In the mission field, "MC" doesn't stand for Master of Ceremonies...it usually stands for "Missionary Couple". This differentiates us "older" missionaries from the young elders and sisters without calling us "senior" missionaries. MC sounds polished and dignified. President Boswell invited all Baltic MC's to Riga for a little training.
Elder & Sister Bonner were assigned to stay at our apartment in Riga. They are serving in Tallin, Estonia and were able to come a day early so, we took them on a boat ride through the canal and into the Daugauva River.
There is something so peaceful and tranquil about floating around in a boat....
this cruise ship tells us that tourist season isn't over quite yet.
We spent some of that day preparing for our MC presentation. Each couple had teaching assignments during the training conference. Elder & Sister Davis like to "demonstrate" what they teach and we needed a lot of props and notes of how we were going to do that.
Thursday night we had a pizza dinner at the mission apartment, where Elder & Sister Flake were staying. We were having a good time talking with each other and Elder Davis was taking pictures.....
In the photo below, can you guess why Sister Davis has her hand in the air? She was telling a story about YSA Conference and using her hands as she talked ( as the Latvian's say, "it's normal") and Elder Davis snapped the shot.
Elder Watts is smiling, it must have been an amusing story.
Oh, wait a minute, Elder Adams (below) has fallen asleep....
Training was an all day event....there wasn't even time set aside for naps!
This was going to take supreme stamina to stay awake for a whole day of training.
We started at 8:45am and were to finish around 5:30pm.
First, we heard from Pres. & Sister Boswell.
President Boswell told us how much good we are doing here in the Baltic. He told us that what we MC's do on our missions, can have a huge impact on the missionary work the young elders and sisters are doing.
Afterwards, Sister Millet gave us an update on procedures since she is one of the Mission Office secretaries.
Everyone started taking notes....
after all, MC's can't remember what happened yesterday without writing it down.
Next up, Elder & Sister Davis.
We welcomed everyone to our faux Family Home Evening, handed out nametags (of our actual YSA's) and demonstrated what we do on Monday nights. We gave a mini lesson, served food and played a short game of Jenga. We wanted to show the senior couples how much FHE can impact the lives of the young people who come, but first they have to WANT to come to it. It has to be fun and inspirtational to them. And most important the young people have to know that you love and care about them.
After that, we role played helping a young man become active again and helping another young man learn about hygiene (both things we actually have done). We talked about the importance of scripture classes like Institute and took everyone into another room where we had more snacks and the ping-pong table set up. All the senior couples played "around the world" and we discovered that Sister Watt is a pretty good ping-pong player!
We answered questions and actually went over the hour and half we were allotted, but President Boswell told us to keep going, so we did.
Next up, Elder & Sister Bonner
Elder and Sister Bonner had a discussion on companionship study and how we have to over-come our weaknesses to be effective missionaries. Elder Bonner shared some personal stories and said that going on a mission took a lot of effort. We shouldn't try to do to much so that we get overburdened, but try to do the best we can each day.
Next up....
LUNCH TIME!
President & Sister Boswell
With Elder & Sister Flake
Elder & Sister Bonner, Sister Adams (where's Elder Adams?)
Here he is!
Elder & Sister Davis (with soup bowl) and Elder Millet
Next on the agenda.....
Elder & Sister Adams
They discussed some of the things MC's do when inspecting missionary apartments. You have to remember, as remarkable as our young elders are....they are just 19-20 years old. Often their apartments aren't very tidy. So MC's inspect their apartments to make sure they are clean, safe and up to standards. We don't want landlords mad at the church because their apartments aren't kept up, do we? Let's just say, it has happened before.
Whats next MC's?
Dinner!
Pie Kristapa kunga is the very nice medieval restaruant next to the church which MC's seem to enjoy regularly. We all trooped downstairs where the big room is.....
And ordered dinner. Then we had the time to visit with each other and swap stories of what is going on with our families and as missionaries.
Whats next MC's?
Dinner!
Pie Kristapa kunga is the very nice medieval restaruant next to the church which MC's seem to enjoy regularly. We all trooped downstairs where the big room is.....
And ordered dinner. Then we had the time to visit with each other and swap stories of what is going on with our families and as missionaries.
Afterwards, Inara gave us a tour of Riga. Inara is a travel agent who happens to be a member of the church in Latvia. She is well loved by everyone because she handles all the travel arrangements for the church and for us. She LOVES her country and was the best person to ask for a tour of the city.
She would stop in front of a building and would face us and tell us what we should be looking at behind her and then describe it in detail.
Inara could tell us the little details about Riga that aren't in the tourist pamphlets so it was informative and fun. But part way through the tour we picked up a few stragglers.... See the hooded sweatshirt guy carrying the tool box, below?
What is up with him? He and two buddies started following us around Old Town. At first, we just ignored them but they kept getting closer and looked suspicious. A few of us took pictures of them and they covered their faces and avoided looking at us but wouldn't leave. Inara said something in Latvian and they still wouldn't go away.
When we got to a busy area of Old Town where there were lots of tourists, they disappeared. But we later saw the hooded sweatshirt guy, standing on his tool box, preaching to the crowds in Old Town (who were mostly ignoring him).
The next day we had MC Training in the morning.
Elder & Sister Watt told us how to get oral histories from the members in the Baltic because some of their lives have amazing details.
Pres. Boswell finished up our training with what we can do to help the young missionaries.
We were done by 11:30 so those who needed to catch buses home could do so.
We have said this before, but it is worth repeating, we have met some of the best people in the world on our mission. Just think for a moment, what kind of people give up 18 months to 2 years to leave everything behind to serve other people?
We will tell you: the BEST kind! We have become good friends with wonderful, kind hearted, salt-of-the-earth people whom we would never have met otherwise. These are the kinds of friendships that will last into eternity because of the bond we have shared while going through the hardships of a mission. We can't stress the importance of that enough. It is a huge blessing to us to have made so many great friends.
THANK YOU fellow MC's...
for being so wonderful to us!
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