Sunrise

This was the sunrise this morning on our walk. 49 degrees.

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 85: This was the week that wasn't; too many doctors here

Dear Family and Friends,

Sister Owens got up Monday morning feeling quite poorly.  She thought it was just because the day before was such a long day with the training meeting in Tuscaloosa after church.  She took a nap hoping she would feel better and when she got up she was pretty sure she was coming down with a bad cold.  We were going to take the sisters and a lady they are teaching over to the church for a church tour and then go have a discussion with Otis.  We had to call and cancel.  She went to bed early hoping she would feel good enough to go to District Council on Tuesday.

We are in a different district now than before.  We no longer have the Hursts (the YSA senior couple) in the same district.  We are a little bummed about that.  We only see them at Zone Conference now.  Our new district meets in Tuscaloosa still, but at a different building which is a little farther away.  At Zone Conference our district leader told us we would meet at 10:30 instead of 11:00.  So we picked up the sisters and left about 40 minutes earlier than usual Tuesday morning.  As we drove up to the building and saw no cars we were a little worried if we had the right place.  The sisters said it was the right building but they had gotten a message the night before that the meeting would be at 11:00 instead of 10:30. We didn't get the message because we don't have internet at our apartment.  For some reason they send all the important messages on FB Messenger instead of sending out texts (??).  Our Zone leader is in our district now.  At 11:00 we were still waiting in the parking lot for the elders.  The sisters from Fayette were also there waiting.  We decided to walk around the building and found that the elders park on the other side of the building.  We went in and the ZL and his companion were there waiting for us.  The district leader still wasn't there.  He and his companion had an earlier appointment and didn't get there for about another twenty minutes.  Anyway, Sister Owens was feeling a little better and she asked our new district leader to give her a blessing after our meeting.  When  we got home we got a call from the pulmonologist telling us that Dr. Simpson had advised her that he saw no reason to consider a biopsy at this time.  So she wants Sister Owens to come in next week to have a high density CT Scan and another breathing test.  We are pretty sure the breathing test will be much better than her last, as long as she gets over the cold she is having now.  We went to meet with Otis and he said we were going to have to hold off on meetings with him for a while because he has to be in deep prayer for his mother.  She was in the hospital for a day or two and is back home now.  We told him we would prayer for her.

Wednesday she stayed home and nursed her cold until it was time to go to Coordination meeting.  We talked about how Brother Smith and Sister Owens have to counsel together and plan everything for the branch so we can take the load off President James and he can devote his time to the youth.

Thursday Brother Foote drove down from Tuscaloosa to attend our Book of Mormon class with us and get to know the members in Greensboro a little better.  He is the high councilor that has been assigned to our branch.  He was pretty excited when Sister Borden said we were going to have catfish next week.  We were a little surprised since we just had some a couple weeks ago.  We didn't have the heart to tell Brother Foote how many times they say that before we actually have some.  Thursday night the sisters had us over for dinner at their apartment (see attachment).  All the missionaries have to be in their apartment for the evening by 6:00 pm on Halloween.  They made chicken spaghetti for us which was really quite tasty.

Friday was my semi-annual check up with the Dermatologist in Tuscaloosa.  He assured me nothing had to be cut off today.  I was quite pleased about that.  No more doctors to see now until Sister Owens' CT Scan and breathing test next Tuesday and her check up with the GP next Friday.

Saturday we took our turn cleaning the branch building and then did our P-day chores.

Sunday we had a good Fast and Testimony meeting.  They seem really short now that they are only an hour long.  Brother Morgan had his eightieth birthday Friday.  We took a pan of cinnamon rolls over for them to share with their boys.  We were sure they would be coming to see them.  They asked if we would come over Sunday afternoon so we could meet their grandkids.  We went over and took a family picture for them.  They have such a neat family.  Three boys.  They have all been baptized but only their second son is active.  He is in the Stake Presidency where he lives in southern Alabama, and  all of their children have been on missions (one in Boise several years ago).  They brought their youngest son with them this weekend.  He just got home six weeks ago from Taiwan.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 83: Fond farewell and happy reunion

Dear Family and Friends,

Linda got her new tooth Monday and all went well.  We made some mac and cheese and jello salad to take to Book of Mormon class.  We still didn't know if we were going to have any fish with it.  When we got there we found out that Brother White did get the fish but Sister Nixon didn't have any cornmeal or oil so she didn't cook it.  So we needed to go to Piggly Wiggly and get the cornmeal and oil and she went to cook the fish and the rest of us watched the first two or the new Book of Mormon videos and then listened to a chapter of the Book of Mormon instead of reading it.  Brother Borden came with us this week and he doesn't read or write so we all just listened this week.  Sister Nixon came down with the fish and we ate and were only an hour later than we expected but we were okay because Otis postponed the appointment that we had scheduled for that evening.  We took some pics (attachment #1) and Sister McCreath said her goodbyes to the Greensboro folks.

Tuesday we had to do a little laundry and then we went to the church to do a little clerk work and some Relief Society stuff.  Brother Smith called and said Kirks were having their power turned and wanted us to go see them and see what we could do to help.  I felt the priesthood leader was the one that should visit with them rather than the clerk but we went anyway later in the evening.  Cedric and Tasha weren't home from work yet but their daughter was there with all the lights on and watching TV, so there must not have been a problem with the power.  We found out the next day that a friend had helped them with the payment. We made some cinnamon rolls Tuesday night for the sisters to have on the way to Transfers in the morning.  We are still trying to find out what Sister Allen really likes.

Wednesday was a hard day for us since we had to take Sister McCreath to transfers to go home.  We really miss her but we are happy she gets to go home.  We asked for her home address and she couldn't give us one because she doesn't know where she will be living.  Her parents are in process of getting divorced.  She said she will probably live with her grandmother for a while.  It is amazing that she has been such an outstanding missionary when she had so much going on at home for the past several months.  Sister Soctomah was there.  She is also going home.  She had her twin brother in the adjoining mission and he was transferred into our mission when they were combined.  The two of them were in the same district after the missions were combined.  We are hoping to meet her brother before we go home.  She is going home along with Sister McCreath.  We got a pic of the four of us before they left (attachment #2).  Then we got the good news that Sister Snarr is the new sister to take Sister McCreath's place in Demopolis.  She was trained here by Sister Humphreys about a month after we arrived.  This was her first area and will be her last area.  We will be taking her to transfers in six weeks to send her home.  We seem to be welcoming new sisters or bidding farewell to those that are going home most of the time here.  By the way, Sister Allen isn't that crazy about cinnamon rolls.  She says they are okay.  I guess we'll keep trying.  There were some left to take to Costco after transfers to eat after our hot dog (we had to get the tires rotated).  Sister Snarr said she liked them.  We really can't tell anymore if they really like something or if they are just really good missionaries and don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

Thursday the Morgans took us on a drive to see Payne Lake.  It was a beautiful drive and is a beautiful lake and camping area (attachments #3 and #4).  They took their family there every year as their sons were growing up.  They are a great couple and such an inspiration to us.  They are excellent examples of enduring to the end.  Sister Morgan made potato salad, baked beans, lemonade, and cookies and they stopped on the way and bought fried chicken.  She insisted on doing it all herself and would not let us bring anything for the meal.  After lunch they took us for a walk on a nature trail there.  It was very beautiful.  We got home in time for our appointment with Otis and the sisters.  Otis is quite puzzling to all of us.  He won't do anything we ask him to do to gain a testimony but he keeps having us come back to teach him and he comes to church more regularly than most of the members here.

Friday we had a really great Relief Society meeting.  Of course we started the day with our trip to Greensboro to pick up Sister Borden and Sister Nixon.  On the way out of Greensboro a FedEx van passed us and the car behind us and was going quite a bit over the speed limit.  Then a county deputy passed both of us with his lights flashing.  We were a little pleased that the FedEx driver was going to learn a lesson.  Then the deputy went around the FedEx van also and sped on down the highway.  We were pretty sure the FedEx driver did a little soul searching for a few seconds at least.  We passed the deputy a few miles down the road at an accident scene.  Anyway, there were fourteen sisters who attended and they listened to the first presidency's messages from the women's meeting at general conference.  Everybody was happy to see Sister Snarr back and there were two non-members there.  One of them was a lady Sister Snarr taught when she was here last time.

Saturday was Elder Owens' birthday so we went to Tuscaloosa to try the ribs at Dreamland and invited the YSA senior couple to join us.  The ribs were the best we have had since coming to Alabama but they just didn't measure up to Slow Bone in Dallas.  We finally had banana pudding that everyone here raves about all the time.   We weren't really impressed with that.  We did taste fried green tomatoes for the first time.  They were very good.  I really do like fried okra and fried green tomatoes.  We had another appointment with Otis but he called and postponed again.  We met with him Sunday.

Sunday was a good day.  Everybody was happy to see Sister Snarr again.  President James had her bear her testimony.  He said he guessed she didn't get enough of Demopolis the first time and had to come back again.  Nobody has the heart to tell him she is probably back again so he can learn how to say her name.  He has always called her Sister Snare, and still does.  We met with Otis tonight.  He didn't get to church today.  He attended the Baptist church where his nephew was baptized.  He is two and a half months old.  The sisters gave him a copy of the illustrated Book of Mormon stories to see if he might read that.  He said he was going to start reading it and would call us tomorrow and let us know what he learned from it.  The sisters asked him to say the closing prayer and to ask for help understanding the Book of Mormon.  He said he would and then stopped and said one of us should pray.  We assured him he could pray and he did but said nothing about the Book of Mormon.  He never asks any questions in his prayers.  He just prays for strength to keep doing right.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 82: Fall has finally arrived (we hope); that's not so good for the Camden sisters

Dear Family and Friends,

We really didn't accomplish a lot this week.  Last week our district leader said we had to take thirty seconds in district council and share a talent with everyone.  Being a little hard pressed to come up with a talent we both had to fall back on our culinary abilities.  Sister Owens made her caramels and I made a batch of toffee and we bagged it up to pass out to each member of the district on Tuesday.

Monday the temperature was 59 degrees when I went to walk in the morning and there were some very dark clouds that would have made me think we were in for snow back in Idaho.  Then it cleared everywhere above me and was just cloudy on the horizon all around me.  Before I finished though, there was a slight downpour but then it quit and I was almost dry by the time I started home.

Tuesday when I got up I thought I might wear my long sleeved shirt to walk but decided against it.  MISTAKE.  It was 54 degrees when I started and 53 degrees when I finished.  When we went to pick up the sisters for district council they said they wore their winter coats to walk in the morning and got a block from home and decided to go back and exercise in the house that morning.  It was sunny and warm in Tuscaloosa for district council.  It was our last council meeting for this transfer so we took a district picture (attachment #1) and then went to lunch together as a district.  Sister McCreath bore her testimony in district council because she is going home next Wednesday.  She is the second missionary we have sent home from Demopolis since we came and it is not getting any easier.  She has been here for six months and is one of the hardest working missionaries I have ever met.  It is hard for us to say goodbye to her.  She has done a marvelous job training Sister Allen and we are glad we get to keep her here for at least one more transfer.  We went with the sisters to see Otis again Tuesday night.  We reviewed the restoration with him because we want to make sure he understands the commitment he is making at baptism.  He told us he knows all about baptism, he has been baptized before, but this is a lot of information and he thinks he needs to slow down and take some time to think about it.  He is finally catching on that this involves a lot more than just being baptized again.  He hasn't been keeping any of his commitments.  He's not listening to the Book of Mormon CD we left with him and he is not praying to find out if the things we are teaching him are true, and he doesn't pray when he is in discussions with us anymore.  He says he wants to pray about it when he is alone.  He set another appointment with us for Friday but called and postponed it to next Monday.  We went to see Tasha Kirk after our discussion with Otis.  Since it was after eight o'clock she was actually home.  Well she actually drove up about five minutes after we got there.  She said she would go with Sister Owens on Saturday to get some ice cream so they could have a chance to talk.

Wednesday we made the rounds to inspect apartments in Selma, Camden, and Thomasville.  The sisters in Camden have been dealing with a little mice problem since the weather has cooled off.  So far they have killed about five of them.  They hear them scurrying around the kitchen at night.  The mice actually dragged a box of d-con under the stove.  The landlord gave them some sticky traps and they caught two mice and had to beat them to death with a broom.  We went and bought some mice bait for them before we left and Sister Owens shared the trick of stuffing aluminum foil in the mouse hole to keep them from coming into the room.  We hope things will get a little better for them.  We had our last coordination meeting with Sister McCreath that night.  All these last meetings are getting hard for her.

Thursday at Book of Mormon class we told everyone it was Sister McCreath's last class before she goes home (attachment #2).  They wouldn't stand for it.  So we re-scheduled class next week for Monday instead of Thursday.  They said they are actually going to get some catfish this time to feed the missionaries.  Sister Owens said she doesn't care, she is not bringing cole slaw.  I checked with Brother White at church today to see if he got the fish (he has to go to Union Town to get it).  He had forgotten it was going to be on Monday).  He said he is going to go Monday morning and get it.  I told him he really doesn't need to get fish but he insisted that he is going to get it.  I don't know how they are going to have time for Sister Nixon to cook it after he goes to get it and still have it ready for class.  I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Friday we did some shopping for Book of Mormon class.  It is interesting.  They want to do something for the missionaries so they assigned everything out.  They are going to have catfish (maybe) and Elder and Sister Owens are bringing mac and cheese, dessert crepes, and a salad (by assignment) and the sister missionaries are bringing lemonade.  But its all good.  We enjoy the time with them.  I went to my favorite barber on Friday to get my haircut before transfers (don't want to look shaggy when we go see the mission president and bring back a new sister to the area).  It has been nice not having to cut my own hair.  Miss Rouser charges five dollars and does a great job cutting a flat top.  Its going to be hard to go back to cutting my own again.  Sister Owens is quite impressed that she trims eyebrows and nose hairs when necessary.

Saturday we inspected the Demopolis sisters apartment and then took them to lunch for the last time with Sister McCreath.  Then we went to get Tasha to go with Sister Owens.  She said she was tired and was hoping they could go tomorrow (Sunday).  Sister Owens said they weren't going to do that, she would wait for her to get ready.  She wasn't going to go until Sister Owens said they could get lunch instead of ice cream.  Tasha got to pick where they were going to go and she picked McDonalds.  Sister Owens said she could still change her mind if she wanted to, but she didn't.  I dropped them off and went home and took a nap.  Tasha said that was kind of weird, she never went inside to eat at McDonalds before.  They had a good visit.  Tasha said ours is the only church that actually cared about people.  She told Sister Owens she knows she should come back to church and said she was going to try to be there this Sunday.  The Morgans were scheduled to clean the building last week (conference week).  They said they didn't even get over to clean it (he is over eighty years old and she is in her late seventies).  She said they better clean it this week.  We told her they got a by last week because of conference and good for them, they didn't need to clean it this week.  We told her we would go ahead and do it this week.  They print the bulletin each week.  We looked at the bulletin when we got to church and noticed they scheduled themselves to clean the building next week.  They shouldn't have a turn for at least a month.

This morning we got a call from our friend Vanessa Walker telling us she would like us to give her a ride to church.  We told her we would be by to pick her up.  Then Otis called and said he didn't have a way to get to church and wondered if someone could pick him up (I actually thought he probably wouldn't come this week).  We told him we would pick him up.  We have to leave Branch Council early so we can get them to church on time.  Before we left Vanessa called and said she didn't feel well so she wasn't coming.  Then just as we were leaving Otis called.  He wanted to know if anyone was coming for him.  I told him we were on our way.  After the sacrament President James told us about when he had been baptized for about a week he was attending another person's baptism and the Branch President told him he wanted him to speak about baptism.  He said he learned then that you should always have something prepared because you never know when a speaker might not show up and you might be asked to speak.  Then he said this is one of those times.  Our speakers from Tuscaloosa were not there (he didn't know if they just didn't make it or if they never were assigned – no one had ever gotten back to him with the names of those that were assigned).  Of course Sister McCreath got to bear her testimony and we heard from our new high councilor and then from the Elders Quorum President.  We lucked out and just gave the opening and closing prayers.  It was a good meeting.  Otis said he is still planning to see us tomorrow night.  We are anxious to see how that is going to go.

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

And study the messages from conference last week, they were awesome.

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Fwd: Week 81: 101 degrees!?!? Excuse me, this is OCTOBER!

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday we went out to Greensboro and met with Brother White to fill out another application for a different apartment complex here in Demopolis and a request for a primary care physician to fax to Tuscaloosa.  We got the doctor request faxed over and found out Thursday that Brother White broke his phone so we don't know if they called him or not to set up an appointment.  We will have to check on that this week.  We had another discussion with Otis in the evening.  He is looking forward to baptism but hasn't quite kicked his word of wisdom habits yet.  I'm not sure what he will do if they put off his baptism again, but I guess that will be up to him whether it has to be postponed or not.

Tuesday we had a great district council.  One of the sisters shared some training from the Book of Mormon on repentance and our Sisters gave some training on what to do to help our people when they don't think they are getting answers to their prayers about the things they are being taught.  As always, we are quite impressed with the maturity and ability of these young missionaries.

Wednesday we spent quite some time with Ollie working on her finances.  When I went over her bank statement I noticed a check she had in her register made out to her husband for twenty-five dollars was cashed for one hundred dollars.  There was no question.  The bank sends copies of all the processed checks.  Needless to say, she felt betrayed.  We spent quite some time again talking about how she had to cut back on her spending because she is running out of money.  We are spinning our wheels here.  About three hours later Beth called us and said she just got back from going to Thomasville with Ollie for Chinese food.  Of course she said Ollie told her not to tell Sister Owens because she would probably be mad.  So Ollie paid Ross at least twenty dollars to drive her car to take them an hours drive from Demopolis and then bought dinner for her and Beth.  It seems like all we are doing with a lot of things here is beating our head against the wall.

Thursday we had Book of Mormon class.  The sisters were on exchange with the Camden sisters.  So Sister Noble from Nampa, Idaho attended with Sister Allen.  She has been out on her mission for four and a half weeks.  Brother White was not there.  We were going to get his documents that needed to be submitted with his rental application.  That was when we found out that he lost his phone.  We couldn't get him on his cell and he didn't answer the door when we went to his apartment.  He had been to dialysis earlier so we figured he was probably sleeping.  Sunday we found out from him that he actually broke his phone and got a new one Friday.  We had an appointment with Otis in the evening, but when we got there he was waiting for us to tell us he had to spend the night with his mother and had to leave right then.  We rescheduled for Friday night.

Friday we went back to Greensboro to try to find Brother White but he wasn't home.  We still couldn't get him on the phone so we had to wait until we could see him at church Sunday.  We met with Otis in the evening and the sisters reviewed the baptismal interview questions with him.  He seemed to understand them and said he was looking forward to being baptized.  He will probably have an interview this next week and I guess we'll see how he is doing with the word of wisdom.

Saturday was Conference😊😊.  We have been looking forward to it for a while.  The only difference between this conference (our last one for our mission) and the first one in April of last year is that we were there at the branch building alone this year when it started and the first time the sisters were there with us.  After it started though, the Smiths showed up (with all the kids).  Sorry to say it but it actually felt more like we were trying to watch the broadcast in the nursery.  Otis told us Friday that he would try to come Saturday, but he called me in the morning and said he wouldn't make it but he would be coming on Sunday. Don't get the wrong idea.  Most of the valiant members here have BYU TV at home and that is where they watch conference.  We set up at the branch for those who don't have that channel but they don't seem to be that anxious to listen to the brethren.   Saturday night Sister Owens and Sister Smith and her daughters were there for the women's broadcast along with the missionaries and one of their investigators.

Sunday Otis called to tell me he didn't need a ride.  He was going to be driving his sister's car.  I found out why when he leaned over half way through the session and told me he wasn't staying for the whole meeting and would be leaving now.  I was a little disappointed.  The sisters had another lady show up for the morning session.  She was still there when we had to leave to take Ollie home during Elder Uchtdorf's address (she wasn't feeling well).  As we were entering the parking lot on the way back we saw the lady that was there with the sisters leaving.  Then we made it in to hear the last of President Nelson's address.  I couldn't help but remember the talk yesterday telling us that we couldn't build someone else's faith nor can we expect someone else to bolster our own.  People came to the meeting but I guess it is up to them how they respond.  We were just glad we were there and we got to hear the brethren.  The afternoon session was just us and the Sisters and the Smiths with some non-member primary children that the Smiths brought.  Another session in the nursery, but it was great.  You all got to hear Elder Peter M. Johnson, our former Stake President here.  He is a great man.  We hope you enjoyed conference as much as we did.

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

And study Joseph Smith's account of the first vision.

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

PS:  101 degree Octobers do make some pretty unique things.  The attachments are pictures of some flowers that sprang up in the middle of our lawn that they had just mowed four days before.

Week 77: A minor $1,000 banking error; if they say "catfish" don't you believe it

Dear Family and Friends,

In some ways it has been a routine week and there have definitely been some firsts, even after eighteen months.  We went with the sisters to meet with Otis on Monday and discussed the importance of keeping the commandments, and what some of them are.  We are still a little concerned that he might just be wanting to get another baptism under his belt  His mother and sister are really excited to come and see him get baptized the end of this month.  We are hoping he is going to be truly converted by then.  We met with him again later in the week and discussed some more commandments and he came to church this Sunday.  We had arranged to pick him up but he called before church and said he didn't need a ride.  He borrowed his mother's car again.  His baptism date is three weeks away and the sisters still haven't discussed the word of wisdom with him  I don't know why they seem to put it off so long but they all do.  That is a common comment we hear in District Council, "They are on date for baptism in two weeks but we haven't told them about the word of wisdom or tithing yet"(???).  Anyway, I guess they are the teachers.

Tuesday we took Ollie to the branch building and worked on her checkbook with her.  She was quite concerned because I told her she still had money in her account and the bank said she was overdrawn.  I told her we would have to look at her statement when it came and find the problem.  We did.  She told us earlier in the month that she called Aretha (the lady at the bank that handles her trust fund) and had her pay off a loan that she had from the bank.  She still owed over nine hundred dollars.  We thought that was good since she wouldn't be paying interest on it every month.  When I went over her statement I saw that the payment came out of her checking account.  She didn't tell us it was paid from her checking account.  We thought she had the money taken out of her trust.  So I guess we found the error.  Sister Owens got her hair cut Tuesday, so she was pretty happy the rest of the week.

Wednesday morning we went bright and early to get Ollie and Vanesa (a non-member we have been trying to help out) and took them down for the annual sign up for assistance with a food bank ran by a church in Tuscaloosa.  They bring a truck load of groceries to Demopolis to distribute to needy people once a week.  People can come down to a church here and pick up a grocery sack of canned goods for their family.  We took Ollie last year to sign up and tried to dump her out of her wheelchair when we were leaving.  Ollie stayed in the car with me and Sister Owens went in to sign her up and told them she was out in the car.  They said, "Oh, please.  Don't bring her in." (they remembered us from last year)  So Sister Owens came out to the car with some papers for her to sign.  At coordination meeting the sisters told us about the people they have been meeting that are so interested in learning what they have to teach.  They have been so faithful and dedicated and just have not seen a lot of success but they have kept working (they are awesome sisters) and lately they have been meeting people right and left that want to learn more.

Thursday was Book of Mormon class.  For several weeks Sister Borden and Brother White have been saying they are getting catfish for Sister Nixon to cook for everybody and last week they said they were definitely going to have it this week.  That was what they said last month and we fixed a big bowl of cole slaw and had all the fixins for fish tacos and Sister Borden told us when we picked her up that they couldn't get the fish.  So this week we checked with her twice during the week to make sure they would have the fish (the last time was Wednesday).  She assured us we were having the fish so we made another batch of cole slaw and got the tortillas and beans and were all ready Thursday.  We had even told Brother White to call us if something happened that they wouldn't have the fish.  Just as we were loading up to go get Sister Borden, she called and said they couldn't get the fish. We put the beans and tortillas in the fridge and took the cole slaw (Sister Borden said she was getting some chicken).  After we picked her up we stopped to get the chicken and she had ordered a side of cole slaw.  So now we have a couple weeks worth of cole slaw to eat again. Brother White said the plant stopped selling to the public.  I don't think we will try again.  At least if they do, we aren't bringing cole slaw.  The sisters brought cookies and lemonade.  Sister McCreath said the cookies were her grandmother's recipe.  Her Grandmother told her they are "Marry me cookies."  She told her that you make them for someone that you really like and after they taste them they will want to ask you to marry them.  They were very good cookies!!

Friday we had another fun experience finding a member of the branch.  We drove all the way out to her address in Jefferson and the trailer looked deserted.  The phone rang just as we arrived so we pulled over and stopped so Sister Owens could talk on the phone.  I noticed a man walking toward us from back up the road on the other side.  As he walked across the highway I assumed he was coming to talk to us.  He was a tall rather rough looking black man.  He walked up to my door so I got out and introduced myself to him and asked if he knew who lived in the trailer.  He said, "Yes, I live there."  I asked if he knew the lady we were looking for and he said she lived in Demopolis by the Hospital.  He gave me very understandable directions based on a building called "New Era" that was on the street next to the hospital.  We drove there and there was no building called "New Era"  so we didn't know where to look for the white house that was supposed to be behind it.  We pulled into a parking lot and decided to google "New Era in Demopolis."  It was a hat shop that was no longer in business but it had an address which was in the same block we were in at the time (we were in the parking lot of the dentist office where President James daughter works).  It ended up that we were stopped about one hundred feet from the house we were looking for and got to meet the member and her family.  Good old McDonalds has her working weekends and won't change her schedule so she can come to church.  We aren't sure if being off work would mean she would come to church but that is what she told us.  I updated her address and phone number in the ward list and Sunday we were all excited to tell the branch council that we had found her and got to meet her.  President James said that was nice that we got to meet her.  We said she lives in Demopolis now.  He said, "Yeah, she is right over behind the Dentist's Office on Chestnut, she used to live out in Jefferson." (Duh)  So much for our brilliant detective work.

Saturday was our turn to clean the church building, then we did our P-day chores and fixed a big lunch to take with us on Sunday to eat with Timothy on the way home from his Patriarchal Blessing in Hoover.  Sister Morgan called us and invited us to their home for supper.  Since they were having the sisters come, they decided to have us over as well.  Brother Morgan is getting so old and is having such a hard time. He can't hear and has a very hard time speaking clearly enough for people to understand him.  He has to have help standing up when he is sitting down so President James told him he doesn't have to conduct Sacrament Meeting anymore.  He just wants him to sit with him behind the podium.  He helps me with finances every week he is there and he can't really do anything but punch in his password with the end of a pencil when we finish.  His hands are so crippled it is painful for him to try to write his initials on the paperwork for the finances.  He has asked to be released a couple times in the last few months but there really isn't anyone that can replace him so President James has not released him.  He is such an example of dedication and willingness to serve at all costs.

Sunday the sisters spoke again in Sacrament Meeting and both did a fantastic job.  At dinner Saturday night they told Brother Morgan they would be happy to speak any time he wanted them to.  Brother Morgan is the only one that arranges all the speakers for Sacrament meeting all the time.  Relief Society and Priesthood went very well today.  We reviewed the talk by Elder McKay on The Immediate Goodness of God.  In Priesthood meeting hardly anyone in the branch can read well if at all.  I typed up four questions about what they learned or felt as they listened to the message and then had everyone give their answer to at least one of the questions before the whole group.  Several weeks ago in Book of Mormon class Brother White said he wished he could teach a lesson or something like Brother Smith or the missionaries do but that he just can't do things like that.  He was feeling inadequate at the time because he had just been sustained as Brother Smith's counselor in the Elders Quorum.  When he answered the question today he spoke to the brethren for at least five to seven minutes and taught a powerful concept.  He connected with many of them more effectively than Brother Smith or I ever could have.  It was really neat to be there and to witness that.  Otis was there as well and took his turn to respond to the group.  After church we drove Timothy to Hoover so he could get his Patriarchal Blessing.  It was a really great Sabbath all around.  It was a good week.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 45: The snow storm that never was and no mumbo gumbo for sure

Dear Family and Friends,

The highlight of the week was Caleb's ordination by his father, Robert, today.  Our number four grandson is now a priest.  We are pleased with him and all our grandsons and their service in the priesthood.

We just love Alabama.  Monday we went to read the Book of Mormon with Ollie and Larry.  We read one chapter and Larry said that was really good, and if he could just go and get a cup of coffee he could probably make it through one more chapter.  He did and we did.  Monday night we had another discussion with James and the sisters, and set another appointment for Wednesday.  We were going to pick him up and bring him back to the church for the lesson on Wednesday but he was out of town with his sister and couldn't come so we rescheduled for Friday.  The PM group came Friday to clean the carpets so we couldn't meet at the church.  So the Friday appointment ended up in his apartment again with the two kitchen chairs and the five of us around the one light bulb in his table lamp. He was late because he was painting at the Baptist church.  He is in desperate need of food, lodging, transportation, and employment.  He was supposed to be out of his apartment Friday but he got home and his things were still in the apartment so he stayed there, for that night anyway.  He has two sisters in Demopolis but says he can't stay with either of them.  He has no friends that can help and the Baptist church seems to love his willingness to paint for them but doesn't seem to be willing to provide any kind of assistance.

Our interviews with the mission president were scheduled for Tuesday but we were informed Monday night that they were postponed until Thursday because of a forecast snowstorm on Tuesday that was going to bring 3 to 6 inches of snow to the area.  It messed us up because we all had the whole day clear for the trip to Tuscaloosa and interviews and District Council then we were home with nothing scheduled to do for the day.  All the schools and the banks were closed for the storm and all we had was a little rain in the morning (Attachment #2, Alabama blizzard).  I received a jury summons last week and took time Tuesday to go to the church and get on line to complete the questionnaire before I called them to  be excused.  I tried to put in the 2098 miles for the distance from my home to the courthouse but the field only accepted two digits.  Then I called them and they asked for a copy of my call letter, which I provided, and they sent a letter excusing me from service.  We tried again to see Sister Rogers out on the river but when we called to see if we could come she explained that her son had not slept for four days and was high on something and she wasn't sure what he might do, so she didn't want us to come.  Kind of a wasted day all around.

Wednesday we were going to take Ollie to sign up for free food at one of the churches.  We were going to pick her up between 7:30 and 8:00 AM and she called and said it was too cold.  She didn't want to go out because the roads would be icy.  Everything was canceling for us everywhere.  We decided to take Sister Owens to the Doctor to get a prescription for her Thyroid medication.  Two phone calls over the past week hasn't accomplished anything.  We only had to wait two hours and she got her blood work done and a prescription called in to the pharmacy.  It would have taken longer than that if we had made an appointment here in Alabama.  I think we are learning how to do things here.  We had coordination meeting with Brother Smith, and then our appointment with James fell through.  The sisters were on exchange with the STLs (sister training leaders) all day Wednesday so we kind of gave them a bad time because we had to go an hour earlier the next morning because the sister that was in our area with Sister Weaver had her interview scheduled an hour earlier than ours were scheduled.

When we picked them up Thursday morning we had to apologize to Sister Waite and make sure she didn't think we were mad at her.  We weren't sure she understood our sense of humor.  The time we spent with President and Sister Sainsbury was great.  We all visit quite a while with Sister Sainsbury while President Sainsbury is interviewing the missionaries individually then the couples each get to go in (us and then the Hursts) and Sister Sainsbury comes in too and we get to have a good visit with both of them.  Then after all the interviews we have our District Council and the Sainsbury's leave to go to their next round of interviews.  Our District Leader/Assistant to the President is going home this Wednesday.  I was quite impressed with him thinking he was very mature for his age.  Then I found out last week he is older than any of the other missionaries in the mission (senior couples excepted).  He is the one that did the back flip for the talent show at Christmas (video sent earlier).  On the way home Sister Tennyson got to choose where we stopped to eat because we are pretty sure she is leaving the area Wednesday.  She has been here now for three transfers.

Friday was the first day of a new month and Sister Owens got a little carried away and gave the Smith boys fifteen dollars for one lousy quart of Gumbo to support the High School Soccer team. We couldn't pick it up until Saturday.  We went with the sisters to two appointments they had scheduled with single men during the afternoon.  They both fell through.  The next door neighbor answered her door when we knocked on the door for one of the appointments (apartment complex) and Sister Weaver found another Chicago connection.  She seems to find people everywhere she goes that spent time in Chicago which is where she is from.  Then Friday night we had our meeting with James.

Saturday we got some of the laundry done and went to pick up the Gumbo.  We definitely found out we do not like Gumbo!! At least not Alabama Gumbo.  Their little ticket we had to redeem to get our quart said on it, "This is no Mumbo Gumbo."  Well, I might try the Mumbo Gumbo, but probably not.  That was the most awful tasting thing either of us have ever experienced.  We were sick the whole rest of the day.  We had to get a Hot and Ready cheese pizza from Little Caesars to try to cover up the taste and that actually didn't help much.  I think the Smiths were trying to do in the Senior missionaries.  We went with the sisters to an appointment in the afternoon.  He had the lessons about a year and a half ago and liked what he learned and agreed with it but, as he explained to us, he just isn't a candidate for membership in our church  because he likes coffee and doesn't want to give it up.  We met with him where he works.  He is a weekend dispatcher at a trucking company.  He is an older gentleman that is blind in one eye and has a hard time seeing with the other one.  He has worked there for about twenty years.  All he really does is handle problems that come up across the nation with any of the drivers that call in over the weekend.  He did get one call during the hour we spent with him from a driver in South Dakota that thought he had run out of fuel.  Four of the fourteen youth in the ward that were scheduled to go to the youth conference this Saturday in Bessemer didn't go.  They were all in the same family and one of them got the flu and they never go anywhere or do anything unless they go together, so they all stayed home.  Ten of them did go and didn't get home until about 9:00 PM.  We were going to get a group picture of them before they left but the Smiths didn't stop at the church before they left and the James had to pick up the Kirk girls on the way out of town.  We took a picture of the two youth that came in from Greensboro (attachment #2) because we thought they were the first ones there but it ended up they were the only ones that left from the church.  The boy is fourteen and is about eight inches taller than I am.

It was a little disappointing today.  We only had eighteen people in church.  President James, Brother White, and I were the only men there.  Aquavian (boy in Attachment #2)  was the only other male there.  Brother Smith had to work this week end and Sister Smith took the whole family to the youth conference and babysat the three younger ones there all day so all nine of them missed church today. It was a lot different than the sixty-six that were there last week.  It was the fewest in attendance since we got here eleven months ago. Our gospel doctrine class with five women (including Shearsten, our non-member that wants to be baptized next week) was really good.  We talked a lot about how doctrine differs between the church and others in the world today.  I wondered if Shearsten might be a little offended at some of the comments that were made.  When Sister Owens took her home she said she was so glad she was there today.  She really enjoyed the Sunday School class.  It is so neat to realize that congregation size is no indication as to whether or not it is the Lords true church.  The spirit was really strong and after the closing prayer everybody stayed about fifteen minutes talking about the new curriculum and how much they liked it and how everybody should read every week so they can share insights each week in class.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 43: Winter is here but the tornado missed us again

Dear Family and Friends,

The week started off a little bumpy.  Sister Owens succumbed to the approaching winter weather and was fighting a bug for a couple days ( I think she spent a little to much time in company with the sick and afflicted).  She felt good enough Wednesday that we could go to Tuscaloosa for District Council.  As usual it was a very good meeting.  We are always impressed with the caliber of these young missionaries with whom we get to serve. Sister Owens was still fighting a pretty good headache so nothing much happened after we got home from Tuscaloosa.  Brother Smith had to have Coordination meeting Tuesday night instead of Wednesday so I had gone to that without Sister Owens.

Thursday Sister Nixon's daughter came to Book of Mormon class.  She was paralyzed from the chest down from a car accident a couple years ago.  She came to church the first Sunday of the year (the first time since we have been here).  She has seemed like a pretty hard case the times we have visited her so we are excited to have her in class.  Our non-member "regular" was trying to hold back her tears all through class. Her family is failing to provide the care they should be providing.  We might be paying another visit to Human Resources again.

Friday we got some prints at Walmart of the pictures we took of the Kirk girls at their baptism so we could get them framed and give to them.  We went to a book of Mormon referral with the sisters.  He was an older black gentleman.  When we went into his apartment he apologized because he only had two chairs.  They were wooden kitchen chairs.  He has been trying to find work and is hoping to move into a different apartment in the next few weeks.  He only had one table lamp on in the whole apartment.  There was no shade on the lamp, it was just the light bulb.  He was a very humble man.  He and Sister Owens sat on the chairs while the sisters explained the Book of Mormon to him.  He said a very sweet prayer before we left.  Then we went with the sisters to meet with the McGees who we have been taking to church the past few weeks.  It is a lady and her ten year old daughter.  They are both very excited about being baptized next Saturday.

The sisters were tracting in the rain this week and thinking they should be in their car making phone calls but kept going anyway.  They knocked on a door and a young lady opened the door and invited them in and said she had been waiting for them to come.  She was being taught a year ago by the sisters and was scheduled to be baptized but moved to Tuscaloosa.  She moved back here last fall and didn't know how to contact the missionaries because she had lost their number when her apartment was flooded.  She asked them to sit and read the Book of Mormon with her and said she wanted to come to church Sunday, which she did. President James remembered her from a year ago but never knew what happened to her.  She will probably be baptized before too long.

We have a mission temple trip next Tuesday and our Branch conference is next Sunday so we will be going to the temple on Saturday as well, as a Branch.  We have had several family names for a while and have not been able to do the work when we have gone because they needed baptisms and initiatory work done.  We have to schedule everything with the temple here because they are only open certain hours on certain days.  We decided we would go Saturday and get the work done so we can do family names in the upcoming endowment sessions.  Brother Kirk was baptized several weeks ago for the names I have.  Sister Owens has some names from a couple sisters in the branch that still have to have baptisms done so we were hoping we could get those done in one of the youth sessions and then we could both do initiatory work.  When we got to the temple there was only one parking place in the parking lot.  The day before when we called to schedule an appointment they had told us they don't do appointments anymore, that they have cards for all the sessions (initiatory, endowment, etc.) and you just come and if they still have a card you can get a session sometime during the day. Kind of a gamble for a two hour and twenty minute trip one way.  When we went in they told us they had a three stake youth conference from the Tupelo, Mississippi area doing baptisms all day (don't know why they couldn't have mentioned that the night before when we were talking to them on the phone).  We asked and they didn't think they could fit in any of our names for baptisms but they would try.  We decided to do an endowment session and then see if they got any of the baptisms done and then hopefully get an initiatory session.  They hadn't done any of the names when the endowment session was done, so I went and did an initiatory session for the names I had and Sister Owens was going to wait a while longer for the names from the baptismal session.  Two hours later I was finished and they still hadn't done any of the names.  Well, next Saturday is the day for new converts to do baptisms for the dead so now we have some names for the Kirk girls to do then.  On our way home from the temple we encountered some pretty gusty winds when we crossed a bridge and traveled most of the way in moderate rain but really didn't know anything about the tornado until after we got home and started getting texts wanting to know if we were okay.  So far all the really dangerous weather has stayed pretty far to the east of us.  I guess Montgomery had a tornado Saturday but that is about a hundred miles east of Demopolis.

With all that was going on last Sunday, I forgot to mention that Brother white was ordained an Elder and set apart as the first counselor in the Elders Quorum.  I asked him today if he talked to President James about when he could go to the temple.  He said President hasn't said anything about it to him.  I told him he is the one that wants to go to the temple and he has to ask President James about it.  He was just waiting for the President to say something. We got to visit with President James for a few minutes after church.  He had interviewed the Kirk girls for their recommends for baptism for the dead and told us how impressed he was with their gospel knowledge and the depth of their testimonies.  He had been a little skeptical about their preparedness for their baptisms.  There are some really neat kids in the branch right now, mostly under sixteen and several actually primary age.  They seem to be stronger in the gospel that a lot of the adults.  Two nonmember kids call the James about 6:00 AM every Sunday morning asking them for a ride to church.  A little cousin of the Kirks, Aliah (the one wrapped up in Ja'Nylia's arms in attachment #1), has been coming to church longer that they have and is just waiting for her Auntie to give her permission to be baptized.  She is nine.

Sister Owens liked the cloud we saw on our drive home from the Temple (attachment #2 looking to the west away from the bad stuff).

We are seeing a lot of good things start to happen here.  We are glad we're here.

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

We love y'all,  thanks for your support.

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 37: Invasion of the lady bugs, and ministered to by Elder Costa

Dear Family and Friends,

The weather has driven the lady bugs indoors.  They are like flies in Idaho except they just fly around a while and then die and we sweep them up and throw them away.  Brother Smith told us they are not indigenous but have been brought in to the state and don't have any natural predators.

We started the week with a senior couple activity for December.  We toured the only Hyundai manufacturing plant in the United States (attachment #1).  They manufacture 1350 automobiles every day.  It was a fascinating tour.  We also visited the White House of the Confederacy in Montgomery and the Alabama State Capital Building.  Attachment #2 is all the seniors in the lobby of the Hyundai plant.

Tuesday we attended our last District Council for this transfer.  Attachment #3 is a picture of our unique district.  All sisters except for two senior couples and the District Leader and his companion.  On the way home we stopped in Eutah and treated the sisters to lunch at West End Grocery.  It is actually a service station with a quick stop grocery and a kitchen ran by a member of our branch.  She teaches Relief Society once a month.  She does all the cooking and serves lunches over the counter.  President James says she has a following.  Whenever she changes employers most of the customers start going wherever she is.  We have eaten there twice.  She makes an awesome chicken pot pie and Tuesday we had hamburger steak with rice and beans.  The steak was a little salty but very very good.  I don't think the sisters were really excited to eat at the little cafeteria tables in the service station but they did say thank you.

Wednesday we put Light the World posters in the Post Office and the City Library.  We get to do some secret Santa things for members of the branch.  We enlisted the help of the Librarian, Miss Connie, to deliver a gift card to one of the members.  She said she is always happy to play Santa Claus.  She is a really neat lady that knows several people in the branch and has known several sets of missionaries and is a self proclaimed good friend to our church, but is a very staunch Baptist.  We just keep working on her.  Later we went to read from the Book of Mormon again with Larry and Ollie.  Larry is a Viet Nam war vet with PTSD and has some really difficult challenges, but he really loves us to read to him (he doesn't read).  We are reading with him at least once a week now and still wreak of tobacco when we leave but we hope it is doing some good.

Thursday we went and helped Ollie set up auto payment for several monthly bills and took her to a couple places where she had to do some paperwork.  Then we did her grocery shopping for her at Walmart.  Sister Owens says it was the most frustrating time she has ever spent in Walmart.  We don't know if anyone was a little surprised that the missionaries for the Church were buying coffee.  At least we didn't have to get cigarettes for her hired help.  In spite of the frustrations, I think we saved her about $60 that her driver would have charged her to take her to the power company, the credit card company and to do her shopping for her.  We were a little pressed for time to get the cole slaw and fish taco fixins ready for the Book of Mormon class.  Sister Borden said she was bringing catfish so we thought we would introduce them to a new way to eat it.  They all tried it but one.  I'm not sure how many of them would do it again but a few of them said they really liked it.

We had to make a trip to Montgomery Friday and Sister James called us early in the morning and said she had a check for Sister Rogers to help her with her down payment on a car.  She was hesitant to drive out to her house on the river and asked if we would be willing to take it out to her.  We told her we would and she brought it to us.  As we were leaving we called Sister Rogers to make sure she was home.  She was across the street from us at the car dealership.  We took the check over just as she was completing a test drive with the salesman.  She was able to complete the purchase with the check from the James and we didn't have to go to Eutaw before we went to Montgomery.  Neat how the Lord works.  We met a member of the National Guard a few months ago in Walmart that is a member of the church.  They are from northern Alabama but his doctor is here in Demopolis.  We told him we would love to have him and his wife over the next time she came with him to Demopolis.  When the day came we had to cancel on them because they scheduled a Zone Conference that day.  He called us Thursday and said the Guard was doing toys for Tots and they had a few toys left over and wanted to do something for Demopolis.  We forwarded the names of about eight children that we got from Sister James and told him we had more if he needed them.  He said, "No, that's plenty.  I wasn't expecting quite that many names."  He said he would get right on it and get back to us.

Saturday we left at noon for our two hour training meeting with Elder Johnson (the area seventy that was our previous Stake President) and Elder Costa.  Elder Johnson spent the first hour giving us training on ministering and then told us a little bit about Elder Costa.  They both had joined the church when President Kimball was the prophet.  He told us Elder Costa has been a general authority longer than anyone other than President Nelson, President Oaks, President Eyring, President Ballard, and Elder Holland.  Then Elder Costa spoke to us for the last hour.  The meeting was for Bishops, Clerks, Elders Quorum Presidents and Relief Society Presidents from six stakes.  It was an experience we will always treasure.  It was one of those times when the general authority just talks to us and shares several personal experiences and teaches so many things on a personal level.  He will be given emeritus status in just a few months when he turns seventy.  He told us when we minister the way the Lord intends for us to minister and we truly get to know the people to whom we minister that we actually become more like Christ.  He pointed out how Christ knows all of us so well. He knows our very soul.  When we get to really know people, that is when we start to truly care about them, and start to pray for them and to put their names in the temple.  One of the things Elder Johnson told us is that effective ministering leads to the Temple and begins with love.  Elder Costa said several miracles are happening in the church  because we are becoming more like Christ.  That is one of the reasons for our ministering assignments.  It is such a privilege to be able to listen to the servants of the Lord.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon everyday.

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 35: Thanksgiving-Blessings all around

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday was my doctor appointment bright and early at 8:00 AM in Tuscaloosa.  Everybody said my blood pressure was awesome (118/68).  I guess everything else was okay as well.  Of course the doctor said a low cholesterol, low sodium, low sugar, low fat, low red meat diet is always good for everything.  But, hey, a guys got to eat, right?  After my appointment we went to the Fed Ex office in Tuscaloosa to check on the package that they tried to deliver twice to the branch building during the last week.  There was no indication on the tag they left who it was for or who it was from and nobody at the branch seemed to know what it might have been.  Since we go to Tuscaloosa at least once every week, we told them we would check on it.  Wouldn't you know, we had no reason to go to Tuscaloosa that week (they had transfers and we don't have District Council the week of transfers and neither of our sisters were transferred so we didn't have to go).  As I walked into the office the lady behind the counter was just explaining to the fellow ahead of me that his package had been processed back to the shipper because no one came to pick it up.  He had his phone in his hand and explained that he just received the notice that day that it had arrived.  She just told him they shipped it back and turned and asked me how she could help me.  I handed her the tags and said I hoped this one hasn't  been shipped back.  She went in the back room and hollered something to me which I didn't understand.  Then she came out and said it had been sent back to the shipper.  I asked her if I could find out who it was for and who it was from.  It was from a Bio Med company for the son of one of our branch members.  His dad was the first one that said he had no idea who it would have been for.  It was shipped back the Friday before we came to check on it.  We called the family and explained the situation and they asked us for a bunch of information that we couldn't give them because we didn't have it.  Later we found out that it was shirts that the Red Cross was having shipped directly for the blood drive we were having on Wednesday as an eagle project for the boy the package was addressed to.  Needless to say, there were no free shirts for the blood donors on Wednesday.  Things got way better after that.  We found the transmission specialist that was recommended to us by a mechanic in Greensboro who said that, from the symptoms I told him about, it sounded like we need a new transmission.  We found the shop and explained what the car has been doing.  The mechanic was going to drive it.  He went to the end of the lot and then came back and drove it into the  bay.  He checked the fluid level and came and asked us if we had any work done on it lately.  We told him we hadn't.  He said it was really low on fluid.  He told us it took three quarts of fluid but he could not find anywhere where it had been leaking and it was not wet anywhere.  He couldn't explain how it could be missing so much fluid.  We were totally puzzled because the day it starting having problems, I suspected it was low on fluid and took it to a shop to have it checked because we were driving to Zone Conference the next day.  They told us the fluid was good and it was not low.  That of course was news I didn't want to hear because I was sure the transmission was bad if the fluid wasn't low.  We were convinced we were going to be spending a lot of money either on transmission repairs or a new car and it ended up being $65 to add fluid and the car has been running like a charm ever since.  They said to bring it back again this week and they will check it out again.  We will stop by when we go for District council on Tuesday.  The Lord is certainly taking care of us.

Tithing settlement is coming so I spent Tuesday morning getting reports ready for President James while Sister Owens did some Relief Society stuff and Josh and his family were setting up for the blood drive the next day.  In the afternoon we took a bunch of chicken out to Deborah in Greensboro.  She is the non-member who comes to Book of Mormon class every week and her family won't let her be baptized.  We barbequed the chicken for the baptism that didn't happen last Sunday.  Then we went to see a recent convert that just got married.  We were invited to the wedding but couldn't go because we had other commitments.

Sister Owens says Wednesday was a truly beautiful Fall day (attachment #1).  If the leaves aren't all gone from the tree in front of the Funeral Chapel across the street from the branch building, we will have to get a picture this week to send.  They are all bright red.  We picked up a member in Linden and brought her to the blood drive early because she wanted to do some family history work on the computer at the church.  She used the wrong user name and password so many times she locked herself out of her account.  Then when enough time passed that she could try again, they were ready for her to give blood.  The nurse couldn't find a vein and she ended up not being able to give any.  Sister Owens donated but I didn't because I always faint.  Well I almost fainted last time I donated blood and I don't like it.  I gave at the doctor's office just a couple days before anyway.  So after the blood drive we took Beth home and went shopping for Thanksgiving.  The only turkey breasts they had were frozen and we didn't know if one would thaw in time to cook it the next day so we bought a couple Hungry Man Turkey dinners just in case.  We haven't had TV dinners for a long time.  The turkey thawed out pretty fast so we ate the TV dinners for supper.  Then we remembered why it has been so long since we ate TV dinners. Our family sent us leaves made from construction paper where they each wrote a note about why they are thankful for us.  We finally got a vase to put our cotton plant in and we put all the leaves on the plant with tiny clothes pins that Sara sent us with her family's leaves (attachment #2). It is a neat addition to our little apartment.

I guess we are not true southerners because we did not have ham and potato salad and sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving.  But we did have our turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy and corn.  We made real cranberry sauce and we stopped in Linden the day before to buy some yams from a farmer.  Two of them filled a bread loaf pan after we baked them.  We doctored them up real good.  So we came pretty close to the sweet potato pie, we just didn't have the crust and whipped cream.  They even had some Vernor's Ginger Ale at the store so we had that to drink (the BEST Ginger Ale ever made).  In keeping with tradition we had a nice nap after dinner. 

Our Thanksgiving week ended with Zone Conference.  They had us attend with the Montgomery Zone so we only had to drive two hours instead of two hours and fifteen minutes.  It was special, too, because we got to see the missionaries for whom we do inspections.  Their areas are not in our zone.  Sister Snarr was transferred to that zone when she left Demopolis so it was neat to get to see her and hear how she is doing in her new area with her new companion.  Of course all the sisters just love everybody and they always tell them so.  After the conference I was holding the door for some people that were leaving while I was waiting for Sister Owens and our sisters.  Sister Snarr noticed me and came running over and shook my hand and said, "I love you."  I just looked at her for a very pregnant pause and then said, "I'm sorry, I just can't respond to that."  She realized what she had done and looked at all the elders that were looking at her and then said, "I shouldn't have said that." And went back over and stood by her companion.

The Montgomery Stake President was in the building while we were there for conference.  President Sainsbury went out and asked him if he would come in and speak to the missionaries for a few minutes.  He was reluctant because he wasn't in his "Stake President Uniform," but he came in anyway and shared some scriptures with us.  He talked about how blessings are attached to each of the commandments that are given to us and that promised blessings come to us when we are obedient to the council we receive from the Lord.  One of the sure blessings that I liked that he mentioned is in D&C 45: 57-59.  The council we are given is to be wise, receive the truth, and take the Holy Spirit for our guide.  If we do this we will abide the day when the Lord comes again.  In verse 58 an awesome promise is given to those who do those things faithfully:

58 And the earth shall be given unto them for an inheritance; and they shall multiply and wax strong, and their children shall grow up without sin unto salvation.

What a promise!

Be wise, receive the truth, and take the Holy Spirit for your guide,

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon.

We hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving!

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

--

Rob and Suzie