Week 16: Lebanon, TN

March 20, 2023

I don't know why today's p-day was so slow in the morning but it took us a fat minute to get stuff ready. We went to Bro. Davenport's to play some ping pong for the last time before Elder Hillstead, Brown and Beckstead have to leave. After that we went to the church to sign Trunky Journals with all the missionaries that are leaving. Trunky Journals are like a high school yearbook where everyone writes messages in each others' journals and stuff, which I think is pretty dumb so I don't have one. I do have a sick hat and Vans that I've been having everyone sign, which is sick, not a dweeby Trunky Journal. 

We had dinner with the Bauch's, which was quite nice indeed. It was a lot of just hanging out with the boys because we were sad everyone was leaving.  

March 21, 2023

Elder Putt and I were grinding away getting work done when the Spanish Elders rudely intruded on our day. Nah jk their dryer was broken so they pulled up for a bit to use ours, they just mad distracted us so it was a lil slow again. 

Something kind of wack that happened though, so I was showering as usual, washing my hair with this shampoo so I don't go bald by the end of my mission. That doesn't really have anything to do with it, but I got out of the shower and was drying myself off when a paper slid underneath the door that said, "Don't come out until I knock, there are some random guys working on our house." So apparently a bunch of dudes were putting in a fiber cord so I just chilled in my towel in the bathroom for a good 15 minutes. 

After a bit this old farmer guy called us and asked if we could help them move a bunch of stuff out of their barn. So us and all of the elders pulled up and loaded up all the stuff. The farmer had this tiny truck and trailer and a ton of stuff to put in them so we tried to stack everything in the trailer and bed. After we got everything in, we put these little flimsy rubber straps to hold it down, which was mad sketch. Ay but everything stayed in and we survived going to the storage unit. 

Later we met Doug, who was referred back to us, who a while back we talked to after he broke his leg after saving a guy from falling off his roof. He's a cool homeboy, who is in a wheelchair right now and his leg is still destroyed. Later at night we went to the soccer night for the Spanish branch, which was way crazy. It was super fun but those Hispanics go hard at soccer. 

March 22, 2023

In the morning we went over to Elder Brown & Beckstead's boonies apartment to help them pack up their stuff and switch around cars. Being the nicest Elders on the block, we helped them off on their way to transfers and stole their car for the day while they took ours. It was wack because we were the only missionaries in Lebanon, everyone else went to transfers. 

Then we pulled up to Cedar Seniors, which is where we do that Bible study with the old ladies. Brother Fowler, this super smart old dude from the 1st Ward was there as well. We showed up 15 minutes late to the Bible study because were helping the 1st Elders pack, and apparently Bro. Fowler was super mad we were late to the study. That's actually kinda crazy because that's not even our Bible study and we still showed up, and we were late because we were helping his Elders get out of here. So I don't know what you want from us Bro. Fowler, but I honestly don't really care haha :)

Later at night we had a lesson with Abdel and Lynn. We brought Brother Carling with us and it turned into a bloodbath for a sec, but then Carling pretty much told them the only way we teach is by the Spirit and the Spirit can't dwell in the situation they put us in. Pretty clutch by him. Seventh Day Adventist's, am I right? They are the nicest and sweetest people, but it's like talking to a rock, straight up. 

March 23, 2023

Today we had the first District Council with the new missionaries, which went pretty well. We've got some sick, new people. The Zone Leaders showed up to our District Council because they had to drop off a new dryer or something, but we had a super spiritual discussion with them, it was crazy. We pretty much read through Ether 12 and talked about faith, but it was way cool. After that, me, Elder Putt, and the ZL's went to Wendy's, which was super dope. Elder Smith and Elder Criddle are our Zone Leaders and they are both so sick to work with. 

At about three we went over to the Lynch's for a lesson and it went well. They were both pretty down about her dad passing and we were able to comfort them with the Plan of Salvation and other stuff. We also talked a lot more about baptism, which was great, but apparently she and John aren't actually married yet, so we were like, aw shoot. It's alright, next lesson we need to talk a lot more about the commandments. It's going to push back her baptismal date, but we aren't worried, we'll get her there. Later at night we had a Come Follow Me class and played some ball. 

March 24, 2023

We were able to talk to lots of cool people in the morning, inactive members, contacts, and this random lady who is in Crossville, but yeah it was pretty mid. We stopped by the Foster's and we shared a pretty spiritual message about 3 Nephi 11, but Sister Foster doesn't really have a desire to read the Book of Mormon, so that's sad. 

We then had an amazing dinner with the Nanto's, which was sick. She's a librarian and she has a huge Skippy Jon Jones book which is literally the sickest book of all time. After that we had a DL call and a ZL call, pretty trashhh. Nah jk, our leader people are actually way chill.

March 25, 2023

Today we started it off by going to the baptism of this little homeboy in our ward, Riker. It's the 2nd baptism I've seen out here and I'm hyped to be baptizing our friends soon. Then we were able to go and talk to Watson Ambruster about a bunch of random stuff. He's such a sick dude and he said he's going to have us help with his plumbing soon and he'll take us to go get some steaks. It's sad that he's less active, but maybe what he needs is a couple of friends to put to work and do some projects with and then he'll come around. 

After that, another goodish lesson with Abdel and Lynn and then a sweet lesson with my boy R.G. He just had his new little baby but we're trying to help him progress and make a better life for his family.  

March 26, 2023

Good church day, Lynch's weren't able to come because of a funeral, but that's alright. Their family flew in, which will be a big help to them. After that we had a really good Plan of Salvation lesson with Christina. Josh Dickerson went with us and the lesson went great, but then at the end Christina said, "I love this! This further supports my belief that people can be reincarnated into animals, like butterflies!" So yeah, I'm not really sure what we did wrong but we're a little lost on where to go from here. 

A few days back we bought some flowers for our downstairs neighbor, Linda. She's this sweet old lady who moved in a couple weeks back, but she lives alone and we thought she could use a little love and a little welcome. We gave Linda the flowers today and she was so happy. She had a couple friends over and they were all so happy and surprised. We've got a way with all the sweet old southern ladies out here. They just love us too much. 

After that we went to the fast Sunday break-the-fast thing at the Evan's, which was crazy good like always. We had pork chops, Mexican rice, some pineapple onion salsa, and some super good bread stuff. Brother Evan's is straight Tennessee Gordon Ramsey, it's wild. 

Later we had a couple more lessons. I had a mad headache all day from being sick and allergies and stuff, so I can't remember anything. Way cool day that we had, though. Oh yeah and R.G. wanted to fast with us today, which was cool because all of his gangster buddies were telling him how dumb that is, but he was holding strong telling them how sad they were. He's such a cool homie, and he also likes fasting, which is way more gangster than his friends.