Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope it was a good one and full of love and
happiness. What a blessing it is for us
to get to have a chance to specifically stop and celebrate the birth of our Savior.
We had a fairly good week even if it
wasn't as eventful as most weeks.
Monday we just played some board games and had a little fun. Not too much happened.
Tuesday we worked at the Richard's farm as usual. We are taking down their tomato plants and pulling starts out of the ground so they can be ready to re-till next year. Later we had planned to go tracting and as we started, we talked with a guy for an hour and a half. We gave him a Light the World pass along card and then that led into a huge discussion about the gospel. As we shared some of our beliefs with him, he didn't agree and turned more into bashing on those beliefs. He told us to get rid of the Book of Mormon because we didn’t need it. Then he shared a great personal story that I thought showed why we need it, but he didn't make the connection. He also tried to tell us that we were told erroneously that the Bible talks about the Book of Mormon and wouldn't believe us when we said that we found that out in our own study. He also wouldn't believe that we had found the gospel was true for ourselves, but that we had basically been brainwashed and told to believe it. He said that we needed to pray and find out for ourselves, which we tried to explain that we already have. He told us that we had been deceived. By the end of this conversation, I was a little frustrated and starting to get mad. I was almost ready to walk away without another word. Needless to say, we ended the conversation and moved on. We later had a lesson with an old guy in his 80’s that was super nice. He wasn't interested in learning, just liked talking to us. He was a funny guy and we definitely needed that.
Wednesday we drove down to Morristown, TN to have a Christmas Conference with our Zone and the Cumberland Zone. It was super fun. We were told the Nativity story, but with extra facts we didn't know and it helped us get a new perspective on it. We had some lunch and then played dodgeball. That was super fun! I got nailed right in the mouth and boy, did my face tingle for a little bit after that one! After that we got to watch Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens and it was pretty good. I'm glad our Mission President chose that one instead of some cartoon. When it was over, we helped clean up and traveled back to our areas. We had about a 2 hour drive.
Thursday we did a lot of finding. That was most of our day. We even handed out 40 Light the World pass along cards. In total we handed out 109 cards for the week. Then in the evening, we drove to the Marion area so that I could interview one of their investigators, a 14 yr. old girl, for baptism. She got baptized on Christmas Eve.
Friday we did some weekly planning. Then we had a lesson with a less-active and we shared the Light the World video. We did some finding and then had a lesson with a guy named Travis. He is working on becoming a member of the church.
Saturday we did some service for a member and they took us to lunch afterwards. It was raining all day, but luckily it was just misty. We did some finding until we couldn't proselyte anymore for the evening. We went over to the Filetti's home and had dinner with them. As one of their traditions, they have a few different canned foods to try. I tried them all which was; oyster, calamari, squid, and sardines in hot sauce. All of which were not too bad. We had some fun for the rest of the evening and then had a spiritual thought. The dad reads the Nativity and combines both sides of the Bible and Book of Mormon - what was going on in both places at the time of the birth of Christ.
Sunday was Christmas so we opened some gifts in the morning and then went to church. This whole day was almost exactly the same as last Christmas. Rainy in the morning, then warm, but overcast for the rest of the day. It got up to 60 degrees, which I loved. Afterwards we had a lesson with our investigator David. After that we had some fun and dinner with a few member families. Then we got to do the fun part of Christmas: We Skyped our families. It was really fun! My grandma was there too, which was cool. We had lots of good laughs.
Well, that has been it from my end. I wish you all a happy New Year. I also wish you good luck on making and keeping your resolutions. If anything, try to actually accomplish one of them and let it be towards doing good in the world. Until next time.
Elder Ellison
Monday we just played some board games and had a little fun. Not too much happened.
Tuesday we worked at the Richard's farm as usual. We are taking down their tomato plants and pulling starts out of the ground so they can be ready to re-till next year. Later we had planned to go tracting and as we started, we talked with a guy for an hour and a half. We gave him a Light the World pass along card and then that led into a huge discussion about the gospel. As we shared some of our beliefs with him, he didn't agree and turned more into bashing on those beliefs. He told us to get rid of the Book of Mormon because we didn’t need it. Then he shared a great personal story that I thought showed why we need it, but he didn't make the connection. He also tried to tell us that we were told erroneously that the Bible talks about the Book of Mormon and wouldn't believe us when we said that we found that out in our own study. He also wouldn't believe that we had found the gospel was true for ourselves, but that we had basically been brainwashed and told to believe it. He said that we needed to pray and find out for ourselves, which we tried to explain that we already have. He told us that we had been deceived. By the end of this conversation, I was a little frustrated and starting to get mad. I was almost ready to walk away without another word. Needless to say, we ended the conversation and moved on. We later had a lesson with an old guy in his 80’s that was super nice. He wasn't interested in learning, just liked talking to us. He was a funny guy and we definitely needed that.
Wednesday we drove down to Morristown, TN to have a Christmas Conference with our Zone and the Cumberland Zone. It was super fun. We were told the Nativity story, but with extra facts we didn't know and it helped us get a new perspective on it. We had some lunch and then played dodgeball. That was super fun! I got nailed right in the mouth and boy, did my face tingle for a little bit after that one! After that we got to watch Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens and it was pretty good. I'm glad our Mission President chose that one instead of some cartoon. When it was over, we helped clean up and traveled back to our areas. We had about a 2 hour drive.
Thursday we did a lot of finding. That was most of our day. We even handed out 40 Light the World pass along cards. In total we handed out 109 cards for the week. Then in the evening, we drove to the Marion area so that I could interview one of their investigators, a 14 yr. old girl, for baptism. She got baptized on Christmas Eve.
Friday we did some weekly planning. Then we had a lesson with a less-active and we shared the Light the World video. We did some finding and then had a lesson with a guy named Travis. He is working on becoming a member of the church.
Saturday we did some service for a member and they took us to lunch afterwards. It was raining all day, but luckily it was just misty. We did some finding until we couldn't proselyte anymore for the evening. We went over to the Filetti's home and had dinner with them. As one of their traditions, they have a few different canned foods to try. I tried them all which was; oyster, calamari, squid, and sardines in hot sauce. All of which were not too bad. We had some fun for the rest of the evening and then had a spiritual thought. The dad reads the Nativity and combines both sides of the Bible and Book of Mormon - what was going on in both places at the time of the birth of Christ.
Sunday was Christmas so we opened some gifts in the morning and then went to church. This whole day was almost exactly the same as last Christmas. Rainy in the morning, then warm, but overcast for the rest of the day. It got up to 60 degrees, which I loved. Afterwards we had a lesson with our investigator David. After that we had some fun and dinner with a few member families. Then we got to do the fun part of Christmas: We Skyped our families. It was really fun! My grandma was there too, which was cool. We had lots of good laughs.
Well, that has been it from my end. I wish you all a happy New Year. I also wish you good luck on making and keeping your resolutions. If anything, try to actually accomplish one of them and let it be towards doing good in the world. Until next time.
Elder Ellison
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| Investigator David |
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| Christmas Eve With This Awesome Family |
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| Christmas morning - opening gifts half asleep |
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| Skyping Home |
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| TKM Sweatshirts - A Gift From Pres. & Sis. Griffin |
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