Week 47: The ups and downs and ups of mission life

Dear Family and Friends:

Monday we stopped to get gas on the way home from our walk for $1.88 per gallon.  We were pretty excited later in the day when we passed the station and saw that it was up to $1.94 (really not the typical Owens luck).  We were pretty excited about that. We spent most of the day at the church.  I was trying to clean up some of the records and Sister Owens was able to get a name ready to take to the temple the next time we go.  Most of the inactive members of the branch don't answer when I call them because of my area code, so I only call them when we have exhausted all possibility of contacting them in person.  A few months ago we caught a fellow at home and we think he was telling us a little fib about the man we were looking for having moved from there two years before.  After visiting with President James about him and realizing his neighbor told us he lived there just before we knocked on his door (doesn't seem logical if he hadn't lived there for two years), we decided it was probably the member we were looking for that we were talking to.  In the heat of the moment he actually answered his phone when I called him Monday.  It was actually kind of entertaining listening to him squirm when I told him who I was.  Of course it wasn't a good time to talk so he was going to call me back.  I told him we just wanted to know where he was living now.  After stuttering a bit he said he was in process of looking around right now and he would call me when he finds a place (uh huh).  According to President James, he had a "Joseph Smith experience" in  the woods and wanted to be baptized.  He was  baptized, and a few weeks later his mother informed him he would be disowned if he had anything to do with "that church."  That was in 2013 and he hasn't been to church since.

We had an interesting experience Tuesday.  The weather was not so great so we decided to take our walk in the Walmart (the largest building in Demopolis).  After our usual two laps we decided we would do another.  Then we stopped to pick up some ham hocks and an onion so we could cook the greens (attachment #1) that Roosevelt gave us when we visited him with the sisters last Sunday.  We were picking out an onion and Miss Connie from the local library came walking up to us, who just happened to be there to buy a lemon she needed.  She was the first non-member we met when we got here in March.  She had been to the Gladys Knight concert and told us she is a very good friend of our church.  She has been taught by several sets of missionaries over the years.  She came up to us and said the Lord had led her to us that morning.  Then she asked me if I would come and pray for her at the Black History meeting that afternoon at the library.  She had asked a person to pray and they called and told her they couldn't come and she had no idea who she would be able to have pray. So we went.  The guest speaker was Ray Orlando Williams.  He is a world champion weight lifter who was born and raised in Demopolis.  He grew up in the projects and thought that was probably going to be where he was going to die.  He woke up often when he was in school and was sure death would be better than the life he was living.  He wanted the youth in the audience to never let the vision of what they are going through obscure the vision of what they are going to.  He is now just months away from getting his PHD and wants to be a high school principal.  He got his start when he was in middle school and the football coach came up to his tall friend and asked him if he would come and play football.  Ray asked him why he didn't ask him to play.  He told him if he wanted to, he could.  He said he loved football and was very good at it.  All he knew was that you could hit people and you didn't get in trouble for it.  A nice black lady named Dorothy Jones (Attachment #2 – Ray and Dorothy) from one of the Baptist churches sang a nice song acapella about coming a long way carrying a heavy load in the heat of the day. Dorothy is 80 years old.

Wednesday we got started early.  We went and picked up Ollie and dumped her out of her wheelchair (definitely one of the downs – see subject line).  Actually we were on our way to walk at the sportsplex and Ollie called us at 7:20 and asked if we remembered that we were picking her up at 7:30 to take her to sign up at the foodbank.  We said, "Sure, we'll be there in about ten minutes."  We rushed back home and changed clothes and got to her house (one and a half minutes from our house) at 7:32 AM.  Everything went great at the foodbank, once we found a place we could get her out of the car.  They had a nice ramp up to their door (an old Jewish Synagogue).  We got her up the seven inch step into the building just fine.  Not so good on the way out.  I was on the front and Sister Owens was on the back.  When the rear wheels went down over the step the chair went over backwards and took Sister Owens with it (and Ollie).  No injury, just an upsetting experience.  Ollie assured us she was fine – after she stopped crying.

We were looking forward to the appointment we had with the Bullards who didn't get to church last Sunday.  Sister Bullard called in the afternoon and said Rick had to work and was going to be too tired for us to come over.  She rescheduled for Friday so we felt a little better.

Thursday was definitely the highest "up" of the week.  We had zone conference in Birmingham.  It was definitely a long day.  We left at 6:20 AM and didn't get home until 8:45 PM.  It was interesting that I don't really remember ever feeling as alert as I felt all the way home that night.  President Sainsbury reminded all of us that we were the only zone in the mission that got to have a zone conference all about love on Valentines Day.  We watched an address by Lawrence Corbridge (General Authority Seventy) from BYU Speeches of the Year https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/lawrence-corbridge_stand-for-ever/ We highly recommend that everyone watch it.  It is one of the most powerful messages I ever remember hearing.  It is not recommended for our kids.  If we have any authority as your parents, we are requiring that you all watch it as families. Since Costco is in Birmingham, we always stop there on our way home from Conference for gas and groceries and get something for the sisters to eat (I know, we're cheapskates – but they like it)  We picked up a bag of pot stickers for the Hursts (senior missionaries at the Tuscaloosa YSA).  They mentioned that they haven't been able to find them anywhere.  When we stopped in Tuscaloosa to drop them off, Elder Hurst said, "I'm sure we owe you something for this' don't we?" I said, "Well, lets see, how about a nice keyboard for my iPad."  He had just given me one last week that he no longer had any use for.  I think I convinced him they didn't owe us anything.  We were going to stop at the hospital in Tuscaloosa to see how Andrea was doing (The new mother mentioned last week).  We called her uncle when we got in town and he said she is doing better but they were limiting visitors because of her weakened immune system.  We said we would come another time.  We were trying to get off the freeway at Tuscaloosa when I had to slow down rather abruptly for an emergency vehicle that was half in and half out of our lane.  It happened to  be right when Sister Owens was on the phone with Andrea's uncle.  The three leftover cupcakes from zone conference that we were taking home were on Sister Owens' lap – until then.  They ended up frosting side down on her shoes and then on the floor.  Luckily the frosting was a little bit crusty by then.  We do still have to clean the floor mats. The chocolate frosting all over the mat really doesn't look very good.

Friday, Sister Bullard called to cancel again.  She said Brother Bullard had to go help a friend and they didn't know when he would be done.  She said it sounded like they were just putting us off but they really weren't.  We rescheduled for next Tuesday and I asked her if they were going to make it to church.  She said they were going to try.  Last week they said they were definitely going to be there.  I started to worry just a bit since it will be two weeks on Tuesday since we saw them last.  We decided if they didn't make it to church we would just drive to Greensboro and check on them so they knew we cared about them.

Saturday was our turn to clean the building.  Sister Owens said she is really thankful it is a small building.  After that we went home and got our regular P-day chores done.  The sisters called us in the evening and gave us some depressing news – another "down."  Shearstine and Kamiah (Kamiah was just baptized a couple weeks ago) don't need us to pick them up for church because they are going to church with Shearstine's Grandmother.  The sisters went over to see them and the house smelled like weed, and Shearstine asked them why they always talk so much about the Book of Mormon instead of the Bible.  The sisters think their family is getting to her.  Then they told us that Kirks are having a bit of a challenge again with the word of wisdom.  We were all crying on each other's shoulders (over the phone) and were realizing how much Satan is working against the church here.  We were all a little discouraged and wondered what kind of Sunday we were going to have.

Sunday morning we got there for Branch Presidency meeting an hour before the block time and Brother White's car was in the parking lot.  We wondered if somehow he forgot the new meeting time.  He was sitting in his car and we talked to him for a minute.  He had come all the way from Greensboro alone so he could take the sacrament and then he was going to go home because he is in a great deal of pain.  He is having pain in the other shoulder now.  The pain he was experiencing from his surgery has gone away.  They give him medication to lessen the pain but when he has dialysis it flushes all the medication out of his body.  He is having a hard time.  The surgeon wants to do another surgery on the shoulder but Brother White does not want to go through the hospital experience again.  He told us he doesn't know what he is going to do, but he knows God is still in charge.  When I came out of Branch Presidency meeting The Bullards were just coming in the door with their friend, Jessie.  I told them how glad we were to see them and Brother Bullard said he told us they were coming and they came.  Our sacrament meeting was about the best one we have had since we have been here.  There couldn't be a better one for the Bullards to come to.  The messages were about President Nelson's conference address about the correct name of the church and about the covenants we make when we are baptized.  Before the sacrament the Kirks came in late, as they usually do when they come, but they had nine people all together.  Two of Cedric's children came with them along with some cousins and friends.  It was really neat.  And Cece who the sisters have been working with that was actually on baptismal date over a year ago was there also.  Our week definitely ended on an "up."  The Lord is making things happen.  We just need to keep up.  The Bullards are looking forward to our meeting with them on Tuesday.  He told me he has been reading the Book of Mormon.  Hopefully his Patriarchal blessing is going to be available on line by then.  It will be two weeks since we ordered it.

In President Sainsbury's letter this week he quoted some of the council Elder Anderson gave the missionaries when he visited the mission a year ago (just before we got here – darn)  One of the things he said was:

" You will never stay firm and true to the Restoration and to the church if you do not know the Book of Mormon and have a testimony it is true. You must read it every day, every day, every day!"

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 46: The roller coaster week of our mission so far

Dear Friends and Family,

This week really was full of ups and downs.  Last Sunday was Sister Tennyson's last week here and this is where she started her mission four and a half months ago.  We were all a little discouraged with the poor turnout at church.  None of the people they have been working with that said they would be to church were there except Shearsten.  Then on Monday Sister Owens and I read with Ollie and Larry again.  Larry kind of surprised us and said he hoped they would be able to finish the book before we go home.  We told him they would have to read a lot more than one chapter a week to do that.  Maybe we can get him to do a little more reading.  Monday evening we took the sisters to Greensboro for a couple of appointments and to follow up with some other people.  Both appointments fell through and no one else was home.  I found the address of an inactive we have been wanting to see and asked if they wanted to go with us to try to see them.  I assumed we would have about the same luck finding them that we have usually had in the past but we decided we would try.  We drove about eight to ten miles out past Greensboro toward Tuscaloosa to find them.  The four of us went to the door and it was actually the people we were looking for.  I told him we were missionaries from the church and we have never seen them and came out to meet them.  He said if we would give him a minute to put a shirt on we could come in.  We had a great visit for more than an hour before we had to leave to get the sisters back to Demopolis for another appointment.  He joined the church in 1987 and had been ordained an elder.  He had served as the Branch Presidents councilor before he left the church.  He told us he left because people in the church were always talking about Joseph Smith instead of Jesus Christ.  They started attending the Baptist church.  Then I remembered that they had responded to an invitation to attend branch conference last year before we got here.  The letter was there when I was made the branch clerk.  They told us in the letter that they were attending another church.  They told us they had gotten quite close to different sets of missionaries right after they joined the church and several senior couples as well, who they have visited during trips to the west.  He told us that he got a blessing years ago from a man in the church that wasn't just an ordinary blessing but a really special one.  He said he told him in the blessing what kind of person he would become later in life.  He told his wife at the time that he didn't know what he was talking about because he would never be that kind of person.  He said that he has thought about that blessing several times because he has become the very person that the blessing talked about.  We explained to him that was his patriarchal blessing and that we could get a copy of it for him.  He said he would really like to read it.  I said we could come back the next night and set up an account for them on the church web site and order a copy of his blessing so he could read it within a couple weeks.  Before we left he told me that he had a strong feeling when he greeted us at the door that he wanted us to come in and talk to them.

Tuesday night Sister Owens and I went back to see them without the sisters.  I think we were there about three hours.  His wife told Sister Owens that when we left the night before they both looked at each other and said, "Did you feel that!?"  We played President Monson's conference talk he gave as an apostle about patriarchal blessings to help them understand more about their blessing, and then set up their account on LDS.org and requested his blessing.  He is anxious for it to come (digital copy).  As we visited we found out he never accepted Joseph Smith as a prophet.  He only joined the church because he agreed with several of the things that the missionaries taught him.  He said he had always thought that way and had never found those teachings in any other church.  I asked him how he felt about the Book of Mormon and he said he didn't have any feelings one way or another about it.  I explained that if he read it and prayed about it the Holy Ghost would tell him if it is true or not, but he would have to be sincere about it and willing to act on the answer that he gets.  He told us he never really gave it a chance when he joined the church but now he wants to read it and he really wants to learn.  He is a different person now than he was then. I asked him if he came to know the Book of Mormon is true, what that would tell him about Joseph Smith.  He said it would mean he was a prophet.  It was a great visit and they told us they are definitely going to be at church this Sunday. We also got to meet Abby, their lap pit bull (attachment #1). She has to hold the leash because Abby likes to nuzzle everybody to get pets.

Wednesday was transfers.  We were told we would pick up a sister in Tuscaloosa to take along with Sister Tennyson to transfers and leave Sister Weaver in Tuscaloosa until we brought the two new sisters back, which meant we would have to take luggage for two sisters both ways.  So we finally had a use for the car top carrier we bought months ago for transfers.  We got a call about a half hour before we left informing us that one of the Tuscaloosa sisters had a doctor appointment in Birmingham so they were going to drive to transfers from there and we would just have Sister Weaver and Sister Tennyson to take with us.  Sister Tennyson's new area is two YSA branches which made her super excited.  She loved working on the campus at the university over in Livingston here in our branch.  Our new sister is Sister Beauqez (Bo-zhay').  Her mother is white and her father is Hispanic from Biloxi, Miss. So her name is Cajun.  She was in our district before in a different area.  She was excited to come back to the district and we are excited to have her in the area.  She is a great missionary. We got home about 7:30 PM and realized that I left my iPad at the chapel in Birmingham during transfers.  Then I remembered how unwise I thought it was when I put it in the hymnbook holder in front of me and did it anyway.  When they announced our new sister we just got up and went to the parking lot to unload and load the car and never thought about the iPad until I got home.  I called our fleet coordinator and he said he had a key to the building and would pick it up the next morning.  Then I noticed we had a missed call right after we left the church (phone still on vibrate from being in the meeting).  The APs called to let me know they had my iPad.  So I called Elder Barker back and told him he didn't have to pick it up the next morning.  There was going to be a Missionary Leadership Council on Friday and the senior couple from Tuscaloosa was asked to come to it so they were going to give it to them.  I called Elder Hurst and asked him to get it for me and let me know when they were going to be home so I could get it from them.  And felt naked for the next two days because all my information and all of our schedule is on the iPad (I'm proud to say it is the first time I have left it anywhere in almost a year….except the time I left it in the shopping basket in the Walmart parking lot, but I went back for it after about 20 minutes and it was still there and didn't even get very wet in the rain—I don't use it for shopping lists anymore).

Thursday we were getting things ready for the RS meeting and Luncheon that was scheduled for Friday. And then that evening we had our coordination meeting with Brother Smith that is usually on Wednesday and then we were going to meet with James for another lesson but when we got there he was not there and didn't answer his phone.

We have our little mentally challenged convert sister of about a year and a half who is pregnant out of wedlock.  Her baby was due in February.  We got a text at 7:00 AM Friday morning that she was in Tuscaloosa in the hospital.  She had an emergency C-section and emergency hysterectomy and was hemorrhaging badly and would like the missionaries in Tuscaloosa to come and give her a blessing.  We called the only set of elders there (our zone leader and district leader) and they were both just leaving to attend the Mission Leadership Council).  We finally got our previous high councilman who lives in Tuscaloosa to go up to give her a blessing.  We went ahead and ran the taxi service for Relief Society and when the meeting was over we took Sister Borden home to Greensboro and only had to go another 30 minutes to get to the hospital in Tuscaloosa.  She was told in her blessing that she would have to fight for her life and if she did she would have angels attend her.  She had two surgeries to find the source of the bleeding and both were unsuccessful.  She depleted the hospital's blood supply twice.  She was given a 50/50 chance of survival in the first surgery.  At 3:00 AM  Saturday morning they completed a third surgery with five surgeons involved.  The one that found the source of the bleeding was operating with a 102 degree temperature, himself.  They were able to stop the bleeding and felt she would survive although she has several hurdles yet to get over.  When we were there during the day she was in her second surgery.  They were using dye to try to trace the blood and thought they found the leaking artery and stopped it.  We left and went to pick up the iPad and when we were on our way home we got a call advising that the bleeding had not stopped and they thought they were going to loose her.  They told us she was loosing blood faster than they could pump it into her.  And her body was rejecting the blood they were giving her (like it would reject a transplanted organ).  Anyway, to make a long story a little less long, we talked to her uncle this afternoon.  He said they have put her on a respirator and she is partially responsive.  She is scheduled for surgery again tomorrow to removing the packing that was absorbing all the bleeding.  She will have a very long recovery if she does survive.  The baby boy was born healthy and is in the well baby nursery ready to go home.

On a happier note we had 42 people at church today.  The whole Kirk family was there.  Tasha got a full time job this week and they are looking for a nicer apartment or home to rent.  Things are looking up for them.  We are planning to fast as a branch to ask the Lord to soften the heart of Aliah's aunt so she will give permission for her to be baptized.  The Bullards we met Monday did not come to church so we felt kind of bad about that.  After our appointments this afternoon I called them.  They said they both woke up with stomach issues this morning and didn't go anywhere today.  They want us to come and meet with them this Wednesday.

Attachment #2 is a picture of the group that went Saturday to help Sister Patterson transfer a lot of her furniture from one storage unit to another so she could stage it for a garage sale.

It has been a busy, rewarding, but challenging week.  We will close for now.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon every day (it saves you from a lot of unnecessary problems and challenges)

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 44: It was the best of times and the worst of times

Dear Family and Friends,

In her journal Sister Owens called Monday the day of minor miracles.  We experienced some tender mercies.  After our walk we decided we better drop the car off and get the oil changed before our Temple trip on Tuesday.  The shop is about half a mile from our apartment so we asked them to call us when it was finished and we walked home.  We just turned into our cul-de-sac when I realized our apartment key was on the ring with the car key back at the shop.  Then I remembered I was scraping the windows with the car running before our walk and Sister Owens came out of the house without locking it.  So we didn't have to walk back to the shop for the key.  That was good because Sister Owens decided to wear her new snow boots to walk and they were more like Frankenstein shoes than sneakers and she ended up with a very sore heel.  Later we were feeling badly that we were unable to get any initiatory work done so Sister Owens could take a family name to the endowment session with the mission on Tuesday.  We checked the new Family Tree app for the cell phone to check for names ready for ordinances and there was one name ready for endowments that we were able to print out so she could do a family name.  We delivered several invitations to branch members here in Demopolis for our Branch Conference on Sunday and then read the Book of Mormon with Ollie and Larry.

Tuesday was a great day spent in the temple with the missionaries.  We both got to do family names and they asked us to attend both sessions, once with our zone and then with the Tupelo zone after that.  They need all the senior couples because they don't have the young missionaries stand in the prayer circle.  The temple is open just for the missionaries so there isn't anyone else there but us.  They asked us to be the witness couple in the second session which is always a special privilege.  We didn't have the sisters with us this time.  All the missionaries had to drive their own cars because they were installing second generation TIWIs in all the vehicles.  We had to stop at Costco on the way home to have the tires rotated on our car.  We sat around there for two hours waiting for that which was not the most enjoyable way to end the day. We did see President and Sister Sainsbury there before we left and got to visit with them.  That seems to happen just about every time and it is always special.

Wednesday was about the lowest day of our mission so far for us.  We normally do not have district meeting in  the week when we have zone conference or mission temple trips but the sisters texted us Tuesday night and said the district leader said we were going to have District Council at 10:00 AM in Tuscaloosa anyway.  It didn't make for a very good day after such a long day on Tuesday.  It seemed to be a very discouraging day all around.  We decided something pretty special was going to happen on the weekend since Satan was exerting such a strong influence. I had tried to schedule ministering visits all week for the priesthood leaders to make tonight in conjunction with branch conference.  Out of six appointments I tried to schedule, nothing worked out except the first one I scheduled last week.  So I ended up driving to Greensboro to make that visit and Brother White was supposed to accompany me.  I got there and went to Brother White's apartment and he wasn't there and didn't answer his phone (the last thing in the world I thought would happen).  I went to the visit alone which I thought wouldn't hold up anyway.  I waited a long time at the door after knocking about three times and he came to the door just before I was going to head home.

Thursday was a much better day.  We had a good nights sleep and the sun came out for the first time in several days.  Our driving the past couple days was mostly in rain.  Sister Owens made some visits with the Primary President and invited some sisters to come to branch conference. We bought some things at the store for a gentleman the sisters have started to teach.  Sister Owens went with them Wednesday  night while I was gone to Greensboro.  He hadn't eaten anything since Monday.

Friday we fixed some things to take for the pot luck after branch conference on Sunday.  Then we went to Kamia's baptism that night (see attachment #1).  Her mother decided she was not going to be baptized because she didn't feel she would be able to live the law of chastity.  Her boyfriend is a truck driver and stays at their house whenever he is in town.  She said she was not going to marry him because that would end her benefit check from the government, and she didn't want to break up with him.  When we got to the baptism she told the sisters we could make next Friday her night.  We were all shocked.  She said  Tony asked her to marry him so she wants to be baptized. I guess we'll see what happens with that.

Saturday and Sunday were the best days of our mission so far.  We left at 8:00 AM to go to the temple in conjunction with branch conference.  We've been going back and forth all week trying to work out transportation.  President James wanted the branch council to attend the 9:00 AM session because Kamia was originally going to be baptized Saturday.  We had to change it to Friday so she could have some medical procedures done on Saturday so we wanted to change it to 11:00 since the rest of the council (Smiths) has seven kids and it would be hard to get there that early.  He said he was still going to go at 9:00 but texted us at 3:00 AM advising they were at the hospital in Birmingham with their granddaughter and weren't sure they would get to the temple.  Saturday was the day the temple invites any new converts to come to do baptisms for the dead.  So we took Ja'Nylia and the sisters (see attachment #2) in our car and Smiths took Cedric and Tasha and Zyreonia (correct spelling) in their car and they went to the 10:30 baptism session.  Brother Smith and his kids and the sisters stayed in the baptism session and Sister Owens and I were the only ones from the branch council that attended an endowment session.  We found out Sunday that The James were in the hospital for the birth of their great grandson, Zion.

Sunday was a great day that started at 7:30 AM (some of the stake leaders had to drive two hours to get here).  President Lewis (counselor in the Stake Presidency) came representing the Presidency.  He told us while he was in the Temple yesterday he was seeking inspiration as to what he should do to help the saints in Demopolis.  He said the question came into his mind, "Why can't Demopolis become a ward?" He kept thinking of all the reasons why it cant be a ward and the question just kept coming more and more forcefully.  He finally decided the Lord was trying to tell him something and he should pay attention.  So that is the question he presented to us today.  He told us miracles can happen.  We just need to pray with faith for the things we need to make it possible for us to be a ward.  We had sixty-six people in attendance.  More than 30% higher than we have ever had since we have been here.  I guess we have our work cut out for us for the next year.

Three tithing envelops were turned in today. One of them was from one of the Kirk girls, baptized two weeks ago.  What a group of special kids here!

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon.

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 42: Sour milk cake and egg drop soup and the crazy little white Grandma

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday was our zone conference.  They had us go to Montgomery again to save fifteen minutes driving time for us.  We kind of miss meeting with our own zone and the rest of our district but the drive to Montgomery is much better than the drive to Birmingham.  It makes for a very full day anyway.  We left town at 6:40 AM and got home at 7:30 PM. Conference is always a very encouraging experience for us.

It seems like we are becoming the financial advisors for a number of the members of the branch.  President James had us do a Needs Assessment for one of the sisters on Tuesday.  She assured us when we got there that her outgo was definitely more than her income, which it was.  The whole state seems to have an entitlement mentality.  It is hard to convince people that they are actually supposed to work at getting to the point where they can be self-sufficient.  A lot of them just look to the church as another source for ongoing benefits to pay their expenses.

Wednesday we went to Tuscaloosa for our district council.  On the way home we took the sisters to the West End Grocery again for lunch in Eutaw.  Sister Weaver (from Chicago) was a little more comfortable there than Sister Shreeve was last time we went.  Poor Sister Tennyson just kind of goes along with anything we do.  Ruthie Brown (from our branch) is the cook there and we have never been disappointed with the food yet.  We had chicken and I really felt bad we weren't coming the next day when she said she had to start the meat marinating for the next day.  She was doing a Boston Butt and meat loaf for tomorrow.  We wanted to get by there to see her because she is really stressing over some dealings she has with the courts over her finances.  She has to go to court next Thursday.

I am having a hard time accepting the fact that the two of us do not get through a whole gallon of milk before It goes sour.  Of course only one of us ever drinks it anyway (that might have something to do with it).  Milk is about $3.85 a gallon now and we are having to pay ¾ of the price for half the milk when we buy a half gallon so we can finish it before it goes sour.  So we had half of the last gallon of milk go sour and we were going to make some sour milk pancakes but never did get around to it.  The milk got about as thick as rice pudding and Sister Owens said we had to throw it out but I wouldn't let her.  We got a recipe from Tami for sour milk chocolate cake and made one for Book of Mormon class (they will eat anything)  It was not the easiest thing to make with soda dissolved in boiling water and all, but it ended up being a very good cake.  We are keeping the recipe.  We also had to make some chicken noodle soup for the RS luncheon on Friday.  The noodles were only supposed to boil for twenty minutes but by the time we got to that point we were out of time and had to leave for class so we put it in the crock pot and figured they could go a while on low.

Friday was a very big busy day.  The monthly meeting for Relief Society included a presentation by Elder Owens on budgeting (we'll see how much good that does) and then we had the chicken noodle soup and French rolls from the "made too much" rack at Walmart for a Budget meal.  One of the sisters complimented Sister Owens on the soup and told her it reminded her of Egg Drop soup at Chinese restaurants (so much for cooking the noodles on Low in the Crock Pot).  Of course we had to make our run to Greensboro to bring the sisters in for the meeting but one of them was not home when we got there to pick her up.  That ended up being a good thing because the other sister decided to stay in Demopolis for the afternoon so we didn't have to take her back to Greensboro.  We had a baptism in the evening.  Cedric and Tasha Kirk's daughters were baptized.  They had told the sisters when they were teaching Cedric that there was no way they were being baptized.  They are turning seventeen and fourteen this year.  We took them to the temple with Cedric and Tasha when they were baptized for the dead.  The younger one, Ja'Nylia, cried all the way to Birmingham because she did not want to go the temple.  She was the one that bore her testimony on fast Sunday and asked if she could speak after she was baptized.  There were between thirty and forty people there and she got up and thanked everyone for coming and told them that she hoped they would get baptized just like she did.  There were a lot of her cousins that came for the service.  Before the service Sister Owens told her she would be her crazy little white grandma.  We took a picture of the family (Attachment #1, this was after I coaxed them all to actually smile) and Ja'Nylia whispered to Sister Weaver that she wanted to have her picture taken with Sister Owens (Attachment #2).  It's so neat to see how much the girls have changed over the past several weeks.  They are both so excited to be with the youth in the ward.  They are registered to go to the Youth Conference in February.  They will have five stakes involved.  It will be quite the experience for both of them.  Ja'Nylia's sister is Zyeronia.  A couple more of the very interesting names they have here.  Sister Owens commented once that they give everybody such exotic names here and then end up calling them Kiki or Cecee or Pepee or Tata, etc.  Very interesting. The Kirk girl's names are pronounced Janyla and Zereyawna.

Saturday we thought we were finally going to have a day to ourselves to get our cleaning and laundry done.  Not so.  A sister in Greensboro called and said she was out of food.  President James asked us if we would take her some necessities and do an Needs Assessment while we were there.  We got one grocery list from her and one from President James.  She was probably a little disappointed but she got the items on President James list and not hers. We did get our wash done before we got to bed.

We were looking forward to resting up a bit tonight but the sisters needed us to take them out to some teaching appointments.  They had four backup appointments and we ended up actually getting in with a mother and her daughter that are planning on being baptized in two weeks.  We read a chapter in the Book of Mormon with them.  We managed to reschedule two of the other four appointments.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon (and read your Come Follow Me lesson)

We Love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 41: Happy New Year from Alabama, what season is this, really!

Dear Family and Friends,

We had a great start to the New Year.  We went o  a team up with the sisters to a Book of Mormon discussion with a very receptive man that advised us that he has always attended church.  His father is a deacon in his church and he has several uncles and cousins that are deacons or preachers in different churches.  He was interested to find out about the Book of Mormon and said he was definitely going to read the introduction.  He was excited to make a follow up appointment for Friday and looked forward to seeing us again.

Wednesday morning we went with the sisters to a couple of appointments in Greensboro, both of which fell through.  So we used the time to look for some more of the inactive members of the branch.  We drove five miles out of town to try to find one of them and they weren't home (what a surprise – see attachment # 1)  I guess it's been a while since they lived there.  On the way home we took a picture of the flooded pasture that we photographed five days earlier and sent with last weeks email (this week's pic is attachment #2). We went in the afternoon to read the Book of Mormon with Larry (the Viet Nam vet with PTSD).  He always has so many questions about what we are reading.  We hope it is making a difference for him.  Sister Owens thinks he is seeming a little more mellow than before we started reading with him. After coordination meeting we went back to help Ollie get her bills paid for the month and get her bank statement balanced. She shakes so badly she can't write checks and Ross charges her $40 dollars to write them for her (what a place).

Thursday was Relief Society Presidency meeting for Sister Owens and then we had the Book of Mormon class in Greensboro.  We haven't had food for the last couple weeks and a couple of the men didn't show up this week (don't know if that is because we are just finishing up the Isaiah chapters or because we didn't have food for two weeks).  It was neat to get to chapter 25 of II Nephi and read how Nephi glories in plainness.  That chapter was much easier for them to understand.  We suggested that maybe everybody might read two or three chapters on their own before we have class because Sister Owens and I would like to get closer to the end of the book with them before we go home next year.  They have only been reading a chapter each week and at that rate would only be somewhere in Mosiah when we leave.  We'll have to see how that goes.

Friday we followed up a second time with a fellow in Linden on a team up with the sisters.  Last time was not a good time and this time he was gone shopping in Demopolis.  Sister Weaver said she has no problem with rejection but really resents people that just waste her time standing them up instead of saying they really don't want to talk to us.  They keep going back just in case.  It is Alabama and nobody wants to hurt anyone's feelings.  We went to the follow up appointment with the fellow we met with on Monday.  His father was there and he was going to go see about buying a car, so it  wasn't a good time for him.  He will have us come back next week.  Gee, someone in our branch with a car that could drive to church.  I think we are dreaming.

We had to pick up Andrea for church so we weren't available to get the new people that the sisters have been teaching.  They called a sister from Eutaw that just bought a car to see if she could get Andrea and her mother so we would be able to get the McGees, but they said they never could get in touch with her.  But the mother of the new family wasn't coming so we could just go by and get her daughter after we picked up Andrea and her mother.  Well, interestingly enough, Andrea's mother was having Vertigo and didn't come, so we just had Andrea and Kamia and we weren't late for church.  Sister McGee was "doing hair" but said she is coming next week.  The sister they tried to contact to pick up Andrea and her mother showed up at church with her inactive son and his non-member "wife."  Sadly, we found out why they were there later when the Branch President showed me the overdue power bills that they wanted us to pay for them (I guess that's not nice to say but it's so often true). The Kirk girls that wouldn't join in on the discussions when Cedric was being taught and said they did not want to be baptized are planning to be baptized this Friday.  The youngest (13) stood up and bore her testimony today in Testimony meeting. It is so neat, they seem like totally different girls than when we first met them.  On the way home from church today we had to turn on the AC.  Seventy-two degrees is kind of warm with all this humidity.  We sure miss all that snow and freezing weather (yeah, right).

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens