Week 96 in the Field: GREAT Week! A Baptism, General Conference, and Mule Day!

Stephanie's baptism!

(Stephanie was the wife of a member in TSTAT and moved there while I was serving there.

We were able to contact and teach them once before I was transferred, but that took

several weeks of rescheduling. Once I got transferred, Elder Bedwell, Elder Barrus,

and Elder Jensen continued working with her up until she was ready to be baptized.

I was in the area so I got to go up and see it happen on Thursday.)

So this week was great!

On Monday we were incredibly busy. Elder Hinds is really into being active on pday, so in the morning we went fishing. I caught one fish and he caught like 4. After that we met up with Thompson's Station and the zone leaders at the Thompson's Station apartment. It was really weird walking into that apartment after about 7 months. But yeah TSTAT (Thompson’s Station) needed an extra elder for a lunch appointment so I volunteered. It wasn't with anyone I knew especially well, but it was nice. 

After that we went from baseball to basketball to volleyball and finally I got some time to email. We had dinner at a recent convert family, which was great! Turns out the ward here takes really good care of the missionaries. We had a dinner every night this week!

Tuesday we went down to Columbia to attempt to check out Mule Day, which is basically a week long celebration about mules held in Columbia. Yeah, it's kind of strange. But it turned out it didn't start till Thursday. So we ended up going tracting in the nearby area and found a new investigator. In the evening we went over to the Mouser family. I played dodgeball with their sons Bryson and Chris. Bryson is now serving in the Boise, ID mission, and his parents appreciated all the activities we and the Spring Hill missionaries at the time (Plant and Chapman) did with him. Chris is a little taller, but still fun to hang out with. It was cool to see them again.

Wednesday we had district meeting, and it was the first time the district saw that I had replaced Elder Hinds' trainee. One of the sisters started crying because she was sad the trainee had gone home. It was a bit awkward but I got used to it since this happened literally every day. But yeah district meeting was great. Hermana Kilgore trained on the power and authority of our calling and Elder Hinds gave a great training as well. After that we grabbed lunch, and tried a few people. I will admit my memory is not very good as I'm writing this because I still do not have the planner for this area.

Mule Day Mules!

Thursday we went to Mule Day and saw a bunch of members there. Mostly from Knoxville, Kentucky, and other areas not in Columbia. The same rang true for the people going. So missionary work wasn't exactly the most effective thing to do. But we did see a lot of cool stuff there. I bought a Cubs hat and a customized belt with my name on it, for all under $20. In the evening we went to go do some service somewhere and then went for dinner. During dinner, there were massive thunderstorms, and the winds started blowing heavily. What was it? A classic Tennessee Tornado. I didn't see it, but there were three rotations in the sky and the wind was beating against the house. But to my knowledge no one was hurt and there was mainly property damage throughout the city. Nothing major though. I don't think it even touched down, which was a major blessing.

Mule Day Schedule (Columbia Spring Jubilee)

Friday morning we went to help a member paint her house as she was preparing to sell it. I wasn't feeling very well at the time, so it wasn't the best experience for me. We ended up at the church for weekly planning which went really quickly since I still don't have the area book. (It has to sync over via Salt Lake. Every time a missionary gets transferred, his records get transferred to that area which includes the area book.) It still hasn't been sent yet. After that we had dinner, tried some more people and then called it.

Saturday morning was General Conference and we had a great experience there. I decided to test Elder Bednar's advice from when he visited the mission a few weekends ago and not take notes of direct quotes, but what the spirit says. However, I found it incredibly difficult to focus when I did that. So I think I may have to resort to the old ways. I did appreciate Elder Steven E. Snow's talk on humility. I really liked how he talked about how "Humility enables us to have broken hearts when we sin and makes it possible for us to repent." Because with pride, the opposite of humility, you have no idea of a sin, or at least you feel you aren't as bad as others. Kind of like the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. By esteeming oneself above another and putting yourself on that higher platform by stating you sin less than another, you are basically justifying your sin and not actually being humble enough to see that regardless of how many sins, or how bad the sin is, sin is sin. And no unclean thing may dwell in the presence of God, so therefore all must humble themselves and repent. It was pretty eye opening for me. I also like Elder Snow since he's a Church Historian, and I've been able to study some of his works.

Here is the link to Elder Snow’s talk on video.  Soon the talks will be transcribed so you can read the text, too.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/media/session_1_talk_10/4828241453001?lang=eng

After the morning session, a member took us out to eat at some Chinese buffet place. It was a really good buffet that had a lot of good options. Including.... Octopus. I had to try it. It wasn't like calamari, it was legit octopus with hot sauce. It was pretty gross when you think about it, but honestly it was like eating a really fatty peace of steak. But I did it!

The second session was just as good as the first, but even better because BYU-I was singing! I immediately noticed three friends and it was kind of awesome to see them again. (Two were female, one was male). I also really liked Elder Ballard's idea of family councils.

Here is the link to Elder M. Russell Ballard’s talk:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/media/session_2_talk_12/4828468090001?lang=eng

Saturday evening, we had a really good priesthood session.

Sunday was a lot of the same. We went to church and watched conference. Our investigator bailed after texting an hour before that she was coming. But I really did enjoy President Thomas S. Monson's remarks about choices in this life. "Although it is imperative that we choose wisely, there are times when we will make foolish choices. The gift of repentance, provided by our Savior, enables us to correct our course settings, that we might return to the path which will lead us to that celestial glory we seek."

Here is the link to President Monson’s talk and announcement of four new temples:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/media/session_4_talk_4/4829398050001?lang=eng

All in all I enjoyed conference a lot.

After that session, we attended a Spanish baptism. Incidentally our dinners on Wednesday and Thursday were with Hispanics so I got to practice my Spanish. The people were happily surprised to see a gringo who could at least understand and speak a little of their language. The baptism was all in Spanish so it was hard to stay focused.

But afterwards, we went with the ward mission leader and his family and watched the final session of conference. I loved Elder Holland's remarks. And so did the recent converts that were watching as well. "With the gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the strength of heaven to help us, we can improve, and the great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don’t always succeed." It was really inspiring and I can't wait to be able to read the conference talks later.

Here is the link to Elder Holland’s amazing talk:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/media/session_5_talk_11/4829903593001?lang=eng

After that, we tried a few people, and I got packed and ready to go on an exchange to Thompson's Station today. It will be sweet getting to go back to an old area. We will see what happens!

I'll talk to y'all next week. Incidentally to the Herndon Choir, I really wanted to come up and see y'all but I will have to be content with waiting just seven short weeks. I'll see you then, but I really hope you enjoyed your trip to Nashville. Y'all come back now, y'here?

Elder Peery

Thanks for your prayers and support.  I’d love to hear from you!  Please contact me at:

Elder Andrew Peery

Tennessee Nashville Mission

1646 Sunset Road

Brentwood, TN 37027

Email: Andrew.peery@myldsmail.net

Blog Archives:  Elderpeery.blogspot.com

Please note, I am not on Facebook at this time.  I read emails every day, but mission rules allow me to email you back only on Mondays, so thanks for being patient.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Two messages from Elder Peery's mom:

1.  Couldn't resist this meme from the Missionary Momma's Facebook Page!!!

2. From Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:

Tomorrow, you and I will return to our regular responsibilities, as I said in general conference. Nobody wants the fears and concerns of tomorrow to destroy the peace and joy we felt yesterday and today as we listened to the inspiring counsel of our leaders. As good as our intentions may be, we may slip into old habits. We will make mistakes.

But don’t give up! The great thing about the gospel is we get credit for trying, even if we don’t always succeed. With the gift of the Atonement and the strength of heaven to help us, we can improve.

So keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven will be cheering you on today, tomorrow, forever. I will be cheering for you too.

Week 95 in the Field: Getting "ET'd" again. (Emergency Transfer)

With Willy and the Mathis family

Wow. So yeah, lots happened this week.

On Monday we went down to Manchester where we met up with the Manchester elders and the Tullahoma elders and we played a ton of baseball. It was loads of fun. Elder Beckett didn't play too much, so he was the commentator. After that Elder Cox and I went on exchange in Manchester. Not much happened that day.

Manchester water tower

Tuesday Elder Cox and I tried a bunch of people, but majority of them were not home. We did get to meet the Anderson family who were really nice and fed us scones. We also got to teach one of their friends there as well. After that I got him some Zaxby's shakes, which apparently are very high in calories. Still tastes good though.

Seminary with Elder Cox!

Wednesday Elder Cox and I were invited to help out with the early morning seminary class. It had been the first time I went to seminary since I was inactive from the church, the 2^nd semester of my Senior year in high school. They were memorizing Malachi 3:8-10, and we studied the Atonement. It was awesome! We then met back up at district meeting, and I went with my regular companions, Elders Barrus and Beckett, to go try some people, but ended up striking out.

Thursday we followed up with a lot of our investigators and also found some new ones. We also saw the Mathis family, and they were kind of sad because of a sickness in their family. We then went on an exchange with a member and tried a few people but not much luck, however, he did take us to Captain D's which is essentially like Long John Silvers. After that we were able to contact a less active who moved here from Soda Springs, ID so it was fun talking about southeast Idaho for a bit.

I think part of the reason I'm skimming a bit on the first few days of the week is because of what happened the next three days since they are kind of huge...

Friday morning around 9:05am, President Andersen texted asking to speak with me. I was very nervous ‘cause it could mean a number of things. Sadly, it was what I feared. I called him right back, and he informed me that a missionary would be leaving early because he was homesick, and since I was in a trio, I'd be called to fill his spot. I would leave Sunday after church for Spring Hill, TN to serve in the Spring Hill ward which is the neighboring ward to Thompson's Station, one of my old areas. I was very sad to say the least because I wanted to finish my mission in McMinnville. And once again was being emergency transferred from an area I liked. But I told president I'd do it.

We spent the rest of the day saying goodbye to people. In the afternoon I went on a split with Bro. Street and saw the Majors family. Bro. Majors should be receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood in a few months, which is exciting. In the evening we went out teaching with Bro. Pennington and saw Debra. It was sad saying goodbye, but I know I will see all of them again. We had a jam session with Bro. Pennington in the late evening after some dessert.

Saturday we went with Bro. Shoemaker and tried to see a few people but no luck. We did get to try a referral and contacted her. In the evening we went over to the Hoyles' spa, and they gave us these scone sandwiches which were really good. We also got to try out their massage beds which was kind of like a waterbed mixed with a jacuzzi. The jets massage your back but you don't get wet or anything. It was nice. Most of the day was spent packing for Sunday.

Sunday was kind of rough. Reminded me of when I left Hendersonville. I was asked to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting which was hard to do. Debra came to church to see me off. Elder Beckett tried to take care of Willy during sacrament meeting but failed miserably. So me and Elder Barrus had to go watch him. I also watched him during second hour. During third hour I taught Elders Quorum on the talk by Neil L. Andersen on "Faith is not by chance, but by choice." I can't really remember everything I said, but it was really good.

Here is the link to the talk, so you can watch it and/or read it, too. 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/faith-is-not-by-chance-but-by-choice?lang=eng

Bro. Mathis gave me a Liberty Bell in honor of my nickname "Thomas Jefferson". After that, we said goodbye to a lot of people, and then we went to the apartment where President and Sister Andersen were waiting. I said goodbye to Elder Barrus and Elder Beckett, and then off we went.

Riding with President and Sister Andersen down to Spring Hill

The drive down was kinda quiet for the first bit. They were listening to Acts 3-7 before I finally started a conversation. I talked to them about their lives before the mission and what they want to do after the mission. It was like a two hour interview with me asking the questions. It was fun.

Finally we got to the Spring Hill apartment which is located in Columbia. I got out, the missionary going home got in, and I loaded all my stuff into the apartment and met Elder Hinds, my new and probably last companion. He's from Kaysville, UT and has been out about 9 months. He's a pretty strong guy and was Elder Ihler's MTC companion.

Elder Hinds demonstrating how to skin a fish

We talked for a bit and then went off to this Easter party at the Pennington's who are relatives of the Pennington's in McMinnville.  (Small world!) It was kind of like drinking from a fire hose--so many people to talk to and meet. Elder Hinds showed off his hunting skill by catching and skinning a fish, which we later cooked and ate. After that they had an Easter egg hunt with all the little kids. It was fun to watch. In the evening we had dinner at a returning member's home. They want us to teach their daughter, which we will begin doing tomorrow.

Easter Egg chase

Today we did all kinds of stuff, which is why this email took a little longer than usual to send out. It's kind of strange all this happened. I literally had 4 companions this week. I'm hoping things will be good here even if it's just for 8 weeks. I'm grateful for all the members and nonmembers back in McMinnville and hopefully will see them again.

See y’all next week,

Elder Peery

Week 94 in the Field: Meeting Elder Bednar!

Two iPads!

Lots of fun stuff happened this week.

On Monday we didn't really do anything again. We were still in a tough place because the mission hadn't reimbursed us for our bedbug stuff yet. And so we couldn't buy a whole lot. Elder Barrus and I played catch in the church parking lot, and I am slowly getting the curveball down. It's a tricky pitch. We tried a few people after that but ended up striking out.

Elder Barrus teaching with Sister Andersen.

Tuesday we found out that we had lost the phone and we were supposed to go out on exchanges that day. Luckily the guy going out with us showed up anyways. We got our phone back but ended up striking out on the exchange. We then got a lift from Isaiah down to Tullahoma for interviews. My interview with president was a bit interesting, especially since this was my last normal interview. Next transfer (April 12^th) will be my very last interview with President. But yeah I got my temple recommend renewed and we also talked about the area. 

He had heard about how kindly I treated Willy, the son of Brother and Sister Mathis,  and with tears in his eyes said, "Elder, because of that image, I will never forget you. This and what you did for Eldorado. I'm so proud of how you've treated that situation." It was really cool.

Wednesday we got the car back and taught a ton of people. We had like six lessons by the end of the day! The coolest lesson was when we went out teaching with a member of the bishopric to go see Brad. Brad had questions regarding resurrection, the breath of life, and the ranks of angels... Yeah it's safe to say I haven't encountered two of those questions on my mission yet, but we were able to teach him to the best of our ability. We've also been showing around the #Hallelujah video. We haven't had too much success with it as of now, but it's a touching video for sure.  Here is the link, so you can watch it, too. 

https://www.mormon.org/easter?cid=HP_SU_3-13-2016_dMIS_fSPC_xLIDyL1-A_

Thursday was an eventful day. And a sad one. My iPad wasn't really working too well because of a weird glitch. It says I was using 26GB when I was only using about 10GB. Turns out after talking to three different Apple Representatives, that it was a glitch in the software and my iPad would have to be cleared. I literally was talking to everyone. The mission iPad guy, Elder Walbom was doing his best to walk me through, but eventually he had me call Church HQ about it. That was also a weird conversation since I had never talked to Church HQ. But they ended up doing something and it basically cleared everything. Everything. Notes, pictures, videos, memories, restrictions, everything. It was pretty sad honestly. 

Luckily I got a loaner iPad and I had backed up most of my photos. But it was really unfortunate to have all that memory gone just like that. Anyways, as a result, I now have two iPads because they felt it would be pointless to put restrictions on my personal one. So they gave me a loaner and basically said this will be the one I use for my last two months. But yeah, teaching wise, was kind of slow because of that whole 3.5 hour deal. But afterwards, Bishop came out teaching with us and we went and saw the Mathis family. Willy was loose, and so I basically wrestled him the entire time to keep him from wreaking havoc while my companions taught. Very difficult.

Friday we had a short planning session at the church and then went to go see the Majors. We had to cut our visit short, but they are doing really well. We then went out with a member to go teaching and contacted an investigator as well as a less active out in the boonies. While out there, the member took us to an Amish store, which was kind of different. They were nice people, but they just looked at us like we were weird or something. They also spoke something they called Pennsylvania Dutch, which was interesting. We got some peanut brittle and homemade honey and jam out of the deal, which was really good stuff. In the evening we went and got some BBQ thanks to a nice member who paid for us.

Cool car we saw while contacting in the country area. (This neighborhood is not particularly country).

Saturday was probably the biggest day of the mission! We went with Brother Burt down to Madison at around 5am. Unfortunately, Debra wasn't awake. And we tried very hard to wake her up. But anyways, we got there around 7, and I started seeing a lot of familiar faces from around the mission. Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Elder Craig C. Christensen were coming to our mission to speak to us for a few hours. I sat in the second row next to Elder Stange and my two companions. The meeting began around 7:45 and we strapped in for the best hours of my mission.

Elder Craig C. Christensen

Here is the link to Elder Christensen's bio at lds.org:  https://www.lds.org/church/leader/craig-c-christensen?lang=eng

Elder Christensen spoke first. He's a towering dude. Probably about 6' 7" and was very kind. He spoke about how "the essence of teaching repentance is helping people change. They have to make those changes. We don't try to rush through repentance to baptism.  It is a requirement. Conversion isn't an event, it's a process." It was really cool how he broke it down into a few steps:

1. Your mission isn't about you. The spirit isn't coming to you because of you are; it was who the family you are teaching are. It's about the people you teach as well as any you come in contact with. (He did also reference the whole personal conversion too).

2. We must open our mouths and not let our companions do all the talking.

3. The role of the companion who isn't teaching, is pouring out his heart hoping that the spirit will touch the lives of these people. And discerning what the investigator is feeling.

4. The power of testimony. The power comes to their hearts as you bear simple testimony to the people you teach.

5. The spirit is the real missionary. It conveys the message. The spirit can continue to teach even when you aren't there. 

6. Be devastated when someone isn't fulfilling their commitments. Stop teaching. Don't keep pouring on the lessons.

It was very simple.  

Elder David A. Bednar, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

And then Elder Bednar took the stand. It was awesome.  He was a little smaller than I imagined. He's a little shorter than me by about an inch. We were expecting him to be like he is in his conference addresses, but he was very different. On the contrary, he was hilarious! And also incredibly straightforward and brilliant. He began by stating two principles:

1. "Don't write down everything we say. There is a culture in this church that tries to take notes of things we say word for word. What happens to those notes after a few months or a year? They're gone. Our words will later be printed in the ensign anyways. So stop that. Instead, write things that the spirit illustrates to you based on what we say. In short, write on small plates. Not large plates. (Referencing how the small plates in the Book of Mormon were the spiritual things of the Nephites and large plates were the secular history of the Nephites).

2. "None of us will play the guess what's in my head game. Neither should you." (Basically asking questions looking for a specific answer. He asked questions that had no right or wrong answers usually. They were questions that checked our understanding and also made us think.)

He then proceeded to talk to us about how we exercise our faith and what we plan to do with that when we get home. He talked about an incident that he attended recently while talking with thirty returned missionaries (men and women) who had developed doubts about the church. One of them told him how he looked up stuff online and that destroyed his testimony. Elder Bednar stated "Have you been putting in as much time into the Book of Mormon as you did looking at those sites?" The young man said no. Elder Bednar illustrated that not using the Book of Mormon while encountering opposition is like walking into a dark room with a flashlight and not turning on the light. Without it, there is only darkness. With it, we can see things as they really are.

There were many other things he taught, such as teaching people to ask in faith with a decision to act, not just to know. And helping people become agents, not objects. Every question he asked us was along the lines of "What did you learn from that? Where are you at with your understanding of that question? How are you going to apply what you learned?" It was really spiritual. He then opened it up for questions. Many missionaries asked good questions and the answers we received were incredibly spiritual and logical. Everything he said made sense. One question I remember was someone asked him what should members do to be better missionaries. There were two things I remember he said: 

"One problem many members have is that they pray for the missionaries to have success at finding new investigators as well as to have missionary moments. What they should be doing is praying for THEM to find new investigators as well as missionary moments."

"Your demeanor will influence those who will pull you towards them to know more, instead of you pushing it on them."

The other question I remember is that someone asked what it means to be a special witness of Christ (which is what the twelve are called to be). Elder Bednar explained that to be a special witness means that you are a witness of His name, which he said, "The name of Jesus Christ refers to Him, His divinity, His living reality, and His capacity of the Only Begotten of the Father. To be a special witness of the name, means you can bear witness of Him. It includes his power, priesthood, and principles. Your whole purpose is is bearing witness of His reality to all the world. When people hear that witness, they are held to a higher accountability than before."

That was really cool. There were many other things he said that blew our minds. I tried to write as much as I could, even though he told us not to haha. 

But yeah after the time was up, he said he wanted to shake our hands and so everyone in the room, members and missionaries, got that opportunity. I got that opportunity. I can't tell you how awesome that felt. I also shook hands with Elder Christiansen and Elder Meredith who is the area authority for the area, as well as President and Sister Andersen of course. It was a great meeting for sure.

My step-dad served in the same mission as Elder Bednar. When Mark was a “greenie,” he got to go on an exchange with Elder Bednar.  Here is a link to Elder Bednar’s bio at lds.org.    https://www.lds.org/church/leader/david-a-bednar?lang=eng

Sunday I took care of Willy, and he was a lot more riled up that day. He didn't sit still or behave in Primary, so I had to walk with him again. After that we went over to try a few people and then went to see Debra and basically filled her in on all she missed.  She was sad, but said she was happy we got to go. We also had dinner there, which was good. In the evening, I felt like my chest was burning and I think I may have some acid problem. So that's fun. Probably all the healthy stuff we eat around here haha. 

So yeah it was a good week. I hope y'all had a good one too. Today is my 22 month mark. And on Wednesday I will have 8 weeks left. That's crazy. But yeah anywho things are going “good.”

Talk to you later. Have a beautiful Easter.  Follow Him and find new life.

Elder Peery