BoomFlag

We’ve finished our first week at the Missionary Training Center (MTC)! It’s been an interesting (and fun) experience. When we showed up on Monday, we met with all the other “senior” missionaries who were training that week. There were around ninety of us, and we posed for a big group photo:

It’s been really cool seeing all these older couples willing to leave behind their homes, kids, grandkids, and everything else to serve a mission for a year or two. We’ve been able to enjoy lessons and lunches with many of them, getting to know their stories. I was counting how many people told us “surely you’re too young to be serving a senior mission!” but stopped after a while because so many people said it. In truth, we’re probably ten years younger than the next-youngest couple. I guess that makes us the junior seniors. It’s a strange feeling sometimes.

Also on the first day, we received our name tags. That made us feel official.

The MTC is set up sort of like a college campus, and not only do all the buildings look alike (light brown brick) but they have amazing and memorable names like “S1” and “T3”. After a few days we managed to figure out where most of the important buildings are.

It’s tradition to stand in front of the wall-sized world map and point to your mission assignment, so Pepper and I did that.

Every day was filled with classes where we talked about life as a missionary, how to effectively serve and teach people, and the sorts of things we might encounter. We were put into a small group called a “district”– four couples in all– and had most of our classes together. Like us, all of them are assigned to teach classes on their missions, so we have a common purpose. That said, all of us have very different circumstances: one couple is going to Romania where their area of responsibility covers four countries, another will be working in a building dedicated to classes where they’ll have their own private offices, and the last couple will be working to establish a class group in their area. It’s pretty cool to see the wide variety in mission service, even amongst a group with the same “titles”, so to speak.

Probably one of the best things about being at the MTC is seeing a thousand younger missionaries everywhere. They’re attending classes just like we are, although obviously theirs have a slightly different focus. Many are receiving language training for two to five weeks– we met and chatted with young missionaries heading to France, Canada, Suriname, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and a dozen other countries. Of course many others were going to less exotic places like… Indiana. You can definitely sense their excitement, mixed with the nervousness of being away from home for the first time, or being so far from home, or both. I’m inspired by these brave young men and women.

One of the highlights of our week was attending the Taylorsville Temple open house (it’s scheduled to open in two weeks) and seeing our friend and former seminary student there. Sister Hammack is serving her mission in Salt Lake City, and she happened to have an assignment to work at the open house for an afternoon. It’s so awesome to see her working hard and loving her mission service.

It’s been a busy week, to be sure, but also one filled with uplifting, spiritual experiences and a gaggle of new friends. I’m already loving mission life.

Today is Monday, which of course means the Mahjongg Gang is playing at Rosa’s. And, as I’ve done for several years now, I joined them. I played a few hands and won a few quarters.

Afterward, we all enjoyed some pizza together and then I switched tables to play a few board games with my other group of friends.

When the games ended, we said our goodbyes. For years it’s been so much fun hanging out with the older and younger crowds, laughing through a few hours of fun and friendly competition, and enjoying some awesome pizza. I’m going to miss all of these yahoos, although both the Mahjongg games and the board games will certainly continue without me. In a year I’ll be back to enjoy it all again.

Last night I read a really interesting article. The author talked about the importance of looking forward to something. Anything.

It’s no surprise that when you’re excited and anticipating something big and wonderful, you’re generally happier. That big vacation coming up? Christmas? Time with family? These sorts of major events tend to help people feel less stressed as they focus less on the frustration and challenges of the present, and think instead about how nice that event is going to be. In fact, studies have shown that the anticipation of something good can aid in stress relief as much as– or even more than– the event itself.

But, argues the author, it doesn’t have to be something big. Those big things only come around every few months or years, and although they have a powerful effect, their very rarity means the stress relief is also fleeting. Instead, it can be valuable to look forward to something small. Something mundane. Something that brings a moment of joy but happens much more often.

For me, it might be lunch at Rosa’s. Or relaxing in the hot tub. Or watching a sunset from the front porch. None of these require planning, nor are they limited to every now and then. But simply thinking about them, anticipating the joy they’ll bring, can provide immediate relief from stress and anxiety. I tend to be a pretty low-stress low-anxiety person anyway, and as I read this article I wondered if perhaps I’ve been practicing this little trick without really being aware of it.

In any case, I’ve decided I’m going to give some thought each day to one thing I’m looking forward to that day.

Pepper and I are missionaries.

Before every missionary heads out “into the field”, they have an opportunity to meet with their local church leader, the stake president. That person has responsibility for a pretty large area– in our case, most of the Flathead Valley from just south of our house all the way north to the Canadian border. And in our case, President Reed is an awesome guy.

We spent about thirty minutes with him, and at the end of our visit he officially “set us apart” as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When we return in a little over a year, he’ll “release” us from that responsibility as well.

So, just like our boys before me, I’m now Elder Schroeder and, like Kyra, Pepper is known as Sister Schroeder. Woo hoo!

Today Pepper and I decided to surprise our friends, who we haven’t seen for a few weeks. We stopped by their house, but unfortunately they weren’t home. We were a little bummed but felt like we should at least text them a photo of us at their door, to prove we were there.

We had a great hike a few weeks ago in the National Forest behind our house, and this morning Kyra and I decided to do it again. We left from our house and bushwhacked a bit before we found the logging trails. It was chilly, but you should always start your hike cold anyway, and we warmed up by the time we arrived at the overlook high above Flathead Lake. The view was, again, spectacular.

Oh, and we saw a wolf.

It was about fifty feet ahead of us, walking along the logging trail. When it saw us, it bolted. Kyra was a little freaked out, but also excited because it meant she could check off a square on her Wildlife Bingo card. A few days ago, she and Greta were talking about all the wildlife they’d been seeing around our property: deer and turkeys and squirrels and so on. Most of them were fairly commonplace to us, but pretty exciting to the ladies. I jokingly suggested they should have a friendly competition to see who spots the most animals, maybe as a bingo card. They loved the idea and went to work listing twenty-five animals they’re hoping to see during the year they’re living here. Wolf was one of them, and Kyra nailed it on day one! (In our five years here, I’ve never seen a wolf in person, so this was definitely a rare thing.)

Although I hope they don’t run into many more wolves on the trails, I’m also excited to hear how the bingo game progresses…

Since Kyra and Greta are taking responsibility for our house while we’re serving a mission, we’ve had to show them all the stuff they need to know. We toured the boiler room, talked about the solar panels, tested the generator, installed the “smart home” apps, looked at the irrigation system, planned for the orchard, and on and on. One of the things on our (long) list was to de-winterize the jet skis. It served a dual purpose: not only would it get them ready to go out on the lake, but they’ll need to winterize them in the fall anyway, so they’ll reverse the process.

We took off the tarps, installed the batteries, checked the oil, and then loaded up the trailer. Off to Yellow Bay!

Although it was a chilly 55 or so, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful spring day.

Kyra practiced backing down the boat ramp– not an easy thing to do, although much easier without anyone else waiting in line! We put the jet skis in the water and gave them a test run.

Wetsuits were a must, because the water temperature was probably less than 50 degrees. We had a good time putting the jet skis through their paces, and then came back in to the dock.

Now all’s ready for a summer of fun!

We had dinner at our friends’ home tonight, and their kids were really excited to show us their baby goats.

This is Babybel. Their two other babies are Parmesan and Nacho. You can see the theme.

Sadly, we learned that Pepper died last fall. A couple years ago, they named two of their baby goats Cosmo and Pepper. Cosmo is still going strong, though. It was fun to hold and pet these little guys, and even more fun to see how much the kids (who are 10 and 12) love having them. Thanks, Cora and Coston!

A few weeks ago Pepper and I bought our fancy mission wardrobes. Today we wore some of our new threads to church, and Greta wanted to take a picture of us afterward.

I just hope they’re cool enough for El Centro. And by “cool” I mean in temperature. I already know I’m cool in style.

It’s spring, which means the dandelions are back. I’ve been working in the yard to kill the buggers before they spread too much (why are they always in the grass and never in the forest?). Years ago I gave up fighting them in the orchard, and sure enough, they’re back there with a vengeance.

Interestingly, in addition to a gazillion dandelions, our smaller orchard also has a gazillion little purple flowers. You can see a blanket of them in the photo above. There aren’t any in the larger orchard, which is literally twenty feet away. Odd.

Pepper says I need to stop worrying about the Yellow Menace and let Kyra and Greta take care of them once we’ve moved away. It’s hard to do when I see those little yellow petals sprouting all over our lawn… argh…