Grant Goes on a Mission: My FAVORITE place in Utah

I said goodbye to my friend Elder Christensen

My very best friend, Sophie, goes to the MTC next week, and to get her excited, I wanted to write a little about arguably my favorite place in Utah.

The MTC is the greatest place in Utah because it represents something HUGE.

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The MTC IS a school. But it is the greatest school. I mean this. I am going to explain by relating the MTC to traditional school.

The MTC is a center that teaches its students the language of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the purpose of bettering the world.

The students going to the MTC are not there to gain great jobs. They are not there to gain any money. They are there because they want to better the world, and follow Jesus.

The MTC is a short term training center that BELIEVES IN THE FUTURE. They take any student and believe they will be great. The goal is not to weed out the weak, but to uplift all. And the goal is to get them out in the world as quickly as possible, instead of semesters of textbook training, they believe in the reality of training experience, after missionaries leave.

All students who come to the MTC are equally great, though they are made better by their choices... which is what a school should do.

Using a quote from Saturday's General Conference Session;

President Uchtdorf stated that ,"blessings are based more on choices than on ability."

This is a HUGE truth. And the thing about traditional school, is that a lot of times, success is based on ABILITY. I have seen kids roll out of bed late, without breakfast, WITHOUT STUDYING, ace tests, scholarly exams, etc. while other kids, who make choices to study, and study hard, still score less, or achieve less "success."

But by changing the end goal, the MTC makes all its students better than who they were. It does not divide students, but it brings them together. I have felt a stronger sense of unity and almighty force there, then I have ever felt. I have felt more hope for our future, for my generation, then I have ever felt before just by walking its halls.

The MTC is the greatest school because it is removed from this world. Its purpose does not have anything to do with this world. It only has to do with greater, higher things. It's on another level than any college.

I leave you with a quote from C.S. Lewis.

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. . . . There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. . . . It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit.

I love the MTC and it is God´s training institution.

Sophie, I am so happy for you.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH,

ELDER AMANN

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