CTM Visit

 Today Todd and I were able to travel with the senior missionaries to the CTM (that's the MTC for you Americans, and the "Missionary Training Center" for you non-Mormons!) In our church, when you are 19 years old, you can choose to serve a 2-year mission for our Church. Young men are strongly encouraged, but never forced to go. It's simply AMAZING to be in a building full of young men who have put their lives on hold to serve the Lord. Many of them are Americans, although there are a lot of Brazilian missionaries as well.  Many of them have left families, school, and the comforts of home. Serving a mission is absolutely not an easy choice, and not an easy thing to do sometimes, but these boys are down here willingly, strengthening their testimonies, and learning how to humbly share what they know with others.

 We went to the district's sacrament meeting, and then I went to Relief Society with the ladies, while the guys went to Priesthood meeting. The third hour the districts meet together, and Todd and I ended up in a room with 10 boys about to leave this week for their areas. They bore simple testimonies of the things they knew, and they talked about their transformations in the last 9 weeks at the CTM. They will continue to transform as they head into the field. I was as proud of them as a little mother hen, and I hope their mothers and fathers and siblings are proud of the choices they have made.

We learned lots of fun things about how the CTM works. The Brazilian missionaries only spend 3 weeks there, because they don't have to learn Portuguese. The American missionaries stay for 9 weeks. They spend a large part of the day learning from Preach My Gospel or in language study. I've gotten to know the faces of several of the sister missionaries there as well. There are not as many of them as Elders, and they normally only serve for 18 months, but they get the same training. The CTM is right in the middle of the typical Brazilian neighborhood, and they send them out onto the street to practice talking to people and to use their Portuguese. Many of them attempt to say their prayers in Portuguese (sometimes switching to English when their vocabulary fails them), but they all sing enthusiastically in Portuguese. They have to prepare 4 5-minute talks, because any given Sunday, they may be randomly picked on to get up and talk during Sacrament meeting! Branches are only about 20 missionaries large, and so they have to speak often. There is a lot of changeover in the branches, and missionaries are always coming and going!

We also got to eat in the cafeteria and enjoy the food. The senior missionary couples told us that the American missionaries generally like the food, and work so hard that they don't have time to think it's weird (it's not really that weird, but you can find odd dishes in rural areas!) because they are so hungry (and most of them are boys, c'mon, most boys will eat anything when they are hungry!)

Again, it was such a testimony builder for me to see all these young kids working hard and learning to teach the gospel. I don't think I could ever do it, but it is missionary work that brings good people to know more about Christ. I am so grateful they are willing to do it, and am VERY EXCITED to have a brother preparing to serve...I saw him in every young man I observed at the MTC and I hope he finds his experience as rewarding as these young men and women already are.

What a great way to spend a Sunday!