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 80: A new tooth for Sister Owens and flash back to Princess Bride

Dear Family and Friends'

Monday we got Sister Owens in to see the dentist, Tom Whitaker (no relation to Tom) then we drove to Meridian to return the van we used to go to Stake Conference on Sunday.

Tuesday Sister Owens went with some of the women in the branch to have lunch together to celebrate the previous RS President's birthday.  Then we spent the afternoon with Ollie balancing her checkbook.  She can't write very well because of her tremors.  It is really hard to read her writing and she doesn't usually remember what she wrote since it is always several days since she wrote it when we meet with her.  She often has her son or her husband or her help write some checks and they are not very clear what they are for.  It is always quite a frustrating experience for us.  When we finished we took her home and had to sit down and talk to her husband with her about how they are running out of money in three months and will probably lose their house if they don't make some serious changes right away.  That wasn't very fun either since he is a schizophrenic Vietnam vet with PTSD.  It actually went better than we thought it would.

Wednesday we spent the morning at the dentist office getting Sister Owens' temporary crown and the afternoon at home while she recovered.  We had coordination meeting with Brother Smith and the Sisters that evening.  Elias Smith will be leaving on his mission in a few months and was just called to serve as the Branch Young Men President until he leaves.  He looks at things a lot differently than his father (Brother Smith) does.  It is quite entertaining to sit and observe the two of them as different things are discussed.  Elias always refers to his dad as "some random person" when he tells about things that happen that he does not agree with.  Then his dad explains that he is the random person that Elias is talking about.

Thursday was our joint Zone Conference with two other zones.  It was President Allred's birthday so we all sang Happy Birthday to him.  Elder Montoya of the Seventy was our visiting General Authority.  For all you Princess Bride buffs, the first slide in his presentation was a picture of him and the caption said, "Hello, my name is Elder Hugo Montoya, you came to conference, prepare to be edified."

It was a great conference.  Sister Montoya spoke to us in Spanish and one of the Spanish speaking sisters translated for us.  Then at the end of the conference Elder Montoya bore his testimony in Spanish and had one of the Elders translate for us. At one point he said something and the elder translated it and Elder Montoya looked at him and told him in English what he was supposed to have said.  Everybody chuckled a little bit.  It is always exciting to go to joint conferences.  We usually get to see other missionaries that served at one time in our area. We got to see Sister Weaver and Sister Beaugez and get a picture of Sister Owens with them and Sister McCreath (attachment #1).  At Zone conference the missionaries that are returning home at the end of the transfer bear their testimonies.  We felt kind of badly because our Sister McCreath bore her testimony.  We are really going to miss her when she goes home in two and a half weeks.

Friday we spent most of the day preparing for the joint Relief Society / Young Women activity we were having Saturday.  That night we had a lesson with Otis.  We had him watch the first Book of Mormon video that was released last week.  He said he loved it.

Saturday was the activity that Sister Owens had to accommodate the young women so they could do a project for their Personal Progress program (Attachment #2).  One of the young women wanted to have everyone bring a sample of their favorite family recipe and a copy of it that she is going to assemble into a book for everyone to have.  A few people brought samples but several just brought their recipes to share.  This was the first time we didn't go to Greensboro to pick up ladies for the meeting.  We asked if Brother Borden would bring them in to Demopolis, which he did.  The food was a little sparse and everything was eaten.  When Brother Borden came to pick up the ladies we felt bad because we didn't have anything to feed him.  But he jumped in and started helping put away tables and chairs.  I got the vacuum out and he came over to take it from me.  I told him he couldn't have it.  I would do it.  I told him he should take his wife home.  That night Sister Borden called us to tell us he was in the hospital, and was going to be kept overnight.  His blood pressure dropped quite a bit and the doctors were worried about him.  If he had something to eat after the RS activity it might have been different.

Today a senior couple (the Turnbows) that came out a week after we did came to our Sacrament meeting.  They have been serving in Clanton, AL.  They are on their way home to Denver, CO.  They served for eighteen months.  Second hour we had the video presentation that everybody had on the new children and youth program.  After church we called Sister Borden to see how her husband was doing.  His blood pressure was too high today so they are keeping him again overnight and he will probably go home tomorrow.  He is seventy-four and still works two jobs.  Both of his bosses came to see him today and told him he had plenty of sick leave and he should take a couple of days off.  Hopefully he will.  We got to go out to Greensboro to visit with them for a while this evening.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

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

Week 75: A Day in the big city; and a marathon meeting for the sisters

Dear Family and Friends,

After getting home at 8:30 Sunday night from Stake Priesthood meeting we had to get up Monday and go to Greensboro to pick up Brother White to take him to Birmingham to see a spine surgeon. His surgeon in Tuscaloosa made the appointment for him and wrote the time and address on the back of a card for us.  The time was 2:30 PM.  We didn't know what traffic problems we would run into and how easy it would be to find the office so we left plenty early.  The trip went pretty well and we arrived at the office at 2:00.  We went to check in and they said our appointment was at 3:00.  So we sat in the waiting room with the eighty other patients (according to Sister Owens' count—she quite counting at eighty).  They took him back for a cat scan and mentioned that they were running a little behind.  At 4:00 they called him back and I went back with him.  After quite a wait in the exam room we talked to the surgeon for less than ten minutes.  He told us he definitely had a problem and he wasn't sure what they needed to do without an MRI and he would have to get established with a general physician and get his diabetes, high blood pressure and other health conditions under control before they could consider surgery. He said they would make some calls and line up a family doctor for him and schedule the MRI.  He told us to wait because they had some paperwork to fill out.  We waited for at least 30 minute and then the surgeon opened the door and was surprised to see us.  He said, "Oh, you are still here.  Yah, wait just a minute and we will be right with you."  And backed out and closed the door.  After another fifteen minutes Brother White opened the door and said, "I think they're all gone home."  I stepped out into the hallway and startled a young nurse that was standing there packing her purse to leave.  She was surprised to see me and asked why we were there.  I told her they were supposed to be getting some paperwork for us.  She didn't know anything about it and went down the hall to the surgeon's office where he was shooting the breeze with three other colleagues and asked him.  He said to her, "Oh yah, we need to get them a general physician and schedule an MRI."  She came out of the office and said to me, "You don't have to wait for that, we can call you.  You can leave."  So at 6:00 we went back out to the waiting room to see if Sister Owens was still there.  She was, and the other seventy-nine chairs were empty (they were closed).  If I hadn't stepped out when I did that nurse would have been gone within 30 seconds.  The next person we would have seen would probably be the custodian (I love Alabama).  Needless to say we got home a little late to try to get last week's email out that night.

Tuesday was District Council (just a short jaunt to Tuscaloosa).  Training was supposed to be a discussion on the characteristic of patience.  We took so long with the other portions of the meeting that we didn't get to have the discussion.  That tried Sister Owens' patience.  We met with Otis and the sisters in the evening.  He was so excited after Stake Priesthood meeting.  He told the sisters he wanted to get ready and be baptized.  They set a date for him for the end of September.  Then he told us about the time he got baptized three times in one day.  And he got a ring and a watch for it from the pastor.  The sisters have a lot to teach him in the next month.

Wednesday we kind of took a breather from all the traveling we had been doing.  We had coordination meeting with Brother Smith and the sisters.  We are all pretty excited about Otis. And there is another young girl with a baby son that the sisters have been meeting with quite a few times.  After the meeting we went to the drug store to pick up Sister Owens' prescription for "fossil-max" (according to her text to our daughter).  The doctor was not really pleased with the results of her bone density test.  Sister Owens spent the evening trying to follow up with the sisters that said they wanted to go to the Women's Conference on Saturday.

Thursday we were off to Tuscaloosa again for Sister Owens to get an ultra-sound of her liver.  They noticed a cyst on it when they did the cat scan of her lungs.  The technician told her she just had a small cyst about the size of her litter finger tip.  She doesn't have to worry about it (in her professional opinion, I'm sure).  We got a call from the pulmonologist after she saw it and were told to call her family doctor and see him right away.  Sister Owens is getting a little tired of seeing all the doctors lately and has decided her appointment in November is plenty soon enough to see him.  You know, she's so patient and all.  We got back to Greensboro in time to visit with Sister McCleskey for a few minutes before Book of Mormon class.  She shared with us the experience she had in the hospital a week ago that prompted her attendance at Sacrament meeting last week. She woke up a few times during the night and each time there was an older lady with white hair sitting on the stool next to the computer in the room just looking at her but not saying anything.  The last time it was an older gentleman with white hair instead of the lady.  That was when she decided to get up and go out and stay in the waiting room the rest of the night.  She related the experience to the nurse on the floor and was told not to tell anyone in the hospital about it or they would be checking her into the Psych ward.  Anyway, she didn't really know what to think of it but decided it was time to get caught up on her tithing and start coming to church.  She said she would be at Sacrament meeting again this week. 

Friday we did laundry and prepared our talks for Sacrament meeting this Sunday.  We had an appointment with Otis in the morning but he called the sisters and said he was called in to work and couldn't meet with us.

Saturday Sister Owens had to be at the church at 7:30 in the morning so the sisters could get to the Stake Center in Bessemer by 10:00 for their Women's Conference which lasted until 2:00 and then they made the two hour trip back home.  The sisters called us in the evening and said they called Otis to see if he would need a ride to church.  They asked us if we could call him.  They thought maybe he blocked their number by mistake.  I called him and our number was blocked as well.  It was a real downer.  We spent the evening wondering what had happened.  Then we got a group text from President James that said, "I won't be in church Sunday.  Take care of things"  I started to wonder if our Branch President was apostatizing, now.  Sister Owens called Sister James to see if something serious had happened with her mother or something.  Their son answered the phone and explained that they were on a business trip and were delayed getting home (whew).  We were just feeling bad all night for the sisters.  They have been working so hard and it was looking like Otis was going to actually be baptized.

Sunday morning we got to the building an hour early.  Branch Council was scheduled and nobody said we weren't having it even though President James wouldn't be there, but apparently we weren't because nobody came (it would only be Brother and Sister Smith anyway).  The sisters were the first ones there after us and they came in smiling and happy and Sister Owens complimented them on how they just always stay positive, no matter what.  Then they told us they went by to see Otis before they came to the church and he said he has to go to Walmart and get minutes put on his card so his phone will work again (I was puzzled, because he has a land line and not a cell phone and I didn't know you have to get minutes on a card for a land line).  Anyway, he can't come to church because he has to help his mother today and he is looking forward to our next lesson on Monday night (Oh, we of little faith).  I guess everything is just fine.  We did feel a little bad that the fellow we met at the pharmacy last week who told us he was coming to church didn't come.  But that is really not that uncommon here.  Sister McCleskey was there again this week, though.  We are hopeful for her.  She told us Thursday that it is really hard to be motivated to come when it is thirty minutes away.  It used to be right down the street from her when they had the branch in Greensboro.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 74: Elder Owens has to repent: there really are miracles

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry this is late.  Things kind of piled up on Sunday and we were both just too tired to get this out Sunday night.  Monday we spent the day in Tuscaloosa and Bessemer for Sister Owens to have some tests to figure out why her cough isn’t clearing up.  She had a cat scan on her lungs to follow up after the one she had in May when she came down with the bronchitis.  After her scan we checked to see if she could go ahead and have her bone density test which was actually scheduled for Wednesday.  They did the test so it saved us a trip on Wednesday.  Then she had to see the pulmonologist and have another breathing test.  Then the doctor couldn’t compare the two scans because her office didn’t have a copy of the original scan.  It was sent to them last month and then they gave the disc to Sister Owens (???).  Then they told her she would have to bring the disc in sometime so they could compare the two (I do love Alabama).  By the time we were done with the tests and the doctor Sister Owens was pretty disgusted with the medical profession here and thought they are all just trying to make as much money as they can and don’t really care about the people at all.  It kind of ruined her whole day and she ended up pretty negative about everything.  We stopped at the mission office to pick up a package that they received for us from the Silver Sage Young Women.  It was “just what the doctor ordered.”  It had ten gifts for each of us and ten quotes from President Hinckley about what he hoped every missionary would take home with them from their mission.  It totally changed her attitude and saved the day.  Thank you to the Young Women for thinking of us.

Tuesday was District Council.  They sent out an agenda on FB Messenger.  Sister Owens’ facebook account is the only one attached to the group and she has no idea what her password is and hasn’t even opened it since we set it up.  So we were totally unaware of the agenda and the assignment for the training.  It was good training on Faith.  They said they would text the one for the next week to us so we would have it.  Then we took the sisters to lunch and drove to Bessemer for interviews with the President.  We had a great visit with him.  He told us he has been really impressed that Alabama is about to blossom.  He thinks the government is passing laws that agree with the gospel and the people are prepared and the work is really going to move forward.  I really tried to agree with him but find it a little hard.  I’m sure nobody has noticed my attitude degrading over the past few weeks.  I have just about decided we are just biding our time here until its time to go home.  I haven’t felt like we have been able to do much of anything to move the work forward here.  Our Stake Presidency as well as President Allred has asked us to pray for miracles for Demopolis.  I have found that to be really hard to do.  It has seemed to me that they just aren’t going to happen.  Nothing has changed here since we have been here and President Sainsbury told us months ago that regardless of who he sends to Demopolis, it always stays the same and never changes.

Wednesday we went to coordination meeting and the sisters told us about all the people they are teaching from their tracting and they don’t seem to remain interested much past a couple of meetings.  Then we went to the hospital here in Demopolis to see a member of the branch that has dementia.  She was very tired.  The staff said she hardly slept at all the night before.  She was actually sleeping when we came and we didn’t want to wake her but they said they had to wake her and take her to the restroom anyway and then we could visit her.  We went in and said hi and read one scripture and she was totally asleep.  Short visit.  But it was good she could finally sleep.

Thursday we met with Otis who called us last week to take him to church.  We read from the Book of Mormon with him.  He declined to read when asked but said he will study over it when we are gone.  It is hard to know yet whether he can actually read or not.  He hasn’t opened up to us enough to let us know.  He is very positive about the message but he is very positive about everything.  Its hard to know if he really is accepting the message or just being agreeable like so many others here.  Then we went to Book of Mormon class in Greensboro.  Deborah wasn’t there again.  They told us she is still in the hospital in Tuscaloosa.  It was a good class.  We read from Romans 7 and then a chapter from the Book of Mormon.  The managers wanted us to try to keep it short because the tenants go outside while we are there and wait for us to leave and it was quite warm Thursday.  We always tell them they are welcome to come in while we are there but nobody ever does.

Friday we got a call from Human Resources advising that they were going to court to have Deborah placed in a nursing home and they needed a sponsor for her to help her apply for Medicaid.  They asked us if we would be willing to do it and we said yes.  They said they would call us back bur we haven’t heard from them yet.  We went to Tuscaloosa again so Sister Owens could give the doctor another blood sample and copies of all her records from the fun time she had at all the doctors here in Demopolis back in May.  We stopped at the hospital to see Deborah.  She looked better than she ever has since we have known her.  She was so alert and happy.  It is amazing the difference it makes when someone is properly cared for.

Saturday we did our P-day chores and had another meeting with Otis and the Sisters.  We read chapter 31 of Second Nephi about the Saviors baptism and why we need to be baptized.  He was very agreeable again but we still weren’t sure why.  He was planning on coming to church again Sunday.

Sunday morning I was with President James in Branch Presidency meeting and I got a text from the sisters and a phone call from Otis.  The sisters were telling me that I didn’t have to pick up Otis because he was driving himself and he was going to call me and tell me.  I missed the call form Otis but he left a message saying he was driving himself to church.  He borrowed his mother’s car.  They told us about Stake Priesthood meeting last week and Otis was there.  We told him he was welcome to come if he would like to come with us.  I figured he would end up opting not to go since it would be a two hour drive to get there and then a two hour drive home after the meeting.  So this Sunday I asked him if he still wanted to come to Priesthood meeting and he said yes.  As we were sitting waiting for Sacrament meeting to start Sister McCleskey walked in and sat on the front row just as the meeting was starting.  We had tried several times to see her a year ago and she would not come to her door.  She finally let us in one time and then stopped responding again.  She was the Relief Society President when the Greensboro branch was still in existence.  She hasn’t been to church as long as we have been here. We greeted her and she was very happy to see us and told Sister Owens she was in the hospital for a couple of days and was not on any medication and had an experience that she knew was real and she is convinced it is time for a change.  She invited us over to her house this next week so she can tell us about it.   So after church we had time for a bite of lunch and had the sisters over to eat with us along with Timothy so he wouldn’t have to go home to Forkland and have to be picked up for Priesthood meeting. Sister Owens had the three Smith girls stay at our house while we went to Priesthood meeting because Sister Smith is out of town this week.  Then Brother Smith drove his Suburban and eight of us went to Priesthood meeting and met President James and his son, Terrell, there.  Brother Smith said that was the most people from the branch that has ever gone to Bessemer for Priesthood meeting.  They talked about Priesthood responsibilities, Keys, and Family History work.  I figured Otis would have plenty of questions on the way home, but he didn’t ask any when I invited him to do so.  After we dropped everyone off in Greensboro and just had him in the car going to Demopolis we had a little discussion going and learned that his Dad was killed in an auto accident 20 years ago and we told him how he could be baptized for his dad in the temple after he is baptized.  We found out later, talking to the sisters, that he called them after we dropped him off and said he wanted them to help him so he can get baptized.  He is really excited to be baptized for his dad.  It made him feel so happy that he went over to his mother’s house and told her that he would be able to do that.  He said that made her happy too.

The miracles are continuing this week but we will tell you about that next week.

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

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 70: I love Alabama, I love Alabama, I love Alabama!

Dear Family and Friends,

We started our week making the rounds for our four apartment inspections.  We altered our route to the first one to go past some vines we saw on our way to the American Village on the 4^th of July.  We were so impressed we wanted to get some pictures and we didn’t have time to stop on the 4^th (attachment #1&2).  We see it along a lot of the roads here during the summer.  If you let your imagination run wild you can come up with all kinds of things that they look like and of course it is different everywhere you see it.

Tuesday was our first encounter with the dental profession since we got to Alabama.  They were very accommodating and scheduled both of us at the same time for a cleaning and exam.  Our appointment was at 1:00 PM.  We have been to several doctors since we got here and we always have to get there about 15 minutes early to complete new patient paperwork, so we arrived at 12:45.  I so wish I had taken a picture of it.  It was a small brown building with a hand painted picture of a tooth on the front window.  It looked like it was straight out of the 1890’s.  There was room to park three or maybe four cars out front.  There weren’t any cars there when we arrived except one on the side of the building.  We went up to the door and tried to go in but it was locked.  Well, there were two doors, so we assumed we went to the wrong one and went to the one toward the other end of the building (both doors were on the front of the building).  It was locked as well.  We commenced to walk around the building and actually found another door on the side.  It was also locked.  Thinking there was a chance they had relocated, I called their number to find out and there was no answer.  We finally figured they must be at lunch and would be back at 1:00 to open the door.  So we sat in the car, engine running and A/C on, of course, until 1:05.  Then we saw a person come out of one of the doors in front and wave at us indicating that she would be back in just a few minutes.  Then she went and got in the only other car by the building besides ours and drove away (she was the dentist).  We waited another ten minutes and another patient drove up and tried the locked door.  A few minutes later another employee drove up and unlocked one of the doors and went in and then opened the door where the other patient was standing and let us come in.  The inside of the office actually looked much better than I was expecting having seen the outside.  After we completed our paperwork and they finally called us in (after the other patient went in), they had us both go back and pointed to two rooms and said one of us could go in one and one in the other.  I went in and sat in the chair and the hygienist came in and got things started.  She said she was going to start with x-rays and proceeded to walk around the foot of the chair to get to the other side.  There was about six inches between my feet and the wall.  I moved my feet so she could get by.  The x-ray machine was in the wall between the two exam rooms behind a cupboard door (accessible to both rooms, obviously).  Apparently they were going to do the x-rays on Sister Owens after her cleaning.  After about four trips around the chair the hygienist told me I didn’t have to keep moving my feet.  She does this all day every day and she is used to it.  She finished the cleaning and said things looked pretty good for being a year and a half since they were cleaned last and told me the dentist would be in to give me an exam.  The dentist came in and said, “Are you having any trouble anywhere other than that root canal you are going to need to have done?”  I said, “Say what!”  Then she and the hygienist spent about two minutes trying to decide the correct tooth number to identify the tooth where I need the root canal.  She proceeded with the exam and at one point taped on one of my teeth with her instrument until I was convinced she was trying to get it to break in half.  She didn’t find any other problems and started discussing the root canal again with the hygienist and said he didn’t really react at all when I tapped on it (it was a good thing she stopped when she did because I was about to react when I thought it was going to break in half).  I actually started to think I was being hustled by a snake oil salesman.  Then they broke the news to me that my policy doesn’t cover root canals so that would be an out of pocket expense.  I told them I would talk to my insurance company and get back to them. Sister Owens had about the same experience but they really tore up her gums pretty good.  I must have gotten the better hygienist (I do love Alabama).

Wednesday morning I had just started my walk and Brother White called and asked if we could come to get him in Greensboro and take him to Tuscaloosa to the hospital.  He needed to have a doctor sign his prescription that he forgot to sign the day before and the pharmacy wouldn’t fill it without the doctor’s signature.  So we got to Tuscaloosa and told them we needed the signature and they called Doctor Stevenson down to the desk and he put his figure 8 (literally) on the prescription and then chuckled and said “Oh, I forgot to sign it.” (I do love Alabama).  We had gotten a call from Brother White while we were waiting for the Dentist to open the office the day before.  He was at the hospital waiting to go in for x-rays.  He blacked out while driving himself to Dialysis in Eutaw that morning and rolled his truck three times (attachment #3).  The paramedics had to pry him out from between the front and rear seats to get him out.  He had his x-rays and he hadn’t broken any bones so they gave him a prescription (which they didn’t sign) and sent him home because they were busy and didn’t have a bed for him.  His son drove him home from the hospital.  He never did get his scheduled dialysis treatment (they didn’t bother to do it at the hospital).  After we got him home from getting the signature we took him to Eutaw.  They said they would get him in for a two hour session (he usually takes three to four hours three times a week).  He went on Thursday (his regularly scheduled day) and his son got married Saturday in Birmingham so he didn’t go for Dialysis yesterday because of the wedding. He won’t go again until Tuesday.  We hope he will be okay until then.  Brother Borden brought him to church today and he was there to bless the sacrament as usual.  We are taking him to Tuscaloosa again Monday to see his surgeon who put the pins in his neck.  The extent of his injuries seems to be some abrasions on his left hand from flying windshield glass and the same on his head above his ear, other than feeling like someone beat him with a baseball bat.

Thursday we had a good Book of Mormon class.  It was really neat to see Deborah there.  She looked really good.  We could tell she was receiving much better care and she seemed happier than the last several times we saw her.  She hasn’t been to the class for about three or four weeks (her daughters wouldn’t let her come). President James asked us to see if they wanted to spend some time reading over the lesson for Come Follow Me in the class.  They said they would like to do that.  We don’t know if we will alternate weeks or try to read some from both each week, but it will be good to spend some time on the Sunday School lesson.  We’re not sure how many of them really do much reading during the week.

Friday we had a great District Council.  We read from II Nephi chapter 9 about the Plan of Salvation and the atonement and had a really great discussion.  Sister Hurst (the other senior sister) told us they learned at the CES training that chapter is the heart of the Book of Mormon.  It really does explain so well the need for the Savior’s sacrifice and what that means for all of us as God’s children.

We had gotten a text this week from Sister Snar (trained here in Demopolis).  She received a facebook message from a girl they taught while they were here that she would like the missionaries to drop off another copy of the Book of Mormon.  Since we have no sisters here this week she called us and asked if we would deliver it.  So after we finished our P-day chores Saturday we drove to York to deliver the book.  Alliah was sleeping and her roommate answered the door.  She went and woke her up and they invited us in.  We gave Alliah her book and asked her roommate if she would like a copy for herself.  She did so we gave her one as well.  She showed us a very worn copy of the Gospel Principles manual and said that Alliah had been letting her read it and she really likes the things that are in there.  Alliah had the manual from last year when we were holding that Sunday School class.

Also during the week we got a call from a lady named Vanessa who we do not know.  She asked what time we pick up people for church.  We asked her where she lived and said we could stop by for her about 9:45.  Sister McCreath had already gone to Clanton so we texted her to see if she had talked to someone and given her our number.  She had not.  A member of the Stake Young Women visited our branch last week and brought a visitor with her.  We found out the visitor lived in Demopolis.  The sisters contacted her and taught her the restoration and she told them she would like to come to church again this week.  They gave her our number so she could ask us if we could pick her up.  We didn’t have her number so we couldn’t contact her.  She finally called us this morning about 8:00.  We found out Vanessa is her friend and we were picking up both of them for church.  They both told us they want to come again next week and the sisters will be contacting both of them to teach them this next week. It was very interesting in church.  All during the first speaker’s message Vanessa would say amen whenever she agreed with anything she said.  After the talk Vanessa and Rebecca (the friend that came the week before) both started clapping and several more of the recent converts joined in.  President James looked up from his seat at the front of the chapel and we had never seen his eyes opened quite that wide.  I wondered what was going to happen after the final speaker, but there actually wasn’t any applause, Just amens.

So when we had our interview with the President, he told Sister Owens we need to start praying for miracles for Demopolis and then when they start happening she is supposed to call him and tell him about them.  So Brother White’s survival is definitely a miracle, although we have now lost 50% of our transportation from Greensboro .  I’m not sure how that fits into the miracles other than Brother White won’t black out anymore driving himself to Eutaw.  And we now have at least two and maybe four sisters without husbands, without jobs, and without transportation,  that are interested in coming to church.  I’m not sure, as yet, how that fits into the miracles either (I really do love Alabama).

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

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 68: Elder Owens gains worldwide notoriety; Sister McCreath goes dancing

Dear Family and Friends,

What a week of firsts and we have been out well over a year already.  Tuesday we drove the sisters to Bessemer to the stake center and the whole zone lined up in the hallway at the church to meet and shake hands with the new Mission President.  He was Stake President in Grantsville, Utah.  He is going to be a great mission president.  He kind of looked through each of us as he shook our hand.  Then we all went to the chapel and he spoke to us for about an hour.  He shared some neat things about when they received their call.  He talked about how all of us were foreordained in the premortal life to serve here together at this time in this place.  He said he is sure President Sainsbury was there as well.  It was a neat experience.

Wednesday we spent time working in our branch callings.  I did some clerk work and got some reports done and Sister Owens worked on revising the ministering districts in the Relief Society.  Then we had our coordination meeting with the sisters and Brother Smith.

Thursday the entire zone volunteered to help at the American Village in Montevallo (attachment #1 some of the group).  They have several buildings representing the colonial era and do various reenactments of events throughout the history of the country (attachment #2).  They had us cover three different two hour shifts.  Each of us worked one shift and got to tour the facility during the other four hours.  We were assigned the last shift (5:00 to 7:00).  We got some lunch and then went to see Ben Franklin (attachment #3).  Sorry, I can't really tell you much about what he had to say.  You see, they had a packed house and it was very hot.  The A/C couldn't really keep up with the heat and the open doors because of the crowds.  As Brother Muck (formerly President Muck, councilor to President Sainsbury) put it, I am now internationally famous for having stole the show at the Ben Franklin Reenactment when I passed out and had to be carried out of the assembly room.  Two of the men that helped carry me out were both named Scott.  Sister Owens thought that was interesting.  I did thoroughly enjoy the attention I was getting as I was waking up in the middle of the floor outside the door with about fifty people looking on.  They were pouring water all over me and put a nice cold water bottle behind my neck which felt really, really good.  After a few minutes they helped me stand up and walk outside and over to the Oval Office where I sat on a chair in the lobby (much cooler there) and the paramedics came to pay a visit.  They took my vitals and told me to stay there until they came back in about an hour to see me again.  While I was there President Truman arrived for his scheduled press conference and visited with me for a few minutes before he went in to the conference.  I was still there when he finished.  As he came out I told him he sounded really good in there.  He thanked me and wished me well before he left. Then a driver showed up with a shuttle to chauffeur me over to our assigned building (all you have to do is pass out and you get all kinds of special privileges).  Our assignment was at the colonial chapel for the Colonial evening prayer service (an actual religious service) and then Patrick Henry giving his "Give me Liberty or give me death" speech.  We didn't get to hear his speech because we had to stand out in the lobby and keep people from coming in after it started.  We had to hold the door shut because people were ignoring the "Do not enter, program has started" sign hanging on the outside door knob (attachment #4).  My phone rang while we were in the lobby and it was Sister Hurst telling me they had the whole army there (all the senior couples and some of the elders).  She said they were there if I wanted a blessing.  I told her I was fine and we were holding the door shut because the program had started.  She said we were doing a very good job.  They had been outside trying to come in to give me the blessing.  For the most part, it was all a really special experience.  We have to try to get back there sometime to actually see some of the events. As we drove home we learned from the sisters that they had gone to the Ballroom during their "off time."  Several of the elders were there as well.  All of a sudden a nice old man came up to Sister McCreath and asked her to dance.  She told him she couldn't.  He kept pressing her and she told him she was a volunteer and her shift was starting and she had to go.  He asked her when her shift started and she told him 4:30 so she could leave.  He told her she still had two minutes so there was still plenty of time and was dragging her onto the dance floor.  It got to the point where she was making a scene trying to resist him, so she just went with him and danced.  Her companion got all of it on video.  She was really embarrassed.  We had just found out our interviews were scheduled with our new president for this Saturday.  I told her she was going to have to tell him about it.  Then I said, "Actually, you probably won't have to, because the rest of the zone will probably have already told him."  She was really embarrassed about the whole situation.  She and her companion are Sister Training Leaders responsible for helping to train the sisters and split with all the sisters in the zone to give them training.

We had a great district council Friday.  Sister Owens just got put on her third round of anti-biotics for her bronchitis (she is getting pretty tired of it).  She asked for a blessing after our council meeting.  We had all the elders in the district stand in for the blessing.

We spent quite a bit of this week on the road.  Bessemer Tuesday to meet the Allreds, Thursday to Montevallo for the American Village experience, Friday to Tuscaloosa for District Council, and Saturday back to Bessemer for Interviews with the President.  We had a really nice visit with President Allred.  He told us to call the office Monday and check his schedule and get a Sunday for him to come to our Branch to speak.  We are excited for that.  Saturday was Sister McCraney's birthday so we stopped on the way home from interviews to treat her to lunch.  We had lettuce wraps for an appetizer and I was distracted by something as the waitress was taking the plates off the table.  She gasped and said how sorry she was and I looked and saw the sauce from the wraps was splashed across the table and there was a puddle of it in front of me.  Then she said she would get me some soda water.  Then I looked down and noticed that the sauce was also splashed all down my white shirt and tie.  Unfortunately the soda water didn't really do much.  I couldn't help but wonder what everyone thought as I walked by them on our way out of the restaurant.

It was neat at church this morning.  President James and I walked out of his office about ten minutes before Sacrament meeting was supposed to start and the hallway was full of people (I say full, there were probably ten people, but that's a lot here).  They were all visiting. When we got in the chapel everyone was sitting quietly, waiting for the meeting to start.  They had remembered our discussion from second hour last week about Elder Holland's Conference message.  We got a break after our self reliance class today.  A lady offered to take Beth home to Linden, and Ollie wasn't feeling well and didn't come.  If Andrea's cousin hadn't let us down this week (he has come to pick her up the last two weeks), we would have had no one to take home today.  But Andrea just lives here in town, so it was pretty nice. After the rest of this week, we actually came home after class and took a nap ("senior couples get to do anything they want").

Keep the commandments and read your book of Mormon everyday.

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 64: The saddle is still slipping a little

Dear Family and Friends,

We scheduled our three apartment inspections for Monday and the Housing coordinator called us and asked if we could inspect the sisters apartment in Camden also.  They just re-opened the area after several years without missionaries.  So we went to see the sisters in Camden.  They have a very small branch there with about fifteen members that come each week.  The sisters were so excited to be there.  They told us how "they" got into their apartment before they arrived and decorated the walls with welcome notes and stocked their pantry and put up signs.  We asked if it was the Branch that did that.  They told us it was the Vicks.  I said, "Is that a family in the branch?"  They said it was.  By the time we were leaving to come home we had found out the Vicks are the branch.  It is just one family and extended family.  Their son is on his mission right now.  The sisters told us the whole town came to his farewell.  Everybody in town knows the family. They go tracting in the town and ask people if they know Stone Vick.  They tell them yes, and then they say "We are doing what he is doing right now."  It seems to be a good approach for them to use.  Anyway we did our four inspections and it made Sister Owens pretty tired.  Kind of a long day for her.

Tuesday we didn't do much other than recuperate from the day before, except for taking our sisters halfway back to Camden to meet the other sisters so they could do their exchanges for the transfer.  They trade companions and each set works in one of the areas for twenty-four hours.  We did go with the sisters in the evening for an appointment with a single male.  It was a no show.  So we went to check on some less active members we have been unable to contact and still couldn't find them home.  We did get to see a recent convert (baptized a few weeks before we came)  who has never been to church since we came.  He avoided us for a long time and his brother told us he moved to Tuscaloosa a few months ago.  We had never met him but saw someone outside his apartment some weeks ago and I just went up and asked him if he was Johnny Braxton.  He was too surprised to say anything but "yes" and he wondered how I knew that because he didn't know me.  Anyway, his door was open Tuesday night so we went to see him.  His kids were there visiting so we didn't stay.  We just told him we would love to see him at church someday.  In typical Alabama style, he told us he loved the church and he would be coming.

Wednesday we took the sisters back to get paired up with their companions again.  Last week Sister Owens told the Book of Mormon class it was time we had a treat again (it has been a while) so we had to pick up some stuff and get a cake made to take with us Thursday.  We had coordination meeting with Brother Smith and then we were going to go to the appointment with the sisters to see Marquise who we had a discussion with on Sunday evening but he called them and said he would have to cancel.  It was kind of exciting for the sisters because usually they just aren't home when they go for appointments.

Thursday we took Sister Owens to Tuscaloosa in the morning to have her consultation with the pulmonologist.  I had to go in with her to make sure she didn't leave out any of the important stuff.  She seems to have a hard time telling the whole truth when she talks to doctors.  The doctor wasn't to excited to hear that she is coughing up some colored mucous again and put her on another antibiotic.  So we get to go through that routine again for another ten days.  She scheduled her for a CT scan in August and a follow up appointment.  Sister Owens says she is never getting sick again because it makes her too tired and depressed.  Of course, she might be right.  If she doesn't start following orders and getting the rest she needs she won't ever get better this time and then she won't be able to get sick again.  We did have a good Book of Mormon class.  I cut the cake and Sister Owens said I cut the pieces too small.  She was the only one that complained though.  We had enough left to give some to the sisters and to one of the sisters in the branch that wasn't feeling well.  She felt bad because Sister Owens missed her birthday and didn't bring her a cake.  That was the week we were seeing all the doctors in Demopolis.

Friday was our last District Council for this transfer.  The District Leader changed the time from 11:00 AM to noon so the sisters could go to lunch before the meeting because he said the elders were going to go to lunch.  A few months ago the President asked us to discontinue the occasional practice of going to lunch as a district with the elders and sisters together after District Council.  So for some reason the DL thought it would be alright to go to lunch before the meeting but not after.  He was right about not having the elders go with the sisters but there wasn't any reason they couldn't go after the meeting at lunch time, as long as they didn't go together.  Anyway, we drove in early so the Demopolis sisters could meet up with the sisters from the rest of the district and we got to have a nice late breakfast with them before the meeting. Then we took our traditional district picture since it was our last Council meeting (see attachment).  We got home in time to pick up Ollie and take her to the church to work on her finances again.  She had her hair done in the morning and just as we left the church we had some "car wash rain" as Sister Owens calls it.  We had lots of fun getting her into and out of the car and back into her house and still save the hairdo.

Our P-day was Saturday this week because we did inspections all day on Monday.  We just did our shopping and chores around the apartment.  We had our standing appointment with Joe Davis in the evening.  He is trying so hard to give up the coffee but his body is putting up a real fight about it.  We had a good discussion and then brought up President Nelson's conference talk, "Come Follow Me" on his computer terminal.  He made it about five minutes or less and went to sleep, but the four of us enjoyed the talk.  He felt so bad when we woke him up at the end and he apologized about eight times in the six minutes we were there before we left.  He is seventy-three and works about twelve hours a day on his farm during the week and then all night Saturday and Sunday at the Trucking terminal.  He told us he was coming to church though and he was there and stayed for Sacrament meeting and Priesthood meeting.  He would benefit from any prayers offered in his behalf to overcome his coffee.  He will be baptized as soon as he can stop.

Sundays are really renewing each week but they have been pretty long as well since we have been having the Self Reliance class after meetings and then we get everyone home after class.  Today was an easy day since the one from Linden didn't come and Elder and Sister Champion, who come from Tuscaloosa each week to facilitate the class, offered to take Timothy home for us because it was on the way back to Tuscaloosa.  They will be doing that now for the rest of the time we have the class.  So today we just had to take two people home that live here in Demopolis.  The guest speakers that came down from Tuscaloosa commented on how glad they were to be back in Demopolis again to attend our meetings because there is such a special spirit here in our building.  It made us remember how we felt the first week we were here for church when we got here last March.  Everybody that comes here always says that about being here.

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

We Love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 61: Definitely our worst week yet; The Owens are an easy mark to the Alabama medical community

Dear Family and Friends,

After Timothy’s baptism and our standing appointment with Joe Davis on Saturday evening we finally got our P-day changed over to Monday (we never had time to do chores on Saturday).  So after a nagging cough for two weeks we decided to call the clinic on Monday to see if Sister Owens could come in and see if they could do something for her.  They said they do not schedule same day appointments but we could come in and get our name on the list.  We went in at 11:00 AM and left with a prescription at about 5:00 PM.  The first thing they did when they got her in about 3:00 was take a blood sample and do a chest x-ray.  They assured her she didn’t have pneumonia but she does have an infection in her lungs.  They gave her a sample COPD inhaler and said to use it and take her pills and she would feel like a new woman in two days.

Wednesday came and she felt worse than she did on Monday instead of better.  We ate lunch and went to the Emergency Care center (MedCenter).  The first thing they did was a full blood workup and do a chest x-ray.  The blood work caused them to suspect a possibility of blood clots in the lungs or the legs.  So they sent us to the hospital for a CT scan and MRI.  They gave us a prescription for a different antibiotic (turns out the one we got from the clinic was for deep tissue and skin infections).  We went to the hospital at 6:00 PM for the tests and got home about 8:30.  Her breathing was becoming quite labored.  We called our mission nurse again and she listened to her on the phone and said I should get her to the hospital in Tuscaloosa either by car or ambulance and admit her to the ER. She told us to get all of her meds and make sure we took them with us.  We sacked them up and after being on the road for forty-five minutes we realized they were all still in the sack back home on the kitchen table.  We got to the Hospital in Tuscaloosa a little after 10:00 PM.  After midnight we actually got to a treatment room in the ER and of course the first thing they did was a complete blood workup (I was a little surprised she had any left to give).  The ER doctor ordered a chest x-ray and called Demopolis to get the results of the CT scan and MRI.  He said they ruled out blood clots but they were very concerned about her shortness of breath (the clinic said they detected a sleight heart murmur, no one else noticed one).  He felt they should admit her and have an ultrasound done on her heart and consult with a cardiologist and they might let her go home after that.  So they moved her (and her bed) to the hallway of the ER where we waited until 5:00 AM when they moved her up to room 549.  The first thing they did there was take a blood sample (which they did every three hours from then until we left at 7:00 PM that night).  A different nurse came in every hour on the hour for one reason or another (check vitals, get blood sample, see if we needed anything, etc.).  We didn’t see a doctor until just before lunch when the cardiologist came in and listened to her heart.  She told her it sounded good. She ordered the ultrasound and said she suspected it was just some bronchitis.  She went after lunch for the ultrasound and then we spent the rest of the day waiting for the results of the test and to see the admitting doctor.  The nurses said it sounded like things were okay and we would probably get to go home, so Sister Owens got dressed.  About 6:00 PM the Doctor walked in to the room and looked at both of us and said, “Where did she go?”  We said, “Who?”  She said, “The Patient.”  Sister Owens showed her the wrist band.  I guess she was a little puzzled that she was dressed.  She hadn’t gotten the test results yet and had not spoken with the cardiologist and was just finding out where we were with everything.  We told her what had been done and that things seemed to be good.  She said she just had to confirm all that and left the room.  The nurse met her outside the door and confirmed everything and the cardiologist had told them everything was good on the ultrasound (we never saw her again after she listened to Sister Owens heart before lunch). They ordered a wheelchair to take her down to patient pick up, so I left to walk around to the ER parking lot to get the car and come around to pick her up.  We weren’t sure how long it would take for the wheelchair since it took three hours for someone to come and get her to take her up to the room in the first place.  She finally went to the nurses desk and asked if she could just walk down since her husband was waiting in the car.  The nurse said she would walk down with her.  Thus ended our first (and hopefully last) in house experience at the hospital in Alabama.  We got home about 9:30 PM and went to bed and slept through the night and most of the next day, getting up occasionally to take pills.

We had planned to take Timothy to Stake Conference this weekend and we had to make other arrangements.  Sister Owens takes her medication and just feels like sleeping and has been doing just that for a couple of days now.  Most of the Branch members have been calling us to see how we are doing and offering to help in any way they can.  Brother White calls us about once a day to check and see how she is doing.  I had gone without her to walk last Wednesday and one of the grounds workers that we always see on our walk asked how my wife was doing.  I told him she is fighting a bad cough.  He said to tell her he would be praying for her.  We had never said anything but good morning to each other as we passed him while he was working (I love Alabama). President and Sister James stopped by our apartment on their way home from conference today to see how we are doing.  They are really neat people.  We will be laying low for this next week to try to get her over this in time for Girls Camp, since they won’t be able to go if she can’t go with them.  She will have to take her Flonase and her dust masks and stay inside the cabin all week so it doesn’t flare up again.

Sister Richetto, the mission nurse assigned to our part of the alphabet, told us they have about two and a half times the amount of pollen here than we have in Utah and Idaho.  Of course the Magnolia trees are in bloom right now (see attachments).  Maybe that is what got her so bad.  They all have told us her bronchitis is from her reaction to all the pollen in the air right now.

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

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens