Central Eurasian Mission-Week 2- March 27-April 2, 2017

I realized that in last week's post I made a mistake when I misquoted the Purpose statement.  I left out a significant sentence- my bad.  I'm surprised that some of you good church members missed it.  Here is is again:

Invite others to come unto Christ

by

helping them receive the restored gospel

through

Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement,

Repentance, 

Baptism,

Receiving the gift of the Hold Ghost,

and enduring to the end.

There, I feel better.  

This, the second week of the MTC experience was when we received specific humanitarian training.  

On Monday we were scheduled to go to SLC on the Front Runner.  I thought, "a Toyota SUV?"  Silly me, that is the name of the commuter train running from Provo to Ogden.  In the morning at '0 dark thirty we met at the MTC Travel Center, took a bus shuttle to the train station, and headed north.

First we went to Welfare Square and were given a tour, that, I don't think, was much different from the one you can get as a regular tourist who takes a Welfare Square Tour.  We were there before open hours so there wasn't much action anywhere.  Here is the Bishop's Storehouse

And the warehouse where a year's supply of everything is stored.  Even the freight/trucking department has a year's supply of tires, parts, etc.

The bakery which daily makes the bread for the Bishop's Storehouses in the area.

This is the place where food storage items are warehoused.  I was surprised to learn that all of  this is available by mail (postage free) by going on line to  Store.LDS.org  Then select Home and Family    Then select Self Reliance    then you'll see at all the products available.  We were told that the powdered milk has been exponentially improved so that, in side by side tests with real milk, you can't tell the difference.  Hmmmm - I'll have to try the food storage milk when we return.

We also went to Deseret Industries.  No photos because it is just like the DI in Happy Valley.

Then we went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for a luncheon and more training.  This building used to be the Hotel Utah.  It was built from 1909-1911 by the church and other stockholders who wanted a first class hotel in SLC so they could impress their own stockholders.  It functioned as a hotel for 75 years. At that time the church decided to repurpose the use of the building.  Now the lobby and the 10th floor are very ornate - the other floors are just offices.



Yeah - pretty fancy,  For sure we couldn't have afforded to spend the night here when it was a hotel.

We went to a room on the tenth floor for a luncheon and more training.  We were served the best broiled broccoli ever and a chicken thing - maybe chicken cordon bleu.  Our MTC friends who will be serving on the Mormon Trail in Wyoming went to SLC too, but they had to drive themselves and even had to buy their own lunch.  They were a bit taken aback when they realized we had received a somewhat VIP treatment.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday was all training in classrooms.  It's kind of a blur, and I can't remember specifics without looking at my notes.  Oh - okay, I'll check my notes.

If there is an emergency/disaster event, the Five Step Priority Assessment is:
1 How are the missionaries
2. How are the local members
3. How is member housing
4. How are church facilities and properties
5. How is the community.

The purpose of International Aid and Development is to relieve suffering and care for the poor and deedy of all nationalities and religions.
Are the poor always needy - probably.
Are the needy always poor -not necessarily.

Area Initiatives are for the local community
1 They meet local needs
2. We use local partners
3. We use local resources
4. We help local solutions become successful
5. Service Volunteers (like us) help design and manage these projects.

Principles of a good area initiative
1.They promote self-reliance
2. Those who receive the service are expected to participate in the project
3. Sustainability - the work goes on after the project is complete, and we have returned home.

Process of a Project
1. Counsel together
2. Use all resources
3. Seek inspiration of the Holy  Ghost
4. Ask Heavenly Father for confirmation
5. Go to work

A mental health expert came and spoke to us for two hours.  I was skeptical at first, but his presentation was very revealing and useful.  In all Areas of the church  there is a Mental Health Expert available to all missionaries to help them with problems that they may have.  He said that many senior missionaries have a problem being with their spouses 24/7 and he gave us counsel on how to cooperate with those we love.  He gave us an "emotional health" exercise to us to try.  You married couples should try it too.

Do this for ten minutes every day (preferable in the evening).  For the first five minutes one shares what your emotional experiences were for the last 24 hours.  For the second five minutes the other shares his/her experiences.  Alternate days: wife goes on even days and husband goes on odd days.

 Here are two You Tube videos that we watched.  Find them and watch - you'll like them both.
Search for "Empathy" and choose the one with a cartoon bear and fox
Search for "It's not about the nail"

There were seven Humanitarian missionaries receiving training at the MTC: Cape Verde, Romania, Mexico City, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moscow.  Here  is a photo of the three who will be going to the Europe East Area;



On Thursday about noon, after receiving all this good training and being pumped up and ready to head out into the field, we received an unsettling email from the Travel Office in SLC.  In summary it said that our Kaz  visa still was not available.  In fact, the paperwork needed to apply for the Kaz visa had just arrived.  This paperwork would be filled out and sent to NYC right away.  It would probably/likely/maybe show up next week.  So we are in a holding pattern at Ivan and Renee's waiting for an email telling us how meet up with whomever will deliver our passports and visas to us.

It was bittersweet to leave the MTC. We learned a lot, met many wonderful people, but, yeah, it was time to go.






We're at Ivan's now waiting to  hear when we will be able to depart for Kaz.  I've gone on long walks each morning, we've watched Conference, went to the Temple, and Renee and I saw Beauty and the Beast.







"Blessed are the flexible for they will not be bent out of shape.