Week 84: Good news from the Doctor and a different focus for the future in the mission

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday we took Sister Owens to a cardiovascular and thoracic specialist as directed by her pulmonologist.  He was going to explore the possibility of a lung biopsy because of the persistent infection and cough she has had since May.  I guess it would be a pretty involved procedure if they decided it would be necessary.  Thanks to the prayers and faith of many of you the doctor didn't seem to feel that anything is really necessary at this time.  She actually has been showing some improvement in the last couple of weeks and he looked at the scans she had done a few months ago.  He said what he saw does not seem to be anything serious enough to consider a biopsy at this time.  He suggested considering it again in about six months if she is still having problems.  We did take some sandwiches and salad with us to Tuscaloosa and stopped at a park to have lunch before her appointment (attachment #1).  I think it helped to relieve her apprehension about the visit with the doctor.

Tuesday we had to catch up on P-day chores and we worked on RS and EQ lessons for Sunday.

Wednesday we worked on bulletin board ideas and got some logos printed at the print shop.  The branch council is trying to find a way to enlist the help of the non-member parents of all the children that come to church most weeks.  We want them to support their children in their personal goal setting in the four areas of improvement in the new child and youth program.  We want to have some kind of activity this fall that the non-member parents will be encouraged to come to and then we hope to convince them that it will be in their best interest as families to support their children in their goal setting.  We usually have more non-member children in primary than we do members and the children have no gospel learning or support at home during the week.  The branch has several serious challenges among which is the two deep leadership with all the youth and children.  There are only about five sisters in the branch that would be considered qualified to serve in leadership positions with the youth and children and they are utilized as presidencies and teachers already.  Sister Smith is struggling with major challenges with the primary in that the age range of the few children that attend is from two to eleven and right now she is the only adult in the primary.

Thursday we picked up the sisters at 6:45 AM and headed to Bessemer for our Zone Conference.  President and Sister Allred just got back from training with Elder Bednar and had several things to share with all of us.  The mission is shifting focus to working a great deal with prospective elders, less active, and part member families.  A huge emphasis from the mission, going forward, is going to be in the area of family history.  A senior couple is here on their third mission to help with family history.  They will visit each district in the mission to give us training and we will go back to our areas to train the members (and non-members) so they can submit names to the temple.  The missionaries will get to go to the temple once in every transfer (six weeks) and will take names that have been found by the members of the wards and branches if the people do not have recommends to go themselves.  Sister Snarr (who was trained here and is now serving her last transfer before returning home) and Sister Allen (who was just trained by Sister McCreath) are the Sister Training Leaders for our Zone so they are doing exchanges with the sisters throughout the zone.  They split with another set of sisters and we took Sister Snarr and Sister Woods (from Bessemer) back with us to Demopolis so they can work together for a day.

Friday we drove out to visit a less active member to see if he would accept a visit from the Stake President this Sunday but he wasn't home.  We started getting some pretty good rain from the storm they are having down on the coast.  There were several tornado watches issued for counties just south of us.  We went in the afternoon to help Ollie again with her Bank statement.  It was raining quite a bit so we didn't want to try to get her into and out of the car to take her to the church.  We just sat out on her covered patio and worked on her statement.  I wish our counsel and advice would make a difference but it doesn't seem to.  She just keeps giving money to anyone that asks her for it.  She knows she doesn't have the money to keep paying so many people, but they offer to do any little thing for her (defrost the freezer, put drano in the sink, etc.) and she says they did work for her and pays them $20 or $40. 

Saturday was laundry day for Andrea and her Mother and for us.  We went and picked them up with their two huge bags and two laundry baskets of dirty laundry (I really didn't think it was going to fit in our car) and drove them to the laundro-mat. Then we went out to see Brother Harbin again (the one we tried to catch on Friday)  He was home and we had a good visit with him and his wife.  He said he would be home and the Stake President could come and visit him on Sunday.  Then we stopped to see the Kirks on the way back and they agreed to a visit as well.  Andrea and her mother weren't quite finished with their laundry so we got to go home and get ours started.  Then we went back and took them back to their apartment.  When we got home we got a call from Ollie.  Ross had a bit of a tantrum and walked out after he splashed drano all over the sink and she was worried about the sink and wanted us to come over and check it out.  Her husband had been quite rude to her and the lady that comes to bathe her and the lady said she was never coming  back as long as he was there (she later relented—I think she realized she was cutting herself off from some really easy money).  While we were there to check the sink Ollie asked if I would give her a blessing and asked if I would give her husband one as well.  I said I would if he wanted one.  He said he would like one.  That was an interesting experience!  He is a drug addict, compulsive gambler, and abuses his wife (and just about everybody else that comes to their house except his supplier and his bookie).  But the Lord did have a blessing for him.  We will see if things get better.  It is hard here.

Sunday we thought the Stake President was visiting the branch.  We got there and it was the entire Stake Presidency plus the Stake Clerk, Executive Secretary, and our High Councilman.  I had told Brother Harbin and Brother Kirk that the Stake President would like to visit them and that President James would come with him.  When I told them what appointments I had for them, President Lewis said, "Great, we can go see them as a group!"  I hope it went well.  Sister Owens went to a training meeting in Tuscaloosa after church along with the rest of her presidency and the EQ Presidency (which is Brother Smith and Brother White).  So Brother White stayed in Demopolis until it was time to leave for the meeting.  We had him come to our apartment for lunch and a little rest before they left (attachment #2).  I went to the church to work on membership records while they were gone to their meeting.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

--

Rob and Suzie

Week 83: Fond farewell and happy reunion

Dear Family and Friends,

Linda got her new tooth Monday and all went well.  We made some mac and cheese and jello salad to take to Book of Mormon class.  We still didn't know if we were going to have any fish with it.  When we got there we found out that Brother White did get the fish but Sister Nixon didn't have any cornmeal or oil so she didn't cook it.  So we needed to go to Piggly Wiggly and get the cornmeal and oil and she went to cook the fish and the rest of us watched the first two or the new Book of Mormon videos and then listened to a chapter of the Book of Mormon instead of reading it.  Brother Borden came with us this week and he doesn't read or write so we all just listened this week.  Sister Nixon came down with the fish and we ate and were only an hour later than we expected but we were okay because Otis postponed the appointment that we had scheduled for that evening.  We took some pics (attachment #1) and Sister McCreath said her goodbyes to the Greensboro folks.

Tuesday we had to do a little laundry and then we went to the church to do a little clerk work and some Relief Society stuff.  Brother Smith called and said Kirks were having their power turned and wanted us to go see them and see what we could do to help.  I felt the priesthood leader was the one that should visit with them rather than the clerk but we went anyway later in the evening.  Cedric and Tasha weren't home from work yet but their daughter was there with all the lights on and watching TV, so there must not have been a problem with the power.  We found out the next day that a friend had helped them with the payment. We made some cinnamon rolls Tuesday night for the sisters to have on the way to Transfers in the morning.  We are still trying to find out what Sister Allen really likes.

Wednesday was a hard day for us since we had to take Sister McCreath to transfers to go home.  We really miss her but we are happy she gets to go home.  We asked for her home address and she couldn't give us one because she doesn't know where she will be living.  Her parents are in process of getting divorced.  She said she will probably live with her grandmother for a while.  It is amazing that she has been such an outstanding missionary when she had so much going on at home for the past several months.  Sister Soctomah was there.  She is also going home.  She had her twin brother in the adjoining mission and he was transferred into our mission when they were combined.  The two of them were in the same district after the missions were combined.  We are hoping to meet her brother before we go home.  She is going home along with Sister McCreath.  We got a pic of the four of us before they left (attachment #2).  Then we got the good news that Sister Snarr is the new sister to take Sister McCreath's place in Demopolis.  She was trained here by Sister Humphreys about a month after we arrived.  This was her first area and will be her last area.  We will be taking her to transfers in six weeks to send her home.  We seem to be welcoming new sisters or bidding farewell to those that are going home most of the time here.  By the way, Sister Allen isn't that crazy about cinnamon rolls.  She says they are okay.  I guess we'll keep trying.  There were some left to take to Costco after transfers to eat after our hot dog (we had to get the tires rotated).  Sister Snarr said she liked them.  We really can't tell anymore if they really like something or if they are just really good missionaries and don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

Thursday the Morgans took us on a drive to see Payne Lake.  It was a beautiful drive and is a beautiful lake and camping area (attachments #3 and #4).  They took their family there every year as their sons were growing up.  They are a great couple and such an inspiration to us.  They are excellent examples of enduring to the end.  Sister Morgan made potato salad, baked beans, lemonade, and cookies and they stopped on the way and bought fried chicken.  She insisted on doing it all herself and would not let us bring anything for the meal.  After lunch they took us for a walk on a nature trail there.  It was very beautiful.  We got home in time for our appointment with Otis and the sisters.  Otis is quite puzzling to all of us.  He won't do anything we ask him to do to gain a testimony but he keeps having us come back to teach him and he comes to church more regularly than most of the members here.

Friday we had a really great Relief Society meeting.  Of course we started the day with our trip to Greensboro to pick up Sister Borden and Sister Nixon.  On the way out of Greensboro a FedEx van passed us and the car behind us and was going quite a bit over the speed limit.  Then a county deputy passed both of us with his lights flashing.  We were a little pleased that the FedEx driver was going to learn a lesson.  Then the deputy went around the FedEx van also and sped on down the highway.  We were pretty sure the FedEx driver did a little soul searching for a few seconds at least.  We passed the deputy a few miles down the road at an accident scene.  Anyway, there were fourteen sisters who attended and they listened to the first presidency's messages from the women's meeting at general conference.  Everybody was happy to see Sister Snarr back and there were two non-members there.  One of them was a lady Sister Snarr taught when she was here last time.

Saturday was Elder Owens' birthday so we went to Tuscaloosa to try the ribs at Dreamland and invited the YSA senior couple to join us.  The ribs were the best we have had since coming to Alabama but they just didn't measure up to Slow Bone in Dallas.  We finally had banana pudding that everyone here raves about all the time.   We weren't really impressed with that.  We did taste fried green tomatoes for the first time.  They were very good.  I really do like fried okra and fried green tomatoes.  We had another appointment with Otis but he called and postponed again.  We met with him Sunday.

Sunday was a good day.  Everybody was happy to see Sister Snarr again.  President James had her bear her testimony.  He said he guessed she didn't get enough of Demopolis the first time and had to come back again.  Nobody has the heart to tell him she is probably back again so he can learn how to say her name.  He has always called her Sister Snare, and still does.  We met with Otis tonight.  He didn't get to church today.  He attended the Baptist church where his nephew was baptized.  He is two and a half months old.  The sisters gave him a copy of the illustrated Book of Mormon stories to see if he might read that.  He said he was going to start reading it and would call us tomorrow and let us know what he learned from it.  The sisters asked him to say the closing prayer and to ask for help understanding the Book of Mormon.  He said he would and then stopped and said one of us should pray.  We assured him he could pray and he did but said nothing about the Book of Mormon.  He never asks any questions in his prayers.  He just prays for strength to keep doing right.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 82: Fall has finally arrived (we hope); that's not so good for the Camden sisters

Dear Family and Friends,

We really didn't accomplish a lot this week.  Last week our district leader said we had to take thirty seconds in district council and share a talent with everyone.  Being a little hard pressed to come up with a talent we both had to fall back on our culinary abilities.  Sister Owens made her caramels and I made a batch of toffee and we bagged it up to pass out to each member of the district on Tuesday.

Monday the temperature was 59 degrees when I went to walk in the morning and there were some very dark clouds that would have made me think we were in for snow back in Idaho.  Then it cleared everywhere above me and was just cloudy on the horizon all around me.  Before I finished though, there was a slight downpour but then it quit and I was almost dry by the time I started home.

Tuesday when I got up I thought I might wear my long sleeved shirt to walk but decided against it.  MISTAKE.  It was 54 degrees when I started and 53 degrees when I finished.  When we went to pick up the sisters for district council they said they wore their winter coats to walk in the morning and got a block from home and decided to go back and exercise in the house that morning.  It was sunny and warm in Tuscaloosa for district council.  It was our last council meeting for this transfer so we took a district picture (attachment #1) and then went to lunch together as a district.  Sister McCreath bore her testimony in district council because she is going home next Wednesday.  She is the second missionary we have sent home from Demopolis since we came and it is not getting any easier.  She has been here for six months and is one of the hardest working missionaries I have ever met.  It is hard for us to say goodbye to her.  She has done a marvelous job training Sister Allen and we are glad we get to keep her here for at least one more transfer.  We went with the sisters to see Otis again Tuesday night.  We reviewed the restoration with him because we want to make sure he understands the commitment he is making at baptism.  He told us he knows all about baptism, he has been baptized before, but this is a lot of information and he thinks he needs to slow down and take some time to think about it.  He is finally catching on that this involves a lot more than just being baptized again.  He hasn't been keeping any of his commitments.  He's not listening to the Book of Mormon CD we left with him and he is not praying to find out if the things we are teaching him are true, and he doesn't pray when he is in discussions with us anymore.  He says he wants to pray about it when he is alone.  He set another appointment with us for Friday but called and postponed it to next Monday.  We went to see Tasha Kirk after our discussion with Otis.  Since it was after eight o'clock she was actually home.  Well she actually drove up about five minutes after we got there.  She said she would go with Sister Owens on Saturday to get some ice cream so they could have a chance to talk.

Wednesday we made the rounds to inspect apartments in Selma, Camden, and Thomasville.  The sisters in Camden have been dealing with a little mice problem since the weather has cooled off.  So far they have killed about five of them.  They hear them scurrying around the kitchen at night.  The mice actually dragged a box of d-con under the stove.  The landlord gave them some sticky traps and they caught two mice and had to beat them to death with a broom.  We went and bought some mice bait for them before we left and Sister Owens shared the trick of stuffing aluminum foil in the mouse hole to keep them from coming into the room.  We hope things will get a little better for them.  We had our last coordination meeting with Sister McCreath that night.  All these last meetings are getting hard for her.

Thursday at Book of Mormon class we told everyone it was Sister McCreath's last class before she goes home (attachment #2).  They wouldn't stand for it.  So we re-scheduled class next week for Monday instead of Thursday.  They said they are actually going to get some catfish this time to feed the missionaries.  Sister Owens said she doesn't care, she is not bringing cole slaw.  I checked with Brother White at church today to see if he got the fish (he has to go to Union Town to get it).  He had forgotten it was going to be on Monday).  He said he is going to go Monday morning and get it.  I told him he really doesn't need to get fish but he insisted that he is going to get it.  I don't know how they are going to have time for Sister Nixon to cook it after he goes to get it and still have it ready for class.  I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Friday we did some shopping for Book of Mormon class.  It is interesting.  They want to do something for the missionaries so they assigned everything out.  They are going to have catfish (maybe) and Elder and Sister Owens are bringing mac and cheese, dessert crepes, and a salad (by assignment) and the sister missionaries are bringing lemonade.  But its all good.  We enjoy the time with them.  I went to my favorite barber on Friday to get my haircut before transfers (don't want to look shaggy when we go see the mission president and bring back a new sister to the area).  It has been nice not having to cut my own hair.  Miss Rouser charges five dollars and does a great job cutting a flat top.  Its going to be hard to go back to cutting my own again.  Sister Owens is quite impressed that she trims eyebrows and nose hairs when necessary.

Saturday we inspected the Demopolis sisters apartment and then took them to lunch for the last time with Sister McCreath.  Then we went to get Tasha to go with Sister Owens.  She said she was tired and was hoping they could go tomorrow (Sunday).  Sister Owens said they weren't going to do that, she would wait for her to get ready.  She wasn't going to go until Sister Owens said they could get lunch instead of ice cream.  Tasha got to pick where they were going to go and she picked McDonalds.  Sister Owens said she could still change her mind if she wanted to, but she didn't.  I dropped them off and went home and took a nap.  Tasha said that was kind of weird, she never went inside to eat at McDonalds before.  They had a good visit.  Tasha said ours is the only church that actually cared about people.  She told Sister Owens she knows she should come back to church and said she was going to try to be there this Sunday.  The Morgans were scheduled to clean the building last week (conference week).  They said they didn't even get over to clean it (he is over eighty years old and she is in her late seventies).  She said they better clean it this week.  We told her they got a by last week because of conference and good for them, they didn't need to clean it this week.  We told her we would go ahead and do it this week.  They print the bulletin each week.  We looked at the bulletin when we got to church and noticed they scheduled themselves to clean the building next week.  They shouldn't have a turn for at least a month.

This morning we got a call from our friend Vanessa Walker telling us she would like us to give her a ride to church.  We told her we would be by to pick her up.  Then Otis called and said he didn't have a way to get to church and wondered if someone could pick him up (I actually thought he probably wouldn't come this week).  We told him we would pick him up.  We have to leave Branch Council early so we can get them to church on time.  Before we left Vanessa called and said she didn't feel well so she wasn't coming.  Then just as we were leaving Otis called.  He wanted to know if anyone was coming for him.  I told him we were on our way.  After the sacrament President James told us about when he had been baptized for about a week he was attending another person's baptism and the Branch President told him he wanted him to speak about baptism.  He said he learned then that you should always have something prepared because you never know when a speaker might not show up and you might be asked to speak.  Then he said this is one of those times.  Our speakers from Tuscaloosa were not there (he didn't know if they just didn't make it or if they never were assigned – no one had ever gotten back to him with the names of those that were assigned).  Of course Sister McCreath got to bear her testimony and we heard from our new high councilor and then from the Elders Quorum President.  We lucked out and just gave the opening and closing prayers.  It was a good meeting.  Otis said he is still planning to see us tomorrow night.  We are anxious to see how that is going to go.

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

And study the messages from conference last week, they were awesome.

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Fwd: Week 81: 101 degrees!?!? Excuse me, this is OCTOBER!

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday we went out to Greensboro and met with Brother White to fill out another application for a different apartment complex here in Demopolis and a request for a primary care physician to fax to Tuscaloosa.  We got the doctor request faxed over and found out Thursday that Brother White broke his phone so we don't know if they called him or not to set up an appointment.  We will have to check on that this week.  We had another discussion with Otis in the evening.  He is looking forward to baptism but hasn't quite kicked his word of wisdom habits yet.  I'm not sure what he will do if they put off his baptism again, but I guess that will be up to him whether it has to be postponed or not.

Tuesday we had a great district council.  One of the sisters shared some training from the Book of Mormon on repentance and our Sisters gave some training on what to do to help our people when they don't think they are getting answers to their prayers about the things they are being taught.  As always, we are quite impressed with the maturity and ability of these young missionaries.

Wednesday we spent quite some time with Ollie working on her finances.  When I went over her bank statement I noticed a check she had in her register made out to her husband for twenty-five dollars was cashed for one hundred dollars.  There was no question.  The bank sends copies of all the processed checks.  Needless to say, she felt betrayed.  We spent quite some time again talking about how she had to cut back on her spending because she is running out of money.  We are spinning our wheels here.  About three hours later Beth called us and said she just got back from going to Thomasville with Ollie for Chinese food.  Of course she said Ollie told her not to tell Sister Owens because she would probably be mad.  So Ollie paid Ross at least twenty dollars to drive her car to take them an hours drive from Demopolis and then bought dinner for her and Beth.  It seems like all we are doing with a lot of things here is beating our head against the wall.

Thursday we had Book of Mormon class.  The sisters were on exchange with the Camden sisters.  So Sister Noble from Nampa, Idaho attended with Sister Allen.  She has been out on her mission for four and a half weeks.  Brother White was not there.  We were going to get his documents that needed to be submitted with his rental application.  That was when we found out that he lost his phone.  We couldn't get him on his cell and he didn't answer the door when we went to his apartment.  He had been to dialysis earlier so we figured he was probably sleeping.  Sunday we found out from him that he actually broke his phone and got a new one Friday.  We had an appointment with Otis in the evening, but when we got there he was waiting for us to tell us he had to spend the night with his mother and had to leave right then.  We rescheduled for Friday night.

Friday we went back to Greensboro to try to find Brother White but he wasn't home.  We still couldn't get him on the phone so we had to wait until we could see him at church Sunday.  We met with Otis in the evening and the sisters reviewed the baptismal interview questions with him.  He seemed to understand them and said he was looking forward to being baptized.  He will probably have an interview this next week and I guess we'll see how he is doing with the word of wisdom.

Saturday was Conference😊😊.  We have been looking forward to it for a while.  The only difference between this conference (our last one for our mission) and the first one in April of last year is that we were there at the branch building alone this year when it started and the first time the sisters were there with us.  After it started though, the Smiths showed up (with all the kids).  Sorry to say it but it actually felt more like we were trying to watch the broadcast in the nursery.  Otis told us Friday that he would try to come Saturday, but he called me in the morning and said he wouldn't make it but he would be coming on Sunday. Don't get the wrong idea.  Most of the valiant members here have BYU TV at home and that is where they watch conference.  We set up at the branch for those who don't have that channel but they don't seem to be that anxious to listen to the brethren.   Saturday night Sister Owens and Sister Smith and her daughters were there for the women's broadcast along with the missionaries and one of their investigators.

Sunday Otis called to tell me he didn't need a ride.  He was going to be driving his sister's car.  I found out why when he leaned over half way through the session and told me he wasn't staying for the whole meeting and would be leaving now.  I was a little disappointed.  The sisters had another lady show up for the morning session.  She was still there when we had to leave to take Ollie home during Elder Uchtdorf's address (she wasn't feeling well).  As we were entering the parking lot on the way back we saw the lady that was there with the sisters leaving.  Then we made it in to hear the last of President Nelson's address.  I couldn't help but remember the talk yesterday telling us that we couldn't build someone else's faith nor can we expect someone else to bolster our own.  People came to the meeting but I guess it is up to them how they respond.  We were just glad we were there and we got to hear the brethren.  The afternoon session was just us and the Sisters and the Smiths with some non-member primary children that the Smiths brought.  Another session in the nursery, but it was great.  You all got to hear Elder Peter M. Johnson, our former Stake President here.  He is a great man.  We hope you enjoyed conference as much as we did.

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

And study Joseph Smith's account of the first vision.

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

PS:  101 degree Octobers do make some pretty unique things.  The attachments are pictures of some flowers that sprang up in the middle of our lawn that they had just mowed four days before.