Sunday, September 21, 2014

Week 2 in Nashville

Well, we're still here in Nashville.......well, actually Brentwood, Tennessee.  The land of big homes, massive lawns, beautiful landscaping and fancy cars.  No, we don't live in this house.  Wouldn't it be nice?  Only if I didn't have to clean it.



Just as a reminder, this is where we live right now!
We are still in the little apartment under the Mission Home.  The 2-room efficiency with the Luci and Desi Beds, and the kitchen with almost nothing in it.  But we love it. (as long as we don't have to stay in it very long). We will be moving this next Thursday into our new apartment, as soon as the Johnson's check out.

There aren't many places where your landlord washes your car.  We woke up Monday morning to find President and Sister Anderson just finishing their car.....they had already washed our car earlier so we wouldn't be late to work.  Such service from such a humble man.  That's why we love him so much.




On Tuesday the mission hosted a outing for all of the senior missionaries. (There are 22 of us, but only 20 could attend)  We had an afternoon cruise on the General Jackson Showboat.  It is very nice and the ride was very smooth as it only travels at 7 miles per hour.  We had a wonderful buffet lunch (complete with grits if you wanted them) and a great show called "Nashville Live."





As we cruised along we viewed the landscape of Nashville.  This peculiar building is the AT&T building.  Can you guess what it is nicknamed?   It is called the
Batman Building.

This couple is the Ainas.  You don't pronounce the A, so it sounds just like the Ina in Tucson.  We were so happy to see them.  They came out of the MTC at the same time we did, but they are living in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  They had already served one mission in Hawaii.





I love this picture of President and Sister Andersen.  I don't know what he is looking at, but obviously he is a little shocked.  He caught me singing along with the band once (wonderful country music), so maybe it was my singing that shocked him.  The other lady is Sister Godfrey.  She is the President's secretary. She answers the phone etc.  She is a wonderful person.






Here I am sitting in my office.  Notice the wonderful window behind me.  It is a good sized office with a door that locks.  I am in charge of finances which means I submit all payments for rent on ~150 apartments and utilities for all the missionaries.  I manage all credit cards and fund the debit cards the missionaries carry.  There are more responsibilities and I have about 3 business days left to learn them before the Johnsons leave.  Fortunately there are very nice people in Salt Lake City who are always available by phone who save me routinely.

This is Darryl's office.  He works in an area that is actually a storeroom.  But I told him he could come sit in my office when he has time.  He is in charge of all the mission vehicles.  He has 88 cars, trucks, jeeps, and the mission van to keep track of.  He makes sure they are all registered, serviced and kept in good condition.  Remember, there are 18 and 19-year old young men and girls who may be a little older (not much) who are driving these vehicles.  If they need repairs, service etc. he is the one they get in contact with.  He is also over bicycles and bus passes also.  The one big advantage he has is that he is out of the office more frequently than the rest of us.  The other day he was teaching the 2 assistants to the president how to back the 15-passenger van, with a trailer attached, down the narrow driveway at the mission home, with a real tricky turn in process.  I don't think he even said a bad word.  HE'S THE MAN!!!

These are some of the books stored in the storeroom.  There are Book of Mormons in Persian, Polish and something else.  We have Books of Mormons in all languages, plus many videos, Pass-along-cards, pamphlets etc.






Friday was a Zone Leader's Conference.  Aren't these girls beautiful?  Who wouldn't want to talk to them?  There were Elders there too, but they weren't as cute.  We served dinner to them....pizza, salad and watermelon, with ice cream for dessert.  This was easy as there were only 40 at this meeting.





You may remember, when we moved to Nashville, Darryl renegotiated his contract with me.  On Saturdays we were to have an adventure.  So this week we went to the Belle Meade Plantation.  At the end of this blog I have put a link to a site that explains this significance of this place.  The one important fact is that they were the premier horse breeding farm in he country in about 1850.  Their horse "Bonnie Scotland" is the great grandparent of every horse that has raced in the Kentucky Derby, including Secretariat, and California Chrome.....plus much more.

That Darryl is such a swinger!!!











This is Sister Cotton.  She has been quite ill so she is spending a week in the Mission President's home.  Saturday night we spend the evening with her, keeping her company while the Pres & Sister Anderson had other duties.  We had a lot of fun baking german chocolate cupcakes.  Yum Yum.  She had never baked anything from scratch before her, so she enjoyed it.  But we did wear her out.


Well, that is all for this week.  We will try to find an adventure for next week.  We are looking forward to Elder Stradling and Elder Hansen coming up to go to the temple on Wednesday.  They are bring some clothes we left behind in the dryer.  Elder Stradling noticed Darryl's John Deere pajama bottoms and he says he has a pair too......so we may take a picture of them both in the John Deer PJ bottoms.

Here is the link for the Belle Meade Plantation.
 
 http://bellemeadeplantation.com/video/    

due my lack of computer knowledge, you will have to copy it and paste it in your browser.  Or, when I right clicked on it I go select....go to bellmeade et.........

Love you all!!!!!






1 comment:

  1. You are my heroes! I love reading your blogs. Sounds like you are having a great time. Our Nicholas is in the Macon Georgia mission which must be just east of you. He loves the south too. I hope to do what you are doing some day in the near future. Love you!

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