Medical Malpractices, Revisited

Had the opportunity this past week to fly out to Tennessee. For those of you who have never heard of it, Tennessee is one of the 50 United States, and is home to such prestigious landmarks as the Grand Ol Opry, the Great Smoky Mountains, Gary Allan, and Pulaski, birthplace of the KKK AND Sundrop. Mmm. What an excellent beverage. To celebrate one year since my return (it was actually on Thursday), let’s take a step back in time to Holden’s mission and revisit some of those things, people, and places that make it all so special.

Motto: “Destroying your teeth has never tasted so good!”

Gary Allan: I met him once, he was a member in my greeny area. Seemed kinda depressed.

 

The Grand Ol Opry: I bashed my knee on a fire hydrant in front of this historical landmark once.

These guys with little funny pointy white hats had their beginnings in my last area. And if you’re wondering, yes, I was invited by several rednecks to join.

 

Tennessee is also home to Shelbyville, world-famous for being my third area. It includes various people, buildings, and plants.

 

 

The Tennessee Titans, celebrating a triumphant first down in the most famous game in Titans history, a 59-0 loss to the Patriots.

 

  From left: Ryleigh, Leslie, Melissa, and Richard Crouch. Then there’s some doofus, and then Elder Alvarez and Elder uhh…geez I forget. We’re all in front of the temple after the sealing.

 

                                                              Me with Elder Alvarez. Favorite companion ever. Our loads of adventures in Lawrenceburg and Pulaski were the highlight of my mission.

 

With this all in mind, I had an incredible experience in being able to witness the Crouches (favorite family from my mission) get endowed in the Nashville Temple, and then, the next day, to be sealed as a family. I have decided that a missionary’s mission is not complete until he sees his recent converts go through the temple. And with THAT in mind, I realize that I still have a lot of work left with my recent converts, several of whom went inactive, one who is pretty active but still struggles with smoking, and one more in Lawrenceburg who is active but I haven’t heard of possible temple-goings yet. And apparently, the Gonzales’, my favorite family in Bowling Green Kentucky who brought even more people into the church after their own baptisms, went through the temple this past April, unbeknownst to me. How cool is THAT?!?!

I would be writing this all in my journal, but I have kind of failed in that regard over the past several months.

Remember to not eat too much gluten!