LDS missionaries at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah have recently had an experience unlike any other group during their stay. For weeks missionaries sit in desks eight to ten hours each day to study scriptures and language, and to learn teaching and interpersonal skills. Other than going to the Student Health Center when ill or visiting the Provo Temple each week, missionaries don’t leave the MTC campus. But an opportunity was important enough that the president of the MTC allowed hundreds of missionaries to leave the campus for an hour to go and experience it.
MTC President Lon Nally encouraged missionaries to visit the Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann and Frans Schwartz exhibition. The BYU Museum of Art (MOA) opened its doors for these visiting missionaries May 5-17, sometimes before normal operating hours, in order to accommodate the schedules of more than 1,000 missionaries. Each missionary who attended sacrificed their laundry or gym time to come view the paintings of Jesus Christ’s life.
“Missionaries at the MTC are learning daily of Christ and soon they will be teaching of him and his attributes,” President Nally said. “As one views the Sacred Gifts exhibition, it has the potential to spiritually uplift a soul.”
President Nally and his wife have visited the exhibition and have already seen the impact it’s having on individual missionaries.
“I watched a young elder walk into the display and view the very first painting,” President Nally said, referring to Franz Schwartz’s Agony in the Garden. “He was speechless and his face was soaked with tears. No words needed to be spoken between us, for I could see he was at that moment having a life-changing experience.”
President Nally said the feedback from the missionaries who visited the exhibition has been overwhelmingly positive.
“They have expressed, with deep appreciation, the privilege it was for them to have been permitted to attend,” President Nally said. “They humbly express their love for the Savior and are continually expressing thanks for being allowed to view the display.”
Sarah Flake and her missionary companion, Alicia Muse, were three weeks into their six-week MTC stay before they came to see the exhibition. Both were grateful for their time spent seeing the artistic depictions of Christ and pondering his significance in their faith.
“Just walking in there, I could feel how important this was,” Muse said. “Barely anyone was talking, and you could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
Flake was happy that the exhibition exceeded her expectations.
“At first I thought, ‘We’re just going to be staring at paintings,’” Flake said with a smile. “But that changed. There was definitely a reverent feeling. It was beautiful.”
Both felt that missing their gym time that day was worth it.
“It was worthwhile because I feel it strengthened my relationship with Jesus Christ,” Muse said.
“I testify that what she said is true,” Flake said.
Hilarie Ashton, marketing and public relations manager for the MOA, said that while arranging for hundreds of missionaries to see the exhibition required careful coordination, it was well worth the effort.
“We were so glad to have the MTC missionaries see Sacred Gifts before these works of art leave the museum later this month,” Ashton said. “It was truly a pleasure to host and accommodate the elders and sisters, as they bring a unique spirit to our galleries.”