Week 54 in the Field: Blessings at Wendy's and Foot Surgery

Monday, June 15, 2015

1 and 2. The district meeting in Foxcroft (from left to right): Sister Curtis, Sister Sumbot, Elder Spiker, Elder Steed, Elder Smith, Elder Senatore, Elder Parkinson, Elder Nez, Elder Rumsey, and Elder Peery

Hi!

So this week has been kind of interesting on a number of reasons -- namely the fact that I had surgery on my feet. More of that to come.

Here's the week.

On Monday we went bowling since we had a coupon that let us get one free game in. Elder Steed beat me by one the first game but then crushed me the second one. The guy at the bowling alley had some questions so we got to talk to him a little bit which was cool. It's funny how much nicer people are to you sometimes when you aren't wearing white shirts and ties..

Tuesday we went to go help out the Baptists again and this time it was only a crew of 4 including us. We worked mainly on the far back wall of the barn. It was hard work,  but we are making a lot of progress.

Unfortunately we will have to stop for a few weeks due to my feet, which we will get to later. We also had a really delicious dinner at a recent convert's home in Eldorado. They made us some excellent meatloaf and some great mac n cheese which I have discovered is one of my favorite foods on my mission.

Wednesday we had our last district meeting in Foxcroft which was kind of sad based on the upcoming transfer calls. After transfer meeting we decided to go have lunch at the local Wendy's in Marion. Elder Steed and I wanted to go to the Steak N Shake instead since we had just received gift cards from home but we went along anyways. Right about as we were finishing, a mom who is a member of the Church from Missouri comes over to our table and basically says "Hi, this might sound crazy, but my son is currently going through a rough time and we were on our way back from camp to get him some help. We were going to find one of our members back home to give him a blessing, but I felt that we needed to get that done sooner. And I do not find it a coincidence that we ran into four missionaries in the middle of Southern Illinois. Will you help us?"

We were more than happy to. Elder Parkinson started the blessing and I finished it. It was a rather unusual sight for the Wendy's drive thru to witness four guys in white shirts blessing some random kid. But it was still a very spiritual event. The mom thanked us and resumed their trip to Missouri. It was a pleasure to be a part of a sweet miracle.

Thursday was the day of my foot doctor appointment. I was really nervous about it, but the people at the Harrisburg hospital were wonderful despite the rumors. The nurse who escorted me had cousins that were Mormon, and she even used to work as a flight attendant for American Airlines--based in Chicago O'Hare International Airport just like my mom was for many years.  It’s a small world. She was very nice and supportive and gave me and my companion some water bottles.

Dr. Cook was my doctor and he gave me a few choices on what had to happen to my toes. He illustrated that they would have to totally remove the index toenail on my left foot to prevent infection and partially remove another toenail. It was a tough decision but I decided to go through with it for the next day after some more thought and prayer.

Friday morning I went back and had the same nurse thankfully. Dr. Cook had a good sense of humor about it which made the whole ordeal much more relaxing. Unfortunately when he did the procedure he did not have anything to block my view of what was going on. I spent most of my time looking up at the ceiling for good reasons. After it was over I thanked him for what he did and jokingly asked if I could keep the nail. Surprisingly he said yes and so now I have a neat souvenir from Southern Illinois hospitals. It's not as gross as you may think. I spent the remainder of the day with my feet propped up.

An hour post surgery. This was my setup for the day.

Saturday was a lot of the same. Except the branch president asked if we could go be a priesthood presence at the Relief Society social. It was a good thing we went cause one of the sisters had been accidentally locked out.  We stayed out there at the church for a bit with my feet propped up, and the sisters were very kind and fed us some of their stuff.

Then we went over to see the investigator with the baby's house and had an interesting lesson with her again. Since she doesn't read the Book of Mormon on her own, we read it with her when we go over there now. It's hard getting her to trust us but we are working hard. We ended the night after having dinner with the branch president.

In the evening on Saturday we finally received transfer calls. Though the entire zone got shaken up, Elder Steed and I are remaining with each other in Eldorado, which means I will have served here for a grand total of 6 months at the end of this next transfer--slightly longer than my time in Hendersonville. It was very surprising, but at the same time I kind of expected it. I love the members here. I just need to keep trying to love everyone else. It's hard when there's a lot of people ridiculing you and not wanting to listen. I am looking forward to another six weeks. The longest I've heard any missionary staying here was like 9 and a half months or something like that. Who knows what will happen.

Sunday we had branch council, to which we were late due to my feet. It hurts a lot to walk right now. I taught gospel principles on the second coming of Jesus Christ. It's a difficult concept since no man can pin point exactly when it will happen, so I just focused on being prepared for when it does happen. It was a tough lesson but I think it worked out okay. We had potluck afterwards which was fun.

It's kind of been a slow week otherwise. We are working more on finding new people but we are also trying to get those we have to progress. It's really hard but worth it in the end. Hopefully my feet won't be too big of a hindrance this week. 

Thanks so much for all the support. I hope you all are doing well.

Elder Peery

You can write me here:

Elder Andrew Peery

Tennessee Nashville Mission

105 Westpark Drive, Suite 190

Brentwood, TN 37027

You can send email to me here:  Andrew.peery@myldsmail.net

Week 53 in the Field: "Knee-High in a Lard Bucket"

On top of Stone Face (it looks like a Native American's face)

Monday, June 8, 2015

Hello everyone! The reason this is titled like it is, is because this is about the most redneck week I have ever had in my life. Let's go down the list.

So on Monday we went over to this place called Stone Face which is basically this series of cliffs and one rock that looks like a face jutting out of one particular cliff. It took forever to get to, but we finally found the correct trail. The paths were so poorly marked but we were able to find our way up to the base of the cliffs. We saw a path just above this small rock slant so we climbed the slant to get on this trail. The trail took us to Stone Face where we took many pictures. 

Exploring cliffs.

We figured we had found a short cut so we continued on the trail which took us alongside the cliff edge, messing around and certain spots. However as we continued to walk we noticed that we weren't going down. Just slightly slanting. We didn't think too much of it. Two miles later we emerged from the forest and had to ask directions for the way back. We found it thanks to a cattle farmer and made our way to our car.

Getting lost on trails.

Climbing around Garden of the Gods.

We headed over to Garden of the Gods using a road that is apparently supposed to be used for off-roaders mainly (thank you Illinois roads and signs). At Garden of the Gods we had fun going to places we hadn't gone before including Camel Rock, which is known for being in the shape of a camel. 

Elder Steed on the head of The Camel (see past pictures for what that is).

Elder Steed was able to climb up to the head of the camel (not too easy to do) but I was only able to get on the back. We also climbed other stuff like the Devil's Chimney and stuff before we headed back.

Elder Steed starting the climb up the Devil's Chimney

Elder Steed climbing up the Devil's Chimney at Garden of the Gods

Tuesday afternoon we headed over to see Carmelo, our former baptismal date, who had finally returned from the hospital after being in a medically induced coma for about six days. He is in much better shape now than before, and also has been given less responsibilities at his job which will allow him to come to church! We also had dinner at the BML's house and said goodbye to their foreign exchange student, Emil, who was returning to his home in Norway the next day. He was sad to say goodbye but appreciated us coming over all the time.

Wednesday we went down to district meeting in Paducah where we got to wish Elder Nez a happy birthday. Elder Steed trained on setting baptismal dates and knowing when to invite them. On the way back we got to see our investigator from Galatia at the library and invited him to come to church. He said he would need a ride, so we started preparing one for him. After teaching him the Restoration, he is very interested. We have a lot of high hopes for this guy.

On Thursday we were contacted by the First Baptist church to offer some assistance in tearing down a barn. From what I understand, people who own old barns that are starting to become unsafe are donated over to the Baptists, so they can tear it down and sell the wood for money so they can fund some of the things their church does. This was one of the barns they were working on.

The barn we were working on from the front

Apparently the barn surrounds an old schoolhouse built ages ago. You can still see math equations on the wall. We worked hard and had a few injuries.  A big barn door fell on my foot, and Elder Steed stepped into a deep hole and got scraped up.  We decided to stop though after a few hours.

The barn on the inside (this is the day after the hay and taking some of the walls apart. When we started there was a back wall and hay covered most of the floor).

In the evening we went over to one of the Primary counselor's for dinner. I accidentally let their dogs out of the pen but they were able to get them back.

The craziest thing though that happened on Thursday was right after dinner. As we were driving back, Elder Steed remembered that he needed to get something at the Dollar General so we stopped at the local store in Harrisburg. When we walked in the door, lo and behold, we saw the investigator who stole the wallet of the BML's daughter. She was with her husband and they were as surprised as we were that they were there. We played it cool and then got in line behind them with the item Elder Steed needed.

The guy in front of them was taking a while, so I had the time to ask how they were doing. Only the husband replied in short sentences. The man at the counter left his money and phone on the counter as he went to go get something from his car. The lady at the cash register looked at us and whispered "Sorry!" After a few more minutes of silence the lady took the money and phone and put it in a small cup looking thing and said "I want everyone to see that I am not taking this money or his phone." And then she uttered the best words of closure almost as if from the words of an angel, "God doesn't much like thieves. We know what happens to them."

Elder Steed and I felt the irony of the entire situation was killing us. We went home a lot happier that we were able to get some closure on that whole thing. The couple didn't say a word. They never apologized or explained what happened on their side. But that was the biggest chance they may have had. We felt as if God had led us there at that precise moment for that moment though. Hopefully they will want to change their lives for the better in the future.

Friday we went back to the tear-down barn. This time we had a scaffold to take down the boards on the outside. Yours truly got on the shaky scaffolding with two others as we went away at the outside of the barn 20 feet up. After a bit we climbed down and one of the guys said he didn't want to go back up.

 Back of the barn and the people we worked with from the First Baptist Church. I got on the scaffolding shown here. It was about 20 feet high.

So I climbed alone and it seemed even less safe. But we went away at the boards while Elder Steed worked on the inside. It was scary, but pretty fun.

Saturday we went over to this wing thing that was going on and got a lot of nasty faces before finally giving up and going over to the BML's (Brand Mission Leader’s) house to help with their yard. I cleaned their gutters on a “rigged” step stool that was made of a simple step stool on top of two benches. It was fun. We then had an awesome dinner while we talked about what we'd do the next day.

Elder Steed, the BML's foreign exchange student Emil, a friend of the BML's family, and me

Sunday we went to go pick up the investigator from Galatia. It was his first time at our church and he had a blast. He enjoyed fast and testimony meeting and almost got up and bore his own testimony. We talked to him about being baptized and he said he would definitely consider it. We even showed him the font; he was excited about that!

Later in the day we went over to Omaha...Illinois, that is, where we had dinner with an awesome member family. We don't head over there much but it was pretty cool.

This Saturday we learn whether we are getting transferred or not so it should be a lot of fun. I've enjoyed Eldorado even if it is hard a lot of the time. Without the BML's family I would definitely be knee high in a lard bucket. Hopefully it should be a great rest of the week. See y’all next week!

Elder Peery  

Week 52 in the Field: Paducah, Galatia, and Carrier Mills

Roasting marshmallows outside of our apartment in a small fire pit by the driveway.

Hey everybody! Got a lot of pictures, so prepare yourselves.  So this week was kinda stressful yet really fun--usually is for the most part.

I got a knee brace! I've been struggling with my left knee for the past few months and finally decided to get something for it.

On Monday we went down with some other elders to Paducah where we had a lot of fun playing basketball with the members and missionaries down there. I was getting ready to go on exchanges with the Spanish elders down there so everything was really busy. Too of the Paducah elders got in a head to head collision, so we had to take it easy after that. In the evening I went with Elder Senatore to go teach a few families in Spanish. That was an adventure.

On Tuesday we were still on exchanges and I noticed that their apartment wasn't in the best shape. So while Elder Senatore did some language study I spent that time cleaning dishes and making stuff look better. It felt really good to serve.  We ended up teaching only one lesson that day. In the evening we went over to the church where they were holding a basketball night.

Many investigators from Paducah came and it was a lot of fun. In the evening I was driving the car but I couldn't see very well due to the bad lights. So I had a "Jesus take the wheel" moment and missed the turn and drove onto someone's lawn. It was okay though cause I was able to fix the lights and narrowly drive in between a fire hydrant and a street sign. It wasn't noticeable in the morning. Elder Senatore still laughs about it to this day.

Wednesday we had district meeting in Eldorado where I reunited with Elder Steed. We did some unity exercises, which was a lot of fun. After that we didn't get to see really anyone all day until the evening.

Thursday was an interesting adventure. Not all that much happened up until we decided to go down to Carrier Mills where we had a great time talking with a few less actives down there--one of which was super nice and let us in, and we messed around with her dog that she had recently gotten from a shelter about half a year ago.

In the evening we headed up with the BML (Branch Mission Leader) to Galatia where they had this giant fair going on over there. It was a Gospel Music themed night so we kind of almost advertised our church by showing up. Our BML got lots of questions later on in the week, which was amazing.

"Southern Bluegrass 5" at the Galatia fair

Friday we said goodbye to our Long John Silver less active friend. He was moving down to Kentucky and out of our mission. Hopefully the missionaries will find him soon.

Food and games at Galatia

In the evening we went down with the first counselor in the branch presidency and walked around the fair in Galatia. This one guy came up to us and asked us who we were. After explaining ourselves and a few of the things of what we do, he told us that he lived in Galatia and had seen us walking around the day previously.

Fair in Galatia

He had been trying to get his life back together. We got his information and set up an appointment for the next day. The first counselor is a convert to the Church, and he bore his testimony to this guy which was also awesome. He called it a miracle.

The slides at the fair in Galatia

Saturday we met with the same guy and he unfolded his life story to us. We taught him a bit of the Restoration and then asked him if he knew that this church was true that he'd be baptized. He said "Definitely." He was really awesome. We saw a couple other families including one of the counselors in the Primary Presidency. She and I had a good conversation about life plans and such. I will also be helping the primary learn a new song by playing the piano for them, which is totally cool.

Sunday we had our Warriors of Christ investigator show up at church with his grandson. I taught a pretty powerful lesson on the Plan of Salvation using both the Bible and Book of Mormon as one unified source of material. The counselor and a stake high councilman sat in on the lesson and the two investigators loved it and had some good questions afterwards. I also gave a very quick talk in Primary about serving others.

Elder Steed's skill at art. He made this for his girlfriend back home.

He drew everything by looking at a picture.

Today was very busy, but that's for another week. Thank you all for reading this stuff and writing to me. It makes a big difference for sure in my week. I really appreciate all the love and support. Tomorrow will mark one year exactly since I've been in out the mission field (I arrived in Nashville, TN on June 2, 2014, though I go home less than a year from now. Thanks again!

Elder Peery

Elder Leavitt's old crutches!!