Week 8: Lebanon, TN

January 23, 2023

We had a pretty chill p-day. We went and got ice cream at Frank's place again, which was amazing of course. Only the best from good ol' Frankie. Last week he was talking to us about how homeless people always come in and try to steal his $1 soap. He said "I would shoot 'em but the bullet costs more than a dollar," in his Brooklyn accent. Way funny. But yeah, later we hung out with the other Elders in their apartment. Elder Brown didn't want to do anything because he was throwing up all night. Apparently there was a two week old pineapple and he ate the entire thing. Then we went to Walmart and yeah, that's about it. 

January 24, 2023

District Council was way sweet today. We went and talked to Kelly after and it was kind of helpful. Kelly has been taught by missionaries for about two or three years now, but she doesn't keep commitments pretty much. She's doing a little better I think, but we'll see. 

Later we knocked on a guy named Landis. He was very hesitant at first, but we taught him the whole Restoration guide, and his whole countenance changed. At the beginning he was super reserved but then he started opening up to us. Pretty cool dude, really cool name. We had a dinner with the Nixon's at a Mexican restaurant called Mangos. Super good and they also told us that they are having twins, which is way cool. That's about it.

January 25, 2023

We did exchanges again today because McConkie is leaving for Vietnam on Tuesday. I went with my boy Elder Brown, and Elder Beckstead and Elder McConkie stayed in my area. First off we went to Walmart to see if we could find anyone to teach. We found a guy that I can't remember his name, but we talked to him for a good minute. He was in the fishing section so we talked about fishing for like 15 minutes and then the Church for a while. He was pretty interested but lives in Sparta, so RIP. I don't know why I spent so much time on that, but yeah. 

Later we went and talked to Chris and his goons. Chris is a guy Elder Brown and Beckstead are teaching who owns this re-sell kind of thrift store place. We always go in there and talk to Chris and all his workers. Later we had an amazing dinner with the Simpkin's. Amazing family. 

Good day. Good exchange with Elder Brown. Oh and we went to this place called David's Pizza that was pretty garbo. So stay away from it. 

January 26, 2023

There was this house we knocked on that was pretty interesting today. This super old woman came to the door and said she could speak in tongues. I thought I was having a stroke or something. I don't know what the heck that was. Then we pulled up to the gas station that Jonnesha works at and she took a 10 minute break so she could talk with us. We pulled up some little crates and talked to her in the back of the gas station. It was great because we were able to learn a lot about her and her concerns. She has an amazing attitude and desire that we and the Spirit can work with. 

Later we had another lesson with Toni and Deborah. We wanted to heavily emphasize the importance of the Book of Mormon. It was a great lesson. Kind of at the end I straight up asked her, "Toni, do you have a desire to know if the Book of Mormon is true?" and after a minute she said, "No, not really..." haha let's gooo. It's perfect because now we know where she is at. But she is always reading the Book of Mormon, so we'll see where it goes. 

After that we played some more basketball. There's a reason I'm a member of the Balla's. That's about it for today.  

January 27, 2023

We had institute today, which was way good. We talked about what scriptures bring us joy. We all picked a scripture that talked about joy and some missionaries had some amazing thoughts. There was probably like 50 great scriptures, but the one I picked was 2 Nephi 10:23. "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life."

Then we took our car to Firestone because the censor for the tire pressure was messed up. Apparently the tire pressure censor was reversed on us, and one of our tires had two nails in it. After they fixed it, the guy was like "So yeah, the uhhh alignment is off and you uhh need to replace all the tires because they are worn down and not safe to drive." I was like, nah bruh I'm not stupid, so we got out of there. We've been ranking all of our friends based off Spongebob characters because it's the most efficient way. We went to a super rich neighborhood and met a bunch of Squilliams. Squilliams are no good.

We went to Walmart again after all the rich people and met a pretty cool guy named Philip. After Walmart we had a phone call lesson with Darlene. We tried to teach her about he 2nd half of the Plan of Salvation but she was constantly jumping the focus on other things. Out of the 58 minutes of the all, I think she straight talked for 50. 

We had dinner with Brother and Sister Hall tonight. It was at the back of this Hispanic Market and the food was crazy good. Brother Hall is like the old farmers you see out doing 300 cattle on a Saturday morning. He wears his cowboy hat, boots, plaid shirt and everything. Honestly feels exactly like home. We went to this little Mexican ice cream shop after and he was just pulling around his little horse in his trailer. He and Sister Hall are amazing. After that, best part of the day, bed time. 

January 28, 2023

Saturday mornings we ball up with whoever shows up, and today not many showed up. It was us, Brown, Beckstead, President Dickerson and Josh and Caleb Dickerson. I don't even know how to describe these people, I just wish everyone could meet them. Our team of elders was 6'8", 6'2", and 6'0" and their team was probably like 5'8" all around, but they literally beat us from sheer magic and will power.

After b-ball we had another team up with Brother Carling. I can't really remember all the stuff we did but it was good and we appreciate his help. He and Sister Carling also gave us lunch. Absolute saints. After that we had a lesson with Kelly. We planned to go there, read some Book of Mormon, and then drop her. She's been taught for the past two years and hasn't made very much progress. But as we were talking to her, she didn't even know who Joseph Smith was. How does someone get taught for two years and not know who Joseph Smith is. Anyways, we decided to teach the Restoration again and she responded very well. So we'll keep going with Kelly. After that, we did a lot of SLK and met some cool people. We had Wendy's for dinner. Good stuuufffff!!! Wendy's is so good. I mean come on, two $5 Biggie Bags for dinner? That's only $10. Absolute blessing. 

January 29, 2023

I can't believe it's almost February, January has flown by way fast. Today we had church which was good as always. We had a ward mission council meeting today, and things got a little dicey. When there are two women in leadership positions who disagree with who reports to who, and what authority the other has, it gets a little wack. But yeah, just keep your head down and don't make eye contact. Nah it was't that bad. 

After that we took Josh Dickerson with us to teach some lessons and do some knocking. All four of our potential lessons fell through and so we just knocked in this apartment complex. While doing that we got into this fat Bible bash with this old man for like 30 minutes. Super unproductive, but this is what I learned from it. You don't have to or even need to study every book of scripture and master all the disproving stories and scripture to all your opposing beliefs. You don't have to be an old man who does nothing but study the Bible for the purpose of knowing more than a couple of 19 year old missionaries from Utah. Actually, you can just live your life normally and read the Book of Mormon and other scriptures, and also base your belief off all of the blessings and joys you've experienced from being a member of this church. You do not need to be the smartest or most knowledgable on scriptures and other deep doctrinal things. You just need effort, and a true and pure heart. All you need to do is try your best to show love for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ by: serving others, reading the scriptures when you can, trying to be an example of joy and light, and just doing your best to be the best person you can. The gospel is just so simple and so beautiful.