Week 9 A little geography and fond farewells

Dear Family and Friends,

After our exhausting weekend with Stake Conference last week Monday became our belated P-day so we stayed home and cleaned house, took naps, and did laundry all day. Tuesday was our District Meeting in Tuscaloosa.  It was really a special meeting.  Transfers are going to be this next week and we know some of our missionaries are going to be leaving the district.  Elder Johnson, the district leader ( attachment #1), has been in the district for six transfers. He gave us training on bearing testimony and we ended the meeting with everyone bearing testimonies.  Sister Humphries has been in Demopolis for three transfers so she is sure she will be going this time. It’s the first time transfers have affected us directly.  We will miss them both very much.  So next district meeting we will have a new sister in our area and a new district leader.

We stopped at the hospital in Tuscaloosa with the sisters and went to visit Brother and Sister Rogers.  Brother Rogers doesn’t look to us like he is doing very well.  He doesn’t really seem to be improving.  They moved him to the long term care floor this week.  His wife said he has come back from worse than this before.  Hopefully he will get better.  He is 75 years old.  We met Brother Nichols from Tuscaloosa, who was leaving when we arrived.  He used to be a high councilor assigned to the branch.  He told us the last time Brother Rogers got really sick that Sister Rogers said she had been praying and she knew that if the Lord would heal him one more time, she would start paying her tithing and they would go to the temple. She didn’t quite understand how it works with the miracle coming after the trial of our faith.

Wednesday we went to the church and opened the Family History Library and planned to be there alone for the day.  Right after noon Mary Barton came to the door.  She was the non-member we worked with last week.  She said she had gotten confused and wanted a little more help.  We were able to identify her great grandfather from a census record and connect him to her family.  She didn’t have the name of that particular relative and when we identified him and connected him to the tree that connected her to several generations that were already in the system.  She was very excited.  When she left she said she was going to see if her daughter wanted to come next and have us help set up a Family Search account for her.

We had three non-members join us this week in Book of Mormon study in Greensboro.  Debra is always there, and Brother Whites friend, Cristopher, came again and a social worker joined us that works with a few of the people that live at the apartments.  Brother Borden that is 72 years old and works three jobs brought chicken, bread, cake, and lemonade again.

Thursday night we had branch council meeting (first one since we received our callings in the branch) because the James were going to be gone with family today for a family reunion.  We finally got to get a picture of them (attachment #2 and #3) somewhere besides the service project at the Rogers.  Sister James said she would tell us about her conversion someday.  Since Sister Humphries is leaving we prevailed on her to share it with us that night. They lived in South Carolina in 1988.  There were disturbances in their town and her husband was working ninety miles from home.  He had given her strict instructions that she was to keep the door locked and not allow anyone in the house when he was away.  The elders knocked on her door and said they had a message about Jesus Christ.  They told her that people in the area had not been very kind to them and they knelt and prayed that the Lord would send them to someone that He had prepared to receive the gospel and they were led to her house.  She ignored her husband’s instruction and invited them into the house.  The elders taught her the plan of salvation and she said she had a witness that day that what they taught her was true.  She said Satan did not want her in the church and fought very hard to keep her from joining.  It took her three months before she was baptized.  Her husband had members of his family that were Jehovah’s Witnesses and for a while they would alternate having missionaries and Jehovah’s Witnesses in their home to teach them.  She finally told the missionaries that she wanted to be baptized and they set a date.  The night before her baptism she said she had a very strong feeling that she needed to be together with her husband at church and decided she was not going to be baptized. One of the missionaries just looked at her and didn’t say anything, but got very emotional.  She saw the tears in his eyes and had the distinct impression that he knew something that she didn’t know and that if she didn’t get baptized she would never know what it was.  She told him that she would get baptized and if she decided she didn’t like it she would never be back.  She has been active since the day she was baptized.  Her husband was baptized about two months later.

We are finally getting a handle on where all the people are in the branch.  We have the branch list divided up by location so we can start visiting everybody in the various towns as we are in the area.  The attached map (Attachment #4) roughly shows the boundaries of our branch.  All the yellow dots indicate the different towns where we have members.  The little red dot just below Demopolis is where our humble garage home away from home is (in our GPS it is labeled Home 2).  Tuscaloosa is at the top of the map.  That is where we go every week for district meeting.  Of course Birmingham is a little further northeast where we go for Zone Conferences and the temple.

Our branch was assigned along with the Stake YSA to go to the temple Saturday to help clean after they closed.  We have eight current recommend holders including ourselves.  Two of them are in their late 70’s and early 80’s (Sister Owens’ councilor in RS and the Branch President’s councilor).  We were the only two from the branch that ended up going.  It was nice the YSA was there.  We had eleven of us altogether.  Nobody should complain about helping clean the church or the temple at home.  We drove two hours each way to help clean the temple (just saying).

We want you all to know that living the gospel is the only thing that brings true happiness.  Say your prayers and read your scriptures so you can know your Savior.  If you haven’t yet, memorize “The Living Christ.”

We appreciate all your prayers, love and support.  We love you back!

The gospel is true.  Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon.

We love y’all.

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 8: A couple minor miracles

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a very, very busy week.  We started Monday by inspecting three of the four apartments we were asked to inspect.  It was a neat privilege to get to visit with the Elders for a few minutes and find out a little bit about them and their families.  I asked one of the Elders in the first apartment we went to if he was hearing from his family each week.  He said his girlfriend writes to him each week.  I asked about his family and he told me they are not members.  He has an aunt that is a member but she really isn’t very active.  I was amazed at his dedication.

Last week looking at the map, we saw that we just needed to jog over three or four miles to the east when we were coming home from one of the inspections and we would be able to go through Magnolia where the first Mormon chapel was built in the south, which is still there.  Something one of the Elders said Monday reminded me that we intended to do that so we put Magnolia in the GPS after the second inspection, as we were headed home.  We had to choose between two routes and we chose the shorter route, though it was about 10 minutes longer.  After driving about 45 minutes on a dirt road that was seriously washed out in about three places (so much so, I did not want to go back over them ever again).  We had about five miles to go and came to a pile of dirt across the whole road that was higher than the car.  I got out and looked at the hill which I thought looked like a hill for a motocross track.  I was sure if I went up the hill I would high center before I could get down the other side.  When I climbed to the top I thought it went far enough that the rear wheels would be up before the front ones started down the other side. We went over the hill and found ourselves on a bridge with another bike jump immediately at the other end of the bridge.  I figured if we got over the first one we could probably make it over the second one as well so we went for it.  About five miles down the road we turned onto a paved road and Sister Owens looked back and noticed a sign where we came out that said “Bridge out, do not enter.”  We never saw a sign at the other end of the road. That is miracle number one (I’m sure the Lord just looked down at us and shook his head on that one).  We got home just in time for our last scheduled inspection here in Demopolis.  After we got home we realized we had intended to stop in Magnolia after the inspection we did Friday not Monday.  We actually drove quite a ways out of our way.

Brother Smith told us the Chevy dealership in Demopolis had an Enterprise rental car branch at their facility, so we stopped there Tuesday before leaving for district meeting in Tuscaloosa.  They checked and said all their vans were reserved.  We got a number for the Tuscaloosa office and called them and were told the same thing.  They even checked the Birmingham airport for us and nothing was available.  We were going to check some other places but meetings went too long and it was 5:00 PM before we could check and everything was closed.  We were going to Linden to pick up a sister on Wednesday to bring her to the family history library to do some work and we decided to stop on the way at Enterprise and go ahead and reserve a minivan so we would have something in case we weren’t able to find the 15 passenger van we wanted. We got to the desk and saw a sign saying they were gone to the carwash.  We waited for about 10 minutes and thought we better go to pick up Beth.  As we were walking out a lady drove up in a wet car so we waited and it was the lady from the rental desk.  We asked if we could go ahead and reserve a minivan for the weekend.  She said, “did you decide you don’t want the 15 passenger?”  We told her we do want one but we were told there was not one available.  She said, “you’re from Demopolis, right?”  I said yes.  She said, “We have it reserved right here for the Church of Demopolis.” And told me the phone number she had and it was not ours.  I told her we would love to have the van but that was not us.  She said, “When do you need the van?”  I told her we only need it for Sunday but I was told they don’t have rates for the weekend.  She told us that was right, that we have to rent it on Friday and can’t bring it back until Monday.  She said the van was coming back at noon on Friday and we could have it for the weekend if we wanted it.  We reserved it.  Miracle number two.

Thursday we worked at the family history library with the non-member we mentioned last week.  She told us that when she was four and a half years old her grandfather shot and killed her father because of a disagreement over some money.  That is about the strangest (and saddest) thing we have heard so far here in the south.

Thursday afternoon we went to Book of Mormon study class and were happy to report that we had the van for conference.  Brother White had a non-member friend there for the class and he said he would love to come to conference with us.  We had another lesson with the Webbs  Thursdaynight and they said they were planning to come to conference also.

We were excited to have the van for the weekend because there was room for the whole branch council to go to leadership meeting.  Since they were changing the Stake Presidency, President James had to go early for his interview.  We ended up with only five of us going over in the van for leadership meeting and staying for the Saturday night session.  We got home about midnight and had to get on the road by 6:10 AM to pick up everyone in Greensboro for the Sunday morning session.  Sadly, the non-member friend decided not to come and the Webbs woke up just after we had to leave so we could get to the meeting on time.  So we only had eight of us for the Sunday trip.  The meeting was awesome.  We heard Elder Wakolo’s conversion story.  He didn’t tell us it was him until the end of the story.  I felt bad because he was last and I was so tired from driving for two days that I couldn’t stay awake for the first half of the story.  It would have been so awesome if the Webbs could have been there for the meeting.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon!

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens

PS  Last week when we were teaching the Webbs about the Book of Mormon I told them about the promises President Monson made to us if we would read and study the Book of Mormon daily.  I told them if they read every day they could enjoy those blessings because they were promised by a prophet of God and it didn’t matter whether you are a member of the church or not.  They read every day and told the sisters that they noticed the difference it made in their home.  It is just like going to church or praying or paying your tithing, you have to do it before you realize the blessings that come from it.  We know what a blessing it is to attend conference and hear from general authorities of the church because we have experienced it.  We tend to think if we tell others how exciting it is, then they will feel the same anticipation and desire to attend.  But, having not experienced it, they don’t know what a blessing it can be. Elder Johnson is such an amazing man.  What a privilege it was to here him bear testimony of the Savior.  These people are awesome.  Words cannot express what it feels like to be in their presence.

Space center

First picture:  All five engines were tested at the same time and it caused a 3.2 tremor in Huntsville and was felt in Birmingham.  Windows were broken in Huntsville and home foundations were moved.  Flames shot out from the engines a mile in each direction. This was the Saturn V that sent the Apollo missions to the moon.

Second picture:  The actual moon rover.  The wheels are made of piano wire.  Rubber is too heavy and would not hold up under the fluctuating temperatures on the moon.

Third picture:  Actual capsule from Apollo 12. It was recovered from the ocean and is at the museum.

Forth picture: Bottom side of the capsule showing the damage to the heat shield during re-entry.

Fifth picture: Actual space shuttle with the booster rockets.

Lego Dino

Here is a picture we thought the grandkids would like in the gift shop at the Space Center.  Pretty good sized lego dinosaur.

Grandpa and Grandma.

Week 7 (sorry Sara) Not our best week (Except for Mothers Day)

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a little discouraging to start out.  It really seemed like we have been spinning our wheels here.  We were told all about the southern hospitality here when we came.  They said everybody is really kind and will invite you in and offer you something to drink and will be glad to visit with you but they really won’t be interested in your message.  Well… that seems to be pretty much true of the non-members but not so much with the members.  We have been several times to see one recently baptized man that has stopped coming and the last time he hollered, “Who is it?” through the door and we told him it was the missionaries.  Five minutes later we knocked again and there was no response.  We knocked again after a couple more minutes with no response, so we went on our way.  Most of the time the people aren’t home or we hear kids playing or the TV playing but nobody answers the door. We start to wonder why we should keep driving 20 or 30 miles to find their house when we don’t get to see anyone anyway.

Sister Owens had a great Presidency meeting planning a luncheon for the 31^st that everyone is going to invite their non-member friends to so they can find out what the church and the Relief Society is all about.  We are really hoping there will be more people there than the five people in the planning meeting.  I guess we’ll see. Some men were their (the meeting was at Ollie’s home) doing some remodeling in the bathroom.  The “Boss” asked if all those women were planning someone’s demise or something.  They told him they were Mormons planning a women’s meeting.  At that point he got quite hostile and they had to do quite a bit of explaining before he started to get a little friendly.

A non-member called our Elders Quorum President wanting some help converting her old PAF information to the new Family History system.  We tried to call her and couldn’t get through so we left a message.  She called back later and talked to me for at least five minutes before I had a clue who she was or what she was even saying because of her southern accent.  I finally caught a few terms (PAF, genealogy, etc.) and got used to her accent enough to figure out who it was.  We talked for a while and we have an appointment with her at the church this week at the FHC.

We went on a tour Saturday with the other senior couples in the mission.  We toured the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville Alabama.  It was a very interesting tour except that we really needed a couple of days to actually see everything that was there to see.  It was a refreshing time for both of us though to be with the other couples and find out they have some discouraging times themselves.

We were going to go to a lesson with the Sisters Friday night (which is always a shot in the arm for us) but Sister Owens got some bad lettuce at supper and we had to cancel just as we were ready to go out the door.

We were so pleased that Tracy went to the temple in SLC Friday.  We are so happy for her, and appreciate Lisa and Tami going down to be there with her. We had just read Elder Rasband’s talk, “By Divine Design” before we learned about their car trouble and rescue in the middle of the night on their way home.  We are so grateful when we see how the Lord is protecting our family while we are out here.

Today was a great day for us.  Sacrament meeting is always so renewing. President and Sister James spoke today.  After Sister James finished her talk I felt like I haven’t ever known anyone that really has a testimony of the Savior until I met her. It was an awesome talk. Bobbie Jean Webb had to work today but her husband Johnny came to church without her and brought their two girls.  It was really neat.  They have only been to church once before today and they didn’t get there until Sunday School started.  So it was really something that Johnny came without his wife.  She was the one that was referred to the missionaries. We had a great lesson on the restoration and priesthood keys in Gospel Principles and in Priesthood meeting they discussed Elder Ballard’s talk about the solemn assembly.  We are hoping to bring the Webbs to Stake Conference next week with the members from Greensboro.  We are going to check around in Tuscaloosa this week to find a full size van we can rent to get all of them there on Sunday.  I hope it will work out. Brother White (the cleanup man) is going to be recommended to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood.  And they are going to replace the Stake Presidency (I think we mentioned that in a previous email).

Sister Owens had a great Mother’s Day.  She got to talk to her mother yesterday and got to talk to each of the kids today.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon!

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 6 Number 25 has arrived, and McKay Leishman is our first baptism

Dear family and friends,

The highlight of this week was the arrival of our 25^th grandchild (Gideon, Attachment #1) in the wee hours of this very morning, and Mckay’s baptism yesterday.  We feel bad that we missed them both but we are very pleased that all is going as it should at home in our absence.  We have yet to receive all the vitals on Gideon so they cannot be included here.  Congratulations, however, to McKay and  Rob and Suzie.

In other not so fantastic (but still fantastic) news, we attended our first for real zone conference this week (the last one with Elder Klebingat was spur of the moment because he was available and it actually included two zones). We had to miss our Book of Mormon study class for the conference.  It was a little humbling (well, a lot really).  The whole zone stood and recited “The Living Christ” from memory while we read it from our ipad.  The Johnsons are the senior couple going home this Tuesday.  They bore their testimony at the conclusion of the conference.  Elder Johnson said he was saying “apples and oranges, apples and oranges” all the time because he saw President Sainsbury looking at him.  Good thing they make allowances for us old fogies.  The Johnsons are really special.  They were working with the YSA in Tuscaloosa.  They gave each of the senior couples a cookbook on Southern cooking as a parting gift.  We left Demopolis at 6:30 in the morning to get to the conference by 9:00 AM and got back to Greensboro by 7:00 PM just in time to go to a really special discussion on the Book of Mormon with the Sisters and the Webb family.  They have committed to baptism but she has to work almost every Sunday so it is really hard for them to get to church.  Johnny, the husband, gave a really special opening prayer.  It was really neat to hear him pray for his wife and family.  We finally got home to Demopolis at about 9:30 PM.

Earlier in the week we were looking for sisters in Greensboro who were on the Relief Society list ( I spent a lot of time being chauffeur to the Relief Society President this week).  We were looking for one sister and pulled into a driveway behind a car that we were following to ask them if they knew where this sister lived.  She said the lady we were looking for lived across the street and asked if we were missionaries for the Latter-day-Saints.  She told us her name is probably on our list too.  We checked and it was.  She is in her mid 30s with three children.  She was baptized when she was 10 years old and said that she just kind of got off track, but she wants to come back and start bringing her kids to church. She said her husband is not a member but he wouldn’t mind at all if she goes to church.  We tried to call her Saturday to invite her again to church but couldn’t get through on either number.  We sent a text on one of the numbers and invited her to church.  We got a text back saying we had the wrong person.  Sister Owens texted back and thanked them for letting us know.  I told her to tell them they were welcome to come to church with us anyway, but she didn’t.  I told her she needs to be more bold (after all, it was only a text). Funny thing, we just got a phone call from that number and nobody answered.  We called back and they didn’t answer.

Fast and testimony meeting is so awesome here.  I really wondered how it would go last month because there are usually only about 8 or 10 adults in the entire congregation and the sacrament takes all of about 10 minutes. We have heard some awesome testimonies both last month and today.  The lady from Livingston (Sister Patterson) came today along with her mother (attachment #2). It was neat to see them come, they haven’t been for a long time.  They both bore their testimony. President James and his family was not in church today.  His councilor, Brother Morgan, presided and conducted.  He is nearly 80 years old.  President James always conducts.  Forty years ago Brother Morgan was working on the side of a 2 or 3 story high boiler at the paper mill when it exploded.  It killed some of the workers and he was not expected to live.  He was severely burned but he survived.  He spent the last month driving back and forth from here to Tuscaloosa for doctor appointments and surgeries and his wife wanted to take him to the emergency room this morning instead of church,  But he insisted on coming to church.  They went from church to the immediate care center and spent about 5 hours there and may have to go to the hospital if his pain gets any worse.  They invited us to go to “The Miracle Worker” with them Friday night at the Cane Brake Players (a local not for profit theater group).  Almost everybody we past knew the Morgans and stopped to give them a hug and ask how Andy was doing.  They all seemed to love both of them so much.  They told us they were all friends of theirs from the Baptist church.  Just about everybody Andy told me about worked with him at the paper mill.  He has been retired now for almost fifteen years. He bore a really sweet testimony this morning (the shortest of all) and made everybody cry.  Almost everyone that bore their testimony told him how much they loved him and his wife.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon!

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens