Pumpkin Ice Cream Faces

At the beginning of October I gathered with my siblings at my Parent's house for the monthly family dinner.  We were able to Skype with my parents so it was almost like they were  there with us.

 In this picture we are listening and looking at my parents on the laptop.

 After the dinner we had dessert.  Every October the dessert is pumpkin ice cream faces.  You cut orange sherbet ice cream in circles and then decorate it with candy to look like a jack o lantern.

Here are two of the completed faces.  Yummy! 

Last week my mom enjoyed making and eating a pumpkin ice cream face with the missionaries that they feed each Sunday.  Way to carry on the tradition in Kentucky Mom!

We are getting the hang of it!

This week Jason paid the rent for the 126 apartments and I went with him into the city to purchase the Transit Authority River City (TARC) bus passes.  They are sold at the old Union Train Station. It is a beautiful old building. We purchase a lot of bus passes each month for the Elders and Sisters who work in Louisville and don't have a vehicle. 

Jason at his desk.

Me at my desk.

 

We have been gone from home for almost 2 months.  The time seems to fly by. This area is starting to feel like home. We do love having a small apartment. It's easy to take care of. We are learning our jobs at the office. I can finally do mail merge without reading the instructions. Jason can drive places without using the GPS. Today was our first P-Day that we have had off. It was good to have time to clean the house and be able to go for a drive someplace beside to the office and back.  We drove south to Fort Knox, Radcliff and Elizabethtown. These are towns we have missionaries in. We hope to make it to all the areas where the missionaries serve, so we can know a little about the area when we talk to them. We also stopped and ate lunch in a little town called West Point. This town is on the Ohio River and floods frequently.  We ate at the Star Café.  For those who are civil war history buffs this is also the place where Sherman had his headquarters during the Civil War.  We took some pictures to show how high the water was when the Ohio River floods.  This town has been flooded so many times they put the high water marks of each flood on the flag pole in the park.  This town also ties back to Abraham Lincoln's father.  Elizabeth Town or E Town as the locals refer to it was also a major civil war battle ground. 
 
On Sunday we drive people to church.   We teach the Gospel Principles class every week. After church, we take people home and come back to the church to feed the 4 full time elders serving in our branch.  We have been shopping and making soup all evening to get ready for that. Sunday night we will take some missionaries and investigators to the fireside over by the office. It makes for a full day.  

I get to teach an investigator from the ward with the sister missionaries on Monday night.  Now that we are learning our mission office jobs, we have a little more time to help the missionaries in our branch.  We are excited that soon we are getting another Senior couple to help in our branch.

This is a picture of a beautiful Catholic Cemetery near our house. 

And the last picture is of me with the daily mail, we get a lot of mail.

October Transfers

Some of these photos are courtesy of the GKLM blog maintained by the mission presidents' wife.

 

Every six weeks some new missionaries come to the Louisville Kentucky mission and those that have completed their mission head home.  This transfer there were 10 new missionaries.  They spend their first night in the mission home with the Mission President and his wife.

The transfers were held at the church building right across from the mission office.  You can see my parents' car in the picture.  My parents enjoyed seeing all of the action out their windows as they worked.  This transfer involved about 70 of the 250 missionaries.

At the transfer meeting the missionaries were each assigned a missionary companion and sent to their areas. Then the departing missionaries went back to the mission home.  This transfer there were four departing missionaries.  They posed for one final picture with the mission sign outside the mission office.

Then the departing missionaries took one final trip to the Louisville temple.  My parents and the other office couple got to attend too.

My parents got to take a nice walk on Saturday.

The first picture is of the levee on the Ohio River at Riverside Park.   This park is very near where they live.  Then they went for a walk on the levee Trail.

This is the Ohio River.

  On Sunday after church the Shawnee branch had their monthly potluck.  They just bring tables into the main chapel area and they are ready to go.  You can see the stand right behind the potluck line.

Preparing for Transfers

We have been getting ready for missionary transfers next week. Every six weeks some missionaries complete their missions and go home and new missionaries come to take their places.   I  have made loose leaf notebooks for all the new missionaries coming in next Monday and bound booklets of "emails to the president" for those leaving next Wednesday. Elder Moulton went with the Halvorson's on both Wednesday and Thursday to pick up new cars that came in for the mission. They got five new Toyota Corollas. Then they took them to a shop to get trailer hitches to accommodate bike racks on the back. Monday they will pick them up from the shop and have them ready for Tuesday. 

One of our assistants to the President is going home this transfer so a new assistant was chosen on Thursday night and he was in the office training on Friday. The 3 were all helping the mission President with the transfer board. It is supposed to be a secret, who he is, but a whole district came into the office before their meeting and were able to greet him.

We have tried to come home earlier this week (around 6:00 p.m.) because we will be very busy next week. It was nice to get home when it was still light. We were able to get a few things done at home and do some shopping.

 

Saturday we didn't go to the office, but instead went to help the other office couple, the Halvorson's, who are in charge of cars and housing.  We went to help them set up a new apartment. They find apartments, get them ready to be moved into, buy all the furniture and supplies and then place  everything in them so it will be ready for Transfer day. We helped clean and set things up in this apartment in Yorktown. It is for Spanish sisters. The District leader and his companion who are Spanish speaking elders came to help set up, then we all had lunch. They had also set a new apartment on Thursday. 

Below you can see me sweeping the front porch of one of the newly set up missionary apartments.  I also washed the windows.  Most of the apartments in Kentucky are made out of red brick like this one.

The van and trailer belong to the mission and are stored in the office parking lot. They call the van "Gus". It is used for moves and to pick up and deliver the missionaries who come and go at transfers. Also the trailer is used for luggage.  The GKLM stands for the great Kentucky Louisville mission.

Dad and I stopped at some garage sales on the way home.  Who knew they had garage sales in Kentucky! It was a beautiful warm day in the 70's. Then we went shopping for the meals we will cook on Sunday and Monday for the elders.
The elders keep calling to see when we can help more with the members in the branch- Maybe after transfers!

My Parents' Cute Apartment

My Mom sent me some pictures of her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky.  The outside reminds me a lot of an apartment I lived in about 14 years ago in Portland.  Their apartment is the downstairs one with the cute fall display on the porch.

 My mom decorates so nice for the holidays.  They found the cornstalk, pumpkin, and flowers at a farmer's market near their apartment.

On their door they have a wreath.  My mom always had a wreath on her two front doors in Washington too.

Here is their family room.  The apartment came furnished.  I think it is sweet that the temple they were married in is displayed over the fireplace. 

This is their kitchen.  The pictures my kids sent her are on the fridge.  Thanks Mom!  Notice that cute apron hot pad?  I'm pretty sure my mom made that.

 Here is their table set for two.  It has a tablecloth, just like they had at home, and some fun fall decorations.

And here is their bedroom.  The bed has a quilt on it that my grandma won in a Utah quilt fair auction years ago. Pretty cool that it has come to Kentucky!  They also have a second bedroom which guests can stay in when they visit.  To see it you'll have to visit :)  I plan on visiting for sure.

 

Pictures at the Mission Office

The missionaries come into the office on the days they have district meetings at the church next door.

The first picture is "pink day". I guess they choose a different color to wear each week.

Second, is an elder getting his birthday packages at the office.

Third is a view out of the front door of the office.

This picture is of us eating lunch at the office.  This was taken the first week we were in Kentucky while the Bollingers were training us.

Church Pictures

My Mom sent me two pictures on Sunday.  The first picture is of the church that they meet in. 

This second picture shows my mom eating dinner with the Elders and a new member of the church.  My mom brought taco soup to the church and fed them there after the meetings.