The following contains informative information about the current Kentucky Louisville Mission (Last updated September 5, 2004.) Please send your mission news and happenings to Rob Metcalf for inclusion on this page!
East Central States Mission Recollections...
I served in Murray, Kentucky [my second area] with Elder Steve Hoyal (California).
We came out together in Oct 1969. There were 14 of us that arrived in the
mission field together. We lived in the upstairs of a run down two story
apartment that we jokingly referred to as the Carthage Jail. We were on
foot their - walking or riding bicycles. President Hainsworth was the Branch Pres and we met in
the Seventh Day Adventist Chapel there. Elder Hoyal and I creeated a modified 7th discussion
and used it with the students at Murray State that were from the middle east - Iran
and Iraq today. A lot of them were there and they could accept Joseph Smith
as a Prophet. We went back to Abraham and moved forward from there -
Abraham is a common denominator with Muslems. We did a lot of street
preaching - grab a corner and teach the Gospel to any pedestrian that came
by. We got lots of 1st and 2nd discussions then it kind of fell off after
that. We taught a Church of Christ minister all the discussions - he never
joined the Church but became a friend that would give us rides when it
rained. There was an old guy that was a member of the Church - he was a
fishing guide (?) and he would show up with a gunny sack full of fish - had
us the bag and say clean them and help himself to our apartment - shower and
change clothes -good that I knew how to clean crappie, bass, and bluegill.
He would spend the night and take us to breakfast the next morning and be
gone...
We got to reading about how the early apostles in England would go to
different Churches and ask to preach a sermon. We figured why not? It
worked better for the apostles in England than it did for us. We did get in
the Methodist Church there and had a great meeting with there youth - and
were invited by the minster not to come back.
Hoyal later became a AP and I finished as the ZL of the Tennessee South Zone
(Tullahoma and surrounding area). This was the last zone of the 'old
guys'.
Anyhow, right after this our mission got a large batch of Elders -12-14 in.
They were sent to Oak Ridge/Knoxville with most of the Zone Leaders in the
Mission - and the rest of us had very little contact with them - unless you
were a ZL and met some of them at Mission Leaders Conferences.
In a couple of months - their Zone was kicking [tails]. Gradually these guys
got greenies and absorbed the neighboring zone. Getting sharp training from
the get go -good positive can do work ethic - made a big difference.
Gradually, the remaining Elders ended up in Tennessee South -
BEST ZONE IN THE KTM - AND THAT'S A FACT!!
AT the last Mission Conference for leaders - Tenn South kicked all the other
Zone's [tails] in Basketball and Softball. By early August 1971, with the
exception of Tenn South, all the Elders that were in the KTM were Elders
trained under President Days way of doing things. Elder Steve Olsen and
Elder Ron Pond were my first two companions and both of them were carry overs
from President Claridge's tenure as Mission President.
Now you know that this was country that Wilford Woodruff did missionary work in and that
J. Golden Kimball advised Pres. B.H. Roberts of the then Southern States Mission that
they should call down fire from heaven and then baptize for the dead.
- Elder Mert Davis, November 1998 (East Central States / Kentucky-Tennessee Mission, 1969/71)
I served in the Kentucky-Tennessee Mission from Mar 1971 to Mar 1973.
Reading this web site certainly brought back some memories. President William
Day was presiding when I arrived in town with 5 other greenies. We went
directly to a zone conference. and then got started. My first area was New
Albany, Indiana. New Albany was a brand new ward in the brand new Louisville
Stake. I see in the CN that New Albany is now a brand new stake. wow! I
served in Cookville and Crossville, Tennessee. went to Bowling Green, Ky for
five months. I went to Clarkesville, Tenn for several months. after that I
went to Lebonon and Lexington, Ky and finished up in Johnson City, Tennessee.
Each area had its own lessons for me to learn from. Special people to know and
work with and people searching for the gospel. When I arrived in the
mission, the member program was the HOT new way to teach the gospel. We spent
a lot of time with the members and working to teach their friends. We were
discouraged from tracting in favor of teaching the members and their friends.
In retrospect I would say that in some areas this was a good way to go. When
the members were supportive and we had their trust. Elder Al Jensen and I also
found a golden contact from knocking a door in Lexington, KY that ended with
us baptizing Sis Bertrand. That was after President Durrant had come out and
suggested that perhaps the elders should do a little more door knocking in our
spare time. Each area had some very special experiences attached to it and I came away from
the whole experience knowing that the Gospel is true...
Sure Love Ya Elders and Elderettes - Gordon Gray (Kentucky-Tennessee Mission, 1971/73)
Visiting the mission office in Louisville recently brought back a lot of memories. I can't believe it's been 25 years since President Durrant and the AP's picked me up at the Louisville Standiford Airport and brought me here. It is a sacred and special place. Here are a couple photos I just took...
- Rob Metcalf, October 1998 (Kentucky Louisville Mission, 1973/75)
(Correction: It's Elder DAVIS--not Denis--in the photo above; sorry!)
It was exciting to learn first-hand that persons whose primary language is Spanish are now being taught the gospel of Jesus
Christ by missionaries called to serve fulltime in the Kentucky Louisville Mission for that purpose! According to Sister
Cynthia Phelps, who recently returned from her mission, the new Louisville Fifth Branch comprised of Spanish-speaking
members was just formed. It joins other Spanish-speaking units of the Church in that area. This is exciting news!
Tenemos gozo aprender que los latinos son recibiendo el evangelio verdadero de Jesucristo en la mision KLM.
The following report was originally received on January 23, 1998:
There are currently 300 missionaries serving in the Kentucky Louisville Mission.
The current Mission President is Joel A. Flake.
The mission divided on July 1, 1998. The Kentucky Louisville Mission is made up of the Louisville, Kentucky; Lexington, Kentucky; New Albany, Indiana; and Evansville, Indiana Stakes.
The new Ohio Cincinnati Mission comprises the Cincinnati, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio North; and Owingsville, Kentucky Stakes. See below for a map of the mission division (from "Noticias de la iglesia--Liahona," mayo de 1998, page 9).
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According to the Church News, the new Kentucky Louisville Mission has approximately 12 thousand members out of a
total mission area population of two and-one-half million.
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