February 27, 2016 Typical schedule at the MTC, and facilities

Front entrance of MTC with close up of landscape

Front Entrance of MTC

Aerial view of the MTC

Hello Friends,  

My typical schedule at the MTC is as follows (with some variation):

Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday - Saturday

6:30am   Arise

7:15 - 7:45am   Breakfast @ cafeteria

7:45am - 10:50am  Classroom instruction / teaching investigators

11am - 12noon     Exercise

12:30pm - 1:10pm   Lunch @ cafeteria

1:10pm - 5:10pm   Classroom instruction / teaching investigators

5:10pm - 5:50pm   Dinner @ cafeteria

5:50pm - 9:30pm   Classroom instruction / investigators,  personal and companion language study, and 5 minutes of planning.

9:30pm   Return to headquarters

10:15pm  Quiet time in dormitory

10:30pm  Lights out promptly, sleep

NOTE:  Every Monday morning we do a service project (so far we have only done cleaning of the MTC facilities).     Wednesday night is TRC.    Tuesday and Sunday night we have a Devotional, along with some choir time.

Comments about the exercise facilities and cafeteria:  (when Kirsten's mom was at the MTC back in the dinosaur age, there was only one cafeteria, and a gymnasium (basketball court) for exercise, which was dominated by the Elders.  So she usually went on a walk on the MTC grounds or socialized with other missionaries.)  Now there are three cafeterias and several sports areas:

Sister Kirsten Parker:  "There are two gyms/gymnasiums here at the MTC.  One has a cardio section with free weights, and workout machines (like a real gym--it's not huge, but still it's a decent size) and then in another building there's the sport gym.  We can play volleyball, four square, basketball, and then upstairs are mats and a staircase.  Then on the next floor up, is a running track and it has a few workout machines on the curves of the track.  Bike machines, elliptical, pull-up machine, other diverse machines.  There are also a lot of food choices in the cafeteria.   I don't know if I mentioned that.   Oh yes-- and dessert, lots of desserts are here." 

Friday is P-Day  (Preparation Day)

6:30am  Arise

7:15am - 7:45am   Breakfast.   We either get a sack lunch or go to the cafeteria

8amish - 11:55am   Go to the Provo Temple which is a couple big blocks away from the MTC

12 noon   Lunch @ cafeteria

1pm - 5pm   Laundry and emails

5:10pm    Dinner @ cafeteria

5:55pm  Personal study

7pm   Study with missionary Companion(s)

8pm   Language study

8:55pm - 9pm   Planning

10:15pm   Quiet time at dormitory

10:30pm  Lights out promptly, sleep

Sunday

6:30am   Arise

7:15am - 7:45am   Breakfast @ cafeteria

8am-10am   Study / interviews with Ecclesiastical leaders

11am  - 4pm   Church, temple walk (exercise/fresh air), lunch.
Church consists of Relief Society (Sisters/women's meeting) [Priesthood meeting for the Elders], Missionary district meeting, Sunday School, then Sacrament Meeting.

4:10pm  Dinner @ cafeteria

5:15pm   Choir

7pm   Devotional/Fireside

8:15pm  Movies.   They play different, multiple, MTC talks from which to go to, talks that are awesome and also Church movies, often provided in English & other languages.   There was the Joseph Smith movie in Japanese a couple of weeks ago.   We didn't watch it though, because we couldn't follow the Japanese quite well.

10:15pm  Quiet time at dormitory

10:30pm  Lights out promptly, sleep


The following descriptions are from http://mtc.byu.edu/themtc-virtualtour.htm   (this is now a broken link, so I have substituted some new pictures from the MTC's updated website, as of 3/9/2016, as well as other photos from search engine results for the MTC )

Cafeteria

There are three cafeterias at the MTC with a combined seating capacity of 1,200 missionaries, serving approximately 8,000 - 10,000 meals per day. Our goal is to provide quality, nutritious, and appealing food to keep the missionaries healthy and happy.

Classroom

Missionaries study a majority of the day. Their curriculum includes gospel and scripture study as well as language courses.

Devotional

Weekly devotionals and firesides are held in which General Authorities, Missionary Department leaders, the MTC presidency, and their wives instruct and motivate missionaries.

Gymnasium

Each missionary is scheduled for five hours of supervised exercise each week. The gymnasium also doubles as an auditorium that seats over 2,000 missionaries for devotionals and other events.   
There are also opportunities to use an exercise - workout area, and in good weather, to do outdoor sports.

Large Group Meeting

Occasionally it is appropriate for several districts of missionaries to meet together in one large group meeting. This provides interaction between several missionaries under the supervision of one teacher.

Mailroom

Communicating with their families is very supportive for the missionaries. Often handing over 4,000 letters and 500 packages a day, we provide accurate, prompt, friendly and professional service.

View of the famous wall-sized map

Missionaries like to point to where their mission destination is. *************************************

Note:  Our district leader (another young missionary, an "Elder") picks up our regular mail ("snail mail") 6 days/week from the Mailroom.   So yes, I can receive regular mail or a package on any day.   P-Day though, is reserved for writing letters and checking emails and responding to them.