Well howdy y'all! It's officially been a week of me being in Kentucky! I flew out Monday morning and made my way all the way to Louisville. Nothing too eventful happened on the plane over. I tried to sleep given my 3:30am wake up call, but that didn't really happen, so I was exhausted the rest of the day. Anyways, once we landed in Louisville, we met President and Sister Alder just past security. They are both awesome and love all of their missionaries and missionary work in general. We went over to the mission home, which is kind of near the Louisville Temple and then filled out some paperwork and did some orientation to the mission. They also fed us dinner (all like 19 of us new missionaries) which was really nice. Anyways, that night we stayed in a hotel, and then the next morning we headed over to the Church for some more orientation. A bunch of office missionary couples shared a little more logistical things and then after a few hours we met our trainers!
I have been assigned to Elder Hayes and Elder Carlson in a trio, and we are all the way out on the edge of the mission in the Henderson-Mount Vernon area. We cover 2 massive areas, across 2 states. Henderson is on the edge of Kentucky, right along the gorgeous Ohio River, and Mount Vernon is just across the river in Indiana.
Anyways, transitioning to the field hasn't been too bad. Some of the rules are dumb (take for example the fact that we have to have a backer any time we reverse a car. In other words, someone in the companionship has to stand behind the car and guide it out. Something about we're not trusted to be competent enough to be able to reverse a Church-owned vehicle. It's whatever though). But on a good note, I have loved getting to know the people of this area. They're all so awesome and great!
So now for some more fun stuff. Every Wednesday, we go to a local museum/zoo/habitat-conservation-place (I don't know what to call it. It's called Audubon State Park I'm pretty sure) to do some service taking care of some of the animals. We fed some birds. Purified some turtle water, and we got to clean some snake cages. As a result I got to hold a snake for the first time. So I guess that was something interesting. Apparently missionaries have come to this place for the past like decade to do service each week. We literally have a plaque on our apartment wall thanking the missionaries for service.
But anyways, I am definitely missing entertainment from home. Because our area is so big, we're in the car a lot, and we just can't really do much to entertain ourselves other than talk. We can listen to music, but even that is pretty limited in what we can listen to. I think I'll get more used to it with time, but we'll just have to see.
Anyways, my mission apparently lets me communicate with friends (not just family) via Facebook messenger on P-day, so that's kind of nice. Also, my address (for right now) is...
1810 N Elm St, Henderson, KY, 42420 Apt. 649. Every 6 weeks is transfers and the next transfer is around the 4th of July, so if you're going to send something probably don't send anything around then, but yeah.
Hopefully y'all are doing great! I love you all and will talk to you again soon!
Dictionary:
Mission President - this is the Leader of the entire mission (which covers most of Kentucky, most of southern Indiana, and a part of Illinois. Him and his wife are the leaders of the mission and are kind of like our guide and mentors throughout the mission. They are usually the leaders for around 3 years before a new couple is put in place
Office Couples - There's about 4 or 5 couples who serve in Louisville at the mission office to take care of logistical things like cars, housing, finance, and health
Transfers - Every 6 weeks the mission is kind of reorganized. Some missionaries stay in their area, while others are moved to different places.
Now for some pictures:
Me and my companions at the Mission Office in Louisville
Hanging in our apartment for a long time
Some artifacts of Church history - Also in our apartment for a long time
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