Week 63 -- Elder Dickman is the man!

Mom!!

Man we all had one heck of a week! I am sorry to hear that y’all have been sick!! I really don’t like being sick, and knock on wood I haven't gotten sick in a while now. But this week has been pretty crazy too. Ii never thought I would be training, and I am. Elder Ahokava is gone, our car, is in Franklin for about 2 to 3 weeks and I have a new comp.   Elder Dickman is 6’6” and about 300 pounds of pure greenie fire. He is from Topeka, Kansas and has been preparing for his mission longer than I have been a missionary!  He definitely is different than me. But I know we will get along fine. Training is interesting, makes me feel old; which I don’t like. Elder Dickman was the exact opposite of me when I came out. He knows his scriptures pretty well and actually read Preach My Gospel several times before his mission. He has studied it! He just needs the experience now.   I look back to when I was getting trained, all that I have learned so far and use that to teach him. So the training is... going. Our investigators are.... going. And the ward is.... going.

None of our investigators came to church on Sunday.. But a couple less actives did! Jeremy came but not his wife... But we had supper with them at the Bradford’s house again. That went really well. They are feeling more comfortable around us now and we should be teaching them pretty soon!

Jessica and Alex went out of town this weekend but we are going over tonight! Jessica loves to hear the apostles and first presidency speak.   She loves Elder Uchtdorf!  So tonight we are going to watch one of his talks and have a discussion on it. Oscar and Bethany didn't come to the party or to church... But he said he would like to meet with the bishop!  This is a big step for him! He is so sincere with all of us.  I respect him in what he is doing... He wants true forgiveness for things that happened in the war. We share the atonement and bear hard core testimony to him, but there is something else. We haven’t bridged that gap yet and we are hoping his meeting with the bishop will bridge that gap!

We had our Christmas party on Saturday too.  We had a reenactment of the Nativity as well. I don’t know if I have told you yet, but there is a guy in our ward named Brother Penrod and he is from either Show Low or Round Valley.  I know he knows Uncle Matt and Uncle Jake. He graduated with Uncle Matt. They are going back to AZ to have Christmas with his parents and I told him to stop by the DQ and say hey to grandma.   It is pretty cool that in every area I have served there has been a connection with back home.

For Christmas we are going over to the Draper's and I think she sent you an email maybe? But I don’t know when we are going to call. I know that Elder Dickman has to call later in the evening, but I will let you know for sure next Monday.  TELL DEVAN TO EMAIL ME. I sure miss him. I started my letter to him, but the last couple nights I have been on the phone...  I will try and finish it this week. 

Well I love you so much! I am so excited to talk to y’all on Tuesday! It’s hard to think that this is my second Christmas in the mission field! After training I am going to hit my 6 month stretch! AHH! IT IS GOING BY TOO FAST.  I love my mission! I love being a missionary! I love how this gospel changes lives! I love to see the Love of our Savior Jesus Christ bring a change into people’s lives. I know my life has changed so much for it. I know missions can be tough, but we go through hard things to find the good things. No one said it would be easy. But they said it would be worth it. I love y’all with all my heart!

 Love your son Elder Vaughn Perkins

Week 62 -- Training, Transfers and Elder Nelson

Mom,

This has been a crazy week as well down here in good old' Tennessee! First off, it was transfer week.  It  is already in the back of your mind if this will be the last week with your comp or in the area.. But it was a good week. We had a great District Meeting and Meeting with Elder Hymas (70) and Elder Russell M. Nelson!! It was so cool! I was shakin in my boots to shake his hand though!  Elder Freeze, a good friend of mine, as I was waiting in line to shake Elder Nelson's hand, grabs my hand and says "His Hands have touched Christ's... So watch out. Good Luck."  That didn't make it any better.  But it was so neat to see and hear from an Apostle! I noticed that General Authorities are just like us! Except the spirit is crazy strong in them! He taught a lot about opposition and why we go through hard things! The big thing that I got out of all that was said, was that the greatest gift we have is agency. And with our agency we have the choice to CHANGE our attitudes or perspectives and trials in life. Heavenly Father won’t just take them away from us. He will give us strength to CHANGE in order to come out successfully! Pretty sweet.

So this week was awesome because we set a date with Aubrey!! And her husband sat in on the lesson!! We met with Alex and Jessica twice this week! And then Jessica and Alex and their daughter Emma came to church!!! It was amazing! They loved it! They only stayed for sacrament, but she told us "baby steps". So we are so excited for them!!!   I don’t even remember what happened for the rest of the week! I was just so excited that Alex and Jessica came to church this week! They haven’t been in 4 years... So that is a HUGE step for them.

Yesterday we just went around and visited families we were close with. The Bradford’s, Alex and Jessica, The Travis', Morrow's, and some others.. I can’t believe that it is already another transfer... I saw Elder Rothlisberger at the Elder Nelson’s visit! He is at 20 months! He has 3 more transfers left... When I was with him he hit his year mark.. Time is flying!

Well transfer calls were this weekend... And I am super sad to say, Elder Ahokava is leaving me... He is going to Bowling Green!   I was super excited for him! I tell him all my favorite things and people there! And as for me..... I am training!!!   And District Leader in Columbia.   I never thought that I would train.  But I was called to do it and so I will with a smile!  I have no idea who my new comp is or where he is from.  So yeah! Exciting huh! Because I am training, I know I will be here at least another 3 months. And then I will be at 17 months! I can’t believe how fast it is going!  I love this work! I love being a missionary! I am so excited for what is coming up! I love y’all so so so so mucH! I miss y’all as well! Tell everyone I love them! Y’all take care!

Love Elder Vaughn Perkins

Week 61 - Exchanges and Great Blessings

Hey mom!

It definitely is a great morning when I read emails! I am doing just great! Elder Ahokava is a stud and just great! The work is good! The district is wonderful! And exchanges were amazing! First missionary work

So the beginning of last week went pretty well. We met with Aubrey twice and it went great.. The first time we saw her we wanted to set a baptismal date with her that morning. We were going to see her after supper that day, so all day we thought and prepared to teach a awesome spiritual powerhouse lesson with her! We went over and within the first 10 minutes she said that she was ready to be baptized! It was crazy! It was exactly what we had role played that morning in our studies! And after she had said that Elder Ahokava and looked at each other just in shock. We were truly blessed for that experience.

Then the next day we had district meeting here in Columbia. That went well, I always love district meetings. Then we switched and I went to the Linden area for a couple days with Elder Thayne! Elder Thayne was trained by Elder Rothlisberger so we talked about him a lot. But the Linden area is like an hour away from Columbia, so we stopped on the way in a small town called Holenwald.   That is where the Cane Creek Massacre took place. The Cane Creek Massacre is where the mobs killed those two missionaries back in the day. But don’t worry we only got dirty looks and rejections.  It was kind of cool to preach the gospel in a place where there has been some history there.

But after working there we finished our road trip back to there town where they live, Parsons Tennessee. Parsons is way cool! It is super backwoods out in the sticks area.  The elders there actually live in a Trailer! It is pretty cool.  They live out in the woods too. It was like camping almost. But the work there is kind of hard or different since everything is so spread out. And the people there hate Mormons. But it's all good. The good news needs to go everywhere! We met with a Church of Christ preacher who "taught" us about the Melchizedek priesthood and just a bunch of crazy stuff. 

On the exchange I wanted to focus on contacting and it turned out that it was more on effort, obedience, and confidence. The elder is way sincere and is a great kid, just hard on himself. But the exchange had helped both of us out! I learned a lot from him and I am sure he learned a lot from me.

The next big thing that happened this week was we met with another part member family, who we had role played for in companion study, and the same thing that had happened.  It was waaaay sweet! We talked about freedom of religion and how we need to take advantage and have more gratitude for the things we have. He served in Vietnam and has a lot of bad memories there... He feels like he can’t be forgiven for things he has done. He is hard on himself and doesn’t want other people to go through what he has gone through.. But it was definitely one of those times where the spirit just carries you to bear hardcore testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement. It touched his heart.  He is a nice guy, because he is always encouraging us about this work and always thanking us for what we do. Hopefully he will come to church this next week.

We drove down to Mt. Pleasant to see the Morrows! They are awesome family. Sister Morrow has got to be like in her 80's and her husband is home bound. So we try to visit them and the family each weekend and tell them how the work goes and stuff. I love the old country people and their stories. Then yesterday for dinner (lunch) we went to the Nobles and had some interesting Mexican food.  it was way good but I have no idea what was in it. Then after that we went to the Bradford's, an active family in the ward, and we went with the Van hooks there. The Van hooks are Sister Bradford’s parents. We had a party for Sister Van hooks birthday and two of her kids, who are less active, came. They just wanted us to be there with the family. They are a nice family. After supper we watched the Christmas Devotional. It definitely is always a blessing to hear the first presidency speak! I love how president Monson said "true love is a reflection of Christ"! This week was great! And we got to go to the Farmer's market this week for supper!

 Tell Devan to email me when he has the time please!  I am glad you like the pictures. I am trying to take pictures more often. The picture next to the car was our car by the way. We got in an accident last week, but as you can see we are fine.  I sure love y’all so much! I can’t believe how fast time is flying! Rhett goes home this month... That is weird. But I guess that just means I got to use my time wisely and kill it this week! I love being a missionary with all my heart! I love everything about it!  I am so glad I gone through the trials I have, because that is what has made me stronger. I love my mission! I love you mom and Dad! Hope you have a wonderful week! Stay safe! Love Ya!

 Love Elder Vaughn Dee Perkins