November 16, 2014 - Sunday

This has been a great day in the MTC!  We started off today fasting for certain miracles to happen for our family and we are already seeing His Hand in our prayers!  We had Sacrament right after breakfast time and then we got to go to an assembly hall here at the MTC and watch Music and the Spoken Word broadcast to us.  The opening song on today's broadcast?  "Called to Serve"!  We currently have dozens of countries where the MTC missionaries are going out to this week so it was very appropriate when the Tabernacle Choir sang as the closing song, "When the Saints Go Marching In"!!  Yes, we are in the right place at the right time and we are reminded of that so many times each day.

I have a note to our precious grandchildren; we hope you will each prepare well to be a missionary!  There is no better way to spend two years of your young lives in serving the Lord.  I would encourage each of you who are taking piano lessons to learn the piano well.  What a tremendous blessing this will be to you and thousands who hear you play.  And the neat part about this is that when you play, you are playing for Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ!  

Prepare well and practice your music as much as you study the words of the Gospel in the Scriptures every day.  You will quickly know, in a setting like this, that your talents will be magnified one hundred fold in His service!  Learn the piano and any other instrument where you can express your love to Heavenly Father.  And I would suggest that you also take any opportunity to learn how to conduct music and sing in the Choir.  Needless to say, we have had piano solo's, singers and violin performances over the last week that have been amazingly special.  And the performers were all young missionaries who literally sang praises to Jesus Christ and brought such a neat Spirit to our meetings!

I also learned something special today as well.  We are currently being trained in the "MTC" or Missionary Training Center.  How about this other meaning for "MTC"?  My Time with Christ?  Food for thought because this is just that!  There isn't a place here in or on this campus where that Spirit does not have the potential to reside!

Like we have said, we have met so many excited missionaries ready to serve.  It has been fun to get to know them and find out where they are from and where they have been called to serve.  We met several missionaries yesterday and today from the Philippines going to places like Eugene Oregon, Mississippi and Kansas.  Everyone going to some new area to teach and preach the Gospel and they are so happy to do it!

And just think, Granny and Grandpa have joined their ranks and we are happy to do so!  And we love you so very much for your love and support!!!  THANK YOU!