Dear Family and Friends,

We left Alabama in pouring rain on Feb. 12^th.  But it finally cleared up after two days.  We made it to Pocatello last Thursday (27^th).  We had quite a trip getting here.  We stopped to see family and friends along the way.  We spent the first weekend with our daughter and her family in Granbury, Texas (attachment #1).  We got to go to the temple with them on Saturday (Attachment #2) and church Sunday.  The next stop was Surprise, Arizona to see Sister Owens’ Brother Phil and his wife Tana.  We also got to visit with our good friends from Boise who recently moved to Surprise (John and Sheila Goostrey).  They live just five minutes from Phil and Tana and are in a different Stake.  We stopped in Las Vegas to visit Sister Owens’ sister Paula and her husband Travis. It decided to rain on us again when we left Vegas, but not until after we had everything loaded in the car (another tender mercy).  We drove all the way to Tooele, Utah and stayed the next weekend with our son Robert and his wife Suzie and family (Attachment #3).

  While we were there we dropped over to Lehi to spend a little time with my brother Kelly and his wife Laurel.  We drove from Tooele Wednesday and spent some time with our good friends Earl and Debbie Cox in Logan.  Then we drove to Pocatello Thursday and we are here at “home” with Sister Owens’ mother for the time being. Our grandson Jake works at Domino’s Pizza and brought pizza for all of us.  His family came to welcome us home Thursday night, our daughter Lisa and her husband Patrick and children (attachment #4).

 We are writing, mainly, to let you all know that we are scheduled to speak in Sacrament meeting on March 15th at 10:30 am. at 5645 So. Maple Grove Rd. in Boise, Idaho 83709 (Silver Sage ward).  That is the first week that was available for us to speak since our mission ended.  That is why we have taken some time to visit family and friends on our way home.  We are only telling you this because I know if we did not let you know, we would be in hot water with somebody who would have wanted to be there if they had known when it was.  Personally, I hate for anyone to risk life and limb to make the trip during the winter in the likely case that there will be inclement weather.  Of course, we will be happy to see anyone that wants to be there but we hope your expectations are not set too high as far as what you think you will be hearing.

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

We Love y’all,

Brother and Sister Owens (released by phone when we were in Texas)    

Home in Pocatello

Tami is already gone to bed so she can get up for work. Jake brought us all Domino’s pizza. He made it himself so it wasn’t the “run of the mill” Domino’s pizza.

ON the way home

Made a stop to see Sara and Will. 

Stopped in Surprise AZ. to see Phil and Tana Pincock and Goostrey's.

Stopped in Las Vegas to see Paula and Travis Parashonts.

Stopped in Tooele UT to see Rob and family.

Stopped and saw Kelly and Laural Owens in Lehi.

Week 94: FATS is gaining popularity but soon to close its doors; A sweet Homegoing Celebration

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday we drove to Tuscaloosa to visit a couple that served a mission here in Demopolis a few years before we came.  They are now serving as self reliance missionaries in the Stake (I believe I already mentioned that).  They heard about Brother White's passing and wanted to give some money to help with the funeral costs.  They didn't want to give it to the family as they thought it might get spent and not go to the funeral home. They said they trusted President James to get it to the right people but he needed it before the funeral. We had to check on a death date from a couple years ago at a funeral home there so we told them we would pick it up and get it to President James.  They offered to take us to lunch while we were there.  They took us to two of their favorite exclusively Alabama restaurants and both of them were closed for some reason.  We ended up going to Red Lobster (not really so Alabama-ish, but very good).

Tuesday we had our first video conference District Council.  It was the last meeting of the transfer and the last meeting of the month and all the elders and sisters were out of miles on their cars so they couldn't make the drive to Tuscaloosa for the meeting.  It was an interesting experience.  Those who had assignments to present something participated, but it took a little while and a lot of coaxing before they got any comments from any of the rest of us.  But eventually people were making contributions to the meeting.  Later we met President James at the branch building to give him the money for the funeral.  While we were in the parking lot a person pulled in and asked who was the branch president now.  President James was right there and he said he was.  She said, "I know you."  She was in the branch thirteen years ago and was in the Young Women as a teenager with Sister James as President and President James as Branch President.  Sister James was there in another car (they were driving young women home to different towns after a young women activity at their home in York).  They were both there in the parking lot right when this woman happened to drive by and they got to see each other.  The lady is living in Texas now and was only in Demopolis for three days seeing friends for the holidays.  That was the second time we saw that happen.  Last time was about a year ago when a man that served his mission here twenty years ago when President James was President.  He had his wife and family with him and was wishing he would have a chance to see people he knew when he was here.  Five minutes earlier or later and no one would have been there.  It's so neat to witness the Lord's tender mercies.

New Years was quiet for us.  We undecorated our Christmas cotton tree and cooked the ham the couple in Tuscaloosa also gave us for Brother Whites funeral.  We talked to some of the family and enjoyed the video texted to us of the kids singing happy birthday to Tami.

Thursday was our day of good deeds.  Our Free Alabama Taxi Service (FATS) is increasing in popularity.  Another less active member of the branch has found out about us and called us to ask for a ride to the bank to cash a check so she could get groceries for her and her children.  We went to get her to take her to the bank and she had a friend with her.  She asked if we would take her to the bank too.  Of course we were happy to.  After they finished at the bank they asked if we could stop at the Walmart so they could get a few groceries.  Luckily the groceries for both of them fit in the back of the car.  Then they wanted us to stop at a gas station to get something (I guess Walmart didn't have just what they wanted).  Then they just needed us to stop by the only other grocery store in town so they could get some cans of pop out of a pop machine.  She barely made it back to the car without dropping the armful of cans.  It was quite interesting that when we dropped the neighbor off at her house she told Sister Owens how much she appreciated what we did and said when she gets her food stamps next she wants to take us to get some food.  Of course Sister Owens told her we wouldn't accept that and we were glad to be able to help her.  Then when we went to the less active members home her boyfriend was standing on the porch waiting for her (it was raining all day, by the way).  He walked in the house and waited for her to bring the groceries in.  She didn't even say thank you when she left the car.  We are not complaining, we are here to serve.  We are just making some interesting observations. We cancelled Book of Mormon class.  Sister Borden was in the hospital in Tuscaloosa. Then we picked Beth up to take her home to Linden.  She spent New Year's eve and New Year's day with Ollie after doing the same over the Christmas holiday.  Then we picked up a ham donated by another sister in the Branch for the funeral and sliced it up and got it ready to go.  Another sister in the Branch went in with us to get some fried chicken to take.  They were planning on feeding 150 people.

Friday we had "carwash rain" again for most of the day.  Andrea called to see if we could take her to Walmart for groceries.  The poor girl, she bought over eighty-four dollars worth of OTC medication for her mother and then picked a bag full of prescription drugs.  Sister Owens in pretty sure they are both over medicated, like most of the poor here.

Beth and Ollie had asked us for a ride to the funeral but we had to pack the back of the car with food so there was no room to put Ollie's wheelchair.  So she had to pay her driver to drive them to Greensboro to the funeral.  We took another sister from the branch with us.  First we had to go to Linden to pick up Beth and bring her to Ollies house.  Ross would have charged her extra to go to get Beth besides charging them to take them to the funeral.  Of course he was driving Ollie's car and using Ollie's gas and he went joy riding while they were attending the service (sorry, just making another observation—that's code for "I love Alabama").  After two days of rain it was a beautiful day for the funeral, although it was a little bit chilly and a bit of a wind came up when we went out to the grave site (right behind the church), but it was still sunny.  President James presided and conducted the funeral which was held at the Union Grove Baptist church.  That was where Brother White first confessed hope in Christ at a very young age.  His mother still attends there.  President Lewis (our Stake President) came also.  I don't think he was expected to be there so technically I guess he was presiding though it wasn't indicated on the program. President James gave the Eulogy and then a "spiritual talk."  He explained the importance of the sacrament in the church and told them how much Brother White loved it.  He told how Brother White insisted on getting there so he could take the sacrament no matter how much pain he was experiencing.  He said it always made him stronger.  The church was packed.  Eight of us were white with seven of the eight being from the Branch.  They had all of us from the church sit up in the front of the chapel to the right of the family (who was seated in the center). After President James spoke about the sacrament and what it meant to Brother White, they made time for President Lewis to speak and he began his remarks addressing everyone as brothers and sisters and explained that he did so because we are all brothers and sisters in Christ and he considers all of them his brothers and sisters.  Then he told about how Brother White touched his life and made him want to be closer to Christ because of Brother White's example.  Then he challenged everyone there to pick one thing they could do the next day that would help them come closer to Christ.  There were a number of "amens" and "yeses" during his remarks and he received quite an ovation when he finished. I noticed that we "Mormons" need to learn how to use the low gain mics they use in Baptist churches.  The Pastor and others put their mouths right up to the mic and their voices boomed throughout the building, but when President James and President Lewis spoke they stood back from the mic, as we all do in the church, and it sounded like they turned the mic off and it was a little hard to hear them. The choir was awesome.  They sang three songs.  It kind of puts you into a trance.  Sister Owens was having a hard time fighting the urge to dance.  Brother White played drums and was part of three different singing groups during his life.  I just can't imagine what he thought when he sat in our meetings listening to the thirty of us in the congregation basically destroying the hymns we were trying to sing each week. Just one other interesting "I love Alabama" observation:  After the service President James was talking to one of the sons who pointed to another gentleman and said, "I guess that's my brother, I never met him before today."  Brother White had six children and we never even knew he had any until he brought two of his sons with him to church last year on Fathers Day.

Today we got to church about twenty minutes before Presidency meeting.  When we came in President James was already there and was on the phone with the Pastor from the Baptist church.  He was telling President how nice everything was yesterday and that they would love to be together again.  President James told him he would like that very much but hoped it wouldn't be for the same reason.  That was when we found out that Brother Whites other sister had not died during the service.  I have always been impressed with how the sacrament is so important to Sister James.  We found out in Testimony meeting that she gained that appreciation for the sacrament from Brother Whites example.  He was an awesome man and it is really hard getting used to not having him with us in Sacrament meeting.

Attachment #1: Brother White's Funeral Program.

Attachment #2: The chapel before the service, President Lewis walking up to the stand.

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

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 78: On the road again; and special guests at Book of Mormon class

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday we took Brother White for his MRI that should tell his new surgeon what might need to be done to improve his situation with his neck.  I really can’t get started again on the Alabama medical community so I won’t.  Suffice it to say we were supposed to arrive at 10:00 for a 10:30 appointment and when the waiting room had cleared out and filled up with new patients I went to the desk and asked when they were going to take him back for his test.  They got his sheet out and called the MRI people and, from hearing our side of the conversation, it seemed obvious that they did not have anything scheduled for him.  She hung up and said they would be calling him back soon.  The technician was very understanding when we finally went back and said he didn’t know what might have happened but the test was scheduled for 11:30 on their system.  The surgeon originally told us we could have the test done in Tuscaloosa and the results would be sent to him in Birmingham.  Then they scheduled it in Birmingham.  I had to call and make them cancel it and schedule the test in Tuscaloosa.  But I digress.  I wasn’t going to get off on the medical community here, so I won’t.

Tuesday we were back to Tuscaloosa with the sisters for District Council.  We have a new district leader this transfer.  He is Elder Bailey.  He transferred in from the Florida Mission in July when they combined the missions.  We had some good training on helping people keep commitments.  We had another lesson with Otis in the evening and the sisters reviewed the lesson on the restoration.  It is really hard to determine how much the people here really grasp about what we are teaching them.  They never seem to answer questions directly.  They are so vague in their answers it is hard to tell if they know the concept we are trying to get them to understand.  He always tells us he feels really good about what we talk about as we are leaving, but never mentions anything in his prayers about wanting to know if it is true.  I guess we will see how it turns out.

Wednesday was off to Bessemer with the sisters for interviews with the Mission President.  It was great, as always, to visit with President Allred.  We always have to be sure we are not late.  No matter where we are on the schedule, he is always ready for us at our appointed time.  He is very good at keeping on schedule.  We didn’t quite make it ten minutes early but we did have five minutes to spare when we arrived after our two hour and ten minute trip from Demopolis.  We were kind of excited.  My brother, Kelly, and his wife, Laurel, were arriving to spend a day with us.  They drove down from Tennessee and arrived in Demopolis about five minutes after we got back from Birmingham.  We got to have a nice visit with them that evening.

Thursday Kelly and Laurel picked us up and we drove to Greensboro.  They got to see the catfish ponds (attachment #1) on the way (Greensboro is the catfish capital of Alabama).  They used to grow cotton in the state and then went to soy beans and, in recent years, replaced many of the soy bean fields with catfish ponds.  When we got to Greensboro we toured Magnolia Grove, one of the antebellum homes in the area.  The man that lived there was the commanding officer of the group that volunteered for the suicide mission to sink the Merrimac in Santiago bay in Cuba to bottleneck the harbor and keep the ships from sailing against the states in the Spanish American war.  None of the crew died although they were captured and imprisoned for a time.  They came home as heroes.  We took Kelly and Laurel to Eutaw for lunch at West End Grocery for a true Alabama experience.  A member of the branch does all the cooking there and she changed the menu for Thursday just for us.  We had her famous chicken pot pie, succotash, mac and cheese, and peach cobbler.  The flies came free of charge and there were plenty of them.  It was definitely a true Alabama experience for them.  On the way back to Greensboro we stopped along the way at Owens Circle and took some pictures (attachment #2 and #3)  After lunch there was time for a twenty minute nap at the local park (attachment 4) before we went to Book of Mormon class (attachment #5).  They decided to feed all of us fish and chicken this week.  Fine time for that to finally come through.  It was really neat to have Kelly and Laurel meet some of the people that we have come to know while we have been here.  They got to meet the Morgens and Sister James Wednesday night but we missed President James.

Friday we took Vanessa Walker (our non-member friend) to get signed up for some food and clothing services at the Salvation Army.  It turned out to be a little more complicated than we originally thought.  We were making a few trips back and forth between her house and the store and the distribution center but we finally got it done.  On the way she told us she is at a point where she wants to get God more in her life.  She said she would like to come to church with us.  I told her she should meet with the sisters and have them explain a little bit about the church.  Since we had her right in the car we just called the sisters and had them talk to her and set up an appointment.  We had an appointment with Otis later in the day and just as we drove up he came out with his phone in his hand and said he was just trying to call us.  His friend’s girlfriend’s dad had just died five minutes before and he was with them so he needed to cancel.

Saturday we did chores and got some food ready for the Potluck on Sunday.  In the evening we had our appointment with Otis and told him about tithing and fast offering.  He said he was anxious to pay his tithing and fast offering.  Of course he also told us he just quit his job that day as well.  It sounded like there were some influences there that he just doesn’t want to have in his life right now, so he decided to quit instead of being exposed to them right now.  Vanessa called and told us she really enjoyed the bible study with the sisters and asked if we would pick her up for church the next morning.

We called Brother White from Otis’s house during our appointment to have him stop and pick up Otis for church.  Sunday morning we were unloading food for the potluck and Otis drove up in his sister’s car and said he didn’t need Brother White to pick him up so we called Brother White and told him.  As of Book of Mormon class on Thursday there were three people from Greensboro that would be coming with him to church.  He ended up driving in alone again.  His dialysis treatments start at 5:00 AM again like they used to.  That sounds hard but he really seems to be doing quite a bit better since they changed his schedule.  He is a lot more rested and seems to be in much better spirits.  We hoped to increase our attendance a little bit with the potluck today but we only had thirty-six people there (last week we had forty-four).  The Morgans were out of town so everybody brought a little extra since they wouldn’t be bringing anything and we ended up with way more food than we needed (but we always do).  Vanessa and Otis were both there and Vanessa got to visit with Ollie and it might be that she will be able to do a little work for Ollie as a care giver.  We are going to see how that develops. After church we went with the sisters to teach the restoration to a single man they met this week.  We stopped by there a few months ago and his mother was quite rude to us.  He had a pamphlet and Book of Mormon that we left with him then and his mother had thrown them both away. He seemed to be happy that we were there again and we have another appointment with him later this week.

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

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens