Week 63 in the Field: Rippaville Plantation and Family History Discovery Day

Family History Discovery Day booth at the Rippavilla Plantation at the Impact Festival.

Hi everyone!  I'm seriously out of ideas on how to open these things. So I'm just going to just go into it.

On Monday, Spring Hill elders came up for Pday. We pretty much did nothing but basketball and shop. I can't remember really anything else that we did. But in the evening we went over to a TS2 (Thompson's Station 2nd Ward) family and had dinner there. The wife was a convert from Brazil and enjoyed humidity. It was really fun talking with them. They enjoyed pointing out the multiple times Elder Nalder said "Y’all". It was great.

The Carter House (not my best picture due to the fact that we were in a car). This house is a huge landmark and museum of the Civil War.  Probably will visit one of these days.

Tuesday we went over to TS1 (Thompson's Station 1st Ward) family and helped her mow her yard and do some edging. It was great until the mower broke. We were still able to finish it though thanks to some neighbors. We also hoisted her trampoline over her fence which was a very big manly man moment. It was fun. It was kind of a bittersweet day for her because it was the two year anniversary that her husband passed away. She was grateful for the help. Turns out she's the sister in law to one of my favorite members in the Smith Spring's Ward.

Later in the day we had dinner with the TS1 elders quorum president and his family. After that we went out with him to see one of our families and had a rather long lesson with them. It was fun though.

 

Civil War wall and field in Franklin. The walls are left so that no one may touch it. Even if they fall. Some of these walls are over 200 years old.

Wednesday morning was kind of hectic in getting a ride to Franklin since we were out of contact with our ride. Thankfully we were able to get up there and had district meeting. I had Elder Bedwell train on bearing testimony. He stuck mostly to True to the Faith, which was great. I then trained on strengthening new converts and less-active members by having missionaries teach the importance of the temple. After that we got a ride back and started walking over to the TS1 WML (Ward Mission Leader's) home where we had dinner. We tried tracting after that with no success.

The Nashville, Tennessee temple.

Thursday we met up with our recent convert and had a fun time explaining the priesthood with him. After that we took him to The Well, where we did service. One of these days I'll get a picture of it so you will know what that place is like. Anyways, he had a fun time. We then went over to help a member move some hay bales which made me trunky for Eldorado. It was an interesting garden system. They used hay as ground and put soil and fertilizer. Plants were growing effectively out of them and since they were elevated, little critters couldn't get them. We ended the night with the TS2 WML in correlation.

Friday we had a long planning session which was fun. But before that we got to go to the temple which was fun. I had a good experience that led me to come up with an idea about how to better the companionship I'm in right now. It was great. After that we had dinner with a TS1 family and went tracting. We knocked into a kind black guy who allowed us to talk about the Book of Mormon. He was kind of trying to test our knowledge of the Bible, which I gladly demonstrated. He appreciated our knowledge but wasn't interested.

Front of the Rippavilla Plantation

Back of the Rippavilla Plantation

Saturday we went to this place called Rippavilla Plantation. It was a plantation built in the 1850's and served as a Confederate Hospital and living quarters. Back during the war, the Confederates were trying to maintain their hold on Nashville because Nashville had the Cumberland River as well as the train system. Meaning supplies. Union forces from the North and South were trying to stop the hold so that Sherman could march to Atlanta and sack the city. But they had one problem, General Hood maintained a good hold on the Southern side. Using some good tactics they were able to sneak past Hood's troops near Rippavilla and were able to win the battle of Franklin. This victory allowed the Union to dominate the battle of Nashville, thus leading to Sherman destroying Atlanta and pretty much securing victory for the Union. So yeah, cool place. Most of this I gained from tour guides so hopefully that's all true. 

Traditional "Gone With The Wind"- like staircase inside the home.

General Hood's bed. 

General Hood slept on this bed (at a different plantation) the night that Union troops slipped through Confederate's hands and went on to Franklin. Following the Union victory there, the Confederates didn't have a chance at the Battle of Nashville.  Thus Sherman was able to proceed, and they burned Atlanta.

Anyways we were there to help out at the Family History Discovery Day booth at the Impact Festival. There was a lot of music and a lot of people. It was loads of fun. One of our members played.  He was another American Idol contestant who didn't get as far as David Archuleta. He was really good though. After that we went home.

Impact Festival stage

Sunday was kind of the usual, except in TS2, I spoke in sacrament meeting about my conversion story as well as Elder Nalder and the TS2 WML. It was essentially unleashing the new Ward mission plan, which was really well received. We got a lot of compliments. After dinner with a TS2 family, we ended the day planning.

We are super excited for the future. I can't wait for this upcoming week cause it will be a lot of fun I'm sure.

See ya!

Elder Peery