Author: barlowsintkm

Tender Mercies in the TKM: Jennifer

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Two missionaries pulled into the Food City parking lot to do some public contacting. One of the missionaries said “Hey, I think we need to go visit the Webb’s – you know the ones mentioned in branch council that moved here a few years ago?” Immediately they hopped back in the car and headed out.

Just a few miles over, John and Jenny Webb were out looking for some of their chickens that had been attacked the night before. They were always hard at work; gardening, taking care of chickens, quail, goats, and dogs, and their sweet grandson Westley. They previously had lived in Texas with a large home and lots of land and busy work schedules. Their dream of building a home and having land brought them to Tennessee. However, an injury from an accident required 8 surgeries and an amputation, which put a halt to the plans to build a home. Times were hard and money was tight, but the Webbs had been through a lot, and they knew they had each other.

When the missionaries pulled up, they were immediately impressed by the down-to-earth kindness from John and Jenny. They have always lived in a manner of serving and loving others, and they have taken many teens into their home over the years. John grew up in the church, and has always clung onto his testimony. When they moved here they looked up the church building and were considering going. The missionaries visited and talked about the sacrament and invited them to church.

The first time they came to church they just stayed for sacrament meeting. That week was Jenny’s birthday. The missionaries weren’t planning on stopping by their house that day, but the Spirit said otherwise. So they baked a little cake and dropped it off. Jenny was touched that someone was aware of her and that she got to celebrate her birthday in a simple way. The missionaries went by again and asked Jenny if they could teach her. Jenny said absolutely!

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She explained that many missionaries have knocked on her door over the years and she has always been irritated. However, this time was different. She said that her experiences in the last few years had changed her heart.

The missionaries started coming over a few times a week, and Jenny started reading in the Book of Mormon every day. She is legally blind, but didn’t let that stop her. She installed the Book of Mormon app and Gospel Library and zooms in on her phone so that she can see it and listen to the scriptures.

When she learned about the Godhead and that we are created in the image of our Heavenly Father, she said it made so much sense! Jenny continued to read and pray every day. She didn’t miss going to church on Sunday, and she kept praying for an answer.

As we talked about patterns of revelation and light, she was able to connect with the pattern that is akin to walking through fog; where there is only enough light to take one step at a time. When the missionaries invited her to be baptized she was overwhelmed and felt she wasn’t ready. As she had doubts and fears, she continued to turn to the Book of Mormon and pour out her heart in prayer. One Sunday she came up to the missionaries and said, “I’m ready to take the next step into the fog.”

As we planned her baptism there was continuous opposition. One afternoon Jenny stood in the parking lot at the church and felt like she simply couldn’t do it anymore. She wasn’t sure she could carry on and continue to prepare to be baptized. Sister Holladay and Sister Gabbitas each had a unique story they shared. Their experiences struck a chord with Jenny, and she was able to pause and remember why she was working towards this. As they stood in the parking lot crying together, they uttered a simple prayer, and the Spirit spoke peace to their hearts. Jenny had a clear thought. “This is why.” She felt this peace is why it is all worth it. This is why we turn to God in our struggles, so that He can consecrate those experiences for our gain. This is why true joy comes from turning to Jesus Christ.

When Jenny told her sister (who joined the church years ago) that she was getting baptized, her sister shared an experience she’d had 15 years ago. They had been at a Webb family gathering and a discussion about the church ensued. Someone made a comment that Jenny would never join the church. She stood up and said “I never said that!” In that moment, her sister saw her standing there in all white, and she felt in her heart that Jenny would someday be baptized. When she heard the news from her sister, she cried tears of joy.

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Jenny was baptized and confirmed on July 21, 2024. Her father in law, Bill Webb, who is in his 80’s, was able to perform those sacred ordinances. As Jenny sat down and John and Bill Webb stood in the circle to confirm her, the most beautiful light emanated from them. This was a family on the path to their eternal progression.

Jenny and John look forward to the day they will be sealed. Jenny continues to read the Book of Mormon every day and she says that she will not let the adversary take away what she has. Jenny and John continue to love and serve everyone around them and look forward to their path of progression together. Jenny shared, “Even though we have less than we have ever had before, even though we have lost so much, I have never been happier.”

#TKMTenderMercies

Tender Mercies in the TKM: Vic

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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.

#TKMTenderMercies

Tender Mercies in the TKM: Susie

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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!

#TKMTenderMercies

Tender Mercies in the TKM: Jason

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by Jason Tolley

“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.

#TKMTenderMercies

Tender Mercies in the TKM: Nick

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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.

#TKMTenderMercies

Tabernacle Choir “Gift of Music” a.k.a. TABCAT Cards

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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!

We even had the great opportunity to meet Derek Porter, who recently was announced as the new announcer for the weekly broadcast of “Music and the Spoken Word”. He joined one of our mission meetings and shared this message with the missionaries to encourage them in sharing these invitations:

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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.

#WhatsUpInTKM

Tender Mercies in the TKM: Bethany

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by Bethany Gosa

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.