Dear Friends and Family ...

Dear Friends and Family,


On Tuesday I did a exchange with the zone leaders and they serve in the ghetto area of Murfreesboro, so it was cool to go there. The area has a 1990's style McDonald's so that brought back a lot of memories :-). On Wednesday, we had district meeting and we talked to an investigator who is reading some anti-Mormon literature so it was difficult to talk to him, however he keeps on searching.

On Thursday we taught a family that is trying to learn more about the Church. Saturday we went to the Grace Baptist Church with investigators, to eat chili, it was a chili cook off. On Sunday we woke up early to get to ward counsel on time, it starts at seven. We got more free bread which is cool and an inactive member showed up. Sunday night was the Nashville Tribute Band Fireside. Also on Sunday we met a new investigator. She stopped us while we were walking to an appointment. She asked if we needed a ride, we said no thank you and then she asked us if we were Mormon missionaries. That is when we asked her to pull over and to talk to us, she did and we talked for about 20 minutes about the restored gospel. Later that day she sent us a text that she read the introduction and the testimonies and will ask God if it is true and get back to us. So cool to see that.

Love,Elder Blazzard

P.S. Tennessee is great and the people are great, everyone here is willing to talk to us about Jesus Christ.

David Archuleta

Dear Family and Friends,
This week we have been having great success with people. Tracking is still fun and exciting, however, that type of work can be challenging because the contacts ask some difficult questions. This is all good though because that means I get to study the New Testament that much more during personal study. I love personal study time because I get an hour of just reading and writing about scriptures. Sometimes an hour is not enough. We get dinners almost every night by members. We have dinner then share a spiritual thought and talk about their family's mission plan. It was cool to meet Brother Ritter at church, he was in the same apartment as my father during a time in their mission (California San Jose Mission - Milpitas - Winter 1990 in Milpitas, CA). He was so excited that he sent a text to my father right then. On that Sunday we attended a mission wide conference were David Archuleta spake and sang songs. It was great to visit with my district from the MTC. We also got the Christmas picture taken. Madison, where the conference was held, was just north of Nashville so I got to see the Nashville lights at night.

First Week in the Field

So I made it to my first p- day in the field. I am in the Blackman
area in the Murfreesboro zone. Tennessee is so beautiful and the trees
are great, it is so green here.  Yes there are fireflies here, so
awesome. We do have iPads which is sweet no paper work :). My
companion is Elder Nez and he is great he has trained two other
missionaries. We have a car ever other day it is a VW Jetta. The bike
riding is easy and a little fun actually. That is crazy Brock is going
to Argentine so exciting, he will do great. We track at least one hour
a day and it is my favorite part because everyone down here knows
Jesus Christ, so we just have to invite them to read the Book of
Mormon and bear our testimonies.
One night we went to the Hazelrigg's and the mom cooks amazing
southern food, we had fried pork. Then on Sunday night we went to the
Johnson's and they gave us fried pork chops. It is all so good,
mmmm.... It really hits the spot. The southern style homes down here
are huge and gorgeous. So many brick homes!
Traffic is pretty bad here even in Murfreesboro. We had Brother Terry
take us back to the apartments after transfers. He took us to Red
Robin which was cool.
On Sunday we taught the gospel doctrine class and then I helped with
the 7 sunbeams class, which was fun. I will probably need to get a
jacket it is a wet cool here and it is chilling to the core. I am in
the best mission in the USA because my mission tried facebook and the
iPad's first.

Love,

Elder Blazzard

Arrival - Nashville, Tennessee

Tennessee Nashville Mission New Arrivals - 6 OCT 2014

MTC - Provo, Utah

Garrett completes his training stint in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) today as he flies out to Nashville, TN. Here are some short emails that he was able to send this past week.

... I am not in the world anymore. I learned and have grown so much. I can teach with the spirit helping me, which is a fantastic experience. My companion is Elder Danielson (Gooding, Idaho). I have two other roommates Elder Majzer (Richmond, Virginia) and Elder Nalder (South Jordan, Utah). They are great people and friends. I know now that the Tennessee Nashville will get iPads in 2015. In fact all of the USA and Canada will get them. My whole district is going to Nashville and we all have the same plane flight. The plane trip is on Monday Oct. 6 and at 9:25 am. Yes I will be able to call from the airport so be ready!  I can't wait to get to Tennessee.

P.S. I gave a blessing to one of the four sisters in our district because she asked me and I felt the spirit really going through me as I gave it. It was an experience that I am grateful for. Did you get my pictures or no. I will send some next time.

P.S. Went to the Temple today, it is beautiful inside. I am in 5M and my classroom is 18M-309. There is a private bathroom by the classrooms thank goodness. No high ups talked at the Devotionals. I was luck  to be going at this time because fast Sunday and general conference. The food is gross and bad for me. I drink diet coke sometimes to remind me of home. The phone call will be at the airport using a phone card thing, I think. I leave the MTC Monday morning at 4:35 am! and will be at the airport an hour latter the plane I think leaves at 9:25am. Salt Lake to Cincinnati then Nashville at around 4:35 Central Time. I saw Yui Mormi the LDS foreign exchange student who lived with the Perrins in Lewiston. She is going to the Philippines. She left yesterday.

For his trip to the MTC he flew out of Lewiston to Seattle and then to Salt Lake City on September 24th. Brock and Derek picked him up from the airport and he was able to spend a little time with them before entering the MTC. Garrett forgot to pack some shoes for recreation. Brock sent his basketball shoes over via the MTC mail out of the BYU Wilk. We sent a package as well.