Dear Family and Friends,
The weather has driven the lady bugs indoors. They are like flies in Idaho except they just fly around a while and then die and we sweep them up and throw them away. Brother Smith told us they are not indigenous but have been brought in to the state and don't have any natural predators.
We started the week with a senior couple activity for December. We toured the only Hyundai manufacturing plant in the United States (attachment #1). They manufacture 1350 automobiles every day. It was a fascinating tour. We also visited the White House of the Confederacy in Montgomery and the Alabama State Capital Building. Attachment #2 is all the seniors in the lobby of the Hyundai plant.
Tuesday we attended our last District Council for this transfer. Attachment #3 is a picture of our unique district. All sisters except for two senior couples and the District Leader and his companion. On the way home we stopped in Eutah and treated the sisters to lunch at West End Grocery. It is actually a service station with a quick stop grocery and a kitchen ran by a member of our branch. She teaches Relief Society once a month. She does all the cooking and serves lunches over the counter. President James says she has a following. Whenever she changes employers most of the customers start going wherever she is. We have eaten there twice. She makes an awesome chicken pot pie and Tuesday we had hamburger steak with rice and beans. The steak was a little salty but very very good. I don't think the sisters were really excited to eat at the little cafeteria tables in the service station but they did say thank you.
Wednesday we put Light the World posters in the Post Office and the City Library. We get to do some secret Santa things for members of the branch. We enlisted the help of the Librarian, Miss Connie, to deliver a gift card to one of the members. She said she is always happy to play Santa Claus. She is a really neat lady that knows several people in the branch and has known several sets of missionaries and is a self proclaimed good friend to our church, but is a very staunch Baptist. We just keep working on her. Later we went to read from the Book of Mormon again with Larry and Ollie. Larry is a Viet Nam war vet with PTSD and has some really difficult challenges, but he really loves us to read to him (he doesn't read). We are reading with him at least once a week now and still wreak of tobacco when we leave but we hope it is doing some good.
Thursday we went and helped Ollie set up auto payment for several monthly bills and took her to a couple places where she had to do some paperwork. Then we did her grocery shopping for her at Walmart. Sister Owens says it was the most frustrating time she has ever spent in Walmart. We don't know if anyone was a little surprised that the missionaries for the Church were buying coffee. At least we didn't have to get cigarettes for her hired help. In spite of the frustrations, I think we saved her about $60 that her driver would have charged her to take her to the power company, the credit card company and to do her shopping for her. We were a little pressed for time to get the cole slaw and fish taco fixins ready for the Book of Mormon class. Sister Borden said she was bringing catfish so we thought we would introduce them to a new way to eat it. They all tried it but one. I'm not sure how many of them would do it again but a few of them said they really liked it.
We had to make a trip to Montgomery Friday and Sister James called us early in the morning and said she had a check for Sister Rogers to help her with her down payment on a car. She was hesitant to drive out to her house on the river and asked if we would be willing to take it out to her. We told her we would and she brought it to us. As we were leaving we called Sister Rogers to make sure she was home. She was across the street from us at the car dealership. We took the check over just as she was completing a test drive with the salesman. She was able to complete the purchase with the check from the James and we didn't have to go to Eutaw before we went to Montgomery. Neat how the Lord works. We met a member of the National Guard a few months ago in Walmart that is a member of the church. They are from northern Alabama but his doctor is here in Demopolis. We told him we would love to have him and his wife over the next time she came with him to Demopolis. When the day came we had to cancel on them because they scheduled a Zone Conference that day. He called us Thursday and said the Guard was doing toys for Tots and they had a few toys left over and wanted to do something for Demopolis. We forwarded the names of about eight children that we got from Sister James and told him we had more if he needed them. He said, "No, that's plenty. I wasn't expecting quite that many names." He said he would get right on it and get back to us.
Saturday we left at noon for our two hour training meeting with Elder Johnson (the area seventy that was our previous Stake President) and Elder Costa. Elder Johnson spent the first hour giving us training on ministering and then told us a little bit about Elder Costa. They both had joined the church when President Kimball was the prophet. He told us Elder Costa has been a general authority longer than anyone other than President Nelson, President Oaks, President Eyring, President Ballard, and Elder Holland. Then Elder Costa spoke to us for the last hour. The meeting was for Bishops, Clerks, Elders Quorum Presidents and Relief Society Presidents from six stakes. It was an experience we will always treasure. It was one of those times when the general authority just talks to us and shares several personal experiences and teaches so many things on a personal level. He will be given emeritus status in just a few months when he turns seventy. He told us when we minister the way the Lord intends for us to minister and we truly get to know the people to whom we minister that we actually become more like Christ. He pointed out how Christ knows all of us so well. He knows our very soul. When we get to really know people, that is when we start to truly care about them, and start to pray for them and to put their names in the temple. One of the things Elder Johnson told us is that effective ministering leads to the Temple and begins with love. Elder Costa said several miracles are happening in the church because we are becoming more like Christ. That is one of the reasons for our ministering assignments. It is such a privilege to be able to listen to the servants of the Lord.
Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon everyday.
We love y'all,
Elder and Sister Owens
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