Samantha’s 16th! And Our First Mission Tour

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!