Week 62: Ministering to the sick and afflicted; The shoe's on the other foot

Dear Family and Friends,

So this week wasn't too much different from last week except we didn't spend any money on doctors and hospitals.  Sister Owens stayed in the apartment all week recuperating.  She has been very tired and weak all week long.  She has been improving little by little.  It seems to take a lot longer at this age, especially with the heat, humidity, and pollen we have to put up with here.  Wednesday she was doing pretty well so I joined the two active families in the branch at a service project in Livingston.  A family in the branch had a visit from the insurance agent while they were gone.  He went all around the yard and took pictures and then sent them to the family and said if things weren't cleaned up and repaired within two weeks they would cancel their insurance.  So about ten of us, including the sister missionaries, did some mowing, trimming, weeding, and fence repair for a few hours before the sun went down.  I was glad we got to it in the spring while it was only 90 degrees and 85% humidity at 8:30 PM instead of waiting a couple weeks and having temperatures in the 100s.

Interviews were scheduled for next week and we planned on missing them because we were going to be at girls camp that week, but they posted the schedule Wednesday and interviews for our district were going to be this Friday.  We decided that whether Sister Owens is fully recovered or not that it will not be wise to go to girls camp.  She felt she was letting Sister James down because she wouldn't be there to help her.  I finally convinced her that she would not be any help to her and would actually just add to her burden, because she would have to be in the cabin with her dust mask on every day and Sister James would have to take care of all the girls and worry about Sister Owens all week as well.  She finally admitted it would be better for everyone if she stayed home.  Our little branch has more girls (9) going to camp than any other ward in the stake.  One ward only has two girls going, so they are going to have them join one of the other wards and their leader can come and work with Sister James for the week.

My routine doctor's appointment was scheduled for this Friday and we had our interviews scheduled.  Sister Owens wanted to see how she would do getting out and about after being in the apartment since last Thursday night, so we both took off for Tuscaloosa bright and early Friday morning.  She did pretty well for the two and a half hours in the waiting room at the Doctor's office.  The other people in the waiting room were probably a little puzzled when they called me back to see the doctor instead of the woman sitting next to be with the mask on her face.  The doctor was happy with everything but suggested that since I didn't get my second pneumonia shot last year (I thought I was only supposed to have one) that I should go ahead and get it while I was there.  So I had my Prevnar shot and we went to get a little bit of brunch before we went to the church for interviews.  Sister Owens was pretty tired by then so we went to the church so she could lie down for a couple hours before the interviews started.  We arrived two hours before the interviews started and all the missionaries cars were there (??).  We went in and they were having District Council and they had two empty chairs in the circle.  We sat down and apologized for being late, but we were not informed that there was a meeting.  We missed the mission temple trip the day before so they were pretty sure we wouldn't be coming to District Council and they didn't let us know the meeting time had changed (they usually schedule it for right after the interviews).  After the meeting the elders and sisters went to eat some lunch and we relaxed for a while in the foyer waiting for President and Sister Sainsbury.  When they arrived we crowded to the front of the line (we were second on the schedule anyway) and had our interview.  We didn't want to miss this one since they are going home July 1^st, so we won't have a chance for another one.  We left to come home as soon as our interview was over.  Sister Owens was pretty tuckered out by the time we got home.

Sitting in meetings or waiting for interviews being the only thing we did after my appointment with the doctor, I really didn't move around or use my arm much.  On the way home I noticed that my shoulder was pretty sore.  When we got home it was a little swollen and pretty hot to the touch.  It itched a lot but really hurt if I tried to scratch it.  We called the doctor's office and asked why they didn't bother to tell me how much it was going to hurt by the end of the day.  They said I was having a reaction and told me to pick up some pills to take for a couple days and I should be okay.  So Saturday I was in my chair with my sore arm and Sister Owens was in here chair recovering from the long day the day before.  Great way to spend our first (second, actually) Saturday that wasn't our P-day.  We did go with the sisters to visit Joe Davis at the trucking company in the evening.

Sunday Sister Owens felt she was rested up enough to go to church.  We got there at 9:00 AM for Branch Council and it was about 4:00 PM  by the time we got home from taking everybody home after the Self Reliance class.  She decided Sunday was a pretty long day as well.  We got a text that the sisters were teaching a Hispanic man in Linden and wanted to know if Sister Owens could come with them.  Brother Smith was going to meet them there to interpret for them.  She was pretty tired but thought she should go with them.  Then they sent another text and said the man was coming to Demopolis to the Walmart and they didn't know if they would meet with him or not.  Then they said he texted them and they were going to meet with him at the branch building and wanted us to meet them there.  The sisters had some extra time one evening last week so they decided to make a face book post about the Book of Mormon in Spanish because face book would translate their comments to Spanish for them.  This man, Ezekiel, recognized the Book from seeing it a couple years ago in Mexico and responded to their post.  They have been posting back and forth using the face book interpreter since then.  He is from Vera Cruz and comes back and forth to the US to get work when he can.  He is a very nice and humble man and was very excited when he found our what the Book of Mormon is about.  He said the closing prayer in Spanish and the sisters are going to introduce him to the Spanish missionaries in Tuscaloosa who will be teaching him using face book messenger.  He will come to church at our branch.  Sister Owens was really glad she said she would come even though she felt so tired.  She says she is really glad the Lord even has a calling for the dead grandma in the closet (family joke we will have to explain sometime).

The work goes on.  We are glad we are here and hope to be back up to speed soon.   We love you all and appreciate your faith and prayers in our behalf.  We feel it all the time.  Thank you.

Keep the Commandments and read your Book of Mormon every day (it's a special gift)

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 61: Definitely our worst week yet; The Owens are an easy mark to the Alabama medical community

Dear Family and Friends,

After Timothy’s baptism and our standing appointment with Joe Davis on Saturday evening we finally got our P-day changed over to Monday (we never had time to do chores on Saturday).  So after a nagging cough for two weeks we decided to call the clinic on Monday to see if Sister Owens could come in and see if they could do something for her.  They said they do not schedule same day appointments but we could come in and get our name on the list.  We went in at 11:00 AM and left with a prescription at about 5:00 PM.  The first thing they did when they got her in about 3:00 was take a blood sample and do a chest x-ray.  They assured her she didn’t have pneumonia but she does have an infection in her lungs.  They gave her a sample COPD inhaler and said to use it and take her pills and she would feel like a new woman in two days.

Wednesday came and she felt worse than she did on Monday instead of better.  We ate lunch and went to the Emergency Care center (MedCenter).  The first thing they did was a full blood workup and do a chest x-ray.  The blood work caused them to suspect a possibility of blood clots in the lungs or the legs.  So they sent us to the hospital for a CT scan and MRI.  They gave us a prescription for a different antibiotic (turns out the one we got from the clinic was for deep tissue and skin infections).  We went to the hospital at 6:00 PM for the tests and got home about 8:30.  Her breathing was becoming quite labored.  We called our mission nurse again and she listened to her on the phone and said I should get her to the hospital in Tuscaloosa either by car or ambulance and admit her to the ER. She told us to get all of her meds and make sure we took them with us.  We sacked them up and after being on the road for forty-five minutes we realized they were all still in the sack back home on the kitchen table.  We got to the Hospital in Tuscaloosa a little after 10:00 PM.  After midnight we actually got to a treatment room in the ER and of course the first thing they did was a complete blood workup (I was a little surprised she had any left to give).  The ER doctor ordered a chest x-ray and called Demopolis to get the results of the CT scan and MRI.  He said they ruled out blood clots but they were very concerned about her shortness of breath (the clinic said they detected a sleight heart murmur, no one else noticed one).  He felt they should admit her and have an ultrasound done on her heart and consult with a cardiologist and they might let her go home after that.  So they moved her (and her bed) to the hallway of the ER where we waited until 5:00 AM when they moved her up to room 549.  The first thing they did there was take a blood sample (which they did every three hours from then until we left at 7:00 PM that night).  A different nurse came in every hour on the hour for one reason or another (check vitals, get blood sample, see if we needed anything, etc.).  We didn’t see a doctor until just before lunch when the cardiologist came in and listened to her heart.  She told her it sounded good. She ordered the ultrasound and said she suspected it was just some bronchitis.  She went after lunch for the ultrasound and then we spent the rest of the day waiting for the results of the test and to see the admitting doctor.  The nurses said it sounded like things were okay and we would probably get to go home, so Sister Owens got dressed.  About 6:00 PM the Doctor walked in to the room and looked at both of us and said, “Where did she go?”  We said, “Who?”  She said, “The Patient.”  Sister Owens showed her the wrist band.  I guess she was a little puzzled that she was dressed.  She hadn’t gotten the test results yet and had not spoken with the cardiologist and was just finding out where we were with everything.  We told her what had been done and that things seemed to be good.  She said she just had to confirm all that and left the room.  The nurse met her outside the door and confirmed everything and the cardiologist had told them everything was good on the ultrasound (we never saw her again after she listened to Sister Owens heart before lunch). They ordered a wheelchair to take her down to patient pick up, so I left to walk around to the ER parking lot to get the car and come around to pick her up.  We weren’t sure how long it would take for the wheelchair since it took three hours for someone to come and get her to take her up to the room in the first place.  She finally went to the nurses desk and asked if she could just walk down since her husband was waiting in the car.  The nurse said she would walk down with her.  Thus ended our first (and hopefully last) in house experience at the hospital in Alabama.  We got home about 9:30 PM and went to bed and slept through the night and most of the next day, getting up occasionally to take pills.

We had planned to take Timothy to Stake Conference this weekend and we had to make other arrangements.  Sister Owens takes her medication and just feels like sleeping and has been doing just that for a couple of days now.  Most of the Branch members have been calling us to see how we are doing and offering to help in any way they can.  Brother White calls us about once a day to check and see how she is doing.  I had gone without her to walk last Wednesday and one of the grounds workers that we always see on our walk asked how my wife was doing.  I told him she is fighting a bad cough.  He said to tell her he would be praying for her.  We had never said anything but good morning to each other as we passed him while he was working (I love Alabama). President and Sister James stopped by our apartment on their way home from conference today to see how we are doing.  They are really neat people.  We will be laying low for this next week to try to get her over this in time for Girls Camp, since they won’t be able to go if she can’t go with them.  She will have to take her Flonase and her dust masks and stay inside the cabin all week so it doesn’t flare up again.

Sister Richetto, the mission nurse assigned to our part of the alphabet, told us they have about two and a half times the amount of pollen here than we have in Utah and Idaho.  Of course the Magnolia trees are in bloom right now (see attachments).  Maybe that is what got her so bad.  They all have told us her bronchitis is from her reaction to all the pollen in the air right now.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon every day.

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 60: Routine week....except for the baptism

Dear Family and Friends,

We were worried about Brother White being home alone Monday since he was so weak when I took him home on Sunday.  So we went out to check on him.  He was down in the community room in his chair with his arm stretched out on the table and his head resting on his arm.  He was having a hard time staying awake while we visited with him. He told us he would really like some chicken noodle soup, so we went and bought some and brought it back and went up to his apartment with him and heated it up and he ate about three bites of it and asked us to put it in the fridge.  We could hardly make room for it.  There was so much stuff in the fridge that he had gotten to eat and then couldn't eat so he put ii in the fridge to save.  We found a hamburger that was still warm on the table in the living room that his niece had brought to him.  It had one bite out of it and we had to make room for it in the fridge as well.  He has lost a lot of weight in the last five or six weeks.  We are starting to worry about him quite a bit.  While we were there a neighbor came who said they (management) had asked her to check on him each day.  We felt a lot better when we found out she was doing that.  She was going to take him to dialysis the next day and would talk to his doctor about the list of medications on his discharge sheet from the hospital. She said she would help make sure he took the medication according to schedule.  We left Brother White and decided to stop in Sawyerville to try to locate some branch members.  Pretty typical.  The first one we went to was a trailer that looked like it had been vacant for years.  No neighbors at home and no answer on the phone that was a South Carolina number.  I did an address search later and found another one listed for them up the road a few miles.  We will try to check that one out this week and see if we have better luck.  The address for the next one we tried to find is shown in the picture above (attachment #3) (I Love Alabama). "Posted No Trespassing"  His number is disconnected. The satellite view shows a house off in the distance behind the trees. Probably won't bother whoever lives there.

Sister Owens hasn't been feeling all that great for about a week.  We didn't do much on Tuesday other than help Ollie with her finances and try to encourage her to stop giving so much money to her care givers.  She is spending way to much money every month.  She has a trust fund in the bank and just keeps asking them to put more money in her account because she runs out.  At this rate she will probably run out of money  before we come home from the mission.

Wednesday I had to do a little maintenance on the car.  I had to change the headlight on the battery side (of course) for the second time in about three months.  Going to have to figure out what's going on.  I had to clean up the battery with my toothbrush (makeshift terminal cleaner) while I had it out of the car.  We also found out we picked up a nail in one of the tires (probably in Sawyerville).  We got enough air in it Tuesday to last until we got to Costco after Zone Conference on Thursday. The sisters asked us to pick up Timothy at the library and take him to Sonic for some ice cream (attachment #2) to celebrate his baptism coming on Saturday.  Wednesday night the sisters needed us to go to see James with them at 8:00 PM.  He texted them during the day that he had to go to Birmingham to the ER with his girlfriend and wouldn't be back until about 1:00 AM.  They asked if we would go with them and check at his apartment anyway.  We did.  He was there and wouldn't answer the door.  He looked out through the curtains twice to see who was there but would not open the door.  Sister Weaver is quite frustrated with him.  At this point in her mission she has no problem with rejection but she doesn't like people wasting her time and lying to her.

Thursday was another Zone Conference in Birmingham.  We were the first Zone for this transfer. That lasted until about 4:30 and then we had to go to Costco to get the tire repaired.  They told me it would take about an hour.  After an hour and a half I thought I should check in case they didn't have my correct phone number.  They told me they were repairing it right then.  An hour later I had to check again and they told me they were wrapping it up right then.  We are still hoping someday to leave Birmingham in the daylight to come home but it hasn't happened yet.  We got home about 9:30.

Friday was Relief Society monthly meeting.  We started about eight to get to Greensboro and get Sister Borden back for the meeting.  In two days she never said anything to us until we turned toward Demopolis.  Then she said "Sister Nixon's coming."  She doesn't come because she volunteers at the VA on Friday.  So we planned to get to Demopolis in time for the meeting and had to take another fifteen minutes to get Sister Nixon.  I got to speed all the way again so they could start on time (I love Alabama).  It's interesting how it worked out.  Sister Borden told us the night before that she talked to Sister Jones and she was planning on us picking her up to come to Greensboro to get Sister Borden (Sister Jones is in Demopolis but loves to ride in the car).  We knew she had been ill earlier in the week so as we were on our way to her house we called her and she told us she wasn't coming.  Had she come, it would have been an interesting feat to get the three of them in the back seat of our car to get them to Demopolis.  As it was, we just had Sister Borden and Sister Nixon.  After the meeting we took them home and got back to Demopolis just in time to turn around and go back to get them for Book of Mormon class (we moved it to Friday because we had Zone Conference on Thursday).  I was just too tired to make the trip again so we called and cancelled the class.  The sisters sent a text telling us Timothy would need a ride to his baptism on Saturday and asked if we could pick him up (he lives in Forkland, about twenty minutes away).

Saturday morning I went walking without Sister Owens because she still wasn't feeling all that great.  I ended up getting drenched to the bone in a rainstorm.  I got home and had plenty of time to shower and we could get Timothy to the church by 11:30 for the Noon baptism.  The Sisters texted us and said they wanted him there by 11:00 (crunch time again).  We had a good service (attachment #2).  President James was there.  He was planning to be in New Orleans to see his mother for mother's day but something must have changed.  Brother Smith (mission leader) was working a plant closure for maintenance and was going to try to come on a long lunch hour but he said they ended the closure that morning so he was there in plenty of time and his family was there on time because the soccer games were rained out (along with my walk).  It was a good thing because they were the only people there except for the sisters and Timothy and us.  The Kirks said they were coming (Timothy asked Cedric to say the closing prayer).  They haven't come to a meeting less than thirty minutes late yet, which makes it hard if the meeting is a baptism.  None of the family came except Cedric.  He got there about five minutes before the end of the meeting and said the closing prayer (I love Alabama). Timothy has a fairly serious speech impediment and he asked if he could say something at the end of the meeting.  He thanked everyone for being there and bore his testimony.  It was really difficult for him, but he did a great job. At the end of Priesthood meeting on Sunday Brother Smith asked him to say the closing prayer.  My heart went out to him but he said he would.  It took a few minutes, but he said a really nice prayer.

Saturday night Brother Smith texted the sisters that he could pick up Timothy for church on Sunday.  I thought that would be good since President James and I are the only ones around for Branch Presidency anymore and I have been having to get Timothy the past few weeks because of the plant closure.  I went to Branch Presidency meeting instead of going for Timothy.  About fifteen minutes after we got started Brother Smith called and asked if I had any commitments to pick up people for church.  I told him I was going to get Timothy until I heard that he was going to do that.  He said he was taking a little longer getting his family ready to get to church and would be late if he had to get Timothy and wondered if I could do it.  That was already ten minutes too late to get him there before church started.  I told President James I had to hurry and go to get Timothy.  He said he was going to tell me that was probably what the call was going to be.  It sure is a good thing the police don't care how fast people drive on the county roads here.  We got to church just as it started. It was nice since Timothy was confirmed today.  The poor guy.  He has stayed so late the last three weeks so we could take him home.  Next week is Stake Conference.  They like the whole stake to meet together so they rent an activity center on a campus (the stake center is too small) instead of broadcasting it to the outlying branches.  Very few of our people can afford to travel the two hours to attend.  Timothy needs a ride next week.  We told him we would have to pick him up at 7:15 AM so we can drive forty-five minutes to Greensboro so the Bordens can follow us to the conference from there.  Conference is an all day commitment for anyone that goes.  Anyway, we had a good meeting today.  We planned on twenty dozen rolls for the mothers and we only had nine women come.  There were only twenty-nine in all that were in attendance.  But Brother White was one of them.  He is too weak to help anymore with the sacrament, but it means so much for him to get there to partake of it.  He was sitting in the mother's chair from the primary room when I got there with Timothy.  They moved it into the chapel for him.  Right after the sacrament he motioned for me to come over to him.  He needed me to help him stand up.  He was in a lot of pain.  He told me he got to take the sacrament and now he had to go home.  He drives thirty minutes one way to get there.  Two men who are members live at the same place and one of them is always out in the parking lot when he comes out to come to church and he refuses to come with him.  So he has to drive all the way and back alone.  

We asked the sisters if anyone invited them to dinner today.  They said no one had, so we told them to come over and eat with us after they called their Mom's.  We ate the Mother's day Boston butt from the Young women fundraiser for camp (Sister Owens was planning on Roast Beef but they changed it).  We were told it was going to be smoked.  It was a really good pork roast but it was not smoked.  I'm not sure they know what it really means to smoke meat here in Alabama.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon every day.

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 59: A little Alabama domestic violence and a new Sister for Demopolis

Dear Family and Friends,

Sister Owens went to a discussion Monday with Timothy.  It went a little better in the city square than the one they tried to have at his parents house last week.  He was super excited about the temple when they taught him about it.  He asked if he could go there.  He thought it was pretty neat when they told him he would be able to.  He will be baptized this next Saturday and we are planning to take him to Birmingham to do baptisms for the dead May 24^th.  His parents aren't to crazy about white people but they don't seem to mind when Timothy does what he wants about religion.  President James told me today that he needs to go out and introduce himself to his parents (they might be pleased to find out his "minister" is black).

The Sisters got the phone call Monday night telling them who was being transferred Wednesday.  Sister Beaugez left even though she has only been here two transfers and Sister Weaver has been here for three now.  Sister Weaver told us she only cried once and now she is fine.  I might have mentioned before that Demopolis is quite a challenging area for the missionaries (I think it might be because they have to put up with the Owenses).  It is probably hard for the sisters because they know they will get a turn since they only have sisters in this area (at least as of about two or three years ago).  Anyway, our new Sister is Sister McCreeth from Wyoming.  She has only been in two areas so far on her mission.  Six months in each.  I told her, "welcome to the last six months of your mission."  She wasn't too impressed. They made our sisters STLs (Sister Training Leaders).  They will be splitting with each of the other sets of sisters in the zone once each transfer.  They are both really good sister missionaries.  They are up to the challenge here in Demopolis.

Tuesday afternoon we got a call from one of the sisters in the branch.  She was crying and wanted us to come right over.  She was afraid of her husband and thought he might hurt her.  We went over and her husband had a few choice words for us when we got there.  We ended up having the police come over and have a good long talk with both of them separately.  She told the police he had yelled at her and scared her.  They asked her if he put his hands on her, because they could arrest him for that.  She said he didn't.  After they left she told us he shoved her.  We told her she should have told the police that when they asked.  Her husband had been up all night and had not taken his medication.  We assured her she could call again if she needed us and left.  Her husband was asleep by then.  She called us two days later during Book of Mormon class to tell us he slept from the time we were there until the following afternoon and he took his medication and things are much better.

Thursday was Sister Owens' turn at the doctor to have her blood work done so she can get her prescription renewed.  Then we went to Book of Mormon class in the afternoon.  Friday morning we went to the church to be sure it was open for anyone that wanted to come and watch the sister to sister broadcast with the Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society General Presidents.  Sister Owens and I enjoyed it.  It was too bad no one else was there.  A few of them did watch it at home.  Then I got my haircut (at the barber shop) since we have our zone conference next week.

Saturday wasn't such a good day.  Sister Owens was under the weather all day.  We got our chores done and fixed some snacks for the Self Reliance class that was going to be after Church Sunday.  We had to tell the sisters we couldn't go to a couple discussions they needed us for because Sister Owens couldn't go.  I got some bags of dirt at the store (ouch) so we could plant some vegetables in some tubs. Some garden fresh tomatoes will be good this year.

We were a little concerned about when to have the snacks for the class because it was fast Sunday.  It didn't turn out to be anything to be concerned about.  The facilitator came from Tuscaloosa to attend Sacrament meeting with us before the class.  He stepped out of the Branch President's office and got a drink before going into Sacrament meeting.  When I got in to the meeting one of the members of the class was just giving snacks to another member of the class to hold them over until the class.  I got a call from Brother White's friend telling me that Brother White wanted me to call him as soon as possible and gave me his hospital room number.  I called and he told me he was ready to go home and needed someone to pick him up.  He was hoping there might be some way I could do that. So I drove to Tuscaloosa right after Sacrament meeting hoping to be back for about an hour of the S. R. class.  It took about a half hour longer at the hospital to get him than I expected and then when we got him home he couldn't get into his apartment.  We made several phone calls and drove to his niece's home trying to make arrangements to get his door open and get his chair down to the lobby so we could get him to his room.  Nothing was working for us.  I finally got in to his apartment but couldn't get his motorized chair to work to get it down to the lobby.  I took his walker down and we got him up to the room with it (he did not have his prosthetic leg with him at the hospital).  When I headed back to Demopolis the class was over.  I was about five minutes from the church when Beth called to tell me everyone was gone but the three of them that I was going to take home.  When I got there they were outside the door waiting for me with the building locked up.  Our poor Timothy is having a new experience every week with us.  Sister Owens was home, still not feeling well, and he was my companion while we took the two women home. Then I took him home to Forkland.  He is going to be so ready for ministering when he gets baptized next week.  If only he had a car and could drive.

We want to thank all of you for your love and support.  We really do feel it, every day.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon every day.

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Attachment:  Drive to Greensboro in the Alabama Spring