After doing companionship study in the park on April 13, 2024, the missionaries introduced themselves to a group at an adjacent picnic table and shared a couple of verses from Enos with them. Lilly happened to be babysitting with the family at the time. While the family she was with wasn’t interested, Lilly piped up and said she might want to meet with us again.
A few months earlier, Lilly had prayed for some guidance and she thought that maybe this could be God’s way of answering her prayer.
She didn’t know much about the church, but she was an excellent researcher. She remembered a youth in our ward, Anderson Griggs, sharing his testimony with her when having a conversation about religion at a football game. She also recalled her fellow clarinetist, Lilly, being a member as well.
Before her first visit with the missionaries, Lilly had researched even as far as the Word of Wisdom, and she took a particular interest in God’s Plan of Happiness. The missionaries gave her a Book of Mormon, and she studied it. One of her favorite teachers caught her reading it in class and was sure to let her know that it was a, “good book!”
Her family was not very supportive of her decision to keep learning. She struggled to defend her newfound belief to them because it was simply a feeling. Nonetheless, she would come home after school to take a nap, pray, and read her Book of Mormon. She explained the feeling as happy, excited, and calm at the same time.
A few lessons later, the missionaries were teaching Lilly about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith. They stood in front of a painting of The First Vision, and despite not planning to invite Lilly to be baptized, the spirit was too strong not to. Lilly was beaming and so excited to be invited to make her first covenant.
As she was preparing, she found herself feeling down and alone in the band room at school. She remembered a song that she heard on a church video of the Knoxville, TN temple. She also heard it the first week she was at church. Hymn number two, The Spirit of God, had quickly become her favorite. She memorized the words, played it on her clarinet, and sang it on that hard day at school.
Her testimony grew day by day, and she could not wait for her baptism day. Lilly was baptized on May 24, 2024. On the day of her baptism, she beamed with pure joy as she listened to her good friend Lilly Jones give a talk on baptism. In her talk, Lilly said she had a thought several months prior to pray for Lilly despite not having talked to her in several months (she is a few years older than Lilly). Her first three missionaries gave her a Book of Mormon with their testimonies written inside.
Attending the temple to do proxy baptisms was another exciting day for her! Along with doing a few baptisms and confirmations, she got to watch someone be baptized on behalf of her grandfather. She said her favorite part was sitting in the lobby of the temple afterwards and just feeling peaceful and happy to be there.
Conversion: “Denotes changing one’s views, in a conscious acceptance of the will of God… Complete conversion comes after many trials and much testing.”¹
Whenever a story is told, or a piece of someone’s history is shared, it is important to reflect on the context of why it is being shared. For example, a parent might share a story of them being burned by a stove in the context of their children getting too close to a hot burner. A friend might share a fun memory from years ago in the context of the two of you reuniting and reminiscing after not seeing each other for a while. We have four different recorded accounts of Joseph Smith’s first vision, all with the same consistent story but with varying amounts of detail and depth due to the context of why and when he was sharing it.
I want to share my conversion with you. If you’ve served around me, you have probably already heard it before. However, whether you have heard it before or not, I share it in the context and hope that you too can know that God will succor and strengthen you through the “many trials and much testing” you will face on your path to true conversion.
I grew up in a mixed faith household. My mother was raised in the church and is still an active member. My father was raised Christian, joined the church, but overtime became Atheist. I can’t remember a Sunday where my father attended church with us, but my mother is a valiant woman and she took my sister and I every week to church on her own. She is an integral part of the reason I am on a mission and writing this conversion story.
At the age of six, I knew the Book of Mormon was true, and subsequently, I knew that I had a Heavenly Father who loved me. I had a very powerful experience with the Spirit after I prayed to know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I like to say that it hit me like a bullet train. I went from kneeling down at the side of my bed, to crying because of the feeling the Spirit brought. Like Joseph Smith, from that moment on I felt I could say that “I had [felt the Spirit confirm the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon]; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it.”²
At the age of 8, I desired to be baptized because of the truth I knew. However, my dad did not give me permission to be baptized. He felt that 8 years old was not old enough to make such a lasting decision. Due to that fact, church policy would not allow me to get baptized until I had the permission of both of my parents, or until I was an adult.
At this point in my story, most people like to ask me about my relationship with my father or with him and my mother. I would like to assure you I love my dad and he has been a wonderful parent to me. He and my mother also love each other and he has been supporting her through some health troubles she’s been facing recently. While he and I disagreed on me being baptized, you can see it from his perspective, He was just a parent trying to make the best decision for his child and not wanting to let me make any hasty life choices that I wasn’t prepared for or had a full understanding of yet.
However, my inability to be baptized did cause some heartache. It was very hard for me to understand at that age why all of my other friends could get baptized and I couldn’t. Same with the sacrament and the temple. It was really painful at some points to see all of my friends get to pass the sacrament while I just sat with my mom and sister. Or when we went on a youth temple trip, I remember everyone else going inside, while I stayed outside with my mom and helped clean the grounds. The young men’s leaders did their best and tried to include me, but sometimes I honestly just felt more excluded when they did. They let me sit with the other deacons before the sacrament was blessed, but it just reminded me that I couldn’t participate like they did when they all stood up and took a tray while I was left alone in the pew. There were times I would have to leave cousins’ baptismal services crying because I wanted to be in the font so badly getting baptized myself. I couldn’t understand why if it was a commandment and I wanted to do it, I couldn’t.
Luckily, I had my mom, really great friends, and some amazing bishops and youth leaders who supported me through the ten years I had to wait to be baptized. When things were hard, they helped me out and kept encouraging me forward. I could also feel God’s love empowering me too. I knew baptism was something He wanted me to do, so I waited. Eventually, I turned 17, and close to turning 18 I went through all of the missionary discussions in about 3 weeks, I had my baptismal interview by a missionary over zoom, and eventually was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, on my 18th birthday.
Almost all of my extended family on my mom’s side showed up, and my dad even supported me as much as he could by making lasagnas for everyone (my extended family is pretty big, so we needed a lot of lasagna). The circle for the confirmation to give me the gift of the Holy Ghost was probably 25 people big. It was one of the best days of my life.
If you had asked me if I was going to get baptized when I was 8, or 10, or 14, or 17, the answer at each age would have been a resounding yes each time. Before my baptism, despite the hardships, I had no doubt in my mind that someday I would be baptized a member of the church. However looking back I see so many scenarios where it might not have worked out the way it did. Maybe my mom stopped going to church because it was too hard to do it on her own, and so I stopped going too. Or maybe if my friends had moved away or I hadn’t had their support for some reason and I strayed off the path during middle school or high school. Or maybe if my leaders just saw an unbaptized youth and treated me differently than everyone else to the point where I didn’t want to join the church anymore. Any number of different things could have happened in the ten year time period from 8 to 18 where I could have lost my desire to be baptized, and yet those things didn’t happen.
As a noun WordWeb defines succor as “assistance in time of difficulty.” And as a verb it defines it as “help in a difficult situation.” Alma 7:11-12 says, “And [Christ] shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”
I’ve always interpreted that scripture to mean that Christ will empower us and help us through our trials by lending us His divine strength. And while that is true and I promise He will do that, I have come to realize that the Lord will succor us in more ways than that. He will provide family members to teach you and help you through the hardship. He will give you friends that will encourage you and help you maintain your standards. He will give you leaders to guide and support you. He will give you experiences with the Spirit that will strengthen your testimony to overcome the trial in front of you. And there are countless other ways He will succor you throughout your life. The Lord has succored me in many different ways throughout my trials, and without His help and other people being instruments in His hands, I don’t think I would have been able to make it to my baptism.
“And there was not a wicked man slain among them; but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people.”³
I promise whether you are going through a trial right now, or one is awaiting in your future (because the trials will come), that the Lord is succoring you today, and He will continue to do so the rest of your life. He will be your “[H]elp in a difficult situation.” His succor will come in many different forms, because He “worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people.”
Some of the ways He has helped will not even be realized until you look back after your trial has ended and you can more fully see where His hand was assisting you. He will never forget you. You are known and watched over by the Almighty God Himself. The most powerful being in the universe is supporting and strengthening you. If you ever feel weak or downtrodden, the Savior of the world himself said, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”⁴ Trust in that promise from Him to you.
Elder Holland stated “I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.”⁵ No difficult situation, caused by an outside force or by ourselves, will “separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”⁶
You are and will be succored by Jesus Christ, the Lord Omnipotent. That is not a statement of belief, that is a statement of fact.
I testify to you that I know that my Savior and Redeemer lives. I have felt the succor He gives to me. I have been converted through my many trials and much testing to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and know that you can be converted too. I have felt His love and know that I have a Father in Heaven. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that Christ’s church was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I will follow Jesus Christ for the rest of my life.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
¹ – Conversion definition, from the bible dictionary
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!
Over the next 9 weeks, everyone worked really hard in keeping up with the schedule. Most missionaries also highlighted this new copy of the Book of Mormon with something they were looking for…things like the Doctrine of Christ, covenants, prophets, or willingness were a few examples.
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It is difficult to put into words the powerful experience we had together as a mission. It was really meaningful to do it together, and anytime you read the Book of Mormon at a faster pace like this, it leads to observations and connections you wouldn’t make otherwise. We began each meeting during this period with two missionaries sharing thoughts about what they were learning from their recent Book of Mormon reading. We discussed their progress and learnings in interviews.
In the introduction of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith is quoted as saying, ““I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”
President Ezra Taft Benson once said, “There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path.”
Our current prophet, President Russell M. Nelson taught, “When I think of the Book of Mormon, I think of the word power. The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console, and cheer our souls.”
We learned in the TKM the power that these prophets are talking about and invite everyone to tap into that power themselves by reading the Book of Mormon.
June 18th was the day on our schedule that we would finish the Book of Mormon. We gathered as a mission on zoom and read together the final chapter of the Book of Mormon, Moroni chapter 10. Anytime you finish the Book of Mormon, it is a meaningful experience. But finishing it together with this amazing group of representatives of Jesus Christ is an experience we will never forget.
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Sister Barlow had promised that we would do something special to celebrate finishing the Book of Mormon together as a mission. And as promised, Sister Barlow “makes no small plans”!
“Make no small plans. They have no magic to stir men’s souls. – Spencer W. Kimball
Sister Barlow then announced that to celebrate finishing the Book of Mormon in 65 Days, we had arranged for all missionaries to be able to attend the temple. As there are no temples in our mission boundaries, this was a REALLY big deal. Many of these missionaries had not been to the temple for over a year, so some of their reactions to this announcement was priceless.
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We are grateful for the power of the Book of Mormon. We testify that it can help everyone come closer to Jesus Christ. And we are grateful for these wonderful missionaries. We love them and feel so grateful to see them act in faith and receive the blessings that come with doing so.
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.
One day I clicked on y’all’s church ad about a Bible verse and i said “Amen” to it! That small thing changed my life. Next thing you know, missionaries showed up at my door. They came in and talked to me about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and invited me to Church.
Ora Harris, Desiree Hoover, and Sister Harrison
I came to church and liked it, especially the sacrament. I’ve never been to a church that has sacrament every week!
I continued to meet with the missionaries and learned how to make covenants with God. I changed my life by overcoming some addictions and bad habbits. I feel a lot stronger and not as weak as i use to be in my faith. The missionaries asked me to be baptized and I said yes. I had to wait for my leg to heal a little before I got baptized.
Elder Akers, Elder Bonham, Sister Stephens, Ora Harris, and Sister Harrison
I was so excited when my baptism was coming up! I got baptized and confirmed on March 24, 2024, Palm Sunday, it was very special. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made it very special for me.
Sister Stephens, Ora Harris, and Sister Harrison
Then I told my friend Miss Pat about sacrament and invited her to my baptism and she came to church for her first time on my baptism day! She loved it! She was crying! She’s never celebrated a baptism the way we do it. Then I invited my daughter Desiree to church with me and she loved it. I am staying down the path of Jesus and preparing to go to the temple, the House of The Lord.
Ora Harris and Miss Pat
Desiree Hoover
My name is Desiree Hoover. I was angry at God because I thought He took my baby girl Scarlett from me. The missionaries was meetin with momma. And I was closed off and disconnected from God. So I wasn’t interested in meetin with them.
Then one day they asked to say a prayer with me. And I did. Then they were very persistent. And I eventually started to sit in on momma’s lessons. Then I started takin momma to church. And started goin to church for myself. And continued lessons with the missionaries.
Then i decided I wanted to get baptized! But I had to wait for momma to get out of the hospital because she had a fall. I wanted her there and Miss Pat. I got baptized and confirmed with the Holy Ghost on June 15, 2024. Momma and Miss Pat both got to come to my baptism!! It was very special!
Sister Condie and Sister Wall helping Desiree in the font.
I love sunflowers and Sister Condie & Sister Wall bought me sunflowers and paydays. Because when I was pregnant with Scarlett I loved paydays! They made it very special and I will never forget it. I am now preparing to go to the temple with my momma.
Barlows in TKM 