Mission Training Center (MTC), Provo, Utah November 28 - December 18, 2018

The first few experiences started with a bad. I forgot the papers of the family tree, immunization, etc. The Elder that helped me was great. He was trying his best to calm my nerves after the forgotten papers. I went into a series of tables to get signed in checked in, get my name tags, and a few papers. The Elder also introduced what receiving info was going to be like. "In T2, T3, T1, and S1 are where you go for class, S1 is also for food, each building with an R is a residency....." I got so much info in about 5 minute and only retained 2 minutes of it. I was the first in my room, So I dropped of all of my stuff of and took off to go straight to class.

I was one of the first Elders to class so I got to know Bro Dewey (my afternoon teacher). Hes pretty cool. He served a mission in North Carolina, and just got married 4 months ago. After most of my district arrived we went into a computer lab to answer a questionnaire and email home....I emailed dad (I think). We started with introductions (definitely not the first) we didn't do too much after that, just talked to us about what we would be going over and any questions we had about the MTC.

I then went into a devotional which mainly discussed what the overall schedule would be like that then lead I to how to use the missionary handbook and how the rules give us freedom rather than restriction. Following that I went to dinner. The food was decent. 

The next activity we did was not quite what I expected. We were to go into a classroom with our companion (I will talk about him a little later) a long with about 30 other companions. Started off the class with another get to know you , we then had a basic discussion on how we want to get to know the people we are teaching. We are to no longer call those that missionaries are teaching " investigators" but for the sake of letting you guys understand I will. 

We had three investigator or a member acting as a investigators that we got a very quick background of who they were and why the are in Provo.We were then to get to know them as a person then to try to figure how how he heard about the gospel, what his beliefs are, and tried to lead our questions towards what we believed he would need to hear in order to find out how we could help them find what the desired. The first was Kyle. I believed at the end of his session he need to gain faith and a testimony of Jesus Christ, that God has a plan for him, and to know that God does love him even if he hasn't "done anything to deserve his love". The next one was Jocelyn. At then end of hers I felt that she need to understand why the BOM is so important in our religion. The last one was Joe, I felt he needed to know that he has the opportunity to see his grandfather again and that we have a purpose in life.

We then went and meet our zone leaders and STLs. That concluded my classroom day. Now time for companion and roommates.

Elder Merrell (Marl) is my companion. He is from Springville, Utah. His main claim to fame is at one point being ranked #14 in the world in COD Modern Warfare. He is a great guy to talk to and I can have good conversations and out almost anything. He worked at a movie theater and has seen almost every movie since 2016.

Black/White tie Elder Merrell

Flower tie Elder Theodor

Green tie Elder Schreiter

Thursday, we started by having a companion study. We were assigned to read chapter 9 of PMG. Elder Merrell and I started but Elder Theodor and Elder Scheriter joined in. Our study went on for about 2 hours and we mainly discussed how we can teach and get to know those we teach and how we can use members and referrals.

We went to class and discussed the missionary purpose. "Invite others to come into by helping them receive the restored through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."

We then went to another class where we learned how to introduce ourselves, get to know them similar to what we did day one with Kyle, Jocelyn, and Joe. Only this time we had to teach someone in the halls. 

Elder Merrell and found a set of sisters. It started out kind of rocky but once we got rolling it it went very well. As we were getting to know them Elder Merrell asked if one of the sisters had ever heard of Jesus Christ and thankfully she played along with it and we had a fairly good discussion on how see could gain faith in Christ.

Following that we had dinner and personal study were I just studied 176-177 of PMG.

 We then went to our first branch meeting. We did another get to know you for the Branch Presidency to get to know us. Once they did that we divided into 2 districts. Our district went into a room with the branch president's wife and she taught us to fully convert ourselves to the work and how we can better improve ourselves to follow the missionary purpose. At the same time the presidency took each Elder one by one and did interviews with each of them asking use what some of our questions and concerns we had about serving a mission. An hour later we went into another room to meet with the first and second councilors wives and they discussed the "Adjusting to Missionary Life" booklet. An hour later we went to the room we first gathered into the room we started in while the presidency decided who would be the district leaders. We ended up staying late almost an hour late as they made their decision. When the Presidency came back in the President was just about to call the district leader and he stopped and realized that he had forgotten to extend the calls. He opened his book and began asking Elders to come out to the hall the first thing he said was " Elder Hoffman will you please accompany me out in the hall with me..." he then explains to me that the call came from God and that I will have some important responsibilities to help guide your district in the right direction.

To be completely honest this is the first calling that I didn't really feel adequate for the call. I still don't really know what I am supposed to be doing. I have had my nerves eased by some of the other districts presidents not knowing what we are doing.

Most of Friday was discussing how to better plan our days and a little on how to plan lessons. 

The big part of the day was when we met our TRC which are people that are either real "investigators" or actors. We got Rodrigo. He is from Chile. He travels to the US (mainly California) because he is running a dress clothes business that his grandfather started years ago. He also just recently started an environmental "company" that is meant to protect oceans. His daughter graduated from BYU Hawaii. He has a friend that is a convert after she married a member. He has been around when they do scripture study and has done a little of his own, he has also been involved in prayer. The main reason he is looking into the gospel is because he and his wife had a miscarriage and she is Catholic, so she believes that that child is going to hell. But he doesn't feel comfortable with that. After that we didn't get to talk to him because we had to go. I was kind of overwhelmed with his questions and didn't really know how to answer that question. 

Saturday we started the day by going to the temple. I did 3 initiatory names. I really enjoyed it.

Sunday started with Branch Council. That was enlightening to see what I am responsible for, what we are responsible for in our district and district meeting. The only involvement we had was to report on how our district are doing and who we might be concerned about. We also gave input on which companionship we think would be best as Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders.

We then went into priesthood meeting. Our current zone leaders had the lesson on the apostasy. Elder Chestnut (Second councilor in the Branch Presidency) was also there and expounded on the topic.

We went into district meeting where Elder Chestnut also attended and helped explain how they work and what they are meant to be for.

Went into sacrament meeting. There were a lot of testimonies shared. President........ asked that us District Leaders would share our testimonies. There was a very good spirit there. A lot of them were on the Christmas season.

Following sacrament I went into a District Leader training. Elder Chestnut once again was in there. He talked about how we should use district meetings to get to know them district members. He also discussed the responsibilities we have in calling people for lessons, also how we are to be examples of what kind of missionaries and disciples of Christ.

Our meeting went a little late so we missed some of our "Missionary dress and grooming" devotional where they just talked about the foes and dents of missionary dress and groom.

We had a lot of breaktime after that we had to reflect on the the things we learned that day.

We went to the Christmas devotional. It was awesome. President Nelson's message was great.

We then had a "movie". I was a recorded talk that David A. Bednar gave about 5 years ago. His message was that if we want to be successful missionaries we need to be converted in Christ, and we need to think more about those we served needs rather than ourselves.

My time so far has been great. I am a little worried about what I'm going to teach Rodrigo tomorrow, but I'm sure it will be fine.

It has snowed about three inches.

Monday we started with cleaning one of the buildings. We went to class and discussed how we can better plan our lessons so that we have a more definitive purpose for the "investigator" to understand.

We then went to a class about how to use our tech to further work more effectively. We got taught by a guy from Britain (with a great American accent) and I learned to do a lot of things i didn't know you could do.

That was then followed by our lesson with Rodrigo. We had originally been on the Atonement but Elder Merrill started talking about the Kingdoms of Glory and continued and we never got back on track.  I was able to bear testimony of how we can use the atonement and repentance to get into the Celestial Kingdom. Rodrigo for almost the first time in the lesson sat back in his chair and said that is something to think about and told us how he thought it was awesome the we have the opportunity to live with Heavenly Father again.

The rest of the day was meant for us to reflect on the lesson and the things we learned in class that day. We then got a "TRC referral". Is a guy from Arkansas and he is a Baptist but be hasn't been to church I about 6 years and is wanting to draw closer to God by reading the Bible.

Tuesday, started the day with a quick planning period and reviewing our lessons for a referral that we got. We go to the referral and peek in the room and don’t see anyone, knock on the door, no answer, go to the front desk, "Our TRC Dallon isn’t in his room, do you know where he is, did he get moved to another room?" Guy at the desk, "Dallon you said...ya he isn't going to be here, he’s sick."

We then went into a class to talk about how we can properly call people unto repentance, help people keep commitments, and how to invite people to be baptized. The guy teaching it was try a little to hard to sound spiritual and made it hard at points to make it fun, but I learned a lot.

The rest of the day was a personal study/companion study/reflection time with a little bit of gym time in there.

Wednesday, started the day with class. The same thing we do each morning class but this time we spent some time practicing lessons with our and other companions. That went pretty well. That was more to prepare for the TRC we would be teaching (Rodrigo).

We then went to teach Rodrigo. Elder Merril and I were a little worried about this lesson because of the last one. When we started we asked him like we did last time to

start the lesson with a prayer. This time he said he would say it. I was kind of caught off guard by that. He said that and he said he had a question about Alma 34:16, and what it meant.  He was really engaged in the lesson and there was a much better spirit than last lesson.

We finished day with discussing the lessons and then went over how implement Christ in all of our lessons.

Thursday, started with quick planning and how we can develop meaningful questions.

We then went into our TRC and the same story...he was sick so that was a waste of time and resources except the fact that we got to prepare a lesson.

The rest of the day was for scripture study.

Had class at the end of the day and we did role plays for lessons on inviting people to pray, read the BOM, and commit to being baptized.

Friday, started by doing our planning. Then we prepared short 2-3 sentence description of Adam and Eve. 

We then used it to teach repentance. Adam and Eve transgressed against God and he left them because they were unclean. Adam then humbled himself and then repented so he could communicate with God again.

We met with another TRC, Natalie. From Littleton, Colorado, is now in her 2nd year at BYU, studying Recreational Therapy (therapy with hiking, biking, rock climbing, etc.) She has read the entire Bible, hasn't read BOM at all, hasn't prayed herself but has been there for roommate prayers. She wants to know if God has a plan for us/ do we have a purpose. This time we got an actor so we’ll see if that makes a difference.

Went to class and answered some questions from the TRC activity. Then we did real lessons on applying Christ into the plan of salvation with 3-4 people in the halls.

Didn't eat any dinner because I was having really bad heartburn from lunch so I used some of the money that we have on our MTC key cards to get some Tums with literally 1 minute till the store closed and boy was that a life saver.

Sunday, today had a theme that was in almost every class, workshop, devotional, and a talk. It was that we need to be fully invested in serving the lord and that we are constant examples of Jesus Christ. There we many examples but I will share the biggest.

In a workshop they shared a video on Elder Bednars experience with elders and giving them a referral. He shared a story about a companionship who came into his home. They stayed about 2 hour and had breakfast with him. After breakfast they asked if they could share a lesson. They shared a 3 minute spiritual thought and as they we leaving they asked," Elder and Sister Bednar do you anyone who we could teach." Elder Bednar responded by saying," though we love you dearly we don’t have anyone for you two elders to teach, you are not invested in the work..." 

He then went on to talk about a different set of Elders. This time these two Elders came to Elder Bednar's home and asked if they could share a 20-30 minute lesson. They shared the lesson and at the end of the lesson they asked if Elder and Sister Bednar had any referrals. This time Elder Bednar said he was happy to. 

At the end of our day we had a devotional with Sister Craven (second councilor in the YW general presidency). In her talk I spoke of an experience she had on a plane. As she was getting on a plane there was a lot of congestion getting to her seat. As she was waiting she overheard a lady on the phone,"...I'm so worried...I don’t know if I'm going be safe on this flight...how do I know I will be able to make it there safely.. " as  she was listening to the phone call Sister Craven noticed the worries in her voice and in her face disappeared. Then the lady said,"...Oh, never mind Jesus is on the plain I will be safe..." Sister Craven stated how she started looking around for some guy with long hair and a beard, but her attention was drawn to her name tag. She then realized the lady wasn't talking about some guy but her. She then went on to explain that we may forget that we are representing Jesus Christ that people don’t and we need to always act and teach a Jesus would.

The last and best was a talk given by Elder Holland that he gave about 12 years ago at the MTC. He discussed how we as missionaries need to take this seriously. We need to recognize that we may not ever have this opportunity again. If the mission doesn't change you it was a failure. He used Moses 1:39 "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." We need to serve a mission and be able to say this is MY work and MY glory... it is on of the most important talks a new missionary can hear.

Monday, we had to clean another residence and Elder Merrill and two other missionaries were put on trash duty. When we went to take all the trash to the dumpsters we found out that that was the most trash that guy had seen since he started working at the MTC a year ago.

Class started as usual. We planned our day, mainly on what we we would be teaching Natalie. It was then followed up by reading and studying scriptures from the BOM and explaining complex words and the principals they taught.

Later after lunch we had our lesson with Natalie. When we started the lesson we we discussing what he idea of prayer was. She didn't really have a strong opinion on what it is. We taught her that prayer is a two way communication between us and God. We then started to move into how we can acquire faith in God and Jesus Christ. We shared Alma 32:21,27. We went into what faith us and how to gain it. In 27 we emphasized that faith starts with a belief and turns to faith by work, pondering, and prayer.