Senior Missionary Training Center (SMTC)   Our room at the SMTC   Early Wednesday we loaded everything into Terri’s van once again and left for the SMTC. I was lounging in the back with the bags. At the first stop sign I thought my life was over as the bags lurched forward against the driver’s seat and, on the other side, against me and the passenger’s seat. Fortunately, they stopped before they overwhelmed me and we continued on our way.  (page 20)     Ours is a large contingent because there is a group of 26 senior missionaries (11 couples and four single sisters) being prepared to go to Thailand. The Bangkok mayor is a non-member graduate of Brigham Young University and he has undertaken, through BYU, to have this group teach the elementary school teachers of Bangkok how to teach English to their pupils. Two others are going to Hong Kong, six to Vietnam, and we are going to Mongolia. The senior missionaries are wonderful people.  One of them is 85 and  leaving on his fourth mission (he left on his first mission the year before we were born). The instructors are excellent, the Spirit is very strong, and even the food is good. We feel we are well launched on our great adventure, exhausted though we may be. (page 20, 21)   We had an interesting personal experience today. We learned that we will have to move to various locations in and around the campus each day for the next four weeks. We also learned that the BYU shuttle system that is supposed to transport us to these various locations is an unreliable beast. So, we arranged to have Terri transport one of Kim’s cars to our meeting place so we can use it while at BYU. We were to meet Terri in the lobby of the Joseph Smith Building at 4:00. At 3:50, we entered the lobby and Nancy instantly recognized that the lady standing in the far kitty-corner was a dear friend from Bloomington (Indiana) whom we hadn’t seen for 20 or more years. After a few moments of joyous reunion, on impulse I placed my head close to hers and told her what an important influence she had been on us during one of the best periods of our Church lives. Both of us cried, of course, but I could see that she appreciated my words. We parted soon after.   On the way back to Provo, I thought about the “coincidence” of our meeting. Our friend still lives in Bloomington, so it wasn’t that she often stands in that lobby. She’d only dropped by to take care of a couple of matters pertaining to her daughter’s wedding. And we, of course, hadn’t known she was going to be there when we arranged to meet Terri in the lobby. During our evening meeting, it struck me that the Lord had likely arranged the whole thing so I could be the means through which He could answer one of her prayers. (She is so close to Him that I know He would move Heaven and Earth to respond to one of her prayers!) So I think He surveyed the Salt Lake Valley, identified someone whose presence would be meaningful to her, and then set into motion the conditions and circumstances that led to my making the meeting appointment, to her being in the lobby to take care of a few things, and to Nancy’s instant recognition of her across 20-plus years and a large hotel lobby. (page 24, 25)     Then the video showed the laundry device. It is a metal rectangle about the size of two clothes hampers, side by side. One lifts the device into the tub and then fills one side with water from the shower hose. Roughly five shirts are placed into the water and washed. From there, they are moved to the other side where they are spun vigorously. While that is happening, the first side is emptied of soapy water, refilled with clean water, and the spun clothing is placed back in the first side to be rinsed in the clean water. The rinsed clothing is then either put back into the spin side or immediately hung to dry on hangers throughout the apartment—dangling from doorways, from light fixtures, wherever. The arms of every chair we saw were draped with socks that were drying. After washing has been completed and the washer has had time to drain, it is lifted out of the tub and placed in the hallway until the next wash day.  (page 27)     Most of the people with whom we’ve been receiving EIL (English as an International Language) instruction are leaving Monday for Thailand. A large contingent is headed to Bangkok to teach the elementary school teachers there how better to teach English. Four couples remain, with two heading to Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, and us heading to Mongolia. We have been touched, and moved, and impressed, and inspired by our compatriots. They are such good people and their quiet examples of courage, dedication, commitment, and caring have been a constant inspiration to us. It has been a constant pleasure to be in their company and we will miss them. Oh yes, they are very quick-witted, too.  (page 29) It’s ten days before we leave for Mongolia and time is really speeding up. We completed our EIL classes and conducted our final evening class. We had been told that we would get quite close to the students we taught in the evening classes and that proved to be true. It was a sad parting on both sides as we said goodbye and they wished us well on our missions. Some of our students were members of the Church and some not, but they all wished us well in our endeavor. The sad part is we’ll not see them again as they are in most cases returning to their own countries or our paths simply won’t cross again.  (page 30)   <<< back   next >>>