Week 71: Other than the weather, not such a great week; except for the Eagle Court of Honor

Dear Family and Friends,

We are so sorry for all you folks up there in Idaho putting up with the 100 degree weather.  When we went for our walk Thursday morning it was a balmy 59 degrees.  It was great.  Of course President James was right last week when he said not to talk about it.  I told Sister Owens yesterday that we should hurry and have a pancake breakfast for the branch before the weather heats up.  When we got out of church at noon today it was 96 degrees and climbing. Ixnae on the eakfastbrae, I guess.

Monday we took Brother White to his appointment with his neck surgeon.  The surgeon had seen the scans taken after the accident and wanted to see him as soon as possible.  We thought it was to make sure the pins were still okay that he had put in his neck.  The scans showed that his vertebrae had deteriorated much more than they had the last time he had seen him (I think in November).  He had recommended at that time that they graft some bone to the vertebrae below the ones with the pins.  Now he says his Dialysis treatments has affected his bones so much that they are disintegrating.  He has to see a surgeon in Birmingham on August 19 to consider transplanting four vertebrae below the ones with the pins.  Dr. McKenzie told him if he doesn't have the surgery he will be paralyzed because he will not be able to hold his head up and the weight of his head will pinch his spinal cord.  Wasn't the greatest news for him to get on his birthday (Myah was born on Brother White's birthday).  He hasn't wanted to have any more surgery since the first one he had to install the pins.  After his disappointing news from the Doctor we took him to Target to get his fourth cellphone in about a year.  The screens keep going out.  We tried to exchange it but their return policy only lasts three months and he purchased this one in February.  We got to get him a cellphone for his birthday (don't think we are too grand, it was only $30).  Then, so he could have one good experience for his birthday we asked him what he would like to eat for his birthday.  He kept saying anything would be fine.  It took a lot of coaxing but we finally got him to tell us he would like some fish.  So we got him a fish plate to take home and eat at his apartment.

We got a call from Brother Smith saying that the Kirks has been in an accident (about a month ago) and the insurance company was not settling with them and they are having to get an attorney.  I told him we would see him and went to see him Tuesday.  We found out that the company had settled and paid them for the car and had rented a vehicle for them for a whole month (which surprised me).  Cedric's boss picks him up for work and Tasha rides to work with her sister in law.  They will be looking at cars in August.  They have retained an attorney  because they were hurt in the accident (not seriously).

Ollie called us to tell us she had too many eggs (fresh from her son) and wanted to know if we could use some.  We picked up three dozen and took a dozen each to the ladies we brought to church last week.  We asked them if they would like to sign up for assistance.  A community program provides a sack of non-perishable groceries once a week.  One said her son helps her so she doesn't need to and told us we didn't need to pick her up for church because she is going to try the Baptist church (it is across the street from the branch).  The other lady, Vanessa, said she would like to sign up so we took her at 7:00 AM Wednesday morning.  They weren't accepting new applicants until September but they gave her an emergency sack for that day.  We took her home and told her to give us a call if she wanted us to pick her up for church.  She said she would, but we never heard from her.

Wednesday evening the sisters got back from transfers and we got to meet the new sister.  She is Sister Allen from Gilbert, Arizona.  She is the third brand new missionary we have had here since we got here and all three of them seem like they are seasoned missionaries.  It's amazing how prepared they are when they come from the MTC.  They both spoke in Sacrament meeting today and you would have no idea it was only her fourth day in the mission field.  They had set an appointment with the two ladies in York that we left the Book of Mormon with last week.  Sister Smith drove them out to the appointment on Thursday.  They had an awesome discussion.  They said the roommate was more engaged than Allieha was, who met with the missionaries a year ago.  Tania wanted to come to church so Sister Smith said she would come out to pick her up. So she drove 30 minutes to pick up Tania today and we made two trips here in Demopolis to pick up the people Sister Smith usually takes to church (in her Suburban).  Of course no one answered the door in York (I love Alabama) so she came back to church alone. 

Thursday afternoon was Sister Allen's introduction to the group at Book of Mormon class.  We introduced everyone to her and we said this is Deborah, she's not a member but she is with us every week and she loves to be with us.  Deborah said, "I'm Sister Bolden."  It was really neat.  We read a couple chapters from Acts for Come Follow Me and then read a couple chapters from the Book of Mormon.  We read about how the Lord had preserved the Nephites from their enemies and Sister McCreath asked if anyone wanted to share how the Lord had preserved them.  Brother White bore his testimony about how the lord preserved him from any injury in his accident.  And Sister Owens told everyone that she knew the lord loves everyone there and she feels such a great love for all of them as well.

Friday the branch had an Eagle Court of Honor for the three Smith Brothers (attachment #1).  It was really neat to be there.  It was pretty cool to see three brothers receive the rank at the same time.

Sunday was a little discouraging.  The lady Sister Smith drove to York to pick up didn't come.  Neither of the ladies we brought last week came this week.  President and Sister James weren't  there because their nephew had passed away last week.  Several members who are usually there didn't come this week.  Sister Smith's sister was here for the court of honor and stayed for Church with her children.  We thought it would really boost the count for Sacrament meeting.  There were so many that didn't come that our count was only 34 for the week anyway.  18 of them were adults or youth and 17 were primary children and 5 of the children were non-members (of course their parents have nothing to do with the church). This evening Sister Morgan called us and asked if we like figs or muscadines.  Sister Owens said she didn't know.  She came by to bring us some of each (Attachment #2).  She wanted us to have a taste of the south.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 70: I love Alabama, I love Alabama, I love Alabama!

Dear Family and Friends,

We started our week making the rounds for our four apartment inspections.  We altered our route to the first one to go past some vines we saw on our way to the American Village on the 4^th of July.  We were so impressed we wanted to get some pictures and we didn’t have time to stop on the 4^th (attachment #1&2).  We see it along a lot of the roads here during the summer.  If you let your imagination run wild you can come up with all kinds of things that they look like and of course it is different everywhere you see it.

Tuesday was our first encounter with the dental profession since we got to Alabama.  They were very accommodating and scheduled both of us at the same time for a cleaning and exam.  Our appointment was at 1:00 PM.  We have been to several doctors since we got here and we always have to get there about 15 minutes early to complete new patient paperwork, so we arrived at 12:45.  I so wish I had taken a picture of it.  It was a small brown building with a hand painted picture of a tooth on the front window.  It looked like it was straight out of the 1890’s.  There was room to park three or maybe four cars out front.  There weren’t any cars there when we arrived except one on the side of the building.  We went up to the door and tried to go in but it was locked.  Well, there were two doors, so we assumed we went to the wrong one and went to the one toward the other end of the building (both doors were on the front of the building).  It was locked as well.  We commenced to walk around the building and actually found another door on the side.  It was also locked.  Thinking there was a chance they had relocated, I called their number to find out and there was no answer.  We finally figured they must be at lunch and would be back at 1:00 to open the door.  So we sat in the car, engine running and A/C on, of course, until 1:05.  Then we saw a person come out of one of the doors in front and wave at us indicating that she would be back in just a few minutes.  Then she went and got in the only other car by the building besides ours and drove away (she was the dentist).  We waited another ten minutes and another patient drove up and tried the locked door.  A few minutes later another employee drove up and unlocked one of the doors and went in and then opened the door where the other patient was standing and let us come in.  The inside of the office actually looked much better than I was expecting having seen the outside.  After we completed our paperwork and they finally called us in (after the other patient went in), they had us both go back and pointed to two rooms and said one of us could go in one and one in the other.  I went in and sat in the chair and the hygienist came in and got things started.  She said she was going to start with x-rays and proceeded to walk around the foot of the chair to get to the other side.  There was about six inches between my feet and the wall.  I moved my feet so she could get by.  The x-ray machine was in the wall between the two exam rooms behind a cupboard door (accessible to both rooms, obviously).  Apparently they were going to do the x-rays on Sister Owens after her cleaning.  After about four trips around the chair the hygienist told me I didn’t have to keep moving my feet.  She does this all day every day and she is used to it.  She finished the cleaning and said things looked pretty good for being a year and a half since they were cleaned last and told me the dentist would be in to give me an exam.  The dentist came in and said, “Are you having any trouble anywhere other than that root canal you are going to need to have done?”  I said, “Say what!”  Then she and the hygienist spent about two minutes trying to decide the correct tooth number to identify the tooth where I need the root canal.  She proceeded with the exam and at one point taped on one of my teeth with her instrument until I was convinced she was trying to get it to break in half.  She didn’t find any other problems and started discussing the root canal again with the hygienist and said he didn’t really react at all when I tapped on it (it was a good thing she stopped when she did because I was about to react when I thought it was going to break in half).  I actually started to think I was being hustled by a snake oil salesman.  Then they broke the news to me that my policy doesn’t cover root canals so that would be an out of pocket expense.  I told them I would talk to my insurance company and get back to them. Sister Owens had about the same experience but they really tore up her gums pretty good.  I must have gotten the better hygienist (I do love Alabama).

Wednesday morning I had just started my walk and Brother White called and asked if we could come to get him in Greensboro and take him to Tuscaloosa to the hospital.  He needed to have a doctor sign his prescription that he forgot to sign the day before and the pharmacy wouldn’t fill it without the doctor’s signature.  So we got to Tuscaloosa and told them we needed the signature and they called Doctor Stevenson down to the desk and he put his figure 8 (literally) on the prescription and then chuckled and said “Oh, I forgot to sign it.” (I do love Alabama).  We had gotten a call from Brother White while we were waiting for the Dentist to open the office the day before.  He was at the hospital waiting to go in for x-rays.  He blacked out while driving himself to Dialysis in Eutaw that morning and rolled his truck three times (attachment #3).  The paramedics had to pry him out from between the front and rear seats to get him out.  He had his x-rays and he hadn’t broken any bones so they gave him a prescription (which they didn’t sign) and sent him home because they were busy and didn’t have a bed for him.  His son drove him home from the hospital.  He never did get his scheduled dialysis treatment (they didn’t bother to do it at the hospital).  After we got him home from getting the signature we took him to Eutaw.  They said they would get him in for a two hour session (he usually takes three to four hours three times a week).  He went on Thursday (his regularly scheduled day) and his son got married Saturday in Birmingham so he didn’t go for Dialysis yesterday because of the wedding. He won’t go again until Tuesday.  We hope he will be okay until then.  Brother Borden brought him to church today and he was there to bless the sacrament as usual.  We are taking him to Tuscaloosa again Monday to see his surgeon who put the pins in his neck.  The extent of his injuries seems to be some abrasions on his left hand from flying windshield glass and the same on his head above his ear, other than feeling like someone beat him with a baseball bat.

Thursday we had a good Book of Mormon class.  It was really neat to see Deborah there.  She looked really good.  We could tell she was receiving much better care and she seemed happier than the last several times we saw her.  She hasn’t been to the class for about three or four weeks (her daughters wouldn’t let her come). President James asked us to see if they wanted to spend some time reading over the lesson for Come Follow Me in the class.  They said they would like to do that.  We don’t know if we will alternate weeks or try to read some from both each week, but it will be good to spend some time on the Sunday School lesson.  We’re not sure how many of them really do much reading during the week.

Friday we had a great District Council.  We read from II Nephi chapter 9 about the Plan of Salvation and the atonement and had a really great discussion.  Sister Hurst (the other senior sister) told us they learned at the CES training that chapter is the heart of the Book of Mormon.  It really does explain so well the need for the Savior’s sacrifice and what that means for all of us as God’s children.

We had gotten a text this week from Sister Snar (trained here in Demopolis).  She received a facebook message from a girl they taught while they were here that she would like the missionaries to drop off another copy of the Book of Mormon.  Since we have no sisters here this week she called us and asked if we would deliver it.  So after we finished our P-day chores Saturday we drove to York to deliver the book.  Alliah was sleeping and her roommate answered the door.  She went and woke her up and they invited us in.  We gave Alliah her book and asked her roommate if she would like a copy for herself.  She did so we gave her one as well.  She showed us a very worn copy of the Gospel Principles manual and said that Alliah had been letting her read it and she really likes the things that are in there.  Alliah had the manual from last year when we were holding that Sunday School class.

Also during the week we got a call from a lady named Vanessa who we do not know.  She asked what time we pick up people for church.  We asked her where she lived and said we could stop by for her about 9:45.  Sister McCreath had already gone to Clanton so we texted her to see if she had talked to someone and given her our number.  She had not.  A member of the Stake Young Women visited our branch last week and brought a visitor with her.  We found out the visitor lived in Demopolis.  The sisters contacted her and taught her the restoration and she told them she would like to come to church again this week.  They gave her our number so she could ask us if we could pick her up.  We didn’t have her number so we couldn’t contact her.  She finally called us this morning about 8:00.  We found out Vanessa is her friend and we were picking up both of them for church.  They both told us they want to come again next week and the sisters will be contacting both of them to teach them this next week. It was very interesting in church.  All during the first speaker’s message Vanessa would say amen whenever she agreed with anything she said.  After the talk Vanessa and Rebecca (the friend that came the week before) both started clapping and several more of the recent converts joined in.  President James looked up from his seat at the front of the chapel and we had never seen his eyes opened quite that wide.  I wondered what was going to happen after the final speaker, but there actually wasn’t any applause, Just amens.

So when we had our interview with the President, he told Sister Owens we need to start praying for miracles for Demopolis and then when they start happening she is supposed to call him and tell him about them.  So Brother White’s survival is definitely a miracle, although we have now lost 50% of our transportation from Greensboro .  I’m not sure how that fits into the miracles other than Brother White won’t black out anymore driving himself to Eutaw.  And we now have at least two and maybe four sisters without husbands, without jobs, and without transportation,  that are interested in coming to church.  I’m not sure, as yet, how that fits into the miracles either (I really do love Alabama).

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

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 69: Gonzo is back (yeah); nourishing the body and the spirit

Dear Family and Friends,

We had another week with two p-days.  We had to do chores Monday because of interviews with the President last Saturday and this week we had to get everything done on Saturday because we have apartment inspections tomorrow and we will be on the road all day.  So Monday night about 9:00 PM Sister Owens was startled by a strange noise coming from the neighbor's apartment on the other side of our wall.  She thought they were grinding coffee or churning ice cream.  Then I reminded her that Gonzo came that day.  The Smiths left town for vacation and we ended up tending their hedge hog again (this time for ten days, ugh).  He got started on his exercise wheel a little early (it usually isn't until three or four in the morning).

Tuesday we did some more branch calling stuff at the church.  Sister Owens got the Ministering lists finalized and I was able to finally access our Staples account and get the toner cartridge ordered for our printer.  It's a little difficult keeping up with user names and passwords for all the different accounts when the clerk is usually a senior missionary that left before the next one is called.  I couldn't find any information in the office and nobody in the branch seemed to know anything about it.  Our last clerk was called from the Northport ward to serve in the branch for a couple years.  He was released the day we got to the mission.  I called and left a voice message for him to see if he could help me.  President James later told me I probably wouldn't hear from him for a while.  He was probably in Japan or somewhere.  He travels a lot.  I never did hear from him but we found a shipping box from Staples from five years ago and Sister Owens found our account number on the label.  We found a phone number for Staples and got the cartridge on its way within about fifteen minutes and now have the username and password written in the catalog (the 2016 catalog, that is).  The sisters called and asked if they could come over so Sister McCreath could have a blessing.  She is such a confident, hard working missionary.  It is amazing what some of these young missionaries struggle with at home and still are so valiant in the work.  Her father has been mostly inactive all of her life.  He got active and baptized her and then within a few months went back to inactivity.  Her parents are in the process of finalizing their divorce right now.  Sister McCreath will be going home in October.

Wednesday we cooked up a batch of beans for the Pioneer Day Relief Society meeting this week.  We only had one package of beans and worried that there wouldn't be enough, so we bought another package and doubled the recipe.  Then we got a call that one sister couldn't come and that took out two more that would have been riding with her, so we thought we had way too many beans.  Brother White really likes the butter beans so we took a big bowl of them out to him and actually found the house of a member we have been looking for now for almost a year.  Of course she was at work in Tuscaloosa and wouldn't be home until about 2:00 AM but at least we know she is actually there.

Thursday we had another good Book of Mormon class in Greensboro.  We found out that our reporting of elder abuse we have been doing now for a few months is finally bearing some results.  We were deciding it was pretty much a waste of time.  Nothing was really changing for Deborah.  In fact her daughters were being even more mean to her and no longer allow her to come to our class.  Brother White told us since our last visit to Human Resources her daughters have been coming out about every other day and her apartment is much cleaner and they are keeping her clean and her hair combed.  They are pretty sure the reason is that if they don't HR will step in and require that she be put in a nursing home and then all her money will go toward Deborah's support and they won't be getting it anymore.  We tried having RS at night for the summer.  Thursday was our first crack at it.  We started at 6:00 PM.  It saved us one trip to Greensboro because we just took Annie and Bernice back with us from Book of Mormon class and then took them home after the meeting.  The lady that said she couldn't make it ended up coming along both the sisters that rode with her.  We had twelve sisters in all that attended.  There was enough beans for one of them to have seconds and another one of them let us know she felt pretty badly that she didn't get to have another bowl.  One of the sisters in the ward that has a pretty good reputation for her cooking came out and asked what spices we used in the beans.  When Sister Owens told her we just followed the recipe on the bean package she just burst out laughing.  We had them watch "17 Miracles" at the meeting.  Sister Owens shared some thoughts after the movie.  As they were leaving, Sister Morgan's sister who is not a member of the church said we make a fine pair.  I nourish them physically and Sister Owens nourishes them spiritually.  It was a good meeting but we were quite late getting back from Greensboro after taking Annie and Bernice home.  We went to the church to clean up and found that the tables and chairs had all been put up and the floor was vacuumed.  All of the sisters were gone when we left for Greensboro.  Someone came back to do that for us before we got back.  It was much appreciated.  We got some feedback the next day that several of the sisters liked meeting in the daytime and didn't want to have it at night anymore.  Only one of the working sisters came anyway and they left half way through the meeting because she had to drive thirty minutes to get home.  It was probably our last evening meeting.

Friday we picked up the sisters and went to District Council in Tuscaloosa.  It was our last meeting as a district with all of us together (attachment #1).  We found out Sister McCraney is going back to Temple Square to finish her mission.  She has to leave a week earlier than the rest of the missionaries are being transferred.  So she and Sister McCreath are driving to Clanton this next Tuesday and Sister McCreath will stay there and work for a week with Sister Weaver (her companion came from Temple Square and is going back a week before transfers as well).  So Demopolis is going to be without sisters for a week before Sister McCreath gets a new companion and comes back to town.  The President told her in her interview last week that she was probably going to be training this next transfer.  That will be the third new sister to be trained here since we came last year.  It is a pretty tough area, but I guess they don't really know that until they get transferred.  The last two have turned out to be pretty good missionaries.

For part of our P-day we had the sisters over for lunch since Sister McCraney is leaving.  We got to make pizza for them.  They said they liked it, so hopefully they did (attachment #2).  We thought it was pretty good. Sister McCreath likes salami on her pizza but Sister Owens isn't so crazy about that.

This morning was really a neat experience at Sacrament meeting.  We had to leave Branch Council meeting to pick up a sister and bring her to church.  When we got there and went in to sit down I noticed how quiet it was and looked up at the clock thinking they were about to start.  It was still five minutes before ten.  The chapel was full (all 30 of us) and everyone was sitting quietly ready for the meeting to start.  The Smiths were out of town with all of our Aaronic Priesthood and we had two brethren seated behind the sacrament table and two brethren seated and ready to pass the sacrament and the meeting wasn't even started yet.  It made such a difference for the whole day.  We had our last self reliance class today after church.  They all had opportunity to share their testimony and tell what the class has done for them.  Hopefully it has had as much impact in their lives as many of them said it did.  Tropical storm Berry made landfall yesterday in Louisiana and today after church the sky opened up just as we ended our class. Walking to the car with an umbrella was an experience.  We came back to the door with pants and shirts soaked to the skin, but at least our head was dry.  After our first trip taking Andrea home we came back to the church to pick up Beth and Ollie (Ollie in her wheelchair).  I wasn't going to try to get her in the car without rain gear on so I went home to get my togs.  As I was driving back to the church, the rain stopped and we put Ollie in the car and took her home and got her in her house and the rain started again as we were driving home.  Another tender mercy.

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

We love y'all.

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 68: Elder Owens gains worldwide notoriety; Sister McCreath goes dancing

Dear Family and Friends,

What a week of firsts and we have been out well over a year already.  Tuesday we drove the sisters to Bessemer to the stake center and the whole zone lined up in the hallway at the church to meet and shake hands with the new Mission President.  He was Stake President in Grantsville, Utah.  He is going to be a great mission president.  He kind of looked through each of us as he shook our hand.  Then we all went to the chapel and he spoke to us for about an hour.  He shared some neat things about when they received their call.  He talked about how all of us were foreordained in the premortal life to serve here together at this time in this place.  He said he is sure President Sainsbury was there as well.  It was a neat experience.

Wednesday we spent time working in our branch callings.  I did some clerk work and got some reports done and Sister Owens worked on revising the ministering districts in the Relief Society.  Then we had our coordination meeting with the sisters and Brother Smith.

Thursday the entire zone volunteered to help at the American Village in Montevallo (attachment #1 some of the group).  They have several buildings representing the colonial era and do various reenactments of events throughout the history of the country (attachment #2).  They had us cover three different two hour shifts.  Each of us worked one shift and got to tour the facility during the other four hours.  We were assigned the last shift (5:00 to 7:00).  We got some lunch and then went to see Ben Franklin (attachment #3).  Sorry, I can't really tell you much about what he had to say.  You see, they had a packed house and it was very hot.  The A/C couldn't really keep up with the heat and the open doors because of the crowds.  As Brother Muck (formerly President Muck, councilor to President Sainsbury) put it, I am now internationally famous for having stole the show at the Ben Franklin Reenactment when I passed out and had to be carried out of the assembly room.  Two of the men that helped carry me out were both named Scott.  Sister Owens thought that was interesting.  I did thoroughly enjoy the attention I was getting as I was waking up in the middle of the floor outside the door with about fifty people looking on.  They were pouring water all over me and put a nice cold water bottle behind my neck which felt really, really good.  After a few minutes they helped me stand up and walk outside and over to the Oval Office where I sat on a chair in the lobby (much cooler there) and the paramedics came to pay a visit.  They took my vitals and told me to stay there until they came back in about an hour to see me again.  While I was there President Truman arrived for his scheduled press conference and visited with me for a few minutes before he went in to the conference.  I was still there when he finished.  As he came out I told him he sounded really good in there.  He thanked me and wished me well before he left. Then a driver showed up with a shuttle to chauffeur me over to our assigned building (all you have to do is pass out and you get all kinds of special privileges).  Our assignment was at the colonial chapel for the Colonial evening prayer service (an actual religious service) and then Patrick Henry giving his "Give me Liberty or give me death" speech.  We didn't get to hear his speech because we had to stand out in the lobby and keep people from coming in after it started.  We had to hold the door shut because people were ignoring the "Do not enter, program has started" sign hanging on the outside door knob (attachment #4).  My phone rang while we were in the lobby and it was Sister Hurst telling me they had the whole army there (all the senior couples and some of the elders).  She said they were there if I wanted a blessing.  I told her I was fine and we were holding the door shut because the program had started.  She said we were doing a very good job.  They had been outside trying to come in to give me the blessing.  For the most part, it was all a really special experience.  We have to try to get back there sometime to actually see some of the events. As we drove home we learned from the sisters that they had gone to the Ballroom during their "off time."  Several of the elders were there as well.  All of a sudden a nice old man came up to Sister McCreath and asked her to dance.  She told him she couldn't.  He kept pressing her and she told him she was a volunteer and her shift was starting and she had to go.  He asked her when her shift started and she told him 4:30 so she could leave.  He told her she still had two minutes so there was still plenty of time and was dragging her onto the dance floor.  It got to the point where she was making a scene trying to resist him, so she just went with him and danced.  Her companion got all of it on video.  She was really embarrassed.  We had just found out our interviews were scheduled with our new president for this Saturday.  I told her she was going to have to tell him about it.  Then I said, "Actually, you probably won't have to, because the rest of the zone will probably have already told him."  She was really embarrassed about the whole situation.  She and her companion are Sister Training Leaders responsible for helping to train the sisters and split with all the sisters in the zone to give them training.

We had a great district council Friday.  Sister Owens just got put on her third round of anti-biotics for her bronchitis (she is getting pretty tired of it).  She asked for a blessing after our council meeting.  We had all the elders in the district stand in for the blessing.

We spent quite a bit of this week on the road.  Bessemer Tuesday to meet the Allreds, Thursday to Montevallo for the American Village experience, Friday to Tuscaloosa for District Council, and Saturday back to Bessemer for Interviews with the President.  We had a really nice visit with President Allred.  He told us to call the office Monday and check his schedule and get a Sunday for him to come to our Branch to speak.  We are excited for that.  Saturday was Sister McCraney's birthday so we stopped on the way home from interviews to treat her to lunch.  We had lettuce wraps for an appetizer and I was distracted by something as the waitress was taking the plates off the table.  She gasped and said how sorry she was and I looked and saw the sauce from the wraps was splashed across the table and there was a puddle of it in front of me.  Then she said she would get me some soda water.  Then I looked down and noticed that the sauce was also splashed all down my white shirt and tie.  Unfortunately the soda water didn't really do much.  I couldn't help but wonder what everyone thought as I walked by them on our way out of the restaurant.

It was neat at church this morning.  President James and I walked out of his office about ten minutes before Sacrament meeting was supposed to start and the hallway was full of people (I say full, there were probably ten people, but that's a lot here).  They were all visiting. When we got in the chapel everyone was sitting quietly, waiting for the meeting to start.  They had remembered our discussion from second hour last week about Elder Holland's Conference message.  We got a break after our self reliance class today.  A lady offered to take Beth home to Linden, and Ollie wasn't feeling well and didn't come.  If Andrea's cousin hadn't let us down this week (he has come to pick her up the last two weeks), we would have had no one to take home today.  But Andrea just lives here in town, so it was pretty nice. After the rest of this week, we actually came home after class and took a nap ("senior couples get to do anything they want").

Keep the commandments and read your book of Mormon everyday.

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 67: A trip to the Twilight Zone

Dear Family and Friends,

First, if anyone is concerned that the email for week 66 is missing, it really isn't.  It just got labeled erroneously as Week 65 so there were two with the same week number.  This is week 67.

Monday Brother White needed us to take him to his doctor appointment in Tuscaloosa because he didn't feel strong enough to drive that far.  We picked him up at 11:50 to get him to his appointment at 1:00.  We didn't get out of the office until after 4:30 (I love Alabama).  We had no idea we would be there that long.  We were sitting in the waiting room watching staff members go home and started to wonder what they did with Brother White.  When he finally emerged from the exam room he was exhausted.  I went to get the car to come around and pick them up at the door.  Then the fun began.  I used my $270 remote device to unlock the car door and absolutely nothing happened.  I tried several times with no success and then decided to just use the key.  MISTAKE!  It set off the alarm and the horn started honking.  The door did unlock and everyone that was in the parking lot getting into their cars to go home were staring at me.  I thought I could just push the lock button on the door a couple of times and the horn would stop.  NOPE! I tried to start the car and it would not start.  I calmly got out and shut the door and left it with the horn honking to get the other $270 remote device that was in Sister Owens' purse (which I had just used the day before when I locked mine in the car).  As I got almost to the door of the Doctor's office the horn stopped honking.  I considered going back to try again but, assuming the same thing would happen, I just kept going to get the other key and use it because I knew it was good just the day before.  So I got back to the car with Sister Owens' $270 remote device and pushed the button to unlock the car and NOTHING happened again.  I couldn't believe both devices died on me at exactly the same time.  Neither one would work to lock or unlock the car.  So I used the key to unlock the door again, set off the alarm, and while the horn was honking steadily, with onlookers galore, I got in the car and proceeded to study the owners manual to find out how to disarm the alarm.  What a fun experience.  I think the office kept their doors open late so that I could pick up Brother White and Sister Owens at the entrance, although they did make them wait outside in the 90+ degree heat until I got there. We stopped and got Brother White some fish for dinner and picked up his prescriptions and then took him home and got home to Demopolis about 6:30.  Funny thing, I had Sister Owens stay in the car and I got out and used the $270 device to lock the car and it worked just fine, and unlocked it as well.  Then I checked her $270 device to see if it would work and it did also.  Go Figure.

Tuesday we did our regular P-day chores since we spent the day Monday with Brother White in Tuscaloosa.  In the afternoon we went to Greensboro to try to get some addresses from a couple of inactive sisters so we could get accurate information on their daughters' records and get them to the right units.  It was the second try for both of them and we actually caught one of them home this time.  Neither of them bother to return my calls when I leave messages for them.  We missed her sister by one day.  She wasn't getting back from Mississippi until the next day.  We hope to make contact with her this next week.

Wednesday got used up pretty well with a Doctor appointment for Sister Owens in Tuscaloosa and then Correlation meeting with Brother Smith and the Sisters when we got home.

Thursday we had a really great Book of Mormon class.  Brother White asked if he could say something after we had read four chapters, then he bore his testimony and basically called the two inactive brethren that attend the class to repentance and told them they had to start coming to church.  He promised one of them that if he would start coming to church and taking the sacrament that his foot would start to heal (he has diabetes).  He said they needed to start inviting their friends to the class so the missionaries would have some one to start teaching.  Deborah, the non-member that always likes to read with us, wanted to be there and her daughter told her she could not come to the class.  Brother White had bought chicken to feed the missionaries because he appreciates us coming every week to help them read in the Book of Mormon.  He told everyone to notice how much better they can read since they have been coming to class.  And he told them how important it is to study what is written in the Book of Mormon.  He said, "It is really deep stuff."

Friday we had district council in Tuscaloosa.  We might be better off with an apartment in Tuscaloosa instead of Demopolis and just come here for church on the weekends.  Actually that wouldn't work either since we would just have to come here to get people to take them there.  After we got home we spent the afternoon with Ollie at the church working on her checkbook.  While we were there the service bell rang and we went to the door and met Brother and Sister Bass that were here as missionaries ten years ago when Brother White and Brother and Sister Borden were baptized.

Saturday we did P-day chores since it looks like we will be pretty busy with Ollie on Monday checking out some assisted living units.  We made some taco salad for our self reliance class on Sunday after church.

We had a great sacrament meeting today.  They had a youth conference the past three days and President James had the youth that attended bear their testimonies.  It was a really great conference from what they all had to say.  There was almost 900 youth there which was a really great experience for the recent converts that have only seen church meetings at the branch with 30 to 40 people in attendance.  Brother and Sister Bass bore their testimonies and Sister McRaney was the concluding speaker.  She told about several experiences she had serving as a temple square missionary and taking people on tours and ending at the Christus and how overcome people are with the spirit there.  President James taught the fifth Sunday class about Elder Holland's message from conference on the Lamb of God.  There were some really good suggestions from the members about how we can improve the reverence in our sacrament meetings.  Then we had a great self reliance class after church.  All in all it was a very good day except for the discussion we went to with the Sisters in the evening that fell through.  He rescheduled, though, for next Saturday.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens