First week in Tennessee

I knew that today was going to be a good day.  I was going to be able to hear from Dyllon.  Exactly when I would hear from him was the question.  Starting about 7:30 am I started refreshing my email every few minutes.  I know........a little excessive, but I must do it I cannot help myself.  At 9:27 a.m. I received an email, it took me until 9:31 a.m. to realize that I had one from him! Gasp! 4 minutes!  I could have been faster than that, maybe I am not as obsessive/compulsive as I thought.

Anyway here is our conversation:

Dyllon: Hey, it's P day. I'm on for an hour.

Mindy: Hey...it is good to hear from you. How has the first week gone?

Kendall: We are here. How are you?

Dyllon: This whole week has been crazy, I landed in Knoxville and thought to myself, what did I get myself into? But I'm having an awesome time out here. I got my bike and set it up okay. I only had to ride 3 times last week. Now we have a car for the rest of the transfer. My Companion is okay! I've just been a little quiet at first because I'm still trying to get used to the area and just being a missionary in general, but we get along really good. My first area is Chillhowee. (Chill-how-ee) and it's in the middle of the projects. My area is weird because half of it is the projects and half of it is really nice neighborhoods. Tennessee is beautiful, I've never seen so much green in my life.

Kendall: Is Chilhowee just outside of Knoxville? What is your apartment address?

Mindy: So, are you teaching anyone? Have you had any dinner with members?

Dyllon: We have dinner with a members every night. We are teaching 2 people who are close to baptism, C.B.  is a 9 year old, the B's were baptized but never stayed active. Everyone in the family is baptized except for C.B.  J is 27 and the old elders tracted into her. We've taught her and we extended the baptismal commitment last night. She said she would pray about it and let us know on Tuesday. A lot of my time is spent working with less active families.

My first great experience on this mission is we rode our bikes like 7 miles to this potential investigators house just to see if she was home and she wasn't, so I was super frustrated that we rode all the way out there for nothing. So I thought, Elder Friedman said well we're already out here so let's just tract. Door after door after door after door of either people telling us they're already saved or not answering. I told Elder Friedman we should just go somewhere else, he said, lets just try one more door. So we walk up to this door and knock, a little old lady answers and I say hi we're.. and before I can say more she stops us and says come in! She said I saw the thing on TV about Mormons and I wanted to know more but didn't know how. It was on my mind all night long and today you guy's showed up. It was amazing to see that the Lord was looking out for us and delivered someone who was ready to hear our message to us. Anyway, we left her with a chapter of the BOM to read and are going to follow up sometime later this week.

Kendall: That is awesome, mom and I thought that program would generate some interest for you. Tell us your address, so we can google map it and see where you are.

Dyllon: XXXX Brownstone way. Remember not to send packages or mail directly to that address. keep sending it to the mission office.

Mindy: We are going to google map it and see if we can see where you live.  I am glad that you are having great experiences. Last night Bro Peterson came and dropped off you Patriarchal blessing and I read it (oops) it says that you will be a very successful missionary. I am going to shrink it down, laminate it so you can put it in your scriptures and send it to you tonight. 
So, are you needing me to send you anything this week? Did you get your package yet?

Dyllon: I have not got a package yet, but it will probably get here today or tomorrow. Also, It wont be for awhile, but eventually when I get transferred or take over this area, I'm going to need a GPS so I can find my way around. Most of the Missionaries have one. So could you buy me one and send it out here? you can get a good one at like best buy or radio shack for like 100 dollars. Or you can look online and find something cheaper. Thanks.

Mindy: okay, I will keep my eyes peeled out and looking for one. Sounds like a great Christmas present huh?

Kendall: How is your apartment? It looks nice from the outside. How was Church yesterday? Is it just like ours?

Dyllon: It's pretty nice, It's the only apartment in the mission with 2 bathrooms.

Mindy: So , where do you email from? Are you able to print out our letters and take them with you?

Dyllon: I'm emailing from a library, I only have 2 minutes left so we're going to have to wrap up. I love you mom and dad, make sure to tell Avery, Aushlynn and Madison I love them to. I'll be home before you know it.

Mindy: Okay! Love you! Have a great week!

So, I did not give you the address, but yeah, I google mapped it.  You knew I would. It looks really nice.  I also googled the directions to it.  Turns out it is 1825 miles from our home, and if I left now, in current traffic, it woud take me 29 hours to drive there.