Dear Family and Friends,
The highlight of the week was Caleb's ordination by his father, Robert, today. Our number four grandson is now a priest. We are pleased with him and all our grandsons and their service in the priesthood.
We just love Alabama. Monday we went to read the Book of Mormon with Ollie and Larry. We read one chapter and Larry said that was really good, and if he could just go and get a cup of coffee he could probably make it through one more chapter. He did and we did. Monday night we had another discussion with James and the sisters, and set another appointment for Wednesday. We were going to pick him up and bring him back to the church for the lesson on Wednesday but he was out of town with his sister and couldn't come so we rescheduled for Friday. The PM group came Friday to clean the carpets so we couldn't meet at the church. So the Friday appointment ended up in his apartment again with the two kitchen chairs and the five of us around the one light bulb in his table lamp. He was late because he was painting at the Baptist church. He is in desperate need of food, lodging, transportation, and employment. He was supposed to be out of his apartment Friday but he got home and his things were still in the apartment so he stayed there, for that night anyway. He has two sisters in Demopolis but says he can't stay with either of them. He has no friends that can help and the Baptist church seems to love his willingness to paint for them but doesn't seem to be willing to provide any kind of assistance.
Our interviews with the mission president were scheduled for Tuesday but we were informed Monday night that they were postponed until Thursday because of a forecast snowstorm on Tuesday that was going to bring 3 to 6 inches of snow to the area. It messed us up because we all had the whole day clear for the trip to Tuscaloosa and interviews and District Council then we were home with nothing scheduled to do for the day. All the schools and the banks were closed for the storm and all we had was a little rain in the morning (Attachment #2, Alabama blizzard). I received a jury summons last week and took time Tuesday to go to the church and get on line to complete the questionnaire before I called them to be excused. I tried to put in the 2098 miles for the distance from my home to the courthouse but the field only accepted two digits. Then I called them and they asked for a copy of my call letter, which I provided, and they sent a letter excusing me from service. We tried again to see Sister Rogers out on the river but when we called to see if we could come she explained that her son had not slept for four days and was high on something and she wasn't sure what he might do, so she didn't want us to come. Kind of a wasted day all around.
Wednesday we were going to take Ollie to sign up for free food at one of the churches. We were going to pick her up between 7:30 and 8:00 AM and she called and said it was too cold. She didn't want to go out because the roads would be icy. Everything was canceling for us everywhere. We decided to take Sister Owens to the Doctor to get a prescription for her Thyroid medication. Two phone calls over the past week hasn't accomplished anything. We only had to wait two hours and she got her blood work done and a prescription called in to the pharmacy. It would have taken longer than that if we had made an appointment here in Alabama. I think we are learning how to do things here. We had coordination meeting with Brother Smith, and then our appointment with James fell through. The sisters were on exchange with the STLs (sister training leaders) all day Wednesday so we kind of gave them a bad time because we had to go an hour earlier the next morning because the sister that was in our area with Sister Weaver had her interview scheduled an hour earlier than ours were scheduled.
When we picked them up Thursday morning we had to apologize to Sister Waite and make sure she didn't think we were mad at her. We weren't sure she understood our sense of humor. The time we spent with President and Sister Sainsbury was great. We all visit quite a while with Sister Sainsbury while President Sainsbury is interviewing the missionaries individually then the couples each get to go in (us and then the Hursts) and Sister Sainsbury comes in too and we get to have a good visit with both of them. Then after all the interviews we have our District Council and the Sainsbury's leave to go to their next round of interviews. Our District Leader/Assistant to the President is going home this Wednesday. I was quite impressed with him thinking he was very mature for his age. Then I found out last week he is older than any of the other missionaries in the mission (senior couples excepted). He is the one that did the back flip for the talent show at Christmas (video sent earlier). On the way home Sister Tennyson got to choose where we stopped to eat because we are pretty sure she is leaving the area Wednesday. She has been here now for three transfers.
Friday was the first day of a new month and Sister Owens got a little carried away and gave the Smith boys fifteen dollars for one lousy quart of Gumbo to support the High School Soccer team. We couldn't pick it up until Saturday. We went with the sisters to two appointments they had scheduled with single men during the afternoon. They both fell through. The next door neighbor answered her door when we knocked on the door for one of the appointments (apartment complex) and Sister Weaver found another Chicago connection. She seems to find people everywhere she goes that spent time in Chicago which is where she is from. Then Friday night we had our meeting with James.
Saturday we got some of the laundry done and went to pick up the Gumbo. We definitely found out we do not like Gumbo!! At least not Alabama Gumbo. Their little ticket we had to redeem to get our quart said on it, "This is no Mumbo Gumbo." Well, I might try the Mumbo Gumbo, but probably not. That was the most awful tasting thing either of us have ever experienced. We were sick the whole rest of the day. We had to get a Hot and Ready cheese pizza from Little Caesars to try to cover up the taste and that actually didn't help much. I think the Smiths were trying to do in the Senior missionaries. We went with the sisters to an appointment in the afternoon. He had the lessons about a year and a half ago and liked what he learned and agreed with it but, as he explained to us, he just isn't a candidate for membership in our church because he likes coffee and doesn't want to give it up. We met with him where he works. He is a weekend dispatcher at a trucking company. He is an older gentleman that is blind in one eye and has a hard time seeing with the other one. He has worked there for about twenty years. All he really does is handle problems that come up across the nation with any of the drivers that call in over the weekend. He did get one call during the hour we spent with him from a driver in South Dakota that thought he had run out of fuel. Four of the fourteen youth in the ward that were scheduled to go to the youth conference this Saturday in Bessemer didn't go. They were all in the same family and one of them got the flu and they never go anywhere or do anything unless they go together, so they all stayed home. Ten of them did go and didn't get home until about 9:00 PM. We were going to get a group picture of them before they left but the Smiths didn't stop at the church before they left and the James had to pick up the Kirk girls on the way out of town. We took a picture of the two youth that came in from Greensboro (attachment #2) because we thought they were the first ones there but it ended up they were the only ones that left from the church. The boy is fourteen and is about eight inches taller than I am.
It was a little disappointing today. We only had eighteen people in church. President James, Brother White, and I were the only men there. Aquavian (boy in Attachment #2) was the only other male there. Brother Smith had to work this week end and Sister Smith took the whole family to the youth conference and babysat the three younger ones there all day so all nine of them missed church today. It was a lot different than the sixty-six that were there last week. It was the fewest in attendance since we got here eleven months ago. Our gospel doctrine class with five women (including Shearsten, our non-member that wants to be baptized next week) was really good. We talked a lot about how doctrine differs between the church and others in the world today. I wondered if Shearsten might be a little offended at some of the comments that were made. When Sister Owens took her home she said she was so glad she was there today. She really enjoyed the Sunday School class. It is so neat to realize that congregation size is no indication as to whether or not it is the Lords true church. The spirit was really strong and after the closing prayer everybody stayed about fifteen minutes talking about the new curriculum and how much they liked it and how everybody should read every week so they can share insights each week in class.
Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon every day.
We love y'all,
Elder and Sister Owens
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