It’s always hard to say goodbye to another group of missionaries. In October, 9 Elders completed their 24 months of missionary service in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. It’s hard to describe the change that occurs over that time. These missionaries have faced a lot of challenges, grown great faith, learned much about the Doctrine of Christ, their motives align where they are driven by their love for God and their love for the people here in Tennessee, and they have truly become disciples of Jesus Christ.

For this round of the TKM Family Olympics, we had four events:

Corn Hole
Kub
Bocce
Ping Pong

It was a beautiful day in Knoxville and we had a lot of fun together.

In the end, Elder VanderStek carried Team VanderStek/Barlow to victory! President Barlow didn’t feel too good about accepting the award, so he gave a participation award to Elder Purles and Elder Marlor who went 0-4 (haha). It all wraps up with a special award ceremony.

We will always be grateful for the incredible contributions of this great group of missionaries. They have made a tremendous difference in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.

While it has only been just over three months, we have a deep love for each of these men. We tell them there are few people more invested in them. Me and Kimberly are ALL IN! We hope to celebrate with them all of their greatest moments in life, and we hope they will call on us if there is ever anything they need.

The Lord has great plans for them and so many important things He will ask them to do. And they are ready. The experiences over these last 24 months have prepared them for everything that lies ahead.

Once a year, leaders of our church are assigned to come to the Tennessee Knoxville Mission for a “Mission Tour”. They are assigned by President Ballard, who is the Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. We received a letter right before we arrived in Tennessee that Elder Shayne M. Bowen and Elder Ahmad S. Corbitt of the Seventy had been assigned to tour our mission on October 9-11. Elder Bowen is the First Counselor in the North America Southeast Area Presidency.

We attended the Asheville North Carolina Stake Conference on October 7th and 8th where President Van was released as the stake president and President Gillett was called as the new stake president. We drove back to Knoxville that afternoon and welcomed the Bowens and Corbitts to the mission home for dinner Sunday evening. Thank you to our amazing office missionaries for helping us with dinner! At dinner, Elder Bowen shared that this would be the 75th mission tour during his time as a Seventy.

The tour then began the next morning with a meeting with the office missionaries followed by a meeting with the Mission Leadership Council. Elder Bowen told MLC the meeting might be a little uncomfortable because we think we are doing everything we can, but that he didn’t believe that. He invited us to never go backward again in our life, to always be moving forward and closer to the Savior. To be the kind of person where the Savior can ask to do anything, and we will do it. He invited us to be more obedient, to talk to more people, and seek to teach more lessons.

Elder Corbitt reminded MLC that as the leaders in the mission, the mission will never be better than this group. They would set the standard that others would reach for and follow.

That afternoon, Elder Bowen and Elder Corbitt interviewed missionaries and we traveled to three different apartments to do apartment inspections. That was a great opportunity to meet with missionaries in their home, and encourage and teach them there.

Monday evening we invited the senior couples to the mission home for a devotional. Most of that was question and answer. It is always a great blessing to gather the senior couples together.

Tuesday morning we started early and traveled out to Greeneville, Tennessee where we held zone conference with the Kingsport, Asheville, and Cumberland Zones. In that zone conference, Sister Bowen asked a question we hadn’t thought of before. “Have you every thought that you might be offending someone if you don’t talk to them? They know you have a message you want to share, and usually expect you to say something to them.”

Elder Bowen invited us to change our mission by changing our mindset. He cautioned us against assumed limitations that can be formed that limit our potential. He explained this with the parable of the fleas. Fleas get around by jumping, and can jump up to 15 feet. If you place a flea in a jar, it will immediately jump out. If you then put a lid on the jar, the flea will jump and repeatedly bang into the lid while trying to escape. After a short amount of time, the flea begins to learn that it cannot escape, and thus stops jumping as high as it did in the beginning to avoid hitting the lid.

Once a flea learns it can’t escape, you can remove the lid and the flea will continue to jump only to this limited height where the lid was, and never escape the jar. Since the flea believes it cannot escape the jar, it stops trying.

Elder Bowen taught this can happen in life and in missionary work when we impose limitations on what we are able to do and accept it as reality. He then asked, “What are examples of limitations in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission?”

With this in mind, he invited us to do specific things, and promised if we would do so, it would change our mission. This included being obedient and getting up on time each morning, talking to more people every day, teaching more lessons each week, be more dedicated to planning with the Spirit, being dignified in always representing Jesus Christ, and acting with greater urgency.

Sister Corbitt talked about the importance of obedience. She noted that when we think what we do does not matter to anyone else, we are wrong. She encouraged us to be more exact in our efforts because our combined goodness would bring great power to our work.

Elder Corbitt then taught us to increase our faith. He used Alma 5:15 and the question, “Do you look forward with an eye of faith?” to teach us how true faith always looks forward to the future, and that we should “Look forward with an eye of faith to see the Lord’s promises fulfilled!”

Elder Bowen concluded by helping us better understand who we are. He noted that when someone understands who they are, they will act differently. He taught us about what it means to be children of Abraham and of the House of Israel, and the great promises that come with being the seed of Abraham.

At the conclusion of the conference, Elder and Sister Bowen invited us to return to the stand to sit in front of our missionaries. They then asked, “In just a single word, what are the attributes you see in President and Sister Barlow that you admire most?” The missionaries then shared the things that had observed and appreciated. It was very humbling for us to hear these missionaries share their gratitude, and we feel a great love for each and every one of them.

That afternoon, Elder Bowen and Elder Corbitt again interviewed a bunch of missionaries and we stopped by three apartments on the way back to Knoxville for more inspections.

As the Bowens and the Corbitts had never been to Buccee’s, we stopped by Buccee’s on the way home, had dinner together at the mission home, and then took them back to their hotel.

Wednesday was a repeat of Tuesday, but this time with the Knoxville, Chattanooga, Cleveland, and Cookeville Zones in Knoxville.

We are so grateful for the Bowens and Corbitts, and now count them as great friends. They were so kind and supportive of us as mission leaders. We learned a lot in three days, and it has been exciting to see how the missionaries have already responded to their invitations.

Lastly, during this mission tour was Samantha’s 16th Birthday. We were worried about how to make her 16th birthday special while balancing the needs and expectations of this mission tour. To make it even more challenging, fall break at the high school was the same week as the mission tour.

Once again, southern hospitality is very real, and the members here have been incredible. A family in our ward, the Moody’s, were so kind to invite Samantha to go with their family to a beach house in Destin, Florida for her birthday and the Fall break. She had an incredible time and we feel so grateful for everyone here in Tennessee, but especially in the Farragut Ward, who have made Samantha feel so welcome.

Sister Bowen was so kind to leave Samantha a gift (from Bucee’s…haha!). The missionaries in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission did their part too. We love them! And we love Samantha!

As written by Sister Ruf

Sister Harpole and I were looking for someone that the missionaries had been teaching a few months ago.  Every time we went to their house, a man would answer the door and tell us that we just barely missed them. We would ask him if he was interested in our message, and he would tell us no, and we would leave. 

Then the next week we would try again to get into contact with those people, and the same scenario happened again.

This happened 3 or more times! The man would answer the door, and tell us the people we were looking for had just left.

The man who always answered the door was Brandon.

Transfers came, and we became a trio! On Sister Matheny’s first day in the mission field, we again went to try one last time to get in contact with the people who lived at Brandon’s house.

Once again, Brandon answered the door and told us that we just barely missed them. This time we told Brandon that it wasn’t a coincidence that it was always him answering the door and asked once more if he would want to meet with us. This time he said YES! He decided he would finally give these 3 persistent missionaries on his porch a chance. Brandon recognized that he wanted to turn his life around and help his 10-year old son, Dominic, grow up in a church.

From that point on, we began to have lessons with Brandon and Dominic. Brandon has gone through a lot of hard things, and he recognized that his life would improve if he started living his life for God. He and his son started to read the Book of Mormon every day together, began to live the commandments, and come to church every Sunday.

The members of the ward made an incredible difference. They rallied around Brandon and Dominic and helped them with the things they needed as they began their journey towards baptism. Beginning with their first Sunday at church, the members took them in. Before they could stand up at the end of Sacrament meeting, a little boy and his mother invited Dominic to attend primary with him. 

One of my favorite experiences was teaching Dominic to pray! Brandon and Dominic were able to recognize the blessings of living the gospel. Dominic mentioned how much their life had improved in the past 2 weeks as they had started to meet with us and apply the things that we taught.

We invited them to be baptized and they were so excited! Dominic would need to get permission from his mother to be baptized, and through the power of our collective prayers, she gave him permission. Brandon was able to overcome addictions in a short amount of time with the help and encouragement of the members, and on September 16th & 17th Brandon and Dominic were baptized and confirmed.

Brandon and Dominic are proof to me that making covenants with God doesn’t make life easy, but it makes life easier as we yoke ourselves to the Savior!

Last week was zone conference week! It’s alway a great week as we get to see every missionary in the mission. We gather from 10am to 3pm to provide training and to role play in building skills.

It’s been inspiring to watch these missionaries since last zone conference build their commitment to talk with everyone. As they talk with everyone, missionaries actually face more rejection because they are talking to more people. But even as they face more rejection, I’ve observed how they are happier because they are focused on their missionary purpose of inviting all to come unto Christ. This takes a lot of faith. It’s usually uncomfortable. It requires a lot of determination and effort. But we are seeing these wonderful missionaries lean into it with faith, and miracles are happening.

Here is an example of the determination of the missionaries in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. We could share dozens of examples of this kind of effort:

We continue to be inspired by these amazing missionaries.

The focus of this zone conference was “Unite with Members” and expanding our efforts to find. We love how the title of chapter 13 of Preach My Gospel changed from “How Do I Work with Stake and Ward Leaders?” to “Unite with Leaders and Members to Establish the Church.” That’s the goal…to UNITE! Preach My Gospel teaches us the following about “Unite with Members”:

“You are united with leaders and members by your love for God and His children.”

“Regularly ask yourself, ‘Am I a blessing to local leaders?’ Develop an attitude of ‘How can I help?'”

“Work with members of the church to find people to teach.”

“Like Ammon in the Book of Mormon, approach local leaders with an attitude of service.”

“Help members understand the remarkable blessings for sharing the gospel.”

“Relationships with members can bless you for the rest of your life.”

“You build trust with members as they feel the Spirit with you.”

“He will magnify your efforts to the degree you work in unity with local leaders and members.”

Sister Barlow used a powerful object lesson to teach about uniting with members. She had a sister come up and put on an orange University of Tennessee shirt and hat symbolizing the love we have for members. She then pinned different cards representing how we unite with them, including “Great people with enthusiasm!” “Pray for them in their homes.” “Be on time.” “Express thanks!” “Follow through.” “How can I help?” Here she is with Sister Jensen at the zone conference for Cumberland and Knoxville Zones:

We also did training and role plays focus on finding using Facebook, and are excited to learn to use this as another way to meet new people.

With each meeting, we had missionaries who shared some wonderful musical numbers.

We closed each meeting with singing “Love One Another”.

We also enjoyed time to have lunch together, and greatly appreciate the members who are always so generous to serve the missionaries by providing these lunches.

At the end, the Elders surprised President Barlow with a group hug. Not sure who organized all of that, but it was much appreciated.

As part of these meetings, we also held training for District Leaders. The focus of this training was how leaders can minister to the people they lead. Sister Chan and Sister Cunningham taught about the tools we have to help us understand the needs of missionaries. Elder Johnson taught about speaking directly, but with kindness and support. And Elder Criddle took us through some scenarios to discuss what to do.

Lastly, over the last two weeks, we’ve had the opportunity to participate in two “Zone Blitz”. We do these on Monday nights after preparation day where the missionaries in a zone all join together to find more people to teach in one area in the zone. These help jump start the teaching pools and build really strong camaraderie amongst the missionaries.

For the zone blitz in the Cleveland Zone, we met up in Hixson. What was powerful about this zone blitz is members of the Hixson Ward joined us to go out finding. I loved being out with Elder Clark that night and learned a lot from this great missionary.

This last Monday night we did a zone blitz with the Knoxville Zone. I had the opportunity to go out with Elder Buchholz and Elder Escobar, two really great Elders. We went to a park and literally talked with everyone!

On Wednesday, September 20th, we brought the new missionaries from this transfer and their trainers back into Knoxville for “New Missionary Follow Up”. We do this follow up in the middle of their first transfer to provide some additional training. With both new missionaries and trainers, this involved 48 missionaries.

In the past, this training has mostly focused on “Adjusting to Missionary Life”. But last transfer, Sister Barlow worked with Brother Taggart to start a new weekly meeting for new missionaries called “Missionary Resilience Class”. Once a week during their first transfer, the new missionaries now meet on Zoom with Brother Taggart for a class based on the info in both Adjusting to Missionary Life and the Self Reliance: Emotional Resilience class. This has been a great addition in supporting our new missionaries.

With the Missionary Resilience Class now in place, we decided to pivot “New Missionary Follow Up” to focus on foundational skills from Preach My Gospel. The entire morning was focused on “The Faith to Find”.

In Preach My Gospel, “The Faith to Find” is explained in this way:

“Faith is a principle of action and power . Have faith that the Lord is preparing people to receive the restored gospel. Have patient confidence that He will lead you to them, or them to you. Act on your faith by setting goals, making plans, and carrying out your plans to find people to teach (see chapter 8).” (Preach My Gospel, Chapter 9: “Find People to Teach”)

We believe that God is preparing people all around us to receive His gospel. As He prepares their hearts, He then leads them to us or us to them. “Faith is a principle of action and power.” Faith will always lead to action, and acting in faith allows us to receive power from God. With the faith to find, that action is the commitment to talk with everyone. As we strive to talk with everyone, we find those who God has prepared as they cross our path.

As you can imagine, the commitment to talk with everyone takes a lot of courage and is a big adjustment for new missionaries. It isn’t natural for them to walk up to people they don’t know and begin a conversation. To build these skills as missionaries takes a lot of practice. And the way we practice as missionaries is through role plays.

We teach these missionaries some important skills from Preach My Gospel, including things like how to introduce their purpose, asking questions to understand needs, how to introduce the Book of Mormon, and how to invite people to learn more. We then practice these skills in role plays. Focusing on these skills builds their confidence to talk with everyone.

So we spent the entire training focused on these foundational skills, and practicing them through role plays.

That Friday, we also had our Senior Missionary Lunch at the mission home. It’s always great to spend time with these couples. They are amazing and continue to make an incredible difference in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. We are so grateful for them!

This is the last time we will be together with the Smiths and the Henningsons as they both are completing their missions and returning home. We love them and will miss them!

Another big milestone happened at our house! Samantha had her first date!

It seemed appropriate that her first date would be at the University of Tennessee football home opener at Neyland Stadium. We are so proud of Samantha and the way she has embraced the opportunity to be here in Tennessee. She has made many new friends and we are very grateful that we have so many people thinking about her.