Razmatazz Rachel!

Her favorite word! "Razmatazz" popcorn!

Her emails this past week said a couple of things I have been thinking about this week, so I thought I'd include them:

We have been working with a Less-Active family in our ward who we have been struggling to really connect with. This past week we talked about how we need to become like Christ and strive to develop Christlike attributes, and then we gave them a worksheet to fill out as they studied and then chose a specific attribute to work on. The oldest daughter who is 19 really connected with it! She was even posting on Facebook about doing "homework from the missionaries.!" ha! And then the mother was at church on Sunday. We hope that this was a turning point for them in their activity in the church. Developing a Christlike attribute is really a form of repentance. We are acting on our faith and changing our life to become like the perfect example of our Savior. When we stick to the core doctrine and gospel of Jesus Christ, that is when people are most motivated to change.

Tori went home for her first time since being baptized. She was really nervous and didn't know how her family and preacher (who was also a father-figure to her) would take it. We have been receiving updates from her the past couple days and she is doing great. She had a 6-hour talk with her mom about it and it didn't end with any harsh feelings. Sunday she knew that her preacher's church conflicted with the time of sacrament meeting, but what a blessing that the churches were across the street from each other! So, even though she was scared to do it, she left her preacher's church and went to sacrament meeting and then went back after. She said that she found a wonderful family during sacrament meeting that helped her a lot. We are forever grateful for that family! Even though we don't know who they are, we are so thankful that they took Tori under their wing. They may never know how much good they did, but Heavenly Father orchestrated that perfectly. I don't know what happened, but I imagine that they noticed that she was new and simply went up and introduced themselves to her. Something as simple as that can go a long way.



Reading this experience of Tori, a brand-new member, reminded me that when someone we have never seen walks into church on any given Sunday, you don't know what their background is and what they need that day.  But if we reach out in love always to everyone, no matter what, our Heavenly Father will put people in our path who we can help. I hope and pray that I and my family can always be there for anyone who needs love, a smiling face and an invitation to sit with us when they come to church. It is so important.

Retainer Ruckus

We had a tender mercy today.  We got an email from Ken's Aunt Ruth on Sunday that Rachel's permanent retainer from after she gotten her braces off, was broken.  She had given her the name of a local orthodontist that her husband's kids had gone to, but we weren't sure how to handle the billing/getting her in for an appt., etc.  And we couldn't do much with it being the weekend.  
So, this morning (Monday), I started making phone calls and found out that this Dr. has several different offices in that area and are only in the Johnson City one close to her, every so often.  But they were there today!  When I talked to the receptionist and told her the situation, she said that they could fit her in, but only if she got there by 10 a.m. local time. And also, that next p-day (Monday) they would be in an office a ways away.  That was in a 1/2 hour!  So I quickly got an email together to her and Aunt Ruth hoping that one of them would get it right away.  But then, the internet stopped working on my computer for no reason, making it so the email wouldn't go through! Ken called his mom (at 6:30 a.m. her time!) and got his aunt's cell # so he could try and get a hold of her to talk to Rachel and hopefully they could go over right away.  It all worked out with divine intervention, and she got there right at 10!  Aunt Ruth was surprised because she later told us that it usually takes months to get into this orthodontist for an appt.  Heavenly Father loves His missionaries!  It turns out, it wasn't that it had just come loose, it was literally a broken wire.  It would have been pretty difficult for her to keep that in her mouth with it being broken!  Anyway, I felt the hand of the Lord in our lives today and feel very grateful.  Here is an excerpt from her email:

In a couple of days it will be exactly a year since I received my mission call. What an amazing day that was! :) and what a great year this has been! I absolutely love being a missionary and I continue to love it more and more each day. I love TN and know that this is where I am supposed to be. 

New companion this week! Hermana Kayla Fowers is from Farr West, Utah and just graduated this past summer. She is adorable and gets excited about the little aspects of missionary work. Helps me remember to not take things for granted. And she speaks Spanish! That has been a blast again. Nice to have someone to talk to and practice with :)

It's been a wild week, as transfer weeks always are. Had a lot of goodbyes and many hellos :)

But the missionary work rolls on!

Teaching at a dairy farm?? No idea...

Time to Step Up!

Tennessee Orange Shades!

Last full week with Sister Tomlinson... :( It was a good one! But I am sad to see her go. I'll be getting a new companion on Wednesday, and I am training! woot woot! Rumor has it that it will be a Spanish-speaking sister which will be a blessing :)

We were blessed to have Elders Christofferson, Soares and their wives speak to us. We were taught to be childlike, but to put away childish things and become a better representative of Jesus Christ. Elder Christofferson did a question and answer session and left us with some pretty amazing blessings!

We received a referral from mormon.org about a week ago for a guy named Doug. We then got a text from a member about the same Doug. He had done an internship in Utah with him and told us a little more of his background. Doug had been out of town with surgery, but we were able to meet with him this past week. He has already started reading the Book of Mormon and knows that it is true. It just makes logical sense to him. He wants to finish it before he gets baptized though. But he is well-versed in the bible and a well-educated person. He understands what the message of the restoration means. He already knew a lot about Mormons (that's what good member friends can do!). At one point he started teaching the next point in our lesson! ha!

We decided to tract that same apartment complex that Doug lived in and we found Levi who, at first, was not very open, but as we began talking, he warmed up to us. (generally that's the case... ha!) We found out that he had a very close friend who was Mormon who passed away. He had given Levi a Book of Mormon, but he couldn't find it anymore. He was curious about the book now and wanted to read it. He still keeps in contact with his friend's sister who is also an active Latter-Day Saint and was excited to tell her that he was going to read the book and that he had found Mormon missionaries. Sometimes as members, we never know what impact we can have on people - how it will affect them in the future. He was prepared because he had good examples of members in his life.

Tori is doing well as a new member. She still receives opposition from her family, but she is being a missionary already! She sent a copy of the Book of Mormon to her mother and wrote her feelings about it in a letter asking her mother to just give it a try. New members have a fire about them in doing missionary work! We love taking her on team-ups with us.

Jon is officially in SLC, Utah. He is going through a lot right now.... He sees a lot of trials around him, but we see the Lord's hand working in his life. God is removing temptations from his life in preparation for his baptism.

Have a good week everyone! Hope all is well!

Snow--Utah vs. Tennessee

Yep! It really snowed just like Utah! (Well...uh...not quite :) All I can say is that I am very happy to have experience driving in the snow. :) But it's so fun! We have thrown snowballs, made snow angels and simply danced in the snow! It's been a blast :)

The biggest news of the week was that Tori was baptized!! Of course, things didn't go perfectly, but that's to be expected. The power went out during the opening song (luckily it flickered back on a few seconds later) but we kept singing through it! Then the font leaked.... It started to drain as we were doing the opening part of the service, so by the time she was baptized, she had to sit on the floor and just lean back. She was already nervous that she would have to do it twice, so we felt bad. :( But that doesn't change the sacred covenant that she made that day. She was so excited for Sunday when she could partake of the sacrament "for real." She related it to playing a game - every week you watch everyone else play, but now you finally get to join. There were so many members involved (that's the key!) and it made for a great baptism.

Jon wasn't able to be baptized this week; however, we have been able to see that that is all part of God's plan. He is moving to Provo, Utah tomorrow for work, so he won't be baptized here. But now his brother-in-law is going to fly out there and baptize him. His sister and her family are active members, so that support will be good for him. Also, we hope that the ward there will welcome him and fellowship him, and that he will make connections there as that is where he will be living.

Tree-Climbin' Missionaries!

An excerpt from an e-mail from Aunt Ruth:

Monday, P-Day, was freezing cold. Literally. Flurries. But Sisters Trommlitz and Tomlinson, as well as 2 elders got in my van and went with me to Sycamore Shoals State Park. When we got down along the river, their gloves came off and they skipped stones until their hands were as cold as the rocks they skipped. Some of them even washed their muddy hands in the icy river.; Smiling the whole time, of course. On the way back from the river, we headed for the reconstructed Fort Watauga. As we approached, Sister Tomlinson climbed up a tree in a manner that showed it wasn't her first time. The senior elder stood there trying to remember what the handbook said about climbing trees. Then up went Sister Trommlitz into another tree. The elder was saying, "Please be careful. I don't want to have to...." Up went the other elder. Finally, the one responsible climbed up, too!  What fun!

Conversions--The Best Valentine's Day Gift for a Missionary!

Jon is preparing to be baptized on February 14th! He has had some trouble coming to church due to being out of town, but he came for the first time Sunday and really enjoyed it. His sister is a member and the company he works for is based out of Provo, so many of his coworkers are also members which was what got him originally interested. He was already reading the Book of Mormon when the sisters first met him and he has been progressing ever since. He always makes sure he understands the concepts that we teach, but he accepts them and commits to live by the commandments. He has big changes that he has and will continue to make, but that's part of the whole process. It's a process that we all do throughout our whole lives as a part of enduring to the end.

Tori is also being baptized on Valentine's day! This week she was introduced to some anti-Mormon literature which we had to take the time to clear up. She is doing really well now though. Her preacher at home was like a father figure to her and he is not happy about the decision she is making. She hopes her mom won't side with him, but the lack of support from her family has been hard on her. The other day she told us how she feels like everything is going wrong right now - the first time she has put such a priority on religion. She got in a car accident, strained muscles in her knee and is now on crutches, in the middle of the hardest semester of her life and other small things that add to her stress. She asks, "Why is it so hard now that I am putting Him first?" That's a hard question to answer, but one that seems to be asked by a lot of investigators. Satan hates the decisions that they are making and provides that opposition to the wonderful thing they are taking part in. I know that the Lord blesses us through His tender mercies that he gives us when we makes sacrifices, but patience is also a quality that is going to be tested, tried and eventually developed. Tori knows that this gospel is Jesus Christ's and that it is true. She is going to be a strong member.

We have been focusing on part-member families since I have been here and we had a great success last Tuesday. We met with the Street family and had a lesson on the apostasy and then watched the 20 min. restoration film. The father of the family who is not a member was the first to comment after the video saying, "I guess I need to read to Book of Mormon." It was so spiritual. He then went on to talk about how he knew that he needed to do it with a sincere heart and real intent and then eventually, everyone needed to find out for themselves. We didn't even have to guide him to recognize that, but the spirit taught him and that's always the best way.

I love being a missionary! This area is doing so well and we are seeing a lot of success. This church is so exciting and I love having the opportunity to share the hope that Jesus Christ can bring.

Love you all!!

Cousins Abound!

So domestic!

Aunt Ruth e-mailed some comments from the Johnson City Ward where Rachel is serving with her cousin Joseph on Ken's side and his family:

Joseph Knight: She has Eleanor's hair!!!! (Eleanor is his sister who lives in Washington state and has long, brown curly hair JUST like Rachel!)

Mandy Taylor in the JC Ward: Sis. Trommlitz is a very happy and fun person. I met her the very first day she came to our ward and she seems so happy and that she is eagerly engaged in the Lord's work. Hopefully, we will all put our best foot forward, especially for her!

A woman in the JC Ward that I don't know: Are you reLATed?..Welcome.... (I think she thought Sister Trommlitz brought me out of inactivity :)

Ann Carver in our ward, sitting on the couch in the lobby watching Sister Trommlitz meeting her cousins: Now THIS is fun. Who would have thought?

This week has truly been great. I don't really know how to express it in words. This ward in awesome and I am pretty sure this is the most member referrals I have received! Our landlord is a member and met a guy in a parking lot and invited him to meet with us when he told her that he was looking to get back into church. He has helped her fix her car and when he wouldn't take any form of payment, she said, "well, is there anything specific I can pray for for you? That is the best form of thanks I could offer someone." It was as simple as that. We met him one afternoon and taught him about the Book of Mormon and invited him to church which he agreed to. Saturday night we had a lesson cancel last minute and before we even had time to look at our backup plans, we got a call from him asking if he could get a tour of the church before he came on Sunday. It was so divinely planned. We met him there and he asked, "Could you teach me that lesson you were going to teach on Tuesday right now?" So we sat down and taught him the restoration right then. The next day he came to church and enjoyed it. The sacrament meeting and gospel principles lesson was exactly for him.

We had Zone Conference this past Saturday and as always, it was incredible! This has been a top-10-week of my mission even though this email doesn't reflect that.

Wow!  What a great story!  The Lord's hand is in EVERYTHING!  I hope we never forget that. We are loved.