Week 1 May 18 - 23

Monday, May 18th

We finished a great visit with my family in Bruneau and drove to N. Ogden and visited with Greg & Laura Spend love (Janice’s brother and sister in law and their son Josh and his family. It was great to see them and catch up with each others lives. Josh had served his mission in Uruguay and was very helpful with information that we needed. We then proceeded to Lindon Utah to Keith and Suzanne Leavitt’s home. Suzanne is Janice’s step sister. They have been most gracious and offered us a guest bedroom while we are studying at the Mission Training Center (MTC) prior to our formal report date of June 29^th. The accommodations are great and it has been great to get to know them better.

Tuesday May 19^th 2009

We arrived at the MTC at 10:30 and checked in at the front desk and found that we had already missed one of our tutoring sessions. We had not been informed of our schedule so we did not know that we had a 9:00 AM session. We met our Tudor Marisol Vargas and she gave a quick lesson that morning. We also arranged for parking and our meal cards. The place is huge and very well organized and efficient. It is an awesome experience to be able to be part of the mission experience. They have assigned us our own classroom and we have tutors twice a day or more. One morning session and an afternoon session. The rest of the time is spent doing homework from the tutoring sessions or at meals. We spend about 10-12 hours per day at the MTC. The tutors are great and very helpful.

Wednesday - Thursday

Morning and afternoon tutoring sessions and we meet several other senior couples that were preparing to go on missions. It is great to talk to them and here where they are going and their experiences. The spirit is very strong and everyone is very helpful. The language is coming slowly but our tutors keep encouraging us telling us we are doing great. There is a lot to learn and we have some good days and some not so good days. We met with Maria Johnson, she is in charge of the senior couples training program. She was very helpful and gave us a lot of helpful ideas and said some things that encouraged us to know we will be able to learn the language. We are on the LORDS errand and he will provide what we need if we work for it.

Friday May 22

Morning session was a bit of a blur for me (Dan). I had taken a muscle relaxer pill to try to get rid of a stiff shoulder and neck (new bed). I guess I had taken too big of a dose( 1 pill instead of 1/2) and it made me feel really groggy so I did not get as much out of the session as I could have. In the afternoon session we had a volunteer visitor that speaks Spanish come and we got to talk to him and ask questions and answer his questions. WOW we don’t know much of the language yet. We were a bit discouraged but our tutor said we did great with the short amount time we have been studying the language. Friday night we went to the Timpanogus temple with the Leavitt’s ward. They had 38 people from the ward at the session. They usually have about 70 at the session. It was Memorial Day weekend and many were out of town. They all meet at someone home after for a late potluck meal and visit with each other. They ward members welcomed us and we had a great time.

Saturday

No Tutoring sessions on the weekend. We are going into the MTC to clean our classroom and study.

Sunday

We are going to a Spanish branch in Provo at 11:00 AM and in the afternoon we have been invited to Carl & Mable Hegerhorst’s in Benjamin Utah for dinner. They have invited their family to attend. It will bee great to see them and my cousins and their families. I have not seen many of them for many years.