Sister Audrey Morgenegg of Knoxville, Tennessee, was approaching the entrance to the Provo Missionary Training Center for the first time when she found she needed a moment to breathe.
“As I was walking into the building, I just started crying. I just couldn’t keep going,” she recalled in a touching new Church News video.
Sister Morgenegg, along with other missionaries in her district, had been engaged in online training at home prior to coming to the Provo MTC. And when the weight of walking away from her family for the next 18 months hit her, Sister Morgenegg's mind turned to those missionaries she’d grown to love.
“I just needed a second to breathe and someone was like, ‘Are you okay? What do you need?’ And I was like, ‘To see my companion.’ [And] as soon as I saw my district I was like, ‘I can do it. It’s okay.’”
Sister Morgenegg’s experience is one example of the unforeseen blessings of virtual MTC training. Missionaries can connect prior to reporting to their assigned training center, giving them a familiar face to look for on their first day in person.
Church News reports that “most new missionaries will begin their training online at home for a third of their training, then travel to an MTC for the remaining two-thirds of their training.” This approach will combine the benefits of online and in-person training.
Watch the video of Sister Morgenegg’s experience below.