by Elder Fisher

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I’m grateful to share the story of my friend José, and his miracle-filled journey to finding and gaining a testimony of Christ’s restored church. 

José’s brother Martin was being taught by missionaries in Loudon, Tennessee for a few months and was beginning to really accept the message of the Restoration. However, one night after meeting with the missionaries, he tragically passed away. His passing brought much grief and sadness to their family. 

About a month after his passing, José had found the missionaries number and knew that because of his brother’s experiences with the missionaries, Martin would have wanted him to meet with the missionaries.

José called the missionaries and set up time to meet with them. For months and months, the missionaries met with José frequently as they taught him truths of the gospel.

After 11 months of meeting with the missionaries, José was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A restored principle in the gospel of Jesus Christ is that the blessing of baptism can be made available to those who did not receive it in this life. Jesus Christ taught that baptism is essential to the salvation of all who have lived on earth (see John 3:5). Many people, however, have died without being baptized. Others were baptized without proper authority.

Because God is merciful, He has prepared a way for all people to receive the blessings of baptism. By performing proxy baptisms in behalf of those who have died, Church members offer these blessings to deceased ancestors. Individuals can then choose to accept or reject what has been done in their behalf. A living person, often a descendant who has become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is baptized in behalf of a deceased person. This work is done by Church members in temples throughout the world and is referred to as “baptisms for the dead“. One of those temples will soon be built in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Two weeks after his baptism, José traveled to the Atlanta Georgia temple, where he was baptized for his brother Martin. Because of José’s faithfulness and desire to find truth, his brother Martin was able to receive ordinances and covenants he had begun to accept in this life. 

Martin’s decision blessed José, and José’s decision blessed Martin. A tender mercy between two brothers.

We are so grateful for the senior couples who are serving in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. It’s impossible to describe here the difference they are making and the great amount of good they do. Back in September we introduced you to Elder and Sister Jentzsch, Elder and Sister Sawyer, Elder and Sister Boyer, and Sister Young who all continue to serve in the mission. Since then, we have welcomed four new couples to the TKM!

Elder and Sister Chris

First, we want to introduce you to Elder and Sister Chris from Santa Clara, Utah. They started their mission in November and will be serving with us for the next 12 months. They are assigned to the Hendersonville (North Carolina) Branch where they work with the Micronesian members there. We love how they have fully embraced this assignment and jumped right in. They love the Micronesian people and they are greatly loved by them. They have picked up right where the Henningson’s left off in helping the youth in the branch prepare to attend the temple and serve missions.

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Elder and Sister Hillman

Elder and Sister Hillman, from West Jordan, Utah, are serving in the office and will be in the TKM for the next six months. We wouldn’t be able to survive without these office couples and the Sawyers and the Jentzschs couldn’t have been happier to see the Hillman’s arrive. We served with the Hillman’s in the West Jordan Utah Westland Stake and know them really well. At the October 2023 General Conference, they heard Elder Rasband’s talk titled “How Great Shall Be Your Joy” where he invited more senior couples to serve missions, and they immediately called us and asked how soon they could come. That talk was given on September 30th and they were in the MTC on November 27th. That tells you all you need to know about the Hillman’s, their desires to serve, and especially their commitment to respond to the invitations from prophets and apostles. We love them and feel so grateful they are here.

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Elder and Sister Christensen

Elder and Sister Christensen are from Hooper, Utah. They arrived November and will be in the TKM for the next 12 months. They have been assigned to the Lakeway Ward in Morristown, Tennessee. This ward has started up a Spanish group. Elder Christensen served as a young missionary in Chile, but said he could no longer speak Spanish. That didn’t stop them from being assigned to this wonderful ward with this little Spanish group, and Elder Christensen said he has been amazed at how fast his Spanish has returned. Sister Christensen has even learned to share her testimony in Spanish. We love the Christensen’s…and the missionaries REALLY love the Christensen’s. When they sent in their application, they said they felt impressed to put the Tennessee Knoxville Mission as their #1 preference (yes, you can do that!). We are sure glad they did!

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Elder and Sister Markli

Elder and Sister Markli are from Clinton, Tennessee and will be serving as Temple Construction missionaries for the next two years where they will help with the Knoxville Tennessee Temple. We are so excited about this and feel so grateful to have the Markli’s in the TKM! In their new role, they are in the process of opening up a welcome center at the site of the temple where there will be a small trailer with information about the role of temples in the Church of Jesus Christ. As people come by the temple site, they will be greeted by the Markli’s who will be able to share more information about temples. The groundbreaking for the Knoxville Tennessee Temple is January 27th, so more to come about the Markli’s and their exciting role as senior missionaries. Click here to learn more about temples.

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Right after Christmas, we were excited to gather all \ the senior missionaries across the mission for lunch. We decided to meet in the middle at a little deli in Morristown, Tennessee. This group is a mighty army for good…and if you would like to join us, there is many more needs for senior couples in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. We would love to have you join us! We are very grateful for every one of them.

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Elder Boyer took this picture of us at the Senior Missionary Lunch. We are happy and having amazing experiences as we serve with these wonderful people in Tennessee.

We were very grateful to have Lincoln, Rachel, and Connor join us in Knoxville for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. We’ve never lived apart as a family, and we’ve taken for granted that we could gather together anytime we wanted. Now that we live 1,800 miles apart, it was a special time to be back together.

Thanksgiving

Lincoln came into Knoxville the week before Thanksgiving, and Connor and Rachel joined us the week after Thanksgiving, which meant we were all together for one day…Thanksgiving Day. We packed a lot into that week:

• Tennessee/Georgia football game and Neyland Stadium
• Top Golf in a downpour
• Visit to Dollywood
• Thanksgiving!
• Visit to the Giving Machines in Turkey Creek
• Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga
• Tennessee/Vanderbilt football game

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We were very grateful to have a visit from our neighbors in Utah, Jay and Amy Despain. They planned a fun trip to Nashville and were so kind to make the 2.5 hour drive to Farragut to go to lunch together. It was fun to spend time with these great friends.

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Christmas

We had everyone back together for the week of Christmas, with more fun that included:

• Another trip to Dollywood (and more Cinnamon Bread…if you don’t know, look it up)
• University of Tennessee men’s basketball game
• Dolly Parton Christmas Stampede in Pigeon Forge
• Buccee’s (again…if you don’t know…look it up) for brisket sandwiches, Beaver Nuggets, and Texas Cheesesteak Burritos
• Kimberly’s new favorite restaurant…Chili’s (not sure how that happened)
• Two zone conferences with the entire family
• A family Christmas tradition: It’s a Wonderful Life

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Nothing better than being together as a family.

Our zone conferences in December turned out incredibly well, especially the hour that was dedicated to our Christmas program. It is always a powerful experience to gather groups of missionaries together to nourish our faith, build our skills, and strengthen our unity in the mission.

Our focus at this zone conference was to become “Master Planners”. Each week, missionaries spend 2 hours in weekly planning and 30 minutes each morning in daily planning. In these planning sessions, they plan to meet the needs of their friends they are teaching, how they can find more people to teach, and how they can unite with the leaders and members of their local congregations. We follow a specific process from Preach My Gospel of setting goals and making plans to reach those goals.

As these missionaries learn to set goals, make plans to accomplish them, and diligently carry out those plans, they begin to understand how a proactive mindset will bless them throughout the rest of their lives. These planning skills will help them to make and keep covenants with God, serve faithfully in the church, pursue education, grow in their employment, and build a strong family.

We also had a wonderful Christmas program to wrap up each zone conference. We read scriptures about the Christmas story, sang hymns, and enjoyed some incredible musical numbers as many missionaries shared their musical talents.

Cumberland and Knoxville Zones

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Chattanooga, Cleveland, and Cookeville Zones

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Asheville and Kingsport Zones

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The missionaries in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission love Sister Barlow! She has shared the most memorable messages in our zone conferences. In our last zone conference she talked about getting more gritty and “get gritty” has become somewhat of a slogan in the mission. In this conference she talked about the definition of a successful missionary, and steps they can take whenever they face discouragement in life.

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We prepared three gifts to give the missionaries. The first was a laminated daily schedule to remind them of our commitment to follow this schedule with exactness.

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The second was a special flip book of The Living Christ. Sister Barlow invited our mission to memorize The Living Christ by Valentine’s Day, and promised that memorizing this statement would help us to grow closer to Jesus Christ and draw the power of Jesus Christ into our lives.

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A new version of Preach My Gospel was released in June of this year. Our missionaries have been studying their digital copies while making it very clear that they prefer the paper copy to study. Our print copies have been on order since July, and everyone has been patiently waiting for the books to come in.

Just a few days before zone conference, we received our shipment of Preach My Gospel books, and we decided to surprise the missionaries with the books at zone conference.

Likely, only missionaries will understand their reactions:

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We love these missionaries. Zone conferences are a highlight of each transfer and we are so grateful for every opportunity we have to gather together with them.