Sister and Elder Hintze: 1/10/23

MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2023

Hello, family and friends! We have just completed our first week in the Missionary Training
Center. There have been so many incredible learning opportunities and edifying experiences that
it is extremely difficult to pick which ones to share with you. I have chosen to share the ones
that stand out poignantly enough to retell them without going to my notesѮѯѰѱ. For my friends
who are reading this email who are not of my faith, please look to the bottom of the email for
definitions of the terms I will use that you are probably not familiar with. I remember when I
was learning about the gospel, how foreign the words were for me.

When we entered the MTC (Missionary Training Center) last Monday, we were in a group of
180 senior missionaries beginning their missionary training. That’s the largest group of senior
missionaries since before Covid. Combined with the Elders and the Sisters that make up the
junior missionaries, there are a total of 3700 missionaries here! The first day that I looked at the
sea of missionaries in the cafeteria, I was overwhelmed by the thought that all of these people,
whether age 18 or age 68, are dedicating their time away from their studies, their jobs, and their
families at their own expense to serve the Lord all across the world. What a beautiful sight this
was to behold!

The first experience I will share came from a meeting on Wednesday which was entitled “The
Character of Christ”. We had an opportunity to view a video of a very powerful talk given by
Elder Bednar with the same title, “The Character of Christ”. The objective was to consider who
Christ really was. Although Christ was the Son of God, he was also a mortal man. What
attributes did Christ possess that allowed him to disregard the mortal, natural man in Him and
always turn outward in compassion? What kind of character did He possess that allowed him to
be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of His life to provide exaltation and salvation for us?
Elder Bednar told a very impactful story to demonstrate what it looks like for us as humans to
take on the character of Christ. He was serving as a Stake President when he received a phone
call late one night from the Relief Society president. She reported to him that there had been a
car accident and that three young women from their stake were in that car, including her own
daughter. She did not know at that time what condition her daughter and the other girls were in,
but she asked him to go to the hospital to administer a blessing to each of them. As she was
dressing to go to the hospital herself, she received a call from a sister in the ward that was upset
because someone was supposed to deliver her dinner that night but never showed up with her
dinner. Before she left the house, she received another call from the hospital to notify her that
her daughter had not survived the accident, but the other two girls had. Her first order of
business was to call Elder Bednar and ask him to call the other mothers to let them know that
their daughters were alive. Despite the fact that she was on her way to the hospital to identify
her daughter’s body, she first went to deliver a meal to the woman who had received no dinner
that night. On the day of her daughter’s funeral, she invited Elder Bednar to come early so that
he could view her body in its present condition rather than in the condition he saw her in
immediately following the accident. She told him she didn’t want him to remember her that
way. So, what is it that prompted this woman to look outward, showing concern for the other
mothers, for the woman who needed a meal, and for Elder Bednar, while taking no concern for
herself. She was a woman who definitely possessed at least some of the attributes of Christ. The
next day we were given a list of 50 attributes of Christ and to score ourselves 1-5 on how much
of that attribute we possessed. We then chose one attribute to focus on for the week. That was
definitely a lesson in humility.

The second experience that left a lasting impression on me was a talk by the present General
Relief Society president, Sister Camille Johnson. Every Tuesday evening, we have a devotional
with a general church leader as a speaker. She told the story of an old plow horse named
Snowman who was purchased at an auction on his way to the slaughterhouse for only eighty
dollars. The purchaser was looking for a cheap horse to use as a lesson horse for children. After
he sold it to a neighbor, he recognized talent in the horse because he kept jumping fences to
return to the original owner. He bought Snowman back from his neighbor and began training
Snowman as a show jumper. He ultimately proceeded to win prestigious jumping
championships and all kinds of national awards. The lesson in this story is that we must look at
people through the lens in which Christ would see them, with all of their divine potential. When
Christ looked at the woman at the well, he didn’t see her sins and transgressions, he saw only her
divine nature and the opportunity to save a child of God. The lesson in this story will stay with
me as I meet and teach the people of southern Georgia.

There were just a few other little tender mercies that happened this past week. One of them was
when a couple stopped us in the grocery store. The young woman was from Mexico but said she
served a mission in Texas. All she could talk about was how much impact the senior
missionaries had in her ward. She loved the senior missionaries and said they were instrumental
in bringing her sister back to church. That gave us a little shot in the arm as we go out to serve.
The other little miracle that occurred was when I found a young sister missionary in the sea of
missionaries. I knew that Maura Boley, a young woman that was my neighbor when I lived in
Cedar Hills, had entered the MTC just two days after I did. Although I haven’t seen her since
she was ten years old, I knew exactly the face I was looking for. But all week went by and I
hadn’t been able to find her. One day at lunch I excused myself from the table where I was
sitting and told Jerry that I was going to walk through the cafeteria and look at every face of
every sister until I found her. I spent about 15 minutes walking by every table and looking at
every face until I finally gave up. As Jerry and I were walking out of the cafeteria on our way to
our next class, in she walked! We both stood silently for a moment looking into each other’s
faces until we recognized each other and then gave each other a big bear hug! I don’t believe that either of these instances was accidental. God really does know us personally and wants to bless the righteous desires of our hearts.

John 10:14 - “I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep.”

Definitions:

• Ward – a congregation of a geographical area, similar to a parish, usually consisting of about 250 members
• Stake – a group of 8-10 wards. Stakes meet together twice a year for larger services called Stake Conference.
• Relief Society- the women’s organization of the church. Relief Society was founded in 1842 and has over 7 million members in 18 countries. We meet every other Sunday to discuss topics of special interest to women, have occasional social activities, and do service together.
• General Relief Society President – every ward and stake has its own Relief Society president. The General Relief Society President serves over the entire body of women in the church.