****FIREFLIES****

When Don and I got home from the New Member and Investigator Fireside last night there were fireflies flitting around by the trees and in the grass at our apartment.  I was so excited!  I've never seen fireflies before.  Not that you can actually see them...just a little green light.  It was the coolest thing.

Speaking of the fireside last night.  Once again, I am so glad we went.  The sisters that live near us have no other way to get there so we take them but are always happy that we did. There was a huge turnout, probably 3 times what we have for Sacrament meeting!

Last night there was a newly baptized member who spoke about her conversion, followed by a testimony meeting of new converts, missionaries, older converts, investigators.  Looking at them all, I couldn't help but think, "This is how the Savior sees the world".  Now don't get me wrong...I love our ward and wouldn't move from Utah...but we're pretty bland!  We have large congregations, and that's great, but only occasionally do we have any diversity.  Looking around last night we had people of many colors and ethnicities, different hair colors (pink, purple, etc.), recovered/recovering addicts, tattooed, old, young, infirm, dresses, pants, wealthy, and obviously not.  But we were all there for the same reason, and that drew us together. Instead of "us and them", it was "we".  And "WE" are pretty great!

What's also great to me is seeing these young missionaries being exposed to all of this and loving everyone so unconditionally.  It's not about the "numbers", it's about the individual and their truly wanting them to experience the same joy in the Gospel as they do.

Hanging with the Elders

                                                        Elder Smith and Elder Parks
                                                                  going home 6-21

This coming Saturday we are going with the rest of the senior missionaries on the Louisville Belle...a paddle boat...for a tour of Louisville from the Ohio River, along with a buffet lunch.  Then at the end of the month we are going to the Stringbean Bluegrass Festival, in a little town in the Appalachians with several of the seniors.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Sisters Moore & Wilde

And...just in case you thought I made it up...

Elder Breinholt driving Moe...on the freeway!

EWWWWW.......

So...Don comes into the bedroom the other morning and says, "We have a mostly-dead cockroach in the kitchen."  Yep!  We did!  He/she was about an inch long and by the time I saw it...was dead (thank goodness).  First one I've ever seen or had in my home and, needless to say, Don went to Home Depot and got some bug spray.  We haven't seen any more and perhaps, since he was almost dead when we saw him, someone had already sprayed outside,  I definitely believe in the death penalty in this instance!

Again, I'm not writing on Sunday.  Guess it's going to be whenever I can from here on out.  Last week started out great!  It was new beginnings and adios week!  We went to the Mission Home Monday evening to meet the new missionaries and have dinner with them.  Three sisters and six elders.  Nice group of young adults!  One of our new elders has hearing aides that are controlled with an I phone so he is allowed to keep a phone on him.  One of the cute sisters is going home already (anxiety and depression).                                                                                                                                                    

 Elders Johnson, Huston, Bagley   

                                                         Sisters Whiting, Herrera, Vernon

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Elders Davies, Markus, Olsen

Tuesday we went to the temple with the missionaries going home on Wednesday, followed by dinner again at the Mission Home.

Elders Crystal, Lane, Millet                                                        Elder Lane (again), Sisters Milligen.
                                                                                                         Linares, Starling, O'Keeffe

Just found out today that Elder Crystal and Sister Starling got engaged Saturday (three days home)!

So...a little about the Louisville Temple.  I understand it is the second smallest in the church.  It has one endowment room...with 38 seats...however, it does have a veil room with the same number of seats.  There are no sessions on Monday.  Saturday is the only day with sessions all day.  The others alternate mornings and evenings.  Tuesday night one of our sister missionaries was hit while on her bike.  She had to get some stitches on her calve.  Every time I hear one of them has been in a bike accident, it scares me.  There are so many ways that could go.  Luckily it's been broken bones and cuts thus far.

Thursday I got up and felt a little twinge in my lower back.  By the time we got to work, and I was there an hour, I could barely move.  So Don took me home, got me comfortable and came back to the office.  By Saturday I was up and dressed to go to the grocery store, only to have the same thing happen. Sunday, I missed Stake Conference. Needless to say, I was wishing Jon was here.  Today (Thursday) is the first day back to work.  Luckily I can work from home without problem.  Tuesday I went to a chiropractor.  Very nice guy, doesn't charge the missionaries...didn't charge me.  BUT...I have to go back tomorrow for another adjustment.  It is still very sore and I'm dreading it.  I was extremely discouraged last night.  Seems like one thing gets better and something else crops up! Guess it could be worse...could be chiggers!  Gotta get better...we have some fun excursions coming up!

Elder Breinholt has been extremely busy!  We have 9 cars for sale right now.  When the mission cars have about 40,000 miles on them, they get traded out for brand new ones.  They are completely taken care of, detailed, dents and scratches fixed, they've had regular oil changes, etc. and they get sold for a few thousand under blue book (usually under 10,000).  It would be a good deal for someone.  Anyway, just another thing he's in charge of.

We now have three AP's.  We added Elder Bettridge.  Elder Parks goes home June 21st and Elder Olson in August.  So, Elder Olson and Elder Bettridge will be training our new Mission President when he gets here July 1.  Three of the nicest guys!

                                                      Elders Olson, Parks, Bettridge

MOTHER'S DAY

Well Mother's Day has come and gone.  It was definitely different than previous years but, thanks to the cards, calls, and messages, still a great day.  We had the Elders over to Skype with their mothers and then fed them dinner. It was fun to be on this end of the calls and watch how they interact with their families.  One of our Elders...Elder Heusser...is very quiet and kind of shy so to watch him come alive when talking to his family was great.  The other Elder...Elder Jensen...is 1/2 Hawaiian and had a huge crowd to talk with.

Obviously this isn't being written on Sunday.  By the time we got done with dinner, I cleaned up the kitchen while Elder Breinholt took the missionaries home, and we crashed for the rest of the evening. I'd planned to write earlier but it's been a busy couple of days around here! Hopefully I can get back to writing on Sundays again.

We got a new AP...we now have three because one goes home with the next transfer (in 5 weeks). When we went to zone conference a couple of weeks ago, Elder Bettridge was one of the Zone Leaders and while he was teaching, Don and I looked at each other and said, "He's going to be an AP someday".  Now he is!  He is a great young man and will do an awesome job.  Our next transfers will be in 5 weeks, and a week after that President and Sister Brough will be going.  Our new President...Hughes, from Rigby, ID, will be here July 1.  Basically the AP's will be in charge of teaching him about the mission and running things until he is up to speed. 

Last Tuesday we went to Evansville, IN for our last Zone Conference.  It's 2 hours away and Don drove Moe (the 12 passenger van) with me in the front seat and Elder Prior (who usually drives) riding in the back.  When we got back to the office, Elder Prior (80 next week) said, "That was the most relaxing ride there I've had".  He slept both ways!!  

The ride to Evansville has a lot of rolling hills...much like going to Lexington, however the farms you see in Indiana, are not horse farms.

Zone Conference was great.  The energy and spirit are high and everyone is so glad to see each other. We have a new senior couple who are from Herriman (by way of Cedar City).  Their name is Thorley and he went to High School with President Brough.  I think they are a bit shell-shocked!!  They are assigned to Olney, Ill, which is the white squirrel capitol.  Really small town of about 10,000.  I'm not sure this was what they were expecting.

Thorley's

                               This sweet sister is called "grandma" by all the missionaries.
                               She is a member who comes to all the zone conferences in
                                               Evansville and supports our missionaries!

                                                        The "goofy" group picture

Love to all...

 

DERBY WEEK & BUGGY THINGS !!!!!

They are out in herds....Bugs and people!

The number one thing I have had to deal with the last week is rashes, bites, and allergies.  Because Louisville did not have a hard freeze this last winter, none of the bugs died off.  So...they have arrived in droves this year.  One of our Sister missionaries had so many chigger bites on her legs and arms!  I had her send me a picture of her leg so I could identify what it was and tell her what to do.  All I can say is...I'm staying out of tall grassy areas!  So...President Brough asked if I would give a presentation in the zone conferences about what to watch out for and how to prevent getting into things (40% DEET bug repellent).  Chiggers, mosquitoes, ticks, poison ivy are all prevalent...guess that's the price you pay for all the beautiful green here.  The sister with the chigger bites said, "I like Utah bugs better".  I also had an Elder that had an allergic reaction to something.  He ended up at Urgent Care where they got him on some steroids and a topical cream for his rash.  I think we've narrowed it down to an allergy to Claritin D (that he had taken for his allergies).  That is the only thing we can isolate that was different than his normal routine.  In looking it up, he's lucky it was only a rash, fever, and swelling of his face.  Could have been a lot worse.

So...zone conferences were the 3rd,4th,5th and we have one on the 9th.  Don is getting so good at driving on the freeway, he drove to Lexington!

Much of the way from Louisville to Lexington goes through rolling hills with horse farms.  At a lot of them, the barns are bigger than the houses...but not all!  There are a lot of walled and gated driveways!  It's beautiful.  Several stretches of freeway are lined with layered rock and bushes and trees.

And...several Bourbon distilleries

                                                            And a castle...just because

Since it was Derby Week, the sisters (and some of the elders) could wear hats for lunch.  It was fun to watch them (I even got in on it) and Don wore his fishing hat on Friday!

                                          Lexington/Lexington North Zone Conference

                                                         Louisville Zone Conference

Monday was our monthly staff meeting.  Just before the meeting, President Brough called Don into his office and asked him to take over as the Vehicle Coordinator and Elder Prior would take his job as Vehicle Adviser.  Elder Prior will be 80 in a couple of weeks, and has progressing dementia.  He and his wife had gone to the president on Sunday and told him they didn't want to go home but that Elder Prior wasn't able to do the demanding job that he had.  So...lots more work for Don, but Pres. Brough gave him a great blessing to help him and I know he will do fine!  For me...this was the answer to why we are in Kentucky.  I could be a nurse anywhere, but Don and his organization skills and bit of OCD was needed here!  So here we are and we are happy to be here!

Kentucky Derby has come and gone.  After three days of solid rain, I was sure they would be floating instead of running.

And...if you couldn't make it to the Derby...you could buy horse balloons to take home and pretend!


It finally quit the morning of the derby.  We obviously didn't go, and after looking at the crowds of people there, we're just fine with that.  Neither of us like people enough to brave that madness for a 2 1/2 minute race.

This is a day late, we went to church yesterday, had our apartment maintenance man come around 2 pm...the paint is peeling in the kitchen, and he's going to put a ceiling fan in our bedroom...and the Sister missionaries came for dinner.  By the time we took them home and cleaned up the kitchen, I had no interest in writing.  Next week, we're having the Elders over so they can skype with their moms and then have dinner with us.  They're excited to get to talk with their families and I'm glad we have two laptops so they can both talk at the same time!

That's about it for last week!  Hope all is well and everyone is healthy and happy.  Love to you!