Mission Areas - Volume 1: Salem, IN & Louisville, KY

When I began my two-year Mormon mission In the Kentucky Louisville Mission back in October of 1996, the first area I was sent was Salem, Indiana. I spent about four months there before being transferred to a different area, and had never been back until today.

Since this upcoming week is my Spring Break*, we decided to take a weekend trip to the National Maple Syrup Festival in Medora, Indiana (see Deidra's 12x12 recap review). And, since Medora is only a half hour away from Salem, we decided to stay the night and go to church in Salem this morning.

I recognized a few of the old timers in the congregation, but a lot had definitely changed. The congregation is smaller than I remember, but I guess that might be because there are now two congregations where there used to only be one.

After church, we went to the city center, where the courthouse stands.

As a missionary, we had an apartment on the square, directly across from the courthouse. At the time, it was above a nice, fun little flower shop. Apparently, now it's a sketchy bar:

Our final stop before turning around and heading home was another 45 minute drive south into Louisville, Kentucky. About a year into my missionary service, I spent a couple of months in the Louisville suburbs, but it was the quickest and least memorable area of the mission, so we didn't even bother stopping. However, we did stop to admire the Louisville temple. It was built long after I had ended my mission, so this was the first time I had seen it.

Until the Indianapolis temple is built, we may make Louisville our usual temple destination, since it takes about the same time to get there as it does to get to the one in Chicago, and it's a much nicer drive.

(P.S. Don't hold your breath for the future installments of this series. I figure about one mission trip per year is all I can expect Deidra to humor me with.)

* As  a PhD student, "Spring Break" basically means you still have to work, write papers, perform research, and attend meetings, but at least those pesky classes won't bother you.