November, 2009
To revive and redact Madeline L’Engle’s opening words of A Wrinkle in Time, “It was a dark and stormy morning” when we left Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport for Salt Lake City. It was 30 November 2009, and we had spent the night at the Pumphrey’s so that Julie could give us an early morning ride to DFW. Shelly and Gina followed us in another car. We were burdened with weighty containers of clothes and as many creature comforts as we dared to bring. We suspected that some Utah bound jet was going to have to huff and puff to get us all off the ground. President Kent Talbot had set us apart on 29 November, so we were already “official” missionaries (albeit sans the familiar tags that LDS missionaries sport).
Our arrival to Salt Lake was mostly smooth and on time. The hectic process of moving a great deal of luggage from the baggage claim area to the shuttle area was, as I said, hectic. Fortunately there is a Salt Lake City to Provo run about every half hour and we were able to avail ourselves of that convenience. We gratefully arrived at the MTC, stashed our voluminous belongings and dashed to class. It’s been non-stop ever since.
The spirit here is nearly overwhelming. There are about 2500 young, well-groomed missionaries plus some 52 older, well-groomed missionaries. The oldsters, and that would be our group, are treated as national treasures. The youngsters always speak to us with kind words, open the doors for us with a smile, and otherwise show us great respect. Interestingly, I overheard one young man say to his companion yesterday, “Hey, we need to be nice to the old people.” My first thought was to say, “Now, you listen to me Elder...” Instead, I smiled and was grateful.
A simple walk through the halls is a spiritual experience. Young, handsome men and beautiful young women catch your eye and offer pure smiles. The missionaries going abroad all speak the target language of their country, and you can hear dozens of languages being used in real time conversations.
The cafeteria is a marvel of efficiency, feeding literally thousands of missionaries three times a day. The food is amazingly good and there are lots of options. We’ll both leave the MTC bigger in spirit and bigger in girth.
