mission presidents seminar

warning: this post is very journal-esque so feel free to skip it.

i had the neat experience of helping with the mission presidents seminar at the mtc this month. this seminar only goes for a few days and so much time and preparation goes into making it nice for them.

they let people apply and out of about 90 applicants they chose 30 people to be "assistants" for it so i felt very privileged to get to be a part of it.

i was also really lucky to get to help with check in so i escorted a lot of mission presidents in and it was so neat to get to know them and serve them. i just thought about my wonderful mission president and his wife and how much they did for me. i also thought about brynne's parents and all my other friends whose parents and families sacrificed to serve. thinking about all of this made me very emotional and i often teared up as i saw them say goodbye to their families or just even telling them how many lives they will touch by their service. i worked for like 9 hours that first day and i left feeling so happy. serving wonderful people who will be serving hundreds of missionaries for three years was so rewarding! 

the next day i took the day off to shoot my mtc companion's wedding. somehow i ran into these lovely ladies from my ward before my mission! i hadn't seen them for three years, it was definitely a tender mercy.

after the wedding jacquie and i sat in front of the slc temple and just stared at it for a good thirty minutes. it was such a nice night! i noticed so much detail about it than i had before, i feel like i need to add this activity to my list of things to do at night. very good place to reflect.

the next morning i was back at the seminar and had to take a picture of this flower arrangement. i'm not really a flower girl but isn't it pretty? i loved it.

i made best friends with these two ladies from food services. thanks to all the mission presidents for not eating everything so we all got fed as well! i'm glad i didn't know they could produce such great things when i was a missionary, i would have felt jipped (as did all the missionaries who saw how they were feeding the mission presidents that week)

this was the last day of the seminar so it is kind of dying but i liked this one too!

they really treated them like royalty.

tables like this were lined up and they would just have tons of food for them to snack on every hour or so. i would just stand back while they mingled with members of the twelve or other general authorities. it was weird to be in such a small space with so many of the brethren, definitely something i don't think will ever happen again. (and i definitely carried around my little booklet with all the general authorities faces and names on it (the same one that comes in the conference edition of the ensign) and played my own little game of where's waldo but with the twelve and the seventy and would circle them if i saw them and starred them if i actually met and talked with them. the creeper inside of me was so proud to have circled/starred about half of them!)

i became pretty awesome at getting water for everyone (and telling all the missionaries to back off). i would really like to know how many of those baby dasani bottles they went through that weekend!

i even got to watch some of the talks which was neat. the brethren definitely put a lot of preparation into their talks and have so much love for the mission presidents.

i tried to creep where they ate, for any of you who have been to the mtc cafeteria you will notice it is very different treatment than when you are just a missionary haha

this post probably doesn't make much sense and is most likely super boring, i just wanted to remember this for myself.  i have been an awful journal keeper lately so i just want to jot down some of my thoughts here. being a part of this was such a special thing. i was so touched by the humility of the presidents and their wives, the sensitivity of the brethren and their wives, and just being able to serve such wonderful people. i know that they have probably already forgotten my name or anything i did but wont forget them or the impressions they had on me. the seminar also reminded me of how much God wants his children to feel loved individually. one of the people over the seminar memorized every single president and his wife's face so he could greet them by name as they arrived. they would then radio us their name so i could greet them by name as they pulled in. it was neat to see how surprised they were that everyone knew them by name. it made me wonder if heaven will be like that, as we arrive we will be welcomed lovingly and they will have been expecting us and preparing for us to arrive. I don't know..just a thought. I met so many wonderful people and was so touched by their willingness to serve and be so selfless. i also got to meet some people i have always admired. sister holland for example! i have always loved her so meeting her and being able to hug her and just tell her how great i think she was was a neat experience. also, like i mentioned above,  just seeing all the brethren mingle with each other and the mission presidents was an experience that i knew as i experienced it would be something i never experienced again. being amongst spiritual giants for a few days definitely made me re-evaluate how i'm doing and gave me motivation to put more time and priority to spiritual matters. i was definitely spiritually fed and so so glad i was able to serve them!