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Posts Tagged ‘missionary’

I found this cool little blog that was created by a student that works in the MTC mailroom. It is called MTC Going Postal. I found it while browsing through some of the websites on the Mormon Times website under the “Today in the Bloggernacle“. Many of you may not know but the MTC (Mission Training Center) is filled with BYU students trying to work their way through college.

When I was at “The Y“, I worked at the MTC too but I did not have the cushy job of sorting mail for the missionaries. My job was a little more gritty and unpleasant. I worked in the dish room. Yep, I washed the dishes of thousands of missionaries. I would wake up really early in the morning, like 4:30am or something crazy like that and washed dishes. I remember putting in earplugs because of the noise of the dishes clanking together and the noise from the dishwashing machines, drying machines and disposals. I would put on green rubber gloves, a plastic apron and stand by a conveyor belt. I was assigned the job of cleaning off all of the major pieces of food off of each plate, bowl and cup. Then I would stack each piece nicely on another convener belt so that it would go through the washer correctly. On some of the days, I would work at the end of the washing line where I would have to take off the clean and dry dishes and stack them. At that time, I would have to wear cotton gloves because the plates and bowls were so hot coming out of the rapid dryer that they would burn your skin. After a couple of hours of staking hot dishes, the gloves would be soaking wet. Even though it was not fun work, it did help pay my way through my classes. So, if you want to know what missionaries eat, or don’t eat, I could tell you. I must say, I don’t think I have ever put that work experience on my resume.

This week my son Coby is up at Scout Camp. This is not the regular camp that most scouts go to earn a bunch of merit badges. This is a special camp called NYLT which stands for National Youth Leadership Training. When I was a youngster it was called Dan Beard Rangers. I have a few memories of this week of camp in the South Hills of Idaho. One of my best friends convinced me to go because of all of the fun he had when he went. I found out later that he really didn’t enjoy Dan Beard until the last 3 days. The first couple of days, he said he cried.

My experience was not great up at Dan Beard but it did help to build me into a man. As you might already know, the Scout Master over all of the scouts splits everyone into Patrols. They try not to put you with people that you already know so that you make new friends. That in itself is a little hard. I remember having to make our own meals every day and for 13 – 15 year olds, this is no easy thing. By day three I had gathered a small group of boys ready to decent. We had devised a plan where we would sneak out of camp, hike down to the nearest Ranger Station, and figure out how to call our parents to come pick us up. Seriously, we had a whole group ready to leave at a moments notice. I was a couple of years older than most of the boys there at camp and I was older than some of the staff, so many of the younger kids rallied around me as their leader. Fortunately I did not lead a rebellion and decided to stick it out for the whole week. I was reassured over and over again that things would get much better. They didn’t, but we made it. I still remember that the ride home was the longest ride of my life. It seemed like I was gone a month and my body ached to be home.

One of the things I got out of going to this camp was the realization that I could do hard things. In fact, I remember looking back on times on my mission to Cali Colombia and Quito Ecuador and remembering that I could do hard things because I survived Dan Beard Rangers. I know, it seems kinda silly but it helped me stay focused and gave me confidence.

So, my mind keeps returning to my son Coby up at NYLT this week. My hope is that he will have a good time, but more importantly, he will find an inner strength that might give him a foundation from which to grow. Maybe there will be some lessons that he will learn that will help him as he serves in the Aaronic Priesthood and when he serves a mission for the LDS Church. Maybe it will help him in a calling or just help him to be a better Father. That is my hope and prayer today. Go get’em Coby!

Several years ago I volunteered to be a Mormon Seminary Teacher for the 9th graders at the local Junior High. It was early morning seminary so for me, it has a huge undertaking since I hate getting up early in the morning. After about 2 weeks of teaching, I had completely run out of mission stories and personal experiences as it relates to the Gospel. I began spending about 2 hours per night preparing for the next day of seminary. I learned a ton about how teachers work and why they do that they do. For example, I wanted to be one of those nice teachers so I let the 9th graders sit where they wanted. A few weeks later I found my classroom getting louder and louder. I asked some of my teacher friends and they suggested implementing a seating chart and to organize the chairs into rows. I didn’t like the sound of that, however, I knew it would help with the noise and the visiting with each other during my classes. Needless to say, I was not prepared to be a teacher and had to learn by trial and error, mostly error. At the end of the year, I totally felt like a failure. My only hope and prayer was that all of my students would sign up for seminary in 10th grade so that they could be taught by a “real” seminary teacher.

I tell you this story so that I can tell you this other story. I was walking out of the YMCA last week and a young adult stopped my and called me Brother Carter. He looked at me intently and asked, “do you remember me?”. I looked really hard but could not place the face. He told me that he was in my seminary class in 9th grade. He said he had served a mission for the LDS Church and was now married. Wow, that was cool. I asked him if he remembered anything from his days in my class. He said that he did and mentioned a “magic square” that we used to memorized the Doctrine and Covenants scriptures. It was just nice to know that he remembered me and remembered some of the scriptures we worked on.