Our week in the MTC, and quick trip to Toronto

 20 July 2025

When last you heard from us here, we had just finished our first day at the MTC. The rest of the week was very full, and very fulfilling. Each day we had instruction from our wonderful instructors from  the “Preach My Gospel” manual. We had role-plays with teaching, asking question to understand, inviting to make commitments, and following up with those commitments.

Us with Elder Gee and Sister Monson

Elder Lee

As part of this, we were paired up with Elder and Sister Gerke. They are going to serve as Church Headquarters missionaries in Salt Lake, reviewing missionary applications for mental health issues. We developed a wonderful friendship with them as we used the information we had been taught to have a real-life experience in getting to know them, planning a teaching session, inviting them to make a commitment, and following up on that commitment over the next days while we were there. It was a real growing experience to do that, and we loved doing it with them.

Elder and Sister Gerke with us

On Tuesday, we had an MTC-wide devotional with Elder William Jackson from the Seventy. He was very engaging, and shared lots of good ideas. Our opening Hymn was Called to Serve. The auditorium was completely full. He told us that on his cue we were all supposed to punch our fist in the air and yell “Go”. It was so fun and full of the Spirit. He got very excited as he wound up to the fist punch with fingers 3-2-1.  In his introduction, we learned that he had served in the Bolivia La Paz mission while Charlie was there in 1975 – he never crossed paths with him, but his name was a bit familiar.

On Wednesday, we shared another devotional with all the senior missionaries, and the incoming junior missionaries. It had video segments from a devotional by Elder Bednar about the Character of Christ, and the conversion stories of two brothers who had been “rescued’ by missionaries.

Thursday, we continued our studies and got done about 4:30 so we met Stacy and Eric for dinner and a fun visit with them at PF Changs.

Our last day at the MTC was wonderful (as they all have been). It was such a testimony to us of our readiness and our unity as missionary companions and that our testimonies have been strengthened. We really grew to love our teachers and their dedication. They did such a good job of bringing the spirit into all their teaching and encouraging. This week alone was worth a whole mission of experiences!

Another couple that we met there were Elder and Sister Richardson. They are headed to Liberia, and will be out in the jungle, two hours from Monrovia, the capitol of the country, where they only get to go twice a month to get supplies. Theirs will be a distinctly different kind of mission than ours, though still supporting the members and leaders there, and we look forward to hearing from them.

Phew – and we’ve just started. Our assignment, as we’ve indicated previously, will be working with new members, teaching the new member lessons from Preach My Gospel, and working to fellowship them fully into the ward. It’s the kind of mission Molly has always wanted to serve, and much more like the one I served as a young missionary – more teaching, working with the young missionaries, and seeing new members grow in their testimonies of the Savior.

On Saturday (the 19^th), our son Seth picked us up at 8:00 am to deliver us to the airport. We flew to Toronto to get our Visitor Permits. Apparently, this process is only available at the airport, not at the border crossings. So, a long flight, an interview with a border security officer, delivering a letter provided by the church asking for the Visitor Permit, and a one-night stay in Toronto – our first! We had dinner at a fun little restaurant, Zets, that had great food and tons of people – very popular.

On Sunday, we attended the Weston Ward. They meet in the same building as the Spanish Ward that we think we are going to be assigned to but met early enough that we could still catch our flight out. We met Elder Anderson – it appears that he and his wife have the same assignment in that ward that we will have in ours. It was an English-speaking ward but had so many different nationalities and cultures represented. It was fun. After Sacrament Meeting, we took a quick drive to see the Temple (about 20 minutes away), and the Stake Center where the mission offices are. We then beat it back to the airport to make another long flight home, arriving at about 8:00 pm. We were so grateful that Seth was there to pick us up.

A tender story that happened just before we left on Saturday. Part of our instructions about safety at the MTC were related to having small, less-conspicuous purses for the sisters. On Friday evening, after we got home, Molly remembered that she had seen a small purse that she had received in Bolivia up in the grandkids playroom (for those who don’t know, we live in the basement of our daughter’s home – she and her husband and four kids live upstairs, and mom and the grandkids come down to visit us every day.) She had given the purse to Emily.

Molly asked Emily if it would be OK if she could take that purse on her mission. Emily had given it to Danny, her four-year-old, and needed to ask him first. Later that night, Emily came down with Danny, and Danny handed Molly the purse and gave her a big hug and had put a note in it for her. When Molly asked Emily what Danny had said when she had asked him about the purse, he thought really hard about it and said he would do it, but he was hoping to take it on his mission someday. Molly will return it to him when we finish our mission so he can have it as a real treasure. The note he put in the purse had his signature on it in big, bold letters. Molly really appreciated his sacrifice.

We started our mission!

Sunday, we spoke in our Sacrament Meeting about the Book of Mormon. Afterwards, we were able to visit with friends and family.

We were set apart last night by our sweet Stake President, President Hansen. Here's a picture of us with him in the High Council Room of our Stake:

Today, we started our week at the MTC. It was great.

We were instructed to arrive at 10:06 am. Seemed quite precise, but it was clear when we got there, how organized they were. There was one car at the curb when we pulled up in front of the administration building at the MTC, and it left just a minute later. When we pulled forward, the volunteer said, "You must be Brother and Sister Lyon." He had one packet in hand - ours, he welcomed us, gave us the packet and instructed us on where to park.

As soon as we parked, a young missionary was right there, called us by name, and walked us into the building. They had a number of stations with information to give us - name badges, ministering certificates, key cards to open doors, pages of instructions and maps, etc. Very, very well-organized.

We then went over to the MTC bookstore and picked up some lanyards for the key cards, a side-by-side English/Spanish Book of Mormon, a Canada Toronto Mission necklace for Sister Lyon, and gave them our ministering certificates to get laminated.

We went back over to the cafeteria for lunch - so fun to see all the young missionaries - and then went to a meeting to meet the MTC Mission Presidency. They told us about their families and service as mission leaders in various places, told us how they couldn't wait to be in our seats, and provided more information for us about what we would be doing for the rest of the week.

Then we were introduced to our instructors and separated into Districts. Interestingly enough, our District is just Sister Lyon and I! We even get to be our own District Leaders! 

Our instructors are Sister Monson (recently married - her name tag hadn't been changed from her maiden name of Cook), and Brother Gee. She served in the Dominican Republic, and has been home nearly two years, he served in France and has been home a bit more than a year. They were so energetic and excited to help us learn. They gave an overview of the Preach My Gospel manual and approach. Both of them had been out in the mission field when the new edition of PMG was released, so they had seen changes first-hand. They both indicated that the new version was oriented even more towards inviting people to come unto Christ and said that they were markedly more successful in their teaching with the new version.

We finished the day with a meeting with the Senior Missionary Branch Presidency and their wives. Sister Lyon and I got to help with the music for the meeting, which was nice. The brothers and their wives gave us some more information about what we would be doing for the rest of the week, including a devotional with a General Authority Tuesday evening, and a "Character of Christ Experience" Wednesday evening with all the young missionaries arriving Wednesday and the senior missionaries.

President Roden, the Branch President shared one scripture, assuring us that our families would be watched over, promising the same blessings promised to Thomas B. Marsh in D&C 31: 1-2.

All in all, it was a good day, especially to be there with my companion - Sister Lyon! We met some people that we knew - Pam (Sister) Botcher and her husband from American Fork (going to Lima Peru), an ordinance worker and her husband from the Saratoga Springs Temple and a sister we worked with at the Jordan River Temple.

We'll try to post an update about weekly, but we'll see how that goes. Thanks for being a part of our mission with us.