The MTC

Anna Adams drops her daughter off at the MTC

Monday morning, May 30 dawned – cold and snowy! Janet’s sister, Ilene, and her mother drove us over to Provo and the MTC (Missionary Training Center). We were welcomed on our arrival - and they have every thing organized to help senior couples –  even young elders waiting at the residence hall to carry all four of our very heavy (barely under 50 pounds) suitcases up 4 flights of stair to the 3rd floor!

We will actually both be on the same island

The first day we met as a whole group. There were about 72 senior missionaries which included 6-8 single sisters. We were divided into districts with 4 companionships in each. Our district included (with their mission assignments): Elder and Sister (E/S) Freestone (Greece), E/S Schow (Russia), E/S Nichols (Johannesburg, South Africa mission office) and us.

Our District: Cape Verde, Russia, Greece, South Africa

The first week for senior couples is a condensed version of Preach My Gospel, how to share the restored gospel with those you meet. The second week is for training for the specific mission assignments. We loved our district and have so much love and respect for the other 3 couples. The Freestone’s and the Schow’s left at the end of the 1st week as they were working in member & leader support (which is basically Preach my Gospel.). We missed them the rest of our time in the MTC.

Welfare Missionaries on Tour of Welfare Square in Salt Lake City

Elder Glen Rudd with Sister Maha (New Zealand)

The second week we learned about being welfare missionaries. Monday was an all day field trip to Salt Lake City to get instruction and to tour Welfare Square and the Humanitarian Center. It is amazing what the Church accomplishes so quietly! Seven couples had the specific assignment of humanitarian service and the rest of the week was devoted to learning about the major initiatives of humanitarian projects – Water, vision, neonatal resuscitation, wheelchairs and the food initiative. We learned the mechanics of applying for project funding online and we probably know enough to be very dangerous!! Fortunately, there are many checks and balances so we can’t destroy anything. Dennis and I also had training in the Perpetual Education Fund which is part of our responsibility.

Sister Broderick chatting about the Humanitarian Center with our Welfare Area Supervisors, Elder & Sister Leonard

Three Couples serving in the European Area Welfare Services: Brodericks, Leonards, Pages

We thoroughly enjoyed the general MTC experience! We sang in the MTC choir for the weekly devotional. Talk about wonderful bass and tenor sections! And there were sufficient sisters to make a choir! It was fun to be here on Wednesday when the 350+ new missionaries arrived. What a busy place - a constant stream of missionaries with orange dots on their badges going one way and their suitcases going another. Doors were locked to help them find the correct places to be, so we had to change our path to the cafeteria! And we enjoyed the BYU Creamery ice cream (all you could eat) that is traditional on Wednesday (lunch and dinner! Oh, my.) We enjoyed being among the wonderful elders & sisters who were very polite and always opened the doors for us! One time after dinner, an elder came and took my empty tray so I wouldn’t have to stand in that long line


Sister Broderick with her Portuguese Tutor (and language savior): Talita



Elder Broderick with his two tutors: Guilherme from the MTC and Talita on Skype

We continued our language tutoring every evening we were available. It was wonderful to meet Talita in person, our Skype tutor for the past 2 months. Friday night was the traditional language testimony meeting for all the senior missionaries learning a language. This was the first time Janet had given her testimony in Portuguese! Even though we couldn’t understand much of what was said, the message came through of each person’s love for God and Jesus Christ.

We loved being close to the temple and were able to get in our last temple session for quite a while. We will miss that!! Traditionally, there has been an area welfare meeting in Frankfurt each year, so we are hoping to get to the temple then, but we will see.

The studying part is totally staged

Then there are the basic tasks of life: Laundry time was in the huge laundry room - which was empty at the time as it was in the middle of the dinner hour.

Food: It is sufficient and best of all, I don’t have to do anything!! Admittedly, it is hard with a full buffet (and especially on Wednesday’s ice cream free-for-all) but I had to learn to cut down on what I take. I avoided the always available desserts (except on Wednesday’s) including donuts at breakfast. With 3 full meals a day and sitting between every meal, it is easy to gain weight. I didn’t dare to check my weight on the scale near the outside door. I am sure it is there to weigh suitcases, but checking one’s own weight would be a good thing too on the way to breakfast.

So, that is pretty much what these weeks have been – eat, learn, and get acquainted! And especially feel the Spirit!

We finished our training and then needed to repack. Our suitcases had to have the weight evenly distributed to avoid overweight charges. So, Dennis carried them all down the 4 flights of stairs and weighed them and distributed the weight so we wouldn’t have to pay extra weight fees and then carried them up again.

Our MTC experience came to an end when the MTC van stopped at our residence hall door at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning, June 10th,  and we loaded up the suitcases and left for the airport! It was a marvelous experience, but we were happy to be on our way!

Next week: Moving to Cabo Verde. Stay tuned.