Last Area?

This week flew by pretty quick!

   Wednesday night we had a dinner with all the ward missionaries and us at our Ward Mission leader’s house. Everyone was supposed to invite someone to come and we had a decent turn out. We had a lady we have been working with named Linda come with us and she enjoyed the evening.  Our ward mission leader’s house is also pretty cool, it was built in 1891 and is filled with a lot of really cool antique stuff. They actually ran it as a bed and breakfast for a while. 

   From Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon I was on exchanges here in Hendersonville with Elder Fox. I was only companions with him for a total of about a week or so, but he was one of my favorites. So, it was a lot of fun to get back with him for a little bit. 

Elder Roden and Elder Fox

   We were also able to do a decent amount of service work this week which was a nice change of pace.  From a food bank, to taking trees down, to hauling and spreading gravel, to patching asphalt potholes, it was fun.

TRANSFER CALLS:

   Saturday morning was the transfer call which is always exciting.  I am leaving Hendersonville to serve in Livingston, TN.  Livingston is about halfway in between Knoxville and Nashville, and it is in a different time zone as well(Central).  I will be getting back with my 'son', Elder Jeppesen.  I am actaully really excited and I think it will be a good time.  Livingston has been considered a really tough area since I got here so I’m excited for the challenge.

   One of my favorite members I’ve met on my mission, Brother Berry, has a bunch of bees and since we were leaving we headed over on Saturday to help him do some stuff with them. We got all suited up and he showed us the ropes.

Transfers

   Sunday was spent saying a lot of 'good byes', but mostly 'see you later's because this is definitely a place I’m going to want to visit.  I have loved my time here in North Carolina and I’m excited for these last 3 months of my mission in Livingston!

Elder Roden

Busy Week!

Well we had a pretty crazy week!

Mon:

   In the morning we went up to Asheville and spent pday with the 4 elders up there.  We played basketball at some Baptist church that had a nice gym, because the elders’ church doesn’t.  Then that night I went and worked with Elder Knapp from Payson, UT.  He goes home in a couple weeks, but we are pretty good friends, so it was fun.

Tue:

   We were still in Asheville and this time I went out with Elder Leavitt from Gilbert, AZ. We get along really well, so it was a good time.  Probably the coolest part was when we went to the food court at the mall for lunch.  As we were walking in, I had remembered that Matt Courtney, that I had taught in Kingsport well over a year ago, was the Manager at the Zales in the Asheville mall and just commutes 1.5 hours each way every day.  So, we swung by and he was there!  It was so cool to see him. I grew so close to him and his family while serving there and it was great to see him.  He was baptized 3 days after I left and has been doing really well. He and Sister Courtney are planning to get sealed in the Temple in September! 

Elder Roden with Matt Courtney

   Then later that night we drove home to our apartment.

Wed:

   In the morning we had district meeting, then service at a big food pantry, then taught a couple people, then packed, then went to a dinner, then drove out to Franklin NC.

Thu:

   Thursday in Franklin I went out with Elder Cicotte from a small town in Washington.  He has been out for 5 weeks and is actually leaving for Italy today.  He was assigned to come here temporarily while waiting for his Visa. We had a really good day together then that night we drove to Cherokee NC.

Fri:

   Friday, I went out Elder Smith from Sanford Colorado.  He has been out for 5 weeks and is a really good guy. We had a fun day together.  Cherokee is still my dream area, haha, so pray for transfers to go well.   Later that night we drove up through Gatlinburg and Sevierville to get to Knoxville TN.

Sat:

 Saturday, I got to go back with Elder Ostler for the day.  We had a really good day together and it was fun to get right back into the groove with him.  Then we drove all the way home that night and got straight to bed, haha.

So, it was pretty busy, but it was also pretty fun.  Hope y’all have a good week!

Elder Roden

   

July

From July 15, 22, and 29:

Well another week down!

This week was so fast I hardly remember what happened.  We had Interviews and Stake correlation on the same day and those were both good.  Transfer calls were on Saturday and me and Elder Scott are going to be staying here for another transfer.  This upcoming transfer we have 7 of the 11 areas training new missionaries which is gonna be awesome.  Other than that, we were able to find a lot of new people this week that we can hopefully start progressing soon.

Psalm 73:26. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

Hope y’all have a good week!

Hey y'all

We had a pretty good week this week. I'm trying to remember what all happened, but it was a really weird week.

One day we spent pretty much the whole day down in Forest City moving the sisters’ apartments.  When we got to their new apartment to unload, we realized we were in for a pretty long day. It wasn’t in the best shape at all, Haha. So, we cleaned and worked on it all day, basically.

We also had our first district meeting of the transfer and I am excited for this transfer.  We have 3 greenies in our district, and 7 being trained in the zone. It will be nice to have all that greenie fire for sure! 

Other than that, we had a lot of tracting, like usual, just trying to find the elect!

Hope y’all have a great week

Elder Roden

Tue:

Tuesday, we had MLC in Knoxville, which is always really good. Aside from like 4am wake up part... but it was a good meeting.

Thu:

We had zone conference today in Sevierville, so another long drive.  But it was good to see everyone again and cool to be back in the Sevierville building for the first time in a long time!

On Sunday we took our friend Jeff Lam, who we are teaching, to our ward’s ARP meeting and he loved it. As soon as he gets off of cigarettes, he is going to get baptized, so that’s pretty cool.

It has been another normal missionary week in the TKM. Lots of doors!  Hopefully there will be more next week!

Elder Roden