The Missionary Training Center turns 50

The Missionary Training Center recently celebrated its 50th anniversary in a devotional held on February 2. Speakers at the devotional included Elder Russell M. Nelson and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. From a story in the Deseret News, Elder Nelson shared a little bit of the history of the MTC:

"For many years in the 20th century," Elder Nelson recounted, "newly called missionaries had received some preparatory instruction at the Missionary Home in Salt Lake City. On Dec. 14, 1961, 14 elders assigned to Argentina and 15 elders assigned to Mexico moved from the Missionary Home to the newly created Missionary Language Institute on the Brigham Young University campus in Provo."  

Those missionaries walked the four-mile distance from the Hotel Roberts to the BYU Alumni House for instruction, Elder Nelson related. "With very little fanfare, formal language training for missionaries was thus begun in this dispensation."

More of Elder Nelson's remarks can be found here.

The Deseret News article included some great pictures, which can be seen here. Here are three that brought back a lot of memories from my two months in the MTC way back in March and April 1983. Those classrooms look exactly the same!

Church News: "New Mission Presidents Blessed for Exercise of Faith"

Elliot's mission is presided over by a member of the church and his wife.  We have profiled President and Sister Taylor on Elliot's blog before.  Much like Elliot and the other missionaries, mission presidents are called to serve for a period of time in a specific region.  And, like the missionaries, mission presidents have to go through their own pre-mission training.  On June 22-26, 2011, a new group of 128 mission presidents and their wives met at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, to receive instruction before traveling to their missions.  As reported on the Church website,

The couples come from all over the world—22 different countries—and will serve all over the world in 18 different languages. Their backgrounds are diverse, including businessmen in various fields, educators, lawyers, and even a test pilot for the F35 fighter program.

Many of the leaders of the Church spoke at the training seminar.  Three videos with excerpts of their messages are included after the jump.  Speaking to the assmbled couples, President Thomas S. Monson said:

You have been chosen from among the most faithful in the Church, and now you have the opportunity to go forth in the Lord’s harvest field. … I know of no field which produces more fragrant nor bounteous roses than the mission field to which you have been called.

Enjoy the videos after the jump.

San Antonio area missionaries perform the national anthem

Back when Elliot was in the MTC, he got to sing in a choir of missionaries at the October 2010 General Conference.  We posted about that experience, with pictures, here and here.  It was a great opportunity for Elliot and he really enjoyed it.

Missionaries are often called on to sing or perform in public settings.  I recently ran across a video of a group of missionaries serving in the San Antonio, Texas mission who were asked to perform the national anthem before a playoff game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies.*  It's a great rendition of the anthem, very traditional, and I thought it would be fun to share it on Elliot's blog.  Enjoy the video after the jump.

* The Grizzlies won that series and are now facing the Oklahoma City Thunder in the western conference semifinals.  The Thunder lead that series 3-2, with game 6 tonight.

Elliot's August 26 letter home

Elliot wrote us a letter the same day as his last email, so there was not a lot of news.  He was excited that Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke at the MTC and he recounted some of Elder Holland's comments.  I especially liked his comments about missionary work being a battle.  Elliot quoted Elder Holland: "We're not shooting bullets, we're handing out bandages."  Elliot explained that these words made him very happy because "all I really wanna do is make other people happy.  And I hope that people will be willing to hear what I have to say."  Somehow, I think they will.  He also told us that Carlton Reininger's companion was in Elliot's student ward at BYU.  Small world.  Here is a copy of his letter.