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 48: A long busy week for these old folks

This week we went to a subsidized apartment complex with Cedric to see if they could rent a two bedroom apartment for his family.  The manager is an inactive sister we have been trying to see ever since we got here last March.  We actually talked to her once through her front door (she didn't open it).  She asked us if we could come back in fifteen minutes and we said we could.  We came back and she was gone.  So anyway, with Tasha's new job and Cedric's disability they actually make too much money to qualify for the apartment.  However, we and the manager don't think Tasha's job is really going to be quite so steady as it is right now.  It is at the fish factory and is seasonal.  She suggested they just report Cedric's disability for now and move in and after a couple months they will have a better idea of what they can expect from Tasha's new job.  They currently rent their dump of a house (sorry, but that is literally true) for two hundred dollars per month.  It has a small living room and a bedroom and a kitchen so small they can't put a table in it and a small bathroom.  Their two bedroom apartment is going to cost ninety dollars per month.  They could have moved into it months ago.  Now after they claim Tasha's income and some medical bills they are paying for Cedric's recent surgery they are going to have to pay about five hundred seventy-five per month.  It is going to be so good for them to get out of the neighborhood where they are right now.  We are hoping for the best.  He will find out if they are approved tomorrow.

We went on several appointments with the sisters through the week.  Most of them fell through but we did teach a good restoration lesson and left a Book of Mormon with a nice old black gentleman.  As he invited us into his home he asked us just which church we are from.  We told him The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints and he said, "That's good enough for me."  Then as we visited, he told us about the Jehovah's Witnesses that he invited to leave when he found out they don't believe Jesus is the Son of God.

We had another visit with the Bullards this week and sadly found out the church has no record of Rick's patriarchal blessing.  As we visited about it we came to the conclusion that the blessing he received was when he was ordained an Elder.  It just happened to be the Patriarch that ordained him.  But there were several people in the room at the time so we were pretty sure it wasn't his patriarchal blessing.  He still remembers a lot of things that were mentioned and was convinced it was all wrong but it has all come to pass in the last thirty years as it was pronounced in the blessing.  He explained that the reason he left the church was because of a falling out he had with his Branch President.  The president was making some statements about doctrine that Rick was sure was not correct.  Rick corrected him and he didn't take it very well.  There were a few other details that I won't really go into here.

Friday we had our New Beginnings combined with Young Women in Excellence.  We  combined them because everyone has to travel so far to get to the building and we really wanted the parents to come. We had eight young women (attachment #1&2) and only one parent came other than Sister Smith, the Primary President, who has a daughter in the program. It was really neat.  They all gave talks and sang.  Two of them were the Kirk girls that have been in the church for less than a month and one was a non-member.  We felt bad that Cedric brought the girls and then left instead of staying for the program.

Saturday Sister Owens had to be at the church at 6:00 AM to go to Birmingham for the special training from the General Relief Society President (attachment #3&4). The Branch President and councilors and all the women's organization presidencies were invited, but no clerks, so I stayed home and did some laundry. I guess we really didn't learn our lesson about renting vans last year.  We thought it would be good to have everybody chip in and rent one to get to the meeting.  That was great until two of them that were planning to go decided they couldn't make it so we paid a little more than we were planning on paying.  President James dropped Sister Owens off in Tuscaloosa on the way home from their meeting and I drove up and met her there at Elder and Sister Hurst's apartment, then Elder Hurst drove us back to Birmingham to President Sainsbury's home where all the senior couples gathered to welcome the new senior couple that arrived who are replacing Elder and Sister Barfuss from Boise who are going home this week. (Wow! That's a long sentence)  It is a little different.  Elder Martin is replacing Sister Barfuss as the mission nurse and Sister Martin is replacing Elder Barfuss as the housing coordinator. The Martins have eight children and thirty-six grandchildren. She says she feels a little lost because she is used to preparing Sunday dinner for thirty-five people every Sunday.

Today we had one of those "glad we're here" moments.  The Bullards came to church again and enjoyed being there.  We went out to see them after church and took the sisters with us so they could meet Sister Beauquez.  After we visited for a while Sister Beaugez asked Rick why he left the church after he joined.  He explained the falling out with the Branch President and then she asked him what made them decide to come back.  He said, "When the four of them came to our door two weeks ago."  Sister Tennyson was with us at the time before she was transferred.  He said when he came to the door he knew who we were and felt his heart jump for joy inside of him.  He said his spirit felt like jumping up and down.  After we left that night and they both commented on how much they felt the spirit when we were there, Lynn said they have not felt the spirit like that in their home for thirty years.  We are bringing the sisters back again this Friday to teach them the Plan of Salvation.  Today in Priesthood meeting I tried to encourage the brethren to be a little more serious about making time for conference next month and not just see it as a day they don't need to come to church.  Rick asked if they have the conference talks anywhere in writing.  I told him they are all online clear back to 1971.  He is super excited to get the gospel library downloaded so he can start reading them.

We are both kind of tired after our long week so we're going to bed now.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon every day and watch conference next month.

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 36: Our First pot party, and the Christmas season officially begins

Dear Family and Friends,

Truly there is a prophet in Israel. What an awesome message from President Nelson in the Christmas Devotional tonight.  We hope all y'all got to hear it.  The whole meeting was tremendous, as it is every year.

We thought you might be interested to see Sister Owens' entry in her Journal for Monday:

"Sunny and cold this morning.  Went to the church to take down the "Be Thankful" bulletin board.  Sister Patterson is helping me do one for "Light The World" for December… We spent three hours this afternoon helping a sister write checks for her bills and balance her checkbook.  We wreak of tobacco and marijuana.  Her husband, her care giver, and her son all smoke something.  Our clothes really pick it up and so does my hair.  I have to shower when I come home.  For home evening and companion study we read the first few pages of "Come Follow Me for personal and family study."  It is marvelous.  It will be so fun to study the gospel this way.  We are hopeful each of our children will study each week with our grandchildren.  It will bless and strengthen them.  We can't bear the thought of losing any of them."

We went to District Council on Tuesday.  The sisters have always been between five and ten minutes late coming out of their apartment regardless of what time I tell them we need to leave.  Last time was Zone Conference. Sister Owens politely told them it is not in good form to be late.  One of the sisters responded by saying they had total faith that I would get them there on time.  Well, since I decided not to break the speed limit that day, we got to conference about seven or eight minutes late.  The sisters got a call from one of the President's assistants exactly when the conference started.  He was wondering where they were.  So we arrived at the sisters apartment Tuesday morning to pick them up for District Council and they were stranding on the curb waiting for us.  They told us this time, no matter what, they were going to be early.  We'll see if they are early this next week or if it is like when the Bishop stands up and tells the congregation we need to be more reverent in Sacrament meeting.

Wednesday was a very frustrating day for us. More than a month ago we promised a member of the branch that we would reserve the day for her so we could take her to her doctor appointment (it was even going to be in her car, she just needed someone else to drive).  So that morning she called to tell us we wouldn't have to take her because her sister would take her.  It has been frustrating lately because no one could decide on a definite plan to participate in the Christmas on the River celebration this Saturday.  President James finally just told us the branch wouldn't do anything. Having a booth on the square would have been a little expensive for the branch but we talked about inviting those who wanted to (out of the 25,000 people who come for the event), to come to the branch building and have a free cinnamon roll and hot chocolate while they warm up for the nautical parade that evening.  We entertained the idea of asking him again if we could do it but decided against it since he already said we shouldn't.  It was hard to approach him about it when he had announced to the branch that we would keep our meeting time the same next year (9:00 AM)  because he wanted families to have the extra time later in the day to spend studying together.  Then in our implementation meeting with the Stake the Stake President said he wanted all of the stake to meet at 10:00 AM.  Even though he disagreed, President James announced the next week that our meeting time will be 10:00 AM because he intends to support our leaders. So we never did decide on a way to be of service on Saturday.  After Coordination meeting we were going with the sisters to an appointment to deliver a Book of Mormon to a single man.  The sisters were on exchange (for 24 hours) with the training leaders and the sister here with Sister Tennison was one of the Spanish speaking sisters (she is not Spanish).  When discussing the referral in coordination meeting, Brother Smith asked who it was, thinking it was a person the sisters had taught about a year ago.  It was a different person but the sisters decided we would try to see the other person as well.  We had to call the referral to get his address and he did not answer his phone, so we went to the other family that had been taught previously.  We had just stopped in front of his house when he drove up behind us.  We went to the door and Sister Womeldorf started talking to him in Spanish.  He invited us in and we made a couple comments about his beautiful Christmas tree and he just looked at Sister Womeldorf and she told him what we said.  We and Sister Tennison didn't say anything for the next fifteen minutes while he and Sister Womeldorf spoke with each other.  When we got back in the car I told Sister Womeldorf I thought it was amazing that she could do that.  She said it had to be the spirit because she hasn't spoken that much Spanish for a long time.  He told her they had gone to church a couple times before and they would be interested in having the missionaries come back and teach them again (Brother Smith speaks Spanish and can be there for the discussions). We called the referral they had and he still didn't answer his phone.  It is neat to see how the Lord works and has the right people in the right place at the right time.

Friday morning Sister Owens went to put up the new bulletin board (attachment #1) with Sister Patterson and we decided I would stay home and make some cinnamon rolls (attachment #2) and we would go and deliver them to people with a Light the World pass along card and encourage them to do service to others this month to honor the Savior. Our next door neighbor who just moved and left a plant and some area rugs which they said we could use just moved around the corner from us (so we thought; he did back up to the garage and unload a couch).  There was just him and his mother so we brought our little plate of four rolls and went to the back door (here if you go to the front door they think your are a politician or a salesman).  When we walked up the driveway we noticed a man sitting at a table with the porch light behind him so we couldn't see his face.  I assumed it was Josh and set the rolls in from of him and we started  visiting with him.  Well, he wasn't Josh and Josh and his mother didn't move into his house.  I asked how many people were in his house and he said "about fifteen right now."  His name was Frank and Josh was his nephew and Josh's mother was his sister.  They actually moved around the corner and down the street from him with Josh's brother.  They were moving the couch into Frank's garage because they didn't have room for it where they were moving.  To make a long story short (well not as long, anyway) Frank lives in that house.  His mother lives with him.  He has five siblings and most of them live in the same neighborhood.  We went home and got another dozen rolls and brought them back and were invited in.  We got to visit for a while with all of them.  They are a really neat close knit family.  Their dad died about fifteen years ago.  They were so gracious to us.  Sister Owens is going to get their mom's chili recipe and we need to find a way to introduce them to the gospel.

Saturday it rained in the morning during the COTR celebration, but the rest of the day was well over 70 degrees. Interesting how inspired our Branch President is about not having hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls. It was shirt sleeve weather for the nautical parade on the river at night.  We can't tell you how that went, we didn't go.  We cleaned the Branch building instead.

The Reed family (father, mother, and three children) have been meeting with the sisters for a few weeks.  At their last meeting the sisters asked when they could meet with them again and they said they weren't sure but they were coming to church with us this week.  The mom and two of the kids were there.  Their dad was gone with the national guard. Their nine year old boy is in class with one of the Smith children from the branch.  In class they were talking about scriptures.  They said they have the Bible. Clarisa explained that we have the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  Bryant (the Reed boy) went to Clarisa and said, "Do you believe in the Book of Mormon?"  Clarisa told him yes and he said, "So do we! The missionaries are teaching us."  Clarisa asked who the missionaries were and Bryant told her their names and Clarisa said, "Those are our missionaries."  Bryant always has to pray when the sisters come to teach them.  He insists.  They only stayed today for testimony meeting.  Just observing them, Bryant and his younger sister seemed to me to be more engaged in the meeting than their Mother did.  They seem like a really neat family.  The sisters say when the kids ask questions during the lessons their mother explains it to them and tells them exactly what the sisters just taught them.  We hope we will get to meet the father next week.  This evening we got to watch the First Presidency Devotional at the branch building with the Sisters.  It is broadcast on BYU TV and most of the members do get that so they don't come back to the building for the devotional.  It is quite a long drive for them.  We are going to download it and show it to those who didn't get to see it.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon

And serve others this Christmas season

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

PS.  We volunteered to come and read the Book of Mormon with the pot smoking husband each week.  We aren't sure who will develop a new habit first.  We hope it will be him.

Last get together before the big trip

All the current grandkids, Minus the Bohney's who couldn't all come. We missed them.

All the siblings and spouses except for Will who stayed in Texas.

All six kids. 

We had a great a marvelous morning. We started Early today. Met at the temple for a 6:30 sealing session where President Cragun was our sealer and we sealed couples and children for all time and Eternity. Rob & Suzie brought 30 family names but we only got to 20 of them, and Lisa & Pat brought 30 names.
After the temple we met together at Rob's church for one last family breakfast. We had breakfast burritos, donuts, muffins, fruit, milk, and juice. It was all wonderful I don't think anyone left hungry.
then we loaded up our little car and drove out of town.
Provo here we come!