The Impact of Senior Missionaries

We have a great need for more senior missionaries in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. We need both office missionaries and missionaries who work with the local wards and branches. If you’ve ever thought about serving, please message us so we can share more about the great impact you can make.

We love the senior missionaries in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. It is incredible to see the tremendous difference they are making for the places where they serve and the members and missionaries they serve with. Their experience is extremely valuable and we’ve seen how the Lord magnifies their efforts. The impact they make and importance of their role can’t be overstated. They do incredible work.

When I was 19 serving as a young missionary, there were two couples who served in the office in Honolulu…the Riskas and the Knights. The love and support I felt from these two couples had a significant impact on me. And it was clear it wasn’t just me who felt that way. They touched every missionary in the mission.

In the next few weeks, three of our couples will finish their service and we will be down to four couples in the entire mission. Ideally, we could use another couple in our office and at least one couple in each of the six stakes in the mission. Some of the largest stakes geographically would greatly benefit from two.

Maybe the best way I can describe the impact of senior missionaries is to introduce you to the senior missionaries serving here in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission

Elder and Sister Larson

This is Elder and Sister Larson who just this week finished their six-month mission as Member and Leader Support missionaries. They are from San Bernardino, California and have been serving in the Chattanooga Branch. Their main focus has been to visit all of the members who haven’t been attending regularly and determine if they still live there, and invite them to return. This was a large list. They visited all of these members and ministered to each of them one-by-one, and helped facilitate many miracles along the way.

.

Elder and Sister Henningson

This is Elder and Sister Henningson and they are about to finish their six-month mission. They are from Gilbert, Arizona and have been serving in the Hendersonville (NC) Branch with the Micronesian members there. They have done incredible work in facilitating the missionary prep class and helping young men and young women prepare to serve a mission, get their medical and dental check ups completed, and fill out their missionary applications. They have also been teaching the Temple Preparation Class for the branch. The photo below is a great example of their impact where they had four members of their temple preparation class go to the Columbia South Carolina temple, two that are also in their mission prep class. Soon they will have five others going to the temple and leaving on missions. It’s remarkable of what they’ve accomplished in six months.

.

Elder and Sister Smith

This is Elder and Sister Smith. They are just about to finish their 23-month mission where they have been serving in the Powell Valley Ward and live in Pennington Gap, Virginia. They have contributed to many miracles in reaching out to members who have not been attending to feel loved, welcomed, and needed, and helped them to return to church. They work with new members to help them continue to progress and get connected to the “community of saints”. Our missionaries absolutely love the Smiths! They are in a far corner of our mission and as mission leaders we’ve relied on them to help missionaries with preparation day activities, doctor visits, or lunches to help encourage discouraged missionaries.

.

Elder and Sister Boyer

This is Elder and Sister Boyer. They just started their mission this last month and will be with us for the next year. They are from Taylorsville, Utah and are serving in the Newport Ward and live in Morristown, Tennessee. The Boyers are from our same ward, the Westland 9th Ward, from back home. We feel incredibly grateful that they were willing to join us here and can already see the tremendous difference they are making. You might like this experience they shared recently:

.

Elder and Sister Sawyer

This is Elder and Sister Sawyer. They are from Uintah, Utah and are serving a 18-month mission in the Mission Office. We would be lost without these two! Elder Sawyer wears multiple hats at the moment, but is primarily responsible for the 90 apartments across the mission. He works on all the logistics of leases, opening and closing apartments as needed, resolving concerns that inevitably come up with that many apartments, and ensuring that missionaries are taking care of these apartments as expected. Sister Sawyer is our financial secretary. She takes care of all of the financial reporting, paying the bills across the mission (think of all the utility bills for those 90 apartments), and ensuring we stay on budget. As if that isn’t enough, they also help out in the Maryville Ward where they live.

.

Elder and Sister Jentzsch

This is Elder and Sister Jentzsch. They are from West Jordan, Utah and are serving a 18-month mission in the Mission Office. The Jentzschs are from our stake back home. Elder Jentzsch and I served closely together while he was the bishop of the Westland 2nd Ward. These two are lifesavers! Sister Jentzsch serves as the office secretary and coordinates all kinds of logistics with meetings, calendars, mission events, transfers, incoming missionaries, departing missionaries, letters to families…the list seems to go on and on. Elder Jentzsch is responsible for all of the mission vehicles. Think for a moment of 80 cars or trucks being driven by 20-year olds across East Tennessee. It’s a big job and he does it so well with heavy doses of love and kindness.

.

Sister Young

This is Sister Young. She lives here in Farragut and is serving a full-time mission while living at home as one of our mission nurses. Everyone loves Sister Young! She counsels with missionaries as they have anything happening affecting their physical health. Plus, she helps out in the office and is willing to help these missionaries in any way needed. Sister Young is known as the grandmother of our mission. She has a listening ear and is always ready with kind words of support. One of her many strengths is ministering one by one and she is often found taking missionaries to lunch. She also makes an amazing southern banana pudding!

Sister Reynoldson

Sister Reynoldson is our other mission nurse. She is so good and so kind. Missionaries have called her just about every hour of the day with everything from upset stomachs to tick bites. Her soothing voice and southern accent have a way of bringing calm to any situation. She has a reputation for always answering the phone whether it’s 3:00 pm or 3:00 am. She does so much to care for the physical and emotional needs of our missionaries. Sister Reynoldson also works full-time as a school nurse and we feel so grateful that she continues to serve even with her busy schedule.

We recently had all of the senior missionaries come to the mission home to spend the afternoon together. It was great to catch up, get to know each other better, and share the great things that each are doing in their areas. We shared a nice meal together and hand a really competitive corn hole tournament. Unfortunately, we took the picture after Elder Jentzsch had left to take care of some things back at the office.

We love each of these senior missionaries and this mission wouldn’t run without them. They love the Lord, they love the people here in Tennessee, and they love every missionary in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. If we were missing any one of them, it would create a big impact on our mission. They each are essential to the work being done here.

You are essential too. Your background, experience, talents, and skills are needed and wanted. You will make a tremendous difference as a senior missionary. There are a variety of needs all over the world where you can serve and we promise you will be incredibly grateful for the lessons you learn, the people you meet and serve, and the way this service will change your relationship with our Heavenly Father. If you have any questions, please message us so we can provide any info you need.

#WhatsUpInTKM