We passed!

Today was our final day of Mission Training! We have passed! We have one day of Church Education Training on Monday at the MTC and then four days in Church Headquarters for Perpetual Education Training.  I must say other than my horrible reaction to my last Hep C shot, which left me sitting at Julie's toilet last night, this has been one of the best weeks of my life.  It rates up there with being a mother and grandmother.  This week has also been one of the most emotional.  I am not a real crier, although my children may disagree, but it seemed every hymn and every video brought me to tears.  The spirit was so strong even when we were role playing different training scenarios, the spirit would testify to our hearts that this work is vital and we are on the Lord's errand. 

Tonight, along with six other elderly couples learning foreign languages, we shared our testimonies in halting Ilongo, Italian, Suano, Croatian, Madanrin, and Mongolian.  Even though no one but our spouses and our own tutors could understand us, the spirit was so strong. It is certainly wonderful that after only three evenings of tutoring we were all able to express our feelings.  AMAZING!

One of the best parts of the MTC experience was that our teachers were all young return missionaries attending school here in Provo.  These young brothers and sisters (ages 21-late twenties) taught a room full of elderly couples and even the most knowledgeable of us learned many things and felt extremely thankful for the young teachers. 

Of the 100 couples we entered the MTC with Dan and I were among the youngest!  There are couples going to far away countries who are in their 80's and in poorer health.  One elder had a hearing device he wears around his neck to hear,  there were two elders with canes who stumbled through the days, and there were several with dietary restrictions.  There were at least a third of these couples who have served previous senior missions and are learning even one more language.  I was humbled by the sacrifices they must be making to go once again into service when they could be sitting home enjoying their retirement.  I am blessed to have been among them this week. 

Love to all our family and friends.  Please continue to pray for us as we go forth striving to learn Ilongo and finish our training.  We are grateful for your love and support. 

Also, a special thank you to Paul and Monica for picking up my prescriptions and mailing them to me and to Josh for drinking out last POG! We love you all.