I've had many fun jobs in life, including EFY Counselor, working at Dick's Market (the happiest place on earth?), security officer on BYU campus, and more. But my favorite was the MTC. In my two and 1/2 years there, I taught somewhere around 80 missionaries, some of which I will never forget, and some of which I can't remember now...sorry Elders. I learned so much from the missionaries and the other teachers. It was a pretty cool time to be there. During that time:
Perhaps one of the coolest times was a two week period when Bro. Tommy Jones and I were waiting for a new batch of missionaries. We decided to read the Book of Mormon all the way through during those two weeks. We each bought a new copy to mark up. We would read and discuss what we were learning. It was awesome.
These were days never to be forgotten.
- Preach My Gospel was published.
- Chinese and Romanized versions of Preach My Gospel were published.
- New Missionary Handbook become available.
- Mandarin Missionary Vocabulary & Phrases book.
I had minimal involvement with the progress of some of those resources. But it was an exciting time to be so involved in missionary work.
Are there places that are especially sacred to you because of the sanctifying experiences you've had there? That's how the MTC is for me. Some missionaries are more than ready to leave after only three weeks. Combining my time as a missionary and a teacher I spent more than 110 weeks there, and loved every minute. Well, almost every minute.
Here's a pic of me the day I entered the MTC as a missionary. Check out that awesome hair!
Perhaps one of the coolest times was a two week period when Bro. Tommy Jones and I were waiting for a new batch of missionaries. We decided to read the Book of Mormon all the way through during those two weeks. We each bought a new copy to mark up. We would read and discuss what we were learning. It was awesome.
4 comments:
Remember how you used to wear a shirt & tie every day? I guess you still could if you wanted to. I know you were a great influence on many missionaries during your time there :)
natalie, i remember how shocked your roommates were the first time they saw jack without a shirt and tie.
i was ready to be out of there after three weeks; too bad i was there for eight. but i remember that you were an awesome mtc teacher. and that you had some cool stories as a byu security guard, too.
Oh those really were the good old days! I miss the MTC, it really is an amazing place, truly a one in a million, never experience again in your life type place. It is funny that you should post about this, becuase tonight I am writin my talk and needed a break, I was just writing about my time in the MTC. Truly memorable! (and I love the hair do!)
Nice hair--and glasses!
And I saw the new missionary handbook in the bookstore the other day--either they updated it quite a bit, or I never really read it in English very much in the first place (probably both) And I need to be better about studying Preach My Gospel--I think I've started a few times and then gotten sidetracked...
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