MTC Anew

As most of you know, we had originally wanted to go and pick up Katie, but in her mission, “picking up” is strongly discouraged, (so we changed our plans and opted to visit Jenny’s mission instead.) A few days after arriving home, we went back to the SLC airport with banners and balloons flying high waiting for Katie’s plane to land (which had been delayed in Chicago overnight.) While waiting we received a cell phone call and it was from Katie! She had finally landed! One problem though, due to the extreme weather, her plane didn’t actually land in SLC. Rather, after a very informative review of their “water landing” cards, Katie and the rest of the passengers actually landed safely at none other than the Provo municipal airport! BONUS - they got to use the “emergency” exit upon departing the plane!

If in all your travels you have never landed in Provo, this picture pretty much explains it. We would have taken more pictures, but this one really does show off most of it. Note that a “terminal” is apparently not necessary here, instead, just walk over to “yellow striped” parking lot area and jump into your car. We think SLC international airport could really speed up their process if they followed Provo’s example. As for baggage, go figure, but apparently the airport doesn’t have baggage service. We finally caught up with her baggage a few days later. Anyway, Katie called again and opted for us to drive clear back from SLC to pick her up rather than just walk home. She later admitted this wasn’t quite how she pictured her “homecoming” but we are likely to remember her “homecoming” event for quite sometime don’t you think?

Well, we did rush home and put up a banner or two. Note, having your “return” missionary hold up her own banner might not have the same effect as the “classic” airport scene with family and friends, but hey, she is a good sport!

Well, Katie made it and after a “long” ten day re-union, Katie’s “homecoming” and our “farewell” talks were given the same Sunday. The next day, Katie returned the favor of picking her up at the airport by taking us to the MTC.

Now, we are sure you all must be wondering with all the talk about “raising the bar,” how they let us in, but the picture below proves we are here and we love it!

Yes, this map does show that the earth was flat when we last served, but we consider ourselves fortunate in that we can still remember that far back to point out where we served in our youth. (Grandma Fern, Mike, Jenny, Katie)

We might look young, but upon our arrival we soon discovered that about half of our MTC teachers were none other than a bunch of “returned” missionaries, who were Katie’s friends in high school, and use to hang out at our home. Having them as teachers has been a “hoot” to say the least!

We also bump into many other people that we know who work here or volunteer like Ivan Holt, George Taylor, Neldon Stanley, and several more who we are just not remembering at this moment. They have all been so kind to us.

Basically there are about 30 couples in the MTC and they are expecting 35 more next week (and probably every week.) Many of the couples have served multiple missions and it is truly amazing how much experience most of these couples have had serving in various Church capacities. Their knowledge and experience truly makes us humble just to be among them for this short time. We definitely think Seattle drew the short straw.

For those who wonder what the MTC is like nowadays, we both think that “Preach My Gospel” is truly inspired. Unlike when Mike taught here (well over 25 years ago) the stress level of having to memorize the old “rote” rainbow discussions and coordinate the whole memorized script with flip charts has been done away with. You teach in your own words and the emphasis is made on keeping it simple. Also, the food nowadays tastes like – well – food! We even see MTC President Boone and many other staffers eat here every day. And bonus – they still let us go home at night to sleep in our own bed and of course spend some time with Katie. Being “senior” missionaries sure has its advantages.

Well, they do give us a “bit” of homework to do each

night, and we are busily packing, so we had better sign off. Please know of our love for all of you and how much we appreciate your support and examples.

Love,

Mike & Jenny (aka “Elder & Sister”) Thornton