June 26, 2021 Photos

Home MTC on the computer

Home MTC Friends

Home MTC has proven yet again that it is much easier said than done! It looks, however, that Elder Garcia and the other Elders in his Home MTC District have continued to find a way to make it a little more bearable.

For those who are reading, or wondering, what the heck Home MTC is...here you go. Covid 19 shut down the entire world in the year 2020. Literally. We went to being quarantined at our homes, to being limited to groups of 5 outside of our homes, that went to then 10, then it grew from there, we were mandated to wear a mask on our face if we wanted to go inside a store. Most restaurants did curbside or drive through only. Church was cancelled. Seriously...we didn't go to church for a long time. We were given permission from the 1st Presidency to have church inside our homes and to administer the sacrament ordinance inside our homes as well! Because of this and so many other things, the leaders of the Church deemed it best to close the MTC facilities, along with all the temples in the world as well. All trying to stop the spread of this crazy virus called Corona.

So, since the MTC facilities are closed, missionaries are learning their training and sometimes, if their mission requires, a whole new language while being in a room inside their own homes on a computer screen for long hours each day. They have instructors who teach, they have workshops they can sign up for, they are assigned a companion as though they are in the physical MTC so they can still experience companion study, etc, they have language classes, and they learn all the basics they will need to go in order to walk out of their own front doors and go serve the Lord. Here's where it gets tricky and where you should count your blessings if a mission is something you want to do yourself in the future (& also assuming that the MTC doors will be open for you to attend in person)....when Elder Garcia agreed to serve a mission, he did that for himself and 100% himself alone. He was the one who committed to follow mission rules, standards, etc. But remember, he is home. Where his family is still moving about all day, his life as he knows it really hasn't changed much (because during 2020 they even had school at home online just like he is doing the MTC classes!), if we run to the grocery store the possibility to run into friends is REAL and tempting to want to make plans to hang out. All of his normal life is still playing out all around him. He still has temptations like a computer that he can log onto and get into social media sites (even though the rules say not to), he has his own personal cell phone (well he did but it had to be removed because of said temptation), he has the normal kitchen and food he likes at the ready in the kitchen just up a short flight of stairs. Not much really has changed other than the fact that he has to get up early, get dressed in church clothes, and sit in the desk in his room that he has set up with all of his creature comforts around him. On the flip side...the rest of us here at home did not choose to serve a mission at this time yet somehow we are living missionary rules/standards/etc to some extent. I am not cleaning my house on Saturdays or throughout the week with Britney Spears jamming on the Alexa, I don't get in the car and listen to a ballgame playing or the 90's on Sirius XM, I can't even feel good about turning a baseball game on in the family room because technically that is against mission rules. So..we are all trying to help facilitate this missionary environment while sacrificing our day to day even though we didn't choose to serve a full time mission. Make sense? :) Good. 

So, this is what Home MTC looks like. A missionary, joined by other missionaries and a teacher, on a computer screen for 5-6 hours a day depending on what effort you put in. This is a long day in a chair, with irritating computer lights blazing at your eyeballs during that time. This is hard when you hear your parents and younger sister just upstairs making plans to take the boat out or you hear them as they head down to open the pool for friends to come join in the afternoon hours. Home MTC is hard on both the missionary and the family so I am pleased as ever that instructors come in and try to do all they can to make the most out of a not so grand situation. 

Today, prayers for normal to be back for future generations of missionaries,

Mom