TKM May 31, 2011

Howdy y'all! haha How is everyone doing this week? =D I hope all is well. Is it starting to get hot out there yet? the humidity here is killer! especially with the weather in the high 90's.

Question- What does it mean to take upon us the name of Christ? (in the sacrament prayer)

This has been a really good week. Elder Struthers and I have been working a lot with Gale's crew, Mainly Justin and Sabrina. Justin and Sabrina were both interviewed this week for baptism and we were really hoping and praying that they would make it. Friday night, everything was good to go. They were each ready to be baptized the next morning. Saturday morning, Gale calls us and says " Justin is gone, I dont know where he is and he wont answer his phone! CRAP!!! (The Last 2 or 3 times that Justin was suppose to be baptized he went MIA or paintballing, so we were getting a little nervous) So we decided to give him a call. ..."Hello?".. (HAHA sweet we got'em) He told us that he was trying to get a ride back down to Gales so that he could get ready for the baptism. Elder Struthers and I headed over to start filling up the faunt. We turned on the faucet and the water came "drizzling" out.... We only had about 2 hours and we knew that wasnt enough time. We found an old hose, hooked it up from the girls bathroom, through the halls and into the faunt... still not going fast enough.. so we got serious... We ran to the kitchen and started filling up pots and pans and running back and forth through the halls trying to fill it up in time. We called in some re-enforcements to help us out. we had 6 other missionaries show up, running through the halls with carts full of water hahaha... wish you could have seen it =D... Gale showed up and we had the water high enough to baptize but not as high as we would have liked. Gale and Justin walk up and say "looks like its only going to be one baptism today.." ... Just then Sabrina walks around the corner and goes and dresses in her baptismal clothes... Wow.. the Lord is definitely watching over us...

After the baptism, Gale bore a very sweet prayer and the spirit was very strong. I was so excited to see Justin Finally baptized (now we just have to get him confirmed.) Long story short.. LEGIT WEEK! =D

This week I was also studying in Hebrews 11 on Faith. In the Church we understand that FAITH is different than BELIEF. You can BELIEVE in something and still not act on it. However faith is believing and acting, Like Alma teaches us that If we plant that seed with faith and nourish it, it will grow. But if we forget to nourish the seed, it will die when the heat of the storm comes. Faith is Action.

What is the evidence of your faith?

In Hebrews it gave the example of Abraham as he is about to sacrifice his son. Abraham was promised that through Isaac, shall his seed be blessed. and now the Lord is asking him to kill that person whom the Lord would fulfill that promise through.... If I was in Abrahams spot, I would be so confused, on why he was asking me to do that...( But I think that Abraham understood what Nephi taught us in 1Nephi 3:7) that the lord would still fulfill that promise, even if he had to bring Isaac back from the dead. All Abraham would have to do is obey... Talk about great faith.

Well time is up but I love you all. Have an awesome week!

Love Elder Pearson!

and write back soon!

TKM May 23, 2011

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Hey-o how are you all doing? I hope that everyone had an amazing week!

So At the start of the week, Elder Lindner and I were waiting too see if we would stay together for another transfer. Came to find out that we were!!! (no idea how we pulled that off) Tuesday night came around and at about 9:30pm we got a call from President... "Elder Lindner, I'm going to be transferring you actually, we'll need you to be at Knoxville at 10 tomorrow morning" He said... Well crap. So we were up till about 3 packing to get him there the next day. Turns out he was called to go serve in La Follette for a bit! He told me he is going to take good care of Dotty for me haha. So I was a little sad that we weren't going to be staying together, BUT turns out I got Elder Struthers to be my new companion, Heck Yeah!!!

So this has kinda been a crazy week. John and Victoria are both doing good. John has set a date to be baptized on the 28th of May, But he is still having a hard time with smoking. Justin and Sabrina are also shooting for that same day. And Dennis is looking towards June 4th to be baptized. All of the all want to be baptized but all are smoking....(I really don't like tobacco companies to much) its sad to see it control others lives.

Thats about all I have time for today :( But I love you all and I'll have a good e-mail ready for y'all next week!

Love Elder Pearson

TKM blessings up the wazzu – May 16, 2011

HEY-O! how are y'all doin!? hahaha I hope everyone has had a fantastic week!

The weather here is starting to get REALLY HOT! I almost forgot what summers here felt like.

This week I talked with Elder Hoyt and found out some legit news. Elder Hoyt was washing thier car in Knoxville and he looked over and guess who he saw!?... Eric Solberg! Eric was a guy that we taught and baptized in La Follette. After Eric was baptized his life got hit hard core. His wife cheated on him with his "best friend", his house was broken into and a bunch of other stuff... Eric went MIA for a long time and we had no idea where he was. He is living in Knoxville now and doing good. He called me and Elder Hoyt up and wants to take us out to dinner one night where we can all meet out in Knoxville =D can’t wait to see him!

Also this week Elder Lindner and I had a meeting with our Stake President. President McMurry told us about a guy that he wanted us to teach. He gave us his number and had us set up an appointment. Buddy Lester said he would love to meet with us. We met Buddy at the Church one evening and started to talk and get to know him. We came to find out that Buddy has a very interesting story. Buddy and his family had joined the church when he was a young boy. Later, His dad became the District President (stake President) and was one of the main people that helped get the Kingsport building and turn it into the Kingsport stake. Buddy left to serve a mission in England. He was a VERY good missionary too. While Buddy was gone, his dad apostatized from the church and took half of the congregation with him and started his own church. (Buddy had no idea) Buddy had just served his two years and was on his plane flight home. His dad went and bought a ticket for that same flight and anti-ed him the whole flight home. The entire family left the church...26yrs later Buddy knows that the church is true. and he wants to be re-baptized. It was amazing to talk with him. We sat in the chapel and the spirit was very strong. He told us of the differences with all the churches. how the spirit was not the same and how the other people just don’t have the same morals, or eternal perspective. He knows that when his family finds out that he is coming back that they will all abandon him. His Wife has told him that she would take the kids and leave him too. But he knows what the Lord wants him to do. and he is determined to do it. He wishes he had never left in the 1st place and he wants all those who have left or fallen away to do all that they can to get back and involved in the church, because the blessings ARE worth it.

I’m almost out of time so I'll throw in some quick highlights too.

We have been helping the Talleys move and one of their friends was there helping the whole time too. He was impressed to see young men working hard and helping others out that he decided that he wanted us to teach him about the church. We came over the next day and started to talk with Dennis, to see what his religious background was like. After, we started to teach the Restoration. Right before we got to the 1st vision, we talked about the role of the spirit, how to recognize it, and why God sends the spirit to us. after sharing Joseph's account with him there was a long pause.. the spirit filled the room and we could see that Dennis was being taught something. "Dennis.. what did you just feel and learn?".. He said " I know that its true." We invited Dennis to pray to ask God what he should do now. We all knelt down and asked Dennis if he would pray. He said he would and I closed my eyes and waited. I started to pray in my heart that he would be touched by the spirit and know that he should be baptized. Dennis didnt say a word. But I felt the spirit all within my heart. I knew that Dennis was praying and that he was indeed feeling the spirit.... Elder Lindner and I both looked up and saw a tear run down his face. Dennis has decided to be baptized on the 4th of june! =D

I know that this is the Lords church, if it wasnt, people would not get an answer to join that quickly. If the church was not true he would not send his spirit to testify that it is.

A couple days later we had stake conference, right at the end of it, John came up to us and said "i haven't smoked since last night.. Can I be baptized the week after?" Long story short.. we are getting blessing up the waz-zu!!! And the Church is true!!!

Love Elder Pearson

TKM BERRIES & CREAM

May 10, 2011

HEY-OH!!! This is Elder K-boppin Pearson comin to ya live from the sweet and sassy south! It’s a bright and sunny day FULL of humidity and heat. The latest on the street is that the church is true, the book is blue, and God is a Mormon!!! =D

Hope all you mothers had a wonderful mothers day, all the missionaries sure did.

How are y'all doin!?!

Things have been going really good on this side of the vineyard. These past couple weeks, Elder Lindner and I have been on a hunt for new investigators. It seems that the whole zone is on a search and rescue for the elect this week. One day out tracting about 6 of our appointments fell through in about an hour.. D= no bueno (thats spanish for "No Bueno") we were like, well crap! But then, B called us and asked if we could come by? Heck yeah! When we got there we asked how her and R were both doing and after a while started to have a lesson. As we started going on in the lesson, we noticed something was wrong with B. We asked her what was on her mind? B kinda looked down and was quiet for a moment and then said "My uncle is about to pass away I think" .. B, what would you like to talk about today? we asked. She said I know that we just went over Gods plan and stuff, But could we talk about it again and especially what happens after we die? Of course =)

By the time we got to the spirit world, we started to talk a lot about temple work and how we can help those who have passed on return to live with God. All of a sudden B stopped us. We could see that the spirit was teaching her something. She asked " So would I be able to go to the temple and be baptized for my mother as well? She passed away when I was a little girl and I don’t know if she accepted everything. We told B that she could, and that that would make her mother and her Heavenly father so happy if she did.

B has set a new goal to get to the temple as soon as she can. How many blessings does the gospel bring? Our ward has been going to the temple a lot this past month or two. It made me realize even more how blessed we are to have a temple.. and how much I miss going. GO EVERY CHANCE YOU GET. I can’t wait for the chance when I am home and get to go to the temple again too.

I Love you a ton, and hope I hear back from you soon.

Love Elder Pearson

He tried sending pics again, but alas it did not work!

TKM May 2, 2011

Hey this might be a weird e-mail cause I’m trying to throw in last weeks too and I only have a couple mins left.. LOVE Y'ALL

Hey-o! How is everyone doing!?! I hope that everyone has had an AWESOME week! Thanks for all the Easter stuff mom! I also got my new shoes in the mail. They are a different kind than my other ones but they should last for a good while =D This has been a pretty cool week! To start it off, Elder Lindner and I meet this nice southern lady named R. R and her family listened to our message of the Restoration and enjoyed what we had to say. R told us that she wanted us to come back by tomorrow so that we could have some dinner with them. When we came back, she told us to come right on in and to make ourselves at home, and that dinner was just about ready. She went out back to gather all of her Grandkids and to get some of the family inside. We started to eat this amazing meal and I realized something. The House we were in was very small, I knew that they hardly ever ate like we were now. I wondered why would someone let two strangers in and cook a huge meal for them, when they likely didn't have the money to do so?.... So I asked. Her answer surprised me. and I really learned a lot about charity and the pure heart that she has. She wanted to comfort those who were away from home. To lift someone up and to let them know that they were loved..... SO COOL!!! 10 points for R! I'm really excited to keep teaching her and to see how she progresses.

This week was also a week of learning. At Zone Conference we watched a talk By Elder Holland that he gave in Jan at the MTC. Now If you've heard the talk "Safety for the soul".. Its like that intense.. But on missionary work! It was just the talk I needed to pump me up even more to go baptize! He brought up so many cool points on Peter that I had never realized before. Like after Christ was crucified, Peter didn't know what to really do. SO he said "we'll go fish" because that was what he was use too. He had only been a convert for 36 months-ish.. He didn't understand his real purpose. While peter and a couple other apostles were out fishing, they were having NO LUCK! then a man from the shore asks.. "Hows the fishing going?" they reply that there is nothing. The man then tells them to throw their nets on the other side..... They do and they cant even pull the nets onto the ship because they are too full of fish! They realize that the man is Christ, Peter jumps off the ship and swims towards him. When they all get to shore, Christ has dinner waiting them and they all begin to eat. In the middle of dinner, Christ asks Peter, "Lovest thou me?" Yea Lord, Peter replies. Christ replies "then feed my sheep"... Christ again asks "Peter, lovest thou me more than these?" Yea Lord, Thou knowest that I love thee. "then feed my sheep" .... and again a third time he asks peter " Lovest thou me?.. Peter was grieved and said " Yea Lord Thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee" Peter then understood his purpose, and the way to show his love for Christ.

I love you all Love elder Pearson WBASAP I miss hearing from you all hahaha

"Go feed my sheep"

-Christ ;D