A Visit to Church Hill Downs

May 3, 2014

Last Monday we had lots of rain and thunder and lighting. It was raining so hard when we left the office that we drove some Sister missionaries home and also took them out to dinner. We dropped them off and then on our way home, we picked up a lady from Dialysis.

On Tuesday we attended a special event called Dawn at the Downs.  This is an annual event held prior to the Kentucky Derby.  They open up the "Millionaire's room" for breakfast and we got to look around and watch the horses.   The jockeys and trainers were working out their horses on the track.  We sat at a table with 3 other couples from Louisville.  They were wonderful to talk to and asked a lot of questions about what we were doing here as missionaries.  After a very nice breakfast,  we went out to look at the track. 

This picture is looking to the east at the new television screen added this year. 

Here are a few of the ladies with their hats.  It was fun to look at the outfits. 

This is the entrance to Church Hill Downs with a statue of Barbaro.  I think this horse was named after Sister Moulton. 

This is us at the entrance.  As we were taking pictures a couple from Lehi, Utah who are members of the church came up and asked if they could take our picture together.  They were in town on business. 

After our breakfast,  we drove about 90 miles to Paris, Kentucky to pick up a missionary and bring him back to Louisville.  This is the missionary apartment in Paris.

He had been in a threesome and was needed to replace an Elder in Louisville who had been waiting for a Visa for 6 months. Below is our Visa waiter (red hair) with his companion and ward mission leader and wife. Elder Moulton took him to the airport in the afternoon.  He flew all night to Brazil.  It was a fun day taking a field trip from the office but we stayed late to make up for it.

Wednesday evening we drove some young sisters and two scouts to Mutual at the branch. Elder Moulton counseled with a another Sister during mutual and then then we drove the youth home. 

Saturday morning we attended a special baptism at 8:00 a.m. We had taught the sister with the sister missionaries and she asked Elder Moulton to baptize her.  This is a picture of her, the Sisters who taught her, plus the Assistants who will take over because she will be a member of the Single's ward.  She is a Senior at Sullivan University in Criminal Justice. 

The Sister Missionaries who taught her. 

She is the most amazing and excited person to be joining the church.  We are excited for her.  Afterwards we had Krispy Crème doughnuts for refreshments and passed out hats. Since it was Derby Day we got a picture of every one in their hat. 

We went shopping at Costco and some other places for food for missionaries for Sunday and Tuesday for Leadership meeting . We also bought plants to make a planter for the office and our house.  It was the Derby Saturday, but everyone said to stay away - traffic and people get kind of crazy around here (106,000 attended).

Sunday was great. We picked up two trips worth of people for church.  We always have wonderful testimony meetings in our branch. We fed the missionaries at our house. We had pumpkin waffles, sausage, potatoes and eggs! Our new Senior couple arrived tonight.  We are happy to have someone to take over for the Hiatt's. We hope we will get some more Senior couples assigned to our mission in the near future.

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!

Thunder over Louisville and Easter

April 12th was a big celebration called "Thunder over Louisville" which is the kick off for the Kentucky Derby Season. I went to the blue angel air show at Lannon park with the Haitt's.

Jason was busy working at the office. Luckily we had seen the blue angels practicing for two days before. Their practice path was directly over our office. 

Jason met us at 5:00 at the church for a wedding reception.  At 7:00 we went back to the park to watch the fireworks.  At the downtown Riverfront Park there were activities going on all day. We chose not to go downtown because a crowd of 300,000 was expected. We have a picture of us in front of a steamboat that people were taking a ride on.

The next picture is of us on our chairs watching people and waiting for the fireworks. We sat at the closest place to the exit, so we could get home before curfew!

The fireworks show was great. They put the fireworks on the bridge and on barges in the river. The show lasted about an hour.  It was a beautiful day and we had a great time enjoying one of "Louisville's finest" events.  

Saturday April 19th after doing some temple work for a member of our branch we took a drive with the Haitt's into northern Kentucky along the Ohio river. We drove from Crestwood to Prospect then north to Carrollton. Then we crossed the bridge into Madison, Indiana.  We saw some of the most beautiful green, rolling hills with Estate size homes and also horse ranches with the white fences. It was a perfect time of year to see the green grass, blossoms and budding trees. We have Missionaries assigned to each of these areas.

The branch in Carrollton meets in an old storefront on main street. We got a picture in front of it. For some reason all of our pictures turned out with a rose colored glow.

The next pictures were taken in Madison, Indiana. It is a Historic community and this yellow house is the Lanier Mansion. It was prom night and lots of people were there all dressed up getting their pictures taken at the Mansion.

 We found this cute quilt store on main street. It is the 1st quilt store I've found.

Easter Sunday was very Special. We are so grateful the birth, Atonement and Resurrection of the Savior which made it possible for our families to be together forever. We were able to see a wonderful musical production last Sunday at a Catholic church which helped us appreciate the Savior's love and Sacrifice for us. We are grateful to be serving the Lord at this time and in this place and seeing his tender mercies unfold.

At church this Sunday, the Hiatt's gave wonderful Easter/farewell talks prior to their returning home next week. A teenage girl they have helped activate gave her first talk and did a great job, also.

We had a delicious Easter dinner with the Halvorsen's and Hiatts and the 4 full time Elder's serving in our Branch.  We had ham, cheesy potatoes, green beans, braided bread, fruit compote and pineapple upside down cake  with lots of whipped cream for dessert.  The senior couples each contributed food to the meal.   We loved having someone to share Easter with and hope you all had a wonderful Easter and special day.   

Spring has Sprung

Saturday, March 29 we took the Hiatt's and drove to Frankfurt, which is the capital of Kentucky. It is a town full of history and we really wanted them to see it before they leave at the end of the month. It was pouring rain all day, so we never got out of the car, except for lunch of course! We will go back when it's nice weather and take more pictures of the beautiful houses and buildings. Here is a picture that we took of the Governor's mansion.

Monday, March 31 we got 9 new missionaries. We got to go to the mission home that night to have dinner and meet them. They always look so tired since they have to get up so early to catch their flights to Kentucky. 2 of the elders came from the Mexico MTC. 

Tuesday, we had transfers. That is always a fun and busy day where the new missionaries are assigned missionary companions. At 2:30 we left to go to the temple with the 6 departing missionaries.  We always enjoy spending time at the temple with them.

Wednesday the missionaries that had completed their missions flew home. The 4 missionaries traveling to Utah were delayed because of mechanical failure on the plane and had to wait to leave until 3:30 in the afternoon. We entertained them at the office, fed them lunch and then Dad took them to the airport in the afternoon.

Thursday night Dad went to a church member's home to fix their dryer. 

Friday evening, the Hiatts met us at the office and we went to a musical that I had read about. It was put on by a group of senior citizens. The organization has been doing a musical every 6 months for about 30 years.  This one was called "USA, we love you" It was very patriotic and had wonderful singing, acting and dancing. We loved it and it was a good stress reliever from our busy week.  ( We had lots of letters and reports to do after Transfers).

Saturday April 5th, Dad went with Bro Hiatt to help fix another church  member's washing machine, Dad is glad he brought tools.   When he came back we went grocery shopping and at noon we watched the morning session of General Conference at our house on the computer.  Between sessions we went with the Hiatt's on a hike up to the top of Iroquois park. They are doing major construction in the park so we took a picture with the construction equipment. 

There were a number of trees blown down with the wind.  This is Dad and Bro Hiatt with one of them. 

The next picture is from the North Lookout in Iroquois Park.  It looks toward the Louisville city center and on into Indiana.  You can see Churchill Downs with the big screen TV on the right side of the picture.  

After a brisk hike we came back to the Hiatt's to watch the afternoon session of conference on their TV. 

This is a picture of our apartment complex with the trees out in blossom.  The grass is getting green, daffodils and blossoms are out and allergy season has come to Louisville. 

Sunday we drove people to church to watch conference and drove them home. Between sessions we fed the missionaries.

Next week we are all getting new computers and printers at the office.  Dad has been busy receiving them, storing them and trying to figure the best way to back everything up and setting up to get them installed.

We enjoyed General Conference and hope you did also. We have plenty of things to work on- just need more hours in the day. We are grateful for our opportunity to serve a mission here in Kentucky and for all of our wonderful family and friends.

A visit to my missionary parents in Kentucky

Last August my parents headed out on their mission to Kentucky.  They have been doing a great work in Kentucky supporting over 200 young missionaries as they work in the Louisville Kentucky mission office.  But I have missed having them live just up the street.  For 7 years I have been spoiled to live by them.   After Christmas I booked a trip to visit them and my sweet husband agreed to tend the kids in my absence.  My flights were perfect and I met lots of  interesting people as I traveled to Kentucky.  My parents were waiting for me at the airport when I arrived.  It was a sweet reunion.

 I got to spend one day with them at the mission office.  Lots of young missionaries came in and it was so fun to meet them and see how much they loved and appreciated my parents.

 On Saturday we enjoyed some of the sights of Louisville and on Sunday I attended church with them in their small branch.  My parents drive several cars full of people to church each Sunday and it was fun to meet those people.

Upon returning from my trip I had my daughter Emily help me make a video of my trip.  It is not perfect and some things are misspelled but overall it is cute.  I hope you enjoy it.  Just click on the link below.
                                                           http://youtu.be/8RLCyIsWoco

March Mission Fun

Here are some highlights and pictures since we wrote last

Friday March 7- We had Senior Missionary birthday party.  It was recently Sister Hiatt's birthday and Elder Halvorsen's so we wanted to have a get together to celebrate.  We put a pot roast and carrots and potatoes in the crock pot before we left for work and invited both couples over to our house for dinner. 

We also fixed a salad and rolls and Sister Halvorsen made a 4 layer Birthday cake. We had a fun evening together. 

Saturday  We had a nice sunny day today, so we did our laundry and shopping and then went for a walk over at Riverview park with the Hiatt's. There is a levee that you can walk on for miles. We did about 3 miles. It was so nice to get out.

That evening we went with the Hiatt's to the Louisville 4th ward to a dinner theater put on by the young women. It was called
"Women at the Well" and we really enjoyed it. The Hiatt's serve with missionaries both in Shawnee and the 4th ward, so that is why they were invited. The 4 Sister missionaries also participated in it.

Sunday We had another pot luck after church at the Shawnee branch.

Tuesday The Hiatt's picked us up after work and we went to a temple session. It was the Shawnee Branch temple night. This picture was taken that evening at the temple.

Friday March 14-I made mint topped brownies with green frosting to celebrate St. Patrick's day. There was a zone meeting at the church next door, so we had missionaries coming into the office and they enjoyed the treats.

Saturday morning we picked up a car full of branch members and the Hiatt's brought another car of branch members to the temple to do temple baptisms. We had to be there before 9:00 a.m. The Branch President and his counselor met us at the temple and the Branch President did all of the baptizing.  It was a great experience.  Afterwards we took everyone to McDonalds for breakfast/lunch.

That evening we attended the baptism of a great young man.  His mother attends our branch and he came for a few weeks and then started attending the YSA branch.  He was baptized in the YSA branch, so it was held in the church near our office.  He asked Jason to baptize him.  The picture of him is with the Shawnee elders and also the assistants who are assigned to the YSA branch. It all went well. The font wasn't filled enough when we started, so we watched some Mormon.org videos and had both talks first. 

Luckily, that happened, because his mom came late with 2 grandchildren and she was able to see him be baptized.  I had made cookies for refreshments.

                                       
 Sunday We picked up lots of members and had a good day at church. This is a picture of the missionaries now serving in our branch waiting to eat the dinner that we brought.  I went with Jason to drive people home so the missionaries had it all set up for us when we got back to the church.

 It started snowing as we left the building, so we were happy to head home and enjoyed staying there for the evening. There was snow everywhere on Monday.  However, the roads were clear.  We are still having cold weather!

Monday after work we picked up a lady that I visit teach and took her and her daughter out to dinner in honor of her upcoming birthday. 

We are excited that Angela is coming on Thursday and staying for the weekend. It will be fun to see her and show her what we do in Louisville. There is a  promise of good weather this weekend.  We are hoping that will be true!  We are certainly ready for Spring.

We love and miss you all and love to hear from you.