The missionaries found Chelsea’s oldest brother, and started teaching his family. Chelsea wasn’t there the first or second time they were taught. But the third time, the 10th of December, there she was! And she’s been there ever since.
From the beginning Chelsea has always had a love for Jesus Christ and willingness to follow him. One night the missionaries taught her how to pray, and she has happily said the prayer in nearly every lesson since. Her prayers have always been heartfelt and faithful.
Chelsea readily kept commitments. After just a few weeks of having a Book of Mormon she was already reading in Alma.
Her very first time at church she bore her testimony of her love for the Savior, saying: “I know I’m new here, but I don’t care. I am so grateful that Jesus Christ sent me these two ladies, to teach me more about him!”
The cute little Rogersville branch quickly fell in love with Chelsea. She has attended church all by herself since and she is a great addition to the growing young women’s progam.
In the middle of January, Chelsea asked to be baptized. When asked why she wanted to be baptized she responded; “I’ve went to lots of churches, but this church just feels right.” She has developed a beautiful testimony of the gospel.
After her baptism she again bore her testimony. She said “the night before I was baptized I was really nervous, but then I prayed. And when I woke up, I wasn’t nervous anymore!”
Sister Holladay and a ward missionary from the Waynesville Ward, Sister Larson, were knocking doors during the Waynesville Zone Blitz. This is where all the missionaries in a zone gather in the same area to help that area with finding. While knocking doors, Harry and Carleen let them right in! They both love Jesus Christ and were willing to have us come back.
Harry was very happy to learn about the Book of Mormon and read from it. The missionaries asked him to read 3 Nephi 11. When they came back and asked him about it, he said “I read it but I might have to again because I don’t really remember.” He then proceeded to recount the story of Jesus Christ visiting the ancient Americans PERFECTLY and brought a tear to the missionaries’ eyes. That is his favorite Book of Mormon story!
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Harry has loved reading more of God’s word and it’s become part of his spiritual foundation. All he wants to do is become a better person.
When Harry was invited to be baptized, he immediately mentioned how being baptized would help him become more like the Savior. Harry was baptized on February 10, 2024. You will never meet a more kind and Christ-loving person!
At our Christmas Zone Conference, we gave the missionaries a gift of a picture flip book of “The Living Christ“. With this gift, we invited the missionaries to memorize this great statement from modern prophets about the role of our Savior Jesus Christ, His example, and the power that comes from His Atonement.
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Speaking of “The Living Christ”, President Russell M. Nelson said:
The more we know about the Savior’s ministry and mission—the more we understand His doctrine and what He did for us—the more we know that He can provide the power that we need for our lives…
As you seek to learn more about Jesus Christ, I urge you to study “The Living Christ.” As we invest time in learning about the Savior and His atoning sacrifice, we are drawn to participate in another key element to accessing His power: we choose to have faith in Him and follow Him.”
Memorizing the Living Christ has taken a lot of work. It truly has strengthened our faith in Him. At the beginning of each meeting, we’ve had missionaries share their favorite lines from “The Living Christ”.We’ve loved to hear what they are learning as we have memorized this together.
At our last zone conference, we filmed the missionaries reciting “The Living Christ” and have created a video of our missionaries sharing these truths about our Savior Jesus Christ. It is very powerful to watch these missionaries sharing this important statement about our Savior Jesus Christ.
Tonight, on Easter Sunday, we shared this video with our missionaries and their families, and we are grateful to share it here with you too. We testify and Jesus lives, and that because of His resurrection, we each one day will also live again. Because of Him, death is not the end. And because of His resurrection, the choices we make matter, the changes we make matter, and the covenants we make matter and have power.
We are inspired by these missionaries and the incredible efforts they make to testify of Him each day. They are powerful representatives of Jesus Christ. Here is the Tennessee Knoxville Mission reciting “The Living Christ”:
Elder Jenkins, and Elder Nash were street contacting in public when they stopped Carlos. He said he had been taught by missionaries in the past. They would then refer Carlos to Elder Pollister and Elder Zabriskie as they were the missionaries that covered his area.
Carlos started taking the lessons with us right away. The first time we called him we found out he had learned a lot from past missionaries and had a testimony of the Book of Mormon. On that first phone call, we set a date with him to be baptized and a time we could meet him in person. In our first meeting, we found out he was going through a few unfortunate circumstances that would prevent him from being baptized on his date but we promised him that God would prepare a way for him to be baptized if he made it a priority and followed the invitations we gave him. We promised if he would keep his commitments, it would happen.
Over time we would have numerous members join us in the lessons. Having these members joining lessons really helped in fellowshipping Carlos into the ward. We would have phone call lessons almost every day and Carlos always showed his willingness to apply the things we taught him.
Carlos’ testimony and understanding of the gospel continued to grow as he consistently read in the scriptures, prayed and came to church. Carlos would catch the bus to get to church each Sunday, which showed his growing commitment and desire to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Carlow was baptized on February 3, 2024 surrounded by his new church family.
I decided to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after talking to my mother in law who is LDS. She contacted the missionaries and set everything up because I felt so nervous!
The second sister Smith and sister Condie showed up, I swear the Spirit was in the room. By the end of that first meeting, I knew I wanted to be LDS and within a week I knew I felt ready to be baptized.
I’ve never felt closer to Christ than I have since opening the Book of Mormon and delving deeper into the scriptures every chance I get. I no longer feel alone in my struggles, the spirit is with me always and I can FEEL it.
Sister Smith
Jessii and Mychal moved in with their three little kids Skyler, Finley, and Rosemary. They moved in with Mychal’s parents Michael and Deborah Christian.
Sister Deborah Christian approached us one Sunday and told us her daughter-in-law was interested in learning more about the church. She had been reading the Book of Mormon and had many questions about the restored gospel.
The next week Jessii came to church and Mychal came with her after being inactive for about 9-10 years. Later that week we had dinner with Jessii’s in-laws, the Coughlins, and they told us the same thing about Jessii. Sister Condie and I jumped on the opportunity quickly!
A few days later, on a Friday, we were sitting in the Christian’s living room answering Jessii’s questions about the Plan of Salvation. She was hooked! She asked, “Can I get baptized tomorrow?” Sister Condie and I felt like we were in a dream! No way this was real!
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We taught Jessi and Mychal the lessons and Mychal was able to become worthy to hold the priesthood so that he could baptize Jessii. On February 3, 2024 Mychal and Jessii entered the waters of baptism together and Jessii was finally baptized! They continue to be supported by their family members in the Maryville ward and they are continuing to grow their testimonies.
This family will always have a special place in my heart. They showed me that the gospel truly brings pure joy and peace into our lives. I will forever be grateful for this family!
Sister Condie
Jessii and Mychal are powerful examples of how much Christ will impact your life the moment you choose to let Him in.
Jessii was so excited to be baptized the first time we met her! She and Mychal started to pray, prioritize scripture study, and come to church. I noticed their strong desire to know the truth and make changes, and watched the light in their life increase so quickly in just a few weeks. They shared with us that the Gospel was what they knew they needed in their lives.
We went through all the lessons and learned a lot together, then Mychal was able to baptize Jessii, and she was confirmed not long after. Since then, they’ve both shared sincere testimonies in church of the Gospel and how valuable it is to their lives. They showed me that God has a plan for each of his children and Christ’s Atonement truly heals.
Back in January, the Kingsport Stake invited us to join them at a youth activity they had at Bristol Motor Speedway.
We’ve never been to a NASCAR race track, and just rolling up to the race track was impressing. This place is huge! It seats 146,000 people for NASCAR races. In the middle of the track is a massive 30 foot X 63 foot Jumbotron that hangs over the middle of the track.
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Brother Ford does with security for the Speedway so he was able to take us down to drive on the track which was a fun experience.
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A main focus of the youth activity was a service project of tying blankets for a local hospital. We had all 28 missionaries from the Kingsport Zone there and they did a great job of spreading out and interacting with the youth while we worked on these blankets. We then closed out the activity with talking about ways the youth could share the gospel with their friends and steps they could take to prepare to serve a mission.
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While we there, we ran into one of our best friends from Fidelity Investments, Chris Millburn. Chris and I worked together in SLC for many, many years on multiple different teams. He moved out to Johnson City a few years ago to lead the Fidelity Investor Center there and has loved Tennessee. It wasn’t surprising that he now has a role at our church in leading and mentoring the youth in this area.
Cinthya and the family she married into are from Nicaragua. They came to the United States as refugees. At the time of their arrival in the United States, she was the only non-member in the household. She lived in the Athens ward for a time, and then an opportunity for a more stable living situation came up and they moved into the Cleveland ward.
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As missionaries, we were able to help them move in and the ward provided a ton of help to get them settled. Cinthya had taken the discussions in the past, but we were able to begin teaching her again. Her husband was a member and really wanted to become more active in the church and united with his family.
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As Cinthya attended church, studied the scriptures, and prayed she gained a desire to be baptized. Her and her husband were legally married and she was baptized on January 27, 2024. They are now working towards being sealed for time and eternity in the temple.
We first met Jeremy from a recent convert in our ward. He had a lot going on in his life and this member knew that the gospel would provide Jeremy with the peace and rest he was looking for, so we went and visited him.
We first taught him about the Book of Mormon and invited him to read on his own. We promised that as he did so with real intent, the spirit would testify to him of its truthfulness. He began to read and over the next several weeks, he studied the Book of Mormon very seriously and internalized everything he read.
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The Book of Mormon began to have a powerful effect on him. He slowly started to feel more joy in his life, his countenance shone brighter, and he started feeling more peace and comfort even amongst the trials he was experiencing.
Jeremy also came to know of the power of the priesthood in his life as we gave him a blessing of comfort and he felt the Spirit fill his soul with peace throughout the next several days.
A month and a half after we first met him, Jeremy was baptized on January 6, 2024. He hasn’t missed a sacrament meeting since the first time he came.
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Jeremy also had a powerful spiritual experience as he attended the temple and was baptized for loved ones who had passed away in his life. When we first taught him about temples, he looked at us after and said, “This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.” He knew from that moment that the work that went on inside those holy temples was true.
Jeremy has been a great example to the world of the power and change that can take place within us as we embrace the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. He also is a witness of the promise from Moroni in the last chapter of the Book of Mormon, that those who read and pray with a sincere heart and real intent, will come to know of its truthfulness.
Sister Nielson and I met Issac one night after a long day of rejection. It was around 7:30 in the evening and we were getting burned out for the day (it was a long day). We decided to go knock on a few more doors even though it was dark and chilly. We knocked on about four or five doors. Rejection after rejection. We decided to try once more though.
The Spirit was the ultimate guide in finding Issac. It just felt right to go up the stairs, it just felt right to knock on the last door on the left, and it just felt right to knock three times after no answer after the first and second knocks.
After a long while of waiting for the door to open, we started to turn around to leave when the door finally opened. We were definitely caught off guard! Issac answered the door and we asked if he had heard of the Book of Mormon and if he wanted to learn more. “Yeah” he said, which also caught us off guard because we had been rejected all day!
The rest is history. Issac progressed very quickly and he was fellowshipped so well by the Bastian family. Sister Condie came into the picture by the time we were consistently teaching him. The Bastians had us and Issac over for dinner multiple times and we taught some powerful lessons. He was very excited to be baptized and expressed to us that he had been thinking about it for quite a while. Isaac was baptized on January 6, 2024.
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We were later able to go to the temple and perform baptisms for the dead with Issac at the Atlanta Georgia Temple. Issac was able to be baptized on behalf of his brother who had passed away and other ancestors as well.
I have a testimony that God is so involved in missionary work. It is by His design and powerful guidance that we knocked on Issac’s door that night.
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Sister Condie
I met Issac my first week in TN, when I joined for his second lesson with the missionaries. As we taught him, I saw the effort he was putting in to learn more, make changes, and really understand what we were teaching. I loved seeing the ward reach out. I loved discussing his questions. I loved watching him make the effort to read, pray, and attend church. And I loved watching the power come into his life as he was baptized and confirmed.
Attending the temple with Issac was powerful! As I watched him be baptized for his brother, I felt the Spirit testify to me about just how impactful one baptism can be. When someone is baptized, it opens the door for all of the people in their family tree to also make those covenants: those who came before, and those who haven’t yet been born. Thats amazing! I’m grateful to have a front row seat in this eternal work.
Issac Spears:
I met the missionaries when they knocked on my door. I almost didn’t open the door. I usually don’t open it for someone I don’t know, but I had a feeling like I should. I had been baptized before when I was younger – probably about 8 or 9 – but that thought about being baptized again had been on my mind for the last year..
The missionaries invited me to church, so I started going to church with them. I hadn’t talked to anyone about my thoughts on being baptized again, and I thought maybe it wasn’t the right time for me. But then the missionaries asked me if I would be baptized. I knew I wanted to and I knew it was time.
I decided to join the church because I believe the Book of Mormon is true, even though I haven’t fully read the entire book yet. Also, I decided to join because when I first attended church, I had a different feeling than when I would go to my previous church. I’m not sure how to describe the feeling I had. The people at my previous church asked me the same question about what made me decide to start going and I told them the same thing that I felt differently when I attended my new church.
Denny immigrated from Perú to the United States in 2022. During his travel to the United States he witnessed many miracles and saw the hand of God in his life. He came to know there was a God, and wanted to know more. Previously in his life, he did not believe in God and would even make fun of others for believing.
After arriving to the United States with his family, they temporarily moved in with their cousins, the Godoy family, who are members of the church.
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The Godoy’s shared many principles of the gospel with Denny and his family, and invited the missionaries over to teach them about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They decided to get baptized, but first they were married.
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Denny was baptized January 7, 2024 by his cousin Walter Godoy and has goals to be sealed to his family for time and eternity in the temple.
Barlows in TKM 