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

Dear Family and Friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

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

Week 55: Long Weekend + Late Night = Short Email

Dear Family and Friends,

We had a wonderful Zone Conference Tuesday.  It was a very long day and the theme of the Conference was member involvement in missionary work and fellowshipping.  President Sainsbury wanted us to know that when we bring people to church, if they sit within the first four rows there is a much greater chance that they will feel the spirit.  Sister Owens noted that was the one thing we have down to perfection in Demopolis.  We only have four rows of chairs in our chapel.  After the conference Sister Weaver talked to President Sainsbury and said it was a great conference but she didn't know of anything they talked about that we can do in Demopolis.  He told her to take really good notes and use them when she is transferred to a ward.  At least he understands our situation.  About eighty percent of the sisters' teaching appointments this week fell through due to sickness or just the people not being home.  It has been a pretty hard week, so it has been really nice to finish up the week with a fantastic General Conference.

Brother Foote lives in Northport (by Tuscaloosa).  That is one of Sister Beauquez' previous areas.  She was teaching his niece.  The two of them were going to be in Greensboro Wednesday and wanted to take the sisters to lunch.  The niece was ill and couldn't come so they invited us to go with them.  It was awesome to visit with him and hear his testimony of how he joined the church.  The elders worked with him for about five months and he wouldn't keep any of his commitments.  Finally before one of them was transferred (he was trained in the area and was leaving) he confronted Brother Foote and told him for five months they have been meeting with him and he hasn't come to church and he hasn't prayed about the Book of Mormon.  He asked him if he would commit to doing that.  He told him he would.  He said to us that he was a person that follows through with the commitments that he makes so he had to go to church.  When Sunday came his wife told him not to go, but he knew he had to because he told them he would.  When he left for church he realized he told them he would pray about it and he hadn't yet, so he ran back into the house and knelt down and prayed.  He prayed and asked God to not let anyone there notice that he was there and to let him know if the church was true.  He walked in a few minutes late and nobody said anything to him.  There was an empty seat right next to the missionaries and he sat there but neither of them said anything to them.  He said he noticed that there were a lot of kids and they were a little noisy.  He was a little offended and then he thought Christ would have wanted the children to be in his church.  Then he remembered that he always had a hang up about the members of the church practicing polygamy.  And he thought that Christ would not judge them for that, so he shouldn't.  Then he felt the spirit tell him that it is the true church and he thought, "Wait a minute, if it is true then all those people that practiced polygamy were good and they were supposed to do that."  And he wasn't concerned about that anymore.  Then he got up and left early and went home and nobody at church even acknowledged that he was there.  He told us to be careful what we pray for because the Lord answers our prayers.  Later the Elder called him and said, "You came to church today, didn't you?"  He said he did.  The Elder asked him if he prayed and he said he did.  Then he asked him if he would be baptized.  He said, "Of course I will, it's true."  He had an appointment to look at a building lot in Greensboro.  It would be so neat to have him in the  branch.  He has such a strong testimony and desire to serve.  We found out later that he has been talking about coming to Greensboro for about ten years.

Friday night we got a text from our son, Robert, advising us that a few hours before he was set apart as an ordinance worker in the temple and that his wife thought we might like to know (Thank you Suzie).  What an opportunity.  We are excited for him and very pleased that he is able to serve in that capacity.

Saturday we went to the Branch building and got set up for conference so we could watch it with the sisters.  That's about how it goes on the Saturday of conference.  Of course all the active people get the BYU channel on satellite so they don't come to the branch.  Just before the meeting started Sister Humphreys (Attachment #1) came in with her parents (Attachment #2).  She was one of the sisters serving here when we came last March.  She was one of the sisters that watched conference with us a year ago.  We had a great little reunion.  And Brother Humphreys was there with us for Priesthood meeting with President James and his son and Brother Smith and his sons and myself.   All the sessions were so awesome, including Sunday.  We had a few of the branch members come on Sunday morning and one non-member, James, came as well.  We took him home after the morning session and we asked him what he thought about conference.  He said he enjoyed it.  That was about the longest sentence we have heard him say since we started meeting with him with the sisters.  He seems to be extremely anti-social.  President James tried to visit with him at conference but he just didn't talk much.

Our late night tonight was due to another meeting with the Bullards.  Rick watched Elder Homer and Elder Holland speak yesterday and was very impressed.  He recorded the priesthood session and the sessions today.  We asked them how their day went today and they told us they went to church this morning and everyone was really happy to see them.  They went back to their Baptist church.  He said he wants a hard copy of Elder Holland's talk so he can use it to preach to the congregation at the Baptist church and then ask them if he sounds like a man of God or a fraud.  I'm sure he could have a lot of influence on the Baptist congregation but he is still missing the boat on what he needs to do to come back and learn all the truth that he turned his back on so many years ago.

We hope everyone got to watch all of conference.  If you didn't, be sure to go to the website and watch them.  They were all so awesome.  To quote President Nelson, "Do it now, time is running out."

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon and study the conference talks.

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 33: Yeah! We have gas! and three visits with the Mission President.

Dear Family and Friends,

We had another busy week but it was a rewarding one.  Monday morning Sister Owens had a Relief Society Presidency meeting at the church.  The President wore pants.  She told her councilor that she was going to and her councilor said, "Well that's good because we are going to anyway."  They didn't get very much done because they only had an hour and a half and then we had to leave for Birmingham.  We got to have a lunch/BBQ with the rest of the senior couples and President and Sister Sainsbury.  That is why Sister Owens wore pants to the presidency meeting.  There were only four couples that went on the last senior couple outing but this was the first time that all of the senior couples in the mission were together for the same activity (see attachment #2).  It was really a special time for all of us.  As we have said before, we really enjoy the times we get together.  It is renewing and refreshing for us.

Last Wednesday when we arranged to take Sister Rogers shopping Friday and then couldn't, we also told her we would come this Tuesday and paint her hallway for her.  After our trip to Birmingham on Friday we came home and were a little chilly.  The temperature got down in the 40s during the night so we decided to turn on the furnace.  It was about 67 degrees in the house and after the furnace had been on for an hour we were wondering why the air blowing across our faces in bed was so cold.  I got up and checked the thermostat and the furnace noticing that it was a degree colder than it was when we turned on the furnace. I saw a nice red glow coming from the gas furnace and thought everything should be alright, then I noticed that it was just the ignitor that was glowing and we had no flame.  Long story short after several texts to our landlord the next morning (Saturday, of course), we had to contact the gas company to have the gas turned on.  The housing coordinator had to do it and said he would get back to us Monday after he contacted them.  When he called Monday he told us they couldn't come that day but would be out Tuesday morning.  We had to be here so they could come in and check the furnace.  They were going to call just before they would arrive.  We thought it would work and we would just have to delay the painting until late morning or early afternoon.  About 10:30 we finally called the company to get some idea when we could expect someone and they told us it could be anytime between then and 4:30 in the afternoon.  At that point we had to call the sisters back, who were going to go with us to paint and tell them we were still waiting on the gas man and weren't sure when we would be available.  He showed up about 3:00 PM and the sisters were finished with the painting at about 2:30.  The tender mercy in all of it was that the sisters had an exchange for that day with the Senior Training Leaders and they were meeting halfway to trade companions.  The halfway point is in Eutaw (that's Utah for you westerners).  That is just miles from Sister Rogers house by the river.  Also the senior trainers are in a threesome right now so they actually planned to have three sisters in our area for the day.  So three sisters were there to do the painting and Sister Rogers said they all seemed like they had done plenty of painting before and knew what they were doing.  She was very pleased and said they had done a very good job.  We aren't so sure she would have been so happy with the results if it had been us doing the painting. After the gas got turned on we headed for Sister Rogers' home to take her to Eutaw to pick up her medication.  The sisters couldn't do that since the mission rules prohibit any passengers in the mission vehicles unless they are on Team ups.  She had us inspect the paint job and it really was well done.  The sisters are real pros.

Wednesday we had our second visit with the Mission President when we took the three sisters to Tuscaloosa for Interviews and District council meeting.  It made for a bit of a long day but it is always good to meet with the President and with the missionaries in the district.  We got to take our bike rack so we could bring Sister Tennyson's bike back with us after the meeting.  She had taken it on exchanges so they could use it in Tuscaloosa.  All the missionaries use their bikes as much as possible, even when they are assigned cars, so that they can conserve miles on the mission vehicles.  On our way home we took the sisters to see Greg and Cornelia.  They were the ones that gave us directions to Cornelia's brother a couple weeks ago so we could deliver a Book of Mormon.  Greg told us to come back and missionary his wife after she got better from her surgery that she had that day.  Greg went in the other room as soon as we got there so we thought he probably wasn't really interested.  We visited with Cornelia for a while and Greg came back and during our discussion he shared a lot about how he recognized God's influence throughout his life.  We ran out of time and the sisters asked if we could leave a Book of Mormon and come back next week and discuss it with them.  They were happy to get the book and said they would read it.  We have an appointment to see them this Tuesday.

Thursday we took Ollie to see her attorney, Colonel Thomas H. Boggs, a seventy-nine year old retired Green Beret.  He is a very nice man and was a little skeptical of us (since we were there with Ollie to discuss her financial situation) until he found out who we were.  He had known members of the church in the service when he spent time in Utah and Idaho and was very impressed with them.  He was glad that we were there to help Ollie.  Our hour with him flew by and Ollie got some very good advice from him.  He and Ollie have apparently been friends for a good share of their lives and he was just a little upset with her when he found out how serious her situation is for not coming to see him a long time ago.  Her concern all the time we have been talking to her is how expensive it would be to involve her attorney.  As we left his office she asked him how much he was bill was going to be.   He gestured with his fingers that it was zero and said he felt bad that she waited so long to talk to him. (He also got a little hot under the collar when he found out that her own son is charging her $400 a month to come once a week and sweep and mop her floors for her).

Friday we drove to Selma and Greenville to inspect the missionaries' apartments.  It was good to get to visit again with the missionaries and hear how the work is going in their areas.  The elders in Selma have  been working with the fiancé of one of the members of their branch.  They showed us the text they received from the fiancé that morning.  It said, "Just wanted to let you know Kenny is dead, they found him this morning."  The Elders told us he had been shot during the night.  Selma is kind of a violent city.  The elders say they hear gunshots right and left often. After showing us the text, one of the Elders told us it is the kind of thing you have to laugh about or else you cry.

We had Stake Conference this weekend (our third time to get to see President and Sister Sainsbury).  It was a great conference.  We had to drive almost two hours to Bessemer to attend Priesthood Leadership at 2:00 and then the adult session was at 4:00 and we started home at about 6:30.  They broadcast the Sunday session so we only had to get members to the branch building this time.  Last conference we only got twelve people to the session in the rented van.  This time we had at least thirty there in the building.  I feel kind of badly that they said the only reason they broadcast it is because they couldn't get a venue that would accommodate the whole stake.  They really want to meet all together.  Next spring they will be able to get the activity center on the Montavallo campus again and will not be broadcasting it to any buildings.  It is going to prevent a number of our branch members from attending again.  At the conference President Sadler told us about when Elder Bednar came as a visiting authority to Marianna Florida in the Hurricane Michael relief effort.  He told them that if they thought the shortened Sunday meeting schedule was just to give them more time to do things like watch football, they were mistaken.  He said this will be a part of the separation of the wheat and the tares.  We will receive the kingdom in which we abide.  The stake patriarch spoke Saturday evening.  One of the things he said is that he always tries to tell people they need to "stop doing silly things."  We really need to pay more attention to, and do, the things that are of eternal consequence.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon!!

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

PS.  Attachment #1 is the sunset from Sister Rogers home on the river.  It's dark here now by about 6:00 PM.

Oatmeal Cake

Made oatmeal cake for anyone that comes to conference today. If it's good we'll make one for Book of Mormon Study class on Thursday.