Wow, does that bring back mixed memories.

I stopped in at the Mission Home the next year, and if I remember correctly, we were the last group of foreign-speaking missionaries to spend the full week in the MH before being hauled off to Provo.

The whole experience for me, though, was a blur then and even more of a blur now. All I remember is feeling that the time we spent learning the discussions in English was a total waste, because we would spend weeks memorizing them in our LTM language, which completely erased anything we learned in SLC.

My most vivid memory was how bad the food was in the COB cafeteria. I wrote in my journal that they were trying to teach us tolerance with the menu. Later, when I worked at the COB, I noticed that somebody had instituted serious reform, because the food was much improved (both in taste and variety). The food in Provo, by the way, was much better than in the COB.

Thanks.

But a member of my current ward has one just like it (minus the engraving) displayed on a bookshelf in her home. I had forgotten completely about “my” coin until I saw hers recently.

Also, this paragraph was interesting:

…with her in the house every minute he was home, across the table for breakfast and dinner, her translucent white cap winged above her fine blue eyes, her immaculate uniformed slimness moving about the room, trailed by the adoring Davey and Ilene, her arms lifting and cradling his little Phyllis. She was just through the wall when he slept, and wherever she was, night or day, he was increasingly aware of her presence.

There is a sense of real life sexual tension in all this, almost like a beginning to an illicit affair. Very provocative for the RS Magazine!

Takeaway object lesson: Why do I feel obligated to point out small and maybe even unnoticible weaknesses and shortcomings instead of appreciating the gifts and talents God has given me? I don’t think I’m the only one who struggles with this.