Week 11 in the Field: Temple, Maggots, and the Influence of Others

Nashville Airport, where I arrived 11 weeks ago--and 

where Elder Leavitt will be leaving to fly home in just 9 days.

Hi everyone! This week has been kinda crazy.

Last Monday, a group of 12 missionaries (sisters and elders) was supposed to sing the National Anthem at the Nashville Sounds baseball game.  We had rehearsed well, and it sounded great in four-part harmony.  We even got to perform it at the mission home and Elder Tagaloa, one of our AP’s, sent the video to his mom to post on Facebook.  If you are friends with Sister Whitted, his mom, you can watch it.  My mom has posted it on her page, too.  Sadly, however, the baseball game got rained out, so we didn’t get to perform at the stadium, which was super annoying. 

On Wednesday we set a baptismal date with one of the members of a family we've been teaching for about two months now. However, for one reason or another she started getting bullied by a family friend to the point where she started doubting and questioning her own choice.

After consulting with President Andersen, we decided it was best to reassign the family to the sisters on Sunday. The choice was incredibly difficult for me since I had really grown to love the family. We got a text later from the girl saying she wanted to take a break from the Church for a while, which was totally sad. It really sucks that the opinions of others and their influence can alter someone else's life and their spiritual progression.  It's also been the second time someone we've grown to love stopped taking the lessons due to the influence of others.

On a happier note, last Friday we got to go through a session in the Nashville temple with Max, one of Elder Leavitt's converts from a year ago. Max is blind and had been baptized before he even read the Book of Mormon. According to Elder Leavitt, when he got the Book of Mormon in Braille, he started crying as he read the first verse of the book. After we went through the temple, Max was glowing. It was awesome to be there and witness it.

On Sunday we went to go talk to one of our investigators named Jake. Jake has a drinking problem, but that day he was wayyyy out of it. We saw that his leg, which he broke last November, wasn't looking good at all. And after noticing maggots (yes maggots) crawling around it, we called 911. It was incredibly disgusting, but I was so glad he was too drunk to feel anything. After loading him onto the stretcher in the ambulance, Elder Leavitt and I went home, and we each took a long shower. Super gross.  I am grateful, however, that we could be of help to him and get him the medical care he needed at a really bad time in his life.

Everything else is going well. Elder Leavitt will be headed home in just 9 days and in eight days I will have a new companion. By next week I will be finished with training and will have been out for 3 months in the field. 21 more months to go!

Elder Leavitt enjoys a quiet moment of reflection at the pond in our 

apartment complex during his last nine days in the mission field.

Hope you all are doing well.  Please stay in touch!

Elder Peery

You can contact me at:

Andrew.Peery@myldsmail.net

or

Elder Andrew Peery

Tennessee Nashville Mission

105 Westpark Drive, Suite 190

Brentwood, TN 37027-5010

Hope to hear from you this week!

Two of the cutest puppies (chihuahua and another dog mix) 

I've ever seen under a porch in a trailer home.