Dear Friends and Family,
This story was related to us by President Sainsbury the morning after we arrived in Birmingham just before we left for our assigned area and then was related to me again the next day in Priesthood meeting by the Branch President and the Branch Mission Leader.
The senior couple that served here before we came were scheduled to return home last October and they shared with the Mission President that they wanted to have a baptism of their own before they were released from their mission. So they began to pray and ask the Lord to lead them to someone that wanted to learn about the gospel. They were both avid walkers and one day as they were walking through a neighborhood a lady (see attachment) hollered to them and said, “You are Mormon missionaries, aren’t you?” They told her they were and she said she wanted to learn about their church. They began teaching her the gospel and she decided she wanted to be baptized. She is an older lady with a number of health issues and is basically confined to a wheelchair. When it came time to be baptized a very definite obstacle presented itself. They didn’t know how they were going to get her into the font and back out. They decided to do a “dry run” to make sure everything would go well. President James and Brother Smith helped her down the stairs to the font (which was no easy task). Once they got down to the font, they found they could not get her back up the stairs to get out. She is quite a good sized woman and there wasn’t room for the two men to be on either side of her to help her up the stairs. They finally ended up pulling her up by her arms, step by step, until they got her out of the font. After that experience, Ollie said there was no way she was going to be baptized. The Sister missionaries talked to her and they decided to fast and pray for a way to be opened up that she could be baptized. One of the sisters was a fire fighter before she came on her mission and she knew that firemen were trained to carry people in emergency situations and she knew that the fire department would be able to assist them. She contacted the department and explained the situation and asked for their assistance. Two fire fighters came to the church to see what they could do to help. They told them that it would be impossible for them to carry her down into the font because the stairs were too narrow. Everyone kept praying and the sisters thought of using a livestock watering trough and they would perform the baptism outside the branch building, They went to the hardware store to see about renting a trough and were told they weren’t for rent, they were only for sale and it would cost $500. They obviously did not have that kind of money. They asked if they were to purchase the trough, if they could return it and get a refund. They were told if it was undamaged when it was returned that they would receive a full refund. A member of the branch offered to buy the trough since it could be returned for a refund. The firemen told them that they could lift Ollie into the trough without a problem. There was only enough room in the trough for Ollie (it was oval shaped). It was decided that Brother Smith would Kneel beside the trough to perform the ordinance and then the firemen would lift her out and help her back into her wheelchair. So by the time they could proceed with the baptism it was the middle of November and quite cold outside. (Interestingly, the senior couple was released the end of October but were given permission to travel to Florida for two weeks to visit family before they returned home so they were back in Demopolis for the baptism.) They had a bucket brigade to fill the trough from the kitchen sink inside the branch building so that the water would be warm. It was taking a very long time and a brother came and told them about a hose bib on the outside of the building that ran hot water. Nobody there knew about the hot water access outside the building. They used a hose and were able to fill the trough with warm water very quickly. (Out of all the people in the branch that I have talked to, nobody knows who the brother was that told them about the hot water access.) So with the firetruck and the firemen there (the entire crew, since they weren’t allowed to be separated while they were on duty), Ollie was lifted into the trough, the baptism was performed, and she was lifted out without a problem.
When they were filling the trough with water they found that the seam was faulty and the water was leaking nearly as fast as it was being filled. Someone there had a roll of duct tape that was used to seal the seam and they were able to proceed. After the baptism they emptied the trough and returned it to the hardware store for a full refund. I believe they informed them that it had a faulty seam.
A little about our week: We started making the family history library in the branch building available to the public for two hours each week (Wednesday noon to 2:00 PM) Luckily no one came because we don’t know enough to teach anyone anything anyway. We are going to line up a crash course with the Stake lead consultant for this next week. We arranged at church for the folks at Greensboro to meet us Monday at the public Library so they wouldn’t have to drive to Demopolis. We were going call them when we arrived. NOBODY’s phone worked. We didn’t get through to a single person. So we spent most of the day trying to find them at their homes and that was a challenge because the addresses were old in the Branch list. We left a couple 4 generation sheets with a couple of the men in one of the apartment complexes so they could work on it during the week. One of them was Brother White (the cleanup man). He is so humble. He told us about how his old friends keep coming around trying to get him to do what he used to do, because he would have so much more money (he is on disability). He just tells them he has found a better way and that they should come with him to church. If they would just partake of the sacrament they would definitely feel something. I was able to give him a blessing. The Lord truly loves him. We went to visit the Harbins. He was a counselor in the branch presidency about 8 years ago and is not active. We had a good visit with him and told him we wanted him to come back to church. He told us that he doesn’t tell people he will do something if he isn’t sure he is going to do it because he doesn’t want to lie. When we left, I told him we were serious about him getting back to church and that we were going to be looking for him. He said to just keep looking because you never know. He was “raised up” in the church in Magnolia and his sister is our Relief Society President. He said it would sure make his mother happy if he started to come back. I told him I couldn’t think of a better reason to do it.
We both received calls today to serve in the Branch. I was sustained today as the Branch Clerk (I already told Mom we need to call Alan and tell him to move down here, now we really need to). Mom won’t be sustained until next week so you will have to wait until then to find out what she is going to be doing.
While we were doing some research at the Library Wednesday, I was reminded that my great grandfather served his mission in the southern states mission in 1888. I have a photo copy of his missionary journal packed away somewhere at home. I wish I had it now so I could see if he was ever in this area while he was here.
We went to the Lunch and Learn at the Library here where they invite a guest speaker. He was a juvenile probation officer that had to write a book about Alabama’s Home for Wayward Boys after he learned the history of its founding. You know it was impressive because when he finished I felt we needed to buy his book, which we did. One of the Librarians there informed us the first time we were there that she is a good friend of our church. We hope to have a visit with her one day and find out why she is just a friend and not a member. Other than the fact that she loves Gladys Knight concerts and she likes her church’s music better than ours. Our church is too quiet.
Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon
We Love y’all,
Elder and Sister Owens
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