Dear Family and Friends,
After our district council meeting this week the sisters asked us to go with them to the outlying borders of our area to find a single man named Glen Jones who had requested a copy of the Book of Mormon. We actually located the address out on a country road, before dark even. There were four mobile homes though none of them had the number we were looking for. We picked one and no one was home except the cows in the back yard, who were very happy to see us (it actually made us a little homesick). Another trailer was vacant so we ruled that one out, and both the others looked like they had families in them rather than a single man. A man drove up in a pickup truck and we found out that Glen was actually his brother-in-law who used to live with them but had moved in with his father on another country road. We got to go in and visit with him and his wife (Glen’s sister) who had just had surgery that day. We had a nice visit and as we were leaving he said we would have to come back and “missionary” his wife sometime. We said we would be glad to and would call them after she has had a couple weeks to recuperate from her surgery. So we left to find Glen again (by this time it was dark). They gave us good directions but started by asking if we new the way to York. We had been there before so we told them we did. We didn’t know they were talking about a shortcut by way of Livingston. We went back to the highway and turned toward York and drove forever looking for the left turn on County road 13. We finally found it but it turned to the right and not to the left. Remembering that they told us if we got to the bridge we had gone too far and would have to turn around, I started looking for a bridge and there was the trailer right on the left side of the road just AFTER the bridge. It looked like nobody was home but when we rang the bell a light came on and we met Glen and his dad and gave the Book of Mormon to Glen and read part of the first chapter with him. The sisters asked if we could come back and discuss it some more another time and he suggested the next day and then he said a prayer before we left.
The next day was my first visit with the Dermatologist since our arrival in Alabama. I haven’t been looking forward to it because they always want to take a sample or two just to check and I was not very excited to start dressing wounds again. GOOD NEWS! He looked me over and said he didn’t see anything to worry about right now and didn’t think we would have to do any cutting this time (HOORAY). I’m good for another six months. The sisters wanted us to go out with them to see Glenn and we were a little worried that we wouldn’t get back in time, the way Doctor appointments usually go here in Alabama. We actually got through earlier than we thought we would so we called them and told them we would be there to pick them up. Then we stopped to look for some groceries that are not available here in Demopolis and the store where we stopped was advertising free flu shots plus a $10 in store coupon. How could we go wrong. An hour later we got our flu shot and were to late to get to the sisters on time. We called them and apologized and hurried as fast as we could. We actually got to Glen’s only about seven minutes late. He wasn’t home. We called him and he said he was going to call us but forgot. He has been looking for work and had a chance to do some work for a friend and went to do that. Business as usual, I guess. The sisters had another appointment with a student at Western Alabama University in Livingston. The appointment wasn’t until later and the girl is out of minutes so they couldn’t call or text her. We got to the university and the sisters went and did some contacting and after two trips in two days from Demopolis to Tuscaloosa and back to York, I’m afraid I just leaned my seat back and took a nap. They tried to message the girl they had the appointment with on messenger several times but she never responded. Then when it was time for the appointment she wasn’t there either. After the first of the month they will be able to call her again. Another day, I guess, in the life of a missionary.
Thursday we went to pick up a couple of pork butts for our Harvest celebration and then went to Book of Mormon class in Greensboro. We had a full house (probably because Brother White fried catfish for everyone), but everyone read and we had a really good discussion about II Nephi 9. It is a really good chapter and was quite helpful to the group who are all very limited in their gospel understanding. Chris was there and came to church today also. He is getting serious again about getting ready for baptism. He still has a few challenges he has to overcome. Deborah was there, as she is every week. She was in much better spirits than she was last week. She told Sister Owens that someone had come from DHR to speak with her but we didn’t get to get any details from her.
Friday was the Harvest Festival at the Branch which was organized by the youth and was quite a success. There were about forty-seven people there and at least half of them were youth. We found out later that most of the non-member youth that came were brought by Cedric and Tasha Kirk and their family (Attachment #1). One of the Priests in the ward took them all around the church building and explained what we do in the church. His brother, a teacher, (attachment #2) showed everyone the family history library and explained what we do with family history and offered to help any of them set up an account in Family Search. We all had a good dinner consisting of a salad bar, pulled pork sandwiches, and pizza along with cookies and cupcakes for dessert. They had different stations throughout the building for games and we ended with a trunk-or-treat for all the kids. I was going to take pictures and by the time I got to it we were done and everyone was cleaning up. President James won the candy count contest (attachment #3)
We finally had a senior missionary outing Saturday. It was good to be with them again. It has been a long time since we have been together. We toured the Talladega raceway (attachment #4&5) and the Sloss Furnaces. Sloss Furnaces is the nations only twentieth century blast furnace turned industrial museum (attachment #6). It was once the largest manufacturer of pig iron in the world. A bride was there having her wedding pictures taken while we were there. It was a self guided tour and we kept getting lost because the community had it set up for a Halloween spook alley that was going to be at 7:00 PM that night. It was very interesting and quite educational (and scary).
We are so happy for Kyle. He was ordained a Deacon today by his Dad. We appreciate all the support from the rest of the family and are so proud of Kyle. We hope he will realize how great an opportunity he has before him to provide service to others. He will recognize many wonderful blessings that will come into his life as he serves faithfully. We are so proud of all our grandsons for accepting priesthood responsibility the way they do. The Lord will bless you for it throughout your life.
Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon
We love y’all,
Elder and Sister Owens
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