Week 20 in the Field: Five Months Done

Photo #1:  Elder Ackroyd and I – Elder Ackroyd  is the missionary I replaced in Smith Springs in my first area.  He was Elder Leavitt's second to last companion.

Hello!

Well tomorrow will mark exactly 5 months in the mission field, which is pretty awesome to say the least. There have been a lot of stressful events but for the most part it's been pretty okay. I won't lie and say it's been easy or every day is picture perfect. That's what The District is for -- haha. But in actuality things have been kind of rough this past week as well as almost all the weeks we've been here. 

Monday through Friday was generally about the same as the weeks before:  Tracting without much success, appointments canceling, and a really depressing missionary coordination meeting. On top of that I personally have been suffering a ton of physical, emotional, mental, and in some cases spiritual effects from the mission in itself. It's incredibly true that to serve a mission you absolutely have to have a testimony. You cannot survive without one. 

The members have been pretty helpful or at least have done their best for us. We've been out on some splits, which have been semi-successful, but it's embarrassing to have appointments cancel while you're with a member. But I'm so grateful that they seem to understand what we're going through for the most part. 

On Saturday we attended a Halloween/Fall Activity over at a member's house. We decided to "dress up" as missionaries, which everyone thought was pretty funny. Though we didn't win the costume contest, we had a lot of fun. At the party I got to meet my Jensen family cousin, Chad Ohman.  He and his family are from Atlanta originally, but now live in Hendersonville, TN.  They are in the Gallatin Ward. He and his wife seemed very happy to meet me, and we will be having dinner with them on Sunday. I am very excited about that!

2. Halloween Party

Sunday evening after church, we went to a mission-wide fireside, which meant that every missionary in the Tennessee Nashville Mission was invited to come. About 240 of the 250 missionaries were there. Some had travelled over 3 hours of driving to get there. Thankfully, we only had to go about 7 miles to the stake center. The speaker was the legendary singer David Archuleta, who answered a lot of our questions about his mission as well as sang some songs including, “Glorious,” which is from the new documentary, “Meet the Mormons” movie. It was really awesome. I recorded what he sang on my iPad but I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. One of the questions asked of him was "How often did music influence the people you taught?" I did my best to write down most of what he would say to the best of my ability:

I felt like there was no better way for me to feel the Spirit than through music. Primary was among some of my earliest memories of feeling the Spirit. In my first door contact we sang her (less active) a song (Nearer My God To Thee) and afterwards she felt the Spirit. I sang at just about every contact. The messages in songs teach people things that will open up their heart. Don't underestimate the effect a simple hymn can have.

The member he was staying with and orchestrated the whole fireside (who happens to be in our ward) saw me taking notes during the fireside and asked me to email all the notes I took, so she could print them off for David to read. So essentially, David Archuleta has something I did, which is pretty awesome. 

3. Gathering around for a mission picture with David Archuleta (not seen).

Not sure when this picture will be released.

I'm still working on getting my body back to 100%. I've been going through a lot of physical and other problems which have been taking a toll on the work--nothing hopefully that would take me out of the mission, but still a factor. Thank you all for your love and support. We are doing better and should have a better week if our appointments hold through.

Elder Peery

4. Tennis ball after many games of tennis over the past few weeks. The rubber is showing.

5. Elder Moeller, Elder Perry, and Elder Ellerbeck in the apartment. 

(We changed the apartment up a little bit.)

  

6. Herd of 7 deer

Week 19 in the Field: Rough Times and Sweet Moments

Elder Nimmer, Elder Owens, and Elder Moeller emailing/Facebook

Hello everyone!

This week has been kind of rough.

On Monday we had FHE with the primary president and her family of seven kids with the oldest being 14-16 and the youngest being just 2. They have been working on memorizing The Living Christ (which is a testimony given by modern day prophets and apostles on Jesus Christ) due to one of the sisters who spoke at the General Women's Meeting (I think it was Sister Neill Marriott?). Anyway, they are a really sweet family.

On Tuesday, which was transfers for those who were getting transferred, Elder Moeller and I had to do double the work at the Bishop's Storehouse (which is basically where those who need food and supplies can receive some) due to so many missionaries going to transfers. We were physically drained. Later that night we had dinner with the Horlacher's who are a really nice family -- with one daughter married and two sons on missions. They met in the field when they both served in the Tampa Bay Mission, which then covered most of Florida. They had been fellowshipping one of our investigators named Dan for a while and warned us about him. We thanked them and told them that we were being cautious and not to worry.

On Wednesday we biked down to see Dan but he wasn't there. So we went tracting. We found the cutest elderly people of all time. Alice and Huey Barnes are over 80 years old and are Methodists. But they let us sit down on their back porch and we taught them about the restoration. When she spoke to us she would frequently use "Darlin'" and "Love" as well as "Sugar". They were so happy to see us and were happy to accept a Book of Mormon.

When we finally tracked Dan down later that day he threw a ton of anti-Mormon material at us, which wasn't too fun. He basically tried to disprove everything about the gospel, but he could not disprove the Book of Mormon, which was very interesting. We were able to help him see truth versus lies and myths and settled a lot of other affairs. We will see him again.

On Thursday we were going to go big with seeing people. We planned to see approximately 20 names on one of the two peninsulas. We ended up biking 16 miles trying to find everyone but taught only one lesson. We were really frustrated, but gratefully, the Mitchell's invited us back so we had a delicious fajita dinner.

On Friday we had yet another investigator chew us out and throw some anti-Mormon materials at our face. Hanz had a baptismal date for the longest time and then found some anti material involving the Book of Abraham. According to this "expert" the book and translation was completely false and that started Hanz's disbelief in the church as well as Joseph Smith.

He threw a ton of junk at us and criticized us for not letting non-members enter the temple. When we tried to explain answers to his questions, he would shift to another topic. After that we went over to a member who we actually found out converted from the religion Hanz currently attends. We had a great discussion with him and he helped us out. I'm going to miss making “Frozen” references, but I think it's a good thing we won't see him again.

The rest of the week went like this till Sunday. I was so frustrated by the lack of success and nothing happening. I prayed a ton and then finally felt that I needed to bear my testimony on Sunday. So I started bearing my testimony on the power of missionary work. As a result we have 4 splits with members this week, and the ward seems to be more missionary minded which is good. Conference also helped a ton.

It's been super hard but things are starting to look up. We are under tornado watch currently so that's exciting. I'll say hi to Scarecrow for ya!

I also encourage everyone to go see “Meet the Mormons.” It's a really fun and awesome movie that has a lot of great parts in it. We were able to screen it as a mission and we loved it. It's really touching and has something for everyone.

Hope you all are doing well,

Elder Peery

Sorry I don't have too many pictures this week. Haven't really had time.

1. The view from our apartment. We've biked up to the water tower several times. Lots of fun but there's a pretty steep hill both ways.

2. Gym in the Madison Stake Center. It's about twice the size of the Reston Ward building's gym.

Week 18 in the Field: General Conference and More!

Elder Moeller making a burrito with a lot of cool ingredients including some of his 

delicious homemade salsa.

So things have been relatively interesting this week, but first off let me announce the results of transfers: Elder Moeller and I are staying together which means that I will be "killing him off" making him the second of two companions I've had that I've killed. I'm excited, but at the same time it's kind of hard to be fresh out and have people be excited to go home. I know a couple missionaries that have gotten really homesick and actually left the mission due to "trunky" companions. I'm staying strong out here though.

Animals, especially cats, love our bags. It's very hilarious to have one jump up on our laps just to lie on the bags like this cat, who belongs to one of our investigators.

On Monday we made contact with this investigator who was taught way back by Sister Cotton. He has since become involved with Jehovah Witnesses and therefore has been very into he bible and less into the Book of Mormon even though when he was taught by Sister Cotton and the other sisters, had a baptismal date and had gone to church for many months consecutively as well as payed tithing. At some point he was dropped and we are still trying to figure out why. Our only guess is the fact that he didn't believe in the Book of Mormon even though that is one of the things the church was restored with. Why he came to church and paid tithing we have no clue. We are continuing to work with him and the ward has encouraged us to be bold with him.

We saw the lady we did a church tour with. She had watched the General Women's Meeting last Saturday and loved President Uchtdorf's talk. She is really excited about learning more, and we are continually excited to teach her. The only downside is the fact her job requires her to work a lot so we are working with the ward employment specialists to figure out how to help her with a better job.

Not much else happened except for General Conference. We spent the first sessions on Saturday at our ward building in Gallatin, Tennessee. We joined two other sets of Elders, Gallatin English and Gallatin Spanish, and had a lot of fun going to a local fair in downtown Gallatin in between sessions. We got a lot of looks as usual but it was fun to see all the exhibits they had set up. When we returned for Priesthood Session that's when some elders and high priests started showing up--nice turnout for sure.

Sunday we went over to a member's house and watched both sessions there among several other families from the ward. It was a lot of fun, and between sessions we played pool on their nice pool table. We also ate amazing food!  It was a blast.

My favorite conference talks included Elder Lynn G. Robbins's who talked about "Which way do we face?" He talked about how we aren't to fear the reproach of men and persecution. He also used one of my favorite quotes by C. S. Lewis who said "Courage is the form of every virtue at the testing point."

One of my favorite quotes from conference.

 There were many other good talks on staying strong during persecution, which I enjoyed mainly since a lot of the time we as missionaries come under persecution. Just a few days prior to Conference we got yelled at by people on the street—and called terrible things I won’t share with you.  Persecution is real for sure. Always the most charming people yell at us. We're just doing what Christ commanded His disciples to do, and we will keep on serving the Lord, sharing His Gospel with others, and caring for our brothers and sisters.

As always, things are pretty much the same so no real complaints. I cannot wait to start off a new transfer. I only have 19 and a half months left! There is much work to do as we labor in the Lord’s vineyard.  See you next week!

Elder Peery

Photos of the apartment part one (kitchen, missionary sign board, and hallway to the bathroom and study area. My signature is in the bottom of the painting in the blue area).

Pictures of the apartment part two. The study area. We had to move a lot of stuff around cause the space isn't too big. A chess board is on the center table with a few other board games behind on the long desk. The large cabinet on the left holds most of our supplies. Elder Moeller is also pictured on the right. The large binder is the old area book which I go through every now and then.

Pictures of the apartment part three. The front door showing the map of the area as well as a bunch of quotes on the wall. Two training wheels hang above the door and usually will be above the desk of a trainee to be a symbol of training. A picture of the Nashville Temple is on the right.

Pictures From the Early Days of my Mission

Beautiful view from behind the Provo Temple near the Missionary Training Center.

Hi Everyone!

I was able to upload some old pictures from early in my mission. (It's hard to believe that in less than two months one-quarter of my mission will be over!  The time is flying by!)  I want to share these photos with you -- they were taken at the MTC, the SLC Airport, on the plane to Nashville, and in the field--at the Mission Home and in Antioch, TN.

Thank you again for your prayers and your support.  It means the world to me.

Elder Peery

 With my BYU-Idaho friend, Kate.  She entered the MTC one week after I did.

With my BYU-Idaho friend, Paul.  We took an Acting class together at BYU-I.

Photo of the devotional room at the MTC.  I was in a special choir that sang, "Hope of Israel" for Elder Russell M. Nelson during the devotional.

Elders in my zone at the MTC.  (From left to right: Elder Felix, Elder Tsosie, Elder Brown, Elder Pedersen, Elder Hardman, Elder Hamling, Elder Frie, Elder Peery, and Elder Hagan)

At the Salt Lake City Airport, getting ready to fly to Nashville, TN!  That's Elder Hagan, Elder Brown, and Elder Tsosie.

On the plane to Nashville!

 We had a nice breakfast at the Mission Home before transfers.

Here is the beautiful Mission Home. In the picture is Elder Tsosie, Hermana Torres (she was at the Spanish MTC but flew on the plane with us), and Sister Richardson. Elder Felix is sort of pictured on the edge.

 First week in the field.  Elder Leavitt and I were waiting at the bus stop in Antioch, TN.

Week 16 in the Field: Hurray for Hendersonville!

So this morning Elder Moeller made some pancakes, but we didn't have a smoke ventilation hood over the stove. So when one of the pancakes got burned, there was a lot of smoke in the air when I came out of the shower. When I opened the blinds I noticed that the smoke caused a pillar of light to enter the room. So naturally when you have a pillar of light in a room with two Mormon missionaries, you have to have some fun with it.  This is the result. It was a good experience because we got a small glimpse of what it might have been like to be in a pillar of light like Joseph Smith was in the Sacred Grove.

The second picture is representation of a first person view on what the First Vision may have been like. It was incredibly bright for sure.  What an amazing way to begin the day!

Hello!

I am very tired as I'm writing this so I'll cut to the chase.

On Monday night, President Andersen emailed all of us saying that we need to hold a mission-wide fast. It would start Tuesday after dinner and go 24 hours after that. Miracles would proceed from the fast. I got to go on an exchange with a trainee named Elder Nimmer, who is the district leader's companion on Tuesday. We started tracting and found 3 new investigators in his area out of 5 doors -- which was great.

On Wednesday we went out with the bishop and he later told us in a meeting on Sunday how grateful he was for that opportunity. It was a lot of fun to go out with him and get to see what he does.

I made some delicious cookies from the cookie mix my mom sent me.  We didn't have a mixer so I used a spoon. Hard work paid off.  Elder Moeller didn't want any so I got the whole plate to myself.  Sweet!

Friday we had our church tour. It was super great. Our investigator's best friend happened to be a sister member of the Hendersonville Ward. She pretty much lead the tour, explaining what happens in Relief Society and other areas we were not familiar with. We ended the tour in the chapel. It was so surprising when she (the investigator) said that she really felt the Spirit there. When we asked that if she discovers for herself if the church is true that she be baptized and she agreed.  It was super awesome.

On Saturday we went to a bunch of members homes and taught small lessons and it was pretty crazy. We ended up teaching about 5 lessons. One of the people we happened to stop by was actually celebrating her birthday that day. It was really great to help her out with some things so she could have a great rest of the day.

Everything else is going well. We're headed to the temple this Wednesday. Sorry for the late post but I'm really tired right now.

Elder Peery

(Not sure if I sent this one or not) Elder Moeller with an adorable cat

Our Ward Mission Leader's dog, Myra (I think that's her name) who reminds me of my dog, Bear. She's also an overweight chihuahua.

At a dinner appointment last night, this little girl with the help of her cousin sang "Let it Go" from Frozen for us. They were so cute!

View of Gallatin/Hendersonville area.  It is really beautiful here.

Elder Moeller going in for some knee stuff. Brother Kindred is a doctor, and he's in the bishopric. He heard Elder Moeller has some knee problems so he helped him out a little. Elder Moeller's knee is still a little sore but he says it will take some time to see if the experiment worked.  Brother Kindred is basically doing some kind of scan showing the tendon (as seen on the monitor) while he injects something to help his knee. Not really sure about what all happened but we hope Elder Moeller will feel better in the next few days.