Dear Family and Friends,
Truly there is a prophet in Israel. What an awesome message from President Nelson in the Christmas Devotional tonight. We hope all y'all got to hear it. The whole meeting was tremendous, as it is every year.
We thought you might be interested to see Sister Owens' entry in her Journal for Monday:
"Sunny and cold this morning. Went to the church to take down the "Be Thankful" bulletin board. Sister Patterson is helping me do one for "Light The World" for December… We spent three hours this afternoon helping a sister write checks for her bills and balance her checkbook. We wreak of tobacco and marijuana. Her husband, her care giver, and her son all smoke something. Our clothes really pick it up and so does my hair. I have to shower when I come home. For home evening and companion study we read the first few pages of "Come Follow Me for personal and family study." It is marvelous. It will be so fun to study the gospel this way. We are hopeful each of our children will study each week with our grandchildren. It will bless and strengthen them. We can't bear the thought of losing any of them."
We went to District Council on Tuesday. The sisters have always been between five and ten minutes late coming out of their apartment regardless of what time I tell them we need to leave. Last time was Zone Conference. Sister Owens politely told them it is not in good form to be late. One of the sisters responded by saying they had total faith that I would get them there on time. Well, since I decided not to break the speed limit that day, we got to conference about seven or eight minutes late. The sisters got a call from one of the President's assistants exactly when the conference started. He was wondering where they were. So we arrived at the sisters apartment Tuesday morning to pick them up for District Council and they were stranding on the curb waiting for us. They told us this time, no matter what, they were going to be early. We'll see if they are early this next week or if it is like when the Bishop stands up and tells the congregation we need to be more reverent in Sacrament meeting.
Wednesday was a very frustrating day for us. More than a month ago we promised a member of the branch that we would reserve the day for her so we could take her to her doctor appointment (it was even going to be in her car, she just needed someone else to drive). So that morning she called to tell us we wouldn't have to take her because her sister would take her. It has been frustrating lately because no one could decide on a definite plan to participate in the Christmas on the River celebration this Saturday. President James finally just told us the branch wouldn't do anything. Having a booth on the square would have been a little expensive for the branch but we talked about inviting those who wanted to (out of the 25,000 people who come for the event), to come to the branch building and have a free cinnamon roll and hot chocolate while they warm up for the nautical parade that evening. We entertained the idea of asking him again if we could do it but decided against it since he already said we shouldn't. It was hard to approach him about it when he had announced to the branch that we would keep our meeting time the same next year (9:00 AM) because he wanted families to have the extra time later in the day to spend studying together. Then in our implementation meeting with the Stake the Stake President said he wanted all of the stake to meet at 10:00 AM. Even though he disagreed, President James announced the next week that our meeting time will be 10:00 AM because he intends to support our leaders. So we never did decide on a way to be of service on Saturday. After Coordination meeting we were going with the sisters to an appointment to deliver a Book of Mormon to a single man. The sisters were on exchange (for 24 hours) with the training leaders and the sister here with Sister Tennison was one of the Spanish speaking sisters (she is not Spanish). When discussing the referral in coordination meeting, Brother Smith asked who it was, thinking it was a person the sisters had taught about a year ago. It was a different person but the sisters decided we would try to see the other person as well. We had to call the referral to get his address and he did not answer his phone, so we went to the other family that had been taught previously. We had just stopped in front of his house when he drove up behind us. We went to the door and Sister Womeldorf started talking to him in Spanish. He invited us in and we made a couple comments about his beautiful Christmas tree and he just looked at Sister Womeldorf and she told him what we said. We and Sister Tennison didn't say anything for the next fifteen minutes while he and Sister Womeldorf spoke with each other. When we got back in the car I told Sister Womeldorf I thought it was amazing that she could do that. She said it had to be the spirit because she hasn't spoken that much Spanish for a long time. He told her they had gone to church a couple times before and they would be interested in having the missionaries come back and teach them again (Brother Smith speaks Spanish and can be there for the discussions). We called the referral they had and he still didn't answer his phone. It is neat to see how the Lord works and has the right people in the right place at the right time.
Friday morning Sister Owens went to put up the new bulletin board (attachment #1) with Sister Patterson and we decided I would stay home and make some cinnamon rolls (attachment #2) and we would go and deliver them to people with a Light the World pass along card and encourage them to do service to others this month to honor the Savior. Our next door neighbor who just moved and left a plant and some area rugs which they said we could use just moved around the corner from us (so we thought; he did back up to the garage and unload a couch). There was just him and his mother so we brought our little plate of four rolls and went to the back door (here if you go to the front door they think your are a politician or a salesman). When we walked up the driveway we noticed a man sitting at a table with the porch light behind him so we couldn't see his face. I assumed it was Josh and set the rolls in from of him and we started visiting with him. Well, he wasn't Josh and Josh and his mother didn't move into his house. I asked how many people were in his house and he said "about fifteen right now." His name was Frank and Josh was his nephew and Josh's mother was his sister. They actually moved around the corner and down the street from him with Josh's brother. They were moving the couch into Frank's garage because they didn't have room for it where they were moving. To make a long story short (well not as long, anyway) Frank lives in that house. His mother lives with him. He has five siblings and most of them live in the same neighborhood. We went home and got another dozen rolls and brought them back and were invited in. We got to visit for a while with all of them. They are a really neat close knit family. Their dad died about fifteen years ago. They were so gracious to us. Sister Owens is going to get their mom's chili recipe and we need to find a way to introduce them to the gospel.
Saturday it rained in the morning during the COTR celebration, but the rest of the day was well over 70 degrees. Interesting how inspired our Branch President is about not having hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls. It was shirt sleeve weather for the nautical parade on the river at night. We can't tell you how that went, we didn't go. We cleaned the Branch building instead.
The Reed family (father, mother, and three children) have been meeting with the sisters for a few weeks. At their last meeting the sisters asked when they could meet with them again and they said they weren't sure but they were coming to church with us this week. The mom and two of the kids were there. Their dad was gone with the national guard. Their nine year old boy is in class with one of the Smith children from the branch. In class they were talking about scriptures. They said they have the Bible. Clarisa explained that we have the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Bryant (the Reed boy) went to Clarisa and said, "Do you believe in the Book of Mormon?" Clarisa told him yes and he said, "So do we! The missionaries are teaching us." Clarisa asked who the missionaries were and Bryant told her their names and Clarisa said, "Those are our missionaries." Bryant always has to pray when the sisters come to teach them. He insists. They only stayed today for testimony meeting. Just observing them, Bryant and his younger sister seemed to me to be more engaged in the meeting than their Mother did. They seem like a really neat family. The sisters say when the kids ask questions during the lessons their mother explains it to them and tells them exactly what the sisters just taught them. We hope we will get to meet the father next week. This evening we got to watch the First Presidency Devotional at the branch building with the Sisters. It is broadcast on BYU TV and most of the members do get that so they don't come back to the building for the devotional. It is quite a long drive for them. We are going to download it and show it to those who didn't get to see it.
Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon
And serve others this Christmas season
We love y'all,
Elder and Sister Owens
PS. We volunteered to come and read the Book of Mormon with the pot smoking husband each week. We aren't sure who will develop a new habit first. We hope it will be him.
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