Vic married Sandy Woods, who is a member of the Gray Ward. Sandy’s faith and example played a critical role in helping him in his conversion.
Vic grew up a member of another church and is very grateful he had a Christian upbringing. Sandy would often invite the missionaries into their home and Vic always had great respect for them. He was especially impressed with their willingness to try to share the gospel in the South and the resilience they had when they were faced with rejection.
Vic had been going to church with Sandy for a long time. He was actually given a calling to serve in the nursery before he was a member. When it was announced that he was going to be baptized, a lot of the members of the ward were really surprised because they thought he was a member all along.
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Vic was baptized on July 13, 2024 as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Susie is originally from Maryland and moved to Cookeville out of the blue on Thursday May 16, 2024. She was leaving a rough situation and was looking for a new start.
On June 11, 2024, Sister Biasi and Sister Hunt got a referral for a woman named Monica who was looking for a church to attend. We called her and taught her about the sacrament and asked if she would come to our church for a chapel tour. When she agreed, we asked Monica if there was anyone else who would like to join for the tour. She started yelling for a girl named Susie.
Susie took the phone and we began teaching her about the sacrament and we ended the phone call with a church tour set up for Saturday with Monica, Susie, and 4 other girls!
On Saturday we showed up for the tour and only Susie ended up coming. As we were giving her the tour, we stopped at the baptismal font. As we opened the doors, we looked over at Susie and she was in tears. She then asked, “What do I have to do to be baptized?” We had an amazing member there who is a recent convert who quickly replied, “Stop swearing and stop smoking!!” We taught Susie about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and ended the tour by inviting her to be baptized on July 6, 2024.
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We began teaching Susie every other day in preparation for her baptism. We invited many members of our church to join us for those lessons, and they were a huge part in helping Susie prepare and overcome many challenges that would have held her back from being baptized. With their support and the help and strength from Jesus Christ and His Atonement, Susie was able to overcome all of her challenges.
As she started moving closer and closer to her date you could see this light growing brighter and brighter in Susie. She told us multiple times that for the first time in her life, she didn’t feel like she was going in circles any more. She felt a sense of purpose and was finally moving forward.
On July 27, 2024 Susie was baptized and on July 28th she was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Susie is now working to go to the temple. She is looking forward to doing the work for Her grandma and sister.
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Susie has since shared many experiences with us that led up to her meeting us. One of those was she was told by a friend that Utah would mean alot to her in the next month. Two weeks later she met two girls from Utah ready to help her receive Jesus Christ’s gospel. We know she was being prepared for a while and was finally in a place where she was able to do all she could to grow closer to Jesus Christ.
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Susie is already such a GOLD STAR of a member. She has such sweet testimony of the gospel. We are so grateful for Susie and her example to us. As Susie would say, “The best is yet to come!” And we can’t wait!
“Back in 2020 I had my leg operated on and I had a really bad infection in my leg and was about to lose my leg. I hadn’t been to church in about 20 years. I was laying there in the emergency room and the ER doctor came in and told me I could possibly lose my leg. I closed my eyes and just prayed “I know I haven’t been the closest to you Lord, but if you’re with me please just don’t let me lose my leg.”
After that they took me in for emergency surgery for about 9 hours. When I woke up I saw my leg was still there and I told the nurse the Lord was with me because I didn’t lose my leg. I had two or three more surgeries after that first one and I kept my leg. I’m able to do most everyday normal things.
It seems like I forgot about Him but He didn’t forget about me, and He still didn’t turn His back on me after that situation.
After all that, I was at home recooperating and I just talked to myself. “Maybe it’s time for me to make a change, get back into church, and try to live my life right.” I had my phone in my hand and I just prayed, “Lord, lead me the way to attend the right church that would be a close knit family.”
Within five minutes of saying that prayer, the website for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints website pulled up, and I said, “There’s my answer!” So I filled out the form online and in a few days the missionaries called and set up a meeting.
When they walked in I could just feel the warmth coming off of them. I knew they were the real deal. We started studying the Book of Mormon. The missionaries kept close contact and kept encouraging me to read the Book of Mormon every day. These ladies were sent from God.
I read the Book of Mormon for about a month and followed the calendar the missionaries had given me. On June 8, 2024 I got baptized. That was the best day of my life! When you get baptized, you don’t know how clean you’re going to feel. When I came out of the water, I felt so clean. I felt like a new person.
The people at church make you feel like family. You couldn’t ask for a better church then where I go to church at.
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by Sister Wall
I feel so incredibly blessed that I was able to witness Jason choose to follow Jesus Chirst. I remember when Sister Condie and I made a baptismal calendar with Jason, we set his date, and he left the library, and we looked at each other and said, “Why didn’t we plan for his baptism sooner?!” So we ran up the stairs chasing him, and when we finally caught up with him, we asked him if he would like to be baptized sooner. He said with confidence, “That’ll be fine.”
Jason has been a great example of choosing Jesus Christ even when life gets hard and uncomfortable. Jason finds comfort in His Savior Jesus Christ.
by Sister Condie
The first time we read the Book of Mormon intro together, Jason told us he knew it was a good thing. He felt the spirit. After a few lessons, he said he found himself choosing to be kind and acting more like Christ, and he knew those changes came from the Savior.
When baptism day rolled around, the font filled up slower then we were expecting. So Sister Wall, the Elders, and I ran around with pitchers of water so we could get the font filled up in time. It was a little chaotic but when it came time for the actual baptism, the chaos didn’t matter. Jason was happy to be making a covenant with God.
Even when difficult roadblocks popped up, Jason pushed through and made it to baptism. I’m grateful for his testimony, desire to connect with the ward, and example of the light and lasting change that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In early 2023, Nick moved from Las Vegas to Tennessee to live with his grandparents. Shortly before his move, he had experienced a life threatening situation. It was here in Tennessee where he was first introduced to the missionaries.
Since that time he had met with missionaries on and off but didn’t express any interest in becoming a member. Over time, Nick would find himself having long discussions with his grandmother about gospel principles. The biggest and most influential thing he liked to discuss was family history and the purpose of temples.
After many of these discussions Nick felt a change in his life and the standards he wanted to follow. During another long late night conversation with his grandmother, the topic of temples and family temple work was brought up. Nick knew he wanted to search out his ancestors and complete the necessary temple work for them, but to do so he would need to be a member.
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That’s when Nick made the decision to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was baptized and confirmed on July 20, 2024 and says he has felt the power of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit work in his life.
The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square is coming to Ft. Lauderdale and Atlanta for concerts in early September called “Song of Hope”. While those concerts aren’t in Tennessee, all of the stakes here will be hosting “Watch Parties” on September 7th or September 11th where there will be a night of food and games followed by watching a live broadcast of the concert. This is a great opportunity for members of our church to invite friends to come join a fun event with our congregations.
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Since mid-July, missionaries have been handing out “Gift of Music” cards to invite everyone to join us at the Watch Parties. The missionaries use these cards to start conversations with people about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. These cards have been helpful as they have three things that different people appreciate.
First, it is a beautiful picture of the Savior. People love the Savior here in Tennessee. This is a very unique picture of the Christ. It was commissioned by the Tabernacle Choir and is only used for their events.
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Second, on the back of the card is a QR code where you can access a playlist of a free “Gift of Music” from the Tabernacle Choir. Many people appreciate this gift of music and we’ve learned that the Tabernacle Choir is very familiar to many people in Tennessee.
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Third, it is an invite to the Watch Party. Everyone loves a community party and concert!
We signed up to pass out 60,000 invites to the Watch Party. That worked out to 10 cards per companionship per day over two months. The Assistants created a graphic of Tennessee vs. Alabama that should show our progress vs. goal. We’ve now handed out over 40,000 cards and are making a late push to beat Alabama!
Throughout the week, missionaries in the TKM share videos of “Tender Mercies” that highlight how they’ve seen God’s help in their work. Here are a few of the Tender Mercy Videos that have been shared about the Tabernacle Choir cards (or TABCAT cards as they are affectionately known in the TKM – as in “TABernacle Choir at Temple Square”).
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We are excited about the Watch Parties happening this next week and hope many of our friends will join us there.
The day that Elder Dodge and Elder Staff came knocking on my door changed – even saved – my life.
I’ve always treasured my relationship with Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ and have never lost faith in their plan for humanity and their plan for me. I knew it would not fail, but had almost resigned myself to not finding the church home that nurtured those things.
The religion that I raised in wasn’t a home community or church family and when I needed them the most they shunned me. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided those things for me and made me feel loved, appreciated, and even treasured from the beginning. Unfortunately I had to move from that location and the year following was one of the worst years of my life, but I still met with the missionaries in Knoxville and visited the ward in Fountain City a few times.
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From there I had to take some serious steps to take care of myself, to heal addiction, and some broken bones. So I spent about a year in a couple of different recovery programs. Then in September of 2023, I was permanently back in Maryville and by the first of this year, 2024, I was back to meeting regularly with the missionaries, who were at that time Sister Fee and Sister Condie. Sister Wilson soon replaced Sister Condie and the time I spent with Sister Fee and Sister Wilson proved to be the true changing point for the better.
With their help and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, I was able to anchor my life in the positive ways. I was getting close to God and He strengthened me to be able to stand strong against the enemy and the heavy spiritual attacks that were thrown my way. The adversary tried hard to swing me in his way and even take my life, but I refused to abandon my relationship ship with God and this human life. I was also able to make lifestyle changes including leaving a living situation in a garage with a man I was not married to.
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One of the happiest days of my life was when Sister Wilson told me I was ready to be baptized and that it would happen on July 27, 2024. That day came, and when I came up out of the water my body and soul felt lighter, and I had a strong sense of comfort that even though life may still be hard at times, it will always be rewarding and full of divine love and the Holy Spirit. I so much look forward to my life ahead as a member of Christ’s true church on the earth and being able to serve God and my fellow man in the highest capacity possible.
It was a sunny Saturday, the roads a little less busy then normal. Sister Bingham and Sister Hodges were driving down the road and saw a man walking on the side. They pulled over and invited him to church! Despite the language barrier Richar understood what the two Sisters were saying and happily took the card.
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That Sunday the Sisters were sitting in the Young Women’s room on the phone with a friend when a member came in and told them they had a visitor. Speed walking out of the room, there he was! Richar came to church!
That week, there wasn’t a single Spanish speaker at church so Sister Hodges quickly pulled out Google Translate and wrote as much as she could so Richar could understand what was happening. They later found out that Richar had walked over an hour to get to church that day.
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The sister missionaries really wanted to teach Richar right away, but none of the Spanish speakers in the ward were going to be available that week, so they sent him to the Spanish Elders, Elder Richins and Elder Nilsson. They were able to teach him about the sacrament and baptism and he wanted to learn more.
After that week, with the help of Spanish-speaking members in the ward, the Sisters began to teach him. He told them that he wanted to dedicate his life to God. In a little less than a month, on July 21, 2024 he was baptized!
Richar loves learning about the gospel and he is excited to go to the temple with the ward this next month.
As missionaries depart from the Tennessee Knoxville Mission, we invite them to share what they’ve learned about being a lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ.
As missionaries depart from the Tennessee Knoxville Mission, we invite them to share what they’ve learned about being a lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ.
On April 13, 2024, Stanly and his son Jared were taking out their trash to the dumpster in front of their apartment when two missionaries stopped them and asked to share a message about the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ. They agreed and said that we were able to come back.
At first Stanly wasn’t super interested. He avoided us when we came by and wasn’t home when we scheduled appointments. We then decided to randomly stop by one night and he and his family let us in and we were able to share a little bit more about how the Book of Mormon could bless their life. The spirit touched Stanly that night and he decided to read it.
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The next time we came over only Stanly was home. The rest of his family had left to visit nearby relatives but Stanly later told us that he had chosen to stay behind because he knew that we were coming over. We knew at that moment that he had in fact read the Book of Mormon and he committed to come to church the next day. He began to develop a change of heart and his soon-to-be wife noticed it as well. She later commented to us that right when we had started coming over and sharing our message he had stopped drinking.
As soon as Stanly accepted the Book of Mormon, everything else that we taught him fell into place. He kept every committment we gave him with unmatched zeal. Whenever we extended a commitment to him he would always reply, “Well, if the Lord commands it, I will do it.”
With the help of the amazing members in Cookeville, Stanly and his wife Nolvia were married on July 27, 2024. Right after the wedding, on that same day, Stanly was baptized and confirmed. The next day at church he was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood.
Stanly later told us that he was so grateful to have the gospel in his life. He said that before we came, he was losing the trust of his family due to his past drinking habits. But thanks to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ he was able to strengthen his relationship with his family and now his whole family has the desire to be baptized because of the change they have seen in him. As we had promised him, this eternal truth blessed his life: every relationship centered on Jesus Christ grows stronger.
This is a testimony to me that the gospel of Jesus Christ really does bless individuals and families.
Barlows in TKM 