Last Week in the MTC

Tuesday August 16th:


So today started out with an early trip to the temple, we decided to get up at 4:15 a.m. to get ready for a 5:30 session. The session went really cool and it was fun to go through with my roommates. It was a pretty normal P-Day. We did our laundry and in between loads we went back to the room and wrote our emails. We just decided to get sack lunch again and just chill in our room and continue writing. We each got about a 2 hour nap which was really refreshing and helped the day go by fast. After that we went to the devotional. There were rumors that Jefferey R. Holland was in town and that he was speaking to us. They had teleprompters and they said that it was going to be live on tv so I figured it had to be him. Well, even though we shouldn't have been, we were all sort of disappointed when The Young Womens General President Sister Oscarson came in. She said " I'm sorry about this, but I heard a rumor that Elder Holland who is actually in Provo today, was supposed to speak, well, sorry you get me tonight". She was really good and it was overall a good day.

Elder Bennett

Wednesday August 17th:


Today we had the privilege of being able to host! That means we got to help be a host and show the brand new missionaries around the campus, show them there rooms, and show them where to go. There was going to be 574 incoming missionaries that day versus our 800+ missionaries who came in when I did on August 3rd. It was actually pretty hard not to cry because we had to watch all the missionaries families say goodbye for two years right there which reminded me of my going away. The first random missionary I hosted was from Utah and was going to the Reno Nevada, he was pretty laid back and was excited to be there. As I took him to his room I found out that he was in my Zone and that I was his zone leader. We had a little mixup because he was given the wrong key. After that I went back and hosted another random elder. It was funny because this guy was from Utah as well and was going to the Reno Nevada mission and was staying in the exact same room as the other missionary I hosted and I was also his zone leader. His brother also served in the Omaha Nebraska Mission. We had new missionary orientation where me and Peterson were in charge of everyone in the new districts in our zone. It was a good time and there were a lot of good missionaries, ready to work, which was awesome.

I wasn't receiving my DearElder letters for some reason and then just one day, I got all of them at once, haha

Thursday August 18th:


I was soo tired today!. After staying up late last night I did not want to get up. We had what we they call "Infield Orientation" all day. We learned a lot of new things/ what to expect in the field. It was really hard to stay awake because of how tired we were. We had our switch day which means we switch companions for a day. I was with Elder Beals, who is hilarious and did a good job of trying to keep me awake. It was cool because since we were all leaving this next week we practiced talking to people as if we were on the the plane, bus, or train traveling to our mission locations. I paired up with this elder form California. I told him I was from Nebraska and was on my way to Ogden and he said that his best friend from high school is a quarterback at Nebraska. I asked who it was and he said it was Patrick O' Brien! It was cool to talk with him about it and was fun to hear about their high school team.

Awesome package from my Aunt Lorilee

Friday August 19th:


Today was a really average day. We have been teaching this guy named Ky and it has been pretty difficult in our TRCs. He doesn't know who God is or what religion even is so it has been a new challenge for us to explain things to him because he has a very scientific based mind. Overall it went good with him. After that we had like a 4 hour study time, and me and Peterson just went around and talked to people from the new districts more. It was to hear about everyones backgrounds and where they are from. Me, Beals Johnson, Peterson, Welch, and Pilling stayed up really late that night and talked about life in general and about our missions. It made me think of how blessed I am to have met these wonderful friends and to be able to share memories with them.

Our district at the temple

Saturday August 20th:


Today started off earlier than usual with service. We got up at 6 a.m. and headed over for service. The jobs were pretty easy but since we are supposed to be doing at least an hours worth of service the jobs they had us do at the end were pretty pointless haha. During our downtime today, Our districts as well as District D ( the two departing districts leaving this week) got to together to practice our choir piece of a Child's Prayer. For only have 4 girls in both district combined the song sounded awesome in practice time. Me and Elder Peterson had the opportunity of giving a blessing to one of our sisters in our district who was struggling with home sickness. We also picked up our dry cleaning. Me and Welch decided to dry clean one of our suits since it was only 8$ which is a great deal. Throughout the day we get bored sometimes and we just take candid photos of everyone in our district randomly and share them around to pass the time. For some odd reason our room just became associated with Shrek and the Shrek movies and it was kind of a joke around our district about Shrek. For dinner we actually got some new food. We literally got fall of the bone ribs which were awesome. For so many people that have to be fed they were pretty dang good.

With Elder Welch and Branch President Harris

Sunday August 21st:


Today was our last Sunday here in the MTC! It is crazy to think I have already been here for 3 weeks. It feels like I have been here for months. Today was also our last meetings as Zone Leaders and it always is kind of sad when you have to give the phone up and give it to the new ones. Sacrament meeting was really good. Everyone is always so nervous because every week everyone in our Branch has to prepare a 3-5 minute talk on a topic and then they just randomly choose 3 people to speak so you never know if you will be called upon. I didn't get called so that brought a sense of relief somewhat haha. We then had our special number of a Child's Prayer which went really good and was really fun to sing. Later that day we had a departing devotional for all the missionaries leaving. There were over 800+ leaving which is an MTC Record. We then had or annual temple walk, as beautiful as the temple is, it isn't fun because it is super hot out!. On the way back in front of the MTC gates they grow red peppers and I don't know if they are meant to be picked but Elder Welch, Peterson, Thomas, Pilling, and Beals all took one and ate it. They all were sweating and crying and Pilling and Welch didn't even eat dinner because they kept feeling like they were going to vomit. Later that night was the special devotional. We got the opportunity to listen and sing with the Nashville Tribute Band. They were awesome! It was nice to here how amazing their voices were and I liked how I already had heard and listened to their songs, as well as had them on my tablet, so I could listen to them again. It was so powerful because we broke another MTC choir with over 1700+ people in the choir which would be like the MoTab choir and taking them x 5. We also got the opportunity to see two new church films that have never been seen before except for the General Authorities which was awesome. Overall it was an awesome day.

Stage for the Nashville Tribute Band

Monday August 22nd:


So last night me, Welch, Pilling, Peterson, and Beals stayed up till 3 am and just talked because it was pretty much our last night all together. We did our laundry early in the morning because we wouldn't get a chance to on Tuesday due to leaving. After that we had class which went good we all took pictures together afterwards with our teacher Brother Chapman. After lunch instead of our normal exercise time we used it to get a start on packing. I was pretty upset because I am not a good packer at all and my mom did all the packing in nice way that fit so when I first go there I decided to make a list of what went where and what went in what suitcase. Well, needless to say I lost the sheet and it took some time trying to figure out where I left it. After our other class and pictures with Sister Roberts we had dinner and then just went back to our rooms and started packing. It took quite a while but we all finally finished. Me and Elder Welch stayed up to write emails because with traveling tomorrow we don't know for certain if we would have emailing time since P-Days are usually Mondays now in the field. We decided to make a "Narnia hole" for those who don't know what that is, it is a tradition at the MTC where the Elders who stayed in the room before you leave something in a vent, behind a mirror, or anywhere that can be hidden and leave you surprises for the new people to find. We decided to embrace the Shrek joke and centered it around that. We hid it behind our window door and put a bunch of goodies and things that were green to represent Shrek. We left our emails and told the new elders who find it to email us when they do. It is crazy to think this is the last night. It is crazy to think how time is flying and don't know how well I'll take the adjustment tomorrow. I am super excited and super nervous at the same time and am just going to miss my friends here.

The roommates after devotional

Add caption

Elder Johnson and Elder Welch

Elder Peterson and Elder Bennett