The Trio

MONDAY:
Monday was a pretty relaxed p-day. We just played basketball and games and that type of stuff. After P-day was over we stayed down in Greenville to help them out with a young single adult activity that they were putting on, and we had a lot of fun that night. We also spent the night at their apartment because we were having our district meeting and interviews with President Pickett the next day.

TUESDAY:
Tuesday was a crazy day. We woke up and had our district meeting that morning, then went to McDonald's, then we went back to the church and had interviews with President Pickett. Those are always a good time. Then we hung out and worked the Greenville area for a couple hours before we had to drive down to Knoxville to the mission office to pick up Elder Farley. Well, we showed up to the mission office and it was just President Pickett there and he said that Elder Farley's plane had gotten delayed for a while, so he was not able to go pick him up. So instead he just had us drive down to Maryville to pick him up from the airport ourselves. It was honestly one of the weirdest things to experience, picking up another missionary from the same doors that I walked through into Tennessee for the first time. The mission veil was so close! Elder Martin was feeling it especially because he is going home super soon. But it was fun, President Pickett also gave us some Chick-fil-A gift cards to go out to eat after we picked up Elder Farley. Then we just drove back and by the time we got back it was already the end of the day.

TRESSA:
One of the people that we have found is a woman named Tressa. She is a single mother who’s in her 40's and she is super awesome. She has never really felt like she has had a relationship with God, so she asks a lot of questions on how she can gain that. We had a really solid lesson with her this week and we are going back soon.
Besides that it’s been another normal missionary week, a lot of knocking doors.  Hopefully we will be able to get things rolling again in this area soon.
Elder Roden 

Baptism!

Well it was a fast, but productive week we had here!

MATT COURTNEY:

So you may or may not remember Matt Courtney from my last area. But his baptism was on Saturday! Unfortunately I was unable to attend because of some Mission rules, but President Pickett did give me permission to video chat into the service. It was a super cool thing to be able to see him and talk with him. That was definitely the highlight of this week!

FINDING:

These past few district meetings, I have been instructed to focus a lot on obedience and finding. And the further along we get and trying our best as a district to be exactly obedient and finding whenever we are not teaching, we are seeing so much more success. This week Elder Martin and I were able to find 12 new people to teach. Now I am definitely not a big numbers pusher, meaning that's not all I care about, but just to see the sheer difference in being close to being exactly obedient and actually being exactly obedient is awesome. Improvement is always a good thing. Blessings are flowing!

LINGER LONGER: 

Sunday morning we went early to church to set up some tables and chairs for a linger longer that we were having after church.  A linger longer is just a little gathering where there's a big potluck right after church. So it was pretty cool to be able to hang out with the branch for a little bit!

COMPANION NEWS: 

So just last night I got a call from the Assistants telling me that on Tuesday we have to drive down to Knoxville to pick up a new companion. His name is Elder Farley, and he is an interesting situation. He first came out on a two transfer mission, and then he decided he wanted to go the full two years. So after his first two transfers they sent him to the Provo MTC and he has been there for 3 weeks, and now they are sending him out to me and Elder Martin. One cool thing is he was actually originally trained by my last companion, Elder Donohoo, for 1 transfer. So I will be in a trio for the next week and a half or so because Elder Martin will be going home early on August 2nd for school. So it should be an interesting time coming up, but also exciting!

Other than that not too much to report on, other than I love Tennessee. I love the sights, the sounds, the smells, and especially the people. I hope you all have an awesome week, thank you for all of the love and support, it is felt greatly!

Elder Roden 

Rogersville

From July 16:

  Well another week down. It was another week full of finding, finding, and more finding.  So it felt good to get in some good tracting hours. Whitewashing is definitely an interesting experience, when you are starting from Ground Zero it can be pretty tough sometimes. But we are starting to see some progress.

POWER UPS-

This week we were able to go down to Johnson City and do exchanges with the Zone leaders. I went with elder Tanner who I had actually gone with before, two transfers ago. So it was a really fun time going and working with him. He is a super solid dude and we really get along so we had a good day together. We got to teach a couple cool lessons and also do a lot of tracting. 

THE BRANCH-

So far I am loving the Rogersville branch. There are about 35 really strong members here. We have been able to make a good impression on them so far and regain some of their trust that may or may not have been lost in previous transfers by previous missionaries. But they are awesome.

SWEET TOOTH CAFE-

There is a family in the branch that owns a restaurant called The Sweet Tooth Cafe on Main Street in downtown Rogersville. And her rule is if you are hungry, you eat at the sweet tooth. They feed us every Sunday after church and also we can go and get lunch there any time. They are a really cool and funny family so we like going in there.

THE DISTRICT-

On Friday we had another really powerful district meeting. This district has been struggling and having faith to find people and being motivated to go and find new people to teach. So I was asked by The Zone leaders when I gave my training for the district to focus on the importance of obedience and finding. I had a general idea of what to talk about but as soon as I started giving the training the spirit just took over and I went a completely different route. By the end of the training there was one of the sisters in the district who was apparently especially struggling with his aspect of the work, and she just started crying and saying how it's exactly what she needed to hear. That is how the spirit works! And whatever aspects of your life listen carefully, and intensively, and the spirit will direct your paths.

Other than that it was a pretty normal week, we are starting to find some people that have promise in teaching which is always an exciting thing to have going.

Thanks for all the support! 

Elder Roden 

Fourth of July Transfers

Well it was a good week!
The last few days in Kingsport were mostly full of Good-byes and packing and what not. But it was a good last couple days, and I definitely will miss that place!

Dinner and games with the Courtneys (this is Sister Courtney's daughter and her friend)

TRANSFERS:
Wednesday morning Elder Donahoo and I got up and left to go to Farragut for transfers. We had to drive ourselves because it was pretty hard to get a ride on the 4th of July.  But I always love being at transfers and seeing all the awesome people that I have met out here.  

Some of the former Sevierville missionaries at transfers

After a little bit, I found my new/old companion, Elder Martin.  Shortly after we said some more good byes we went and got the Phone/keys/contact info for our new area and headed out.  It is kinda funny because Rogersville is right next to Rotherwood, so we drove right past the old apartment on the way, which was nice because I left my sunglasses there.  But we came and checked out the church, which is a pretty small building, but it’s nice. We have about 35 active members.  Then to the apartment which is pretty nice as well.  By the time we were mostly unpacked we decided to go get dinner.  Driving around downtown Rogersville was pretty cool because that’s where they were having their 4th of July celebration and it was just a really cool vibe out there.  Then we got back and watched the fireworks from our front porch.  Also another thing to note is that Elder Martin will be going home 2 weeks before transfers for school, so I’m not sure what will happen to me the last 2 weeks, but we will find out!

ROGERSVILLE:
Well it is definitely a different area! It’s about a 1 hour and 45 minute drive end to end and about 1 hour top to bottom.  So it’s a pretty decent sized place and people are really spread out.  But it seems like there are some great people here so far.  Our district is us and a pair of elders and sisters serving in the Greenville ward. So the rest of this week has just been decluttering our records and trying to visit as many people as possible.  The area wasn’t exactly left in good shape when we came in so it’ll take some time to get things rolling. But I’m excited to be here. After Sunday it seems like we have a really solid branch.

MATT:
Also Matt Courtney in Rotherwood is getting baptized on the 21st of this month so I’m going to try and get permission to head over and attend that!
Thanks for all the love and support, have a good week!

Love, Elder Roden

Transfer News

Another week has absolutely flown by. Wow, this is so weird, haha.
We have been really low on miles so we have been on foot most of the time the last couple of weeks, especially this last week.  And it has been HOT. Holy crap it’s like walking uphill into a waterfall on the sun.  That’s the best description.  But it also feels good to be out pounding the pavement every day! We have been on full blown finding mode so just a lot of tracting this week with pretty little success, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

Tracting?

MATT:
Just an update on Matt Courtney, right now as a family they are solidifying a date for him to be baptized.  We talked with him Tuesday night for a while after they fed us!  He really wants to get it done as soon as possible so he can be able to get to the temple as soon as possible, which is so awesome to hear!  Good things are happening for him and his family!

Dinner at the Courtneys'

 TRANSFER CALLS:
Well on Friday night I got a call from the AP's wanting to talk about transfers a little bit. They just asked me a few questions and said I should be "excited" for this upcoming call.  Well it sure was interesting.  I am going to be serving as the District Leader going to the Rogersville branch. I’ve heard it’s a pretty interesting and tough area, but I’m really excited! And I am going to be back with my trainer, Elder Martin, haha.  We are also going to be white washing into the area, so that should be fun. This is also Martin's last transfer so I am "Killing my father", haha.  Should be some exciting things to come!  

Elder Roden and Elder Martin...together again

This has been an awesome 3 months in the Rotherwood Ward.  Kingsport is an awesome city!  I sang one last song at Shades of Grace on Sunday. I sure am going to miss that place as well!  As much as I have loved this place I know there is more for me to do in other areas.  I’m definitely going to miss Elder Donahoo, but I’m grateful for the time I had with him and all the things he taught me.  Unfortunately, that’s all I got this week, but it should be an eventful week coming up!
Love, Elder Roden

P Day shopping