10 Years Ago Today - The MTC

July 14, 1999 my family dropped me off at the missionary training center (MTC) in Provo. It was a day I had dreamed about all my life. It seemed like it took forever for the day to arrive, and now that it has come and gone, the same amount of time has flown by.
Saying 'good-bye' to my family at the MTC wasn't as big a deal for me as it is now days because your family could still come see you off at the airport when you actually left on your mission. Since 9-11-2001, airport regulations have made it such that when you say 'good-bye' at the MTC, it is good-bye for 2 years.Pictured is my MTC district with whom I attended all my classes, ate lunch, played volleyball...
Missionaries are assigned to companionships; they must be with their companion at all times. My companion at the MTC was Elder Eric Swensen from Paul, ID. He just finished medical school and currently is doing his residency and is the father of 3 children. We got along great. He grew up working in his dad's grocery store; I grew up milking cows for my dad, so we both knew how to work.Pictured are friends from Utah State: Jesse served in the Phillipines, Chris Larsen served in Argentina, Albert Hummel served in Brazil, I served in Spain, and Danny Waite served in Germany. One of the things I loved about the MTC was being there at the same time as friends I had from all stages of my life and to realize that we were preparing to take the gospel to all different parts of the world. There were friends from junior high in Farmington, friends from high school in Tooele, and friends from Utah State in Logan. One day at lunch I sat down to eat, then realized I was sitting across the table from one of my friends from Tooele High, then I looked a little futher and realized that his companion was my second cousin.My MTC district consisted of Elders Rowley, Thomas, Ipson, Crowshaw, Beaty, Bedingfield, Richards, Bloquiere, Kjerengtroen, Swensen, Aldama, and Hand.
One class stands out the most to me from the MTC, and that is because is was so bad. Our teacher began speculating on what percentage of the population of the earth would actually make it to the Celestial Kingdom (the highest heaven), and speculated that the number was low. What an awful thing to tell missionaries. If that were true, then why in the world would we leave our families for two years and work our tails off trying to find people to help them on their journey to the Celestial Kingdom? That kind of speculation builds neither faith, nor hope, nor charity. The truth is the Celestial Kingdom is open to all of God's children who are willing to enter through excercising faith, repenting, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. That is the message that missionaries proclaim.
The MTC was a great start to the two years of my life devoted to proclaiming the gospel.