This morning we took Sisters Grimm and Tevi to Macon for the Transfer Meeting. Sister Grimm was transferred out and now Sister Tevi will be training a new Sister, Sister Price, from Layton, UT. Apparently, she only lives about a mile away from us in Layton.  We were able to visit with many of the new incoming missionaries and also with several of our missionaries with whom we have served. It is always wonderful to see them.

After returning home we received a text message postponing our first appointment at 5:45; that left us with Brother Baum at 6:30 and the Wickam Family at 7:30. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Wickam's they were in the middle of dinner. He got home late, so they were all late eating. We visited for about 30 minutes and then left them with a prayer and a thought and went on our way.

We are happy to say that Elder Gowans' mom is home from the hospital and doing very well! She has been truly blessed! Heavenly Father has heard and answered our prayers. We also are happy to announce the birth of our second grandchild this month, Calvin Leon Gowans (not sure of the name yet); he along with Rebekah Wilkinson were born this month. We welcome these two new little spirits into our family.

 Calvin Leon Gowans(this might be his name): Born today

Rebekah Wilkinson: Born on the 4th

Being Columbus day, we didn't have Red Cross service this morning, so we caught up with some lose ends this and then this afternoon we headed out to visit several families. First, before going into that, let us just say that Elder Gowans' mom is doing great; her procedure went excellent, in fact they didn't have to do as severe an ablation as they first thought they would have to do. Our prayers have certainly been answered. She should be returning home tomorrow.

Our first stop was to find and visit a Sister whose husband works as a contractor in Afghanistan. We had been trying to reach her via a phone, but we figured the phone number we had been given was her husband's. We found her and had a nice visit with her. They are empty nesters and hope that his contract will continue on until the end of December 2014. We did find out that the phone number we had was indeed her husband's so we obtained hers and then gave her ours. We told her we would keep in touch with her and make sure she continues to do well.

From there we went to visit two families who had recently moved off of the Post and out to Evans. We wanted to see them to see how they were doing and renew our friendship with them. We really love these two families and miss them very much.

From there we went to visit Sister James; her husband should be home right around Halloween. She is doing well, although her children had been sick a lot during the summer, her health has been good. Her mother came and stayed with her off and  on during the deployment, so she has not been alone very much.

Our last stop was at Sister Arnett's; she was just on her way out, but we had a chance to make sure she was doing well also. She is our Librarian up on Post. We have had a wonderful day!

This morning, we left the house around 0640 and headed up to Post to pickup soldiers for today's temple trip. We were able to gather up all who were able to go. Unfortunately, one of the company commanders cancelled all the soldier's who had gained permission to go to the temple. For sure we had 3 maybe for from there who wanted to go. All together there were 12 in today's company. We had an excellent time and all who went had an excellent experience in doing the work for those who cannot do it for themselves. It is the great work of salvation for those who never had the opportunity while living on the earth to be baptized and receive other saving ordinances.

 This is a photo of the entire group who traveled with us. From left to right: Brothers Marzolf, Slade, Moore, Sister Gowans, Brothers Manwaring and Halford; Sister Oyston, Brothers Oyston, Amidan and Mardanlou.

 Brother Mardanlou

 Brother Moore

 Brothers Moore and Mardanlou

 The South Carolina Temple and Temple Grounds

This evening, after returning from the Temple, we went to visit Brother Derouen. He has decided to separate from the Army; the sooner the better he says. We will keep him in our prayers and hope for the best for him. We then went to find Brother DeLong. We have not seen him in 6 weeks. As we were leaving his apartment, after speaking to his wife, he came home; so we had a short visit with him and he promised to give us a call this coming week.

After that, all the missionaries who live in our apartment complex came over for a telecon from the Mission President. They talked a little about the upcoming transfers and our next visit from a General Authority.

Late this afternoon, Sister Gowans went out with the younger Sister missionaries to look up a referral. Unfortunately they didn't find the lady and whoever was at the house where she was supposed to be was not really friendly towards them.

This evening we conducted our weekly Institute class. We discussed the topic, "The Cause of Zion". We studied passages of scripture that prophesied of the Latter-day Zion that God would establish to prepare a people for the second coming of Jesus Christ. We dived into many scriptural passages that helped us understand the expectations, warnings, blessings and so forth that would come with the establishment of Zion.

This evening, we had the opportunity to teach Brother Kyle Janssen; we arrived a few minutes early and saw that our young missionaries hadn't arrived yet, so we commenced a review of the previous lesson and then launched into the lesson on the Plan of Salvation. About 10 or 15 minutes later they arrived and so from there on out we shared the instruction. The evening went real well with Kyle; we feel that the lesson on the Lord's Plan of Salvation for us is a real turning point in some people's gospel education. It opens up for view to the investigator how wondrous our potential truly is. His eyes were really opened up to vast expanse of eternity and what our part is in this wondrous plan of our Heavenly Father.

From there we took Stephanie Janssen with us to visit Sister Dixon and her son Jack. We've been trying to help her get acquainted with other sisters in the area. We reviewed with them the commandments of our Father in Heaven, paying particular attention to keeping the Sabbath Day, Church attendance, the need for commandments. Sister Janssen was really glad she went, she enjoyed sharing her experiences and her testimony with Sister Dixon and Jack.

Then we get home: As we walk in the door we see pieces of ceiling all over the counter along with puddles of water here and there. We look above the counter and see obvious signs of water coming down through the ceiling. Elder Gowans went and knocked on the door upstairs and the fellow who lives there opened up; Elder Gowans explained what was going on, he went to look under the sink and sure enough it was very wet. Our upstairs neighbor said he would call about it in the morning. That was fine, they wouldn't run any more water down the drain and so we thought we would be fine. Elder Gowans then walked over to the Meacham's apartment to check on it. He opened the door and there in the middle of the floor was a large puddle of water and huge pieces of ceiling hanging down and laying on the floor. Well, to make a long story short, he went to get Sister Gowans to help clean the mess up and at the same time we called After Hours Emergency;  they came out in 5 minutes. The upstairs apartment was being renovated and the renovators had left the under-sink valve slightly open so it was dripping, that drip turned into a puddle and soon the puddle began working its way through the floor and into the Meacham's ceiling; and now the ceiling is on the floor.

As you can tell, it has been an interesting evening. We don't know if we will tell the Meacham's or not :)!

This morning, we conducted our normal Wednesday Library Service; Sister Gowans worked with the librarians on the children's program and Elder Gowans did shelf reading on the last 3 rows of books in the nonfiction area. Shelf reading is simply making sure all the books are in order.

This afternoon, two of our fines AIT students graduated, we were able to attend the graduation for Brother Maxfield and  Brother Hochstetler. Both are from Utah and both are in the National Guard.

Brother Maxfield and Brother Hochstetler

After graduation, we stayed on post and went to see Sister Sanders; she is due with her baby on the 25th, but could deliver at anytime. When we arrived at the house we found Leyna, dad and grandma, but no Crystal. Come to find out she was waiting for meds at the hospital. While we waited for her, we went to pick up the missionaries for a dinner appointment there; when we arrived back Crystal came whom. We were asked to give her a blessing and did so. We left right after that and went to the Huddle House for dinner. It is like a Dees Restaurant. After dinner, we went to visit Sister Murray; we learned that her husband is due home on November 21st; that day cannot come soon enough for this family. It has really been difficult. Sarah, the 8 year old daughter, who is 70% deaf, is having a real difficult time in school;  the oldest boy is going to go through testing prior to major back surgery, sometime right after dad gets home; so they really have their trials. 

This morning, we met our other Sister Missionaries at Target; Sister Gowans climbed in the car with them and drove to Macon, GA for our mission's first Sister's conference. Elder Gowans remained behind and eventually met up with Elder Bennett one of our Spanish speaking Elders. They spent the entire remainder of the day together visiting members, investigators, friends, Sisters with deployed spouses and so on. We had a great day, Sister Gowans at the conference being spiritually renewed, and Elder Gowans out visiting many of our Father in Heaven's children who needed a spiritual lift.