Our Missionary - Elder Jackson Williams~

Provo Mission Training Center - MTC

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we have 405 missions throughout the world. Our young men and women volunteer to serve on these missions There are also many adult couples that serve. The young men can choose to go on a mission at the age of 18 years old. The young women can go on a mission when they are 19 years old. The young men serve for two years and the young women for 18 months.  You may have seen young men and young women walking, or riding bicycles around your area. The young men are typically in suits and the young women in dresses. They are usually just two of them that comprise a companionship. All of the missionaries pay for their own missions either from money they have earned, with their families help and or if the family can't pay for their mission there are funds to assist. Members of the church can donate money to their ward or general mission fund. Before leaving for a mission the missionaries go through one of our temples. There are 142 temples around the world.  Here you can learn why we build temples. 

Jackson our grandson received his Missionary call on January 15th to the Omaha, Nebraska mission; you can read about it here.   Jackson went through the Provo Temple on February 13th 2014.

Provo Temple~

 It was a very special occasion. You can read more about the Mission Training Centers here.
 Jackson entered the Provo Missionary Training Center yesterday on Wednesday, March 19th. Here he will be trained to be a missionary for three weeks. After the three weeks he will fly to his mission area in Omaha, Nebraska.We are so excited for him. He will be a great missionary. 

 This is a picture of Jackson just after he gave a talk in Sacrament meeting.

 We commonly call this a mission farewell talk. 

His message was on our Savior, Jesus Christ's Atonement.

 After Church we went to Jackson's home to celebrate this occasion~

 Friends and family gather together~

 Here is my dear husband, Jackson's grandfather~

 Our Granddaughter in law with her two sons; Baby Sagan and Jaden~

Jacob, our grandson~

Sean, Mary and their friend Tammy~

 Tammy and Mary~

Our grand daughter in law, Jessica and our grandson Jed.

On Tuesday night, Jackson was set apart by their Stake President. The Stake President through the priesthood gives him the rights and privileges of an Elder. This is when he officially starts his mission. He is now called Elder Williams.

The following are pictures taken just after he was set apart~

Pictures of our future missionaries~

 

 Joseph, age 15

 Jeffery, age 9~

 Joshua, age 7 - Note that he is sitting by the Bishop of their ward. 

He looks like a future Missionary and perhaps a Bishop someday. 

Grandmother, Virginia- Mary's mother, Mary, Jackson, Joseph,

 Grandfather, Roger and Grandmother, LeAnn

Jeffery and Joshua~

 Grandfather, Jackson and Grandmother~

Jackson's parents -
Mary, Jackson, and Sean

After the setting apart blessing, we took Jackson to dinner. When we dropped him off it was hard to say good-by. He will be gone for 2 years. We will be emailing, sending fun packages, and writing letters to him for the next two years. We are so pleased with his desire to serve a mission. 

 On Wednesday his parents took him out to lunch before entering the MTC. 

Jackson on the way to the MTC~

On this day there are a large number of Elders and Sisters that will come to the Provo MTC. This happens every Wednesday. Their are approx. 3,800 missionaries in the Provo MTC at it's capacity. If the missionaries are going on a foreign language mission, they are in the MTC for 6 to 8 weeks. The Provo MTC teaches 50 languages. There are 15 MTC's  throughout the world. There are over 80,000 missionaries serving  at this time.

You can learn more about church statistics here. 

Here you can learn all about being a missionary in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.