****! Our favorite narcoleptic little man

 Barbra! A Recent Convert whom we LOVE!

Cutest kid in the T-town ward!

This is everyday driving in Alabama  hay muchos arboles  !!!!

Biking in the rain :(

Alabama Arkansas I sure love my Ma and Pa!

8-1-16

But for real shout out to my amazing parents whom I love dearly, They are the best.
ALSO HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAURIE I LOVE YOU <3
OH MY FAMILY!!!! 

So excited for the Warr Family Reunion this weekend!!!  Everyone be sure to catch some crawdads and fish, go tubing and skiing for me!

This week was CRAZY.  But aren't they all???

We did have an awesome day where we biked to the mall to save on miles.  On our way back home its started POURING down rain, just buckets on buckets on buckets.  We were SOAKING.  It was a good time though, we just had a good laugh!! Alabama weather yall, its crazy!!

We also did a TON of service this week.  3 families in the ward needed help moving, and we got to help our investigator, Ted work on a lot in his trailer park!!  We love Ted SO MUCH.  We have been praying for him to have the strength to quit smoking!  

We have been teaching a woman named Brittany the last few weeks.  She lives in our same apartment complex and wasnt very interested in hearing more about what we had to share but when we found out she was having gall bladders surgery we offered to help  her with anything she needed, so asked if we could pick up a few things from the store, we were so happy she did!! Afterwards went back and had a lesson with her.  The spirit  IS AMAZING. Service softens stoney souls people!!!!  She wants to be a better example for her kids and has been having alot of doubts recently about religion in general.  We promised her that the Book of Mormon can answer her questions and that is she will find true joy and happiness in the message we share.

We’ve been working and trying to do everything in our power and for a while it felt that NOTHING was happening.  We have been doing alot of Less Active work this week which was a total success!!  We had about 4 LA members commit to coming to church on Sunday that were LEGIT. And a few others that committed but were a little more flakey.  Sunday rolls around,8:50am, 9:00, 9:05, 9:10am NO ONE SHOWS UP. Haha it broke our little hearts, we were so sad!!  But we wont give up on them!

But I’m learning to trust in the Lord’s timing and He knows what is best for His children.  I’m grateful for the normal and sometimes the bad, it helps me appreciate the good so much more.   I’m so grateful for prayer and I know that when we ask in faith, we shall receive.  Action=power.

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, 

can circumvent, or hinder, or control, 

the firm resolve, of a determined soul

We recite that poem everyday in our mission and when I am frustrated or disappointed I recite this poem over and over in my head and change "the firm resolve of a determined soul" to " the firm resolve of MY determined soul"  and I know that if we are determined, if we keep moving forward and if we trust in the Lord, He will bless us and help us accomplish our righteous desires.  He is bigger than any stumbling block and I know through the power of the Atonement of Christ we can receive the courage and strength to live the Gospel especially in times of trouble 

I love you all and thank you for your support, love, and prayers. I LOVE being a missionary and am obsessed with this work.  This is the Lord's work.  And this is His church. 

Have a great weeek!!!

Sure love ya Molines rock and missionaries rule!!!

Hermana Moline

Steadfast in Christ

 For p-day we went fishing.  I did not catch this fish :( .  BUT IT IS HUGE!!

Last weeks p-day

Happy Camper!

July 18, 2016

Hello Beautiful and Wonderful Family!!!!

SUCH A GREAT WEEK PEOPLE.  Every week as a missionary for Jesus Christ is a great week.  Another super duper busy week, driving all over the Zone.  Full of 2 Full day Exchanges with the YSA Tuscaloosa Sisters and the Lorna Branch Hermanas, a blitz with the Hoover Sisters, and another blitz with the Bessemer Sisters.  SO FUN.  We have some incredible sisters in the ABM. 

One of my absolute favorite parts of being able to travel and do missionary work with other sisters in the zone is getting to know their investigators and members in their areas!!  Being able to teach with them and be able to know who they are teaching and how we can help.  We went on exchanges with the Lorna Hermanas in the Lorna Spanish Branch and it took me back to my home, Huntsville Spanish Branch! Sister Benioni and I were companions once again! #REUNITEDfromthemtc We had a dinner appointment and I was on cloud 9.  Eating one of my favorite dishes, Flautas. Ahh!!  When I speak with Hispanics and enter their home the scripture in Mormon comes to my mind, "and there was not a happier people"  so true!!

T____ Is doing ALOT better! Remember him and his brown recluse spider bite??  Fortunately it looks a lot better and all our freaking out about him dying from it was unnecessary UN-fortunately that was not the end of his health problems! He texted us Tuesday and told us he was in the hospital for gout! So while we were on exchanges, Sister Raddigan and I went to the hospital in T-town and visited him. Gout is a disease that causes crystallization at the joints, his, specifically is in his ankles and they were HUGE. I kinda wish I took a picture of it because they literally looked like tree trunks. 

Long story short with T___, we met with him and had a wonderful lesson about the truthfulness of the RESTORED gospel, emphasizing the Book of Mormon and that this church is the Lord's kingdom once again established on the earth.  T___ was so funny during the lesson and said " I might as well get a tattoo on my arm that says Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that's how much I believe it!"   hahaha gotta love T____.

He believes everything and has a strong testimony of the th Book of Mormon but is still having a pretty tough time living the Word of Wisdom, mainly because smoking helps him with his narcolepsy (staying awake on the roads, etc)  We had some pretty straight forward conversations with him and he understands the importance and committed to quit smoking last Sunday for GOOD! He is on date to be baptized on the 30th of July if all goes well!!! 

EMMAUS EXPERIENCE:

On Exchanges in Lorna with S. Benioni, we went to go store contacting at this Hispanic chain tienda called "Mi Pueblo"  When we pulled up we saw this lady unloading groceries in her car with her kids.  She was kind of staring at us so we both felt prompted to talk to her.  As we did we found out that she is a member of the Church! Her name was C______ and she was baptized 11 years ago in Mexico. Upon moving to Hoover, AL she tried to find a Mormon church here but failed to find one! Ever since then she has been attending a Christian church with her non member husband and children.  We happily told her that there is now an LDS Spanish branch down the road that was not established when she first moved here.  She was so happy to see us and meet us and we invited them back to church.  Emmausing....had we both failed to act upon the prompting to talk to C______ we would not have known that she is a member and had been looking for the church ever since living here.  I love the spirit!!

There is much more that happened this week but I wont make yall read a novel.  I love this gospel and the way it makes me feel and grow!  On Sunday we got to listen to a Mission President from a ward in the stake that was returning from their mission in the Lima West, Peru mission.  He said  "The Lord works through weak vessels."  I am a 20 year old girl, I dont know the scriptures as well as I should, and I sure as heck am not a perfect teacher.  There are many times where I have felt inadequate for this work, but I know that the Lord can use me, a weak vessel, through the spirit and work His miracles to bring others to come unto Him. D&C 1:23 says"

"That the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and sthe simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers."

I know this is His gospel.  I LOVE MA LIFE.

Keep staying steadfast in HIM.

Con mucho amor,

Sister living the mission life Moline

 Giving Coach Nick Saben a Book of Mormon. (This man is the equivalent to a god in this town!)

 R____'s baptism with his wife, ward mission leader, Sister Merrill and me.

 The Lorna building near Birmingham.  This where the Lorna Spanish branch meets.

 University of Alabama football stadium.

 President and Sister Sainsbury.

 Roll Tide Lane!  

 My old STL Sister C____.  I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!

 Sister Hildago and I.

 Sisters in our zone.  Sister Benoni my MTC companion!

 The green of Alabama is so real!!

 University of Alabama.

All the Spanish missionaries at leadership council.

The Plan of Hope!

7-11-16

The Plan of Hope!

This week was SO CRAZY as are they all, nothing new I guess. 

We went on a few Blitz's with some sisters in the Zone along with an exchange! And it was so fun!  I absolutely love working with some of the best missionaries in the mission.  All of the sisters in our zone are currently training new sisters! And let me tell you, theses sisters are incredible.  I realized how much of a baby I was when I was in their shoes and they really are teaching me things that I need to learn.  I love it.  I love it. I love it.  

We started off in Bessemer where Sister Mitchell (my trainee from Huntsville!!!) and I visited a less active, D______ who we challenged to increase his already large amount of faith in Jesus Christ by reading the Book of Mormon on his lunch breaks at work!  Next stop was Lorna where we went on a blitz with the Hermanas there (the Lorna branch is one of the 3 spanish branches in the mission)  Where Sister Sheffield and I had an AMAZING lesson with one of their investigators, E______ who is from Honduras.  She is one of the sweetest most open and loving people I have met.  We had a lesson on Faith and how we must act on our faith and experiment upon Gods word.  We invited E________ to be baptized and she accepted!!!! MIRACLES HAPPEN.

That next day we went on Exchanges with Sister Hidalgo and Sister Chavez  in Hoover.  S. Hidalgo and I drove back to Tuscaloosa to work there.  Sister Hidalgo is so AWESOME. We had a BLAST!!!!  She is 22 and has been through alot in her life and never thought serving a mission was for her.  We stayed in Tuscaloosa and I got to show her around the University of Alabama and talked to some elect people! It got up to 111 degrees AND MAN WAS IT HOT. We also taught T___Sabbath Day observance and tithing and Fast offerings. I think I told yall that T___ got bit by a brown recluse spider and gave us a few scares regarding his health haha but he is doing so much better!! SO YAY!  He is still doing wonderful and loves learning more.  He is still really struggling with quitting smoking but doesn't think he has a problem and wants to quit cold turkey this Wednesday. So we are praying for him!

The biggest highlight of the week was R____ baptism!  Another child of God enetered into the waters of baptism, following the example of Jesus Christ. This has been a long wait for his wife V______  who was so excited for R____ to make this step.  They are both such wonderful people, so fun and loving. They are already a part of the ward and have been for the past year (since Vanessa was baptized) so naturally the entire ward showed up for R____ baptism. It was the largest turn out I have ever seen at a baptism!  Everything went so smooth and the spirit was so strong.  R___ even bore his testimony at the end! He talked about his relationship with God and how much it has grown since opening his heart to the gospel and the missionaries. So much happiness was in the room!! I was beaming ear to ear. 

Quick story! Sister Merrill and I were tracting and going through the roster one day when we both felt that we should go see a recent convert in the ward, B_____.  She's an older black lady with some mental problems but is so cute and always at church ready to help.   She told us she had a friend over but that we were more than welcome to come over, so we did.  Turns out her friend is a Jehovah's witness who just earlier that day was watching an anti-mormon show on tv and came over to convince her to leave the church.  This man was so mean, disrespectful, and just awful.  He even called us devil angels!  We did our best to share our testimonies with him and told him that we respect all religions and just invite others to learn more truth by reading and praying. I then asked B_____  how she came to know the gospel is true, she bore the strongest most humble testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it changed the way she thought about her Father in Heaven.  He quickly got angry and you could feel the lack of the spirit in the room. He continued preach at us for a good 20 minutes.  Although I am sure that nothing of what we said meant anything to this man, I know that it was the spirit prompting us to go over and see Barbara at her apartment that day. 

After R_____ baptism we went to try and visit some potentials! We saw this lady sitting on her deck and felt prompted to talk to her. We yelled up to her and asked if we could come up and share a message! Her son let us in and we started to get to know her. Her name is M______, and as it turns out her brother just passed away a few days before. We had the opportunity to share with her the Plan of Salvation. She kept telling us how much hope that gives her. I thought that was fitting- the Plan of Hope. I'm so grateful for the knowledge we have, so that we can have hope for ourselves and for our loved ones who have passed on.

In studying I came across Moroni 7! Verses 40-42 say:

"40 And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?

 41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

 42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope."

The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings a message of hope to our lives.

We are about to leave right quick to take a tour of the University of Alabama Stadium for FREE. holla holla!!  Thanks to a member in our stake who knows some high up people.  So be excited for pictures next week!  Love you all!!! Have a great week!!!

Fun fact of the week! 

University of Alabama's original mascot was "Crimson Tide"  not Big Al the Elephant which is what most people think.  The word "tide" actually means a heard of Elephants and in the 30s after a crazy football game  against Ole Miss a reporter referred to the distant rumble of the football team running onto the field and said "Hold your horses, the elephants are coming." and it stuck!!! That is why Big Al the elephant is now Alabama's mascot!

Love,

Sister Crimson Tide Moline

Steadfast in Christ