Week 62: Ministering to the sick and afflicted; The shoe's on the other foot

Dear Family and Friends,

So this week wasn't too much different from last week except we didn't spend any money on doctors and hospitals.  Sister Owens stayed in the apartment all week recuperating.  She has been very tired and weak all week long.  She has been improving little by little.  It seems to take a lot longer at this age, especially with the heat, humidity, and pollen we have to put up with here.  Wednesday she was doing pretty well so I joined the two active families in the branch at a service project in Livingston.  A family in the branch had a visit from the insurance agent while they were gone.  He went all around the yard and took pictures and then sent them to the family and said if things weren't cleaned up and repaired within two weeks they would cancel their insurance.  So about ten of us, including the sister missionaries, did some mowing, trimming, weeding, and fence repair for a few hours before the sun went down.  I was glad we got to it in the spring while it was only 90 degrees and 85% humidity at 8:30 PM instead of waiting a couple weeks and having temperatures in the 100s.

Interviews were scheduled for next week and we planned on missing them because we were going to be at girls camp that week, but they posted the schedule Wednesday and interviews for our district were going to be this Friday.  We decided that whether Sister Owens is fully recovered or not that it will not be wise to go to girls camp.  She felt she was letting Sister James down because she wouldn't be there to help her.  I finally convinced her that she would not be any help to her and would actually just add to her burden, because she would have to be in the cabin with her dust mask on every day and Sister James would have to take care of all the girls and worry about Sister Owens all week as well.  She finally admitted it would be better for everyone if she stayed home.  Our little branch has more girls (9) going to camp than any other ward in the stake.  One ward only has two girls going, so they are going to have them join one of the other wards and their leader can come and work with Sister James for the week.

My routine doctor's appointment was scheduled for this Friday and we had our interviews scheduled.  Sister Owens wanted to see how she would do getting out and about after being in the apartment since last Thursday night, so we both took off for Tuscaloosa bright and early Friday morning.  She did pretty well for the two and a half hours in the waiting room at the Doctor's office.  The other people in the waiting room were probably a little puzzled when they called me back to see the doctor instead of the woman sitting next to be with the mask on her face.  The doctor was happy with everything but suggested that since I didn't get my second pneumonia shot last year (I thought I was only supposed to have one) that I should go ahead and get it while I was there.  So I had my Prevnar shot and we went to get a little bit of brunch before we went to the church for interviews.  Sister Owens was pretty tired by then so we went to the church so she could lie down for a couple hours before the interviews started.  We arrived two hours before the interviews started and all the missionaries cars were there (??).  We went in and they were having District Council and they had two empty chairs in the circle.  We sat down and apologized for being late, but we were not informed that there was a meeting.  We missed the mission temple trip the day before so they were pretty sure we wouldn't be coming to District Council and they didn't let us know the meeting time had changed (they usually schedule it for right after the interviews).  After the meeting the elders and sisters went to eat some lunch and we relaxed for a while in the foyer waiting for President and Sister Sainsbury.  When they arrived we crowded to the front of the line (we were second on the schedule anyway) and had our interview.  We didn't want to miss this one since they are going home July 1^st, so we won't have a chance for another one.  We left to come home as soon as our interview was over.  Sister Owens was pretty tuckered out by the time we got home.

Sitting in meetings or waiting for interviews being the only thing we did after my appointment with the doctor, I really didn't move around or use my arm much.  On the way home I noticed that my shoulder was pretty sore.  When we got home it was a little swollen and pretty hot to the touch.  It itched a lot but really hurt if I tried to scratch it.  We called the doctor's office and asked why they didn't bother to tell me how much it was going to hurt by the end of the day.  They said I was having a reaction and told me to pick up some pills to take for a couple days and I should be okay.  So Saturday I was in my chair with my sore arm and Sister Owens was in here chair recovering from the long day the day before.  Great way to spend our first (second, actually) Saturday that wasn't our P-day.  We did go with the sisters to visit Joe Davis at the trucking company in the evening.

Sunday Sister Owens felt she was rested up enough to go to church.  We got there at 9:00 AM for Branch Council and it was about 4:00 PM  by the time we got home from taking everybody home after the Self Reliance class.  She decided Sunday was a pretty long day as well.  We got a text that the sisters were teaching a Hispanic man in Linden and wanted to know if Sister Owens could come with them.  Brother Smith was going to meet them there to interpret for them.  She was pretty tired but thought she should go with them.  Then they sent another text and said the man was coming to Demopolis to the Walmart and they didn't know if they would meet with him or not.  Then they said he texted them and they were going to meet with him at the branch building and wanted us to meet them there.  The sisters had some extra time one evening last week so they decided to make a face book post about the Book of Mormon in Spanish because face book would translate their comments to Spanish for them.  This man, Ezekiel, recognized the Book from seeing it a couple years ago in Mexico and responded to their post.  They have been posting back and forth using the face book interpreter since then.  He is from Vera Cruz and comes back and forth to the US to get work when he can.  He is a very nice and humble man and was very excited when he found our what the Book of Mormon is about.  He said the closing prayer in Spanish and the sisters are going to introduce him to the Spanish missionaries in Tuscaloosa who will be teaching him using face book messenger.  He will come to church at our branch.  Sister Owens was really glad she said she would come even though she felt so tired.  She says she is really glad the Lord even has a calling for the dead grandma in the closet (family joke we will have to explain sometime).

The work goes on.  We are glad we are here and hope to be back up to speed soon.   We love you all and appreciate your faith and prayers in our behalf.  We feel it all the time.  Thank you.

Keep the Commandments and read your Book of Mormon every day (it's a special gift)

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

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

Dear Family and Friends,

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

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

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

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

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

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 60: Routine week....except for the baptism

Dear Family and Friends,

We were worried about Brother White being home alone Monday since he was so weak when I took him home on Sunday.  So we went out to check on him.  He was down in the community room in his chair with his arm stretched out on the table and his head resting on his arm.  He was having a hard time staying awake while we visited with him. He told us he would really like some chicken noodle soup, so we went and bought some and brought it back and went up to his apartment with him and heated it up and he ate about three bites of it and asked us to put it in the fridge.  We could hardly make room for it.  There was so much stuff in the fridge that he had gotten to eat and then couldn't eat so he put ii in the fridge to save.  We found a hamburger that was still warm on the table in the living room that his niece had brought to him.  It had one bite out of it and we had to make room for it in the fridge as well.  He has lost a lot of weight in the last five or six weeks.  We are starting to worry about him quite a bit.  While we were there a neighbor came who said they (management) had asked her to check on him each day.  We felt a lot better when we found out she was doing that.  She was going to take him to dialysis the next day and would talk to his doctor about the list of medications on his discharge sheet from the hospital. She said she would help make sure he took the medication according to schedule.  We left Brother White and decided to stop in Sawyerville to try to locate some branch members.  Pretty typical.  The first one we went to was a trailer that looked like it had been vacant for years.  No neighbors at home and no answer on the phone that was a South Carolina number.  I did an address search later and found another one listed for them up the road a few miles.  We will try to check that one out this week and see if we have better luck.  The address for the next one we tried to find is shown in the picture above (attachment #3) (I Love Alabama). "Posted No Trespassing"  His number is disconnected. The satellite view shows a house off in the distance behind the trees. Probably won't bother whoever lives there.

Sister Owens hasn't been feeling all that great for about a week.  We didn't do much on Tuesday other than help Ollie with her finances and try to encourage her to stop giving so much money to her care givers.  She is spending way to much money every month.  She has a trust fund in the bank and just keeps asking them to put more money in her account because she runs out.  At this rate she will probably run out of money  before we come home from the mission.

Wednesday I had to do a little maintenance on the car.  I had to change the headlight on the battery side (of course) for the second time in about three months.  Going to have to figure out what's going on.  I had to clean up the battery with my toothbrush (makeshift terminal cleaner) while I had it out of the car.  We also found out we picked up a nail in one of the tires (probably in Sawyerville).  We got enough air in it Tuesday to last until we got to Costco after Zone Conference on Thursday. The sisters asked us to pick up Timothy at the library and take him to Sonic for some ice cream (attachment #2) to celebrate his baptism coming on Saturday.  Wednesday night the sisters needed us to go to see James with them at 8:00 PM.  He texted them during the day that he had to go to Birmingham to the ER with his girlfriend and wouldn't be back until about 1:00 AM.  They asked if we would go with them and check at his apartment anyway.  We did.  He was there and wouldn't answer the door.  He looked out through the curtains twice to see who was there but would not open the door.  Sister Weaver is quite frustrated with him.  At this point in her mission she has no problem with rejection but she doesn't like people wasting her time and lying to her.

Thursday was another Zone Conference in Birmingham.  We were the first Zone for this transfer. That lasted until about 4:30 and then we had to go to Costco to get the tire repaired.  They told me it would take about an hour.  After an hour and a half I thought I should check in case they didn't have my correct phone number.  They told me they were repairing it right then.  An hour later I had to check again and they told me they were wrapping it up right then.  We are still hoping someday to leave Birmingham in the daylight to come home but it hasn't happened yet.  We got home about 9:30.

Friday was Relief Society monthly meeting.  We started about eight to get to Greensboro and get Sister Borden back for the meeting.  In two days she never said anything to us until we turned toward Demopolis.  Then she said "Sister Nixon's coming."  She doesn't come because she volunteers at the VA on Friday.  So we planned to get to Demopolis in time for the meeting and had to take another fifteen minutes to get Sister Nixon.  I got to speed all the way again so they could start on time (I love Alabama).  It's interesting how it worked out.  Sister Borden told us the night before that she talked to Sister Jones and she was planning on us picking her up to come to Greensboro to get Sister Borden (Sister Jones is in Demopolis but loves to ride in the car).  We knew she had been ill earlier in the week so as we were on our way to her house we called her and she told us she wasn't coming.  Had she come, it would have been an interesting feat to get the three of them in the back seat of our car to get them to Demopolis.  As it was, we just had Sister Borden and Sister Nixon.  After the meeting we took them home and got back to Demopolis just in time to turn around and go back to get them for Book of Mormon class (we moved it to Friday because we had Zone Conference on Thursday).  I was just too tired to make the trip again so we called and cancelled the class.  The sisters sent a text telling us Timothy would need a ride to his baptism on Saturday and asked if we could pick him up (he lives in Forkland, about twenty minutes away).

Saturday morning I went walking without Sister Owens because she still wasn't feeling all that great.  I ended up getting drenched to the bone in a rainstorm.  I got home and had plenty of time to shower and we could get Timothy to the church by 11:30 for the Noon baptism.  The Sisters texted us and said they wanted him there by 11:00 (crunch time again).  We had a good service (attachment #2).  President James was there.  He was planning to be in New Orleans to see his mother for mother's day but something must have changed.  Brother Smith (mission leader) was working a plant closure for maintenance and was going to try to come on a long lunch hour but he said they ended the closure that morning so he was there in plenty of time and his family was there on time because the soccer games were rained out (along with my walk).  It was a good thing because they were the only people there except for the sisters and Timothy and us.  The Kirks said they were coming (Timothy asked Cedric to say the closing prayer).  They haven't come to a meeting less than thirty minutes late yet, which makes it hard if the meeting is a baptism.  None of the family came except Cedric.  He got there about five minutes before the end of the meeting and said the closing prayer (I love Alabama). Timothy has a fairly serious speech impediment and he asked if he could say something at the end of the meeting.  He thanked everyone for being there and bore his testimony.  It was really difficult for him, but he did a great job. At the end of Priesthood meeting on Sunday Brother Smith asked him to say the closing prayer.  My heart went out to him but he said he would.  It took a few minutes, but he said a really nice prayer.

Saturday night Brother Smith texted the sisters that he could pick up Timothy for church on Sunday.  I thought that would be good since President James and I are the only ones around for Branch Presidency anymore and I have been having to get Timothy the past few weeks because of the plant closure.  I went to Branch Presidency meeting instead of going for Timothy.  About fifteen minutes after we got started Brother Smith called and asked if I had any commitments to pick up people for church.  I told him I was going to get Timothy until I heard that he was going to do that.  He said he was taking a little longer getting his family ready to get to church and would be late if he had to get Timothy and wondered if I could do it.  That was already ten minutes too late to get him there before church started.  I told President James I had to hurry and go to get Timothy.  He said he was going to tell me that was probably what the call was going to be.  It sure is a good thing the police don't care how fast people drive on the county roads here.  We got to church just as it started. It was nice since Timothy was confirmed today.  The poor guy.  He has stayed so late the last three weeks so we could take him home.  Next week is Stake Conference.  They like the whole stake to meet together so they rent an activity center on a campus (the stake center is too small) instead of broadcasting it to the outlying branches.  Very few of our people can afford to travel the two hours to attend.  Timothy needs a ride next week.  We told him we would have to pick him up at 7:15 AM so we can drive forty-five minutes to Greensboro so the Bordens can follow us to the conference from there.  Conference is an all day commitment for anyone that goes.  Anyway, we had a good meeting today.  We planned on twenty dozen rolls for the mothers and we only had nine women come.  There were only twenty-nine in all that were in attendance.  But Brother White was one of them.  He is too weak to help anymore with the sacrament, but it means so much for him to get there to partake of it.  He was sitting in the mother's chair from the primary room when I got there with Timothy.  They moved it into the chapel for him.  Right after the sacrament he motioned for me to come over to him.  He needed me to help him stand up.  He was in a lot of pain.  He told me he got to take the sacrament and now he had to go home.  He drives thirty minutes one way to get there.  Two men who are members live at the same place and one of them is always out in the parking lot when he comes out to come to church and he refuses to come with him.  So he has to drive all the way and back alone.  

We asked the sisters if anyone invited them to dinner today.  They said no one had, so we told them to come over and eat with us after they called their Mom's.  We ate the Mother's day Boston butt from the Young women fundraiser for camp (Sister Owens was planning on Roast Beef but they changed it).  We were told it was going to be smoked.  It was a really good pork roast but it was not smoked.  I'm not sure they know what it really means to smoke meat here in Alabama.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 59: A little Alabama domestic violence and a new Sister for Demopolis

Dear Family and Friends,

Sister Owens went to a discussion Monday with Timothy.  It went a little better in the city square than the one they tried to have at his parents house last week.  He was super excited about the temple when they taught him about it.  He asked if he could go there.  He thought it was pretty neat when they told him he would be able to.  He will be baptized this next Saturday and we are planning to take him to Birmingham to do baptisms for the dead May 24^th.  His parents aren't to crazy about white people but they don't seem to mind when Timothy does what he wants about religion.  President James told me today that he needs to go out and introduce himself to his parents (they might be pleased to find out his "minister" is black).

The Sisters got the phone call Monday night telling them who was being transferred Wednesday.  Sister Beaugez left even though she has only been here two transfers and Sister Weaver has been here for three now.  Sister Weaver told us she only cried once and now she is fine.  I might have mentioned before that Demopolis is quite a challenging area for the missionaries (I think it might be because they have to put up with the Owenses).  It is probably hard for the sisters because they know they will get a turn since they only have sisters in this area (at least as of about two or three years ago).  Anyway, our new Sister is Sister McCreeth from Wyoming.  She has only been in two areas so far on her mission.  Six months in each.  I told her, "welcome to the last six months of your mission."  She wasn't too impressed. They made our sisters STLs (Sister Training Leaders).  They will be splitting with each of the other sets of sisters in the zone once each transfer.  They are both really good sister missionaries.  They are up to the challenge here in Demopolis.

Tuesday afternoon we got a call from one of the sisters in the branch.  She was crying and wanted us to come right over.  She was afraid of her husband and thought he might hurt her.  We went over and her husband had a few choice words for us when we got there.  We ended up having the police come over and have a good long talk with both of them separately.  She told the police he had yelled at her and scared her.  They asked her if he put his hands on her, because they could arrest him for that.  She said he didn't.  After they left she told us he shoved her.  We told her she should have told the police that when they asked.  Her husband had been up all night and had not taken his medication.  We assured her she could call again if she needed us and left.  Her husband was asleep by then.  She called us two days later during Book of Mormon class to tell us he slept from the time we were there until the following afternoon and he took his medication and things are much better.

Thursday was Sister Owens' turn at the doctor to have her blood work done so she can get her prescription renewed.  Then we went to Book of Mormon class in the afternoon.  Friday morning we went to the church to be sure it was open for anyone that wanted to come and watch the sister to sister broadcast with the Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society General Presidents.  Sister Owens and I enjoyed it.  It was too bad no one else was there.  A few of them did watch it at home.  Then I got my haircut (at the barber shop) since we have our zone conference next week.

Saturday wasn't such a good day.  Sister Owens was under the weather all day.  We got our chores done and fixed some snacks for the Self Reliance class that was going to be after Church Sunday.  We had to tell the sisters we couldn't go to a couple discussions they needed us for because Sister Owens couldn't go.  I got some bags of dirt at the store (ouch) so we could plant some vegetables in some tubs. Some garden fresh tomatoes will be good this year.

We were a little concerned about when to have the snacks for the class because it was fast Sunday.  It didn't turn out to be anything to be concerned about.  The facilitator came from Tuscaloosa to attend Sacrament meeting with us before the class.  He stepped out of the Branch President's office and got a drink before going into Sacrament meeting.  When I got in to the meeting one of the members of the class was just giving snacks to another member of the class to hold them over until the class.  I got a call from Brother White's friend telling me that Brother White wanted me to call him as soon as possible and gave me his hospital room number.  I called and he told me he was ready to go home and needed someone to pick him up.  He was hoping there might be some way I could do that. So I drove to Tuscaloosa right after Sacrament meeting hoping to be back for about an hour of the S. R. class.  It took about a half hour longer at the hospital to get him than I expected and then when we got him home he couldn't get into his apartment.  We made several phone calls and drove to his niece's home trying to make arrangements to get his door open and get his chair down to the lobby so we could get him to his room.  Nothing was working for us.  I finally got in to his apartment but couldn't get his motorized chair to work to get it down to the lobby.  I took his walker down and we got him up to the room with it (he did not have his prosthetic leg with him at the hospital).  When I headed back to Demopolis the class was over.  I was about five minutes from the church when Beth called to tell me everyone was gone but the three of them that I was going to take home.  When I got there they were outside the door waiting for me with the building locked up.  Our poor Timothy is having a new experience every week with us.  Sister Owens was home, still not feeling well, and he was my companion while we took the two women home. Then I took him home to Forkland.  He is going to be so ready for ministering when he gets baptized next week.  If only he had a car and could drive.

We want to thank all of you for your love and support.  We really do feel it, every day.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Attachment:  Drive to Greensboro in the Alabama Spring

Week 58: A little help from back home and a healthy dose of good old southern racism

Dear Family and Friends,

This was the week for apartment inspections since transfers are next week.  We got to take the Lovelands along with us to do our inspections Monday (actually they took us along which proved much more comfortable for all, thank you Lovelands).  Our first apartment was in Selma so we stopped and took a group picture at the famous Pettus Bridge from the civil rights days (attachment #1, #2, and #3).  I wanted so badly to tell the Elders that the church has started a new program and is having the Church director of missionary housing make surprise visits during inspections, but wisdom (and compassion) got the better of me and we just told them they were our friends from back home.

We made Tuesday a P-day and took the Lovelands to see a couple of the antebellum homes in the area and we went to the Indian Ruins at Moundville and learned a little about the Lamanites (mound builders) that lived here in the Black Warrior river basin back around 1000 AD (Attachments #4 and #5).  We stopped by the Merrills in Greensboro and got to see the interior of their antebellum home and all of their antiques (that was the only one the Lovelands actually got to see on the inside).

Lovelands left Wednesday morning just missing one of our famous Alabama rain storms.  The sky opened up and poured on us most of the day and I’m afraid we wimped out and stayed in the apartment until it cleared up.

Thursday at Book of Mormon class we found out that Brother White was taken to the hospital again.  I kind of wondered when I called him on Wednesday and his phone went to message.  We usually find out he is in the hospital when that happens.  His friend found him Tuesday or Wednesday in his apartment again non-responsive and this time the paramedics could not get a pulse when they arrived. He has been in ICU ever since and they, of course, will not give us any information because we are not family.  We have called his brother to get information but he will not return our call.  Our high councilman manages the office for the doctors that are caring for him and he is going to check on him tomorrow but he still can’t tell us anything because of HIPPA regulations.  At least he can tell us if he is conscious or not.

Thursday night Sister Owens had her first honest to goodness racist experience since we got to Alabama.  “I went with the sisters tonight to visit with Timothy.  His family has two homes a short distance from each other.  When we got to the first, his sister would not let us meet inside.  She asked Timothy if he had checked with their mom first.  He said he hadn’t.  The sisters wanted to meet his mom so we all decided to go to the other home.  Then his dad drove up.  The sisters introduced themselves as missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ.  He asked if we were Christians (Hummm).  We assured him that we were.  He asked where the building was and we told him.  He left and we went to the other home.  Timothy went in to see if it was alright with his mom for us to come in.  His mom yelled at him saying, “No, its not alright.  You know how your dad feels about white people.”  He came out embarrassed and really stressed.  We told him it was okay and we would visit him another time.  Sister Weaver is African-American and Sister Beaugez is Hispanic.  Sister Owens was the only ‘white people’ there.  Hummm, never had this happen before:/”

Friday was my appointment with the Dermatologist in Tuscaloosa.  The doctor said he couldn’t find anything that he was worried about.  Hooray, another six months without dressing any wounds!!  We stopped at the other Doctor’s office to pay the bill we received a week ago.  I told them I wanted to pay the bill and they said they would be with me in a moment and asked me to take a seat.  They called me up two more times in the next hour to tell me they hadn’t forgotten about me and they were “checking on it.”  I thought it a little strange that I had to wait as long to pay them money as I usually do to incur the expense in the first place.  Usually doctors drop everything to take your money.  They finally called me to the counter and apologized for taking so long but they had to check everything and asked me what questions I had.  I told them I didn’t have any questions, I just wanted to pay the bill.  They said they thought I had a question about the charges.  Then they asked me how much I wanted to pay and I felt like telling them $10, but I figured it would probably take that long the next time so I told them I wanted to pay all of it, which was my original intention.

Saturday we did our chores (I know, that’s two P-days in one week. I hope they don’t send us home), and got the food ready for lunch at the Self Reliance class that will be held after church on Sunday.

Sunday our Stake President came to visit the Branch and speak to us in Sacrament Meeting and then taught us during second hour.  It is always good to listen to him.  He is a great teacher. Our Self Reliance class went pretty well.  We had ten out of fourteen show up for the first class.  One was Timothy.  His third week at church and he said he wouldn’t mind staying an extra hour before we took him home so we invited him to the class.  On the way home I thanked him for his patience and told him if he keeps coming he will end up living at the church all day on Sundays.  We are going to have fun for a few weeks getting people home after class.  Ollie is only about five minutes from the church but then Timothy is thirty minutes in one direction and Beth is thirty minutes in the other direction.  Starting next week, we will have another one in town that wasn’t here today.  Nothing like staying busy on Sunday afternoon.  Seems a little strange that so many people need a ride to and from a Self Reliance class.  I guess we picked some that really need the class.

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

We love y’all,

 Elder and Sister Owens

Week 57: A new hat (housing Coordinator); and an anniversary of sorts

Dear Family and Friends,

So after we got the Kirks settled into their new apartment a few weeks ago, it seems we are going to try to relocate Brother White as well.  We went by the Riverside apartments to see Sister Hunt who is the manager of several apartment complexes around the area (she was baptized a couple years ago but hasn't been to church since we came to the branch).  We never met her face to face when trying to contact her as missionaries but seem to be fairly successful when it comes to lining up potential clients.  She told us once that she was going to come to church on Sunday (the Alabama polite thing) but never shows up.  She said the same thing to the sisters when they were able to catch her at home, but still didn't come.  Anyway, I digress.  We saw her Monday morning and told her about Brother White in Greensboro wanting to get a place in Demopolis and she said, "Oh, you mean Blue.  I know Blue."  She said she thought she would have an opening soon and would be happy to meet with us to have him fill out an application, so we made an appointment to meet her at the complex she manages in Greensboro to complete the application for a unit in Demopolis.  That would mean only one trip to Greensboro instead of two if we had to bring him to Demopolis.  He has dialysis on Tuesday and Thursday so we set the appointment for Wednesday.  Then Monday afternoon we went to Linden to get Beth and back to Demopolis to get Ollie and took both of them to the Hospital to attend a class on Diabetes and food safety.  We went back after the class and picked them up and took them both to Ollie's so Beth could visit with Larry and have some fruit and ice cream then we went back to get Beth and took her back home to Linden.  Yes our taxi service is still going strong.

Tuesday we took the sisters and went to Tuscaloosa for interviews with the Mission President and then a late District Council meeting.  Great, as always, to have a chance to visit with President and Sister Sainsbury but the late meeting burned up most of the day. 

Wednesday we went to Greensboro to get Brother White and take him over to meet with Sister Hunt and the office was closed.  It should have already been open for an hour.  The Maintenance man showed up while we were there and said they called her to another complex that was about an hour and a half away and she would be working there for the whole day.  He called her for us and we rescheduled the appointment for Friday so we would have to bring him to Demopolis after all.  We came back to Demopolis to meet with Larry and Ollie to read the Book of Mormon but Larry was asleep.  Keith, a childhood friend of Ollie's, was there.  He sang for everyone at her seventieth birthday party last summer.  We asked him if he wanted to join us to read, which he did.  Since Easter was coming we read a couple of different chapters that talked about the atonement of Christ. He was a little familiar with the Book of Mormon and had a copy of it at home.  We hope it might have sparked a renewed interest.

Thursday we had Book of Mormon class in Greensboro.  We finally had Brother White there again.  He seemed to be doing really well.  He was riding his electric wheelchair around the halls like it was a racecar.  We had more people there than we have had for several weeks and the management had scheduled an Easter activity for everyone using the common room where we always meet.  The manager came down the hall and saw us and felt really badly because she had forgotten it was the time we meet.  She apologized and we assured her it was quite alright.  We all went up and had class in the main lobby on that second floor.  We lasted for a couple chapters but it got really warm and we had to bring it to an end.  Angelinia came to class (she isn't usually there, she is in a wheelchair).  Her oldest son was coming home from Juvenile detention that day and she had asked Sister Owens to bake a chocolate cake for her to welcome him home.  We had an awesome thunder storm in the evening.  It is the season again.  We love the thunder storms here. We found out Brother White couldn't go the next day to see Sister Hunt because he had to go to Tuscaloosa to have a venogram to get ready for a procedure he has to have on Monday to try to correct a problem he is having with his dialysis port.  He also told us he didn't know how he was going to get there.  The man that usually helps him out with transportation was going to be out of town.  We told him we would make sure he got there. 

So we cancelled the appointment with Sister Hunt and ended up getting up at 4:45 AM Friday morning to get Brother White to Tuscaloosa by 7:00 AM and surprisingly were finished at the hospital by about 9:30 AM.  We had planned to be in York (at the other end of our area) to pick up things for our Branch Easter activity from Sister James at 11:00 AM and had texted her that we would be late because of Brother White's appointment in Tuscaloosa. We got finished so quickly that we actually got to York right at 11:00. We got back to Demopolis and stuffed 150 plastic eggs with starbursts and skittles for the Easter egg hunt then we went home so Sister Owens could work on her talk for Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and I went back to set up the building for the activity the next day.

Last year our first day in Demopolis was the day before Easter.  After being unable to locate our apartment anywhere in the town and not being able to reach our landlady we finally made contact with the Branch mission leader, Brother Smith, and found out they were just finishing up at the Branch building after the Easter egg hunt and we found the building and went there to meet him.  We can hardly believe it has been more than a year since then and this year we were in the middle of everything for the activity Saturday.  We didn't really know how they did everything last year and assumed they would just move along the way they did before.  But after about an hour with nothing happening Sister Owens took charge and they got the egg hunt started with the children.  After they found all the eggs and came inside to count their take, Brother Kirk (famous for being late for everything) showed up with his sedan full of about twelve of the Kirk cousins ready to hunt for eggs. We had to do some scrambling (no pun intended) to get some eggs stuffed with candy to give to the late arrivals.  Gordon and Julia Loveland from back home in Idaho (Idaho Falls) showed up during the activity and are here to stay with us for a few days.  It was exciting to have them meet some of the people that we have been writing home about over the past year.  It was also kind of nice to have their help cleaning the building for Sunday (since it was our turn to clean the building again).  Saturday night we had a meeting with Joe Davis.  He was committed for baptism next Saturday.  He told us he didn't think he was going to be ready to be baptized.  He said he had a lot of personal things he was working on and had to get taken care of.  We were all a little disappointed and he ended up saying he would pray about it and find out what Heavenly Father wanted him to do.  He said he would come to church on Sunday.

I think Sunday was about the most beautiful day we have seen since we came to Alabama.  We couldn't have asked for a better day for Easter.  Brother White brought his two sons and daughter-in-law and three year old grandson with him.  Right at 10:00 Joe Davis walked in and sat down and one other sister that is currently being taught came in and Timothy that came for the first time last week was also there.  Sister Weaver and Sister Owens were the speakers and Sister Beaugez played a hymn on her violin between their talks.  It was an awesome meeting.  We came home and enjoyed a Sunday dinner with the Lovelands.  President James had a fund raiser at work and purchased a cooked Boston Butt and gave it to us at the Easter Activity which we had for dinner.  We went for another appointment with Joe Davis in the evening.  He told us after he prayed he felt he should tell us what was on his mind because he knew he had been on all our minds.  Since right after Christmas it seems that a certain lady with two children has been showing some interest in him which caught him totally by surprise.  He was divorced thirty years ago and has always been very fond of family life but had come to accept the fact that he will probably finish out his life single.  He is not sure now how this is going to turn out, but feels he is supposed to see what happens with this possible relationship before he proceeds with his baptism.  He wants to approach his new friend about the church and see how she feels.  So it looks like it will be a while yet before he is going to be baptized.  The church is still true and we will still keep working with him, at least as long as he is living here.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 56: Medical Transport, EMT service, and Marriage Counseling; finally, a tordado

Dear Family and Friends,

We found out Monday that Brother White actually got into his physical therapy program in the Greensboro hospital and went to see him in the evening.  He has been doing very well on the therapy program and has been gaining back some of the weight he lost over the past few weeks.  He told us they are counting the time he has been in the hospital at Tuscaloosa as part of the therapy so he actually only got to be in the program for about a week and a half.  He had to go home on Saturday.  While we were visiting with him we found out he did not have a way to get to his dialysis appointment on Tuesday so we told him we would see that he got there. So Tuesday we left Demopolis and drove to Greensboro to get Brother White, took him to Eutaw, drove back to Demopolis to get the sisters, and then drove to Tuscaloosa for our District Council meeting.  Brother White was going to call us when he finished Dialysis and we would tell him how soon we would be able to get there to pick him up.  We had Sister Weaver pick a place for lunch after our meeting since it was her birthday.  Brother White called just as we got our food and told us he found a way home so we wouldn't have to pick him up. That was good since it was going to be a pretty cozy ride home with the sisters and us and Brother White.

Wednesday morning we headed back to Greensboro to get Brother White again to take him to Tuscaloosa for his three month follow up with the surgeon after his neck surgery.  Four out of five of the vertebrae that were pinned are healing properly but the bottom one is pretty much disintegrating.  The surgeon said because of his diabetes and dialysis his bones are actually like butter.  He said they will have to go in from the front and graft some bone from the bone bank to the bad vertebrae and he is afraid it won't heal properly because of his failing health.  Brother White told me he is really scared to have the surgery and every time he thinks about it he hears his sister (she had surgery the same day he did and died the next day) telling him, "Don't do it, Manuel, don't do it!"  just like she was sitting next to him.

Thursday just before we were going to pick up Sister Jones to go to Book of Mormon class in Greensboro, Sister Morgan (her husband is President James' councilor) called to tell us Brother Morgan fell and she needed us to come and help her.  We are just a couple minutes from their house.  He had been working in his yard and could not stand up (she thought he had fallen but he actually hadn't).  The neighbor helped her get him into a chair but she couldn't get him into the house.  He is a very determined man.  He is used to doing everything that needs doing and has really gone down hill fast during this past year. He is seventy-nine this year and is severely disabled from a boiler explosion at work thirty years ago.  We wanted to help him get up and get into the house and he wouldn't let us help him.  He just kept asking us to bend the branches of a tree down where he could get a hold on them so he could lift himself up.  He finally had to let us help him and it was very hard on him.  We got him into the house and were visiting and his wife said he was a very stubborn man.  Then she said, "I guess I am pretty stubborn too."  I told them I guess it takes one to know one.  They said that was right. He stayed in and rested the rest of the day and seemed to be okay.  They think it was just some heat exhaustion.

After Book of Mormon class we took Sister Bordon and Sister Jones by the hospital on the way home so they could visit for a minute with Brother White.  I went in first to make sure he could have visitors.  He was sitting on his bed when I walked in and he stood up and walked over by the TV and said, "Hey Brother Owens, how's this?"  He was standing up straight and had his head up and was taller than I had ever seen him since we have been here.  He was at least a foot taller than I am.  The physical therapy has really made a difference for him.  He told us that he has decided he is not having the second surgery.  He didn't mention that to the surgeon and we never had him explain the implications of forgoing the surgery.  We will have to check on that.

Friday was Relief Society meeting day.  That always pretty well takes the whole day with taxi service to Greensboro and back and the meeting and the luncheon and then the clean up.  When we got back to the church to clean we noticed that Sister Smith had vacuumed the chapel and set up the chairs.  Since it was our turn to clean this week, we were really appreciative of that.  We finished the rest of the building and went home.  Sunday we read the program and saw that it was the Smiths turn to clean the building.  Our turn is next week after the Easter activity on Saturday.  We love being old.

Early Saturday morning we got a call from Beth to tell us Ollie called her at four in the morning and was really upset because her husband had been yelling at her.  She said Ollie really wanted Sister Owens to come and see her.  We called her and went over to see her after we went to an appointment with the sisters.  She talked to us for a while and wanted us to go in and talk to her husband and she was sure if we told him to be nicer to her that he would be.  She wanted me to give her a blessing, which I did, and then we went in to talk to her husband.  We told him she really feels bad when he yells at her.  He said he cant help it, when she makes him mad he just has to yell at her.  Sister Owens asked him to try to be nicer to her and he said, "I'll try hard to be nice to her, for you, Sister Owens." We told him we wanted to come and read with both of them some more (it has been falling through the last couple weeks).  He said he would like that and that it might help a little bit.

We went to a wedding in Epps Saturday afternoon.  It was the oldest son of one of the sisters in the Branch (attachment#1).  He is 32 and we have never seen him since we arrived a year ago.  He is not active in the church.  The wedding program was a fan for the ladies to use during the hot humid day at the wedding (attachment #2).  It wasn't actually very hot, but we did have two or three good rain storms before it was over.  We're glad they had a nice big canopy up for the occasion.  President James performed the ceremony.  He told us today that they aren't married yet because they haven't signed the paperwork that needs to be turned in to the courthouse.  He told us he married a couple several years ago and he got all the signatures and they were supposed to turn in the papers and they never did.  They wanted a divorce some time later and found out they didn't have to get a divorce because they were never married because they failed to turn in the papers to the courthouse.  I love Alabama.

Sister Rogers, from Eutaw, sent us a text Saturday afternoon asking if we were going to have church Sunday.  I thought that was a little strange.  She hasn't been for a few weeks and we did have Conference last week but I wouldn't think she would think there would be any reason not to have church this week.  I told her we were and she texted back that there was a severe weather warning from 3:00 AM to 3:00 PM on Sunday.  She didn't know whether she would be coming in or not.  We don't hear much about the weather forecast. And our weather radio has never gone off to warn us of severe weather (we can't figure out why).  So at 12:30 AM our phone went off advising us of a tornado warning and said we were to seek shelter immediately and to stay away from windows.  We had a terrific light show for the next hour or so and felt bad that we couldn't stand by the window to watch it, but we thought we probably better not.  We just had a discussion with Joe Davis Saturday night and told him Satan would make all kinds of things happen to discourage him from being baptized on April 27^th.  We found out today that the only Tornado that touched down was on his property out by the turnoff to Greensboro and it destroyed his barn.  We did have a beautiful day today until later in the evening when it clouded up and got cold.  The Self Reliance coordinator from the stake came and spoke in Sacrament meeting and then did a Self Reliance devotional for the branch during second hour.  We will start the Personal Finance class the week after Easter.  We are holding it right after church because of the difficulty people have traveling so far to the church building.  A couple is coming from Tuscaloosa every week to facilitate the class.  They were a senior missionary couple here a few years ago. We have high hopes but we haven't been able to get these people to church twelve weeks in a row, I'm not sure we can get them to a class that often.  We are going to be providing food, though, so the prospects might be a little better.

We had a little inconvenience today after church that ended up being a bit of a miracle.  For some reason the MLS system is making us change our passwords now (it never has before).  President James got a pop up screen last week telling him he had to change his and that he could log in one more time with his old password.  So we knew we would be good for this week when we were doing the tithing after church. When we went to authorize the batch it said this was the last time he could use his password and he would have to change it.  Then it didn't allow us to authorize it.  We didn't want to close the batch, but could not determine what we had to do so he could change his password.  To make matters worse, we had a young man that had a ride to church for the first time today and Brother Smith (picked him up for church) had to leave to give a blessing and we said we would take him home but I had to do finances first.  So he was waiting for us.  After about 20 minutes we logged out of the program and President James logged in and it brought up the password screen so he could change it.  Then we logged back in and completed the batch and were leaving to go to the bank.  Just as we were leaving a family drove up in a minivan and the husband walked up and said he was a missionary here in 2000.  Had we not had the problem with the password the church would have been empty when they arrived.  They got to renew their acquaintance and visit with President James (who was the Branch President when he was here).  Unfortunately Timothy, our new friend (investigator) was sitting in the car with us waiting another fifteen minutes for the visiting to get done so we could go to the bank before we could take him home. He was a pretty good sport about it.

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

We Love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens