Week 88: Things haven't changed much in the last 130 years.

Dear Family and Friends,

"We have held 18 meetings here in about two months and have some more appointments out.  We have quite a number of good friends and have been treated very well by them, often have 150 present at a meeting.  Yet, some of the over-righteous people who do not come to our meetings say that we are very bad men; having a beam in their own eyes, they try to pull the mote out of others, but it is all for the best for none but the honest in heart can receive the true
Gospel and they are very scarce in these parts.  There is a great many that will take us in and do all they can for us, but the Gospel is too strong for them.  They want the good old-time religion (the broad road) so that no matter what they do, it's all right if they only pay the preacher.  But they help the Elders to gather out the righteous and tis better for them to remain in their present condition than to receive the gospel and then turn away.  Our doctrine is not popular enough, and although they cannot disprove it by the Bible, yet they think it would  be impossible for the majority to be wrong.  It reminds one of the Pharisees and scribes of old – Mathew 23, and ere long they will fare the same fate, if they do not repent and obey the Gospel and live up to its teachings."  We ran across the foregoing in a letter that my great grandfather wrote home to his mother 130 years ago while serving his mission in the county directly to the south of us.  A few generations have passed but the traditions are holding on very well.  We both thought it portrays the current state of affairs here in Alabama.

Monday Sister Owens went to lunch with the sisters that serve with her in Relief Society to celebrate another one of their birthdays (I really don't know why I wasn't invited—she did tell me I'm her favorite counselor).  Then President James had us track down a power bill for one of the branch members that we never see at church (except some of the times we have a pot luck after our meeting).  It is too bad they never come to him until they threaten to turn off their power.

Tuesday we picked up the sisters and headed off to Bessemer for Interviews with the president.  Then since it was our last district council for the transfer, we went to lunch as a district and then went back to the chapel for district council.  It is a little different for us.  We have been assigned to a different district this transfer.  We are used to more sisters than elders and for more than a year now have had another senior couple with us in the district.  Now we are in a larger district with more elders than sisters and the other senior couple was kept in our previous district.  We miss seeing them once every week at district council.  We also took our district picture as we always do in our last meeting before transfers (see attachment #1).  It was a pretty long day by the time we got back to Demopolis.

With Thanksgiving coming next week, we spent Wednesday planning and shopping for those in the branch that will probably need a little help.  The sisters scheduled an appointment for the same time that we usually have Coordination meeting so they decided to change coordination to Thursday.  Then they texted us and said the appointment fell through and we could have coordination.  Then they texted us and said Brother Smith said to just have it on Thursday.  Then we went with the sisters to another appointment with Otis.  We got there a few minutes before the sisters arrived.  Otis was very cool and standoffish.  The sisters shared the story of Enos from the Book of Mormon with him and we invited him to come to Stake Conference this weekend (it would be broadcast to our building in Demopolis, finally).  He said he has a lot of things coming up and he wasn't sure if he would make it to church.  He told us we didn't need to worry about him.  It isn't really that serious, things are good.  We definitely felt he was separating himself from us. He seems to be happier with the "broad way."  He wouldn't pray and we asked him to kneel with us to have prayer before we left.  It was very awkward but he said he would and then we all kneeled and he scooted forward on his chair but didn't kneel. 

Since Sister Snarr is being transferred home next week we planned to have Pizza for them Saturday but they told us they will be in Linden for the day Saturday and wanted to do pizza on Friday.  So we kind of spent the morning grating cheese and preparing toppings for the Pizza for Friday.  Then we went to Greensboro for Book of Mormon class.  After class we tried to contact the lady that we found last week but she wasn't home this time.  Sister Borden (who seems to know everyone in Greensboro) told us she works at the Hospital.  So now we know where to go looking for her the next time she isn't home.  Then we came back to Demopolis for coordination.  Brother Smith was excited to hear what the new vision is for our mission, combining reactivation, temple and family history work, and sharing the gospel with non-members.  The missionaries are taking on a much more versatile role in all of the units now.

Friday we had the sisters over for Pizza for lunch (attachment #2).  Then we were supposed to take Andrea and her mother to look at a possible new apartment.  We found out that Sister Smith took them in the morning but Andrea called and said they had to have a ride to Linden to get their background check for the new landlord.  So we drove them to Linden and, of course, the people who do the checks weren't there that day (I love Alabama).  I guess it was all for the best anyway, because we found out today that they are moving to a different place where they have lived before.

Saturday was the leadership session and the adult evening session of stake conference.  Both were very good.  I went to the training session for clerks and Sister Owens went with the EQ and RS Presidents to receive training from the Stake President.  In the clerk training two clerks showed up, myself and the other senior missionary in our stake.  We are both going home in February.  It wasn't quite as effective as the stake clerk had hoped.  In Sister Owens' training the president asked for input on the challenges we face in each of the units in the stake.  Sister Owens told him our hardest challenges are poverty, transportation (lack thereof), and illiteracy.   President acknowledged her comment and said we just have to take baby steps.  The Brother sitting behind her worked in our branch and was released the Sunday we got to the branch.  He said when he was in the branch his biggest challenge was that the people he worked with just didn't want it.  That truly is what we face with so many of the less active saints here.  It gets a little discouraging at times.

Sunday the general session was broadcast to our building for the first time since we have been here.  We actually had 33 people in attendance.  That is better conference attendance than we have witnessed since we've been here.  The last conferences we have only had about ten people go because of the lack of transportation.  We can pick people up for meetings at our building (usually one or two trips for those who have cars—we made two trips today), but you can't do that when the meeting is two hours away.  When we got there Otis was waiting in his car.  I just can't figure out what is going on with him.  We really didn't think he would be there.  I shook his hand after the meeting and told him I was glad he came.  He asked me if that was the end and I told him it was.  He said, "Okay, I'm leaving now."  The sisters came over to see us tonight.  Sister Allen asked if I would give her a blessing.  This is such a hard area for the missionaries.  Sister Weaver and Sister McCreath are among the best we have had and they were both here for six months each.  Sister Allen started her mission here and has been here for three transfers.  We are pretty sure she will be here at least one more since Sister Snarr is going home this transfer.  The end of next transfer will mark six months for Sister Allen.  She was trained by the best and is an awesome missionary, herself.  I'm sure she is learning some hard lessons in this area that will serve her well for the rest of her mission.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 87: A well deserved holiday; kind of a long Sunday (sorry this is late)

Dear Family and Friends,

Our district leader was telling us all last week that we were going to have a district activity on Monday this week.  Then Sunday night they cancelled it.  Monday was a beautiful day.  When I got home from walking I told Sister Owens we should call the sisters and see if they had plans for lunch and if they didn't we would offer to take them on a picnic.  She thought it would be a good idea so I sent them a text.  I told them if they didn't have lunch plans that we all deserved a Veteran's Day, P-day, cancelled district activity picnic.  I told them we wanted to take them to Payne Lake so they could see it.  While we were deciding to invite them they were feeling a little down because they had a couple discouraging days and were deciding what to do for P-day.  They didn't have enough miles to go anywhere and decided they were going to go to the branch building and have a "pretend" picnic.  Then they got our text and were grateful for the Lord's tender mercies.  We drove out to the lake (see attachment) and had a nice lunch of pork chops, baked beans, macaroni salad, and potato chips, and some spinach and feta cheese salad that the sisters brought.  The weather and the scenery was beautiful.

Tuesday morning Sister Owens got her hair cut so she has been happy all week.  We went to visit the non-member mother of a nine year old girl in the branch that wants so badly to be baptized.  We are trying to determine who her legal guardian is.  She lives with her aunt.  We want someone to come to the face to face on Sunday to learn what the program is that their daughter will be involved in next year.  The mother wasn't home.  We went to Greensboro to find a woman we have been looking for since we got to Alabama.  We had an address for her in Demopolis and have never had anyone answer the door yet.  We found an address in Greensboro online and decided to check it out.  We turned onto the street and drove down to where we expected the address to be and could not find a house with that number.  We were going back to the highway and just as we got to the intersection Sister Owens noticed that the house on the corner had the number we were looking for on the mailbox.  A couple was just getting out of their car when we drove into the driveway.  It was the lady we were trying to find.  We were confirming her name and she asked us why we were asking all these questions.  I told her who we were and she said, "OH, are you talking about the Mormons?"  And laughed.  She said she hadn't been to that church in nineteen years.  She couldn't believe we still had her name on our records.  We are going to try to see her again this week and see what happens.  Everybody here is polite and friendly when you catch them in a situation where they can't avoid you.  Unfortunately its often a whole different story when there is a door that they can "not open."  I don't mean to sound negative, that just really is the way it is here.  We stopped to visit with Brother White and Sister Nixon at Canterbury Manor before we left Greensboro.  We are still trying to get a primary care physician for Brother White.  We got some misinformation from the clinic here in Demopolis as to who in Tuscaloosa actually provides that service so we kind of have to start over.  We found out Sister Nixon's seven year old grandson died in a house fire this past week along with his adoptive mother.

Wednesday morning we substituted for Sister Smith and went to the food bank to pick up a couple food orders and deliver them to members of the Branch.  It was very cold (21 degrees).  We even had to scrape the windshield before we could go.  That was at seven in the morning so I went walking after we finished.  It still hadn't warmed up very much.  We tried to see Mary Kirk again  (the nine year old's mother we are trying to contact).  She still was not home (at least there was no answer at the door).  We had coordination meeting with Brother Smith.  The sisters most progressing person who was on date for baptism got a job in security at one of the paper mills.  She is working night shift Thursday through Sunday.  She hasn't responded to the Sisters' texts since she started working.

Thursday was rainy, cold, and gray, but we did have a good Book of Mormon class.  Brother White was there again but we missed Brother Foote (our new high council rep.).  Sister Borden missed again this week.  She was seeing her Migraine headache doctor.  Sister Jones answered her phone and said she would come to class with us so it looks like she might be coming regurly again.  She still isn't coming to church on Sundays though.  We tried again to see Mary Kirk, still no answer at her door.  It doesn't seem to matter what time we go there.  I'm starting to wonder if anyone really lives there other than the dog that in on the porch inside a kennel with a sleeping bag draped over it.  He whines every time we come.  We haven't ever actually seen him.

Friday was our district council this week.  We had Family Search training by Elder and Sister Price.  It was great training.  The goal is to get all the elders and sisters to develop basic skills in using family search so they will be able to provide one on one training to anyone that wants to start doing family history.  Their presentation is very good.  We received a booklet and viewed six training videos with step by step instructions for navigating the family search website.  We have the link to the videos and can refer back to them anytime we need to.  The mission is focusing on making family history a major part of the work for all the missionaries, as well as working to reactivate less active members and attending the temple once every transfer.  Before we left Tuscaloosa a member from Greensboro called and asked Sister Owens if she would make a batch of brownies for the family after the funeral for Sister Nixon's grandson.  The lady is bedridden so it was hard to say no, but some people really don't have much consideration for others when they ask for things.  Anyone in Greensboro would have been happy to go to the store and buy brownies for her (she has an ex-husband and two grown sons there in town).  Instead we bake the brownies and drive thirty minutes there to take them to her and then thirty minutes to get back home.

Saturday was Preparation Day and boy did we prepare.  We did the laundry and fixed ham and beans and cinnamon rolls for the face to face on Sunday. We gave up trying to find Mary Kirk and just went to Ella Mae Kirk, who has the nine year old living with her.  We asked her if she was the legal guardian for Aaliyah and if it is documented.  She did a little double take when we asked about the documentation and then said, "I have Guardian."  We asked Tasha Kirk about it and she assured us that Ella Mae really is the legal guardian so I guess I believe it (I have always been a little bit skeptical).  Ella Mae is single and works full time and has part time jobs (under the table, as they say) and has three children living in her house.  The oldest is thirteen years old.  We invited her to come to the face to face and bring the children.  She said she was scheduled to work from six to six, but if she got off earlier maybe she would come.  Brother White called us Saturday night and said he wasn't sure his car would make it to church because he has a bad tire.  He asked if we would call the Bordens or somebody to give him a ride to church.  This is a strange place.  They have been friends for more that nine years (I think a lot more).  I don't know why he just didn't call them himself.  Brother Borden has told him they would pick him up any time.  We told him we would call them.  We called and they said they would pick him up.

Sunday started with a call from Sister Borden at 6:12 AM to let Sister Owens know that she wouldn't be at church because she had stomach problems.  Sister Owens asked if Brother Borden was still going to come and bring Brother White.  She said he couldn't because he was going to take her to the emergency room.  We called Brother White and told him we would come to get him.  He refused to have us drive all the way there to get him and said he would get in to church.  We went a little early (Branch Presidency Mtg. starts at 9) so we could put the food in the fridge for the face to face. At 9:15 President James was not there.  About ten minutes later one person came (a lady that is actually an excommunicated member).  I started to worry a little bit.  I started sacrament preparation since there were no priesthood holders there yet and we had to leave at 9:40 to pick up Ollie.  I wasn't finished (and I had no bread anyway) and it was time to go to get Ollie.  When we walked out the door Brother White was just driving up.  He usually sits in his car until the meeting starts because the chairs are uncomfortable for him.  I went and asked him to go in and finish getting the sacrament ready.  There was still nobody there besides us, the sisters, and one member.  As we were leaving Sister James drove up and told us President James drove to Tuscaloosa to take Tirrell to YSA and was coming but would probably be a few minutes late.  Then the Smiths drove up with the Aaronic priesthood (their boys) and the sacrament bread.  We went to get Ollie and on the way back to the church President James called to tell me he would be a few minutes late but he was coming.  Brother Morgan asked Brother Smith to conduct since President James wasn't there.  A family was there from Tuscaloosa to speak but they were not the speakers that were listed on the program.  The ones on the program were not there. President James walked in at 10:00 and conducted the meeting.  After the sacrament another family walked in and sat down.  They were the speakers listed on the program.  Their GPS had taken them to the Church of Christ instead of our building.  So we had four speakers instead of two which was kind of a shame because we could really use two of them on the second week of December.  Speakers are hard to come by when you have average attendance of less than 40 and most of them wouldn't speak if you asked them to.  They all had very good messages.  It was a good meeting.  We had a total of nine visitors and still only had 34 people in attendance. A lot of the "regulars" were not there this week. After church we went home and had some lunch and then went to set up for the Face to Face.  Five minutes before it was supposed to start President and Sister James were there with the sisters and us.  We ended up with 16 people in attendance though, so it was pretty good.  Tasha and Cedric came but neither of their girls came.  One girl came but her mother didn't come with her. And the Smiths were there.  We had a pot of beans and a pot of Taco Soup from Sister James with some rolls and some cornbread that the sisters made and brought.  By the time we got home we were too tired to do anything but have prayer and go to bed.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 86: The seasons, they are a changing; there's been a drive by caking.

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week we followed a vehicle to the post office.  When we got there I got out and told the lady I really liked the sign on her back window (attachment #1) and asked if I could take a picture of it.  She said, "By all means."  Just an indication of how converted people are to the Savior her in the south.  There just aren't very many of them that seem to be interested in the message of the restoration.

Monday I got up about ten minutes late to go for my walk and missed the chance to take a picture of a beautiful sunrise from the path where I walk.  I stopped on the way to get a picture of it (attachment #2)  even though it was a couple minutes late for a really good picture.  Sister Owens had her RS Presidency meeting at the church Monday.  Ollie's husband, Larry, called us and asked if we would come over and say a prayer for his mother who had a stroke.  She is ninety-five years old and lives about an hour away from Demopolis.  When we got there he asked if I would include a prayer for his disability claim against the government to go through for him.  He has had a claim in for fifteen years and is hoping it will be resolved soon.

Tuesday we were supposed to have family history training at our district council meeting so we were supposed to be there a couple hours earlier than usual.  We got to the sisters apartment to pick them up and they said they just got a text that the training was cancelled.  The couple that was going to do the training had a flat tire on their motor home about 5:30 AM and wouldn't be able to get it repaired until about 8:30.  They decided to have district council one hour earlier than usual so we went back to our apartment for an hour and then went back to get the sisters and head for Tuscaloosa.  We ended up spending the whole day in Tuscaloosa since Sister Owens had an appointment for another scan on her lungs and then another breathing test and another visit with her pulmonologist.  We had the sisters with us the whole time which made us feel a little bad because it kept them from working all day.  We originally had family history training scheduled for Wednesday and were going to have district council that day so our doctor appointments weren't going to interfere with anything, but they wanted to accelerate the schedule for the training so it was moved up one day (then had to be postponed anyway).  Sister Owens had a scheduled visit with her GP this Friday so she rescheduled the monthly RS meeting to the following week.  Now the family history training has been rescheduled for the same day so RS will probably be canceled for this month and will not be until December.  Scheduling isn't working out so well this month.

Wednesday we ended up at the church cleaning out the RS closet which is a large metal cabinet with five shelves.  There were craft leftovers from projects and lessons from about the last fifteen years.  It was quite an adventure.  Then we had coordination meeting and President James came to sit in with us.

Thursday was a very rainy day (carwash rain as Sister Owens calls it).  It made the trip to Greensboro pretty fun.  Sister Jones came for the first time in a few months.  She has been upset with us for some time and hasn't returned our calls.  She just called today and asked if we were going to Book of Mormon class and wanted to go with us.  It was like she has been going with us every week (I love Alabama).  Of course there wasn't any catfish.  Brother Foote brought a gentleman with him because they were supposed to have catfish.  He took him to eat after class.  This morning in Branch Council I told Brother Foote I didn't have the heart to tell him last week that they usually promise catfish about three or four times before they actually have some.  He said it was good that I didn't tell him because that was why Brother Wilson decided to come with him.

Friday it was clear that Winter is on its way.  I had to use the scrapper on the all the windows on the car before I went to walk (I usually just have to wipe off the dew with a towel).  It was 30 degrees.  The day kind of reminded us of home.  I think we might be in for a little colder winter here than we had last year.  We drove to Tuscaloosa again for Sister Owens' doctor appointment.  It was a beautiful drive.  The leaves are changing color here but so many of them are still green.  There is really quite an assortment of colors as we drive down the freeway.  We got four email reminders about her appointment during the past week.  Each one was fifteen minutes earlier than the last one.  Then they called us Thursday with another reminder and told us it was fifteen minutes earlier than the last reminder we had gotten.  So we had to be there at 9:45 and at noon after forty-five minutes waiting in the exam room Sister Owens told them she couldn't stay any longer and she had to leave.  So now we have to go back again in December and start over (I love Alabama).  We went to help Ollie with her checkbook when we got back to Demopolis.  The poor lady is being robbed by her care givers and there is nothing we can do about it.  The lady that bathes her and does wash for her should get about $360 per month.  She tells her she doesn't want a check every time she comes.  Then she tells her how much Ollie owes her and Ollie writes a check for her.  I showed Ollie that she had paid her $620 in the last five weeks and told her to pay her every time she provides any service so that won't happen. Her "driver" has things in his possession that are against the law and instead of keeping them at his house he leaves them at Ollie's or in her car.  He left something in her car and she didn't know what it was and threw it away.  He told her she had to pay him $35 for it because she threw it away.  She just paid him because he said she should.  He had her pay a bail bond for him and he didn't show up on his court date and she was notified that she would be charged $500 if he doesn't appear on the 25^th.  The poor woman is afraid not to do what these people want her to do because she has to have the help they provide and is afraid to make them mad because they might leave and she would not have the help.

Saturday we did our P-day chores and then went to the church to do some facebook stalking.  I guess that's a popular way to find people you are looking for and we certainly have plenty of people we can't find here.  While we were there the sisters came to work on their talks they were preparing for Sacrament meeting.  They had a couple of pretty discouraging days the last two days.  All of their appointments were falling through and the people they went to see were not home.  It has been very cold and they were walking down the street, cold and a discouraged, and a lady stopped and gave them a cake and told them that Jesus loves them.  They were so surprised.  They had never had anything like that happen and they wondered if the lady thought they were homeless.

Today was a great day.  The sisters both gave awesome talks in Sacrament meeting on the plan of salvation and making Christ the center of our lives.  Sister Snarr shared an experience she had earlier in her mission teaching a man the gospel.  He has had a degenerative bone disease for the last several years of his life.  After he started learning the gospel his condition worsened.  He decided he wanted to be baptized and he started having a lot of pain.  It got to the point where it was so bad he couldn't dress to go to church or even to have lessons.  He saw the doctor and was told that he should have surgery.  If he had surgery he wouldn't be able to be baptized for a long time.  He was experiencing extreme pain constantly.  He couldn't understand why the Lord would let this happen in his life when he had accepted the gospel and wanted so badly to be baptized.  He prayed about it one night for a long time and finally told the Lord that he would accept whatever His will was for him.  Then he went to sleep.  He woke up pain free the next morning, has been riding his bike every morning since and was able to get baptized.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 85: This was the week that wasn't; too many doctors here

Dear Family and Friends,

Sister Owens got up Monday morning feeling quite poorly.  She thought it was just because the day before was such a long day with the training meeting in Tuscaloosa after church.  She took a nap hoping she would feel better and when she got up she was pretty sure she was coming down with a bad cold.  We were going to take the sisters and a lady they are teaching over to the church for a church tour and then go have a discussion with Otis.  We had to call and cancel.  She went to bed early hoping she would feel good enough to go to District Council on Tuesday.

We are in a different district now than before.  We no longer have the Hursts (the YSA senior couple) in the same district.  We are a little bummed about that.  We only see them at Zone Conference now.  Our new district meets in Tuscaloosa still, but at a different building which is a little farther away.  At Zone Conference our district leader told us we would meet at 10:30 instead of 11:00.  So we picked up the sisters and left about 40 minutes earlier than usual Tuesday morning.  As we drove up to the building and saw no cars we were a little worried if we had the right place.  The sisters said it was the right building but they had gotten a message the night before that the meeting would be at 11:00 instead of 10:30. We didn't get the message because we don't have internet at our apartment.  For some reason they send all the important messages on FB Messenger instead of sending out texts (??).  Our Zone leader is in our district now.  At 11:00 we were still waiting in the parking lot for the elders.  The sisters from Fayette were also there waiting.  We decided to walk around the building and found that the elders park on the other side of the building.  We went in and the ZL and his companion were there waiting for us.  The district leader still wasn't there.  He and his companion had an earlier appointment and didn't get there for about another twenty minutes.  Anyway, Sister Owens was feeling a little better and she asked our new district leader to give her a blessing after our meeting.  When  we got home we got a call from the pulmonologist telling us that Dr. Simpson had advised her that he saw no reason to consider a biopsy at this time.  So she wants Sister Owens to come in next week to have a high density CT Scan and another breathing test.  We are pretty sure the breathing test will be much better than her last, as long as she gets over the cold she is having now.  We went to meet with Otis and he said we were going to have to hold off on meetings with him for a while because he has to be in deep prayer for his mother.  She was in the hospital for a day or two and is back home now.  We told him we would prayer for her.

Wednesday she stayed home and nursed her cold until it was time to go to Coordination meeting.  We talked about how Brother Smith and Sister Owens have to counsel together and plan everything for the branch so we can take the load off President James and he can devote his time to the youth.

Thursday Brother Foote drove down from Tuscaloosa to attend our Book of Mormon class with us and get to know the members in Greensboro a little better.  He is the high councilor that has been assigned to our branch.  He was pretty excited when Sister Borden said we were going to have catfish next week.  We were a little surprised since we just had some a couple weeks ago.  We didn't have the heart to tell Brother Foote how many times they say that before we actually have some.  Thursday night the sisters had us over for dinner at their apartment (see attachment).  All the missionaries have to be in their apartment for the evening by 6:00 pm on Halloween.  They made chicken spaghetti for us which was really quite tasty.

Friday was my semi-annual check up with the Dermatologist in Tuscaloosa.  He assured me nothing had to be cut off today.  I was quite pleased about that.  No more doctors to see now until Sister Owens' CT Scan and breathing test next Tuesday and her check up with the GP next Friday.

Saturday we took our turn cleaning the branch building and then did our P-day chores.

Sunday we had a good Fast and Testimony meeting.  They seem really short now that they are only an hour long.  Brother Morgan had his eightieth birthday Friday.  We took a pan of cinnamon rolls over for them to share with their boys.  We were sure they would be coming to see them.  They asked if we would come over Sunday afternoon so we could meet their grandkids.  We went over and took a family picture for them.  They have such a neat family.  Three boys.  They have all been baptized but only their second son is active.  He is in the Stake Presidency where he lives in southern Alabama, and  all of their children have been on missions (one in Boise several years ago).  They brought their youngest son with them this weekend.  He just got home six weeks ago from Taiwan.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens