The Mission Training Center

 

Monday, June 2, 2025

Today is Day #1! We flew from Boise to Salt Lake City yesterday, shuttled to Provo last night and checked into Senior Couple housing. I didn't count how many couples are in the MTC this week, but from the size of our gathering, it appears to be 50-something.

When we registered this morning, we were met by one of my all-time favorite paintings anywhere! This painting covered the wall of the room, and I couldn't imagine that someone would have made a full-size copy, and sure enough, upon inspection, I discovered it was the real deal! 


Entitled "The Final Judgement" commissioned in 1974 for the entry foyer of the Washington DC Temple when it opened. You will note that the temple is in the painting itself in the top left corner. It depicts Christ's judgement, with the wicked on his left hand and the righteous on his right. The artist, John Scott, painted himself in the painting, the kneeling guy closest to Christ, I believe. He also painted his estranged wife in it two times, once on the right and also on the left, saying he could not make a decision which side she would be on! One bit of trivia I had not noticed is that there are no children on the left hand of the Savior...

I had seen this painting before: it had greeted me and my friend Randy Cone in Washington DC in 1977 when he showed me 'his' temple. The Washington DC Temple was the magnificent influence in his conversion to Christ in 1974 prior to his baptism in August of that year, before he traveled to Rexburg to go to a church school. He became my kitchen mate at the old Idamont Hotel on Center Street at Ricks College, both of us as Freshmen. Randy was one of the friends that fulfilled the phrase in my Patriarchal Blessing which says "Choose for friends those that love the Lord, and they will be able to help you, and you will be able to help them fulfill your missions." 

Randy as a Ricks College Freshman when I met him. 
(Screen shot from "The Washington Temple Reopens")

     William Randall Cone bearing testimony
(Screen shot from "The Washington Temple Reopens")


He carried the light of his conversion in his face, his countenance, which intrigued me and even made me a little nervous at first. But we became friends. He may not even realize the effect he, and others including a certain young woman, had on me in helping me commit to going on a mission as a young man. There is quite a story here, too long for this purpose but recorded elsewhere, about his conversion and coming to my house for Thanksgiving that year and loving the whole experience. Ironically, he was called to the Idaho Pocatello Mission, which included my home in Parma, Idaho, and I was called to the Virginia Roanoke Mission just south of this home. On his mission, he served in my ward and taught friends in my home, and then on my way home from Virginia, I got permission to visit him and visit the temple with him. What a grand experience that was, and the Washington DC temple has been a favorite of mine ever since!


Washington DC Temple

The painting itself was removed from the WA Temple when it was remodeled a couple of years ago. It was refurbished and now hangs in Room B-109 at the Provo MTC in anticipation of a future location. I guess in retrospect, Sheri and I should have stood on the other side of the painting to be where we want to end up, on the right hand of Jesus!!!.

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