Week 39 -- I am going to Tennessee!!!

Mom!

I am doing great! Kind of shocked also! We got transfer calls on Saturday and............. My wish has finally came true! I am going to TENNESSEE!!! I got called to Whitewash into McMinville, Tennessee! I am going to serve with Elder Zinkand. Never heard of him or ever seen him but I know we are going to tear it up! So I guess I am just going to continue to follow Elder Tondevold's footsteps. He served in McMinville for 7 and half months! I am so excited. I finally am going to serve in Tennessee after 9 months in great ol Kentucky.

The weather is pretty warm now. But nothing I can't handle. I like the heat to be honest. But when you are walking all the time you sweat quite a bit. But enough complaining.

This week was pretty good. Once again nothing crazy had happened but just a good week. Our baptismal date, Tiffany, had to move her date back. She won't budge on the word of wisdom. Her husband is a member but doesn't act like it at all. He says "If Jesus was here he would party. I bet I could get him drinking. Heck he would get me drinking."

I was so shocked he said that. I just feel awful even telling you that. But we will continue to help them feel the spirit and have a change of heart! So I had to give a short little talk yesterday about what I had learned here in Bowling Green and bear my testimony. I am going to miss Bowling Green because it is just so awesome. Definitely Elder Rothlisberger! What is the chance of serving with someone from Arizona again. Even from a close town. I am still shocked that he is from St. John's.  I also am going to miss Sister McDonald because it was so great to see her improve. Especially that she was taught by Elder Tondevold and she went through the temple. I took pictures at her horse farm so she says I have to write her and send some pictures The Harrison family is so great. I will miss them as well.

I DEFINITELY am going to miss the 4th of July! Make sure to take pictures! Especially of around Grandpa's land and house. And Jill! But I know that I am supposed to be here at this time right now. And that there will be plenty of other 4th of July's.  That's great that Devan has a job! And Sterling sent me a picture of the temple and it looks so cool! I can't wait to go to it when I come back home. TIme is flying though. It is 9 months coming up and in like two more transfers it will be a year! I just hope that I can continue to grow and become more like Jesus Christ each day.

Sometimes we just get so rolling in the motions of missionary work that we forget that we need to DO the things that Christ would do. But more importantly...to become like Jesus Christ. Well Mom and Dad I sure love you lots. Have a great week! Love you lots!

Love your son Elder Vaughn Dee Perkins

Week 38 -- Father's day

Mom and Dad!!!

I am glad you got the picture! Last night was a great time at the Harrison's house! They are definitely one of my favorite families on my mission. Sister Harrison is so funny. She is always doing so much for us. She said "I have an assignment for you before you leave. You have to make your Dad a sign so I can take a picture and send it to him!" She is great. I am glad you like my glasses! And yes, I do wear them all the time. It helps the strain of my eyes so much. But I should have thought about my glasses more, because I could have gotten contacts if I was going to wear them all the time. BUT I love my glasses now! Thank you so much for helping me out!

It sounds like that y'all had a good Father's Day! That sounds pretty cool about that book! I really want to see that! You know I think I got my love of chinese food from Dad. If there ever is a chance we can eat chinese we do! We found a buffet for 6 bucks all day! It's so good. I have so many memories of eating chinese food with Dad. Then there are those many times with Rhett and Conner at China City. Just amazing!!

I am glad that Aunt Heidi found a place! Sounds like a great home! And Perry is a pretty good school. Its probably a really big school now. Oh and dont worry about the package! Y'all do so much for me anyways! Whenever you get the chance no rush. BUT I did take lots of pictures lately! You would be proud of me haha.

Today we went to Sister McDonalds to work. And you will never guess where she works..... A HORSE FARM! It was so cool! It is like my dream place! And we even got to talk to her friend, who owns the farm, and we gave her and her husband a  Book Of Mormon! Pretty exciting!!!  I learned so much about horses and what not. Good stuff to learn for when I go back home. Sister McDonald is so great! She is such a member missionary. It is like the story you were telling me about the lady at your work. One day they will come to church.

So this week was great! No car. Getting hot. Even more humid. Sweatin like a hog in the summer sun. And sharing the gospel! Just delightful!

We had pretty good week with contacting people. But the weird thing is, we got rejected more than excepted.  But they reject us in the kindest way if that's even possible. But I tell you what, putting the miles on your feet and talking with everyone you meet builds your testimony up. And you get so many blessings. The girl we had a baptismal date with has not come to church in two weeks.... So we probably have to extend her date, BUT she will get baptized!

We had an awesome lesson with the family from Africa! The biggest objection they have is that they believe that the true church is in your heart and not on earth. But we are getting closer and closer each time we go over! 

I dont know why or what but I am just happy. Actually I do know why. It is the Gospel Of Jesus Christ. I may not have all these baptisms, but I see the gospel change lives daily. We had stake conference this weekend and a seventy came down. His name was Elder Mund. He talked about 5 Road Blocks from peace:

1-  Not understanding the true doctrine of the Plan Of Salvation

2- "wickedness was never happiness"

3- Expecting Heavenly Father to open the windows of heaven even if we don't do the basics

4- Not having a forgiving nature

5- Hangups anxiety stress depression personal problems

Well mom I love you so so much! I hope that everyone is doing fine. I pray for yall all the time. I am excited to send some of these pictures home! and..... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIELLE!!!!!!!!!!! I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AWESOME BIRTHDAY! Love you much

Love your son Elder Vaughn Dee Perkins

Week 37 - Another Baptism

Mom,

This past week seems like it went faster than usual. It wasn't really jammed pack of stuff, it just was a good week. No complaints. We had a BAPTISM!!! It was Justin webster who is 9 years old. So it really was.... you know.  Funny thing though... The Bishop of the 1st ward was supposed to conduct the service, but when 3pm rolled around he was no where to be found.  So Elder Rothlisberger conducted the service. The Bishop walked in right after the actual baptism part. I felt bad for him but he got stuck in Nashville traffic. It was a very good and spiritual baptismal service. I am greatful that I had the chance to teach Justin. It was way fun to be able to go over to their house and have little lessons with the family.

Bro Webster is a stud! He reminds me of Round Valley a lot. He wears his wrangler jeans, boots, and his white shirt and tie to church every week. He is great.  

This week we had a family home evening with the Pendly's, Bro Whitney, and Roger. We watched "Finding Faith in Christ and had a discussion about it after. It is nice to have FHE as a missionary.

On Tuesday we got a new investigator with a baptismal date! Her name is tiffany. She is married and has like 4 kids. Her husband is a member but not active and hasn't been for a while. The sad thing is, she did not come to church yesterday... but we are going out there on Wednesday to go see her!

Wednesday was a Brother Higdon day haha!!! We had two killer lessons with two families! They live way out in the Sticks, so its a little difficult for them to come to church. But there should be no excuses. Heavenly Father will always provide a way for us. We also went to Ken Kessler's farm and talked with him and helped him out a bit. We tilled his garden again and picked black berries. I didn't get shocked this week which is very good haha!!

Thursday we had a zone conference in Clarksville, Tennessee. That was my favorite zone meeting so far on my mission! We talked about having no deviance from the white handbook. We also talked about how we can get caught up doing missionary things over and over, and we forget that we need to BECOME like our savior Jesus Christ and DO what he does. It was pretty awesome. It also was good to see Elder Tondevold again! He is too funny. It was fun to talk to him about our stories in Murray haha. He leaves at the end of this transfer!

When I came out he was only a year and 3 months out. Time has went by sort of fast. Friday we went to Sister Painter's farm! I love going out there to help her. She got 14 more alpacas! They are so ugly haha and mean! I got cow kicked again by one.  But it is so relaxing and just fun to me to put on our blue jeans and go to work. We cleaned out her barn and stalls. And then cleaned out her horse trailer.

Service is one of the favorite things about my mission! Saturday we had an awesome lesson with the African families! We read 2 nephi 2. We were trying to teach the purpose of life. They understood it pretty well. Then we watched some mormon messages and they loved it. They love the fact that there is a prophet on earth today! And as I was thinking about that later on, it is one of the best feelings to know that Jesus Christ is running this church. This is HIS work we are doing. And HE will help us on our way.

My eyes are doing pretty good. I still get headaches every now and then. So I started carrying a gallon of water with me each day so I stay hydrated and that has helped a bit. I still get migraines once a week or every other week. But I am not to concerned about it. Thank you so much for getting that cd!

Thank you so much! I love y'all so much! Thank you for all that you do for me. I am so thankful that I have this chance to be able to serve the people in Kentucky. I would not want to be anywhere else. There are days when its not as easy, but as I endure and work my tail off every day, it definitely is worth it. It's a great feeling to know that I am working side by with the Lord. I hope yall have an amazing week! Sure Love you!

Love Elder Vaughn Dee Perkins

Week 36 -- Slow but Steady

Mom and Dad!

I am so glad to hear that you are having a great week! I bet that your going to have a good time at girls camp! It sounds like the girls are going to learn a lot! It is amazing to see young people gaining knowledge of the restored gospel! Sometimes I wish that I would have taken seminary seriously, but I can't live in the past. I am glad that I am here in Kentucky and I know that what I go around telling these wonderful people is true. I know and have witnessed life changes. I have seen tough men, who I respect with all my heart and look up to, get down on their knees and pray with me to our Heavenly Father. I have been part of priesthood blessings that are true miracles. The priesthood is amazing and has been restored. These experiences I have had in these few months I have been out are so sacred and special to me. They are testimony builders to me.

Anyways! I hope aunt Heidi is feeling better! Please send me her email again so that I can write to her.

Aunt Hope emailed me again! I failed at emailing her back the first time! I am sorry Aunt Hope, but I will email you as soon as I can! Her email was awesome! It is so cool how she can be mowing lawns then all of the sudden be testifying about the Book Of Mormon and the Restored church! What an example to me.

I wrote Grandma back and will send it today. It has been a while and I am sorry again Grandma.. But it's on its way! That is pretty cool that Uncle Jake moved into his new house! I am excited about Grandpa's gym! I bet that he just has a bunch of crazy people like Aaron lifting there. Haha. 

It sounded like Devan loved the trek much more than I liked the trek.  Haha!!! It was a good experience. I was glad I got to experience that with Jamison. We worked our tails off. I look back and enjoy the memories of it all.

So i got an email from Todd today... He was saying how he was sad that he was leaving the area and that he had SIX baptisms in the one month!! I was thinking what the heck! I just laughed. I know that my efforts aren't wasted. I have impacted many people's lives and was able to be apart of Sis Brewer's conversion.

This week was a little slow. I went on an exchange with Elder Horner, zone leader, in Goodlitsville, Tennessee! There were a lot of African American people in that town. We met someone named Brother Hut.  He was awesome. Thick southern accent and was a Vietnam Vet. He was telling us stories of how he got shot 4 times! He said he was picked to go crawl around in the tunnels and stuff pretty nuts. It was a good week just pretty slow. We didn't really do any service this week which was kind of sad, but got to walk around lots!

Well mom I hope you have a good time at girls camp! The only thing I need is that computer cord so I can send y'all pictures! Or a music CD called "The Trek" by Jason Deere. Its like one of the only music we are allowed to listen to.   OH! I got a whole in one of my pants Dad got at the missionary store. I don't know if they said to send it back to them and they would send a new pair or what but I thought I'd let you know. Love you so much!!

Love Elder Vaughn Dee Perkins

Week 35 -- What a week

Mom!

I am doing great! How are you? That's good to hear things are going good back home. I bet Devan and Danielle are excited for summer! So am i! I love the summer! It is so pretty here in the summer! Everything is so green! But it also is so humid.. haha. But it builds character! I think that Arizona heat is worse than the heat here. I haven't gotten sunburned one time here and back home within an hour I would be burned!

This week was a good week. We went out with lots of members this week. We went out with Brother Higdon all day on Wednesday and that was good. We got to teach Ken Kessler again. He need some more help on his farm with moving some cows and fencing off a pasture so we did that with him too. That was a hot day!!! haha!!! But I loved it! I think he is starting to understand the gospel more, but he just needs to read from the book of Mormon to receive a witness that its true. So we are working with him on that.

We taught the Websters son Justin again this week. I love going over there and teaching their kids. Its a fun time there. We are going there tonight to teach him again! Last night we had a family home evening with some members. We watched "Prophet of the Restoration" and it was very powerful. They call it the spiritual shotgun movie and its true. Its cool to see how people that we are working with are progressing in the gospel! Sometimes slowly.. .but sometimes slowly is better than not at all or worse going backwards.

On Thursday night I went with a Brother in the ward to two single sisters home out in the country. Sister Wheeler has been a member for a while and Sister McDonald was taught by Elder Tondevlod! Sister McDonald went through the temple for the first time on Saturday. I bet that was an amazing experience for them. She is a very funny lady and loves missionary work!

This week I am going on an exchange with the zone leaders. I am going down to Tennessee in a place called Madison or Goodletsville. Elder Horner said that we are going to stop by a part member family there. The dad is a non member and you'll never guess it.... a body guard for TAYLOR SWIFT! Haha I am pretty excited to go meet him. But I guess there are lots of connections to Taylor Swift in the mission. But that's in Tennessee and I have been in the great land of Kentucky so far in my mission. Well I hope that you start to feel better! And that you have a great week! I sure miss you lots and love you lots.

Love Elder Vaughn Dee Perkins

P.S. I had to use my home card to buy some groceries this week and last week. But Elder Rothlisberger and I made a money chart thing to keep track and this will help out a lot. Thank You again!

Week 34 -- HUMIDITY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mom!

I am doing wonderful. Elder Rothlisberger is amazing and Bowling Green is a party.

This week was a bike week and service week. I know what humidity is now. We did service for two sisters in the ward. One lady was in the first ward, Sister Polasio. She has a bunch of bunnies and asked us to build something to hold up the cages. So we started to build something like what grandpa has at his house. We did it in a old barn and it was HUMID! In like 5 minutes you sweat 5 gallons haha. But it builds character and discipline.

Then in our ward, there is a lady who Elder Tondevold taught and later got baptized, Sister McDonald. She is a horse lady. She calls them her kids. She found a place to put her horses for a couple months until she finds a farm to lease to put them on. So we helped her fence off a pasture that she is leasing now. I pounded all the t posts since Elder Rothlisberger has a bad back. And I am a wimp. My hands were killing me the day after! We had to finish that night! But it was worth it.

The coolest thing was she had invited her friends to come over for supper the 2nd night we helped and we got to talk with them. Her friend Rick helped us fence and he was asking me lots of questions! I think he was surprised that I was 19 and from Arizona and that I was out in Kentucky for 2 years to talk to random people about the gospel. He really respected that and thought that it was cool.

Then on Wednesday, Brother Higdon had a friend for us to teach, but we helped him around his farm as well. They had electric fence all around. I needed to fill up the bucket with water from the pond and it was on the other side. So I climbed over and got the water and put the water on the other side. Brother Higdon said the fence was on low or off. So I grabbed it and made sure I didn't feel anything.  I started to climb in between the wires then SHOCK! It made me flip through and go like 5 yards forward haha! It hurt but was funny. Then Bro Higdon grabbed the fence told my comp to grab his hand.  I was to grab my comps hand, and me being dumb enough I grabbed his hand and it shocked me again! haha it was crazy.. But after all that we taught the guy who owns the farm Ken Kessler. He is going through alot but had a spiritual lesson out at his house. He really enjoyed it and wants us to come back.

Later on that day we got a call from a less active lady who said her friend wanted to meet us. So we went over and  picked up Sister Boyd and drove where she had told us too. We ended up at a old country side of the road diner. We ate there and taught a killer lesson! He invited us back the next week and hopefully he will be interested! I think the ward is starting to trust us more and more as we go over and talk with them or do service for them and their friends. They are giving us lots of referrals of people to see and less actives to go see with them.

I am glad I get to serve a mission because you learn so much of what not to do and what to do when I go back home. The gospel is what will keep you happy and successful in life. And that family's are very important and need to be centred on Jesus Christ. We run into Baptist and Church Of Christ who just try "do anti us" and make us feel bad. But I feel bad for them because they aren't seeing clearly.

We had people come up to us this week and say "as long as you believe in Jesus you are saved.". "I was saved in 78" "i can drink smoke do whatever and say Jesus is my Savior and be saved". I am just so thankful that I have came to know that the gospel has been restored and know that there is a prophet today.

Well I love you so much! Thanks for putting money in my account! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Vaughn Dee Perkins

Week 32 - The Alpaca Challenge

Mom,

I am doing pretty dad gum good! As people say in Kentucky "finer dan frog hair" Haha!!!

This week has been pretty pretty busy.. Lots of work and we didn't have the car this week. But life is great!!! Now I know what humidity is after Tuesday. You sweat by the gallons!!! haha!!!

Mom, my eyes are whacked.  I started getting migraines a couple months ago but it wasn't anything serious.  It is like the surgery before the mission didn't work.  Brother Jeskie was talking to me and he said to come in for an eye exam, and he will tell me what is going on and get me some new glasses.  I just do not the headaches to get bad like before.

This week was a warm one! Monday night we had a little FHE with some members and they invited their friend Cindy! We watched Prophet of the Restoration Joseph Smith. She said it was interesting but of course didn't believe in the Book of Mormon. I asked have you read the Book of Mormon? She said no... But i just don't believe it. Then she said she didn't have one but long story short..... she came to church! It was wonderful.

Then we also have been doing tons of service! Elder Rothlisberger says its the desires of my heart.  Haha. We helped out Sister Painter in the 1st ward with her Alpacas! She has an Alpaca farm. Those Alpacas are the ugliest and meanest things in the world! We got to sheer the fur off them. Elder Rothlisberger cut the hair pretty good. I was the one to put the halter on, move them from place to place and wrestle them to the ground. Haha!!! I got bit, kicked, and spit on haha! I got the Alpaca, that kicked me, back pretty good. I body slammed it because it kept on fighting.  It was pretty funny. Sister Painter really appreciates us coming out and I think we are going back Thursday.

On Saturday we got a call from another lady in 1st ward asking for help cleaning out her barn! The roof had a leak and rotted all the wood in the loft part, and it had collapsed. So we tore wood out and made a huge bon fire. That also will take a couple more service hours till it is complete. Service is probably one of my favorite things to do.

Friday during our weekly planning, we got a phone call. And it was a 480 area code. Elder Rothlisberger was like "this can't be good" Haha!!! We were freaking out thinking something bad has happened. It was a new family who was moving in and was wondering if we could help them move in. It is pretty cool to meet all these people from Arizona.

I hope all is going well! And I can't wait to call yall on Sunday! I am really excited to hear from everyone. Time has flown by so fast since the last time I called. I hope you have a great week and are happy! Thank you for all that you do! Oh!! I got great news! They found my camera back in Murray! So I don't know if you had bought a new one or not. I just thought I should let you know. Love You lots.

Elder Vaughn Dee Perkins