Entering the MTC

On Wednesday July 9th Elder Hruby entered the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah. Upon arriving at the MTC all of the Elders and Sisters helping the missionaries were so welcoming and kind...this drop off definitely had a different atmosphere to it than the drop off Grant had a year ago at the Air Force Academy :)  There were over 600 missionaries that entered the MTC that day along with Elder Hruby and all of them seemed so happy and eager to be serving the Lord.

To best explain what the MTC is I borrowed this from the BYU website:

"Each Wednesday several hundred missionaries enter the Provo MTC. The eager missionaries enter an exciting world of learning. The MTC curriculum consists of up to 12 weeks of studying doctrine, learning to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively, and developing excellent communication skills. When missionaries are called to serve in foreign lands, their training also includes learning a new language. The Provo MTC is well known for its language teaching program. Approximately 50 languages are taught at the Provo MTC. The teaching staff is composed largely of former missionaries, who are well acquainted with missionary life. Using state-of-the-art language training technology, the Provo MTC fulfills the prophecy that 'every man shall hear the fullness of the gospel in his own tongue . . . through those who are ordained unto this power.'"
Originally Elder Hruby thought he would be spending 9 weeks in the MTC studying, preparing, and learning Portuguese. However, a few days before leaving Grant found out that he will only be in the MTC for about 6 weeks. That is not a whole lot of time to learn a new language, but he is so excited to get to Mozambique and begin serving the people there! If all goes well with his visa and travel arrangements Elder Hruby should be leaving for Mozambique somewhere around August 19th. We have been anxiously awaiting Tuesday because that is the preparation day for foreign going missionaries in the MTC (the day missionaries have time to do things like laundry, write letters, cleaning, service, etc.) We are so excited to hear from our Elder and find out how his first few days have been and we will update the blog when we hear from him!

Pre-MTC drop off. Elder Hruby with a drink called
"The Missionary" from a place called Swig in Provo.