Week 10: Lebanon, TN

February 6, 2023

Out of all the P-days, this one was pretty chill. We went to the church eventually and hung around. This beast homeless guy named Shane appeared and wanted to hang out with us. He is actually pretty edgy and we should get rid of him before he jumps one of us. He kept trying to get in the church. There is always like two police cars just chillin' in our parking lot, so that's good. Later we went to WearHouse, a thrift store. I spent a small loan on a Jimi Hendrix looking shirt. Oops. It's tough being the best dressed human sometimes. It's lonely at the top. 

We didn't have time to go to Walmart today, so looks like we'll be eating puzzle pieces. It's hard to buy food with money when all your money is spent on puzzles. Haha just kidding. Another super quick P-day. Cool talking to the fam though. 

February 7, 2023

We had a lesson with four people today and two fell through. In the morning we went to Neighborhood Connections, run by Chris. Chris is a gangster and we talked to him for a bit about the Book of Mormon. We also talked to Ray, age 87. Very old. Actually I'll describe Neighborhood Connections. It's a huge warehouse run by Chris, with tons of super cheap items and pallets filled with power tools and stuff. We've befriended almost all the workers and people that come in and out, so we go in there sometimes to talk to people. 

Then we met this guy at Chik-Fil-A to talk for a bit. His name is Michael and the Nastyville Missionaries referred him to us. He is this old man with a long beard and he is actually way nice. We weren't really focused on doctrine and scripture, pretty much just love and kindness. Super fun. 

After that we went to this house and got anti-ed by a baptist guy with yellow teeth. Then we went to Landis'. His seven or eight year old gangster son answered with his VR still strapped on. He was mad dazed, probably taking a break from Gorilla Tag for the first time in days. Got those red VR marks on his face. We were leaving because Landis wasn't home, but then Landis' older son Kobe came out. This was one of the most spiritual lessons I've had yet on my mission. He was kind of in the same situation as his dad, where he was unsure about God. We testified of the power of the Book of Mormon and Kobe mentioned he felt peace. Super blessed to have talked to him. 

Later we were able to go to Lorenzo's meeting. It's called Man Meeting so no women were there. Pretty much a bunch of huge black and white Tennessee men crowded around a table in Bella's Cafe talking about the Bible. We later found out that it was pretty much an addiction recovery meeting. It was actually way fun. Had a preacher from some nearby church there and a bunch of other dudes. We had a prayer circle where we held hands and everyone was all shouting and stuff. I don't know what we got ourselves into, but it was definitely pretty fun. 

February 8, 2023

We had transfers today so we had to drive to Farragut. But I rode with Hillstead and Steiner up, and on the way, some semi had a fat accident. We were pretty much parked for two hours while we waited for the accident to clear. We listened to some music. When we got to Farragut after four hours, Sister Graham copped us some Chic-Fil-A which was amazing. I met my new trainer Elder Putt. I was hoping I would finally get a good companion but tough luck. Nah I'm jk, he's so sick. He's from Santaquin and is way cool. There's a bunch of other stuff about him I just can't remember. If there is one thing to know it's that Payson is better than Santaquin. The only thing good about Santaquin is Dairy Queen and nothing else. It's actually way cool that he's from so close to me. We had to get a new car because the baby bike elders had our old one. We got one of the oldest, dustiest ones and it smells like straight B.O. Some missionaries be nasty. Later we had an awesome Restoration lesson with Ashely and Ron. We got Peter Salazar, a Priest, to come with us and he was able to share his testimony as well. Way good lesson. That's about it for today.

February 9, 2023

We had a great day today. There was district council at noon with all the new people in our district. Elder Beckstead guessed a yarn jellyfish only by feeling it, also blindfolded. Best part of D.C. After that we helped Spencer Sartain move out of his dad's chiropractor office. Brother Sartain the dad, had a stroke and had to sell the place. After that we went to Guadalajara, a little Mexican food place. Later we went over to the Lynch's to check on Erin and see how her wisdom teeth were feeling. They were able to contact Brother Bailey and he helped them scheduler's an oral surgery with a doctor super close. So Erin is just recovering now, and it's going super well. John Lynch is a collector and maybe one of the most interesting and valuable dudes I've ever met. The first time you see him you wouldn't expect it, but he is insanely cool. He was showing us some of his stuff and we asked what the most valuable thing was, and he whipped out some comic books. One was a rare old comic signed by Stan Lee, then there was these original Hulk comics. He showed us the price of two of them that was around $260,000 each, and then this original comic book stand version that was worth $1.5 million. Absolutely nuts. He let us hold them too, so that was the most valuable thing I've touched in my life. The crazy thing is that you would never expect it because of how humble they are, and how much they just don't care about impressing others. 

After that the Ballas balled up at the church. There was about 16-18 of us which was a new record. The court we have is carpet and very small, but it was so much fun. It was literally the most chaotic basketball of my life, but way fun. 

Then we finally hit glorious bedtime. Owen and Sam told me how tired you get out here and it definitely checks out. 

February 10, 2023

Today was pretty wack. We had a quick TKM Institute which was like 10 minutes for some reason. We went to Walmart because we were fresh out of food, and we also need black mold spray, but now that I'm thinking about it, we forgot the spray. 

Not gonna lie, today felt pretty iffy. One big win was that we talked to Charles and scheduled a lesson for tomorrow, and were gonna be able to go with Brother Carling. Good stuff, Charles. 

We had dinner and a new member lesson with Andres Barkley and his family, which was way cool. For some reason we went to Cookout two hours before the dinner so we weren't super hungry. Made some progress on the 2000 piece puzzle and ate some Valentine's candy. Ay Mom, I love you, you're the best. I love all my family and miss them. 

February 11, 2023

We went to the church for basketball in the morning. Literally no one showed up, but then Brother Bethards showed up and was like, "Ay do you guys know how to adjust the temperature on the font?" and we were like, "No. But how come no one told us there was a baptism?" So we whipped home to get ready and then come back. Charles went metal detecting because he said he was going to if it was a nice day, so we missed him. We went out for a couple hours with Brother Carling, which is always way fun. Sister Carling made some absolutely amazing pumpkin waffles. Yumm. That's about it for today. Oh wait, Lo said he and his family said they wanted to come to Church, which is super sick. 

February 12, 2022

So Lo ended up not being able to come to church, but that's alright, we'll get him next time. Elders Quorum today was super good. We've got some awesome men in our ward and it's uplifting to be able to listen to the discussions. We talked about how to discern truth and have faith. After Church we went and talked to my man Brother Jobe. He's a cool dude. Super kind and humble. For dinner, we went to the Clark's and had this amazing salmon. The member meals here literally carry my life.