June 12

So many firsts today.  But let me start with a daily schedule and flesh it out as I go.

We are up at 6 a.m.  Scott goes to work out for 1/2 hour while I shower and get ready.  We have to be to breakfast by 7 or 7:15.  It warms my heart to see all the elders in their white shirts and ties.  They are so polite.  I don't think we have opened one door since we got here.  The MTC campus is in a permanent lock-down.  All doors have to be opened with a credit card like pass key.  Even our elevator needs a pass key to go up to our floor.  We are in the building with the book store and the mail room, so the main floor is always jam packed with missionaries.  Scott can choose to exercise on our floor (small workout room) or in the basement which is a huge room with stationary bikes, recumbent bikes, treadmills, and weights. Breakfast is huge, but I got smart today and ate just my normal cheerios, nuts, and cranraisins.  It was much better; no mid morning slump.  We meet for devotional at 8 just with the senior missionaries.  We have a short lesson by the director of training, a Brother Peterson, and then go to class with a young trainer, Brother Silitoe until lunch.

Today I gave my first discussion.  I was so glad to have Scott with me.  I knew if I messed up he would fix it.  His Preach My Gospel looks like it has gone through a war.  We taught the loveliest couple.  His story was really touching.  He came back to the church after most of a lifetime without it. Although they are members, they acted as if they weren't yet.  He stated that he wasn't a nice person, and wasn't sure that God could love him after all he had done.  It felt so good and right to tell him that nothing he had or would do could stop Heavenly Father from loving him.

I was so nervous I got blotches on my chest which moved up my neck to my face.  Embarrassing.  I thought I had outgrown it.  We were not allowed to take in our PMG.  I made notes so that I would not forget any of the concepts.  Whoever wrote PMG was truly inspired.  It says amazing things in so few words.  I put my notes on the table next to me and yet I never looked at them.  The lesson just flowed, the Spirit was there, and both Scott and I felt like we had been inspired more than once as we taught the Restoration.  Amazing.  Scott is an fabulous missionary.  I hope that we will have the opportunity to teach investigators while we are in Fiji.  Ok, so after we taught the discussion, our trainer critiqued our performance which he watched on close circuit cameras.  He was kind.

We eat from 12 to 1:30.  We are always so tired that we eat fast, and then head back to our room for a quick power nap.  So far it hasn't been enough.

At 1:30 we have another devotional and then head to afternoon instruction with Brother Whiting, a young father who attends BYU.  We study until 4:30.  We have from 4:30 to 6 for dinner.  Again we go home to study and then we go to eat at 5:30.  Tuesdays are devotional nights and this week we heard Elder Per Malm.  Great talk.  However the best part of the evening was before the meeting got started when the music director had us sing 3 or 4 songs.  Tears just flowed as I listened to those young adults missionaries sing with all their hearts and felt the Spirit come.

Tonight we had our first lesson is Fijian.  I am so disappointed that we did not ask for lessons as soon as we got our call.  We missed the little piece that said we could have a tutor on Skype if we wanted one.  We were also told not to worry about Fijian because everyone speaks English.  Stupid.  I know better.  All people feel valued when someone else tries to converse in their language.  Our tutor is Brother Viukadavu.  He is a Fijian who grew up in Hawaii and Fiji and served a mission in Washington state.  He is the most positive person.  Although Fijian doesn't seem to be a hard language, we are going to have to work really hard to remember it.  Old brains just don't retain like young ones.

We were so burned out after the tutoring session (6pm to 8pm), that we went to the gym and rode bikes for 30 minutes.  Tomorrow is coming early--too early.

What a wonderful experience we are having.  How inspired this whole system of training missionaries is.  Heavenly Father is really in charge of this work.

Here we are doing the traditional MTC photo pointing at where we will serve.  FIJI.  Some things you just gotta do.