Missionary Training Center

Our family feels a special connection with the Provo Missionary Training Center because George's Dad and Mom's house is directly behind the facility.  You literally walk down the driveway, across the street and there is the back gate of the MTC.  My kids remember talking to the missionaries over the fence, watching pizza delivery through that back gate, passing out cookies, and one memorable day when a group of elders snuck little Johnny into the building just to look around. On the 4th of July the missionaries hung over the fence to watch our fireworks.  Of course Johnny spent a month there being trained before his mission to Argentina.  

Mary and I were excited to go and visit the beautiful new 6 story addition to the MTC Campus.

The whole building is filled with sunlight and has uplifting art on the walls. c

With the additional building, 3700 missionaries can be there at one time  If a young man or woman is going to be sharing the gospel in their native language they spend about 3 weeks living and studying in this facility.  If they are learning a language they stay longer - up to 9 weeks for the more difficult languages.  That is quite the miracle - imagine learning Mandarin or Vietnamese in 9 weeks!  I lived in Spain for 5 years and never became totally fluent!  In all 55 languages are taught in this MTC.  It is the 2nd largest language training facility in the world, 2nd only to the Department of Defense's Language Training Institute in Monterey, California.   The young sisters and elders who greeted us were on their way to Hong Kong or Taiwan.  

Not only do they learn a language here.  It is also a place to bolster the faith they will need to rely on to sustain the rigors of missionary life - from 6:30 a.m. wake-up calls to 10:30 p.m. lights out. No dating!  No movies!  Very limited, controlled access to social media and that is only in certain missions.   The expectation is that they will work hard all day, everyday for the duration of their mission.   And the great majority of them do.  The Huffington Post has referred to the MTC as an Elite Boot Camp!

Young men can serve missions when they are 18 years old.  They serve for 2 years and during that time the only contact they have with their families is through weekly emails and twice yearly phone calls - at Christmas and Mother's Day.  

The young men hold the office of an Elder in the priesthood which explains their names during their missions.  On his mission our Johnny was "Elder Lewis" just like his father and grandfather before him.  Young women can serve when they are 19 and serve for 18 months.  They are simply called, "Sister + their last name" and have the same restrictions as the Elders concerning family contact. We truly believe that they are 'called to serve God' and their fellow man. 

When a missionary arrives they are assigned a same sex 'companion' who is with them 24/7....and they will have such a companion for their entire 2 years.  The companions change but they always have one.  These two were cheerfully studying and also greeting the guests. 

Studying is the order of the day.  In fact they are in class 9 hours each day.  With the new buildings there are now 200 additional classrooms.  Each 'district' or group of missionaries live, eat, exercise, learn and study together.  There is a gym and time allotted in their schedules for exercise.

With that many 18 and 19 year old young men, the cafeteria is busy and popular place.  It seats 700 missionaries at a time and serves a whooping 1.6 million meals a year, plus snacks.  Especially popular are cereal and chocolate milk!  You may notice that not everyone is a 'young missionary'.  Senior couples also spend time here before serving their missions as a couple.  I have friends who just returned from missions in Las Vegas and in Italy.  My cousin Scott and his wife are currently serving for a year in Madagascar!

The rooms for the young missionaries are 'dorm like' and quite nice. 

These sweet sister missionaries were studying outside on a beautiful Provo summer day. 

Here a whole district prepares for their afternoon teaching experiences.  One young man I talked to said that he was teaching an investigator in Chinese on his 3rd day at the MTC!  Wow...just wow! 

After taking the tour, I am sure these words are true....the MTC is holy ground.