Dear Family and Friends.
The definite highlight of this week was Kaden receiving the priesthood and being ordained a Deacon in Texas and Gideon getting a Priesthood blessing from his dad in Boise. Again we feel badly that we couldn’t be there but are so glad to see the blessings of the gospel in our family. We are proud of all of you.
The internet went down around 1:00 PM on Friday at the Branch building and I wasted about 2 hours on the phone with Salt Lake and AT&T and they ended up telling me that we are not getting the internet and they weren’t sure why. It actually started out pretty good when I was talking to Church Headquarters and the technician gave me the phone number to call to contact AT&T. When I called the number the phone rang in our clerk’s office. It all went downhill from there. As soon as I found out that Tuesday was the soonest anyone could come to determine the problem, President James called me to see if we were going to watch the Priesthood Celebration that night. When I told him the internet was down he said he and his son were going to come in from York to watch it with us. I got a call Saturday morning advising me that the internet was back up so Sister Owens and I got to watch it last night. It was totally awesome. If anyone missed it be sure to watch it on the church website. We are going to have a Branch dinner in a couple of weeks (you know, bribe them with food) and show it then. We are hoping we might have about 30 people.
President Nelson’s message to the youth was so great this evening as well. We were there with three young adults, one being an investigator, and the sister missionaries. We picked up the young adults and brought them, otherwise it would have just been Sister Owens and I again. They only allow the missionaries to come if a non-member comes. None of our four sort of active youth were there. The Smiths were out of town at a baby blessing, or they would have been there with their teenage children.
We were all quite surprised when we got the news that Sister Bond was being transferred and Sister Humphries was staying in the area to be a trainer. We have a brand new Sister missionary. Sister Snarr from Springville, Utah. She is way taller than Sister Bond was and Sister Humphries (her trainer) comes just a little above her waist when they stand together. She was really homesick tonight at President Nelson’s broadcast. She asked me if I would give her a blessing. It was a privilege to do so. I could tell that she is going to be a great missionary.
We had gotten a call from the assistants to the president on Monday night asking if we were aware that the plan was for us to drive the sisters to the transfer meeting in Birmingham on Wednesday and that we would be bringing three sisters back as far as Tuscaloosa before we would drop one of them off. I told him that would all depend on how big the sisters were. I didn’t think we could get five people in our little Subaru and luggage for two sisters. I told him to ask the sisters if they wanted to try to do that. If they did, then we would be happy to try. So about 30 minutes into our trip Wednesday morning we were driving in torrential rain and our phone went off with a severe weather alert for our area. It only lasted about 30 to 45 minutes, but I have never experienced that heavy of a rainstorm in my life. The effects of Alberto had moved right over the top of us just that morning. Interestingly, when the transfer meeting was over and we had to go out and transfer luggage for 50+ missionaries from car to car the sun was shining beautifully. We drove home under clear skies and unloaded the luggage for the Tuscaloosa sister. Got home to Demopolis and got all of Sister Snarr’s luggage into her apartment and got home to our apartment and the rain starting pouring down again. It’s awesome how the Lord takes care of His missionaries. I just wish I hadn’t used the umbrella when I walked into the chapel in the rain in Birmingham. Now we don’t have an umbrella.
We had an interesting experience on Memorial day. We went to find members of the branch in Demopolis and found several at home since it was a holiday (actually, I think they would have been home anyway because they are all on government assistance). One sister’s address on the ward list is “1st Street.” I felt like we needed to find her and get the correct address for the records. The street looked like it was only about three blocks long. I thought we could just go door to door until we found her or someone that knew her. The homes on the street were actually in pretty bad shape and several were abandoned and boarded up. We finally talked to a gentleman that had been on that street for quite a while and he told us she didn’t live on that street anymore. She lived on the street two blocks over. We went to that street and asked a man that was grilling on his front porch if he happened to know her. He pointed out her house about half a block down the street. We went down and met her. She was baptized about 15 years ago and is now 36 years old. She has had another child that is not shown on the records and is now married. She gave us all the information on her children and her husband so we could update her record. We told her we would call her later and would like to come back and visit with her and her family. She said we could do that. While I was talking to her I felt that she reminded me of someone that I know. I tried to think who it was but could not think of anyone. Then I had the thought that she might just remind me of her and that I actually already know her. I asked Sister Owens if she reminded her of anyone we know. She said she does seem familiar but she can’t think who she reminds her of either. I guess we will have to see how this progresses. We told President James that we found her. He said he has never met her.
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