You Are Not Leaving Your Grandchildren . . .

We are in Provo at the Missionary Training Center.  
Today was check-in and orientation.

What a thrill to have our missionary badges put on us once again!  

Things have changed just a little bit since our last mission.  This time around we are staying on the MTC West Campus (Wyview Complex).  We have a very comfortable and spacious apartment for the next ten days.  All of our training will be in the Stadium Ave. Chapel just north of the main MTC campus.

The counselor in the MTC presidency who conducted our orientation meeting told how he had an experience recently when a new crop of young elders came into the MTC.  He had a vision open in his mind for just a few seconds of mission presidents, hundreds of them, praying for these young elders and sisters and seeking inspiration of where to assign them in the mission and who to make their companions. Then he said that as we were singing the opening hymn (Called to Serve, of course), he had a similar experience for our group - not of hundreds of mission presidents but of hundreds of grandchildren praying for our group of 116!  Something about that brought tears to my eyes.  We were promised again, in powerful language, how our children and grandchildren will be blessed for our service.

We were told, "You are not leaving your grandchildren; you are leading them."