My name is Billie Sue "Roop" Duty, I was named after both dad and mom.  My mom’s name is Patricia Sue "Blankenship" Roop and my dad’s is Billy Joe Roop.  When I was growing up I hated my name but now I love my name because it is a part of them both.  My family and close friends call me Baby Sue, which is after my mom too, she is Big Sue so I became Baby Sue when I was born into the world.  My aunt, who is a little over a year older than me, gave me my nick name.  I have a younger sister who I have always thought to be prettier and smarter than myself. She was baptized before me by about one week or less.  I feel because she made that step, I followed.  She was an example to me for many years, she was married and had her daughter before me and I just thought she was such a good mother, so when I married I wanted to be a mommy too.  I think she should have been the oldest, she was more outgoing and I was very shy.  I waited till I was eighteen to go try for my liscense because she would be sixteen and she could go too.

My parents have helped me to become the person I am today.  I know that this is true in most families but my situation is a little different.  I was born with no left hand and instead of doing everything for me, they let me learn ways of doing for myself.  They were always right there to help me if I needed it and they would help me find a way to do things that I needed two hands for.  For me, having one hand is not a big deal, I have always been this way.  But I suppose it could have been, if my familyhad acted different about it.  I know they worried about me growing up but they did an excellent job and I am so thankful for both of them.   My husband is always ready to help me find ways of doing things on my own, if I am having trouble.   You should see me play pool.

I married Rusty Evan Duty on December 31, 1988, we have one son Billy-Joe Evan, we call him BJ.  (I suppose you see that our son was named after me, Rusty, and his grandpa [my dad].)   He is now 14 years old, looks like his daddy and acts like him too.  BJ obeyed the gospel in September, 2001 about a week or so after his dad came back to Christ.  I first obeyed the gospel when I was 18 years old.  I tried hard to live God’s way. When BJ came along, I spent the first 5 years teaching him of God and His truth because I knew once school began we would not have as much time as we once did. By the time he was 4 years old I think he knew more than I did when I was 18.

A short story before I finish:  BJ received his first Bible when he was 4 and he wanted to read from it one night, so we did.  We read from Matthew 25 where He will divide the goats and the sheep, BJ stopped me when reading that part and said,  "Don’t tell me no more, Don’t tell me no more, my dad will be in that line of goats!"   Thankfully, BJ and I prayed for his dad from that night forward, and God answered.

In the year of 2000 I went through a very hard time in my life and I almost went the wrong way (away from God), with the help of my brother’s and sister’s in Christ, I turned it over to God and with His help I have become stronger in Christ.  I think in the last 4 years I have grown more in Christ than I ever thought possible and there is still so much that I do not know.   In the year of 2002 I decided to be re-baptized just to make sure that I was right with God.  I became concerned that maybe I followed my sister and did not realize what I was really doing.