Week 46 in the Field

Hi everybody!  Wow what a week. Eldorado is just flooding and I don't mean the rain—even though it was really bad the other day, but I mean flooding with miracles. God isn't kidding around when he says in Malachi to "...prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10).

We have been extremely blessed to be able to work with some of these people. It's fantastic.

So enough talk, let's get going.

Not too many pictures this time. I'm doing a lot of stuff today with some elders, so that'll be fun.My favorite DQ blizzard is now officially back on the menu which is awesome.

Monday, Elder Stange and I went bowling. I creamed him the first game by 40 points, but then he beat me the next game by 3 points. We then were able to contact the investigator we set the baptismal date with the week before. He solidified it and firmly agreed that he would be able to be baptized. The one issue is that he works on Sundays, and it's hard for him to find work elsewhere due to health issues and the fact that he has to support two kids (the youngest of which is also getting baptized). But he was in relatively good spirits.

Tuesday was a bit disappointing. We went up to Norris City, which is about halfway to the top of our area and struck out with all the people we were trying to see. The same thing happened in Eldorado. But after we had dinner with a member and went out teaching with him; that's when we were able to contact people. It was nice getting to see some members who were coming back to church. Some cases were kind of sad though cause some less active members felt like they were too lost to come back. It was sad that they didn't recognize the grace of Jesus Christ is for everyone.  The Atonement is REAL.

Wednesday we had a fun district meeting on finding new people to teach. Elder Porter inspired a lot of us on new ways to find people. I will be going on exchanges today with his companion who is a trainee, and then later this week with a zone leader. Later that evening we went out teaching with the newly returned sister missionary. She was really helpful when we taught our law-of-chastity lady the Word of Wisdom. Turns out, the lady is trying to quit smoking and is actually a lot more interested in the Church than I thought. We got dropped by to see a couple of not so nice people after that, but we kept our spirits up.

Thursday we went over to the part member family we went hiking with recently. The husband is not a member but is super cool and welcoming. He showed us his work which is making Jason masks (from the movie “Friday the 13^th”). The masks are awesome and pretty legit. We also talked about where he is with the church. He is still figuring that out, but the family is doing great things by holding weekly family home evenings and nightly scripture study—a great family for sure. We also tracted into a kinda crazy girl who felt like she was called of God after experimenting with a Ouija (I think that's how you spell it) board (it's a board that supposedly interacts the users with spirits from beyond. Not sure how legit it is but I don't really want to find out). So yeah, interesting people all around.

Friday we went and celebrated the birthday of an elderly member at an all-you-can-eat buffet.  The member was the kind old lady we visited with last week. She was happy to see us. Later on we had another fun visit with the Long John Silver returning member. He was excited to see us. We talked about how he deals with anti-Mormons and talked about steps he can take to come back to church. It's another case where he wants to, but he works on Sundays.

Saturday Elder Stange felt sick around 8:30am and promptly went to the bathroom. About 45 minutes later he was in bed moaning. At first we thought it was food poisoning, but it turns out it was just a bug. He slept for about 6-7 hours after calling the mission nurse.

Puzzle I finished while Elder Stange was sick. (1000 pieces in about 4 days of off and on completing)

 Meanwhile, I finished a puzzle I had gotten as well as cleaned the house a little bit. I got bored around 2-3 hours later and just watched church movies while he slept. He eventually got better the next day.

Sunday the law-of-chastity lady came to church and was picked up by the returned sister missionary. She enjoyed church a lot and talked with the branch president on what she needed to do to be baptized. We are seeing her again on Tuesday. We ended up with 5 investigators total at church which was also great. I was pulled into Primary by the primary president to give a talk on why I came out on my mission. After I spoke they began to have singing time. I noticed they did not have a pianist so I volunteered for both junior and senior primary.

The teachers and leaders were very appreciative and will be using me a lot more. Unfortunately the priesthood had to deal with me not being there. I will have to be rotated around I suppose.

Later that afternoon we went up to Norris City again and saw our friend who was struggling with some issues. Turns out he is going to get medical help and will be quitting smoking. We are super stoked for him and he said he will try to call us while in the clinic if he has any questions. In the evening we were rather rudely rejected by a non-member husband to a less active member. I was a bit surprised by his actions but I suppose we are here to invite not to force. We also went to visit the lady we are working with on stopping smoking and she hasn't smoked in a week, which is awesome.

It was a pretty good week overall with many things that humbled us. We are very excited for the upcoming events-- especially since my birthday is only about two weeks away. 

BIRTHDAY WISH REMINDER:
To remind everyone what I would like for my birthday, please just send me a specific story or event of you telling me a story about how you helped out someone, or were kind to somebody else, or when you saw the hand of God in your life. You can send more than one --that would be great! I will be looking for these from now till May 3rd which is my birthday. I'm interested to see how this will play out.

Here is my contact information -- you can write me OR email me, whichever is easiest for YOU.  I am really hoping to hear from YOU!

Elder Andrew Peery

Tennessee Nashville Mission

105 Westpark Drive, Suite 190

Brentwood, TN 37027

Email: Andrew.peery@myldsmail.net

It's hard to believe that tomorrow will mark 11 months on my mission. Can't wait for more adventures. Talk to ya'll next week!

Elder Peery

Betcha didn't know that people use lawn mowers as vehicles here? We were behind this dude for about a minute or two.

Week 45 in the Field: Thunderstorms and Birthday Wishes...

No, it's not a picture at daytime. This is the effect of lightning when it hits less than 1/4 mile from your house at about 10:45 pm! We are all safe, but it was a nasty storm.

Hi everyone!  Hope you are doing well.  Here is the latest news from my mission!

On Monday we didn't really do anything too major. It rained a lot of the day so we couldn't really go anywhere. In the evening we went to see an elderly less-active who paid more attention to The Voice than to us, but that's all good -- haha.

Tuesday was kind of interesting. The day started with us hunting down a less-active member of the church who lived literally in the middle of nowhere about 15 miles south of us. Some dude came out without his shirt on and at first he looked pretty menacing. He was pretty muscular for sure.

After some light conversation we found out he is the father in law to the guy we were trying to find. He helped us find where he actually lived and we thanked him for the help.

We then did some less active searching over in Carrier Mills (about 7 miles south of us) but struck out repeatedly. Rejected, we headed up to Harrisburg again where I felt prompted to stop by an elderly member who lives in a nursing home. We had an awesome visit with her and learned how she joined the church. It's so interesting being in a branch filled with converts. The boost to the day helped us teach one of our progressing investigators later on about the tree of life. We will be bringing a member with us next time we go.

Norwegian chocolate that we got from a member's foreign exchange student. It's pretty much a creamier Kit Kat bar--REALLY good.

Later that evening we went over to the Russell's (Branch Mission Leader) and we had a fun conversation and dinner with them. They fed us steaks which were really really good. After that we went over to see this guy named Carmelo with Brother Russell.

Carmelo's son, RJ who is 7, started talking to us about baptism. We told him that when he turns 8 years old he can be baptized. He piped up "Well I turn 8 on May 7th! Can I be baptized on May 17th?!" We set that as a date for him. And then we started talking to his father about it. He had been on the fence about baptism, but actually agreed to plan May 17th as the day HE gets baptized too! We were so stoked and Bro. Russell has gained a lot of faith in us now.

The miracles didn't stop there. The next day I felt prompted to go to Long John Silvers... I literally have never thought I would ever write that, but it turns out, there's a less active who's a manager there! We set up an appointment with him for Friday. And in an amazing turn of events, this less active is Facebook friends with the less active we were trying to find the day previously!!

Thursday we had interviews with our mission president, which was great. He told me how proud he was of the changes I was making as well as the improvements in the area. He was pleased with how well I am doing and sees big potential for me and the area. The assistants were also pleased with my planning capabilities and attitude. By the end of the day I felt very blessed and humbled.

Friday was kind of interesting. We met up with the Long John Silvers manager and found out he was actually in the process of moving in a few weeks. We had a great conversation with him, though, and he and I personally connected since I worked in the food industry for a little while when I was struggling with my faith, too.

Later, we went to see an elderly investigator who was very interested in what we believe. This guy was raised Pentecostal but now associates himself mainly with Quakers, which is really amazing ‘cause for a while I just thought that group died out and the only thing remaining was the Quaker Oats products--but he was cool and came to church later in the week.

Saturday was kind of interesting cause it went back to a slow roll. We weren't able to see Carmelo or his son again because they had gotten sick. However we had a great lesson win a recent convert. He told us the big reason he joined the Church was because he felt needed instead of wanted.  He also gave us a kitchen table that he had gotten for free. We were in need of one and we're grateful for the help.

Sunday we had 7 investigators at church which was a new personal high for me--even our elderly investigator came. I sat next to him and helped him with the hymn book. At the end of sacrament meeting he complimented my singing voice which was awesome. Elder Stange gave a good talk on President Hinckley's talk "Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep." The branch was really excited at the news of a father and son setting a baptismal date.

Later that evening we went over to see our investigator with the kidney problem and watched "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" with her since she didn't know too much about church history. She loved it, and there was a great spiritual boost in the room. Everyone felt it. She's making great progress on quitting smoking too!

The area is finally starting to pick up. We love serving and teaching the folks here.  They are so wonderful!  I am looking forward towards the month of May for many reasons. 

BIRTHDAY WISHES:  Thank you all for asking me what I would like for my 21st birthday, on May 3rd. Honestly, I don't really need anything here. The majority of the stuff I would like would be stuff I would use when I go home, but I suppose if there is something I could ask, it would be a letter or email from each of you telling me a story about how you helped out someone, or were kind to somebody else, or when you saw the hand of God in your life from now (April 13th) till my birthday on (May 3rd). I'm interested to see what happens here.

Thank you all so much again for writing to me -- or even just saying hi.

I sincerely appreciate and cherish every email I do get.

Elder Peery

Please contact me at:

Elder Andrew Peery

Tennessee Nashville Mission

105 Westpark Drive, Suite 190

Brentwood, TN 37027

Email: Andrew.peery@myldsmail.net

 Elder Stange hit his year mark this week so he burned a shirt as a missionary tradition.

Week 44 in the Field! Happy Easter!

It's the Bible Belt. You have to get a chocolate Jesus fish to celebrate Easter!!!

Wow. So remember how I said last Monday I went hiking?  Well, we went hiking with a part member family at this beautiful place called Bell Smith Springs. Most of my pictures this week will be from there.

Picture from Bell Smith Springs near the entry area

Another picture from Bell Smith Springs about halfway to the canyon

Bell Smith Springs canyon entrance (we climbed up to the ledge on the right)

From the canyon area looking back (it's about 7-10 feet from the water high)

The end of the canyon slide

Me sitting at the top of the canyon area (I was not in the water.

The water was a few feet down from me).

The place has been around forever and the water used to be a lot higher than it is now. The family we were with chose to walk off the trail and right next to the water so I got to take a lot of fantastic pictures. 

It was such a beautiful hike. We also got to do some rock climbing as at one point we had to get back up to the trail for a little bit. It was slightly challenging since the rocks were mostly wet, but it was so much fun. Totally would do it again.

I feel terrible cause these pictures don't even justify how gorgeous this place was.

Afterwards we had dinner with the family and hopefully we will get to hang out with them again sometime.

Every missionary in Paducah Stake tags  (some are seen twice)

Tuesday we went down to Paducah, KY again for a zone meeting where we received more trainings on iPads and other stuff as well. 

Paducah Zone (#borntowin) 

Front row left to right: Sister Gates, Sister Curtis, Sister Hess, Sister Ellis, Sister Tangataolakepa,"Sister T.", Sister Trask, Sister Peterson, and Sister Phillips.

Middle row left to right: Elder Blazzard, Elder Peery, Elder Dalton, Elder Danelson, Elder Hernandez, Elder Fore, Elder Berryhill, Elder Nez, and Elder Sykes. 

Top row left to right: Elder Rasmussen, Elder Hunsaker, Elder Senatore, Elder Porter, Elder Nimmer, Elder Stange,and Elder Van Valkenburg.)

Fun Paducah Zone picture (see above for who's who)

After that, we went over to the Burrito Shack where there is a "Shack Attack Challenge" of eating three giant burritos in thirty minutes. When you get a bunch of dudes together, you know that it's going down.

Two missionaries attempted it and both barely made it at the end. It was super, super funny. Later that day we tried to visit a bunch of the people we usually see and most were out of town or in the hospital. We did have a good lesson with one of our less-actives in the hospital. She is elderly and was going through some major issues. We had found out she had been hospitalized by some neighbors and went right away to check on her. She was so happy to see us and loved us visiting. It was great.

Wednesday we did some more less active hunting and didn't have too much success. However we did get to see another one of our usuals which was good. They had been struggling with strep throat which isn't that good but were happy for the visit.

Thursday we had another meeting this time in Eldorado, IL. I gave a training on listening through distractions. My role play got really crazy, but there were still a lot of spiritual experiences. I basically had all kinds of distractions for missionaries to deal with. The district leader was a fun distraction for the sisters when he acted like a little kid wanting attention. It was super hilarious. It was great ‘cause the district leader trained on asking inspired questions which followed up mine really well.

Friday was kind of depressing, and not just cause it was Good Friday. We barely had any doors open up to us and we also got put under tornado watch. The weather was really, really terrible then and we were grateful that we got to spend time with a recent convert and his family. We went back later the next day to give their baby a blessing.

Saturday was pretty hectic. It seemed like almost none of the members near us were watching General Conference due to work. But we finally figured out how to set up conference at the church and watched it there. We ended up missing half of Saturday afternoon but still got to see Priesthood. I was super excited to see Elder Renlund of the Seventy speak. I got to shake his hand personally when he came to the mission last December. It was also awesome to hear about President Clark being named a member of the first quorum of the seventy. We got to see the afternoon session at our branch president's house after his family left. I will be catching up on what I missed later this week.

Giant chocolate bunny that I paid with loose change collected over the course of about a month.

Sunday we saw General Conference at another recent convert's home in Harrisburg, IL. They had a giant projection screen which was great as well as a fantastic lunch. We did some Easter egg hunting with their kids (we hid the eggs), and it was entertaining watching them go. My favorite conference talk was a tie between Elder Holland and President Uchtdorf's talk Sunday morning. Grace was something I've studied a lot on lately so I was excited to hear someone else talk about it.

Elder Holland is one of my favorite speakers. I also enjoyed President Monson's talk in priesthood session. It was meaningful and hilarious.  He is amazing.

I also finished the Book of Mormon again for the second time on my mission. This time I made a genealogy and plates transition chart similar to what I did with the bible. It was lots of fun. Basically I started by marking out genealogies. It gets complicated when it starts to say "and so and so was a descendant of Nephi.." Since that person wasn't immediately from Nephi, I would make arrows connecting him back to Nephi and so on. I starred who the plates were given to and in the Book of Ether's case put a circle. When the plates of Ether combined with Nephi's I put the circle around the star. If you follow the arrows it makes relative sense. The names that are boxed are important names to remember or important people.

Book of Mormon genealogy and plates transition.

(It took me about two-three months to read and copy down names and transitions).

Things have been going well -- minus the weather. The area is still pretty slow but I still really enjoy it. I am looking forward to the day this place will explode with miracles just like Hendersonville did. It's only a matter of time.  Please pray for us and pray for the people in our area. 

I hope everyone had an awesome Easter. It's a fantastic time to remember the Savior, His atoning sacrifice for us, and His Resurrection.  Have a great week.

Elder Peery