So last week wasn't all that busy after all. Monday morning we walked an extra lap on our walking path since Sister Owens hadn't walked for a few days because of her training meeting Saturday. My foot was a little sore toward the end of the walk. When we got home I noticed that old familiar pain when I lifted my foot off the floor and was a little ticked because I have been taking my Allopurinol faithfully since December. I was going to get some customized ward lists made for the Branch Council but ended up sitting in the chair with my foot up for the day instead. Ollie called to postpone our Book of Mormon reading with she and Larry until Friday so that worked out well. We were going to go with the sisters in the evening for some appointments. I stayed home and Sister Owens went with them. The man they were going to meet was in Birmingham at his cousin's house. They went to read with an older blind black lady. She had taken some pain pills for some pain in her back and leg and didn't seem all that coherent. They invited her to come to church but she said she couldn't come because she has to play the drums at her church. They stopped at Walmart on the way home and bought some fresh ginger and we wrapped my foot in some ginger and raw honey for the night. The next morning I could walk pretty well.
We went to Tuscaloosa Tuesday for interviews with the President and then for District council. It was a little strange. We had interviews the last week of the transfer three weeks ago and we are having them the first week this time. On the way there Sister Weaver said she hasn't even had time to think of any questions to ask him yet. It is always good for us to get to visit with him and Sister Sainsbury whenever we get the chance. We told them about how we found the Bullards and what they told us last time we were there about our first visit with them. Elder Widtfeldt shared several excerpts from the Riciardi letter with us in District Council. It was a letter President Uchtdorf used in a talk to the missionaries a while back. It is about the relationship between a missionary in England and his trainer, who was from Italy, and what he learned from his trainer. It was some very worthwhile information for any missionary companionship. He made a copy of the whole letter for each of us.
Wednesday we got the branch lists done for the branch council. I separated the list into lists for each of the communities that are included in the Branch. As a Branch Council we are going to try to identify all the people that don't ever come to church and give them an invitation to come back. Sister Owens and I have been trying to do that since we got here but we get busy with other things we need to do to support the people in the branch. We have so few active people that actually have transportation that it is impossible to assign all the members to ministering brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, we are going to have to find out who is the least bit interested in being involved with the church and then try to utilize our resources to help them and check on the rest of them sometime later. The Stake Relief Society President told Sister Owens that that is just what we are going to have to do here because of our situation with so few active members.
Thursday was an interesting day. When we started the day we asked that the Lord would help us know who we needed to minister to during the day. After breakfast the phone started ringing. Beth needed to arrange for a ride to her diabetic class for the next six weeks. Sister James called to discuss getting beds for the Kirks when they move into their new apartment. Then we talked to Brother Smith to make arrangements for him to use his trailer to get the beds transported to Demopolis. Ollie called and said Larry and Ross were in Linden at the gas station and needed to start their car and she had the key at her house and she needed somebody to take it to them (proximity key). We told her we would come and get the key and take it to them. Just as we got the key from Ollie Sister Patterson called and said she was at her storage unit and her king size mattress had fallen over and she could not get it back up and needed our help. Her storage unit is located right on the road we take to Linden so we stopped there to help her and continued on to Linden with the key. Then Sister Jones called us (we have been trying to contact her for a week but there has been no answer on her phone and we stopped at her house this morning and nobody was home. She said she was home and wanted a ride to Book of Mormon class in Greensboro. We had to pick her up about twenty minutes later to make it to class on time. Last week when we got to class Brother White's wheel chair was in the lobby (that is never a good sign). We found out he went to the hospital that morning because he had so much pain in his shoulder. When we got to church last week he was there in his car and said he was going to stay for the sacrament and then he was going to go home. He was still in a lot of pain. We gave him a blessing before church and he left right after the sacrament and went home. The next week (last Saturday) they found him unresponsive in his apartment. The paramedics got him stabilized and took him to the hospital in Tuscaloosa. We have been calling the hospital everyday since Saturday to find out his condition and all they would ever tell us is that he was in ICU. When we called Thursday they said he was not listed as a patient so he must have gone home. When we arrived at Book of Mormon class Brother White was sitting in the passenger seat of a car at the front door. His brother had picked him up and brought him home. He was very tired and weak and went to his apartment to rest. His brother said he should still be in the hospital but he refused to stay any longer. He missed church again today but we were able to reach him finally on his phone and he said he is slowly regaining his strength. We are going to stop and see him on our way home from District Council this coming Tuesday.
Friday we helped Cedric move from their house to their new apartment. He said he was not moving any of their furniture except two televisions and a couple tables. He said he got everything off the street and it was full of bugs and they weren't taking any of it. He was going to get into the apartment at 10:00 AM so we went to his house at 9:40 to get a load to take in the car. All of his furniture and beds were out on the side of the street, including the bed frame the Smiths loaned to him and the mattress we bought to put on it. Cedric was not there so we drove to the apartment empty. He wasn't there either. We talked to the manager while we were waiting for him and she finally told us he was there about 9:40 to get the key and then left. So we drove back to his house and got there about 10:15. There was still no one there but the entire pile of furniture that was on the street when we left thirty minutes before was totally gone. There was no clue there had ever been anything there (I do love Alabama). Two trips, three cars, and ten cousins under the age of twelve later everything was out of the house and into the new apartment. The James had two beds for them that they were going to bring to Demopolis the night before and leave at the church. They never made it. All the furniture they had for them was in their garage in York. We had to have Brother Smith's trailer to transport it and they were planning on getting it from the church. They were not going to be able to go to York until late Saturday, after they got back from the temple. We were just getting ready to go to the store to get a couple air mattresses for them to use for the night when Brother Smith called and said they were just leaving York with two beds, two chairs, two futons and two end tables and an old office chair. We went to help get it all moved in and left them with the apartment fully furnished. They had another bed that was left in storage at the apartments and the manager gave it to them. Now each of the two girls have their own full size bed in their new bedroom after living with their parents in a one bedroom house and nothing to sleep on except the couch in the living room. We were pretty happy for them. It was interesting that we had an appointment with the Bullards at 6:00 pm. They called early in the afternoon and said they would have to cancel again. They ended up needing to leave town sooner than they had planned. So we were free for all the moving in the evening. We just walked in the door after moving the Kirks and the sisters called to see if we could go to an appointment with them right then. We told them we couldn't be available for at least an hour and ten minutes. They called and changed the appointment and said we could go then. We went with them to a single man (college age). He lived with his mother who got up and left the room when we got there. We invited her to stay. She said she doesn't believe in our teachings so she was going in the other room. His older brother stayed with us but didn't agree with what we were teaching them. We just read the introduction to the Book of Mormon with them and Jonah said he would read chapter one of I Nephi and we could come back to discuss it with him. His brother, Anthony, said it didn't matter what book you read as long as you accept Jesus and have the spirit when you die, you will go to heaven. We offered him a copy of the Book of Mormon to read. He said, "I'm good."
We had a great discussion with Joe Davis, the dispatcher at Dana Transport. We meet with him at the terminal where he works on the weekends. We think he is very sincere and willing to learn. I think he is about seventy-four years old. He has been to church before and all the leaders in the branch remember him and think he is a wonderful man. He is the one that says he is not a candidate for our church because he likes to drink coffee. Our goal is to help him understand that the Lord doesn't want him to drink coffee, it is not just a rule in "our church." We committed him to pray about the restoration and Joseph Smith. He told us he feels the Book of Mormon is true. He has already read it. I think we kind of ganged up on him with the four of us testifying to him and committing him. He seemed to take it all in stride though. Later that night the sisters took Sister Owens to a discussion with Betty Purse out in Boligee. She is a lady in her fifties who lives with her mother while her home is being repaired. She loves everything the sisters have shared with her and is reading the Book of Mormon.
She told them she was coming to church today. She drove her own car (what a miracle) and got there this morning thirty minutes early (well before the sisters arrived). Andrea and her Methodist mother came to church today for the first time in over a month. I think Helen only came because she wanted to "bear her testimony." As soon as the time was turned over to the congregation she got up and went to the podium. She proceeded to tell us all about the dream she had where she was in a big group of people and they were captured by terrorists and blindfolded. She kept telling the terrorists they didn't want to do what they were doing because they were just following Satan and he didn't care anything about them. She finally got loose and got the head terrorist's knife and stabbed him eight times before he could shoot her with his gun and she saved everybody there. They escaped and got outside and found out the army was having maneuvers there and they all rose up from the ground. They thought they were going to rescue them but they just wanted them so they could give them information about the terrorists. She wanted us all to know that Satan doesn't care about us and we should stay away from him. Then she said "thank you" and started back to her seat. Half way there she said, "Oh, wait. I wanted to tell you about my daughter." She walked back to the podium and told us all about her experience in the hospital when they almost lost Andrea. When she finally finished President James got up to bear his testimony and did a tremendous job of getting the spirit back into the meeting. What a great meeting for the counselor in the Stake Presidency to visit. Betty was there and still had another appointment with Sister Owens and the sisters tonight (it is such a comfort, sometimes, to know the church is true). She must be golden. Although she did mention that that was very interesting. Oh yes, when Betty left after church in her own car she had to have it jumped by Brother Smith because the battery was dead (I do love Alabama).
We hope y'all had a wonderful week.
Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon every day.
We love y'all,
Elder and Sister Owens
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