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

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 54: "Are you FBI"; Church of Jesus Christ senior couple missionaries arrested for shoplifting, well almost

Dear Family and Friends,

Our favorite thing for this whole week was the baptism of our grandson, Corbin, in Boise.  We are so proud of him and excited for him.  And our granddaughter, Shelby, had a birthday in Pocatello.  To celebrate she and her friends went to the Twin Falls Temple to do baptisms for the dead.  Twin Falls was the only Idaho temple she hadn't yet been to.  What a special thing to do for her birthday.  We are so proud of her as well.

Monday was definitely not my most fun experience so far.  I went out with President James to confirm with a couple in the branch that they wanted their names removed from the records of the church.  It was a really friendly gentleman that Sister Owens and I met last summer.  President and Sister James went with them to the temple as their escorts about twelve years ago and just a few weeks later they quit coming to church.  They have asked several times since then to remove their names.  So now we are doing as they have asked.  The mayor of York is a member of the church that threatens the church with a law suit every time she gets a communication from the church.  She got an invitation from us for our Branch Conference and called several leaders in the stake threatening legal action, so her name removal is under way as well.  I told President James I feel kind of badly.  We are removing three members from the records and there have only been four people baptized since we came here.  We did stop and see the Bullards that we are hoping are starting to become active again after several years and we had a good visit with them.  President just found out where they actually live.  Brother Bullard and I just sat there for quite a while listening to Sister Bullard and President James reminisce about all the people they both used to know years ago in the branch.   As we got outside Greensboro on the way home the serpentine belt broke and we stopped on the side of the road.  A nice black gentleman in a pickup stopped to see if he could help.  He offered to take us back into town (about a mile) to the mechanic's shop.  I got out and told them I would stay with the car.  He looked at me and said, "What are you guys doing….are you FBI?"  I told him no, and assumed President James would explain on the way back to town.  He came back followed by the mechanic and President James in another pickup.  Then the gentleman that helped us went on his way and the mechanic said we could drive the car back to the shop without the belt.  Then the car wouldn't start so he was going to give us a jump, and I thought it was kind of strange that he had to look so closely and try so many times to release the hood latch on the truck so he could give us the jump.  Each time we got the car started it wouldn't keep running so they finally decided to tow it back to the shop.  After the strap either came apart or fell off the ball on the pickup about three times, we finally got going down the road with about four feet between us and the pickup with no power steering and no power brake.  We made it to the shop without incident.  They had the belt we needed and got it replaced for us in about forty-five minutes. While we were waiting President James told me the pickup they used didn't belong to the shop.  It was a customers truck.  We were glad it just happened to have jumper cables and a tow strap, and he just happened to find them.  Then I understood why the mechanic had such a hard time figuring out how to release the hood latch.  When they were filling out the bill before we left the mechanic said, "We'll just call it a free tow."  President James told him we appreciated that very much.

We took the sisters to Eutaw for a couple follow up visits and referral contacts both of which fell through, so we did a little hunting for inactive members.  One moved a year ago, one wasn't home, and one was a woman whose boyfriend was taught by the sisters about a year and a half ago.  We were told that her boyfriend was all ready to be baptized but she had found some "anti" literature and put an end to it.  They haven't been to church since, so we were ready for her to tell us not to bother them when she appeared at the door.  Sister Owens asked her how she felt about the church.  She said she was glad we stopped by because just a few days ago they were discussing coming back to church.  We visited for a while at the door and she told us she would come to church this Sunday.  We were all pretty happy on the drive back to Demopolis.

We had another discussion with James and he said he would be at church this Sunday and said he would like to be baptized the latter part of April.  Then we met again with Joe Davis at the Trucking company.  We got there before the sisters and Joe gave us the rundown on how to skin and cook a beaver.  He says they are a very clean animal and the meat is very lean and is just like a big piece of roast beef.  He says you cook it, head and all.  He says because of their powerful jaws there is a lot of good meat on the head.  Anyway, I digress.  We had a great discussion with him.  He committed to baptism the end of April—if he is ready.  The sisters had prepared a calendar for him so he can stop his coffee by the baptism date.  I asked him if he had other concerns besides the coffee as far as being ready to be baptized.  He said, to be honest he argues with himself a lot about whether or not he is really worthy. So I told him what came to my mind last week about the fact that he does not have to get perfect to enter the Lord's kingdom.  You enter the Lord's kingdom to get perfect.  It seemed to make a difference for him and he has changed his thinking about being ready for baptism.  He told the sisters that they keep telling him that he will be blessed if he reads every day and is baptized.  He told us, "I am blessed, I am really blessed everyday.  The only way I could be more blessed would be if he received a golden invitation to enter heaven."  It was a neat thing to hear and to see how thankful he is for the Lord's influence in his life.  We tried to explain how much better it will be after he is given the gift of the Holy Ghost.  It is a hard thing for them to understand when they have not experienced the gift in all aspects of their life.  He said he would be at church this week and we told him we would show him the baptismal font when he comes.

Saturday morning we decided we wanted to fix something in the crock pot for lunch and we needed to get a few things from the store.  We stopped to get them before we went on our walk.  We came out from the store and put the groceries in the car and Sister Owens took the buggy to the buggy return and I got in and started the car.  Before she got in the car she knocked on the tailgate and told me to wait a minute.  Then she opened the door and said we had to go back because our card didn't go through.  I turned off the car and got out and the lady from the store was out in the middle of the parking lot waiting for us.  As I started to go back into the store I realized I had no recollection of taking my wallet out of my pocket and getting my credit card and putting it in the reader at the self-checkout to pay for the groceries.  It was a little awkward trying to explain to her that we "just forgot" to pay.  She said it was just good that she was able to catch us before we drove away.  Yah, that way she didn't have to call and report us to the police. The funny thing was that when we arrived at the store I turned around in the traffic lane and parked in the front parking space pointed the other direction and said to Sister Owens, "Now we are headed the right direction for our quick getaway."  I just love Alabama, and I'm sure some of the people here just love me, or at least they find me quite entertaining.  Getting old is so fun.

Sunday was kind of a bummer for us.  None of the people that said they were going to come to church came.  Even the Kirks, that we had a really nice visit with this week and told them how good we feel each week when we see them in church, dropped off all their non-member nieces and nephews and went home.  President James was out of town to see his mother and the Morgans (President's counselor) were ill and didn't come.  Brother White was laying on the floor in his apartment when the Bordens stopped to pick him up for church and is now back in the hospital.  The Elders Quorum president conducted Sacrament Meeting and I helped pass the sacrament and all twenty-six of us had a very nice testimony meeting.  As Sister Weaver always says, "That's missionary work."

The church is true and things can only get better.  We are so excited for General Conference next week.  We hope you will all make time to listen to all the sessions and learn from our prophets and apostles.  The continuing restoration is so exciting to witness.

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

We love y'all,

Elder and Sister Owens

Week 53: Not so hot on the details after all, and some true Alabama outback experiences

Dear Family and Friends,

So we took the car into the shop Monday morning and walked home.  An hour later we got a call and were told that the right part came in with a damaged box and the part had a hole in it, so they would not be able to fix the car until they could get another part on Tuesday.  So we walked back and got the car and took it back at the end of the day after we rented a car to use on Tuesday to drive around and do our apartment inspections.

Tuesday we got away on time and all went well for our first inspection in Selma (except that we forgot to get all of our supplies that we normally take with us to replace lightbulbs, mop heads, batteries, etc.—to much fiasco with the car rental).  Half way to our second inspection we were fifteen minutes ahead of schedule and came to the junction where we turn to go to Greenville and the road was closed to thru traffic.  A detour sign was attached to the stop sign at the corner with an arrow that pointed to the left, so we turned to take the detour.  After about thirty-five miles and no detour signs we turned around to ask a highway worker we passed on the way for directions.  He wasn’t from around here and said the only other way he knew that we could get to Greenville was to go back to Highway 80 and go to Montgomery and then back to Greenville (would have taken the rest of the day). We went the rest of the way back to the original intersection where the road was closed.  There were trucks and equipment there when we first arrived, so we planned to ask them which way to go for the detour.  Not a soul anywhere.  We went around the sign and headed down the road.  We went several miles and started to think we were going to reach Greenville before we got to the road repair.  Nope.  We came to a pile of dirt across the entire road higher than the car.  A culvert was washed out and of course there wasn’t anyone around.  We had passed a car just a mile or two back that apparently had reached the same point and turned around.  I watched him in the rear view mirror and saw him pull over in a driveway behind us.  We turned around and went to the same driveway and were trying to get an alternate route on the cell phone but had no satellite coverage (of course).  Then a mail delivery person drove by headed in the direction of the wash out.  We turned around to chase him down and ask him how we could get to Greenville.  We caught him just as he was coming back to the road from a driveway.  He said that stop was as far as his route took him and then he goes back the other way and had been wondering why the road was closed.  We told him he would know if he went a mile or two further.  We asked him for an alternate route to Greenville.  He also told us the only way he knew was to go back to Highway 80 and go to Montgomery and then back to Greenville.  Since we still had two other inspections and had to be back to return the rental car by 4:30 we decided the Greenville inspection was not going to happen and called the sisters to let them know.  Sister Sactomah was being transferred and had to go through all her bags to find a map and then guided us back along the county roads to a different route to Greenville.  After we turned around at the closed intersection and headed back the way we came we saw detour signs at each junction where she told us we needed to turn but there was nothing at the intersection telling us to make a U-turn and go back the way we came.  We got to Greenville about an hour late instead of fifteen minutes early.  We did get to the rest of our inspections without further incident and got to the car rental office at 4:15 and then picked up our car at the shop and the repairs were actually done.  Apartment inspections are one of the perks of being a senior couple we get to see the missionaries and buy things for them that they need (we are reimbursed) and they are really happy and appreciate us a lot (attachment #1).

Wednesday was transfers and we always stop at Costco on the way home from transfers.  This time we had to make changes to our membership status and wouldn’t you know, this was the second time so far on our mission that we did not have to take one of the sisters to transfers.  They are both staying in the area for at least another transfer.  So we had to take a little more than half the day driving to Costco and back anyway. The sisters called and asked us to take them out to see Joe (the Dana Trucking dispatcher).  We found out we were going to see him at his farm.  It is on the way to Greensboro.  Sister Weaver, our missionary from Chicago, who spent her entire life in south side Chicago has learned many new things since coming to Alabama.  That day I think her knowledge about the animal kingdom increased exponentially. She now knows about cows and bulls, rams and ewes, lambs and kids, roosters and hens, etc., etc.  Quite the eye opening experience for her (attachment #2).  They were pretty excited to be up close and personal with the farm animals and to feed the goats chocolate chip cookies (attachment #3).  Sister Owens even demonstrated the fine art of loosing your shoe in the mud (attachment #4).  You might also notice the typical Alabama farm in the background in attachment #2.

Thursday the sisters said they were running out of miles and asked us to take them to Book of Mormon class.  So we took them and Sister Jones to Greensboro and dropped off the sisters at class then drove back with Sister Jones (she likes to go with us wherever she can to ride in the car instead of sitting in her apartment) to pick up Sister Borden and go back to class.  Then we made two trips afterword to get everybody home (our Alabama Taxi service is still going strong).  Class was really good.  Brother White was there for the first time in more than a month, I think.  He was really tired though.  He just listened instead of taking a turn to read.  He had already had dialysis for six hours before class.  On the way home from class we got a call that Ollie needed to get to the med-center and couldn’t find anyone to get her there.  We drove into town just in time and took her over.  We left her there and went home and just got sat down to rest when she called to say she was done and we could pick her up.  Our appointment that evening cancelled and we were actually glad as we were quite tired and ready to retire for the day.  It was rescheduled for Friday at 11:00 AM.

Friday we went to the discussion with James and the sisters.  He can’t come to church with us because he has to teach Sunday School at his church.  He is in Mosiah with his reading of the Book of Mormon.  He actually listens to it every day on his phone.  We can tell from the answers he gives us that he understands our message, and he says he has to decide if he wants to be baptized or not.  He is typical of so many here.  He just seems to like the churches that only expect you to come on Sunday and listen to the sermon and drop a donation in the plate instead of one where you are asked to actually serve and give of yourself.  He tells us every time that he feels the Book of Mormon is true and understands that Joseph Smith has to be a prophet if the book is true.  After our discussion we pretty much spent the rest of the day preparing food for the Potluck on Sunday.  In the morning Sister Smith brought us a house guest, Gonzo.  They needed someone to take care of their hedge hog while they are camping for spring break (attachment #5).

Saturday we did our P-day chores and cleaned the church and had a discussion scheduled with Joe Davis in the evening.  He called the sisters and told them he was not feeling well and would rather not have a lesson.  He said if we just wanted to stop by and say hi, that would be okay.  We all went over and visited with him for about an hour.  He said he was glad we came and that he was feeling a lot better.  He said if he had a good night he would try to come to church.  He told us he cooked up a great big batch of cornbread for the potluck but he didn’t put enough eggs in it and it was really dry so he fed it to the animals.

Sunday has been a good day.  We were expecting a pretty good crowd at church because we were having the potluck.  When I took the attendance count we only had 32 people there.  That was actually not too bad with the Smith family out of town for spring break (all nine of them).  We did think there would be a few more because of the potluck.  We felt bad when the meeting started and Joe wasn’t there, but he walked in about ten minutes late and sat behind us.  Yesterday Sister Owens and I were discussing the lesson for Priesthood and Relief Society which was based on Elder Holland’s conference talk about the ministry of reconciliation.  We wondered if anyone in the branch other than the five leaders actually even had heard it or read it.  We thought it would be good to just play the video of his talk and then discuss it.  We were right.  No one had heard it but the five active leaders of the branch.  We really had a very good discussion after viewing the video.  During the potluck Joe asked the sisters if we wanted to come over about 4:00 and teach him a lesson.  We had a great lesson with him and discussed the possibility of baptism in about a month.  I think he is thinking he just about has to be perfect before he feels like he should be baptized.  Coffee is the only problem he really has to overcome and he has a plan to do that.  As we were leaving I got the impression that next time we see him I need to tell him that you don’t get perfect to join the Lord’s kingdom, you join the Lord’s kingdom to get perfect.  We are kind of feeling bad that he has put his home in Moundville up for sale and plans to move down to Mobile by about June.

Keep the commandments and read your Book of Mormon everyday.

We love y’all,

Elder and Sister Owens