We finally made it here.  We got to the MTC on Monday Feb. 27th at about 11:00.  There are about 50 senior couples in our group going everywhere from Russia, to South Africa, to Cape Verde, to Puerto Rico, & the USA.  Many of the couples are serving a second or third mission together.  They are amazing and have amazing stories to tell about how they got here and how their finances worked out, how they got called, etc.  The young missionaries are so enthusiastic and excited to get to their missions.
     The cafeteria is unbelievable! They serve restaurant quality food in huge quantities.  Can you just picture several hundred missionaries sitting at these long tables with their companions, trying to live their mission language that they are beginning to learn.  It is a closed campus so you have to swipe a card to get in every door that goes to the outside.  The elders always hold the doors for us "old folks".
     Dale has had a cold for about a week with a bad cough so we got him an appointment with the doctor. He seems to be on the mend.  Jason insisted that they wouldn't let us leave here if Dad was sick, and if they did and he was sick, we would just end up in the hospital in Guatemala. We had to agree.
     Last night we got to go to a devotional with Jeffrey R. Holland with all the young missionaries.  There was a mission choir that sounded fantastic. Several hundred missionaries all singing "Called to Serve" prettty much takes your breath away.  Elder Holland spoke about how missionaries might be the most prayed for people on the earth, how they have a huge responsibility to the Church and they have no right to compromise that.
     He told about how Pres. Monson stood up in a meeting several years ago and said there was something wrong with the missionary program. Elder Holland was on the missionary committee so he really paid attention.  From that day they changed the program to convert the missionaries and then left the missionaries  figure out how to convert the investigators instead of focusing on the investigator and allowing the missionaries to serve their whole mission and remain without being converted.  He emphasized over and over how he did not want the missionaries to return to their old selves after a mission but that they needed to be different, better, for the rest of their lives.
     He taught an awesome lesson about the first chapter in 1st Nephi.  It containes lessons about prayer, revelation, prophets, scriptures and if you can get an investigator to read it they will be well on their way to a good understanding of the gospel. We all felt the spirit very strongly .
     Our schedules are loaded with classes about teaching discussions and tonight we had our first Spanish class here in the MTC.  It was great to talk together and be able to practice back and forth.  We have had great tutors prior to coming here. They are extremely patient with us.
      I'd love to write more but it's late and tomorrow will be a busy day also.  Dale and I gave our first discussion together today about The Restoration.  We had a golden investigator (they have tons of volunteers who come to the MTC to be pretend investigators and help us with our Spanish) and it went pretty well.  Tomorrow we get to teach about the plan of salvation.  It is pretty special to be here with Dale and feel the spirit so strong.  It makes you appreciate one another more.  I wouldn't want to have to do it without him. By the way, he's a darn good missionary!

    We are down to the wire now.  Yesterday was supposed to be my last day at work.  I didn't need to go in.  Of course it is with mixed feelings that we say goodbye to something that we have done for so many years. The people we have worked with will always bring a smile.
      We have received more info on the medical part of the mission within the last week or two.  They have promised to teach us how to use a medical website and also how to use our computer more effectively.  Dr. Hebertson called and instructed both Dale and I on some of the things that we will both be doing.  He told Dale not to get too comfortable thinking that he wouldn't have much to do.  If he did, I was to call Dr. Hebertson and he would call the mission pres. right away with more jobs for him.
       He gave us lots of medical resources, showed us how to do some reports (which I'm having a hard time remembering just now).  Everyone we have been involved with has been so wonderful.
       We went down to St. George last Thursday and took a trailer to Paul and Rebecca.  They had the elder's quorum come and help them load it up. Chip and Nicole came as we were heading out to help also. Friday they arrived here and Mark's boys and Paul's cousin and his wife came to help unload.  We sure did appreciate them. Many hands make light work.  We have been busy trying to find spots to put all of our things away.  In the furnace room, in the blue bedroom, in Dale's shop.  Even some things we put in the apartment.
       Somehow, little by little we are fitting it all in.  It is amazing that we have been able to put two houses full of furniture in to one. It has been fun to have the Damron family here with us.  It brings back memories of when we had three little kids and we were building this very house.  We lived in the basement and the kids played and played in the very room they are using as the play room.
        Well, we have lots of family and friends coming this weekend for our farewell.  Michelle, Brian, Dad and Ron are coming from Idaho.  Evon and Denise have called to say they will be coming and all the kids will be here for one last visit before we go.  We hope to see lots of other family and friends.  Dale has written his talk twice and I just have lots of thoughts written down.
        Emily Coleman gave her farewell last weekend.  We hope to see her in the MTC before she leaves.  They haven't released us from our Care Center job yet, but plan to do that Sunday morning. Taking it down to the wire,  we hope the new branch presidency loves this job as much as we have.

     We are deep in the throes of learning the language.  Dale is learning to pray and I am relearning everything I learned so many years ago.  Needless to say, we both have much to learn.  We have great tutors.  They really have to have a sense of humor to do what they do.
     We are getting to the end of our to-do lists, although as we check off the top, they keep adding to the bottom.  There are so many people that we want to talk to or simply acknowledge before we go.  If we don't get to talk to you, just know that we love all of you and we will be thinking of you often.