We've Arrived at the Provo MTC

Well it's Monday morning October 13, about 8 AM. We arrived in Provo at the MTC after a wonderful, Very early departure from Medford airport Saturday morning. Thanks to all the friends and family there to wish his farewell. It is wonderful to feel loved and supported.

It was a busy final week of preparations. We worked hard to finish all of our last-minute packing details and getting the house wrapped up. We had many family activities and dinners out with friends which were most heart warming.  

Thursday afternoon was a glorious and beautiful southern Oregon fall day. Warm, golden sunny, and perfect for riding a bicycle, which is precisely what I did for a few hours. How wonderful it was to let the miles will under my bicycle tires as I listened to scripture on my head phones and let the wind rush over me. It was idyllic.

I have a genius son-in-law who is able to help me transfer all of our contacts over to our iPad. Thanks to Chris. Electronic, mechanical and technical acumen is certainly not in my skill set. I find them really to be more of a trial of patience. 

My brother John was kind enough to pick us up at the Salt Lake airport and has loaned us a vehicle for the two weeks we will be here. We checked into the Provo missionary training center, the MTC, Saturday afternoon. The accommodations are small and fairly spartan but reasonably comfortable. Security here is high. We have to pass through a security gate, and multiple key cards and  keys to access our room. The MTC is definitely safe for world war Z. Nevertheless the atmosphere here is quiet and calm and very conducive to learning and spiritual growth. With the exception, that is, of the cafeteria at meal time. You can imagine thousands of hungry young men and young women standing in the cafeteria line waiting for shrimp and steak and sloppy Joes.  I saw a young Elder yesterday with at least Six bowls of cold cereal in front of him at his dining table. We had some nice meal experiences yesterday, having breakfast with a young Elder companionship going to Mongolia soon, and some senior missionaries going to Albania, Tonga and elsewhere. We attended Peter's YSA  branch Church yesterday at BYU held in a dance studio in the PE building. A very nice service. We arrived at the conclusion that there is definitely no reason why Peter should not be dating!  Many lovely young ladies here.

Yesterday evening we drove to Salt Lake City where we had a lovely evening with my brothers and sisters at my sister Debbie's house. Some great desserts, lots of fun conversation, and games. Home by about 9 PM for the usual evening rituals of scripture and Indonesian language study, prayers and in bed by 10:30 or so. A queen size bed is definitely a bit of a challenge, but we are accommodating. My wife loves my snore guard. As for me, not my favorite.

We actually begin our MTC training today at 10 o'clock. The first five days are studying the church doctrinal teaching manual called Preach My Gospel. We have already read this for ourselves, but it will be fun to apply it in some real life practice teaching situations this week.

Wednesday is Peter's birthday, and we hope to be able to spend the evening with him, although we will be missing All you can eat ice cream night at the MTC. Not such a big deal for Kathy!

What a pleasure it is to be able to spend this year and a half without distractions of work and home. We love our home and family,  and I miss my patients so much. We miss the casual comforts and pace of retirement at home, and our life now is certainly very structured for us. Nevertheless we feel blessed by the Lord's Spirit to be able to learn and study and become effective tools in his hands. And it is wonderful to be focused on this target yoked with my lovely wife and The Lord.  How much we have enjoyed our time with our family at home this summer. We have been able to spend several days or weeks Individually with each of our children and grandchildren, and it has been wonderful. We treasure these memories and have lots of pictures to prove it.

We are grateful if you have chosen to follow along with us on this blog during our mission journey. Our blog entries will be a bit inconsistent, certainly not every day, but we hope to have one or two blog entries every week. We will try and keep them entertaining and informative, and include lots of pictures! Please feel free to make comments, ask questions, or email us through the linked email accounts. We will try and respond and answer your questions. How fun it would be if you could actually join us on this journey in Indonesia! Maybe you will!

We are excited to actually get to work with the wonderful people of Indonesia. Training is good and we are enjoying this time, but eagerly awaiting our life in Java.

Much love, 
from  Keith and Kathy Williams