So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

I leave and heave a sigh and say "Goodbye", goodbye...to the MTC!

Elder and Sister Miskin

Another wonderful week at the MTC. This week we had our Member and Leader Support training. It was hard to think they could put anymore into our heads, but they did. On Monday, we started the morning with our MLS training from the mentors we had before our MTC experience. This was their first week teaching at the MTC. We were the only couple they had mentored in our class so they were very happy to see us. They did a GREAT job and expanded on what they had taught us in our pre-MTC training. That class was 3 1/2 hours. We did several activities with 3 other couples to discuss and learn ways to interact with leaders, young missionaries, and of course, investigators. We learned a lot.

After lunch we started our specific MLS training with the young returned missionaries as our teachers. They are so good with the Senior Couples. They told us that teaching the seniors is the covenanted job. We did lots of role playing in their classes. We also had several actual teaching experiences. The first one we could choose to do on either Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday evening. We chose Monday. Part of our lesson on Monday was to help us prepare the lesson we were going to present that evening. I think it turned out pretty good.

Djeryd and Eva

Tuesday morning we had a different Senior Couple. They taught us about how to encourage young people to enroll in Institute and attend Seminary if they are still in High School. They also taught us ways to interact and relate to young adults better. They gave us some fascinating statistics about Generation Z.

Eva and Baby Ruth

In the afternoon we capitalized on morning training and went into greater detail. We did more role playing. One of the exercises we did was to practice team teaching by going back and forth on a subject. We had to change every 10 seconds. It was a lot of fun and we nailed it. Of course, when teaching we won't change that often. Lol. We were also asked to schedule a "getting to know you/teaching" appointment with a young adult outside of our classes. It needed to be done before Thursday. We did ours Tuesday night after our MTC Devotional. We chose to interview Djeryd and Eva. That way we could see baby Ruth too. Lol. We shared with them things about Institute and asked what they thought about it and if they thought they might like to go again. They indicated they think they may be able to make it work, so they are going to explore going to Institute again.

Our District with Sister Gimenez

The Tuesday MTC Devotional was really good. Elder William K. Jackson of the Seventy and his wife were our speakers. I very much enjoyed their talk. They spoke together in a way similar to our activity this afternoon, only they didn't change every 10 seconds.  

Wednesday morning was another new Senior Couple teaching us. Their topic was how to share the Gospel using the Family History apps. They showed us several different things we could do. People are naturally curious about where they come from and who their ancestors are. There are so many cool ways to share that, and we had a lot of fun learning about them.

Ljiljana with us at Costco

In our afternoon class we again piggy backed on the morning topic. We explored in more detail the Family Search apps. We then did a teaching assignment by going outside and finding some young missionaries to teach. Much of our mission will be working with them. We will get to put on our grandparent hats and be a support for them. I'm really looking forward to that. We met with a trio of young sisters. They were GREAT. Two of them are going to Ecuador and the third is going to Boise. All three are doing Spanish speaking. We spent about 15 minutes getting to know them as we talked about what they expect or hope for on their missions. 

After dinner we had Ljiljana pick us up so we could go to Costco and cash in our Costco Cash Rewards certificate. Even though New Zealand has a Costco, we can't use the certificate there. So, to avoid losing it, we had to cash it in. Since we don't have a car here, we took advantage of Ljiljana asking if she to take us anywhere. We had such a fun evening with her and her husband.

Our District with Sister Zeidner

On Thursday we learned about how to utilize all the wonderful resources for Welfare and Self-Reliance. We won't necessarily be doing anything in those areas, however, we do need to know about them so we can direct leaders as well as individuals to the resources they may need.

Our afternoon class was combined with another class because the other class teacher couldn't make it. We knew most of the people in the other class so that was fun. We got to do our pairing off activities with a different couple. We also did our biggest training activity. We had to choose someone to teach during the day and share with them one of the 4 Divinely Appointed Responsibilities of the Church. We chose to interview MyLiege Hawkins, and Elle joined her. We had a nice time doing our interview and visit a bit. We finished our day with some more Facebook tips and then recapping our experience that we had with our Young Adult interview. Then it was time to take pictures and give hugs to our teachers. We didn't have an afternoon class on Friday.

The Old Team is Together Again

Friday was our last official day of training. We only had the morning class. We had our Mentors back to finish up the MLS training. We focused mostly on how we can support our leaders. We held a mock Ward Council meeting and Elder Wilcox was selected to be the Bishop. He did a great job. After class ended at noon, we said good-bye to all of our district and several other senior couples we have met and fallen in love with. We also hugged our mentors and said good-bye to them too. I think both Sister Miskin and I had tears in our eyes. They have been so great to us. We all vowed to keep in touch so we can share in each other's missions. Facebook will be a big help in that department.

George with us on Zoom

After lunch we had a zoom meeting with one of Steve's high school friends who responded to one of my posts about the Family History apps. He wanted to know more so we connected on Zoom and got him all set up. Hopefully he will have hours of fun exploring his family tree.

We finished the evening with laundry, some HawkSoft work, and visiting the 12 murals we saw last week. They light them up at night. It is breathtaking.

Aaron and Roshelle from our Team

Saturday was a FUN day. Ljiljana arranged for a lunch with most of our team from our Interpretation mission. She picked us up and we met everyone else at Olive Garden. I think we spent close to three hours together. It was so great to see them one last time before we head to New Zealand. After a couple of hours back at the MTC, Ken and Leanne Jenson picked us up and we went to dinner. They are serving a mission at SLC Headquarters and are currently living in our old apartment. How Fun! We had a wonderful time with them. We ended the evening with Ken taking a short video of us talking to our FHE group. They continue to host FHE. We told them it comes with the apartment. Hahaha.

Elder and Sister Jenson

Sacrament meeting and Relief Society were awesome today. After lunch we spent most of the day organizing and packing. We also had to take care of some online documentation before we fly tomorrow. We can't do it more than 24 hours before we fly. After dinner we showered, packed some last minute things in our big suitcases and took them to the front desk so we don't have to wrestle them at 7:00 AM tomorrow morning. We still have our carry-on luggage so we can pack the things we need tonight and in the morning. 

I am reminded of what is says in Matthew 10 when Jesus sent his Apostles out to preach, minister, and heal the sick. In verses 19 & 20 it says, "...take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you."

We are going into the world with the power of God. We are ready to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all we meet.  Our mission president called today to give us our assignment. He is not going to be in Auckland when we arrive because he has to organize a new district in the Cook Islands. The District leader moved. He has assigned us to the Whangarei New Zealand Stake which is further north than Auckland. Apparently the Stake President has been asking for a Senior Couple. We are anxious to get started.

The Team with the Rest of Their Families

All our Love and Prayers,

Elder and Sister Wilcox