May 11, 2012 Report from Shelly

Sis. Hope is a volunteer nurse at the MTC on Thursdays, and is a friend of Michael's friend, Sarah Johnson.  Sis. Hope called this morning (her second call to us since Mike entered the MTC).  She let us know that Michael is doing well.  He pops his head in the medical office every Thursday to say hello to her.  She asks how he is doing, how he is getting along with his companion.  He always has positive reports unless she asks about how the language is coming.  Sis. Hope tells him to not worry so much about that.  That he will get it sooner or later.  She said that he will realize, about six months into his mission, that he is beginning to think in Spanish.

Sis. Hope said that on her way out of the MTC yesterday, she came upon Michael's class practicing their lessons in the hallway.  Mike didn't see her.  She just observed quietly for a moment.  She said his class (district) is a good one.  She said it is really fun to be able to see the young people she knows in action there at the MTC.

As a mother of a missionary-in-training, it is a comfort to be able to have these first-hand reports and imagine these little vignettes.  Michael mentions Sis. Hope frequently in his correspondence.  I know that for him, too, his acquaintance with her feels like a comforting connection to home.  What a blessing to have my prayers answered, even, and especially, in ways of which I could not conceive.  I appreciate her sweetness and care for Michael, even though she had never met him before he went into the MTC.  Heavenly Father truly knows each of us so well and blesses us so specifically.