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)    

Week 99: Homeward bound

Dear Family and Friends,

II John 1:12

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

We Love Y'all

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 98: It really is coming to an end

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday we were off to make another taxi run.  The sister from a couple weeks ago called us last Friday and asked if we would take her to pay some bills Monday.  We drove up to her house and she was just leaving with an older gentleman in a car and came and told us we were confused, that she asked us to help her next Monday.  So we went home and made a batch of beans to take to President and Sister James and their family.  She had called Sunday morning to tell us she wouldn't make it to church because she had the flu.

Tuesday we drove in beautiful weather for two hours to have our final interview with President Allred.  He said he wished he could ask us to extend.  He counseled us to bear our testimony as often as possible that the Lords needs senior couples in the mission field.  He told us our family and posterity will be blessed beyond our comprehension because of our service here.  Our appointment was at 11:45 AM and we were supposed to stay there until 4:30 to attend district council after two zones had interviews.  The meeting would have been another hour and a half to two hours and then we would have been driving home late and in the dark, so we excused ourselves from the meeting and drove home during the day.  As soon as we got home the sister referred to above called us to remind us we were taking her to pay her bills next Monday and then mentioned that she didn't have any food and asked us if we could pick up some dinner for her and her girls and bring it over.  We told her we would see what we could do.  We gathered up some canned goods from our kitchen and picked up some bread and milk and a pound of hamburger at the store and brought it to her.  She couldn't really hide the disappointment when we gave it to her.  She was planning on some burgers from McDonalds or some fried chicken.  She was a little disappointed that she was going to have to fix her supper.  As we left we saw her girls walking home from the store with their grandmother.  It looked like they were all eating some candy (I love Alabama).

Our non-member "friend" that is going to another church now called and asked if we would go pick up her food bag from the food bank so we went to get that and deliver it right after our walk in the morning. Ollie insisted on taking us to lunch to show her appreciation for all the help we have been to her.  We didn't really think she should do that because she certainly didn't need to spend any of her money (what there is left of it) on us.  She wouldn't let us refuse her offer.  It is a good thing it didn't happen until the end of our mission.  We found out the best pulled pork sandwich we have had in all of Alabama is right here in Demopolis a half mile down the highway from our apartment. We have gotten quite close to an employee at Walmart.  We see her just about every time we are in the store.  She is usually doing the shopping for customer pick up.  She was walking out of the restaurant just as we were sitting down.  We visited for a while and found out Ollie went to school with her mother and Knew several members of her family.  She was just going to teach the preschool children at the Methodist church.  She has about twenty seven kids in the program, but she does have an assistant that helps her.  She said she loves it.  She said she thinks like a three of four year old so she gets along really well with the kids.  As she left she assured us that it is good to do good things but the important thing is that we accept Jesus if we want to get to heaven.  The carpets were cleaned at the church so we couldn't have our coordination meeting with Brother Smith until Thursday.

Thursday morning we went to the church to do some clerk work (we were kicked out by the carpet cleaners on Wednesday because we forgot they were coming).  Sister Owens had a little "changing of the guard" meeting with the sister that is going to be the new Relief Society president.  It was interesting since it is the sister that was released two years ago when Sister Owens was sustained.  She actually knows more about the sisters in the branch than Sister Owens does.  We had Book of Mormon class with the five of us that are left (two of us will be gone after next week, and we are the transportation for two of the remaining three).  It will be interesting to see what happens to the group after we are gone.  We had coordination meeting at the church when we got back to Demopolis.  They had lunch provided twice at the plant where Brother Smith works so he volunteered to bring the food from one of them home with him.  He had his family come to the church to eat supper.  It felt like we were having our meeting in the Smith family kitchen.  The Kirks came toward the end of our meeting to learn how to clean the building.  Zyreonia came with them (their oldest girl) but Ja'Nylia stayed home.  Neither of the girls come with them anymore when they do come to church.

We spent a good share of the day Friday with Ollie.  We picked her up at her hair dresser and took her to the church to work on her budget and check register.  She didn't ask for any help last month so we thought she had just decided not to worry about it since we are going to be gone next month anyway, but she wanted us to go through everything before we leave so she knows where she is with her account.  So we went through all the checks she has used since the first of December and I need to balance her December and January statements.  Then we will get with her next week and write checks to pay the rest of her bills.  It looks like her trust money isn't going to run out until March.  She wants to take the money out of the trust after she pays all her bills and put it in her safe deposit box and only use it in emergencies.  She called the bank while we were with her and said she wanted to find out how much money she had left in her trust and that she wanted to close the trust.  Then she would ask us a question and the lady on the phone was very concerned (understandably) and asked who was with her.  She told her, "The people that are helping me with my money."  Then I assured the lady that she didn't want to close her trust at the present time, but just wanted to know how much money she has so she can be sure she can pay off all her bills.  We could hear the relief in her voice as she told Ollie how much money was in the trust.  We had to get Ollie home so she could go with her husband to get his Veteran's Disability money (she has to sign for him since he is disabled).  Her driver was sleeping so we took them to the bank (it saved her twenty dollars).  The bank is across the street less than a quarter of a mile from her house.  We went to the local library to see the librarian.  She was one of the first persons we met when we came here.  We thought she had retired and just heard that she was still there.  A classy restaurant in town (The Red Barn) recently closed and was for sale).  Miss Connie (Lawson) told us she would love to take over the restaurant (she used to cook there)  When we heard they were open for business again we thought maybe she was there.  We visited with her for a while and found out that after being with the Library for twenty-five years they didn't even offer her the position as Director when it recently came open.  She is staying until August and then she will retire.  She told us she was hurt at first but is now happy with where she is in her life and has her bills paid off and her home is nearly paid for and she is going to be at home in her kitchen where she wants to be and do what she has always wanted to do.

Saturday we spent the day doing P-day chores and packing things that we are not going to be using the next week and a half.

Today was a great day, the sun shined all day. Sister Owens was released as Relief Society president.  This morning when President James extended the release he told her she can do missionary work for a week now. We had a great testimony meeting except people were a little over the top expressing their appreciation for the Owenses and telling how much they will miss us.  After church we couldn't pass up the chance to sit out on our back porch in the sunshine (attachment #1).  We have harvested our cotton tree (attachment #2).  Rather symbolic of the end of our mission here.  It is hard to believe we are only going to go to church here one more Sunday before we go home.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 97: It's dang cold here, we're anxious for the southern Idaho banana belt

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday morning it was 31 degrees when we went for our walk.  I think Alabama is trying to make us happy about leaving.  This isn’t the southern climate we have grown accustomed to.  We have a little more time to look for members of the branch with the sisters gone.  Unfortunately we still don’t have much luck finding any.  We did confirm that a couple of them aren’t here anymore though, so we have moved their records out.

Tuesday we found the Nursing home in Tuscaloosa where Deborah Bolden is staying.  She is the non-member that came faithfully to our Book of Mormon class in Greensboro until her family ignored her to the point that she was no longer healthy enough to come out of her apartment.  The state took her family to court and forced them to put her in a nursing home (she has had both her legs amputated above the knee).  When we saw her in the hospital she said she only wanted to go to the nursing home long enough to get better and then wanted to go back to Canterbury Manor.  We had heard that she was very happy at the nursing home.  We found her and went to see her Tuesday (attachment #1).  We told her we heard a rumor that she was happy there and thought we better come and confirm whether or not it was true.  She said she is very happy and doesn’t want to leave.  She loves the staff and they take very good care of her.  She loves the other patients and has made a number of friends.  Her family comes to visit her often and takes her to visit her mother occasionally.  They took her to their home for Thanksgiving dinner.  The neatest thing is that she gets to eat three meals every day.  Her daughters gave the management at Canterbury strict instructions that she was not to eat when they served meals in the community room.  Being wheelchair bound it was very difficult for her to prepare meals for herself and she was hungry all the time.  We would send a lunch home with Brother White after church and he would always take it home and share it with Deborah.  We were so pleased to see that she is happy where she is.

We finally got to go to the temple with our district Tuesday night.  It has been a long time since we got to go.  They changed from going as combined zones to just going as districts a couple transfers ago (12 weeks).  We didn’t really get to go the first transfer because of the transition to missionaries having their own temple clothing (they all had to get their clothing).  The last time when they had a session for the combined zones Sister Owens was to ill to make the trip so it has been a long time.  We were so happy to get to go finally.  It looks like it was our last trip before we go home.

Wednesday we had our District Council which is usually on Tuesday but it was changed because of the temple trip.  We got to the building in Tuscaloosa about two minutes before the meeting started and there was no one there.  We waited a few minutes and decided to call the DL.  Just before we did the phone rang.  It was the DL wanting to know where we were.  I told him we were at the Northport building and were just going to call him and see why they weren’t there.  He said they were meeting in Fayette and apologized for not getting the word out.  Since Fayette is more than an hour out of Tuscaloosa we told him we weren’t going to make the trip as the meeting would be almost over by the time we got there.  We had gotten a couple of prints made for Deborah and went to drop them off to her and had a short visit and told her goodbye and then took the Champions to lunch for Elder Champions birthday.  So the trip to Tuscaloosa wasn’t a waste.

Thursday we had Book of Mormon class.  Two women and two men is all that were there this week besides ourselves.  One usually would not be there but Brother Whites son gave Thomas Harris Brother White’s motorized wheelchair.  He has sores on his leg and is very heavy and has a very hard time walking so he usually stays in his apartment instead of joining us anymore for class.  I’m a little worried that his condition will just get worse with the chair because he has even less incentive to try to loose some of the weight now. 

The stake was planning the second tornado cleanup for Saturday so I started to see if I could get a reliable count for the lunch for the crew.  They finally told me it looked like we should plan on about twenty “so far.”  That wasn’t so good since they originally said they were going to get fifty people for the second round and I had already purchased the meat for that many.  Then I started getting texts telling me how many would be there from different wards.  I told them I was confused now and didn’t know if the texts were about additional people coming or if they were just part of the twenty they said to plan on.  They said it was part of the original twenty and they were just confirming the numbers.  That meant thirteen were confirmed compared to the original fifty or the revised twenty.  So I only thawed two thirds of the meat I had purchased.  Friday night I got a text saying it looked like there would be about thirteen.  I replied that I hoped they came hungry.  Saturday morning as we were starting to assemble the sandwiches I got a text saying they had thirty-five people and more were on the way attachment #2 and #3).  I told them they would have to share as it was a little late now.  Marvelous how the Lord takes care of things.  We had a little loaves and fishes experience.  We figured we had enough meat for about twenty-five people.  We had purchased forty buns.  We used all the buns and still had meat left.  We went to get more buns and ended up with sixty sandwiches.  They said there were about forty-five people there all together.  We didn’t run out of food but there were only a couple sandwiches left when they had finished lunch and they were quickly spoken for.

Today it really hit us how short our time is here.  After today we will only attend church in the branch two more times.  In Branch Council President James said with the sisters gone and now with the Owens leaving it was going to be up to them to find people to bring into the church.  He said they might have to baptize a branch president, they might have to baptize an elders quorum president or a relief society president.  We had our twenty-seven regulars attend church again today.  A drastic difference from the seventy-three we had last week for branch conference.  President Smith, our Elders Quorum president, gave a great follow up talk on tithing after the invitation President Lewis gave everyone last week to pay an honest tithe and a generous fast offering.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon every day, every day, every day.  And pay your tithing and fast offering.

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 96: Our first week of lasts

Dear Family and Friends,

This week I went to my last Doctor appointment before we go home.  Wednesday we attended our last Zone Conference.  The Hursts came out a year ago last August.  They served eighteen months so they are going home in February as well.  They are actually going home a week before we leave.  In each Zone conference they have departing missionaries bear "extended" testimonies (everyone bears testimonies but they ask that we limit it to thirty seconds).  President Allred announced that we were having some departing missionary testimonies.  He walked over to where we were sitting next to the Hursts and he looked at the Hursts and said, "You didn't know that I knew you are leaving, did you?  But I know."  He said we would hear from them and then Sister Hurst said, "The Owens are going home too, a week after we leave."  Then the President turned and looked at us all wide eyed and said, "You're going home too!?"  Forgotten in Demopolis, I guess.  When we bore our testimonies sister Hurst told us to go first, "Age before beauty!"  We also made our last trip to Costco to have our tires rotated.  Sister Owens went to her last hair appointment for her cut and perm (which is good, I'm not sure we could afford another one of those).  Friday we had our last weekday RS meeting before we will leave to go home.  And today was our second and last Branch conference for our mission.  It was nice.  We had seventy-three people in attendance.  I'm sure at least thirty of them were stake visitors (they always come and bring their whole family).  The youth met during second hour and filled their room.  There was probably about twenty there.  Six of them were members of our branch.  We did have several people from the branch come that usually don't.  Hopefully it wasn't just for the pot luck after the meeting.  In Branch Presidency meeting President Lewis talked to us about Brother White and said how much he thought of him and how much he misses him.  He said how wonderful the funeral was and how kind the members of his mother's church were to us to let us use their building.  He was impressed that it was such a bonding experience for all of us from the two religions.  President James mentioned that Sister Owens had made a friend of one of the ladies in their church.  Then I told everyone that whoever stayed for the pot luck after church would be eating chicken that the Baptist church cooked for us.  The lady met us at the Walmart parking lot Saturday night and delivered the chicken to us.  They told us earlier in the week that they would only accept cash, that we couldn't use checks or credit cards.  I have to admit I felt a little shady  reaching in to my pocket and pulling out a bunch of cash and giving it to the black lady in the black Malibu there in the parking lot in the dark.  I was afraid someone was going to think a drug deal was going down.  The chicken was awesome and everybody at the dinner was really impressed.

Our busy week didn't turn out to be quite as busy as we anticipated.  Just as we were gearing up for the three meals in three days on the weekend we found out Thursday night that the tornado clean up planned for Saturday was postponed another week.  We were thinking it might be, with all the rain we have had this week.  They are arranging to have a lot of heavy equipment this time to move the big trees.  So we just had chicken enchilada soup for RS on Friday (see attachments) and then got to spend Saturday getting ready for the pot luck on Sunday.  Our attendance lately has been pretty consistently below thirty.  We thought we might have as many as sixty with all the stake visitors.  We were a little overwhelmed with the seventy-three people that were there.  We had tables set up everywhere for the dinner and used all the paper plates we had in the building.  We did have plenty of food for everybody and there were seven pieces of chicken left when it was over.  All the stalwarts usually bring two dishes instead of one to the pot lucks.  There seems to be plenty here that just show up to be fed and don't really contribute anything to the meal.  The Morgans had to leave right after the meeting and weren't able to stay for the dinner.  There was enough chicken to take some to them so they could have some for supper.  They did make a change in the Branch Presidency in our conference today.  Brother Morgan was officially released as first counselor.  Brother Borden was sustained as first counselor and Brother Morgan was sustained as second counselor.  President James said they are probably going to have to call someone from Tuscaloosa to come and serve In the branch as clerk after we leave.  Sister McCleskey has started coming back to church lately and she might be a candidate for Sister Owens' replacement as RS President.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 95: We found something more prevalent in the south than Baptist churches; A road trip for Ollie and Beth

Dear Family and Friends,

The taxi service got another call on Monday (actually it was a text).  I have to quote it so you can appreciate it (by the way, I love Alabama).  "I hate to ask you, but is there any way you can take Mama to pay her loan today by Dollar General?"  Next Text: "Good Morning."  We told her we could come by at 10:00.  Then we received this text: "She needs to stop by another loan place to borrow some money to pay back that loan and then stop by the bank to get the money out."  Next text: "To pay the loan back."  I knew she wasn't going to get a loan but they were totally shocked when they turned them down for the loan to pay back the first loan.  So we drove them to the original loan company so they could talk to them about making arrangements to make payments.  They agreed to accept payments each month for the next four months until the balance was paid.  Then we took them to the bank to get the money for the first payment to take back to the finance company.  On the way to the first loan company she told us this caught them by surprise.  She had already splurged and spent her money and now they are behind (???? IT WAS JANUARY 6^TH).  These poor folks!  We helped them move the first weekend we were here.  They have moved a total of five times in the past twenty-two months.  We don't know if they will be allowed to stay where they are until after we leave to go home or not.  The branch members are the ones that move them every time.  They are related to one of the richest white families in the area and they have basically disowned them.  There really are more quick cash loan institutions here in Demopolis than there are Baptist churches.  And that's a lot.

Tuesday we thought we had a doctor appointment in Tuscaloosa.  Luckily, I checked the calendar Monday night to confirm the time and found that it wasn't until the next week (that explained why we didn't receive a text reminder of our appointment—which we did receive on Wednesday). We were going to have a discussion with Morris but he forgot he was meeting with us and was out of town. We had a couple of dry days so we took advantage of the opportunity and emptied out the wash tubs that Sister Patterson loaned to us last spring to grow some tomatoes in (nothing ever grew).

Wednesday was transfers.  We don't find out if they need us to transport missionaries until they call us to tell us on Tuesday.  We didn't get a call so we didn't have to go.  We had some meat mix left over from the pot luck last week so we made some burritos and took them over to Ollie.  She was excited to get them.  They sat down and ate them right after we left and finished them off the next day.  We had a good discussion with Morris after our coordination meeting with Brother Smith.  Morris seems to be very sincere.  After he said he wanted to join the church a couple of weeks ago in second hour combined meeting, President James explained that he needed to learn all about the church and the commitment he would be making and then he could be baptized if he wanted to.  He was very excited to get the Book of Mormon and to learn about the restoration.  He currently attends the Church of Christ and sings in the choir and writes music and poetry for the church.  He gave the closing prayer after our discussion and was very sincere. He committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and about the restoration and the prophet Joseph Smith, and said he wanted us to pick him up for church Sunday (another one without a car—sigh).

Thursday we went to another funeral.  A lady that went for dialysis treatments on the same shift with Brother White past away last week.  Her sister is a member of the branch.  It was a Baptist funeral and was quite different than Brother White's funeral.  The choir consisted of three women (probably the only members of the choir that attended the service).  The congregation sang along with them when they sang. There were three pastors. One read from the Old Testament and one read from the New Testament and one gave the eulogy. He got so loud during the eulogy that he made the baby in the congregation cry.  A couple of the family members were so distraught that they couldn't be consoled.  They were weeping uncontrollably.  After the service Ruthie (the sister that is a member) didn't go over to the cemetery (next to the church) because she isn't in to going to gravesides, so we got to visit with her for a few minutes before we went to Book of Mormon class in Greensboro.  Class just isn't the same without Brother White. There were five of us there and we decided we were going to start over because Come Follow Me is on the Book of Mormon this year.  We had gotten to the middle of Alma.  We read the introduction and the testimonies at the front of the Book this week.  The manager of the facility came in at the end of class and brought us a Danish ring from Panera Bread.  She said she wondered if we would keep coming after Brother White died and she was glad we still came.  We had been wondering if they would still let us come since only one person from the facility actually attends.  We bring all the rest of them with us.  Everybody that lives there scatters when they see us coming, even though we invite anyone to stay and read with us that wants to.

Friday we arranged to take Beth and Ollie down to Thomasville to their favorite Chinese Restaurant for lunch.  They were both so excited to be able to go.  Beth lives alone so she is always happy to go anywhere.  Ollie goes crazy with all the men that live in her house and is just as anxious to go anywhere whenever she can.  They both seemed to be having the time of their lives and appreciated it so much.  We were a little worried for a while because the bad storm was forecast to be here sometime Friday but it didn't show up until Saturday.  Ollie doesn't like to try to go anywhere in the rain because she always has to get in and out of the car from her wheelchair.

Saturday was hunker down day.  Friday we got emails and texts and facebook messages from the Stake President and the Mission President and the Zone leader all warning of the severe weather coming to our area.  The radar showed the entire state being overrun with the storm coming from the west.  It was supposed to start during the night Friday but didn't actually start until around noon Saturday.  There were tornado warnings all around the state including here in Demopolis.  We thought maybe we were going to experience some pretty severe weather before we leave for home.  There were three people that were killed outside of Tuscaloosa and we heard that someone was killed up in the Huntsville area.  We were very protected here.  As far as we know there wasn't any damage or injury in this area.  No one in the branch was hurt.  It was our turn to clean the branch building and we thought we would be there through most of the storm but we actually got finished before the storm came.  All we had here was a terrific downpouring of rain for a few hours.

We got up to mostly cloudy skies this morning but by the time church was over the sun was shining. Thunder storms are forecast for the next several days and then light rain on Friday (the forecast seems to always change as the days go by).  We got a text early from Morris advising that he wouldn't be able to attend church today because he has to sing in the choir in his current church.  We were disappointed and told him we would miss him but are looking forward to meeting with him tomorrow night.  We didn't get a response but are hoping things are still good. Our speaker today was from Tuscaloosa.  She shared her testimony with us and told us she was just baptized a few weeks ago in December.  Then we realized she was the one our zone leader had been working with for quite some time and was asking all of us in the District to pray for.  It was neat to hear about it from the other side. Since the only men in the branch today, other than myself and President James, were our high councilman and our speaker's non-member friend, we decided to combine Priesthood and Relief Society.  It was Brother Smith's turn to teach Priesthood but he had to work so I was taking a turn and Sister Owens was supposed to teach Relief Society, but she ended up conducting the meeting and left most of the teaching to me.  She said she was going to make lots of comments but she really didn't.  There was a lot of good participation from those who attended, though.  We discussed Elder Bednar's message on being watchful unto prayer.  We have our branch conference next week and President James said he wants to have a pot luck.  So we have lunch for RS meeting Friday, lunch for another clean up crew from the tornado a couple weeks ago on Saturday (which is supposed to be a bigger crew than last time).  And then the pot luck on Sunday.  Busy week coming.  We have to tell you: we were so impressed with the baked chicken they had at Brother White's funeral we wanted to find out where the Baptist ladies got it so we can order some for the pot luck for Branch Conference.  We contacted the lady that was in charge of the food and found out that a lady in the church baked it for them.  Sister Owens asked if she might be willing to bake some for us.  We haven't heard back yet.  We both had the thought that the Baptists will have the chance to get rid of the entire Mormon congregation if we aren't careful.

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 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 93: Merry Christmas; Parting sooner than expected

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was pretty much a week of taxi service and preparing (or eating) meals.  Monday we took a less active sister in the branch over to Linden to check on the status of her food stamps and then on the way home she asked us to stop at McDonalds so she could get some food (breakfast or lunch or both) for her and her daughter.

Tuesday we stopped in Greensboro to drop off a check to help with Brother White's rent but the manager's office was closed.  We went on to Tuscaloosa for District Council.  Before we left Tuscaloosa we decided to stop and have our traditional hamburger Christmas eve dinner for lunch.  We were both pretty disappointed.  We got back to Demopolis and drove to Linden to pick up Beth and bring her back to Ollie's so she could spend the holidays with Larry and Ollie.  Then we decided we should try for a better burger and went to Sonic to have another Christmas Eve meal.  BAD IDEA.  The had two for one burgers and we each got two instead of one and shared an order of onion rings.  The burgers were better than the ones we had for lunch.

Wednesday we spent the morning cooking ham and cheesy potatoes (funeral potatoes out west) and rolls and had Sister Patterson over to share Christmas dinner with us (Attchment #1).  We delivered some food to a couple families in the branch before we ate ours (not quite as warm as we had hoped).  The Morgans were sure we would be hungry again by 6:00 PM and insisted that we come over and share Christmas dinner with them.  It kind of brought back memories from my first mission when my companion (Seth Beal from the Idaho Falls Temple presidency) came home stuffed from having Christmas dinner with two families in the ward and were greeted by our landlord who had been wondering when we were going to get there.  We had forgotten that we told them that we would have dinner with them.  I put a slice of ham on my plate and stared at it through the whole meal and Elder Beal actually could eat again.  Anyway, Sister Owens was excited because she was finally going to get some roast beef (Sister Morgan is famous for her roast beef).  When we got there she told us she didn't cook a roast because she didn't have any soup mix and she called all over town to get some and no one had any.  So she had left over turkey ☹.  We had ham at home because Sister Owens could not stand to eat turkey again.  Needless to say, she was a little disappointed.  Luckily the company couldn't have been better and it made it all worth it.  We watched a DVD with them after dinner of several Christmas carols by the Tabernacle Choir.

Thursday was the worst day of our mission so far.  We drove to Greensboro and picked up Sister Borden to take her to Book of Mormon class.  We got to Canterbury Manor and the manager's office was still closed and the community room where we usually have class was locked.  Only one person was there for class besides us and Sister Borden.  We called Brother White (Attachment #3) but he didn't answer.  That usually means he had a rough session at Dialysis and is sleeping and we don't bother him.  We read in the second floor lobby and before we were through the custodian came and told us the manager was going to be back any time.  So we waited for about twenty minutes until she arrived and gave her the check to help pay the rent for Brother White.  She told us he had a pretty hard time at Dialysis and they had to call his nephew to come and help get him up to his room.  We left and were about half way home to Demopolis when we got a call informing us that they found Brother White had died in his apartment that afternoon.  It kind of put a damper on the holidays for us and the branch.  It's pretty rough on his mother.  They just buried his sister last week.  Brother White is the only one in his family that is a member of the church. First they pulled the sisters out of the area and now Brother White has died.  It has kind of turned things upside down for us here.  We are happy for Brother White, though.  No more pain, no more dialysis, and no more wheelchair.  Sister Owens said he is probably dancing all around paradise on both legs.  We messaged Sister McCreath to let her know he had died.  She said now all the people in the spirit world get to hear his sweet testimony.  He will be a great missionary there.

Friday we made burritos for the Branch pot luck we are having after Church.  A couple from Tuscaloosa (the Champions) used to be senior missionaries here.  They are serving again as self reliance missionaries in the stake.  He is a veteran.  The veterans assembled food boxes for Christmas and delivered them to families in the area.  There were pictures on facebook of the operation and it looked like they had hundreds of boxes.  They called us earlier in the week and said they had something for us and wanted to come over.  We were pretty sure it was going to be a pie, but they brought in a huge box of food.  It was more than we will be able to eat in the six weeks we have left here and we are not going to be able to eat what we have already by then.  It turned out just right.  Sister Nixon found her fiancée dead in his bed the day the Champions delivered the food to us, so we took the box over to her as she is in need of help right now.

Saturday we did our P-day chores and had to make a batch of cinnamon rolls for the pot luck (I don't want to forget how).

Sunday we picked up Andrea and her mother for church.  Her boyfriend wanted to come to church so we went to pick him up as well.  Tight quarters in the back seat today.  In second hour President James shared the branch goals for next year with the whole branch.  He must have been pretty inspiring.  Just before we had the closing prayer Andrea's boyfriend raised his hand and said, "I want to join!!"  So now that the sisters are gone and we have spent all but six weeks of our mission going along with the sisters and sharing our testimony it looks like we are going to teach the lessons to Morris.  We dropped him off at his house and set an appointment for Tuesday night.  We got home and realized that is New Year's eve.  We texted him to tell him we would be happy to come anyway but in case he forgot as well and wanted to reschedule we would be happy to come another time.  He said he wants to meet next Tuesday instead.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  We did.  It was just the day after that wasn't so great.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

PS attachment #2 is the Tornado site when the crew arrived.  A little different than it was when we got there with the lunch.

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