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
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