Week 1--June 27-July 4, 2015

Tom and Garnalee Harrington with Karen and Paul Sullivan

Keith Barnes arrived at our home on June 27, Saturday, to take us to Ridleys to catch the shuttle to Salt Lake City. Jennifer and Cody were there to see us off. They blew bubbles at us as we got onto the bus. Chad meet us at the Salt Lake City airport to transport us at the MTC. After check-in we went to building 1M in hopes of running into the Sullivans who will preside over the Ukraine mission.

Tom and Garnalee pointing to Quezon City, Philippines, where they serve for the next 18 months.

 Tom was called to be the District leader of our little district. We are shown with Elder Boyd and Sister Diane Hamilton and Elder Kent and Sister Gayle Brown. The Hamiltons are going to serve in the Micronesia-Guam Mission, and the Browns will serve in the Central Eur-Asia Mission (they will be in Turkey).





While at the MTC we meet the Grays who will be serving in Cebu, Philippines, as Family History missionaries. We may see them if they travel to Manila for training.

Tom and Garnalee are the second couple from the left.

 The 71 senior missionaries who all entered the MTC with us.

Elder and Sister Brown are the fourth from the left and Elder and Sister Hamilton are fourth from the right.






On Sunday, June 28, we went to church in Chad's ward. We then spent the afternoon and evening with Chad, Jennifer, Emma, Grace, and Jennifer's family. We played Catch Phrase and had a wonderful dinner.

Monday, June 29, was our first official day as a missionary. We were oriented to the various areas of the MTC and the schedule we would have for the remainder of the week. We were warmly welcomed by the Presidency of the MTC (Elder and Sister Burgess, Elder and Sister Bertasso ,Elder and Sister Trost). We learned there are 1600 junior missionaries and 71 senior missionaries here this week. Sister Trost shared a personal story about how the prayers on behalf of her granddaughter were answered. We were encouraged to record in our journals daily the tender mercies from the Lord so they can be shared with our descendants. We were also encouraged to hold hands as we walk around the campus so we can be a good example to the young missionaries of how a married couple should be behave. The world seems to have lost its way of how a functional family operates.

At the MTC we spend the days learning to use Preach My Gospel, to be effective missionaries,  and to be prepared to share the message of the restoration with others.

Tuesday evening we had the opportunity to be instructed by Elder Joseph W. Sitati of the Seventy and his wife, Gladys. They are from Kenya.

The food here is very good and very plentiful. We are finding that we eating TOO much!

We practice sharing the gospel in the Teaching Resource Center (TRC) or lovingly referred to as "Torturing Senior Couples".

A good question we have learned to ask is, "What is most important to you?" It opens many doors.

Saturday is our P-Day. We did our laundry and then walked around the perimeter of the campus. There aren't many senior couples left here. Most have left for their missions. We played Five Crowns with the Ellsworths who are going to Samoa.

We had a Patriotic Devotional Saturday evening. It was very emotional to see the March of the Flags as the young missionaries marched in with the flags of all the countries where the gospel is taught throughout the world. Daniel K. Judd, a teacher a BYU, spoke on the independence of America and the restoration of the gospel here in America that was then taken to all the world. There was a fireworks display after the devotional.