The famous picture of the world map at the MTC which every missionary posses in front of to show where they will be serving

"The District" - Our district during our 10 days at the MTC (Popes - Chile, Colemans - Nebraska, Thaynes - Washington State, Wylers - Cambodia

Some of the 800 new young missionaries who arrived at the MTC during the week.  Each week, somewhere between 500-800 new missionaries arrive at the MTC.

Evone and I in front of the MTC on the day the new missionaries arrived (July 24, 2013)

On Monday morning, July 22, 2013, Evone and I entered the MTC (mission training center) in Provo, Utah to begin our 18 month mission to Santiago, Chile.  This has been a dream and a goal that Evone and I have had since the day we were married.  37 years later, here we are.  Our son Mike and our son-in-law Travis  Nye dropped us off at the MTC at 10:30 in the morning, and we have not stopped since.

Our mission assignment is to work in the church's Perpetual Education Fund and Self Reliance Center.  Without getting into too much detail, we work with young people in the church from the ages of 18-30 to help them gain an education and good employment. During our two weeks at the training center, we received training and inspiration from the most wonderful people you could possibly imagine.  We ate all of our meals along side the some 2,500 other young missionaries from the ages of 18-25 who were also there being trained for their various missions that would literally take them to the four corners of the world.  We had about 80-90 senior missionaries (that's what they call us old folks) in our particular group.  In that group, we had people going to China, India, The Philippines, Africa, Iceland, Cambodia, Honduras, Mexico, Moldova, and the list goes on.  While only together for 10 days, we truly bonded and developed some wonderful friendships.  Below are just a few pictures of our time at the MTC.