Home MTC: Unexpected Blessings

My Aunt Melanie asked me to write this. She read about somebody else's experiences with having a missionary go through the MTC at home, and she thought it would be good if I wrote down the things that our family learned, too! Having Ashley home for the MTC was a really cool experience, and so I agreed to her request. It's taken me way too long to get it written, but here it is:  

This past summer --thanks to the pandemic --we were one of the many families who got to experience having a Home MTC for our missionary. It was unexpected and I was nervous about how it would play out. Our missionary is our oldest daughter, and we have a large family of 8 children! How could we keep the home reverent enough so our missionary could learn how to be an effective missionary? I was determined to make our home a special place for her, but I realized that our efforts could also fail. Did I have enough determination and faith to see this through? 

Gratefully, we did not fail and our daughter had a good experience! But I learned a lot of lessons, many of which still have me pondering. 

1. Being Set Apart Matters

When our daughter was set apart as a missionary by our Stake President, it was a very simple, yet spiritual event. We had all of our children dress in their Sunday best and gather in our living room. Our Stake President came into our home and spoke to us for a while. When he set our daughter apart as a missionary and gave her a blessing, we could feel the Spirit so strongly in our home! Her face was radiant when it was over, and there was a lot of hugging (mostly on my part). 

She started the MTC the next day, and within a few days, she told me that she couldn't believe the difference she felt --the Spirit was with her all the time, and so very strongly, too. She could sense the difference and it made her study time a lot more focused. She could feel the difference from before her setting apart and after --the Priesthood really was working! This gave her confidence and a lot of incredible moments of increased testimony as she was learning, especially when the language classes got difficult. 

2. You Can Feel the Spirit in Chaos

Our home wasn't as quiet and settled as I had hoped. I didn't suddenly stop yelling when the kids were loud and misbehaving and the toddler didn't just stop crying or screaming when he was upset. The kids still had moments of contention! Our family life had to continue and we had some of the same struggles we had before... but this time, it didn't seem to last as long. I think we were all more conscious of how our behavior could make the Spirit leave. A few times, our daughter had to leave the room because the Spirit left, and she felt uncomfortable. This was good for me because it helped me to recognize when the Spirit would be offended and need to flee. 

But what was remarkable to me was how many times she told me that the chaos of children didn't mean the Spirit left. It was only during moments of pure contention --and sometimes the chaos of a family isn't contentious! It's just loud, and boisterous; it's busy and full of all kinds of movement. This taught me a great lesson about how the Spirit can communicate with us, regardless of where we might be at the time. If we are doing our best and choosing to keep trying, the Holy Ghost will be there to guide us every step of the way. 

3. Our Daughter was Happy

The change that came over our daughter was very quiet and gradual, but we noticed how happy she became! Her personality didn't alter, and she was still the same person, but the light that came into her life and the attitude she carried with her was absolutely more positive and joyful. As she was learning the gospel and keeping the mission rules, we could see that her interactions with her siblings improved ten-fold. She was quick to forgive, chose to spend time with them, and much more eager to help around the house whenever she could. I was so impressed by her desire to serve the family! She had always been a kind and service-oriented person before, but it was another level of detail-finding that permeated our entire household. 

She was learning every day about serving and loving mankind. How could it not spill over into her life and where she was living at the time? We were the blessed recipients of seeing first-hand how complete devotion to the gospel of Jesus Christ can change the attitudes and actions of an individual. 

4. Added Time

Our oldest daughter had spent six months away from us before the Pandemic. She had gone to BYU as a Freshman, came home to visit for the Christmas holidays, and then returned to Provo to finish the semester before planning on returning just before her mission service. As we all know, these plans didn't quite work out! She ended up coming home by the end of March 2020 and finished her semester from home. She had received her mission call just 10 days before the pandemic hit, and so we knew when she was leaving --but everything changed. 

The blessing from this was that we got to have our daughter home with us for 4 months longer than we had anticipated! Our youngest child didn't really know her, as she left home when he was 8 months old. But as she spent those 4 months with our family, she was able to create a bond with her baby brother --one that has continued even after she left for her assignment. He knows her face and her voice, and so when she calls us on her P-Day, he gets very excited to talk with her! 

That is just one of the blessings we received having her with us for longer. Birthdays, camping trips, outings, and other memories were also made --blessings from a pandemic that we didn't know could produce anything but frustration and fear. Our extra time with her was a blessing for our entire family!

I'm so grateful that our daughter was able to still serve a mission during these difficult times. I'm grateful that she was able to do her Missionary Training at home! It was a beautiful experience, one that we won't ever forget.