Spring flowers, a flood and saying goodbye

We had a great week with lots of pretty sunny weather.  This is a picture of the dogwood blossoms in our parking lot. I love that they are everywhere and there are always pink and white ones together. 

Here is a picture of 4 sister missionaries who came into the office and were all color coordinated. They look like flowers standing under a white dogwood.

On Tuesday, Dad got a call from the church public affairs office that Elder L. Tom Perry, his wife, Elder Rasband and John Taylor (from public affairs) were coming to Louisville on Thursday. The Mission President was going to be out of town at a Mission President's Seminar so Dad was asked to be their driver. The President and Assistants were doing interviews in Evansville, Indiana on Tuesday and Wednesday. The plan was to use the Assistant's new minivan to transport them.  Late Wednesday night we got a call that a deer ran across the highway and was hit by the Assistants van. We were happy that the assistants were not injured, but their van was no longer an option to use.

Thursday morning, Elder Moulton and Elder Halvorsen emptied the big mission van (Gus) and cleaned and polished it. The van is pictured at the back of our parking lot in the first picture. The group was flying on Thursday night so dad went to the airport to pick them up and then drove them to their hotel in downtown Louisville.

Friday morning, Dad took me to work and then he went back to the hotel and picked them up at for their meeting with the Catholic Archbishop of Louisville. Following that he drove them to the home of the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. They ate lunch with him. Then in the afternoon he took them back to the airport for the trip home. They had been traveling for the past week. 

They were very gracious and were excellent examples of the quality of leadership in the General Authorities. It was a pleasure to share some time with them. 

Thursday afternoon, we had another kind of excitement, as people came in telling us that water was spurting out of the middle Eastern parkway.  A four foot water main that is buried in the middle of the road had ruptured and was pouring thousands of gallons of water down the road near the office. It flooded a bridge at the park nearby, creating a waterfall. The water flowed down the road and flooded some homes on the street behind us. They finally got the water turned off and then none of the homes in the area or the office had water. We worked as long as we could and then took a walk to see the damage. 
Here is a picture of the crater in the middle of the road.                               

This is a road that the water washed down. Earlier the road had been covered with water way up onto the lawns. 

This is the apartment behind our office that was flooded. 

Luckily the water came back on Friday morning or we couldn't have opened the office. We could not drink the water due to a boil order- but were able to work there. Lots of missionaries were coming in that day. Eastern Parkway has been closed since then and it makes it a little tricky for people to find a way to the office. 

Saturday we took in more of the Derby celebration by going to the hot air "Balloon Glow" . We went out to dinner with the Hiatt's first and then about 8:00 went over to the exposition center. They had lots of events going on and there were about 50,000 people there. At 9:00 they had all the balloons blown up and then they lit them all at once. It was fun to be up that close and see them. They also had balloon races the next morning but we didn't make it them. We did hike up to the lookout at Iroquois park and could see them in the distance.

Saturday evening, we went out to a farewell dinner with the Halvorsens and Hiatts. Sunday we had the Hiatts come to dinner with us and the missionaries at the church. 

The Haitts headed home from their mission on Monday morning.  We will miss them very much. They were wonderful missionaries in our Branch. We have heard that there is a shortage of Senior couples. We have four more couples going in June and as yet have no replacements. Pass that need on to your friends!