Puppy!
So on Monday we went up to Thompson's
Station, where we mostly played basketball and baseball. Nothing going on too
much, but after that I went on exchanges with Elder Daines, the Franklin Zone
Leader in Franklin, TN and we went over to this one member's home where they
fed us pork tenderloin and other good stuff. It was awesome. We then played a
church version of Scattergories, which I came in third. We then had a super,
super spiritual lesson with them and we were teaching the restoration. Even
though they were strong active members, it was still really spiritual and
almost brought me to tears. We also taught a less-active family where the
husband worked for CMT (Country Music Television) and he had worked with a lot
of the stars you hear about like Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban.
Tuesday we were kind of all over the place.
We started out by having lunch at a seventy's home. He's a lot older now and
has some dementia, but he remembers being ordained by Mark E. Peterson and
supervised missionary work on stake levels back in the 80's. He was a convert,
too, and gave us his conversion story which is like 5 pages long. That was a
really cool visit. We saw and taught a few other people too and did some
service for another elderly guy.
Wednesday we met back up and I introduced the
finding tournament in district meeting. Both sets of sisters are down for it
and will be working hard to beat everyone. After district meeting we went to go help out
Joe move some things to his shop in Columbia. I think he's really starting to
like us which is great! After that we had a lesson with this mom of two and
these kids were absolutely crazy. And the mom was pretty good with discipline,
but they just didn't care. The mom is still kind of a fence sitter, so we are
working with her on figuring out what she wants to do. She hasn't read any of
the assignments we've given her, so I literally just gave her two verses on
happiness (Alma 27:17-18) for her to think about.
The good
news is that I found out that day that I got accepted for that job I was
applying for in Herndon, so I should be working within a few weeks of being
home! They will send me an official
offer letter soon.
Thursday we went and helped Joe again, but
this time we spent some time doing some mulching, which was fun. While I'm
writing this, I forgot to mention that last Saturday while we were doing
service, I got to ride a riding lawnmower. I think it was my first time driving
one since I usually used a push mower. I think I now officially qualify to be a
true Southerner. But yeah, after that we went and saw a recent convert and
explained baptisms for the dead more. She can't wait to go to the temple! It's
so exciting. After that we went tracting, and a little puppy started following
us so we took her back to where she came from. But it was still cute.
Friday we did a lot of planning and tracting.
There wasn't too much going on that day that I can remember, however, in the
evening we went out to eat at Pucketts, thanks to a member. Probably had one of
the best burgers and fries I've ever had there. While there we got a text to go
help out a returning member with her two year old who was in the hospital with
breathing problems. We gave her a blessing and the next day she felt better and
was able to return home. We should be seeing them on Monday or Tuesday night.
Saturday was kind of an adventure. We got
picked up to do some service at this one family's home. They lived way out in
the boonies and had their own goat farm which was cool. The goats were awesome
and super fun to mess with. It also turned out it was one of their kid's birthday
that day, and so we were able to celebrate with them. They were massive
baseball fans, and it turns out their favorite teams were the Cubs, Nationals,
and Dodgers which are all my favorites too (the other team I like is the Red
Sox). The kid got a Bryce Harper jersey, which was really neat.
Sunday we went off to church and attended
Gospel Doctrine, since no one stuck around for Gospel Principles. It was a
really good lesson on the allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5. I really
enjoyed the teacher and the lesson especially. The allegory is basically about
the scattering and gathering of the house of Israel using an olive vineyard.
The Lord of the vineyard has a tree with good roots that he uses to
plant other trees in different parts of the vineyard, he then checks on the
fruit of each tree periodically and judges whether the fruit is good or bad. If
the fruit is good, he collects it and preserves it, or uses it to help trees
that are bad. If they are bad, he works with them by grafting the good or other
things.
Eventually,
all the fruit becomes bad and so the Lord seeks to reclaim it by calling
servants to assist him in restoring the vineyard. My favorite part of the story
is when the servant asks the Lord of the vineyard in verse 21
basically saying "Why did you plant in this spot of ground? For its the
poorest spot in all the vineyard!"
And the
Lord replies to him saying "Counsel me not; I knew that it was a poor spot
of ground; wherefore, I said unto thee, I have nourished it this long time, and
thou beholdest that it hath brought forth much fruit." So no matter what
the Lord asks us to do, He knows what He's doing and we shouldn't try to judge
or convince Him otherwise. For He can see things we are unable to see because
of our finite minds that cannot begin to comprehend what He can see. When we
allow our will to become in line with His, we begin to develop an eye single to
the glory of God, which allows us to look at things through His eyes, in a
minuscule way. Cool stuff.
Here is a
link to Jacob Chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon, so you can read it, too:
Here is a
link to a video of seminary students tending an Old Testament olive vineyard:
Here is a
link to information on the allegory:
After church
we had a good lunch at a member’s home and taught the gospel of Jesus Christ to
her non-member husband. He doesn't seem too interested at this point, but we
will see what happens. We then did some studies and then later had dinner with
the family who's daughter is getting baptized this Sunday. She has a hard time
retaining things but hopefully she'll be fine.
Incidentally,
some of you may remember Hermana James who was in my district for three months
in McMinnville. Anyways, she had to go home a week ago because she may have
lymphoma in her windpipe and lungs area. President Andersen asked us as a
mission to fast and pray for her, so I'm forwarding this to y'all to please pray for Hermana James. She's a good friend of
mine, and I really hope she can recover quickly and come back out soon. Thanks
a lot.
It's so
weird next week I turn 22, and then three weeks from then I go home. It's all
coming so fast. I'm excited to see what'll happen these next few weeks. I'm
trying my best to stay focused, but I'm extremely excited
to begin the next phase of my life.
See you
in four,
Elder Peery
Elder
Peery’s mom here! If you would like to
send Elder Peery greetings for his birthday
on May 3rd, he WOULD love to hear
from you!!! Here is his contact
information:
Elder Andrew
Peery
Tennessee Nashville Mission
1646 Sunset Road
Brentwood, TN 37027
Email: Andrew.peery@myldsmail.net
Blog:
Elderpeery.blogspot.com
