On a Saturday evening, Sister Avei and Sister Angell in Signal Mountain were cold-calling people on Facebook Messenger who they had friended on Facebook. Isaac answered and they told him a little bit about the sacrament and why we go to church. Isaac said he’d like to go to church, so they invited him to attend the following morning. However, Isaac was not in their area. He lived in Dalton.
After their lesson, the sisters called Sister Wittwer and Sister Dever and explained Isaac’s situation. The missionaries all had a group call with Isaac at about 9:30pm to introduce him to Sister Wittwer and Sister Dever. He said he would love to come to church in the morning, but he would need a ride. Sister Wittwer and Sister Dever accepted the challenge and crossed their fingers that someone would answer the phone in the morning. Thankfully, Brother Finley answered and said he would be delighted to pick up Isaac.
Isaac showed up to church that Sunday and has been almost every week since. The members were amazing and made a tremendous difference. Practically the whole ward introduced themselves to him and made him feel welcome with this new church family. He commented that the church is very friendly.
Isaac started having regular lessons and was readily accepting the concepts of baptism and the priesthood. Isaac is just a good person, he wanted to hold himself to a higher standard and understand more of God’s Plan for him. His relationship grew with Brother Finley as they became really good church buddies.
Sister Dever, Issac, Sister Wittwer
Isaac was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June 23, 2024. While his only comment afterwards was, “It was good,” he was grinning ear to ear.
Isaac was able to attend the Temple! He was so excited to enter into the Lords house and while at the temple he had such a big smile on his face the whole time. When we asked him about his experience at the temple, he simply said “It was great!”
We are so grateful for Isaac and his testimony of Jesus Christ. He has been such a light to us and the ward here in Dalton.
On the May 11, 2024, Elder and Sister Christensen were knocking on the door of less active member. Without response, they started to return to their car. In the accompanying house, a man was sitting on the doorstep. With hope in her heart, Sister Christensen made her way to inquire of the whereabouts of his neighbor. While asking this question, Sister Christensen felt the strong impression to invite this man to church. Though they didn’t speak the same language, through Elder Christensen and modern technology, they invited him to come to church.
Rafael, hoping for something that could cure his emptiness, decided to accept the invite and try it out. Rafael quickly started meeting with the local spanish speaking missionaries, Hermana Arnold and Hermana Berrett. After meeting with them the first time, he had a good feeling that led him to come to church. His experience there filled him with a peace, different than anything he had felt before. He related it to feeling the presence of God. He felt healed from his emptiness and distance from God.
Following his church attendance, he continuously met with the missionaries and felt a change begin in his life. He shared, “I started to have a motivating faith in God to be baptized.” His thoughts, once dark and depressing, became focused on scripture and God’s plan for him.
In the third lesson, he asked how he could be baptized and what he needed to do to make it happen. After learning the necessary steps, he readily and happily accepted a baptism date, the gospel, and all it has to offer.
His original baptismal day was the week prior. His work situation as a construction worker had been unaccommodating to put it simply. Days or even weeks would go by without being called into work which made it imperative to take any project he was offered. Imperative not just for his financial security but for the health of his son.
Before his baptism, his son had been ill in the hospital for some time, and the money Rafael made here was then sent in order to pay for medical expenses in Venezuela. The week he was originally set to be baptized, he hadn’t been offered any projects in over a week. That Thursday night, he received a call from his boss with a project in North Carolina. Taking this project would prevent him from receiving his baptismal ordinances.
Out of pure necessity, he left for North Carolina. The baptism was quickly rescheduled for the following Sunday. Rafael was not offered any jobs that week, but at the last minute he was offered an opportunity to work. Though he needed the money to provide for his family, with faith he declined the offer and was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on June 23, 2024. The empty hole in Rafael was eternally filled. He said “before I met the missionaries I was depressed, I used substances to cope, but now, I don’t have these feelings anymore, and if I do, I turn to the scriptures.” Since his day of baptism, the peace he received has never left.
Rafael was blessed spiritually and emotionally by the covenants he made with God, but God was not yet satisfied with his work. After working for the construction company for 8 months, he started looking for a job that would pay and treat him honestly. The day after his baptism he was offered a position at a company which requires him to work Monday-Friday, giving him the weekend off. He then received other news. His son, who had been in the hospital for a long time, was due to finally be released. Though the sacrifice of work seemed impossible, outlandish, and a bit irrational, in turn the windows of heaven were opened, and blessings descended upon Rafael and his family.
On Wednesday, June 26, 2024, we said goodbye to 9 remarkable missionaries who have completed their service in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. Our day began with lunch as we discussed important commitments they must keep to be lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ. We had the chance to give each of them a blessing. We then went to the mission home for the 9th TKM Olympics, dinner, and a testimony meeting.
We held four competitions for the 9th TKM Family Olympics. The premier event was the poster making contest, along with corn hole, bocce, and Kub. Competition was intense.
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The office couples join us for dinner and do the poster judging. The missionaries take these welcome poster VERY seriously.
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The winners of the 9th TKM Family Olympics was Elder Barrow and Elder Greenhalgh. The poster judging was a little controversial this time, but it was enough to secure these two Elders the gold medal.
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We love these missionaries! It has been incredible to see how much they have changed over the last year. We feel so proud of them and are grateful for the difference they’ve made in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission. Great things lie ahead for each of them!
Travis was baptized into the Baptist faith when he was 12 years old. At 17 years old, when he started falling away from God, he was kicked out of church instead of welcoming him in further to give him the support he needed to make his way back. He still believed in God but that experience hardened his heart towards church. It made it difficult for him to want to return to any church, and that seemed to get more difficult as time went on.
Lisa (his wife) and Travis met right before Covid. Lisa was praying before they met and she said, “If the next person isn’t the right person, then I’m done dating all together.” That’s exactly when God put Travis in her path.
Lisa is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but hadn’t gone to church in a long time. Travis knew she was a member but they didn’t talk much about her religion because Lisa didn’t want to push a church onto Travis.
Travis and Lisa
In 2023, Lisa and Travis started talking about church and wanting Jesus Christ back in their life. Lisa left the decision of which church to attend up to Travis. Nothing really came of it because it wasn’t at the top of his priority list at the time, but God didn’t give up and continued to work on his heart.
In the span of one week, Travis had many random people on the street come up to him talking to him about church, asking to pray for him or asking him to pray for them.
That same week, Travis got in a car accident. The driver in the other vehicle was a super nice guy. He got out and asked Travis if he had a church to go to. He said no and the stranger said he didn’t either so he asked if they could pray for each other to find a church. So they prayed. The next morning, Travis woke up and said “Ok Lisa let’s go to the Mormon church.”
Through those interactions with strangers on the street, his heart began to be softened. Their first Sunday in church, he met the missionaries. “My heart felt happy, I felt the spirit and that made me really want it more.”
The missionaries invited him to pray about getting baptized, so he did. His answer came in a way God knew he needed, a way that was unique to him. His grandpa had passed away in 2005, but growing up, he and his grandpa were really close. He would spend hours helping him on his farm, having heartfelt conversations while they were eating peaches in his truck. His grandpa means the world to him and God knew that.
The night he prayed about baptism he had a very powerful dream. In his dream, Travis’ grandpa was there and only said two words to him. “Move forward.” That was the answer Travis was looking for.
The missionaries explained faith to be an action word. Hearing that clicked for Travis and increased his desire to take action so he could further show his faith to God. He knew he needed to be baptized.
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Being baptized was a big decision he was making, so leading up to it, he prayed that he would be able to walk into his baptism on his own two feet and he’d be out of his cast. In his previous appointment, the doctor said he’d have a cast on for three more months so the chances were looking low, but his faith was high. His follow up appointment was two days before his baptism. They were shocked by the amount of progress his leg had made and said that he could have the cast off for his baptism. It was a huge miracle how fast his leg had healed, especially since they hadn’t seen much improvement since December. After he began to pray and turn back towards God, that’s where it all turned around. God answered his prayers and he was able to walk into the waters of baptism on his own two feet.
Throughout this whole process, Lisa had been praying for guidance on what to do and how to get Travis to church. The inspiration she received was to be quiet, which was out of her nature but she trusted God. Travis also expressed if he crossed paths with the missionaries any sooner, he would have turned them away. God’s timing is beautiful and He knew exactly what Travis needed. His heart needed time and it all fell into place right when he was ready.
Travis was baptized on June 22, 2024. He now has a drive to be surrounded with people and places where the spirit is present. He is so full of light and has a deep desire to help other people. A few things he’s looking forward to is getting a calling in the church and having the priesthood.
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Lisa has seen such a noticeable and happy change as he’s been filled immensely with the spirit. In turn, they have grown closer to each other and to God within their marriage.
There was another beautiful tender mercy. As Travis has been preparing to do baptisms in the temple, he discovered that someone had already done all of the temple work for his grandpa. The same grandpa that had been in his dream, encouraging him to “Move forward!”
Gary put in a media referral to get to know more of Christ’s love for him! When he met with Sister Holladay and Sister Bunderson, he told them that he had met some missionaries before and that he wanted to come closer to Jesus Christ! The sisters shared the Book of Mormon with him, and invited him to read the Book of Mormon to draw closer to Christ.
He was so excited to have the missionaries back over to learn more about the church! They continued to teach him. Each time they would come over he always felt something different when they were around.
Gary wanted to come to church so badly but he had a few health problems that prevented him from coming. He also had a lot of fears and anxiety about church. He finally agreed to come to a church tour. When the church tour happened, he loved coming in and seeing a large picture of Christ hanging up on the wall right outside of the chapel. When the sacrament was explained the spirit was so strong.
A few days later we extended a baptism date for him, but he was still very anxious about it. A week later, we got a call from him saying that he had a big health scare. He told us that he prayed for it to go away and it went away. As he prayed, he said he knew that this was Christ’s church and that he wanted to be baptized. So we put him on date for baptism!
Sister Palmer, Gary, and Sister Foster
Gary came to church and loved the people and how welcomed he felt. He was also very nervous for his baptism so we invited him to come see one of our other friends’ baptism. He told us that he felt the spirit very strong there and that all of his anxiety went away. Gary was baptized on May 25, 2024.
Since his baptism, he hasn’t missed a single day off church because it is so special to him. Gary also had the opportunity to go to the temple for the first time! He loved sitting inside and told us that he felt like God was giving him strength while he was inside. He also told us that he looks foreword to going again.
Barlows in TKM 