Our Farewell and First Day in the MTC

What a blessed and wonderful day we had yesterday. Our talks had been prepared weeks ahead so there was no last minute preparation stress. I picked up Ernie at around 10:00am and brought him home. Jim and I had a little talk with him about how he could support us on our mission by being on his best behavior both at home and at work. I also asked him questions about what he planned to say in his closing prayer but when he said his prayer not one thing we talked about was included. In stead he gave a from the heart prayer that turned out to be exactly what everyone needed to hear. You knew he was talking to Heavenly Father  and not just saying the words we expected to hear. Once  again he was our teacher.

The sacrament meeting felt wonderful. The spirit felt strong, the choir music was wonderful and Dennis Hendriksen's rendition of "Come, Come Ye Saints" was magnificent! Jim and I each felt good about our talks and everyone was very complimentary.

Sitting on the stand and looking out into the congregation was humbling. There were so many people we loved and cared about including, family, work family. TRA family and of course our Ward family. We have been so blessed these last 20 years to have lived among, worked among and played with the most amazing group of people. We are what we are in large part because we've been surrounded and blessed by wonderful people.

We planned an open house and hoped a few people would show up! Wow, when we arrived home we couldn't get in the door there were so many people. It was wonderful once again to be surrounded by so many of the people we love. We need to thank Dave and Jan Harris and Ken and Sue Larsen for getting things set up and maintaining the flow of food. I didn't lift a finger. I'm sure there were others who helped. Please know you are loved and appreciated. Thank you to everyone who brought food. Everything was wonderfully tasty!

At 5:20pm we said good by to our guests and headed to the Stake Center to be set apart. What a spiritual feast we had with our Bishop and Stake President as we studied a few scriptures together, expressed our love for each other and then were set apart as missionaries and given wonderful blessings that we will hold in our hearts forever.

This last week has been full of tender mercies and we feel incredibly blessed.

We were up early this morning and managed to get everything stored away, the car packed and even have time for breakfast at McDonald's! We arrived at the MTC and were guided every step of the way through our orientation process. There are 5 other couples going to MHHS. Two will serve at Sixth Crossing and three of us will be at Martin's Cove. Tomorrow starts the training. We did our homework tonight and are going to walk to the Creamery for ice cream cones soon. We are staying at the MTC West which is the Wyview complex. Interestingly it is the complex our Granddaughter Kati lived at when she attended BYU before her mission. We eat all our meals at the MTC cafeteria and our training takes place at a chapel right outside the gates of the MTC.

The first rule we were told about today was that no heart attacks are allowed. They said they find if they let one person have one then another will decide to follow suit so they just don't allow them! Oh yea by the way the defibrillators they have in the hallway are just for show...they don't know how to use them so no heart attacks!

We are a varied group of 50 or so couples and nine single sisters. The assignments are all over the US and the world. The work is moving forward.

We love you all,
Elder and Sister Lindsey