Alabama=my heart

February 29, 2016

HELLOOOO my wonderful beautiful family! I am SO JEALOUS that yall are having a cute little family reunion in UT soon!  Skii alot and hug eachother for me haha

This week has been SO GOOD.  And went by so fast! What is life???  We had Zone Conference this past Friday which was fantastic.  I loveeed it.  Such a spiritual upliftment that I needed. And I didn't even know I needed it. I will share more about that later.  Not only that but THERE IS A GOD PEOPLE.  He is real and he answered my humble and solemn prayer for the Sun to shine this week.  It has been so gloomy the past few weeks but this week the sun was bright and shining and it made me want to dance.  It made my heart so happy! 

First before I get into our Emmaus Experiences and  all that good stuff I wanted to share a little bit about small town Alabama life. this great place:

1.    Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Sauce. Its a white BBQ sauce that I have had a handful of times since I have been here.  It is a southern Favorite originally from Decatur Alabama which is the city right next door to Athens.  it was SO GOOD.  Go buy some.

2. City names like Chattanooga, Tuscaloosa, Talladega, Talapoosa, Loachapoka, and Oneonta. And a thousand more! haha only in AL

3.  Houndstooth.  A favorite Alabama pattern.  Worn fashionable by EVERYONE who is an Alabama football fan. Sweaters, purses, scarves, phone cases, you name it, they wear it. Its a classy southern wear. Almost as popular as chevron.

Those are just a few things that are special to Alabama. I LOVE IT. 

Bummer of the week:(  Our 2 most progressing investigators were both sick this week so we were unable to see either of them!  SO SAD.  However We are seeing *** tomorrow,  I told y'all about *** a few weeks ago.  She is our golden Investigator who already knows so much about the gospel and is sincerely looking for the truth and is finding it!! She  already told us that she is so ready to just soke up the truth of the Book Of Mormon and cannot wait to meet with us.  But it has been about 2 weeks since we have seen her! pray she is still elect. I know she is.  We cannot wait to see her tomorrow.

Our other investigator, **** is so cute! She  is so ready for this gospel! She is ready for baptism! She just needs to get a new job that will allow her to have Sundays off.  Some members of the ward have been SO kind and friendly to her and have helped her even make a resume and apply for another job and she just told us she tried really hard and got Sunday off next week! YAY ANGIE! and YAY members of the Athens ward!!

This week our Zone Leader decided that we should go on a tracting fast this week and try our best to find people in creative ways and try to do more service this week!  It actually went pretty well! We focused alot on our Less Actives and part member families this week which was really cool.  We were also able to do some service at the local Athens Veterans Museum!  We helped clean the display cases and vaccuum and just volunteer for an afternoon.  I had never been before and it was amazing.  We got a one on one tour by one of the 3 workers full time workers (they are the only workers) that is a Veteran. Since Athens is such a small town they recognize every person from Athens who was a Veteran that served in any war. Revolutionary,Civil, WWI, WWII, Korean, Vietnam, and Iraq.  They have some seriously COOL THINGS. SO cool.  Dad I think you really would have liked this place!  I will send pictures!

Cool/wierd experience:  Sister Mennenga and I went to follow up with a man that we met the week prior who we tracted into and although he was not home we were able to meet his neighbor who thought we were knocking on his door and opened up haha  his name was **** and he was an older very soft spoken man.  He came out and talked with us on their porch.  He explained that he has had quite a few encounters with the Mormon Church and even went through the Birmingham temple open house! He said he absolutely loved it and thought it was beautiful.  He also has worked with quite a few mormons and owned a BoM at one point! He told us that he just got out of the hospital, when we asked what it was for he said that he has 4 mental diseases, Paranioia Schizophrenia, Schizophrenia, Bipolar, and Border-line Personality disease.  And takes medicine for all of them.  OH MY.  My eyes got kinda big and honestly got a little bit scared to be honest. But we continued to talk and I felt okay. haha  He's a really really sweet man and seemed very normal and down to earth. He told us that he really wants to learn more.  You meet so people on the mission!! I LOVE IT.

I love President Hanks!! At Zone Conference we sang How Firm A Foundation, one of my absolute favorite Hymns.  He talked to us about how our underlying foundation should be in Christ. There were so many things I loved. The Secret of Happiness is something we talked about. In the Bible we learn "For whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it"  President Monson said " Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in others grow and flourish and in effect save their lives."   I LOVE THAT. President Monson is a great example of that. We need to look outside ourselves and we will forget about ourselves.  Of course there are times we need to worry about ourselves.  But the best way to increase our spirituality and happiness is to look outside ourselves and see how we can help those around us. And the best way we can help those around us is by sharing the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is much easier said than done. And of course it is alot easier as a missionary but this is not for just missionaries!  It is the Secret to Happiness.  Simply and truly.  I have seen it.  I know it is true.  When we look at others and think of ourselves and our problems less, we are happier people.  And I don't know about you but I want to live a happy life. And I know that it is through living and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Sorry this email was all over the place.  I love you all! Thank you for the support and love! Stay fresh and keep sharing the beautiful word!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Molinsky 

sureloveyoumolinesrockmissionariesrule and ROLLTIDE