MIDWAY, Utah — Upon visiting Midway, people find themselves in the true heart of the Olympics. Town lawns are scattered with flags from several different countries, nearly everyone sports an Olympic jacket and banners celebrating the Olympics mark every flag pole.

Park City and Soldier Hollow venues are in close proximity to this town of about 2,500, located about 40 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Members of three stakes from the area decided to make the Olympics an even more memorable experience by inviting athletes' families into their homes.

Lyle Gertsch, the Midway Utah Stake mission president, coordinated the home-stay program.

"It's kind of the Midway Olympics. We thought we were doing them the great favor of hosting them in our homes, but it was just the opposite," he said of the enrichment guests have brought to the host families.

More than 80 families in the Midway stake volunteered to have people stay in their homes, making it one of the most receptive.

Randy Hansen is hosting the wife and sister of Scottish athlete, Michael Dixon, who carried the flag for Great Britain during the Opening Ceremonies. He competes in cross country and biathlon. This is his sixth time competing in the Olympics.

His wife, Dulcie, said that of all the places they have been, she has felt the most welcome in Utah.

"The friendliness is overwhelming," she said.

Brother Hansen and his wife, Virginia, of the Midway 3rd Ward, said they enjoy having this family in their home.

The guests attended Church with Brother and Sister Hansen, expressing an interest in seeing what Church members believe. "I didn't know what to expect," Edith Dixon, the athlete's sister, said. "It's nice to see so many children."

She added that in Scotland most of the people who attend church are elderly; she described the sacrament meeting as more lively than other meetings she has attended.

Willi Fischer, an athlete's father from Germany, approached Salt Lake City and the Church with a different attitude. He is hosted by Midway 3rd Ward member Hans Fischer; they are not related. Willi Fischer told Hans Fischer that he had read about the Church and he knew that the city had been settled by Mormon pioneers.

Hans Fischer is originally from Berlin, Germany. He said that Willi Fischer found this very comforting. He was nervous about staying with people he didn't know, but when he received notification that their last names were identical and that Hans was fluent in German, he decided he would come.

"Willi said, 'That's an inspiration for me to go,' " Brother Fischer added.

Mr. Fischer's son, Sven Fischer, favored to win a medal, competes in the biathlon. The Church members who are hosting families hope for the creation of lasting friendships.

E-mail: ngrubbs@desnews.com