show me we were both wearing the same skirt...I told her that we just both had good taste...as we were laughing, a third gal came up to us wearing the same skirt!!  Oh my...we took a pic and had a good laugh...later that day, I saw one of the young sister missionaries walking between classes...Yes, She too had on the same skirt...At that point, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry!  We are a rather boring sight....fashion wise!

The highlights during the week were our nightly devotionals...the first one begins a talk by President Bednar entitle: The Character of Christ...it was one of the most amazing talks I've ever heard.  Another one was solely on the 10 Commandents.

This weekend, we had off and traveled to Bountiful to visit with Stan's parents.  It was a nice break.  Eric, Kim and the kids came down for the weekend and it was so fun to spend a day with them.  We watched Conference and just relaxed a bit.  Loraine (Stan's mom) fixed a big Sunday dinner...Carolee and her family came over for dinner....then we watched the last session of Conference and drove back down to the MTC.  We got here in time to catch a quick dinner at the cafeteria and then head to the Sunday devotional...which was a fun experience...they had the group Vocal Point come and do the devotional...they
sang wonderful hymns and each of the 9 guys game a short message...they must be a popular group as the young missionaries were quite excited.

This is an amazing sight to see...over 2000 young men and women prepare for their missions...we hear many languages spoken in the hallways and during the large cafeteria mealtime.  there are only 81 of the Senior missionaries here right now, so we are quite the minority...however, the young kids seem to enjoy us being around...reminds them of their parents...or rather their grandparents!  Pops and I usually eat our meals sitting down next to some Elder or Sister missionaries.  Yesterday, we randomly met the grandson to one of Pop's best friends from High School!

Lastly...we miss you all and love you all so much.  It is indeed a sacrifice to leave you all yet we are grateful to be able to do this mission ...we have so many blessings in our lives and have experiences so many blessings that we feel this is a very small way to show our gratitude for all that has been given to us.

We have 3 more days here at the MTC...all involving the CES...the institute training program...so we are excited about seeing all the things we will be using to teach Institute.  I'm sure we will learn about many teaching aids to enhance our lessons...more computer learning I'm sure!

Love, Mouse & Pops   (Elder Stan Moss & Sister Diane Moss)

PS:  It has taken 2 days to even finish this one and only posting!!  Therefore, we've already completed 2 of the 3 days of Training for teaching our Institute classes at the University.  Even though we have both taught many lessons to this general age group, we both learned so much more to tap into more fully using and teaching from our scriptures.  We each had turns preparing and teaching from a certain scriptures...we really valuable information...but of course, being led by the spirit is one's greatest asset and power behind providing a true learning experience for the students.

Hello Everyone...

We have been in Alaska now for 3 days...we just got set up with wifi...All is going well..we are busy already.  We have classes and assignments at the institute to teach and do already....last night we were in charge of a "Waffle Night"....met kids from one of our Wards...The institute building is set up with a great kitchen...so it all went off ok...despite me usually ruining the waffle iron...they have 6 waffle irons...I had some of the missionaries helping and we were just churing out the waffles....
We also have a schedule we have set up to take care of the Missionary medical needs...4 half days per week..plus Pops (Stan) is on call 24/7 for emergency calls...we will see how that all goes.  It's hard to tell how both these responsibilities (Institute and Medical) will mess together....but we'll just go forward.
Our apartment is just fine...apparently it is the "coveted" apartment because it has so many windows...2 Elders came to help us move in and said.."oh you have the apartment with all the light"....getting enough light is a big deal here when the dark season sets in.  We've had clear blue skies since arriving...cold but ok.

I will write more later...we are still getting settled in and being thrown right in with assignments...this is our P-Day...our only day so we are getting lots done today.

We love you all.

Mouse & Pops