SO MANY PEOPLE AT THE SPANISH CHRISTMAS PARTY

 Sister Benioni, me and Sister Anderson. I LOVE THESE MISSIONARIES!

 My favorite Recent Convert Family in the Lorna Branch!!

 one of the talents that some missionaries did at the talent show!

 TRUE

 what we do when people don't answer the door

ELIZ NAVIDAD, PROSPERO ANO, Y FELICIDAD

12-19-16

Its officially COLDDDDDDDDD in Alabama.  Cold and rainy and very wet. The craziest part was that one day out of the freezing coldness it was 73 degrees.  

CHRISTMAS is in 6 days!!! I cannot believe it.  This month has literally FLOWN by. 6 more days and I get to skype ma fam!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!  

and ROOOLLLL TIIIIIIDE!!

YES. Alabama won the SEC championships. I think we'll have about 24387 baptisms because of it. hahah You have no idea how much these people love football. Everyone. and I mean everyone. Watches it. But, luckily for us..they won. Next up is the national championships. so roll tiiiide! 

This week had The Christmas Zone Conference and Party!   It started with a mini devotional about truth seeking given by President Sainsbury, next we had the Talent Show!  Todas las hermanas  sang Feliz Navidad and it was so cute!. There were so many great talents shared and it was lots of fun. Next we got to watch a movie (Zootopia)! And I couldn't tell if that was the greatest movie ever, or I have just been out so long that all movies are great haha. It was so cuuute!!  So fun! But what really topped the whole day off was getting to hear President and Sister Sainsbury read the Nativity Story and getting to sing the beautiful Christmas Hymns. There was such a special spirit about it all. I love Christmas time!

Then we had exchanges with the STLs in Lorna and I went with Sister Anderson, my daughter:)  It was SO FUN.  Just like old times.  We taught a few of their Spanish investigators and just laughed the entire day.  We had an emmaus experience and found a hispanic lady in a store whose daughter was just baptized in Utah a few weeks ago! This woman and her family all grew up in Utah around many mormons though she is a die hard catholic.  She invited us over to her home to make homemade tortillas!!!  We ended the exchange with going to their Spanish Branch Christmas party!! It was so fun to see alot of the members there that I have been able to get to know!  And I know I have said this a million times but Hispanics know how to have a party.  There was music so loud you couldnt hear your neighbor and a giant bounce house for the kids and so much food it could have feed the entire city of Hoover, AL....not only that but both the Altadena Spanish branch and Lorna Spanish branch came so there were SO MANY people it was wonderful.  

Yesterday we had church and it was kind of a bummer day that turned into an AWESOME DAY!  Remember how missions are emotional rollercoasters?  Well yesterday was its own emotional rollercoaster....haha all our appointments fell through and it was FREEZING outside and raining and dreary all day.  But we said a prayer, asking Heavenly Father to help us to meet who we were supposed to meet and have a successful and effective day.  We were able to have lessons with everyone we were planning to follow up with including our awesome Spanish investigator, O****.  He is SO ELECT. He has never once missed an appointment and always meets us at the church. He has read up to 1Nephi 9 but has a hard time understanding.  So we read with him and had a great lesson about prophets.  We LOVE O****, he is so funny and so prepared.  He has not been able to come to church yet because of work but really wants to.  So we are working on that.  But the miracle is that even though church is all in English he still wants to come and worship.  WE LOVE O****!!  

Thought I would include some funnies/Alabama classics! ENJOY

"When I was knee-high to a grasshopper....." (talking about when you were young)

"I didn't fall off a turnip truck yesterday!"  (I wasn't born yesterday) 

Everyone calls their Grandma, "Mimi", "Gigi", or "Nana"  

*Sister Danes at an ENGLISH speaking door approach* 

"I know this is the Plenitud of the gospel...."

(Plenitud is spanish for "fulness" hahahahaha #spanglishprobs)  

Instead of "giving someone a ride" you "carry them" in your car.

Instead of having your picture "taken" you have your picture "made"

Knocked into a Jehovah's Witness*

Us: Can we share a brief message with you, Sir?"

Him: ohhh you know, we just have some diffagreements...

*Danes whispers...does he mean DISagreements..? lol*

"I'm drunk, so maybe next time."  Me:"Ok, well we will be here on Tuesday, so if you can prepare yourself and not be drunk next time, that will be great. Bye." hahah 

Just a sneak peak of what we hear and experience on the daily.  I love the south with my whole heart.

Merry Christmas everyone! Have a wonderful week and be safe.

Steadfast in Christ

Sureloveyamolinesrockmissionariesrule!!!!

con amor,

Sister Mulan (what one of our investigators calls me) 

 Corn bread, fried pork, and turnip greens a real southern dish!!!

  Helped decorate a less active family's christmas tree!

 Sister Bedoni and me

 Some of our favorite members that live in Greensboro!

TEMPLE

 Flowers from one of our single Mexican investigators...haha maybe we gave off the wrong impression???

Weird random christmas tree reindeer thing

Sister Danes and I on a rainy day! all smiles :)

13 days till CHRISTMAS

12-12-16

WOW WOW WOW. I thought for a few days last week that I was living in Antarctica, but now I feel more like I am living in Arizona. Thats Alabama weather for you!!!! We were scared at the beginning of the week because   our heater seems to be broken but now its warm. Tender mercies! This week has been a blast!   We got so much done and were able to talk to SO MANY PEOPLE. We heart working hard <3

This last Tuesday we went to the Temple!! It was amazing. I have been looking forward to it all month.  It was my last time going to the Birmingham Temple which was bitter sweet.  I didn't realize that until I was in the celestial room and Sister Sainsbury asked me.  It made me really sad but so grateful for opportunity I have had to go to the temple so often on my mission.  I have been able to feel the peace and joy every time I have gone and it has been such a blessing. 

Remember that part member family I was telling yall about last week? They moved from Georgia and were so happy to see us when we met them.  There is an 18 year old, ******  and 15 year old *****  who are members but the rest of their family are not members.  We invited them to a laser tag youth activity the branch was having and their whole family came!! 7 kids....it like quadrupled the amount of kids there and they had a blast.  We met with them with some members and one of the younger girls, *****  who is 9 years old, was supposed to get baptized in Georgia with the other two girls but they moved to Alabama! She told us that she wants to be baptized and her mom is all for it!  We invited her and her mom to think about two baptismal dates!! We are super excited for them!!!

We had a really solid week this week and invited SO many people to church.  Less actives, investigators, people off the street.  We have been praying to get our investigators to the church building for either a church tour or to church to just feel the spirit that is there.

One of our really solid people we have been meeting with is O****!  He is hispanic and from Mexico City!  He is awesome.  He is really smart and interested in the Gospel.  He met us at the church Saturday night for a lesson and church tour and the spirit was so strong!  He basically went around to all the pictures in the building and told us what they were without us explaining it to him haha it was great.  He accepted baptism but wants to continue praying and learning more about the church before he gets baptized!  

Unfortunatley all those people that we invited this week to church did not come :( but hey thats agency!  We are here to INVITE others to come unto Christ and partake of this amazing gift of the Gospel.  

Sister Danes and I discovered that here in the South the phrase "they'll talk your ear off" is taken to a whole other level. They love taking life easy and talking slow. Most of the time they don't have teeth so it makes it a little harder to understand.  I LOVE THE SOUTH.

This week I found John 15:7 "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." 

How can we abide in the Savior this Christmas season? I hope you all have been on the Light The World because it is so neat!!!  

Thanks yall for everything and guess what...13 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS HOLLA WOOOHOOOOO!!!  Seriously so excited to skype with yall!! Have a great week and be safe!

Steadfast in Christ and ROLL TIDE ROLL(dont know if you heard but Alabama is going to crush everyone and be 2017 national champs AGAIN) so roll tide

and LIGHT THE WORLD John 8:12

Your southern Alabamian,

Sister Moline

 heres all of the missionaries in demop with food on a stick because he ITS THE SOUTH

  my footlong corn dog #diabetes

All the Spanish missionaries in the mission!

 . This is Becky and Broughton, we do service for them every once in awhile and have been teaching them!

#LightTheWorld

#LightTheWorld

December 5, 2016

Hello Hi Hola Buenas dias mi familia!!

Happy December!!! Holy cow.  I cannot believe it is already December. I am SO HAPPY.  Christmas time is the best time of year.  Everyone is so happy and busy and open.  Doing missionary work during Christmas time is so easy.  Everyone is expecting to talk about Christ and His life.  

This last weekend was Demopolis' Christmas On The River!  Demopolis is right next to a big River and every year they have floats that go by and people from all over Alabama come to see them.  Its a big deal and we have heard all about it non stop from everyone here.  It was super cool! We got a million #LightTheWorld cards and stapled candy canes to them and handed them out ALL DAYYY.  We must have talked to a million people and it was so fun.  Not to mention I bought a foot long corn dog because IT WAS A FOOT LONG.  More pictures about that to come.

2 Miracles to share this week!!

1) We got a referral from our Branch mission leader last week, we received the records of a recent convert from Tuscaloosa, and so we went to go find her.  Long story short, we got lost trying to find where she lived and just started asking people if they knew her. We overheard some kids yelling "ITS MISSIONARIES!" and then they ran away.  So we went to their house and these kids and their family just moved from Georgia and used to have missionaries over.  An older girl came out and asked if we were from The Church of Latter day saints.  When we said yes she started crying.  We asked her what her name was and this was the recent convert we had been looking for!  She has been here for 5 months and was praying to find the Latter day saints church to go back to.  She was baptized along with her niece a year ago in Georgia. It was a miracle.  The Lord truly does work in mysterious ways!!!!  That family was so precious!!!

2) This week Sister Danes and I were really focusing on finding more people to teach.  We have been praying nonstop for the spirit to direct us to find those people who are prepared right now to receive the message of the restored gospel.  And ya know what folks? HEAVENLY FATHER ANSWERS PRAYERS.  We had just come out of an appointment and Sister Danes really had to use the restroom and so I told her we should just knock on someone’s door and ask if she could use theirs.  IT WORKED.  Not only that but the lady we met, *****, she let us in and we sat down and just got to know her.  She asked  aton of questions about our missionary work and was very impressed. As we had a very friendly and light conversation I felt an overwhelming feeling of love from our Father in Heaven for *****.  I just wanted to be her friend and tell her how much God loves her and her family. During our conversation, my companion and I both felt prompted to talk to her about baptism.  In my mind I pushed the thought away because it was our first visit with this lady.  But the prompting came again.  So i followed it.  She shared with us that she was baptized when she was alot younger but mostly for her grandmother and she said that she wants to be re-baptized in this other Baptist church she has been attending.  We shared with her the message of the Restoration of the Priesthood of God.  After we explained it we asked if it made any sense,  she looked right at us so intently and said "That makes so much sense.  That sounds so right." We invited her to be baptized by someone who holds that priesthood authority that Christ held and was baptized by and she said she would.  At that moment I was so grateful for the spirit.  It wasn’t us but the spirit touched that her heart and she felt a witness that it was true.  We left her with a pamphlet and will be seeing her tomorrow with a member.  

Missions are full of joyous moments.  But more often than not they are full of disappointment.  Alot of it.  but you know what is interesting is that  I cannot remember them!  I know I have had alot of them but I really cannot remember them in full detail.  But the joyous moments? I could talk about them for hours.  I can't quite put my mission experiences in words.  I have tried and it is SO HARD.  All I can come up with are these cliche lines but they are true.  So sorry if that makes no sense.

Quick funny welcome to Alabama for Sister Danes!  This is just her 7th week in Alabama so she has been getting used to the South.  I held the door open for a gentleman the other day and he said "thank you baby girl!" I looked over and Sister Danes had her mouth wide open haha! Here in the south they say "baby girl, sweetheart, darlin, honey, baby" you name it, they say it. Even if they don't know you. It doesn't mean anything but kindness haha.  Then at the parade I shook an older man's hand but he held on and kissed my hand and said "Ma'am you have mighty fine eyes." It was the weirdest thing but tender too.  Another great welcome to the South for Sister Danes!

There was just so much that happened this week and not enough time to write it all down. Remember to visit mormon.org and do the Christmas Initiative! 

LIGHTtheWORLD

Since a new star first appeared above Bethlehem, Christmas has been a season of light, reminding us that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Together, we can celebrate His birth by making the world a brighter place, just like He did. #LIGHTtheWORLD

Steadfast in CHRIST.  ROLL TIDE.  SureloveyaMolinesRockandmissionairesrule

con amor,

Hermana Mo Mo