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
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