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.