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 31st 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
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