Week 17: Lebanon, TN

March 27, 2023

It was the first P-day with the new district. We did our planning and stuff, went to WearHouse, and then went to the church to play some games. It was fun but the highlight, which isn't really a highlight, is that we pulled up to the Boonies apartment and all of the Elders wanted to plant a garden. They have a pretty big yard behind their apartment so they bought a bunch of seeds and started growing them in some cups. It was pretty weird but they had a bunch of pizza, so that's chill. There's something about a bunch of Elders who have been out for a long time that makes them want to do a bunch of weird stuff, but it was a pretty normal p-day. 

March 28, 2023

We had a super good district council today, our district leader Elder Hubbard thought up an idea to have a 'Lebanon Constitution' sort of a thing. He had a slideshow presentation and a projector which was pretty hype, so it might just be the presentation of his idea that made it sick. Whatever he did got us all excited. Pretty much the idea was that the 1st and 3rd Elders competed against the Espanols to see who could hit their goal, and whoever does, gets a prize. After DC we got out there all hyped up and instantly found Rosa and some others to teach. It was going crazy but then we kind of stopped finding people, but it's alright. 

We helped Watson Ambruster move 27 windows, which is pretty valuable to know about. For dinner we went to Whataburger and got some buffalo chicken sandwiches and we also got to talk to our friend E who works there. She's the manager there and she's so sick, every time we go in she tells all the workers to treat us nice and she tries to give us our meals for free. Homeboy Isaiah still made us pay but it's alright because he's just a new guy. It was a sweet day though, we did a bunch of great stuff. 

March 29, 2023

So today was a pretty amazing day, if you like days that absolutely blow. So at 4:30am I was 1v.1'ing the toilet and lost. Translation: I threw up all night and all the way until noon. Elder Putt was throwing up too and what we think it was, was a green potato that he used to cook our lunch with yesterday. We both wanted to die, but I watched a lot of church videos and movies, which was sick. Pro tip is to not eat poisoned potatoes because your stomach will make you give your soul to the toilet. 

March 30, 2023

The morning was a bit rough because we were still low key recovering but eventually we got outside. We did a bunch of finding and went to Neighborhood Connections to talk to Rob, kind of a waste of time, but yeah. I forgot to write about it, but on Tuesday we received a referral from Nastyville about this guy Dylan who moved to Lebanon. We called him and he pretty much told us how he was looking for the truth and wanted to do anything to grow closer to Christ. We talked with him and testified of the Book of Mormon and he loved it. We listened to his story and then shared a bunch of scriptures that came to mind, and it really helped him. Anyways, later we had been knocking on a bunch of doors in this hood, when we ran across this guy named Skye. He's one of the nicest dudes I've met, he got back from a ski trip in Salt Lake a couple weeks back. Crazy how people are just coming and going from my hometown without my permission.

Later we had a pretty good lesson with the Lynch's, we planned on Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom but it didn't feel right piling that on them right now. Then we had another lesson with this super chill guy Mitchell, who owns Lester Farms out here, he wasn't really interested but such a cool homie. After that we went and got ice cream with the Carling's and Danny. Then we went to the church after and had a powerful lesson where we just testified of God and Jesus Christ. Then to finish off the night, we balled up!

March 31, 2023

Pretty mid morning today. We tried finding a bunch of people to hit our goal but didn't really have much luck. Later on, we helped this lady Shuntynia move into her house. It was a referral from some sisters in New York who were like, "Oh my gosh elders, this is such a great service opportunity!" So we pulled up and helped her move. She was with her brother Clarence and you could tell he was getting pretty tired of it. She had a way with her words that made everyone a little irritated, but it's alright. Also another super cool thing was that I was squatting this fat box when I ripped out my favorite pants. We had to whip home and change because I didn't want the entire neighborhood to see my white garment cheeks hanging out. Also at the end we talked about the Book of Mormon for a bit and asked if she'd be interested and she was like, "No, I'm good." But it's alright, sometimes you get used by some lady moving her purses and high heels and entire bed, and then you put together her whole room and unwrap everything, and she gets mad if you get dirt on her carpet, so you've got to slip off your shoes every five seconds, but at least we were able to serve. That was about it for today. 

April 1, 2023

LET'S GO BABY!! General Conference and a new month! So we started off the day by helping Tim and Tina move, which was pretty dope, and then we invited all of our friends to watch Conference. We went to the church for the first session and watched it with the 1st Elders and their friend Devon. Devon is kind of a crazy little homeboy who is like 13 or something but we got him to focus for a solid 12.5 seconds, and then he was wild for the rest. 

We watched the 2nd session at our place and just chilled there for a while which was way fun. The last session we went to the Brady's house as a district and watched there. They live in Watertown so pretty far out, but their house was crazy cool. They had an ice cream machine in the basement, which is crazy because I just realized no one has basements here because of flooding. It's crazier that they have a basement than a soft serve ice cream machine. 

But Conference was really amazing. A key word I noticed from the Saturday night session was "Always." We need to always remember the Savior, and as we fill our lives with the Light of Christ, there becomes less room for the darkness of the adversary. Jesus Christ will always strengthen, forgive, heal, and guide us as we turn to Him. As disciples and followers of Christ we should always minister, care for, and love the people around us no matter who they are. A very similar word to "always" is "eternal."

April 2, 2023

We had another wild day of General Conference. In the morning we pulled up to the 1st Elders' apartment and set up the room for some crazy Conference watching. We got the two lazy boys that they have downstairs and brought them upstairs to their room, so they could lay on their beds and we could hit the Lazyboys. We set up a projector in the middle and put a blanket over the window so it could be like a cave or something, and we made some brownie cookie things that were way good. The whole cave idea was a pretty bad decision because we all passed out, but when the second session rolled around we took down the blanket. 

After that we called Dylan and had a great lesson with him. We asked if he would want to be baptized and testified about that, and he said yes he did. 

President Oaks' talk on the accounts of Christ from the scriptures and then finishing saying "We believe in Christ," was wayyy cool. People out here don't realize that we worship the same Christ, and really we want them to experience more of His love.