Sunday at the New Zealand MTC

This is the current intake of Sisters and Elders here at the MTC. They are a great group of missionaries.  Elder Thatcher and I are not in this photo because it was taken 2 days before we arrived.




Elder Thatcher and I woke early again.  By three o'clock am we are wide awake.  This time in stead of trying to go back to sleep we read the rest of the White Missionary Handbook WMH.  We continued to underline all the "Always" in blue and circle all the "Nevers" in red.

We were showered dressed and ready to leave by 6:30 in order to get to the MTC by 7:00.  We gave ourselves some extra time incase we got lost again.  Happy to report we made the trip with not a wrong turn.  It was an easy journey because there were so few cars on the roads.

I know it is winter here but really the weather is beautiful.  Looking outside it is sunny and bright.  It is colder than it looks and the wind is usually blowing and it has rained quite a bit but this morning as we walked to the car I thought it could be a chilly spring evening in Cache Valley.

We were at the MTC in time to prepare the Moroni room  for early meetings and Sacrament meeting.
All of the rooms here are named after Book of Mormon people.  The Moroni room is the room where Sacrament Meeting is held.  Also they hold any large group meetings there.

preparing the Moroni Room for Sunday Meetings

Each District is named after a Book of Mormon Prophet and has a District Room with that name where they do their studying and are taught.

Nephi district - English
Jacob District - English
Joseph District - English
Mormon district - English
Enos District - English
Lehi District - Samoan
Mosiah District - Tongan
Helaman District -Couple
Alma District - ESL

Sunday's schedule - a busy day

You can see that Sunday's are full days.  It was wonderful to watch President and Sister Howes and President and Sister Briggs as they ran the day and kept the missionaries happy and busy.  Breakfast lunch and dinner are favorite times.  There is a man hired to cater all the meals.  He has a great accent and is lots of fun.  The food is different but delicious and there is plenty of it.  The Presidency stands at the doors of the lunchroom to greet all the missionaries as they enter.  The Sisters give hugs to the  sister missionaries and the Elders give hugs to the men in the Presidency.

Greeting the missionaries at the door is a chance to practice all the names that are so hard for Elder Thatcher and I.  They love hearing us try and giggle often at our attempts.  Let's see how you would do with these-

Sister Venetsanakos

Elder Talataina

Elder Biranibwebwe  (when he says his name it sounds short)

Sister Moek (pronounced muck)

Elder Tafengatoto

Sister Ausage

You can try saying these names but if you pronounced them incorrectly we wouldn't be able to correct you anyway.  We are just not sure how to say them yet.

Missionaries waiting for their Sunday Interviews with the MTC Presidency

The Presidency conduct interviews with the missionaries for much of the afternoon. Elder Thatcher said this was a sweet experience and helped him get to know the missionaries better. 

All of the meetings were great but the Devotional in the evening was especially sweet.   President Howes showed the video of the talk recently given to New Mission Presidents at the Provo MTC by Elder Holland.  It is entitled "The Divine Companionship" and has been called the greatest missionary talk ever given.

It truly is a powerful talk which makes you feel the privilege of being a missionary and the tremendous blessing of being in a companionship with the Holy Ghost who is the true teacher and converter in missionary work. 

After the video Sister Howes had an activity for the missionaries.  Tables were brought out and groups of missionaries formed.  They were given a folder with the 7 ways the Holy Ghost aids in missionary work that were discussed in the talk on sheets of paper and other papers with scriptures to look up and place in the category they belonged in.  The missionaries worked on this enthusiastically for a while before dinner.

Activity in the scriptures - the Divine Companionship

Finding scriptures on the Holy Ghosts role in Missionary Work

Upon returning from dinner another activity began.  This time Sister Howes handed them a prompt sheet  with ideas on ways the Holy Ghost had influenced their lives.  They had five minutes to read through the sheet and think of 3 stories from their lives to tell to the group.  They went around the group telling two minute stories and were instructed to listen with love as the stories were told.  They went around the group three times so each had a chance to tell their three stories.  The presidency walked around the room listening in on some of the stories.  Sister Howes described it as a river of the spirit that flowed through the room and that was a good description.  The stories were varied, some simple and others very touching but each was a genuine personal story about feeling the spirit in their own lives.  There was a closeness felt to each other and great love felt for all.  Everyone was reminded that they had spiritual experiences that profoundly affected them.  It was an activity to help them recognize the spirit.

The final Devotional was a talk given by Elder Bednar on the Character of Christ.  The missionaries listened with focus and appreciation to this great talk.  It had been a full day, a rich Sabbath, a true spiritual feast.  After the devotional the room was quickly straightened, snacks of chewy bars and fruit were picked up on their way out of the room and the missionaries were off to their rooms at the close of a great day.

Elder Thatcher and I headed home as well.  It was our first Sunday at the MTC.  We only have 51 more to go.  We are thankful to share such special spiritually rich days with young servants of the Lord and seasoned servants of God as well.   We are greatly blessed.