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 24th. 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
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