Week 92: That's as close as we want to get, thanks; and Merry Christmas to y'all

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday we took a sister in the branch to do some shopping for her three grandchildren for Christmas.  We commented on how warm the weather was and she said, “That’s because a bad storm is on the way.”  In the afternoon we went to see the Kirk family and brought them some milk and orange juice that we didn’t use for the breakfast last Saturday.  They haven’t been to church for a few weeks.  We told them we hoped we would see them at the special Sacrament meeting this Sunday.  They said they were going to try to come.  A tornado warning was issued for Demopolis.  We got a call from the senior missionaries in Tuscaloosa telling us about it and also from a family in the branch.  The tornado touched down five miles west of our apartment and damaged twelve homes.  One mobile home was completely destroyed.  The family was at home when it struck.  The ambulance drove past us on their way to the home.  The mother was admitted to the hospital with a broken ankle and several bruises.  The tornado moved to the northeast and missed Demopolis.  No one in the branch was affected by it.

Tuesday we went to Tuscaloosa for our District Council.  Everyone showed up but the District leader and his companion.  There seemed to be some kind of problem in the use of their GPS and they drove for forty-five minutes in the wrong direction. They called us and said to start the meeting without them and they would get there as soon as they could.  Of course, at that point, our ninety minute meeting would be over by the time they arrived anyway.  After the meeting I went to see my doctor for the last time before we leave to come home.  He seemed to be pleased with everything.  I removed my bandages and showed him my burns just so Sister Owens would be happy.  He said they looked good and that I was taking good care of them and they should heal just fine.

Wednesday we drove out to Greensboro to talk to Brother White’s apartment manager.  He has been behind on his rent since he spent his whole benefit check to buy a car to replace his totaled vehicle a few months ago.  We had coordination meeting with Brother Smith.  Brother Foote, from the high council, also came as well as President James.  Brother Foote had been out to the tornado site to find out how the church could help with clean up.  The stake is going to have about ten or fifteen people out Saturday to help.  President James said the branch could provide some lunch and snacks for them.  Sister Owens and I said we would prepare the food for the crew on Saturday.  Brother Foote started a group text to keep us informed as things progressed.  Then Sister James and Sister Owens assembled enough goody bags so that everyone could go home from Church Sunday with a little treat.  When we got home after the meeting we received our giant Christmas card from the Silver Sage ward.  It was so neat to read all the notes from so many members of the ward. It made us happy (and a little homesick).  That has been one of the best parts of Christmas both years that we have been here.  Thank you all so much.

We stopped by the hospital Thursday morning to check on the mother that was injured in the Tornado.  They told us she had been transferred to Tuscaloosa.  We went to Greensboro for Book of Mormon class in the afternoon.  Poor Brother White is having such a hard time.  He went to Dialysis in the morning (5:30) and the machine kept alarming so they couldn’t give him his treatment.  He has to go to Tuscaloosa Friday morning to have them clean out the port in his arm and then go back to Dialysis for his treatment and then he has to help his mother prepare for his sister’s funeral service on Saturday.  Then Saturday he has to go at 5:30 in the morning for his scheduled Dialysis treatment and then get to the service for his sister at noon. 

Friday we knocked out a few of our P-day chores and got things started for the lunch for the relief workers on Saturday.  We got a pork shoulder to make pulled pork sandwiches for them.  According to our group text we were going to have fifteen workers at the site on Saturday.  We purchased forty buns thinking we could use the excess for our branch pot luck next week at church.

Saturday morning we went to the church to assemble the lunches and noticed the water we bought was gone along with the cooler we had borrowed.  We called to confirm that the workers had taken it with them.  We asked if they needed us to pick up more water and bring it out with us.  Brother Foote started counting as he was talking on the phone and said it looked like they had about twenty-five there.  We asked again if they needed more water and he said they hadn’t used any yet and they would probably be fine.  So we went ahead and made all forty sandwiches (attachment #1) and hoped they weren’t going to be too hungry.  We took some pictures of the damage.  By the time we were there Saturday they had already hauled away the undercarriage of the mobile home.  Everything else was blown away.  You can see in the picture that the only thing left is the porch that was attached to the home (attachment #2).  It is amazing to see the damage the wind did to the trees surrounding the home (attachment #3).  They had also cleaned up all but one of the ten trees that had been blown down on the house on the next lot (attachment #4).  Brother Foote took a picture of us with the youth that had come to help with the clean up (attachment #5).

Today for our special Sacrament meeting our primary did a Christmas program.  Our primary is two of the Smith children and three other girls. Sister Smith (primary President) led the music, Sariah Smith played the piano, Elias Smith gave the opening prayer, Benjamin Smith gave the closing prayer.  Brother Borden and three of the Smith boys administered the Sacrament, and President James gave the closing remarks.  Our branch doesn’t rely on one family or anything like that.  We had 34 people in attendance which is more than we have had in the last five weeks.

We love and appreciate all of you and  the support we feel from you.  We also love our Savior.  We are grateful for Him and for His life and His Atonement.  We have really come to appreciate the love that the people here in the south have for the Savior, regardless of their religion.  We hope you all have a merry Christmas.

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

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 91: Must be Christmas party week; Finger steaks, anyone?

Dear Family and Friends,

We are kind of wondering what happened to this week.  Sister Owens met with her RS presidency on Monday morning.  The rest of the day Monday and Tuesday seemed to be used up doing some shopping we had to do to get ready for Christmas here.

Wednesday was our Christmas Zone Conference.  We were combined with some other zones in the central portion of the state and met for instruction for four hours in the morning and then had lunch.  After lunch they showed a movie—The Fighting Preacher (or parson as Sister Owens says). For those who don't know, the movie is base on the book, "A Lion and a Lamb."  It is about Willard and Rebecca Bean who were called to serve a mission at the Joseph Smith home in 1915.  It was supposed to be a five year mission to care for the property and try to improve relations between the local residents and the church.  They were hated and persecuted when they arrived but stayed for 25 years and raised their family there.  When they received their release from Heber J. Grant and left to return to Utah the community gave them a grand farewell to show how much they were loved and appreciated.  It is a great book and a great movie.  Our mission secretary was trying to obtain permission to show the movie in the conference.  She called a number and the person that answered asked who was calling.  She told him who she was and then asked who he was.  He said he was T. C. Christiansen and wanted to know where she got the number because nobody every calls that number.  She explained why she was calling and he assured her it would be fine to show the movie as long as they didn't charge admission.  After the movie we had a talent show and then by the time we got home we were gone for more than twelve hours.  Quite a long day.

Thursday Brother White called to tell us he wouldn't be to Book of Mormon class.  His older sister died the day before and he was going to be with his family.  He has been through a lot in the time we have been here.  Sister Jones, who we usually take with us to class from here in Demopolis, has had blood pressure issues and also was not going to go.  We would end up driving to Greensboro to read with Sister Borden and when we called her she said we could cancel for this week, so we did.  Then I remembered our high councilor was going to try to be there this week and he lives in Tuscaloosa.  So I hurried and sent a text to let him know it was cancelled.  A while later I got a text back asking, "Who is this?"  I told him and a while after that I got a call from Brother Foote asking if I intended that text to go to him.  Turns out I have too Footes in my phone (or is that Feet).  Anyway, the one I texted the message to has moved to Utah and works there for the University.  So I hurried and called the other one and told him not to come to class because it was cancelled.   I think I caught him in time.  We went to a middle school band concert at the high school in the evening.  Three kids from the branch are in the bands that played.  It was good to be there to support them.  We got a call from Ollie's son that Ollie was in the hospital.

Friday we spent most of the day getting ready for the branch Christmas party that would be on Saturday.  Then went to visit Ollie in the hospital.  She felt really bad because she planned to come to the party and her husband said he was going to come with her.

Saturday was the Branch Christmas breakfast.  We had everyone come in and sit down and fill out their menu choices and then President and Sister James waited tables and served all the branch members.  Sister Owens and I prepared the plates in the kitchen so everybody got to just sit and enjoy their meal and visit (attachment #1).  After the meal two of kids from the band played their instruments for the group and we finished by showing the Light the World video about the birth of the Savior.  It all seemed to go pretty well except for me trying to fry my finger along with the sausage in the morning when we were preparing the food for the breakfast (attachment #2). I have a couple of good blisters on my ring finger now that cover about the same area as the one in the picture.  They didn't bloom until later in the evening.  Then we had our turn to clean the building for the week.  It was a bit of a long day as well.  Turns come a little more often now that we no longer have sisters in the branch.

We have been looking forward to having President Allred speak in the branch this Sunday ever since he came to the mission in July.  We found out at Zone Conference that he was not going to be able to come.  With the combining of the missions we now have the whole southern part of the state in the mission and he is involved in Zone conferences down south this week and they couldn't make time for the trip back up to Demopolis and then back down south so they had to cancel.  We were a little bummed because we don't know if he will be able to reschedule the visit before we go home in February.  We also thought we would end up being the speakers in church since the sisters aren't here anymore.  But the Morgans actually asked someone else, so we're good for a few more weeks.  We were going to go see Ollie in the hospital but we found out she is home already (probably too soon).  She is really tired and can't walk.  She usually can get up from her wheelchair to move to another chair or get into the car and she can't even do that now.  We hope she will get better.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 90: Just when you thought you've heard it all; Life flight attendant cold conks parade spectator

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday we did our P-day chores and transformed our Thanksgiving cotton tree into a Christmas tree (see attachment #1) and put up our handprint reindeer wall decorations so we are ready for Christmas. I even put the lights on the tree and it isn't even Christmas Eve yet.  I'm sure that's a bit of a shock for my family.

Tuesday Sister Owens worked on ministering reports and I did some clerk work for the branch. Then we did a few more things to get ready for Christmas. We usually have District Council on Tuesday and we were told it would be on Wednesday this week.

Wednesday we drove to Tuscaloosa for District Council without the sisters.  It was a little weird for us.  We are missing them (as is everyone in the Branch).  After our meeting we met the Hursts for lunch. We are missing having them with us in our District Council meetings.  We had lunch just around the corner from the bakery where they make Dave's Killer Bread.  We used to eat it until it got too expensive for our taste, but we stopped and got a picture anyway (see attachment #2). We did some follow up on Brother White's doctor situation since they have never contacted us.  We found out they decided not to accept him as a patient but never bothered to inform us of their decision.  We got the name of another doctor and picked up their paperwork to submit to see if they will take him.  We stopped in Greensboro on the way home and checked on the lady we found a couple weeks ago that has been inactive for almost 20 years.  She was gone but we had a nice visit with her husband and she got home before we left.  She told us she intentionally did not complete the survey that we left with her because she did not want to put her experience in writing because it just hurt to much.  She then shared with us what happened the day she was baptized that upset her so much she has never been to church since and has no intention of coming again.   Sorry, but it would not be appropriate to share the details in this email. We had coordination meeting in the evening without the sisters.  It was a little different.  We mostly spent the time planning the Branch Christmas activity.  Brother Smith is also the Elders Quorum president and his wife is the Primary president so she came to the meeting also.

Thursday was a pretty busy day.  We made a batch of Turkey noodle soup out of Thanksgiving leftovers to take to Book of Mormon class.  Before we went to Greensboro we stopped to help Ollie with her finances and wrote some checks for her to pay her bills.  It saved about thirty dollars that Ross would have charged her if he had written the checks for her.  When we got home from Book of Mormon class, there was a package in the mail from someone in Mesa, Arizona.  We were both wondering what it could be.  Turns out that Sister Allen's parents sent us a Christmas countdown calendar and a gift card with a nice Christmas card thanking us for supporting their daughter during a difficult transition as she started her mission here. There daughter is an awesome missionary and certainly was not in need of support from us.  We miss her a lot and know she is going to do a great job the rest of her mission.  Sister Owens went with Sister Morgan to the Baptist Women's Christmas dinner.  They have more than a hundred women there and a speaker after dinner (it was Sister Morgan's granddaughter's mother-in-law this year). It is kind of like a Stake RS meeting back home compared to the nine or so people that attend our RS meetings here.

Friday we had some pretty heavy rain most of the day.  We decided it would be better if these old folks stayed in the house on the rainy day than to spend the next week in the house recovering after being out in it.  So we got some Christmas cards ready to mail and did some planning for the coming weeks. Sister Morgan called and asked if we would go with her and Brother Morgan to the COTR (Christmas on the River)parade on Saturday.  Brother Morgan is getting very weak and we were pretty sure she just didn't want to be there alone with him.

Saturday morning she came to get us alone.  She said Andy got up and got dressed and then said he wasn't going to go and for her to go without him.  So I got to tag along as they visited all the craft booths (what fun!!).  We sat on the bleachers in front of City Hall for the parade.  My jacket had slipped off my lap onto the sidewalk and I just decided I would get it when we left.  The nice lady in front of us looked down and saw the jacket and told her husband to retrieve it for me.  Just then one of the people on the Life Flight float cut loose with a rolled up 3X T-shirt that landed square on the lady's head and then fell into Sister Owens lap.  The lady thought someone behind her had hit her.  We told her she deserved the shirt and gave it to her.

Sunday was a good day.  Our imported speakers from Tuscaloosa were a father and daughter.  The daughter spoke about how she had grown closer to God during her parents divorce.  The father spoke about finding joy in adversity and depending on God when you need answers to life's big questions. The lesson in RS and EQ went right along with their topics as we discussed Elder Christofferson's message on the Joy of the Saints. There was only eight sisters in RS and six brethren in EQ including myself and the high councilor.  It always seems like the ones that can benefit most from our discussions are the ones who aren't in church.  We went after church to see the Kirks and invite them to the First Presidency Devotional.  They would not answer the door.  They didn't sound like they were in a very good mood.  We left a note on their door and went to the branch building and the two of us watched the devotional.  Some of the members watch it on BYU TV but I'm sure most of them didn't take the time to watch it.  It is a little discouraging to see the way so many of them suffer so many hardships when the gospel would help them so much if they would just give it a chance.  They all just keep asking us to pray for them, so we do.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 89: I guess things have changed now; We just had a rare thanksgiving

Dear Family and Friends,

Sister James finally got back to us about a family we were helping for Thanksgiving.  It seems the mother doesn’t really share much with Sister Owens so Sister James was reaching out to her to find out what she and her family wanted for Thanksgiving.  Turns out they just wanted a small turkey to cook and some frozen mac and cheese and something to drink.  So that’s what we took over to them.  The sisters called us that evening and told us that they were both being transferred.  We were all pretty sure Sister Allen would stay one more transfer just so they could familiarize the new sister with the area.  She said she asked the Zone leader several times if it was a joke, but he assured her that she actually was leaving.  We were a little bummed and started wondering if they would send sisters or elders or would possibly not replace them at all.

Tuesday was P-day for the sisters because of transfers being on Wednesday.  Sister Snarr is going home and has never had catfish yet.  We decided to pick them up and take them to Greensboro (the catfish capital of Alabama) to have catfish before she went home (attachment 1).  On the way there we asked them what they thought would be done with the area as far as missionaries to replace them.  We talked awhile about it but of course nobody knows until they tell us at transfers.  We were a little concerned about how we would get luggage and bikes for two sisters to transfers and the same for two coming back.  We bought a little cartop carrier several months ago when they asked us to take luggage back for another sister in Tuscaloosa but ended up not needing to use it.  So we were going to find out if it would do the job.  On the way home the sisters received an email that said if they were receiving this email no missionaries will be replacing you in your area and you will need to do some additional things to the apartment before leaving for transfers.  That answered our question about who might replace them.  We are now without proselyting missionaries in Demopolis (things do change).  Neither of them had ever been to the Gaineswood Mansion (attachment 2), and neither have we, so we took them over and went on the tour of the home before we took them home to pack.

Our luggage problem was solved.  Since no missionaries were coming back to Demopolis the sisters had to drive their car to transfers.  Since there was no one to bring back, there really wasn’t any reason for us to go.  We have been planning to go since the beginning of the transfer because we knew Sister Snarr was going home and we intended to see some Elders and Sister that we have known who are going home so we decided we were going anyway.  We told the sisters they didn’t have to worry about fitting everything into their car because they could put some of their luggage in our car.  We took one suitcase for each of them in our car and Sister Snarr had a big bag of clothing she was not taking home that she left with us to take to the church or the second hand store along with a couple boxes and some shoes that a friend gave to them a few days ago. We just kept it in the car while we went to transfers. It was a good thing we went.  Sister Allen was transferred to Clanton to be in a trio before one of the sisters there goes home next week.  They did not come to transfers and there was no way for Sister Allen to get to Clanton.  They asked if we would be willing to take her to Clanton before we went home.  We were happy to do so but we did not bring our bike rack so they had to have some elders drop her bike off for her.

Thursday we were going to have the sisters over for Thanksgiving dinner so we just spent the morning preparing the meal for us and a Sister in the branch and her son who we were bringing plates to.  We cooked the turkey in our borrowed roaster for as long as the instructions said to for the weight of the turkey.  We got the plates ready for Sister Jones and her son about 1:30 and carved the turkey and were lucky enough to find enough of it that was actually cooked to take to Sister Jones.  Then we came home and microwaved some for us to eat for dinner and we will cook the rest of it some time in the next few days.

We left Friday for an overnight senior couple activity.  The Hursts that used to be in the same district with us invited us to go down to Pensacola, Florida to see the Naval Aviation Museum (attachment 3) and the ocean—of course (attachment 4).  Their son from Utah called them and said he was coming to see them for Thanksgiving but he wasn’t going to get there until 9:00 Thursday night. Hursts have a daughter that lives in Florida so we thought we were going to be kind of intruding on their family holiday and told them we didn’t need to go.  They weren’t going to see their daughter (she is actually in another city quite a ways away) and they assured us they wanted us to come.  So their son chauffeured the four of us for the whole trip.  It sure was a change of scenery for my walk on Saturday morning (attachment 5).

Sunday there were quite a few of our members out of town for the holiday and several that probably didn’t  get up after Alabama lost to Auburn yesterday.  The fourteen of us that were there had a very nice testimony meeting.  After President James stood up to close the meeting three more people excused themselves and said they wanted to bear their testimony.  Sister Morgan told Sister Owens that the spirit she felt today was the spirit she felt when her dad took her to the Mormon church the first time.  That was the reason she joined the church.

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

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens