Hello from Bama 10-10-16

HELLO FROM BAMA!

This week was CRAZY!!  Crazy good!! Bama is seriously heaven.  The weather is out.of.this.world.  Incredible!! I forget I am in Alabama sometimes because I am not sweating 24/7.  It is coool and this morning had to wear a coat!!

First off we are entering the last week of the transfer.  CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?  I am still in shock.  This transfer went by so quick!  We find out this Saturday what our news is.  I have a strong feeling I will stay here with Sister Frazer and finish training her here in Demopolis.  I am excited!!  We have been doing some great work here and I know the fruits of our labors will show in the coming weeks.  But we will see! Transfers are always unpredictable so who knows what will happen.  

We have been working with a less active lady recently, Sister ******.  She was baptized around 20 years ago but has very little gospel knowledge. And has not been to church in many many years.   But what she DOES know and remember is that we have an "overseer" (what she likes to Call President Monson)  haha or a prophet today!  Since General Conference was last week we watched some of it with her and gave her some to watch on her tablet.  SHE LOVES the Gospel Library app and loves watching the Mormon messages.  She lives in the straight up ghetto.  She wants to come back to church but we have been working on baby steps.  Right now we have been focusing on reading the Book of Mormon every day.  She is SUCH a character.  I wish I could just film a conversation with her.  She'll have you bouncing laughing so hard one minute and then the next she will be having you on your toes with your eyes so big, listening to one of her stories.  She calls us her "Babies"  and has committed to coming to church this Sunday for the first time in a VERY long time.  Pray for her this week!!

Whiling tracting near Sister ******* apartment one day we found *** and ***!  We met with ***almost every day this week. She is so amazing!!  We taught her the Restoration and, like always, the devil threw so many distractions at her during the lesson.  Kids running around EVERYWHERE screaming,  rap music blaring from outside, and so many more!  Luckily the spirit was still so strong.  She told us she knew God sent us to her and that she sincerely wants to change her life and be better.  She believes everything we teach her but ALSO genuinely wants to know for herself, through prayer. Friday night *** her sister, came to the church and we had a church tour with a member.  We showed her around and you could feel the spirit so strong!  I live for teaching experiences like that where people just get it.  You can see in their eyes that the spirit is working with them, witnessing to them of the truthfulness of this message, bringing it to their remembrance!  The key is following through!

Later in the week I got to feeling pretty sick. But that doesnt stop the work!  We had an activity in Greensboro, where alot of our members live, to help the members invite their nonmembers! We set up a volleyball net and played volleyball and had a spiritual thought and invited everyone to worship with us this Sunday!! It was a great success!  Pretty much the entire apartment complex came out and played with us.  It got pretty chaotic with that many competative people but it all worked out! The next day, we made our way back to Greensboro and had our weekly Greensboro Gospel class.  I LOVE THIS CLASS. It is probably the highlight of my week.  The Greensboro people are just something else.  Like I have explained, the members here are still struggling with Gospel knowledge so this class' purpose is to help them in their Gospel knowledge and leadership skills.  And guess who came?! ****! Remember ****?  We taught him for a few weeks and then poof! He disappeared, told us he didn't want to come to church or come to class.  I guess he had a change of heart because he now has a car and wants to come to church! WOOHOOOO!!

We also had a Multi-Zone Conference on Friday.  A General Authority, Elder Dyches, came and spoke to the southern half of the mission along with President and Sister Sainsbury.  It was such a privilege!  I left with new motivation and enthusiasm for missionary work along with things I can improve on.  Alot of it was on Planning.  This is something We had decided as the Missionary Leadership Council that the ABM needed to work on.  It was fantastic! The blessings of planning in Missionary work is HUGE.   Not only will it help in literally every aspect of missionary work but also in every aspect of our lives!

FUNNY STORY:

One day Sister Frazer and I had about 45 minutes before we had an appointment so we decided to tract 1) becuase we need to find more people to teach! and 2) Because I honestly like it!  You always have a funny story to come from tracting!! 

So we come across some weird, maybe government housing looking place.  We knock a few doors and everyone is super odd.  We had just talked to some really weird people one right after another....So we were questioning our choice of tracting when we see a lady sitting on her porch who looked fairly normal! She told us she was working and on the clock and then proceeded to tell us that the place we had been knocking was a government owned housing for people who just recently got out of the Mental health Hospital, Insane Asylum, trying to get back on their feet in the real world and this lady was their Supervisor or babysitter to watch them and make sure they are okay.  hahaha so yeah.  We were just tracting an Insane Asylum.  

When we asked her if we were okay here she said " Yeah yall should be fine.  Just remind them to take their meds." hahaha  one man followed us as we were leaving, he asked us to tell him about Moses and was convinced he met us in Mississippi.  Quite an interesting experience!  

I still LOVE being a missionary.  I am as obsessed with this work as you can be.  I have faith in my Savior Jesus Christ.  I know He lives and loves us.  I know that we must pay attention to those very things of eternal importance.   

I cant believe how many miracles Heavenly Father has done for us. Each day serving this mission is the greatest miracle of all!!

Stay Steadfast in Christ. Nothing wavering!!  

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Moline

9-19-16

 Chicatanas! YUM 

 Chicatanas! YUM 

 Me and Kya, She wants to be a missionary one day!

This is a member of the branch, Sister Borden. I LOVE HER hahaha she is so funny!  She has been a member for 4 years now. and Just got sealed to Brother Borden in the Temple a few months ago.  She loves to talk about how she and Brother Borden are going to be together forever! 

9-26-16

 President and Sister Sainsbury

 Sister Anderson, Benoni, and me

Sister Benoni and me.  The love of my life!

I”VE DONE BEEN MISSIONAIRED!

9-26-16

ALOHA Fam!! 

Such a blessing that it is no longer 1000 degrees in the mornings like it has been!   I feel fall coming soon!! It is cool early in the mornings but then it feels like its mid July by the time noon hits!  

This week was so gooooood!! We had our quarterly Temple Trip on Thursday and then exchanges with the STLs on Friday!  Oh and the Temple was so wonderful!  I absolutely love the feeling of peace there that I cannot get in any other place.  I am constantly amazed at the beautiful world we live in.  And the perspective of eternity makes this life seem so short yet so significant.  I always leave the temple feeling better than I did before.  It was also so fun seeing so many missionaries that I have become friends with over the past year!  Friends that will last beyond the mission.  

Our stls are Sister Benioni (my Hawaiian bff from the CCM) and Sister Anderson (my trainee and bff while serving in Athens, AL)  Both my past companions!!  It was SO much fun to be with them, two of my favorite people in the mission, and seeing how Sister Anderson has grown and changed so much from when i first trained her many moons ago!  And of course Sister Benioni, we have been together since the VERY beginning and have gone through alot together! I was her stl last transfer and now she is mine!  So fun!!  Sister Anderson and I went to Mi Pueblo, it is basically a walmart for hispanics that are found all around Alabama!  We talked to this older hispanic man and started reading with him in the Book of Mormon in the middle of one of the isles! He looked at me directly and asked me why I am here, at a Mi Pueblo, giving him this book, it was a wonderful opportunity I had to share my testimony of the truthfulness of the message we share and how, if he allows it, that book can bless his life.  We had an awesome conversation!!  Also on that same exchange, we were looking for a hispanic less active family and instead we met a lady who's son is a member and attends the spanish branch in Birmingham, AL!  So cool and such a tender mercy from Heavenly Father!

A few more highlights!! The General Womens Conference was SO GOOD.  It was just what I needed to hear and feel to be uplifted and renewed!  It was full of concrete TRUTH.  I want to be Bonnie L. Oscarson when I grow up. 

After the broadcast, since we had some LAs in attendance at the church, the senior missionaries showed a wonderful documentary made by BYU about the Book of Mormon called, A New Day for the Book of Mormon.  It is found onbyutv.org I think. It was SO GOOD.   I encourage all of you to go and watch it!  

Funny story!  We get a random call during one of our lessons from an unknown number.  When we get out, we call them back and a lady who lives in Selma, Alabama said that she got the wrong number, but she was very nice so we just talked to her about how funny the situation was that we are in Demopolis and she used to live here blah blah blah.  We told her who we were and why we were here and she just says "Well uhh....I am Baptist, and you two ladies are very nice, but uh...I've done been missionaried."  We got a real good kick out of that!!  

Emmaus Experience: 

Tracting we met the cutest little hispanic lady, *****, and her two daughters.  They let us in and we shared with her that we were missionaries, here to help people come closer to Christ as well as share a beautiful message of Jesus Christ and families.  This lady was the sweetest, kindest woman!  She told us it is refreshing to see young women like us trying to help people, she gave us water, commended us for our effort, and told us to come back next week.  Later that week we saw a hispanic loaded stuff into his truck, we went up and helped him and had a nice conversation, when we told him who we were he responded and said "Yes I know who you are, my wife told me about you.  She really likes you two girls."  It was the lady's husband!!   Its a small world in the tiny town of Demopolis Alabama hahaha

We are working hard here in Demopolis! Sorry this email is so short this week!

Matthew 6:33- "Mas buscad primeramente el reino de Dios y su justicia, y todas estas cosas os seran anadidas." A little thought- We always go where we set our eyes. If we look to the Kingdom of God first that is where we will go! If we do everything, that means keeping all the commandments, and understanding that all these "rules" from our Just God keeps us safe, the Lord will provide. It is that simple of a blessing! You go where you face so set your eyes on the temple, on the kingdom, on the LORD! I know that he will always add to our faith and is always ready to bless us.  But we must first set our eyes on theeternally important things.  

I love you all!! Que Dios les bendiga!  

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Moline

Steadfast in Christ

ROLL TIDE

molinesrockmissionariesrule

Anotha week in good ol Bama

October 17, 2016

Querido Familia!!

TRANSFER NEWS.  Transfer calls is always a dramatic night, as Sister Frazer and I were nightly planning Saturday night, we COULD NOT for the life of us, concentrate with the phone right beside us knowing that any second we would get a phone call that determined the next 6 weeks of our mission.  Sister Frazer is leaving me :(  she will be transferred to Athens, AL!!!!  One of my absolute favorite areas of all time.  I am SO sad to see her go but so excited for her to experience North Alabama.  As for me, I will be staying in Demopolis, and training a brand new sister missionary! All I know about her is that her name is Sister Daines! I am so excited and nervous! As it always is in getting a new companion

On Friday we had a short notice Trainers and Trainees meeting in Birmingham.  It was SO GOOD! So spiritually uplifting.  We had trainings from President and Sister Sainsbury and we all really felt of the love they have for each of us individually.  

Friday evening we went on a blitz with the STLs, Sister Benioni and I had an appointment with one of our investigators, ******.  It went SO well!! At the beginning she showed us the Book of Mormon Sister Frazer and I had given her the last time we met with her and she had it all marked up! She told us that she read the chapter we had told her to read and that she loved it!  She told us that one night she decided to read it and just flipped it open, randomly.  It opened up to Alma 56.  She read the whole chapter and marked verses 45-48.  Where it talks about the Armies of Helaman that they were spared in war because of the faith of their mothers. "They did not doubt their mothers knew it"  *****LOVED it.  She is a mother and told how important it is for her as a mother to set the example for her children.  I KNOW that the Lord had His hand in that situation and that by showing her faith by reading the Book of Mormon, ****** was blessed with someone that applies to her personally.  We had an awesome discussion about families that tied right in to the Restoration of the Gospel.  Unfortunately later in the lesson, like always, there were ALOT of distractions and instead of paying attention to the spirit ******* was paying mind else where... Distractions is how the adversary works.  Although it was still a great lesson, ******* could have gotten alot more out of it had she set her mind on the things we were teaching.  

I was thinking about this alot this week, kind of frustrated at the devil and how he is always trying to distract our investigators to what is really important.  I realized that this is exactly how Heavenly Father must feel when we, His children, are distracted from the things of eternal important with menial things of the world that may seem important.  Our priorities must always be aligned with the Gospel.  

Earlier this week Sister Frazer and I were knocking some doors. We knocked one in particular and a crusty white older guy answered with a furrowed brow looking super angry at us.  We had a brief and not very friendly conversation.  Sister Frazer began to tell this man who we were and why we were standing on his porch, before she finished he yelled "Do yall associate with blacks?"    A little shocked, we looked at one another then back at him, he said "Do yall talk to them?!!"  We said Yes of course we do. He immediately slammed the door as hard as he could and yelled "Git out!!"   Sister Frazer and I just stood there in shock!!  I have NEVER had anything like that happen to me on my mission.  Ever.  

My mind immediately went to the scripture in 2 Nephi 26:33  "He denieth none (loveth)  who come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen and all area like unto God, both Jew and Gentile."  

We were both feeling pretty down and sad that this man felt the way he did!  I said a simple baby prayer asking Heavenly Father to help us meet someone nice.  The very next door we knocked was a man named ****, he and his wife were so kind!!! They invited us in and talked to us and were super  interested in our missionary work and what we had to say. We got his number and a return appointment.  Heavenly Father KNOWS us!  He knew we needed a boost and knew exactly what he was doing.  

The Gospel is true folks!  I cannot deny the Book of Mormon's truthfulness.  It goes hand in hand with the Bible.  It is the word of God.  And because of that simple truth.  There are many other things that are true too. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

This is the Lord's work.  Lets not get distracted by other things and pay full attention to the spirit in our lives as we take heed to its teachings.  

I hope you all have a great week!!!! LOVE YOU ALL

Stay Steadfast in Christ

Love,

SISTA MO

General Christmas!

October 10, 2016

I don't have alot of time today because our Zone went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum and then played volleyball afterwards at the Stake Center! (best Pday EVER) 

WOW What a special week!!  You don't have weeks like this every week but when you do you just gotta write in your journal and remember them!  GENERAL CONFERENCE.  Or as Sister Frazer and I like to call it, GENERAL CHRISTMAS If you were not able to watch Conference...repent and go watch it!! The best part about it all was the intense focus on missionary work along with the choir of missionaries singing!!!   We watched it at a member's home, The Morgan's who are an older couple that remind me of Grandma and Grandpa Warr!!  They are wonderful people.  We also watched it at the church!    But NOW is the best part of conference! The aftermath!  Where we are truly tested to see if we will APPLY the things we have learned.  It is such a blessing to be able to listen to truly men of God, His apostles and prophets.  There is such a sense of unity I feel while watching.  Knowing there are so many others tuning in to the same message of love, joy, and encouragement.  But none of it really truly matters unless we apply the sacred and eternal truths we learned in Conference to our lives.  To quote Elder Rasband, one of my favorite talks of the Conference:

"Our minds can and will quickly forget.  Remain Faithful and steadfast.  Do not forget your divine heritage and origin." 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is simple and clear.  The adversary makes it complicated and foggy.  I love being a missionary for my Savior.  I know He lives and I know He loves us!  

Fear not! Though the enemy deride. COURAGE, for the Lord is on our side. We will heed not what the wicked may say but the Lord, alone, we will obey.

Have a great week! I love you all!!! and ROLL TIDE ROLL

con mucho amor,

Hermana Moline

  A real KKK suit that was donated by a resident in Birmingham

Sister Frazer and me

 This is the 16th Baptist Church in Birmingham.  The first Black Baptist church in Birmingham.  It is the same church that was bombed in 1963 where 4 black girls were killed and many injured.  It still stands across the street from the Civil Rights Museum!

Today we went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum as a Zone and it was SO good!  So much History here in Alabama. Specifically in Birmingham!