Sister Vercillo and Sister Toone are part of our district and serve in Russellville.  Recently they have been walking a lot.  Last month they went 300 miles over their monthly allowed miles and that is a no-no.  These are sister Vercillo"s shoes.  Notice the big holes in them from walking so much.  Today we went to the mall as part of our p-day activities and she bought a new pair of shoes.

We got up early this morning and traveled to Mammoth Caves Again for a p-day outing.  There are 4 pairs of missionaries in our district including us.  All went and our Zone leaders wanted to go too so all ten of us went on a different tour than we went before.  Starting on the left: Elder Oliver from Canada, Elder Freeze from Provo, Utah and they are our zone leaders; then Elder Thayne from Bountiful, Utah, Elder Miller from Gooding Idaho, Elder Burton from North Carolina, Elder Shiner from Fresno California, Sister Vercillo from Centerville, Utah and Sister Toone from Colorado.

This picture was taken in an area of the cave where there are lots of different formations and this particular area is called the drapery room.  Your have to go down 50 stairs to get to this small area and Sister Peterson stayed up at the top because you have to go back up those 50 stairs to get out.

Elder Thayne had a very bad experience in a cave when he was a Boy Scout and struggles with claustrophobia.  He got out of the drapery room before we could get his picture with the others.  He went on ahead and I had to hurry to catch him as he wanted out of there as soon as he could.  But he was a good sport and participated and accompanied Sister Peterson as they went on ahead while we were in the drapery room.

The cave tour we went on took 2 hours, covered about a mile and included 500 steps up and down.  At one point we were about 350 feet underground.  Some of the passages were quite small, especially the entrance where we came down 250 steps through some very narrow areas and low hanging areas.  I enjoyed the experience though and my claustrophobia didn't bother me.  I think I have been there enough to get used to the whole idea.

We were doing most of the picture taking with the Elders and Sisters cameras so we didn't get in the group picture.  Then I carried the camera on the tour so I wasn't in any of the pictures in the cave for evidence that I did go?  But I did indeed go and had an enjoyable time.  It is always a good day when you can spend time with these special young people.  The caves are only a few miles from Bowling Green so after we had lunch, we went to the mall.  The Elders bought ties and the Sisters bought shoes!  Sister Peterson satisfied some of her need for shopping and fortunately didn't buy anything, even though she went in Bath and Body and Lane Bryants!  On the way through Bowling Green we saw this on a church marquee:  "You are on God's wanted list, Turn yourself in!

Elder and Sister Peterson - enjoyin' a great p-day with our surrogate missionary grandchildren