Wednesday, January 14, 2009

"I can't believe this is really happening to me" -
My First Day at the MTC

I mentioned in my last post that it's now been thirty years since I entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. This photo should be good for a laugh or two, as the expression on my face precisely reflects the mood I was in that day. The fact that the person who took the photo (probably my sister Kristen) shot it slightly off-kilter only adds to my Twilight-Zonish memories of the day when I said good-bye to my parents for two years, which at that point in my life might as well have been twenty. (I remember thinking that they should have had a sign over the doorway that said "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.") I really did want to serve a mission and was as prepared for it as I would ever be, but for me there was nothing easy about taking that first leap! Luckily, I had already spent my freshman year of college away from home, and so I was able to adjust quickly to my new routine.