Monday, January 11, 2016

Week 84 in the Field: Learning The Lord's Way

1-4 Northcutts Cove Chapel - The oldest standing LDS meetinghouse in the south. Built in 1909, some renovations on the inside (including lighting and heating) have been added
 to the original structure, but most of it is pretty original.

Okay lots to cover.

Monday we went down to the oldest standing LDS meetinghouse in the southeastern states. The Northcutts Cove Chapel was built on October 24, 1909. The door was open so we got to go inside and look around. It had a very peaceful feeling about it and you could feel the power of the spirit from behind the pulpit.




In the evening we had a great dinner with the stake president and his wife and we talked about the stake itself and how close it is to splitting into two stakes. Probably will happen in six months to a year. In the evening we went and saw Debra who is still struggling stopping smoking as well as getting up on weekends.



Tuesday we went to go work on the house again. I should make a note that although it may appear that's mostly what we do, the total time we usually spend on working on the house is about two hours every time. It's not a huge project really. After that we went on exchanges with the ward clerk and went to go see a few people. In the evening we went to try some more people and got into one house. He wasn't interested, but something Elder Harrison ate didn't agree with him so he had to use the dude's bathroom leaving me with an uninterested investigator for about 15 minutes. Here's how good I've gotten at talking to people. There was not one bit of awkward silence. Found out he was in the Navy during the Yugoslavian revolts as an electrician, something he's continued to do. I also found out he worked in Norfolk, VA which is decently close to home. It was cool talking with him, shame he wasn't interested.


The Manchester District (from left to right: Elder Tracy, Elder Partida (kneeling), Elder Harrison, Elder Catherall, Elder McClain (crouching), Elder Peery,
 Hermana James, Hermana Lutui)


Wednesday we had the last district meeting of the transfer and it was a lot of fun. Elder Harrison trained on using the Book of Mormon and Hermana Lutui trained on diligence. Kudos to her cause that's a difficult subject to train on. After that we went on exchanges with the district leader and I went down to Manchester with Elder Catherall. For the most part all we did was tract and walk. We walked about 12 miles which was fun. Catherall's kind of a quiet kid but he was cool to talk to.
Book of Mormon study group in Tullahoma

In the evening we had a Book of Mormon study class in Tullahoma which was fun.

Thursday we went back to McMinnville and did some more service on the house. All subfloor is down and we were starting to put the drywall up. We then struck out the rest of the day which was kind of sad.

Friday was the same story minus service. In the evening, President called, and among other things, he told us that Elder Harrison would be sent to Clarksville to be in a trio, and I would receive two missionaries here and be in a trio. The missionaries I will be serving with will be Elder Barrus and Elder Beckett. Elder Barrus replaced me in Thompson's Station and was greenie busted there by Elder Jensen and Elder Bedwell. Elder Beckett came out with Harrison so this will be fun. 
Playing a Les Paul Gibson


Saturday was spent mostly saying goodbye to people. We had dinner with the Pennington's and after dinner Bro. Pennington took us downstairs to his recording studio and had us jam on some of his instruments. I got to mess around on his Les Paul which was super fun, and I also got to play his bass and drums. Super fun time.

Sunday we taught Gospel Principles on the final judgment. So far the only area I haven't taught gospel principles in yet has been Hendersonville. It's been a lot of fun. Basically when it came to the lesson the point was that although we don't know everything about the final judgment, we need to be more worried about how our hearts will be at that time. President Dennis of the mission presidency sat in on the lesson, which was cool, too. After church we went over to the Caten's to go have lunch there and play games. After that we mostly just spent more time saying goodbye and packing.

If there's anything I've learned this transfer it could be summed up best in a quote by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

"The people around us are not perfect. People do things that annoy, disappoint, and anger. In this mortal life it will always be that way. Nevertheless, we must let go of our grievances. Part of the purpose of mortality is to learn how to let go of such things. That is the Lord’s way. Remember, heaven is filled with those who have this in common: They are forgiven. And they forgive. Lay your burden at the Savior’s feet. Let go of judgment. Allow Christ’s Atonement to change and heal your heart. Love one another. Forgive one another. The merciful will obtain mercy." 

I know that certain judgments from people shouldn't offend others. But if we are ever offended we must forgive those who trespass us. A good quote is "Harboring anger is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die." It doesn't work to just hold it in. You have to let it go. Here is the link to President Uchtdorf’s talk: 

 But yeah that's basically what happened this week. I'm looking forward to transfers and a new start. Hopefully this will be a good one and hopefully I'll be able to cram three missionaries into an apartment built for one.

Thanks for your emails and letters. I really appreciate your support.

Elder Peery


Elder Andrew Peery
Tennessee Nashville Mission
1646 Sunset Road
Brentwood, TN 37027
Blog:  Elderpeery.blogspot.com

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