Someone "BIG" Spoke Tonight

We never know who is going to be speaking at the MTC each Tuesday, but tonight it was even more of a mystery. When Steven and I went to the cafeteria for dinner, we saw Pres. and Sis. Boone leaving the cafeteria. Usually, they and other members of the MTC presidency have dinner with the evening's speaker in the VIP dining room. Because we saw them in the cafeteria, my first thought was that we wouldn't be having a general authority speaker tonight. We were eating with Bro. Rampton, who said he had passed the VIP dining room on his way in and it was empty. When I said I didn't think a general authority would be speaking, Steven said, "That might be, or else the general authority who's speaking chose not to have dinner beforehand." My feeling was that the speaker wouldn't be a general authority; maybe members of the district presidencies would be the speakers, which was the case at one of the devotionals about a year ago.

When we went in to the auditorium, Steven and I found our places way up on the back row. That's where we were assigned to sit since Steven and some of the elders from the branch would be helping with the ushering. He went off to usher and I stayed in my seat. Two sisters from our branch came by and were happy to see me. We greeted each other, then they asked, "Do you know who's speaking tonight?" I said, "No. But I'm thinking it might not be a general authority." They said, "Oh, we were thinking that it's going to be someone 'big' because we've seen Security checking under the seats, and we've never seen them do that before. We're really hoping to hear someone 'big' speak before we leave." Then they went off to find their places. It seemed to be taking longer than usual for the picture of the speaker to come up on the big screen. When it finally did, it showed Elder Holland as the speaker. You could hear all the missionaries start chattering with anticipation. The sisters passed by again a few minutes later and Sis. Crabbe gave me a big smile and a "thumb's up," so I guess that meant they were excited to hear from someone "big."

Elder Holland came without Sis. Holland, who was taking care of some grandmother duties. So we just got to hear from Elder Holland. He gave a great talk, as usual. The last couple of times we've heard from him he's been very animated. He can be funny one minute, and then serious the next. He spent quite a bit of time on his introduction, telling the missionaries, "I love you, I honor you, I envy you, I'm proud of you, I admire you." Then he talked about his own mission saying, "No young man was ever more affected by a mission than I was...My mission meant everything to me...Every significant thing that has happened to me in my life has happened because of my mission...That's why I love you, because I loved my mission." He then said, "I have more in common with you now than I did prior to my apostolic call; because an apostle is a missionary, a witness for the name of Jesus Christ in all the world. As I am a missionary, so are you apostolic. I'm an Apostle (big A) and you are an apostle (little a), a witness, going out to declare the name of Christ in all the world...Don't you dare go out there and miss the opportunity to apostolic...We (Apostles) get up on time, so we want you to get up on time...Don't miss a minute (of your mission). In a matter of moments, this is going to be over...Don't you dare go home with a regret...Pull up your socks and go to work...We grow up when we show up at the MTC. We put away childish things. We grow up overnight....Welcome to the work."

He told the missionaries that "people pray for you all over this Church. Missionaries are probably the most prayed-for people in the Church, next to Pres. Monson. You and Pres. Monson are neck and neck, with people you don't even know praying for you." That reminded me of something that happened a couple of years ago. I think Camden was almost three. I had been with her during the day on a Tuesday, and I told her that I was going to be with the missionaries that night. Her eyes got big and she asked, "Will you see the Prophet?" I told her, "No, I probably won't see the prophet; but I'll be with his helpers, the missionaries." When I told Lindy what she had said, Lindy said that when Camden says her prayers she prays for the Prophet and for the missionaries. So to her, the Prophet and the missionaries go together. If I was going to see the missionaries, then I would surely see the Prophet. In our meeting with District C after the devotional, I told the missionaries that story about Camden and they liked the thought of little children praying for them. All in all, it was a great evening. What a treat and blessing to be able to hear from Elder Holland!

Dinner at the MTC

Our evening at the MTC last night was really nice. As we arrived we were greeted by the MTC presidency and their wives and Elder and Sister Holland. It was fun to visit with the Hollands for a few minutes. I told Sis. Holland that we're related--our grandmothers (Lillie and May Holt) are sisters and our dads (Raymond and Maeser) are first cousins. Sis. Holland was happy to know that. She said, "In fact, your dad and my dad dated my mom at the same time. It made my dad jealous, and I think that's what got him to ask her to marry him." I said, "Well, it all worked out for the best." Then she said, "My dad would say to my mom sometimes, 'I bet you wish you had married Raymond because then you could have been part of the educational world.' " I'd never heard that story before, and I thought it was pretty interesting. Dad used to talk about his cousin, Maeser, a lot. The kids remember the time we went to the Lytle Preserve down by St. George, and Maeser was there. He cut a pomegranate open for them with his pocket knife. They thought that was quite amazing!

At dinner, we sat with Steven's counselors and their wives: Mike and Becky Ahlander and Lew and Jann Bankhead. Sis. Bankhead said she had had a good day and was glad that she could come. She is recovering from recent cancer surgery and is now facing six months of chemotherapy. It was nice to be with the four of them. The dinner was delicious: salad, yummy potatoes, green beans, chicken and/or prime rib, rolls and cream puffs. Each table had a nativity set decoration--I took mine earlier in the day. We almost got to sit at the table with the one I brought, but some other people barely beat us out. So we sat at a table with a really cool, big Polish nativity set. Actually, it was better we sat at that table because it was on the edge of the room and we had to leave at 9:00 while everyone was still singing Silent Night. The table with our nativity set was right up front by the stage and the speakers' podium, so that wouldn't have worked for us to leave before it was all over if we had been sitting there. Actually, the evening should have been over by 9:00, but it was a little over-programmed. It started out with a live nativity, which was very nice. Then a long vocal solo, "O Holy Night," followed by a welcome from Pres. Boone, the MTC president. Then a long opening prayer (I'd say about 3 minutes or more). Then the dinner. After dinner was a nice string ensemble that played three Christmas pieces. The next thing was a chime activity in which everyone participated. It was fun, but that was the over-programmed part--it went on a little long. The chimes were then followed by the speakers: Elder Hinckley and Elder Holland. The speakers were almost anti-climactic because the evening had gone on for so long. But they both gave good talks and kept them pretty short. For Elder Holland's message he read a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay titled, "The Ballad of the Harp Weaver," which he said was a Christmas memory from his youth. It's quite an interesting poem and was, to me, a different kind of thing to be read by him. I imagine it was something like a favorite Christmas reading for his family when he was young. When he was reading it, every time he said "harp" I thought he was saying "heart," so it kind of didn't make sense to me. But then I looked the poem up online and found out it was "harp" instead of "heart," so the poem makes more sense. It's a sad little poem with a good message about a parent's love.

This morning, Steven and I went to the ward Christmas breakfast over at the stake center, then we went to AF to drop Richard off. From there we went to the Barretts to tend Sidney while Lindy and Nate took Camden and Riley up to Park City to see Peter Pan. The weather wasn't too bad when they left, but while they were gone, about 7-8 inches of snow fell there in Pleasant Grove. They didn't get home until about 6:30 because the roads were pretty snowy. Anyway, we're glad they went up and back safely. We surely had a lot of fun with Sidney while they were gone. She really knows how to show Grampa and Gramma a fun time. We sang and read and ate and played with lots of toys. It's so fun to hear her jabber with all of her expressions. When Lindy and Nate and the girls got home, they brought Arby's for dinner. Richard had joined us by that time, so it was a regular party. After coming home, Steven spent the good part of an hour getting us dug out around here. I think winter has arrived for sure.