The week of July 8th will be a very memorable week of our mission. Back in February, Sister Barlow invited all of the missionaries to read the Book of Mormon in 65 days, which concluded on June 18th. We gathered that night as an entire mission and read the final chapter of the Book of Mormon together. It was a very powerful experience.

There was a lot of build up as Sister Barlow had been telling the mission she had something special planned to celebrate finishing the Book of Mormon in 65 days. That night, after finishing the final chapter, she announced that the entire mission would attend the temple together in July. After attending the temple in the morning, we would have a brief zone conference in the afternoon before returning home.

On Tuesday, July 9th, the Asheville and Kingsport Zones would go to the Columbia South Carolina Temple. On Wednesday, July 10th, the Cumberland, Chattanooga, and Cleveland Zones would go to the Atlanta Georgia Temple. And on Thursday, July 11th, the Knoxville and Cookeville Zones would go to the Nashville Tennessee Temple.

For every zone conference, we do a “Prepare to Learn”. This Prepare to Learn was focused on the temple:

• “Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys”, President Russell M. Nelson, April 2024 General Conference
• Study D&C 109, Prayer offered at the dedication of the temple at Kirtland, Ohio, March 27, 1836. According to the Prophet’s written statement, this prayer was given to him by revelation.
• “Personal Preparation for Temple Blessings”, President Russell M. Nelson, April 2001 General Conference
• “The Everlasting Covenant”, President Russell M. Nelson, Liahona, October 2022 
• About the Temple Endowment, temples.churchofjesuschrist.org

Elder Hillman has been working the last couple of months to get everything organized for our temple trips. Because of the size of these temples, they don’t have clothing available for the missionaries, so missionaries had to borrow temple clothing from members. We are very grateful for all of the members to help out. Elder Hillman tracked every missionary to ensure they had what they needed. He also arranged for the bus transportation to each temple and helped organize the missionaries to get to the bus departure locations. Office couples assisted him in arranging for the lunches we would have after the temple experience. It was an incredible amount of work. Elder Hillman was definitely the MVP of the week!

On the bus rides to the temple, we wanted to use this as a time to prepare to have a special experience in the temple. To help facilitate that, we created a “Temple Companion Study”. Companions sat together on the buses and went through this study guide together, discussing their feelings and impressions, and writing down thoughts in their journal.

Everyone at the temple was so kind. The workers were so thoughtful and put a lot of effort into making sure the missionaries had a special experience. We are very grateful for them.

Many of our missionaries had not done endowments in over a year. So they were excited, and their anticipation helped create a really meaningful experience. It was powerful for them individually, and it was powerful for us collectively as a mission.

President Nelson is a Preach My Gospel Master Inviter! When he invites us to act, he always promises blessings. He has promised that making covenants and attending the temple will:

• Open the door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available to men, women, and children everywhere.
• Bring increased personal revelation and peace and will fortify your commitment to stay on the covenant path.
• Open the windows of heaven and bring increased revelation.
• Allow the Lord to teach you how to draw upon His priesthood power.
• Bring the miracles He knows you need.
• Improve your ability to hear Him.
• Bring increased security.
• Strengthen your faith and spiritual fortitude.
• Increase our understanding of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
• Endow us with His healing, strengthening power.
• Counter the lure of the world.
• Strengthen your spiritual foundation.
• Bring blessings for eternity.
• Increase positive spiritual momentum.
• Bless your life in ways nothing else can.
• Help us in our quest to be a peacemaker.
• Build faith.
• Help you think celestial!
• Be the place where He manifests Himself to us.
• Empower you to meet the challenges of life.
• Receive answers to prayer, personal revelation, greater faith, strength, comfort, increased knowledge, and increased power.
• Help you to catch the vision of who you really are, who you can become, and the kind of life you can have forever.
• Enhance the way you see yourself and how you fit into God’s magnificent plan.
• Have the power of God and that angels really will help you.
• Help you hold fast to the iron rod.
• Protect you from the world’s mists of darkness.
• Bolster your testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
• Soothe your spirit in times of pain.
• Open the heavens.
• Help you receive all the blessings promised to Abraham.

These are the blessings we want every missionary (and returned missionary) from the Tennessee Knoxville Mission to receive!

After attending the temple, we held a shortened zone conference to talk about the blessings of the temple.

In his General Conference talk “Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys”, President Nelson invited us to study D&C 109 and note the blessings promised there. They include:

• Place to feel the Lord’s power
• Feel constrained to acknowledge that God has sanctified it. (constrained = compel or force someone toward a particular course of action.)
• Taught words of wisdom
• They may grow up in the Lord
• Receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost
• Be organized according to God’s laws
• Be prepared to receive every needful thing from the Lord
• When I transgress, I will want to speedily repent
• Be armed with power
• Leave the temple empowered to share the gospel
• Honorably hold a name and a standing before the Lord

One of the most important blessings for our missionaries is found in D&C 109:22-23.

It is from the temple that His servants…these wonderful Elders and Sisters…go forth armed with His power. And with that power from the temple, they then “bear exceedingly great and glorious tidings, in truth, unto the ends the earth, that they may know that this is [His] work.” Our hope is that every missionary in the TKM renewed that power this week.

#WhatsUpInTKM

The missionaries first contact with Michael Morton was on July 16, 2023. They were going to meet with another friend and ran into Michael and his friend. Michael noticed right away that there was something different about the missionaries.

Soon Sister Harrison and Sister Lund started teaching him and helping him grow his faith in Jesus Christ. At first Michael didn’t see the need for baptism. He felt that he already had a good enough connection with God. The sisters had many lessons with him and even watched General Conference with him, but ultimately the sisters had to stop teaching him because he was so busy.

Sister Lund and Sister Biasi then ran into him again and Michael said that he was ready to get serious about learning about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They started to teach him pretty consistently, but the lessons were never very productive so they stopped teaching him again because He wasn’t progressing. Even though the sisters stopped teaching Michael, the Spirit continued to work in his life.

Michael kept randomly running into the missionaries around town. Finally one Sunday during church, Michael called Sister Adams and Sister Foster and said he was outside! We asked him what inspired him to come to church with us that Sunday, and he told us he wanted to get baptized.

We immediately started teaching Michael about baptism and began to prepare him to be baptized. Michael was so busy that sometimes we would show up to Walmart where he worked to have lessons with him.

On April 30, 2024 we taught Michael the doctrine of baptism and extended a baptismal date to him, He was very excited and willing to do whatever it would take to make this covenant with Heavenly Father. Michael was baptized on May 11, 2024 and there were many people there to support him!! He said that after his baptism he felt good and tired because he was finally clean. He said that he was able to be kinder to others and get along better with everyone. Michael is now preparing to receive the priesthood and attend the temple.

#TKMTenderMercies

In June, we had the opportunity to attend multiple Stake Youth Camps with our missionaries. First up was Young Women’s Camp in the Kingsport Stake. We were so grateful to go with Sister Condie and Sister Wall who serve in the Abingdon Ward. The camp was help just outside of Abingdon in the beautiful mountains of Virgina.

Sister Wall shared a great message about charity and learning to love others like the Savior does, and Sister Condie’s message was about repentance and not expecting ourselves to be perfect. These two sisters are amazing and we are so grateful to serve with them. Plus they brought W.W.J.D. bracelets and stickers for the young women. Hopefully many of these young women will choose to serve missions, because sisters are the best!

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Next up was Young Men’s Camp in the Chattanooga Stake. This was at a beautiful camp east of Athens, TN. We had a dozen missionaries with us there who put on a great devotional for the young men that included a Q&A on missionary work and role plays with the young men on sharing the Book of Mormon. Also included was a roping lesson from Elder Elegante. He told me I would need more practice. Added bonus: really great barbecue and dutch oven desserts!

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We also attended Young Men’s Camp with the Kingsport Stake. This was at New River State Park in Laurel Springs, NC. Incredibly beautiful drive! I met Elder Rumsey and Elder Naufahu in Bristol and drove with them to the camp. We had missionaries share their experiences about choosing to serve a mission, and did an Q&A where young men asked many great questions about what it is like serving a mission. Because the young men hadn’t eaten yet, we scratched the activity we had planned and had dinner with the young men.

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Also, before heading out to the YW Camp in Abingdon, we met the Bristol District for lunch at the Burger Bar in Bristol, TN. This little restaurant is famous (among the missionaries) for their Mormon Burger! And of course we had to try it. The owner came out and told us the history of the Mormon Burger. He said when he first opened the restaurant, two elders came and offered to give service to help him get the restaurant opened. They painted the walls and stools and did other jobs around the place, and he grew to love these missionaries. Once the restaurant opened, the missionaries and would come in and request their own custom burger: basically a grilled cheese sandwich with a burger. After a while, the owner put in on the menu, and it is still there today. Stop by the Burger Bar if you are ever in Bristol, TN!

#WhatsUpInTKM

by Sister Ihrig

It all started in July 2022 when Armahni’s step-dad, Chase, sent in a media request to learn about the power of prayer. Two zealous missionaries ventured through the trenches and hills of the North Georgia city in which Armahni and her family had recently moved. Chase, having purposefully sent in a request to meet with missionaries, answered the door, leading to a two-year long journey of faith for him and his family.

Armahni was only six years old when the missionaries started coming over, but she looked forward to their visits every time. Although she didn’t understand a lot of the discussions at first, she knew she loved God, Jesus Christ, and whatever sweet spirit the missionaries brought into their home; it was her heart’s greatest desire to connect with God.

As she grew older, she started attending church with her step-father and listening intently to the testimonies people bore about their own faith in Christ. “I loved hearing other people say what they loved about God and Jesus because I love them too!” she says. Armahni, although young, felt as though she was already a member of our church. In fact, it wasn’t until the spring of 2024 that she even knew she wasn’t.

Over seventeen missionaries had taught Armahni and her family, but only now was she old enough to be baptized, so when she was asked if that was something she wanted, she jumped on the opportunity. Finally, she could make her own covenants, or promises, with God!

Before her baptism, Armahni was anything but nervous. This was something she’d looked forward to for almost the past two years! Beaming with excitement and with a twinkle in her eye, Armahni was baptized on March 30, 2024. She recounted the experience “I felt like a totally new person after I came out of the water! I could feel God’s spirit and it was really peaceful!” She later stated that she felt the same peace during and after receiving the Holy Ghost.

Once all the excitement of the event was passed, Armahni was asked why she decided to be baptized, to which she responded, “Because I love Jesus, and I was thinking I want to be a missionary and help people know God too!” Armahni has also mentioned her love for the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She loves going to primary, singing in the church choir, and taking the sacrament.

Armahni expressed gratitude for the many missionaries who had continued to teach her and her family over the years, and the multitude of ward members who helped her in Primary and at home. Armahni is super excited to grow up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and cannot wait for her opportunity to serve her very own mission!

Missionaries involved in teaching Armahni: Caleb Cobos, Karoly Serralde, Davin Adams, Gus Mcentire, Derek MacLay, Nicha Tucker, Stephany Cox, Samantha Wiser, Elle Phillips, Kylie Cunningham, Shannon Oldroyd, Afton Branch, Lexi Colson, Kayla Wittwer, Kobee Hall, Iain Beevers, Madison Bailey, Kimberly Talbot, Jenessa Ihrig

#TKMTenderMercies