Every transfer brings another group of missionaries who have completed their service in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. We had 7 missionaries depart this transfer:
- Elder Elijah Backstein
- Elder Iain Beevers
- Elder Caleb Hansen
- Elder Eli Hill
- Elder Juan Lopez
- Elder Dalton Rencher
- Sister Azelyn Ruf
This always brings a feeling of “How is the mission going to continue without these missionaries?!” While we’ve served with them for 6 months of their mission, it is remarkable to see the growth and change in these missionaries just in the time we’ve worked with them.
Departing missionaries brought our 5th TKM Family Olympics. It was cold and wet outside, so we had to improvise for this round. With a smaller group, we decided to pull the Olympics into the basement where we competed in three events:
- Sequence (a board game)
- Corn Hole (a must for every round of TKM Family Olympics)
- Welcome Poster Contest for our missionaries who arrived the next day
Teams were Elder Backstein and Elder Hill vs. Elder Beevers and Elder Hansen vs. Elder Lopez and President Barlow.
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Competition was fierce, but victory was won based on the strength of their welcome poster. Elder Hanse and Elder Beevers took home the gold for the 5th TKM Family Olympics.
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It has become a tradition that these missionaries film their final “Tender Mercy Video” from the mission home to share a brief final thought with the rest of the mission.
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The mission has a Facebook page called “Believers of Christ” where we share thoughts, music, and videos that build faith in Jesus Christ. (While you are here, please take a minute to give our page a follow as that helps to make our page more visible to the audience we are trying to reach.)
On his last day of the mission, we published the conversion story of Elder Lopez. Since we first arrived in the mission, Sister Barlow has been urging Elder Lopez to get his experience documented and we are grateful he did it before he left the TKM. His story is remarkable and we invite you to watch it.
We love these Elders and Sisters! They will be missed but we look forward to the great things that now lie ahead for these lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.
Barlows in TKM 