Week 77 in the Field

Week 77 in the Field  ~  Monday, November 23, 2015

 The Parthenon from the side

So on Monday we went to Centennial Park in West Nashville. For those of you who don't know, that is the park where the only life-size replica of the Parthenon is located. It was initially just made out of sticks and stuff for some kind of fair, but people liked it so much that they wanted the real deal. So they commissioned it, and I think it was finished in the 1930's or something. It was really cool on the outside, but it was closed so we couldn't go inside. Yet another anti-missionary location that is only closed on Mondays and Sundays. But alas, we still had fun. We played football, kickball, and ultimate frisbee. The kickball we used was a soccer ball that really messed up everyone's feet. It was still a lot of fun though.

The Parthenon from the front

The Parthenon pillars

Tuesday we went to Smyrna area to pick up and drop off some things with the former missionary down in the Rock Springs Ward. It took a lot longer than I expected and we didn't really get back into it till later. But we still had a good time. In the evening we went and had dinner with the Knott's, one of the original families from when I was here 21 years ago. They remembered my dad home teaching them and told me loads of stories. Apparently I was a really, really cute baby back in the day. Don't ask me what happened haha. 

Percy Priest Lake

Wednesday at district meeting, the Hermanas asked me to play Christmas hymns, which I reluctantly played. I normally don't play Christmas stuff till after Thanksgiving. But it's whatevs. We then went on exchanges. I was with Elder Nielsen from Providencia, and we went teaching in our area. We had dinner with David, who was feeling kind of sick afterwards. In the evening we went and saw a few more people before calling it.

Thursday we spent the majority of our time in two apartment complexes. The zone leaders who were here weren’t able to update much of the area book, and there were loads of former investigators and people who didn't even live there anymore. We cleared out a ton of people and eventually set up some appointments for this week as well. We also got to see a lot of the people my trainer, Elder Leavitt, had taught, too which was cool. In the evening we had dinner at a Providencia member's house. Since they were Spanish I didn't say too much, but was able to say some stuff to them. I even shared the message in Spanish, which the father used in his sacrament meeting talk this past Sunday. So cool.  After that we went over to Ashley's and found out her husband is cleared to baptize her this Saturday! We're stoked.

Bro. Mortensen playing his steel guitar

Friday we met up again and then had a lot of weekly planning. In the evening we had dinner with the Hardisty's. Sister Hardisty was my first baby sitter which was kinda weird, but cool. Her husband showed us his music collection. He had a load of cool stuff. I'll probably just buy one more guitar and a better amp if I want to increase my music collection.

Saturday we taught a load of people. Like seriously half our lessons came from Saturday. One of the guys we met was Frank and he had just gotten out of prison a few months ago and he was super solid. He had met with missionaries before and he was kind of looking for some guidance. We have a follow up appointment with him on Tuesday. After dinner with David we saw one guy who talked a bunch, which was fun. It was a good day for my 18 month mark! I officially have less than six months left now.

Sunday I didn't have to teach Gospel Principles ‘cause Bro. Naylor did. We then saw a couple people and then had dinner with the DeFriez family who used to live in Tysons Corner in Virginia, which was fun. We literally talked for about ten minutes straight about Virginia, sports, and everything else over there. It was cool. In the evening we went over to a really ghetto place but that was about it.

Deer outside this morning

Today we are playing a ton of racquetball and plan to have a good night contacting people. I'm excited for the last week of the transfer. We will let you all know what happens.  Hope you have a good week!

Elder Peery