Week 12: Lebanon, TN

February 20, 2023

One of these days I'll have a cool P-day to write about, but they've all been pretty chill. We planned our week and then went to Haven House Thrift, baby. Let's gooo! Found a dope sweater there that is super rare. After that we went to a pawn shop to try and cop a guitar, but they were mad overpriced. I'm not going to spend a ton of money on a guitar, but if one of these stores drops the price from $500 to $20, then I might have to get one. After that we played Secret Garbage Trash for a couple of hours at the church. We also went to Walmart and talked to this sick door greeter bro. That's about it. 

February 21, 2023

We had District Council today which was ighttt. After that we were driving through one of the main streets and we saw this lil dude in a wheelchair trying to cross the road. It was literally five lanes of traffic and at one of the busiest times. It was this black dude named Jay who was just trying to get to Cookout. I know we're not supposed to give money, but I just used my own $ to buy him a strawberry shake from Cookout. 

After that we went to Christina's house and read some scriptures. For dinner we went to the Davenport's and the Lynch's came as well. We had an awesome dinner and the Lynch's were able to talk to Brother and Sister Davenport for a long time and build relationships. Also their son Arthur was able to play with their kids for the whole time. Bunch of little rabid children running around. We had a really good lesson as well. It finished out with John flexing on me and Putt, as he whipped out of the neighborhood with his V12 Jaguar. 

Then we had a lesson appointment not respond and that's about all for Feb 21.  

February 22, 2023

The Dream Team is me and Elder Beckstead. It's gonna be dangerous if we are ever companions, we're just too big of gangsters. We did some wild stuff on this exchange. First off, we went to Don Fox Park to study and then the public library for comp study. After that we went to a Bible class with a bunch of old Baptist and Methodist women. It was actually way fun to talk about the Bible with a bunch of Tennessee granny's in a senior citizen home. We actually told them a bunch about our church, which was good. 

After that we went up to see Kelly. We figured out that she had a very bad mother and she thinks that if she does baptisms for the Dead it will help her move on, and also her biggest concern is the Testimony of Joseph Smith. Super helpful to know what's been holding her back. After that we knocked in this neighborhood for a while. We were about to leave and then Beckstead was like, "Let's just try that one with no cars real quick." and I was like "ight." Turns out Brother Andromeda's lives there and just barely moved, which is funny. We talked to him about his mission in Peru for like 45 minutes. Super funny interaction but who knows why we were supposed to knock there. A little later we went over to Landis' and had a sweet lesson with him. We were all over the place answering a bunch of questions he had but the Spirit was strong and he received it as well. We're gonna get him to church soon, I can feel it. We had dinner with the Nixon's, which was sick. They have cats, which is cool, I guess. Super good food and super cool people. 

February 23, 2023

I don't know why, but this was the longest day of mankind. 

We did a bunch of stuff. First we had interviews with President Graham, which was sick. It's always nice to get some insight and help from him. After interviews we went and studied at the library again. It was 83 degrees today, which was actually pretty wild. It was super humid and hot, but not even close to how the summers are, which is scary. Toni, one of the people we've been teaching, canceled the lesson on us for the 4th week in a row :( . We didn't have any other lessons so we hit a ton of contacts for the rest of the day. We had some Egyptian referrals that wanted an Arabic Book of Mormon, so we got one, but now they're not coming back for three months. So now we have a random Arabic Book of Mormon. 

At night we just balled up, which was way fun. Brother Carling is an absolute gremlin when it comes to basketball and led our team to get that easy win. He is good at soccer, but has never played basketball that much, so the way he plays is wild. I don't even know how to describe it, but it's the funniest thing I've ever seen. Then we had to drive to the McDonald's in GV to exchange with the Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Smith to Cookville and Elder Putt and Criddle went to Lebanon. 

February 24, 2023

Elder Smith and I went to the house of this Indian woman named Sark, but she didn't answer. After that, Jim came and picked us up. Jim has been a member for about eight months and he drove us around all day. First we went to a little restaurant called Grandma's Pancake House. I got some amazing waffles, and biscuits and gravy. Jim is apparently a restaurant connoisseur because there is about 300 restaurants in the Cookeville area and he's been to most of them. Jim is an older guy about 65, and he has a white stache. He taught school for 32 years around the area, so pretty much all day was a guided tour. We drove out to Monterey, about 20 minutes from Cookeville. Monterey is about a couple hours west form Oak Ridge which is where the Manhattan Project took place. So the good majority of the United States nuclear missile silos are in Oak Ridge, making it the #1 target for other countries. We knocked around in Monterey, for a couple of contacts. We met this kid Immanuel, and taught him for a bit. Apparently Jim had taught him in 5th grade and remembered him. Immanuel was about 20 years old now. After that, we met a witch. Pretty weird, but that reminded Jim of this witch graveyard on this country road back to Cookville. We went to the graveyard, which was way creepy and he told us a bunch of stories and facts and stuff. We eventually got back home and then this sister in our ward was in the hospital and wanted a blessing. We pulled up to the hospital and gave her a blessing, which was super uplifting and really brought the Spirit. She has been a member for 44 years and hasn't gone to the temple yet but really wants to get there. She's pretty old but I know she'll get there. After that we had an amazing dinner with this family from Orem. Later in the night we exchanged back. Really good day though. 

February 25, 2023

First off we went to the house of this guy named Terry. He's a little sus, not gonna lie. He's always wearing short shorts and has a dude roommate, but he's super nice though. After that, we hit another referral where they pretend like they never signed up for anything. Then we had a good talk with my boy Charles just as he was leaving for his sister's house. He said he was listening to a podcast about our church and we thought it was gonna be some anti crap but it was a 'Preach My Gospel Podcast' haha... 

Later at night we found this sweet old woman named Rose and this Indian homie named Abdel. Then we called this referral from these sisters in Hawaii. I have no clue how they got a referral from Lebanon, but it's chill. Then we talked to another referral from a guy named Doug, who saved a guy from falling off the roof of a house and shattered one of his legs, and now his leg is in critical condition. We talked with him for a good 45 minutes and prayed with him. We asked if we could give him a blessing and he said yeah, but he's in the Vanderbilt Hospital in Nastyville (Nashville). So we called the Nastyville missionaries and they said they could do it, which was sick. 

February 26, 2023

Today the Lynch's came to church! It was so awesome having them finally be able to come to church. Aryn took off work for her birthday, so they came! It was such a sick day and they said they had a great time. Arthur went to the little Sunbeam class, Aryn went to Relief Society and John came to Elder's Quorum which was so, so dope. I'm so grateful they were able to come to church. 

We didn't really do anything too interesting after that. Elder Putt got permission from President Graham to teach a mission prep class to his Santaquin Stake, with one of his buddies who is in Canada on his mission. I had a mean headache, so I just took a fat nap listening to some crazy hymns.