Week 35: Thanksgiving-Blessings all around

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday was my doctor appointment bright and early at 8:00 AM in Tuscaloosa.  Everybody said my blood pressure was awesome (118/68).  I guess everything else was okay as well.  Of course the doctor said a low cholesterol, low sodium, low sugar, low fat, low red meat diet is always good for everything.  But, hey, a guys got to eat, right?  After my appointment we went to the Fed Ex office in Tuscaloosa to check on the package that they tried to deliver twice to the branch building during the last week.  There was no indication on the tag they left who it was for or who it was from and nobody at the branch seemed to know what it might have been.  Since we go to Tuscaloosa at least once every week, we told them we would check on it.  Wouldn't you know, we had no reason to go to Tuscaloosa that week (they had transfers and we don't have District Council the week of transfers and neither of our sisters were transferred so we didn't have to go).  As I walked into the office the lady behind the counter was just explaining to the fellow ahead of me that his package had been processed back to the shipper because no one came to pick it up.  He had his phone in his hand and explained that he just received the notice that day that it had arrived.  She just told him they shipped it back and turned and asked me how she could help me.  I handed her the tags and said I hoped this one hasn't  been shipped back.  She went in the back room and hollered something to me which I didn't understand.  Then she came out and said it had been sent back to the shipper.  I asked her if I could find out who it was for and who it was from.  It was from a Bio Med company for the son of one of our branch members.  His dad was the first one that said he had no idea who it would have been for.  It was shipped back the Friday before we came to check on it.  We called the family and explained the situation and they asked us for a bunch of information that we couldn't give them because we didn't have it.  Later we found out that it was shirts that the Red Cross was having shipped directly for the blood drive we were having on Wednesday as an eagle project for the boy the package was addressed to.  Needless to say, there were no free shirts for the blood donors on Wednesday.  Things got way better after that.  We found the transmission specialist that was recommended to us by a mechanic in Greensboro who said that, from the symptoms I told him about, it sounded like we need a new transmission.  We found the shop and explained what the car has been doing.  The mechanic was going to drive it.  He went to the end of the lot and then came back and drove it into the  bay.  He checked the fluid level and came and asked us if we had any work done on it lately.  We told him we hadn't.  He said it was really low on fluid.  He told us it took three quarts of fluid but he could not find anywhere where it had been leaking and it was not wet anywhere.  He couldn't explain how it could be missing so much fluid.  We were totally puzzled because the day it starting having problems, I suspected it was low on fluid and took it to a shop to have it checked because we were driving to Zone Conference the next day.  They told us the fluid was good and it was not low.  That of course was news I didn't want to hear because I was sure the transmission was bad if the fluid wasn't low.  We were convinced we were going to be spending a lot of money either on transmission repairs or a new car and it ended up being $65 to add fluid and the car has been running like a charm ever since.  They said to bring it back again this week and they will check it out again.  We will stop by when we go for District council on Tuesday.  The Lord is certainly taking care of us.

Tithing settlement is coming so I spent Tuesday morning getting reports ready for President James while Sister Owens did some Relief Society stuff and Josh and his family were setting up for the blood drive the next day.  In the afternoon we took a bunch of chicken out to Deborah in Greensboro.  She is the non-member who comes to Book of Mormon class every week and her family won't let her be baptized.  We barbequed the chicken for the baptism that didn't happen last Sunday.  Then we went to see a recent convert that just got married.  We were invited to the wedding but couldn't go because we had other commitments.

Sister Owens says Wednesday was a truly beautiful Fall day (attachment #1).  If the leaves aren't all gone from the tree in front of the Funeral Chapel across the street from the branch building, we will have to get a picture this week to send.  They are all bright red.  We picked up a member in Linden and brought her to the blood drive early because she wanted to do some family history work on the computer at the church.  She used the wrong user name and password so many times she locked herself out of her account.  Then when enough time passed that she could try again, they were ready for her to give blood.  The nurse couldn't find a vein and she ended up not being able to give any.  Sister Owens donated but I didn't because I always faint.  Well I almost fainted last time I donated blood and I don't like it.  I gave at the doctor's office just a couple days before anyway.  So after the blood drive we took Beth home and went shopping for Thanksgiving.  The only turkey breasts they had were frozen and we didn't know if one would thaw in time to cook it the next day so we bought a couple Hungry Man Turkey dinners just in case.  We haven't had TV dinners for a long time.  The turkey thawed out pretty fast so we ate the TV dinners for supper.  Then we remembered why it has been so long since we ate TV dinners. Our family sent us leaves made from construction paper where they each wrote a note about why they are thankful for us.  We finally got a vase to put our cotton plant in and we put all the leaves on the plant with tiny clothes pins that Sara sent us with her family's leaves (attachment #2). It is a neat addition to our little apartment.

I guess we are not true southerners because we did not have ham and potato salad and sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving.  But we did have our turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy and corn.  We made real cranberry sauce and we stopped in Linden the day before to buy some yams from a farmer.  Two of them filled a bread loaf pan after we baked them.  We doctored them up real good.  So we came pretty close to the sweet potato pie, we just didn't have the crust and whipped cream.  They even had some Vernor's Ginger Ale at the store so we had that to drink (the BEST Ginger Ale ever made).  In keeping with tradition we had a nice nap after dinner. 

Our Thanksgiving week ended with Zone Conference.  They had us attend with the Montgomery Zone so we only had to drive two hours instead of two hours and fifteen minutes.  It was special, too, because we got to see the missionaries for whom we do inspections.  Their areas are not in our zone.  Sister Snarr was transferred to that zone when she left Demopolis so it was neat to get to see her and hear how she is doing in her new area with her new companion.  Of course all the sisters just love everybody and they always tell them so.  After the conference I was holding the door for some people that were leaving while I was waiting for Sister Owens and our sisters.  Sister Snarr noticed me and came running over and shook my hand and said, "I love you."  I just looked at her for a very pregnant pause and then said, "I'm sorry, I just can't respond to that."  She realized what she had done and looked at all the elders that were looking at her and then said, "I shouldn't have said that." And went back over and stood by her companion.

The Montgomery Stake President was in the building while we were there for conference.  President Sainsbury went out and asked him if he would come in and speak to the missionaries for a few minutes.  He was reluctant because he wasn't in his "Stake President Uniform," but he came in anyway and shared some scriptures with us.  He talked about how blessings are attached to each of the commandments that are given to us and that promised blessings come to us when we are obedient to the council we receive from the Lord.  One of the sure blessings that I liked that he mentioned is in D&C 45: 57-59.  The council we are given is to be wise, receive the truth, and take the Holy Spirit for our guide.  If we do this we will abide the day when the Lord comes again.  In verse 58 an awesome promise is given to those who do those things faithfully:

58 And the earth shall be given unto them for an inheritance; and they shall multiply and wax strong, and their children shall grow up without sin unto salvation.

What a promise!

Be wise, receive the truth, and take the Holy Spirit for your guide,

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon.

We hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving!

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

--

Rob and Suzie

Week 34: An early Thanksgiving and a foul weather pet

Dear Family and Friends,

 

We started the week with our last two apartment inspections.  After we inspected the Thomasville apartment we were invited to lunch with the Sisters at the home of an inactive member (she was the Relief Society President of the Greensboro Branch before it was closed).  She told the sisters she was going to make some soup for us.  We got there and she had a full Thanksgiving spread.  The menu included cold ham, sweet potatoes, potato salad, rice and broccoli casserole, green beans (great big flat ones), cornbread dressing and gravy, grape salad, and homemade rolls (see attachment #1).  She also made some of her famous homemade lemonade for us.  Everybody in the branch raves about it.  She told us it is just Country Time, Crystal Light, and pineapple juice.  She puts a little sugar in it since she doesn't even like lemonade and never drinks it.  The rolls aren't in the picture.  She put them in the oven to warm them up for us and we decided to get a picture of all the food.  After we got the picture she remembered the rolls which were a little darker on top than desired.  She took them out of the oven and set them on the counter and said, "Now see what you made me do!"  She was joking with us, we hope.  After the feast she made us and the sisters take all the leftovers home with us.  She said she wasn't going to eat any of it (she did keep about half of the ham for her husband). The sisters cashed in pretty good.  I got a couple pieces of ham for us to have for breakfast the next morning and by the time I went to get some more the sisters had all the rest of it in their bag.  We came back to Demopolis and went to the sisters to inspect their apartment.  Familiarity breeds slothfulness.  Their apartment wasn't in all that good of shape.  The bathroom was clean but everything else was really cluttered.  We had to give them a little talking to.

 

Tuesday was our day of miracles.  We had to go to Selma to pick up an Elder and his companion to get them to a dermatologist in Montgomery (yeah!! Uncharted territory)  When we got in the car the tire pressure light was on but the check engine light was off and we actually had cruise control which has been on the blink for about three weeks.  We got gas and air at Walmart and were on our way.  The whole trip I kept forgetting to use the cruise control because I was out of the habit after the last three weeks.  We got the elders to the doctor and learned that there was a Costco in Montgomery about a mile from the doctor's office.  We were about 60 miles overdue for our first tire rotation.  We left the elders at the doctor's office and went to Costco and saw three open bays in the tire shop.  We hurried in and got on the schedule and were told it would probably an hour and a half because there were only two of them there and the other guy was painting the shop.  We called the elders and they were still filling out paperwork.  We thought the way the doctors are here that we would probably be done in plenty of time.  They called us about twenty minutes later and said they were done way sooner than they expected. The car was done in about an hour and we went back to get the elders.  We went back to Costco for lunch and on the way were just about T-boned by a little blue car that we saw streaking past behind us.  We all acknowledged that we were protected.  The biggest miracle of the day was that the elders are so much less expensive than the sisters when it comes to lunch (although one of them did have to have two hotdogs).

 

Wednesday we had an appointment at the family history library with a couple of nice older non-member ladies who wanted some help with their research.  Both of them are lightyears ahead of either one of us as far as research abilities go.  We were able to set up an account for one of them who did not have an account on familysearch.  Unfortunately she didn't bring any of her four generation information with her so we didn't do so well getting her tree started.  We will probably be calling Sister Cragun some time this week for some guidance.   Wednesday night we noticed another member of the household.  A cute little lizard spent the night with us sleeping on our blinds (see attachment #2).  We have named him sleepy.  It is getting pretty cold outside at night now so he shows up now and then to sleep where it's warm and we see him sunning himself from time to time in the morning on the (inside) ledge of the windowpane.

 

We won't bore you with all the details, but the second of the two students the sisters were working with (the first said she is not going to be baptized at this time because her mother doesn't think it would be good and she wants to preserve her relationship with her mother) was going to be baptized this Saturday and then today after church and finally said she doesn't want to rush into this "baptism thing."  Her Mom was supporting her and wanted her to do what made her happy.  She came here to Demopolis from Livingston to stay with her God Mother.  Her God Mother pretty much talked her out of it and would not let the sisters see her when they came over.

 

We just got back from our Stake implementation meeting for the new Sunday schedule starting in January.  That was in Bessemer.  Tomorrow we have to be in Tuscaloosa for my doctor appointment at 8:20 AM.  We found out our zone conference is going to be Friday so we don't have to go back to Tuscaloosa Tuesday for District Council because we don't meet in the weeks when we have Zone Conference.  I love to drive and thought I would never get tired of driving, but this is really starting to ware me down.  We look forward to the days we don't have to drive out of town. Friday this week was just a short hop to Eutaw to pick up the lady whose car was repossessed to bring her back here to Demopolis to see her doctor and do her laundry and some shopping.  Since it gets dark here by 5:00 PM, we are doing a lot of driving at night.  Not so fun.

 

We hope y'all have a safe, blessed, and happy Thanksgiving.  We appreciate all your support and your prayers in our behalf.  We are very aware of it very often.

 

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon

 

We love y'all.

 

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 33: Yeah! We have gas! and three visits with the Mission President.

Dear Family and Friends,

We had another busy week but it was a rewarding one.  Monday morning Sister Owens had a Relief Society Presidency meeting at the church.  The President wore pants.  She told her councilor that she was going to and her councilor said, "Well that's good because we are going to anyway."  They didn't get very much done because they only had an hour and a half and then we had to leave for Birmingham.  We got to have a lunch/BBQ with the rest of the senior couples and President and Sister Sainsbury.  That is why Sister Owens wore pants to the presidency meeting.  There were only four couples that went on the last senior couple outing but this was the first time that all of the senior couples in the mission were together for the same activity (see attachment #2).  It was really a special time for all of us.  As we have said before, we really enjoy the times we get together.  It is renewing and refreshing for us.

Last Wednesday when we arranged to take Sister Rogers shopping Friday and then couldn't, we also told her we would come this Tuesday and paint her hallway for her.  After our trip to Birmingham on Friday we came home and were a little chilly.  The temperature got down in the 40s during the night so we decided to turn on the furnace.  It was about 67 degrees in the house and after the furnace had been on for an hour we were wondering why the air blowing across our faces in bed was so cold.  I got up and checked the thermostat and the furnace noticing that it was a degree colder than it was when we turned on the furnace. I saw a nice red glow coming from the gas furnace and thought everything should be alright, then I noticed that it was just the ignitor that was glowing and we had no flame.  Long story short after several texts to our landlord the next morning (Saturday, of course), we had to contact the gas company to have the gas turned on.  The housing coordinator had to do it and said he would get back to us Monday after he contacted them.  When he called Monday he told us they couldn't come that day but would be out Tuesday morning.  We had to be here so they could come in and check the furnace.  They were going to call just before they would arrive.  We thought it would work and we would just have to delay the painting until late morning or early afternoon.  About 10:30 we finally called the company to get some idea when we could expect someone and they told us it could be anytime between then and 4:30 in the afternoon.  At that point we had to call the sisters back, who were going to go with us to paint and tell them we were still waiting on the gas man and weren't sure when we would be available.  He showed up about 3:00 PM and the sisters were finished with the painting at about 2:30.  The tender mercy in all of it was that the sisters had an exchange for that day with the Senior Training Leaders and they were meeting halfway to trade companions.  The halfway point is in Eutaw (that's Utah for you westerners).  That is just miles from Sister Rogers house by the river.  Also the senior trainers are in a threesome right now so they actually planned to have three sisters in our area for the day.  So three sisters were there to do the painting and Sister Rogers said they all seemed like they had done plenty of painting before and knew what they were doing.  She was very pleased and said they had done a very good job.  We aren't so sure she would have been so happy with the results if it had been us doing the painting. After the gas got turned on we headed for Sister Rogers' home to take her to Eutaw to pick up her medication.  The sisters couldn't do that since the mission rules prohibit any passengers in the mission vehicles unless they are on Team ups.  She had us inspect the paint job and it really was well done.  The sisters are real pros.

Wednesday we had our second visit with the Mission President when we took the three sisters to Tuscaloosa for Interviews and District council meeting.  It made for a bit of a long day but it is always good to meet with the President and with the missionaries in the district.  We got to take our bike rack so we could bring Sister Tennyson's bike back with us after the meeting.  She had taken it on exchanges so they could use it in Tuscaloosa.  All the missionaries use their bikes as much as possible, even when they are assigned cars, so that they can conserve miles on the mission vehicles.  On our way home we took the sisters to see Greg and Cornelia.  They were the ones that gave us directions to Cornelia's brother a couple weeks ago so we could deliver a Book of Mormon.  Greg told us to come back and missionary his wife after she got better from her surgery that she had that day.  Greg went in the other room as soon as we got there so we thought he probably wasn't really interested.  We visited with Cornelia for a while and Greg came back and during our discussion he shared a lot about how he recognized God's influence throughout his life.  We ran out of time and the sisters asked if we could leave a Book of Mormon and come back next week and discuss it with them.  They were happy to get the book and said they would read it.  We have an appointment to see them this Tuesday.

Thursday we took Ollie to see her attorney, Colonel Thomas H. Boggs, a seventy-nine year old retired Green Beret.  He is a very nice man and was a little skeptical of us (since we were there with Ollie to discuss her financial situation) until he found out who we were.  He had known members of the church in the service when he spent time in Utah and Idaho and was very impressed with them.  He was glad that we were there to help Ollie.  Our hour with him flew by and Ollie got some very good advice from him.  He and Ollie have apparently been friends for a good share of their lives and he was just a little upset with her when he found out how serious her situation is for not coming to see him a long time ago.  Her concern all the time we have been talking to her is how expensive it would be to involve her attorney.  As we left his office she asked him how much he was bill was going to be.   He gestured with his fingers that it was zero and said he felt bad that she waited so long to talk to him. (He also got a little hot under the collar when he found out that her own son is charging her $400 a month to come once a week and sweep and mop her floors for her).

Friday we drove to Selma and Greenville to inspect the missionaries' apartments.  It was good to get to visit again with the missionaries and hear how the work is going in their areas.  The elders in Selma have  been working with the fiancé of one of the members of their branch.  They showed us the text they received from the fiancé that morning.  It said, "Just wanted to let you know Kenny is dead, they found him this morning."  The Elders told us he had been shot during the night.  Selma is kind of a violent city.  The elders say they hear gunshots right and left often. After showing us the text, one of the Elders told us it is the kind of thing you have to laugh about or else you cry.

We had Stake Conference this weekend (our third time to get to see President and Sister Sainsbury).  It was a great conference.  We had to drive almost two hours to Bessemer to attend Priesthood Leadership at 2:00 and then the adult session was at 4:00 and we started home at about 6:30.  They broadcast the Sunday session so we only had to get members to the branch building this time.  Last conference we only got twelve people to the session in the rented van.  This time we had at least thirty there in the building.  I feel kind of badly that they said the only reason they broadcast it is because they couldn't get a venue that would accommodate the whole stake.  They really want to meet all together.  Next spring they will be able to get the activity center on the Montavallo campus again and will not be broadcasting it to any buildings.  It is going to prevent a number of our branch members from attending again.  At the conference President Sadler told us about when Elder Bednar came as a visiting authority to Marianna Florida in the Hurricane Michael relief effort.  He told them that if they thought the shortened Sunday meeting schedule was just to give them more time to do things like watch football, they were mistaken.  He said this will be a part of the separation of the wheat and the tares.  We will receive the kingdom in which we abide.  The stake patriarch spoke Saturday evening.  One of the things he said is that he always tries to tell people they need to "stop doing silly things."  We really need to pay more attention to, and do, the things that are of eternal consequence.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon!!

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

PS.  Attachment #1 is the sunset from Sister Rogers home on the river.  It's dark here now by about 6:00 PM.

Week 32: Signs of change and a day in the big city

Our Monday was wasted with another gout flare up.  A good slathering of ginger and raw honey limited it to only one day though.  We weren't sure whether the sisters would be driving themselves to district council on Tuesday or if we would be going.  Tuesday morning I could put on my tennis shoes and they seemed to support my foot enough to walk so we went to the meeting with me in my shirt and tie and my tennis shoes.  It was an interesting fashion statement.  We are already the talk of the district because they all kneel for prayer except us.  We really don't want to embarrass ourselves screaming out in pain when we get leg cramps.  The last few weeks the Hursts (the new senior couple in the district) have been joining us in sitting.  He says his wife is supporting him because of his problem knee.  We're not sure if that is really the case or if they just don't want us to feel bad.

On Wednesday we got up and drove to Selma to deliver some medication to one of the Elders from the mission nurse that we got on Saturday at the Senior Couple activity.  I was still wearing my Tennis shoes so I didn't put on my tie to make the drive.  I didn't say anything to them when we got there so I am sure they were wondering about me.  We will have to explain when we go to do their inspection next week.  After we got back to Demopolis we picked up the sisters and headed to Sawyerville to deliver a Book of Mormon that had been requested.  They got a text on the way advising them that the person would not be home for the day.  We got the text just a few miles from the turnoff to Sister Roger's home who lost her husband in June.  She just got home from staying with her daughter in Northern Alabama.  We had picked up some Pero for her the day before in Tuscaloosa and we went to see her and deliver the Pero.  The bank had just repossessed her car because she could no longer make the payments.  Her house is out by the river in the middle of nowhere.  We told her we would come and get her Friday and take her to town to do her shopping and pay her bills.  We went back to town and met with Ollie to help her make out checks to get her bills paid.  The man who charges her $20 to go to the grocery store for her (in her car) helped her last month and charged her $40 to sit for 30 minutes and write checks for her.  Her hands shake so bad she can't write them.  I messed up on two or three of them and had half my signature on them before I remembered she was supposed to sign them.  We came home to pass out candy and didn't have anyone knock on the door all night.

We had told Ollie we would pick her up Friday to take her to a cousin's lunch at a restaurant to save her an additional $20 that Ross would have charged her after the $20 for taking her to her hair appointment earlier in the day (in her car-always).  Thursday morning we were figuring out how we were going to work that in to our day of shopping and bill paying with Sister Rogers when the phone rang.  Sister Borden was calling to make sure we were planning to pick her up for Book of Mormon class later that day.  I told her we would be there to get her and then she asked me what time we wanted to leave for Birmingham the next day (Friday).  She told us a couple weeks ago that the doctor said he couldn't do the test that was scheduled because she was considered high risk because of the health problems she has.  When she told us that we mistakenly understood that meant the appointment we had committed to take her to was cancelled.  I mentioned that to her and she said, "Oh no that was going to be in December, my appointment with the doctor is still scheduled for tomorrow."  I told her we thought it was cancelled and we had a full schedule already for Friday.  We would have to make some phone calls and get things worked out and we would be there to take her to Birmingham.  Book of Mormon class was awesome.  The sisters called to say they couldn't make it and Sister Jones was under the weather and said she wasn't coming so all we had to do was go to Sister Borden's to pick her up and go straight to class.  When it was over we just had to stop to drop her off on our way home and then go straight home.  We always make one trip to Greensboro and drop off Sister Jones and the sisters and then go back to the outside of Greensboro to get Sister Borden and bring her back to class then repeat the process after class is over before we go home. It was the shortest trip we have ever made for Book of Mormon class.

So, Friday morning with someone else picking up Charlotte to taking her shopping, we went to get Sister Borden and headed for Birmingham.  It was a pleasant drive and the trees are dropping their leaves and several of them have yellow and some red leaves.  It actually looked like Fall.  It was a nice thing to see.  It has finally cooled off enough around here that a person can actually be outside without feeling like they are in a blast furnace.  It feels so good and people everywhere are walking around with coats and gloves and hats on.  I don't understand it at all.  It was our first time to be right in the heart of downtown Birmingham.  The appointment was at a clinic right next to the Hospital. It is a very large impressive hospital (we didn't even think to take a picture of it). They didn't have patient parking.  They had a patient drop off area and valet parking only.  We dropped her off and drove about four or five blocks away and parked in an empty restaurant parking lot and waited until she was through and ready to go.  We got a good picture of the changing leaves while we were waiting (see attachment).

Saturday we got our P-day chores done and then went over and helped Ollie with a couple more checks she needed to get done.  We were ready to call it a day and we got a call from the sisters.  They wanted to come over and have me give them a blessing.  It is a privilege but certainly one I don't relish. It looks like it is a pretty regular thing every time transfers roll around.  I was a little puzzled this time because neither one of them are anticipating being transferred.  Brother  White called us Saturday and asked us to ask Bordens to pick him up and bring him to church.  He was in the hospital for the last three days because he had problems related to his Diabetes and didn't feel like he could drive but he didn't want to miss the sacrament.  We called Bordens and they said they wouldn't be to church because they had to go out of town.  We called Brother White back and told him we would be there to pick him up. 

Alabama has been talking about opting for year round daylight savings time, so when our phone changed time last night we woke up this morning not knowing for sure whether we knew the right time (since we have no connection with the outside world—internet, television, news, etc.).  We finally sent a text to President James to advise him I would miss Branch Presidency meeting so we could bring Brother White to church and confirmed the time with him.  Then we got a call from Brother White at 7:00 AM sharp wondering where we were because we were going to be there at 8 and he forgot about the time change.  He and Christopher were both there waiting.  I told him they could relax and we would be there in an hour.  I didn't say anything because I knew there would be room for Chris in the car.  We were half way there and we received a text from them that said "It 3 R US GOING."  We weren't quite ready for that since it was just Brother White as of the night before.  We responded telling them we weren't sure there is room but we will try.  We loaded up Chris and Thomas on either side of Sister Owens in the back seat, since Brother White can only sit in the front seat (with the seat all the way back and reclined quite a ways).  We made it to church and Sister Owens stayed at the church when I took them home, but I watched Thomas get in the back seat behind Brother White and I couldn't believe he actually got his legs in there, even though I watched him do it.  As always it was a great fast and testimony meeting.  I always love to hear the testimonies of the members here.  Especially President and Sister James.  They bear such strong testimonies of the Savoir and the sacrament.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

PS.  I apologize for the quality of the picture.  The cell phone doesn't do all that great.