Great time at the Mission Training Center

We have had a great time here. A spiritual feast. Here is Tom-- now Elder Fox studying in our room. We had classes all day long. We learned so much and the spirit is so strong. We really feel blessed to be here.

My sister and her husband are going to Switzerland on their mission. They play the alphorn and practiced each evening. In the background you can see the Provo Temple. The Alphorn is a mellow instrument but it's sound carries. We enjoyed hearing them play. Sometimes a group would gather to listen.

Here is our Senior Missionary group. We all arrived on Monday. Some are education missionaries going to teach. Others are office missionaries, record preservation, medical specialists. They are going all over the world. They were so awesome to get to know. Even though we've only known them a week, we will miss them.

Saturday was our preparation day-- to do laundry, run errands, etc. We went to the Provo Temple to serve the Lord. We also met with our friends the Lunds. They were our mission President on our last mission.

Tomorrow we will begin our trek to Kenya. We fly to Los Angeles, then to London. We arrive there about 11am. I'd like to sight see, but we may be exhausted. We fly out of London Wednesday morning and arrive in Nairobi about 9:30 Wednesday night. We may be off line for a week or more before we get internet connection. We will fill you in as soon as we can.

What do we do and why?

Our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.

There are about 2300 missionaries here training to go everywhere in the world. Most are young men and women. We have met some from Canada, Hungary, Pakistan, Taiwan, England, and Russia. We have classes each day teaching us easy ways to reach out and show God's love to people and give them a message of hope. As we go from class to class, some of the young missionaries will stop us and ask if they can share their testimony of Jesus Christ and how His gospel has been restored once again to the earth. They may share it in Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, or German, but each time they do-- even though we don't understand everything-- the Holy Spirit whispers that what they are saying is true.

We are busy from 8am until about 5pm. Today we spent time in the call center, where people who have watched an ad on TV call to request a free Bible, Book of Mormon, DVD of "Finding Faith in Christ" etc. It was fun to take those calls. There are so many good people out there. In the evenings we have several hours of reading and studying. There is a fantastic spirit here.

The message we bring is pretty simple. The same Gospel preached by Jesus Christ has been restored back in its purity in these last days. God speaks again through living prophets. He has answered the questions of: "Where did we come from?" "What is our purpose here on earth?" and "What happens to us after this life? What I love most is that God has a plan for us-- a reason for our being on earth and a step-by-step plan for us to return to live with Him. This is a way to find joy, hope, and peace now and in the eternities. Is that not a great message?

We've arrived at the Mission Training Center!

Tom and I arrived at the Missionary Training Center on Monday. We spent a few days with Deborah, and also a night with our former mission president. Had an awesome visit. Here we are at the training center. On the left is my sister and Tom's brother (who are married to each other.) They also are going on a mission-- to Switzerland.

This is a great spiritual experience! I love being here!

Snow adventure

We started our adventure going to Springfield and being set apart—given a priesthood blessing-- by our Stake President. We felt the blessing and strength of the Lord. We started toward Utah and our week of training before we leave for Kenya.
Alas, one of the largest snow storms in 12 years stood between us and Provo. We drove through snow, wind and ice for the last 3 hours before getting to Cheyenne—our destination for the night… and it turned out to be our destination for all the next day and that night as we were snowed in. We stayed at Warren Air Force Base, and it was closed due to the snow—as was Hwy 80.

As we drove onto the base today we saw a herd of antelope-- maybe 50-60 grazing beside the road. They didn't seem bothered by cars at all.

We hope to be on our way again tomorrow.

Do you think they'll make it?

It will take a miracle, and we got it! We are packed and ready to start our trek west. We acheived 99% of the things we needed to accomplish before our departure, managed to maintain a rather civil attitude towards each other and even got to bed at a reasonable time last night.

Our last obstacle in getting to the MTC seems to be a snow storm approaching Utah and Wyoming.

AKKK Will we every be ready?

We will leave for the MTC in less than a week. Tomorrow we hope friends will come and celebrate our farewell.

We have suitcases half packed. Records half filed. Finances mosty managed. I hope we are choosing the right things to take. It looks like we will be living in Kisumu on the shore of Lake Victoria. It's a little warmer there, but still, an eternal summer.

I will be glad when we get in the car and start driving.

Come send us off!

Friday Oct 23th we'll have a farewell and invite all our friends to come and say good-bye. It will be at our house from 6-9pm. There will be light refreshments... and as always... Chocolate Will be Served!