What a week!

What a week. We arrived here in Provo UT on Monday. We were part of a group of 129 seniors who would be serving in many parts of the world. From Germany to Japan to Australia to Nauvoo to Peru and some who would be serving their mission from home. We had a marvelous  experience. On Monday we were divided into districts of 4 to 6 couples each. I was assigned to be the district leader. There was an Elder Levie in our group who had been very close friends with Bruce and Bonnie Staggs who now live in St David. Elder Levies wife only spoke Mandarin Chinese. We also had a couple from Mexico who only spoke Spanish. Then there was the Davis's who were in their 70s but whose primary mode of transportation was a 3 wheeled motorcycle. The Nielsens were part of our group and they had just served a couple of years here at the MTC.  We were a diverse group to say the least. The Levies were soon transferred to another district so we would only have one interpreter in our class room.
We spent most of the week improving our teaching skills. Or for some of us, just trying to develop some basic skill. Each couple took turns being the teacher and the student. This gave us a chance to get to know quite a few of the other couples. We ate three meals a day in the cafeteria. This wasn't required, we ate enough at any one meal to satisfy the calorie count for the entire day. But the socializing during the meals made the experience worth repeating over and over again.  We also met the Poulsons and the Scotts. Sister Poulson was a Fenn born in Pomerene  and Elder Scott is from the Andrew Hunter Scott family. Joyce and I got quite a few comments on our youthfulness. Most couples were at least 10 to 20 years older than us. It was kind of funny, most were too proper to ask us our age but a few would just sit down by us in the cafeteria and ask " how old are you two"! Then the next question would always follow. What did you do as a career? We did our best to redirect the conversation to avoid the whole immigration debate or the border security questions or the "did you ever have any close calls"?
Well the week has come to an end. We fly out tomorrow. First to Atlanta where we plan to see Lincoln Dahl and Dane Owens in the airport during our lay over then it's on to Lima. Tuesday we will be in Lima, then take the bus to Nazca on Wednesday.

 There were three single sisters in the group too.