Our Setting Apart

We were set apart by President Brent Roberts of the Orem Utah Lakeview Stake on Sunday, April 29, 2012, the night before we entered the Provo MTC.

Scott and Beverly with President Roberts at the setting apart:

Members of our family who attended the setting apart:

We are thrilled to be full-time missionaries again.

Timeline for a Mission Call

Executive Summary: From our first interview with the bishop until we received our call, it was four months. From receiving our call until we entered the MTC, it was almost five months.

Scott with mission call letter, Beverly with granddaughter

Detailed Timeline

Here is a timeline for our missionary call to Spain.

Week 1.     Talked to bishop (first interview) about a mission (Aug 7, 2011)

Week 2.     Started filling out online recommendation forms.

Week 3.     Got dental checkups

Week 5.     Got medical checkups

Week 10.   Finished all online forms and submitted them for review by bishop

Week 11.   Had official missionary interview with bishop

Week 12.   Bishop received all medical and dental letters

Week 14.   Had official missionary interview with stake president

Week 14.   Stake President submitted recommendation forms to Church (Nov 6, 2011)

Week 15.   Received online questionnaire from Missionary Department asking about our comfort level with various assignments and climates

Week 18.   Received mission call (Dec 7, 2011)

Week 19.   Submitted acceptance letter to bishop for his endorsement and submission to Church

Week 19.   Received packet from Church with information about Spanish visa

Week 22.   Submitted our visa application materials, including FBI clearance, apostille from the state Lieutenant Governor’s Office, and passports to Church

Week 37.   Received word that our Spanish visas had been approved

Week 38.   Spoke in sacrament meeting

Week 39.   Entered MTC (Apr 30, 2012)

Week 40.   Flew to Spain (May 11, 2012 after 2 weeks at MTC)

Other Activities Before Submitting our Missionary Papers

• We received a call from the temple president about our interest in serving in the Madrid Temple.
• We communicated with our bishop and our stake president about our desire to serve in the Madrid Temple. (The Church actually encourages senior couples “to indicate their interests and preferences with respect to where and how they would like to serve.” Quoted from lds.org.)
• We talked to the person in charge of Spain visas at the Church Missionary Travel department.
• We communicated with the Temple Missionary Department about the possibility of serving in the Madrid Temple.
• We obtained our FBI clearance required at the time for a Spain visa, which shortened the time from receiving our call until we received our visa approval.

If you have other questions about missionary calls to Spain, let us know via email to spain.missionaries@hotmail.com.

Beverly's MTC Spanish Classes

For the past three months, Beverly has been taking Spanish lessons at the Provo Missionary Training Center or, when we were in St. George, through Skype, the online video-telephone system.

Beverly will continue taking Spanish lessons when we enter the MTC next week. Her personal tutor has been Sister Leah Anderson, shown here with Beverly in one of the MTC classrooms:

Beverly and Leah Anderson

Sister Anderson is a returned missionary from Ashton, Idaho, who served a mission to Washington, D. C. (Spanish speaking). She is currently a BYU student majoring in English education. She is a marvelous teacher, with great spiritual depth, excellent knowledge of Spanish, and amazing patience. Beverly looks forward to continuing her lessons with Sister Anderson until we leave for Spain on May 11, 2012.