While Sherri and Will were here, we went to Mammoth Caves on our p-day and toured a different part than before.  It was interesting and enjoyable but very hot on the day we went.  Inside the cave it was very cool but hiking into and out of the cave in the heat was exhausting.  The picture is below was taken just before we climbed up out of the entrance of the cave into the heat.

Will was a very good sport and went teaching with us and to some of our meetings.  I am not sure he really got the right idea though because he announced before he left that he had decided to go on a mission.  But he thought it would be best to go as a couple.  He thought it would be great to have his own cook and be able to eat what he liked.

On the way to the airport when they left, we made a stop at the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.  Most of the corvettes on display were not even to be touched, but this one was a demo for sitting in.  Will really enjoyed the museum visit and pretending to drive his own corvette.

We had personal interviews this week with our Mission President.  They happen about every two months.  Usually he takes us individually and we get an interview similar to the the young elders and sisters.  This time he took us together and got right to the point.  He asked us how long we wanted to extend our mission, two months, four months, whatever and he had his pen in hand to start the process.  We weren't quite ready for that, expecting more to discuss our release date because it co-insides with our next transfer day.  It is tantalizing to think about staying a little longer because we have several things in process that we would like to finish and time is growing short.  We promised him we would seriously consider what to do and let him know.  We are fasting and praying today about what to do.

We felt bad about missing Joshua's farewell today.  We thought of him as we fed our Traveling Elders today.  We are grateful for facebook and the phone so we could hear about everything.  We are so grateful for all the support given by the family.  We are very excited that he is going and will be serving just 2 or 3 hours from where we are.
Elder and Sister Peterson (Papaw and Memaw - Grampa and Grandma southern style)

Our current district missionaries starting from the left, Elder Robison, Elder Haslam, Elder and Sister Oakley,    Elder and Sister Peterson, Sister McCall and Sister Tauoa.  We are the most centrally located of the four areas so we are now hosting our Weekly district meetings at the Church.  Then we come to our home afterwards and have lunch.  The Oakleys and the Sisters are good about bringing food but Sister Peterson does quite a bit to get everything ready.  Elder Haslam is really tall - 6 ft. 6in.  He can do a pretty good job of putting the grub a way too.  The picture is in our front room.

Sherri and Will flew in yesterday and are staying for a few days and we enjoying their company.  They went to Church with us and also went to visit a family with us this afternoon.  Tomorrow on p-day we plan to go to Mammoth Caves and the Corvette Museum for Will.

Sister Peterson reading her scriptures?  Perhaps a little comfortable for pondering?  I give her a hard time but she really is diligent about reading every day.  I have been a little reluctant to share much about our actual missionary work on the blog because it is quite personal.  However we had what I call a mission miracle this week.  About two months ago a lady from a town near Nashville, called our branch mission leader and asked us to start fellowshipping her niece's son who lives in Morgantown.  He's a fourteen year old boy who lives in a very difficult home environment.  We have been fellowshipping him and he has been coming some, especially to MIA.  We have been trying to get him set up to be taught by our traveling elders but without much luck.  Sunday we took two investigators to Madison, Tennessee to a special musical fireside put on by the Mission.  Madison is a smaller town near Nashville.  After the fireside they always have a punch & cookies event so the missionaries can mingle and get referrals.  We were sitting at a table visiting with our investigators when this lady came by and sat down and started visiting with us.  She asked Sister Peterson and I where we were serving.  When we said Morgantown, she said excitedly, "I grew up there and have family there."  Then she proceeded to tell us about this boy she wanted taught the Gospel.  It turns out that she was the lady that had called our branch mission leader previously.  She was excited to talk to us and called her niece to break the ice for us.  Two days later we went to the home and picked the boy up and brought him to the Church.  The traveling Elders and us team taught him and committed him for baptism on Aug. 12th.  A chance meeting in a distant town helped so very much, perhaps our own little mission miracle?

Another picture of a memosa tree that still had some decent blossoms.  I guess we have run out of interesting road signs but we have found some other signs that are quite interesting.  Most of the protestant churches have marquee signs out front and seem to try to out do each other with catchy phrases and play on words.  Some interesting ones we have seen recently:
              "Eternity - smoking or non-smoking"
              "Our Sundays are better than Dairy Queens"
              "Moses was once a basket case"
              "Give Satan an inch and he will become your ruler"
              "Seven days without prayer makes one weak"
              "Don't pray about the Book of Mormon, that's how they get you."
The last one was seen on a Baptist marquee in Nashville and seems quite appropriate for what we are doing.
Elder and Sister Peterson (inviting people to pray about the Book of Mormon)

We went to zone meeting this week in Clarksville, Tennessee, about a 1 1/2 hour trip from where we live.  Last time we came by this field, the plants were about the size of small cabbage plants and we didn't know what they were.  The trip before that, they were planting this field with a transplant machine.  This time we finally realized it was a tobacco field.  The plants have grown quite rapidly because the whole field is under drip irrigation and it has been very hot.  Few fields are irrigated but the  worth of the tobacco must justify it.

Our mission transfer day was last week.  Two new sister missionaries were transferred to a nearby town and included in our district.  We took them to zone meeting so they could save miles on their car.  Sister Tauoa is from Southern California.  Sister McCall is from Yreka in Northern California. My cousin Carole and her husband Gene Welling live there.  Sister McCall told me that Gene Welling was the patriarch that give her her patriarchal blessing.

It seems to be a small world we live in.  Two of the elders we have been working were transferred.  We have a brand new elder from Sandy, Utah, Elder Haslam that is our district leader's new companion.  He is 6 foot six and a big boy.  He played basketball for a Junior college in Washington.  It is going to be tough to fit him in our car.  Our new traveling elder is Elder Webb from Providence, Utah.  We have had fun talking about Providence, where we lived when I went to Utah State.  A large number of our missionaries are from the intermountain area and California.

This is the view off the front porch of a couple we have been teaching.  It is their own private little lake and about twice the size of what you can see in the picture.  Coal was strip mined here many years ago and the hole left from the mining filled and became this lake.  It is hard to tell the area was strip mined except for these little ponds and lakes that are quite prevalent. The foliage has all grown back so it looks quite normal.

Mother wanted me to send some pictures of the home we are staying in.  This is the formal dining area.

This is our living room.  There is a piano and a small organ at the back of the room.  My easy chair, an electric recliner is in the foreground with the white blanket on it.

Mom's kitchen is not large but adequate.

I converted this bedroom into my office.  There is still a hospital bed in this room.

Our bedroom, most of the blinds are old and were broken before we moved in so we have tied them up.  We have four window air conditioner units so we have been very comfortable during the heat wave.  As you can see, most of the floors are hardwood.  This was a pretty nice home when it was built but it is quite old.   It is quite nice and really roomy compared to our trailer.  We are really enjoying it and we have 3 extra beds for visitors.

A final note I consider very serious.  This morning I realized that Sister Peterson was actually reading from "Mormon Doctrine".  Surely the second coming can't be far behind!
Elder and Sister Peterson (Living high off the hog in Kentucky)

We are always fascinated by the different types of plants and trees they have here.  This is a Memosa tree.  I hope I spelled that right.  It has a delicate blossom of pink or coral color with tiny strands trailing out from the center.  We haven't seen many and didn't know what they were.  The blossoms in the picture aren't as showy and nice as usual.  It has turned very hot and dry here and even the trees are struggling for moisture.  By the time we took this picture the blossoms on all the memosa trees we could find were past their prime.

This is our front lawn.  A week ago when we moved in, it was lush and green and freshly mowed.  Most of the last week we have had temperatures over 100.  One day it was 108 degrees.  We haven't had rain for several weeks and it is very dry.   Normally we have a lot of humidity but lately it has been around 25% which is more like Idaho humidity.  The country side that has been so lush and green is drying up. All of the lawns are turning brown.  Even the trees in the heavily wooded areas are showing some moisture stress.  The locals tell us that temperatures this high are not normal this time of year.  The crops are slowly being damaged as the corn is really stressed for moisture and some of the soybeans are wilting.  Everyone is worried about fires over the July Fourth holiday because large fireworks are legal here.

This corn has not been moisture stressed because it was planted early and is in a low area of better moisture.  We are actually standing on the edge of the lawn where our other district senior couple stay.  I took it to show how far along the corn is here.  This is field corn but there is lots of sweet corn here and we have been eating fresh corn this week.  We also have fresh tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash.  We enjoy buying fresh vegetables from the Amish people because they pick them fresh each day and sell them at little stands along the road.

Our interesting road sign of the week.  We were trying to find a road to a member's house that someone had taken us to after dark and ended up in this new area.  Notice how dry the lawn is in the background and the stunted corn in the field behind.

I hope you can read this and enjoy.  It was in an e-mail and I took a picture of it.  I guess I'm a bit technically challenged but didn't easily know another way to post it.  We are in hillbilly country and people enjoy reminding us of that.  We have a meal appointment this week and the good sister told me she planned to cook up a mess of possum.  She broke out giggling when she saw the look on my face.

We love working with the elders and enjoy taking care of them and feeding them.  Elder Sorenson is the shorter elder and told us this week he wrote home to his mother and said he had found another set of grandparents on his mission.  We just hope there are senior couples that will love our grandsons where they serve.
Elder and Sister Peterson  (Hillbilly grandparents to some fine young elders)

This week the Branch Relief Society had a dinner to honor their husbands for Father's day.  After the dinner a Cornhole Tournament was held.  A Cornhole game is a cross between horseshoes and a bean bag toss.  Each player has four bean bags that are tossed at a six inch hole in a board like the two in the bottom of the picture. The boards are set apart about the same distance as horseshoe pegs.  You can lob the bag in or slide it in and you get points for being close.  It was good enjoyable inside fun.  In the picture is one of our traveling elders and the Branch President's wife.  Each team was made up of two players.  I teamed up with the former Branch President and as luck would have it, we were runners up to the winners.

We love our traveling elders that visit our branch twice a week.  Elder Thompson is on my right and he is from Eagle, Idaho.  Elder Sorenson is on Sister Peterson's left and he is from Las Vegas, Nevada.  They are very good and we enjoy working with them.  They really enjoyed being at the RS social because there were three non-members and a couple of inactives in attendance and they love to play Cornhole.

One of the young families that attended the social that we have been teaching.  Last week we team taught them with the traveling elders.  We have really enjoyed getting to know them and love their little ones.  we have high hopes for them.

Our Branch President with his family.  He is a convert of about 15 years.  He does a great job and carries a heavy load in this small branch.  We really respect and enjoy him and his wife.  Their daughter, Regan is adopted.  She is the sweetest thing and always comes up and gives us a big hug when she sees us.

We spent most of this week cleaning our new "digs" and moving in.  I am a day late with the blog because we were still getting settled.  This week it is on with missionary work and it started with a bang.  Today we began teaching a new lady the discussions.  She has already came to Sacrament Meeting several times and has been reading the Book of Mormon.  She has been saying her prayers and already believes the Church is true.  She is a missionary's dream and maybe we might get a baptism yet?
Elder and Sister Peterson (Teachin" and Baptizin" in Kentucky)

We were at a member's home visiting and saw this hibiscus blooming and took the picture,  The sister in this family was the former Relief Society President and she has been very kind to us.  Giving us tasty sourdough bread on several occasions and giving us some fresh strawberry jam.  She is also a great source of information on inactive members and where they live.  Her husband is actually a non-member but a great guy and he had to show me his garden.  He already has potatoes in it the size of baseballs and he gave us some new squash and peppers.  He also has some tomatoes that aren't far from being ready.  It is very interesting to see how much earlier the season is here.  All of the winter wheat is already thrashed.  At home we seldom thrash winter wheat until mid July.

Golf carts are very big here even though the golf course is far away.  They use the them to ride around their big yards in their small communities.  The Kentucky Wildcats are also very popular here although Louisville is actually closer.  You very seldom see the Louisville red but Kentucky blue is everywhere.  This golf cart is painted Kentucky blue with the big logo on the front.  It belongs to the same former Relief Society president and she drives it to Church.  There is a nice community of about a dozen homes located around the Church and they live in that area.

She wanted to take our picture in the golf cart and it was actually sitting in their large garage.  They actually have a unique and beautiful home that is built into a slope with two sides below ground level.  As you might can tell by the size of the garage, it is really a nice home.

Our sign of the week, it was on a road leading to an old church that was being repaired so we didn't take any pictures of the church.  The sign near the front of the church said that it was built in the 1850's but it looked like it had been remodeled several times.

We have been offered this home to live in for the rest of our mission.  It is an older home that belonged to one of the matriarchs of the Church in this area.  She was 94 and struggling with alzhiemers and her family had to put here in an assisted living facility.  None of the family live close by and they can't settle the home situation until November so we would be house-sitting for them and taking care of things.  All of the lady's things are still in the home so we have been a little reluctant to accept the offer, although it would give us a lot more room.  This is the home where we encountered the two big black cats that loved to terrorize Sister Peterson so there is some reluctance on her part and some concern about her allergies.  Anyway we might be moving if it all works out.
Elder and Sister Peterson -  Movin' on down the road?

This is a great young active family in our branch.  The young lady on the right is the non-member girlfriend of the boy next to her.  He invited us to their family home evening to teach her about the gospel.  The lady on the far left next to Sister Peterson is the non-member mother of the mother of the family standing on her left.  So we got to teach two non-members and it was a great evening.  We had dinner first which included catfish and hush puppies.  Yes we have tasted our first catfish and actually it was quite good!  Hush puppies are flour and cornmeal rolled around a sweet onion and deep fried or baked.  They very a lot according to who makes them but these were good.  After the lesson we played games in their big yard and had a great time.

This is a beautiful Southern Style home in Morgantown that we drive past and finally decided to stop and take a picture.  It is an older home that has been refurbished and added onto.  There is a large three car garage in back although the picture doesn't show it very well.  We are told the inside is also very beautiful with flooring of the period and very nice furnishings.  The columns are a prominent feature of the older homes.  This is a beautiful example of what one might picture as "My Old Kentucky Home".

This is a beautiful large Baptist Church called Belmont.  It is about five miles out of town in a wooded area. There is a school in part of it but it still is very large and seems to have a large congregation.  We have several members nearby that we visit and there always seems to be a lot of cars there on Sunday.  It has even affected the branch a little because occasionally wayward members will defect here.

This is what most of the small churches look like out in the country.  They are everywhere in small communities.  Most are Missionary Baptist churches but there are some Church of Christ chapels and an occasional Methodist one.  This one has some class room area.  Most are smaller and only include a chapel.  However there will always be a covered picnic area with tables for dinners and a small cemetery.  There are small cemeteries throughout the area.  Some are private family burial plots but most are near these small churches.  We were driving down a gravel road one day looking for an inactive family when we saw a side road we thought might take us to their home.  Instead it wound up the ridge through the trees to a very secluded cemetery completely hidden in the trees.  There were fairly recent headstones so it was still in use.

We were attracted to this one because of the name.  We learned later that lick refers to a salt lick that deer and other animals frequent for a taste of salt.  This one was named after Barnett.  It was interesting that the church and the area would take the name given the old salt lick.  Unfortunately we have one inactive member that has decided to return to this particular church.  His grandparents were the first to start this Baptist congregation in the Barnetts Lick area and he has returned to the church of his forefathers.  In a area that is so strongly Baptist/Protestant, we get more of that than we would like.,  Some will join but don't really get converted and after a few months drop away and return to their easier religious lifestyle.

This has been an interesting week with some real dog days that we seemed to get little accomplished.  Then we had a couple of days at the end of the week where we seemed to catch everyone we stopped to visit.  We taught two investigator lessons this week and have another new investigator starting the lessons this next week.  So we are doing some missionary work along with visiting a lot of inactive members.

We are still enjoying our surroundings and have heard our first whipper-wills and really enjoy the lightning bugs or fire flies that are prominent here especially after a rain storm.  The other night we were driving home and the fireflies were everywhere.  They flash for a second or two then are gone and will flash for a second some where else and the light is surprisingly bright.  With all those flashes of light, I was afraid some might be deer eyes reflecting the headlights.  I was very jumpy and a good thing because a big doe walked in front of us and we had to slam on the brakes to miss her.  Later the same evening we had to swerve around a possum in the road that was blinded by the headlights and didn't move.  It is very common here to see road-kill possums.  They are about like the jack rabbits used to be at home.  Oh well, that is probably enough gory details.
Elder and Sister Peterson (Sittin' in our rockin' chars 'n' watchin' the farflies)