ONE MONTH???

 That’s right! This Sister missionary has been out for one month~!!! Crazy to think of how much I have learned and grown in such a short time. But I am so excited for what’s to come!!!! 

I don’t have a lot of time to email this week. But I wanted to thank you all for you emails, prayers and support. I am so loved and so grateful that I have such wonderful people in my life!!!! 

Some high points of the week!!!

-Our investigator Tryness is hopefully getting baptized on November 12th! We are so happy for her. The most amazing moment this week was when she was explaining about how after she is baptized she is born again in a way and that from then on she needs to work hard to live the commandments. Hearing investigators testimonies is the greatest thing. AND She is making us African food tonight too so I’m pretty excited about that!!!

-On Tuesday we were walking and we saw this group of young boys (like sophomores in high school) and one was smoking and the others looked kind of scary. SO as we walked by we waved hi and then Sister Godfrey was like "lets talk to them" so we ended up getting to teach them a lesson (once the one kid put out his cigarette haha) and it was a very intense lesson. These boys listened well and one especially named Joel was super interested and even explained to his friends during the lesson about what we were saying. As we taught them about the Book of Mormon they got very defensive and then they brought up a ton of questions about our Sabbath day.  They quoted Bible verses at us like crazy and the whole time I was just amazed by how much they knew. Like they have the whole thing memorized. We did our best to answer and focused on just sharing our testimonies instead of arguing and by the end of the lesson they had calmed down. But it was really amazing to see how just by me and Sister Godfrey bearing our testimonies the situation was calmer and made a lot more sense too. I don’t know much and I cant quote every scripture off the top of my head but I know what we are teaching is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that the Book of Mormon and the Bible are the word of God and that they both testify of Christ and in the end its up to them to choose if they want to know for themselves. That is definitely one lesson I learned this week. People are free to choose and that’s good! Because I wouldn’t want anyone to just believe everything I said. But they cant change what I believe and what I know to be true. 

-Sister Godfrey (my companion)and I’s favorite snack this week was these strawberry biscuits or cookies. They are the best! We get them from a street shop once a day ooops! We also like to get these things called "samosas" maybe I’ve talked about them before but they are like fried things with potatoes and spices inside. SO GOOD. 

-Scariest moment of the week by far was when me and Sister Godfrey were attacked by a group of children!!!!!! We were walking on this road and they said hi and then they followed us and started asking us questions and then they surrounded us and grabbed our hair and Sister Godfrey told them to leave in Niaja and they thought it was funny we were speaking it so we ended up just laughing with them. Good times!!!

-Most the kids in our area know that I have stickers now so they come up and ask me for some. "Give me stickers!" and so before I give them I make them say please haha. That way I get to teach them manners too!!!!! 

Thank you again for your continued support. I love you all!!!!!. 

Sister Moulton

Azungu in Zambia

Hello everyone!!!! Well it has been quite the adventure already! When I arrived in Zambia late Tuesday night there was no one to pick me up! I guess my flight had gotten in early! I tried to call all the numbers I had and ask around but after 45 min I gave up and decided to get to a hotel. A nice man from the CDC was on my plane and had waited with me to make sure I got to where I was going paid for a taxi to get me to a nice hotel. There I was able to call the travel office and after a couple of hours I got picked up and taken to my flat!! That night was interesting because I guess they have a rodent friend that likes to visit sometimes and he decided to visit that very night I came! Luckily we all are required to sleep in mosquito nets and I love them! like they obviously protect from more than just mosquitos. I would highly recommend haha.  

The next morning I was finally able to see what Zambia looked like in the daylight! It was beautiful!!!! There isn’t a lot of green but lots of people to see and so different from anything I have experienced.

A little bit about the flat. I live with my companion and with two other sisters. My companion is from Utah and she is so great! She is showing me all the good places and the great people. The other two sisters are both from South Africa and are hilarious! 

I am learning so much about the culture! Like I guess in Africa they have a special hand shake. Its like a regular hand shake with a thumb thing and then a handshake again! Its so cool! They also they told me everyone here would speak English but uh kind of? They actually speak a language called "nyanja" and then English too. Oh so my subject line means, "White person in ZAMBIA" haha.  I have also learned how to greet people. You say "muli Bwangi!" then after they respond you say "Bwino" then you peak in English haha. But the people here really respect you if you speak their language first. 

The first lesson that I got to teach with my companion was with Nelson. When we were walking to his house the kids were just getting out from school. I got to hand out my first stickers! It was so great! They absolutely LOVED THEM. as we walked to Nelson’s house I was amazed. These people live so much more humbly and in such different circumstances than I have ever experienced. The kids run around in the dirt street without shoes on and they just chill on the side or roll big tires that they find. We taught Nelson inside his home. He had a small chair for him and then a small couch for me and my companion. Two little kids joined us as well! There was a little tiny table too. Everything was packed in there and it was hot and there were flies but there sat Nelson ready to listen to our message. As we taught him about the Book of Mormon he seemed so interested and was so happy when we told him the book was his to keep! He can’t read hardly at all but we taught him some of the words and told him that he could pray to have Heavenly Father help him understand more. It was so humbling for me. This man has nothing but is willing to spend time learning and coming closer to his Savior. The experience really taught me that God loves all of us, He knows each one of us! HE knows NELSON too!!!! I could just feel the love God has for him. 

Another great experience form this week was with a girl named Tryness. All of our appointments for the morning had fell through so we decided to knock gates. (lots of people have gates around their houses). When we knocked on this one gate, the gate across the street opened instead! So we went over and the lady didn’t speak English so she went and got Tryness. Tryness is 19, and is going to school so she is staying in this boarding house. We sat down and got to know her! She was so sweet! She said that she had seen our church and had been wondering about it but hadn’t gotten around to asking. We tuaght her a lesson about how Jesus Christ’s church is restored on the earth again and how we have a prophet today and how she could know the truth of it for herself by praying! She asked so many questions and was so amazed by how much our church focuses on love for others. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes! She also said she would come to church. We came out of that lesson so happy! There are definitely people prepared to hear our message. (In this email is a picture of me with her wearing a San Diego shirt! I told her we had to take a picture cause that’s my home!!!!) 

I am also learning so much about the people here in Zambia. They are all very religious. Everyone has their own church and they have such strong testimonies that God is there. When we ask how they think God has helped them in their lives they are always so sincere. Some say, "He has given me life," some say, "He has blessed me with family," and others say they are grateful for the chance to be in their circumstance no matter what. They are so grateful for what they do have. It amazes me. 

Oh of my favorite things has been giving my stickers out to the kids! They absolutely love them! And the sisters I talked to were right. Once you give one sticker a whole SWARM of kids come haha. 

Our mission president has challenged us to read 6-7 pages of the Book of Mormon everyday along with all of our other studying. I have been doing it every day since and I love it! There is so much to learn. The book of Mormon proves everything about our church. It has especially helped me in the past week. The first couple days I was so overwhelmed and feeling scared of all the new things that I wasn’t used too. I was reading in the Book of Mormon and came to Alma 32. He talks about faith and how you have to act on your faith in order for the "seed" or for you faith to grow. It starts small but can grow to something big! I feel small and scared sometimes but I have to act on the faith I have right now, the knowledge I have that this is where I am supposed to be and then as I keep moving forward my faith will grow and I will be able to love it even more than I already do! 

Anyways this week has been amazing. The people in Zambia are great and I’m so lucky to be a part of this amazing work!!!! Hope you all have a fantastic week! 

with lots of love,

Sister Moulton

ATTENTION: this is the last email from the US (10/10/17)

AHHHH THE TIME IS FLYING!!!!! In one week I will be on a plane headed to Georgia, then South Africa, then Zimbabwe and then to Zambia. Gotta be honest there is a part of me that is terrified to get on a plane for hours and then another one and then another one but then I just remember how awesome this experience is and God takes away all my fears.  I love being a missionary!! 

Okay so a little about my week and then the fun stuff at the end ;)

Wednesday- we met with our investigator Linda and it was amazing. We taught her about the Atonement and how Jesus Christ died on the cross and suffered. She said she was sad about what Christ did. And it made me think. It is sad he did so much and was in so much pain. But the amazing part of it all is that he was willing to suffer for us because he loved us. He wanted us to turn to him in times of trouble and wants us to become as he was. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ! 

Thursday- we get to do what’s called a "Book of Mormon read" almost every class. We are given a question like "How can we feel the Holy Ghost?" or "How can we be better missionaries?" and then are asked to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon together as a district. It is the most powerful thing. We are able to find answers to the questions just by reading! The Book of Mormon and the Bible mean so much more to me than they ever did. I am learning to rely on them so much more. 

Friday- we practiced teaching an investigator that had an addiction to alcohol. It was so powerful to see and learn how the gospel and the teachings of Jesus Christ can be applied to anything. We were able to teach her about God's love for her and testify to her that because of that love she could change by turning to God. Our afternoon class that day was difficult for me. Sometimes I loose my motivation and its hard to focus and I start getting doubts in my head like "Will I ever be a good missionary?" "Why am I not able to understand this?" But then I am reminded that progress takes time and that I just have to have faith that God will help me!!! I know he will. that night me and my companion were called as Sister Training Leaders! That means we are in charge of making sure all the girls in our zone get to bed on time, are feeling alright and we pretty much just get to know all of them too!

Saturday- We taught our investigator Linda again! This time it didn’t feel it went as well. There was something different about the lesson and I could tell that I didn’t have the spirit with me, I didn’t know what questions to ask and when I tried to answer hers they came out all wrong. I was pretty upset after. I grow to love the people we teach so fast and when I cant answer their questions or don’t know what to say its so hard! I cried a little and then decided to pray to feel peace. My companion had the idea for me to play the piano for a bit to calm me down. So we found a room and I started to play the song "I Need Thee Every Hour" I felt so much peace after. Missionary work isn’t always easy but God never fails to remind me that its possible! We just have to turn to him. That night we had our last lesson with Haley! Me and Sister Schirle were able to bear our testimonies and it was so powerful. This gospel is so true! 

Sunday- BEST DAY OF THE WEEK!!!! we were able to go to church with a bunch of missionaries and it was so amazing!!!!! We got to walk to the temple as a district too and take some pictures! I just love them all so much!!! At the end of the day we watched a talk given by Elder Bednar about recognizing the spirit. Sometimes its hard to tell if its our own thoughts or not. But he taught us that if you are inspired to do something good just DO IT. Good things are of God! 

Monday- we taught our new investigator Oogii. She is from Mongolia!!!! She was so sweet. We decided the first lesson to just get to know her a little bit and now I am just so excited to teach her tomorrow! 

fun stuff!!!

-The elders in our district love to make fun of the sisters for how excited we get about things lol. there new favorite thing to do is say "AWWWWW MY HEART" super loud like we do haha!

-The new missionaries that come in every week get little orange stickers on their tags and then everyone is supposed to say "Welcome to the MTC" when you see them (just for the first day). Well, me and my companion were having way to much fun saying hi to every new missionary and then at dinner I said "WELCOME TO THE MTC" super loud and the elder turns around and says "HEY IVE BEEN HERE FOR EIGHT WEEKS!!!" turns out it was just an orange highlighter that I thought was a dot from far away... OOPS !!!! 

-The elders in our district are doing this new thing were if they don’t say thank you, use a slang word, or when they say something they shouldn’t they have to do five push ups!!!! One elder in my district named Elder Chandler, held open the door for me and my companion and I guess we didn’t say thank you? So they were like "Five push ups Moulton! You didn’t say thank you!" I guess they were just kidding but me and sister Schirle weren’t gonna be babies so we got down in our dresses and DID THOSE FIVE PUSH UPS! we are getting spiritually and physically strong!!!! 

Thank you again for the prayers and support. My next email will hopefully be next week when I get to Zambia! Not really sure what that will be like but I cant wait to find out!

with love, 

Sister Harper Moulton 

I MADE IT TO SUNDAY ITS AMAZING oh and this is super long (10/03/17)

 What I mean by my subject is that everyone here says the time goes by super slow until the first Sunday and then after that ITS SUPER FAST! It’s so true. I promise the emails won’t be this long every week. Just the first one haha. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR EMAILS AND LETTERS! THEY MAKE MY DAY!!! I can’t respond to them until Tuesdays (my preparation day) but I am just grateful to have people praying for me, so thank you! Before I start I gotta talk about my district (the people I have class with!) they are amazing. There are 8 elders (the guys in my group) and three other sisters (the girls in my group). They are going to either Hawaii, Colorado Springs or Canada. Oh and then there is me haha. Yeah I’m the only one at the entire MTC going to Zambia, but that's okay! I know I am here for a reason. MY companion is sister Schirle! she is from Utah. Literally the sweetest girl ever. She teaches me so much about loving people. Okay so I just want to share some of the most powerful experiences I've had during my first week here at the MTC! The funnier ones are at the bottom the best ones are in the middle!  

Wednesday I said goodbye to my family It was by far the hardest thing... but I was told before I left that everyday I would be reminded of why I am here, AND God has definitely done that every day. We had a big fireside when we got there and the most amazing part was when all the new missionaries sang "We’ll Bring the World His Truth Truth" but instead of saying in the song "we will be the lords missionaries" we sang "we are now the Lords missionaries" and it was just so cool to realize that this is actually happening. I'm a missionary!!! 

Thursday we started teaching our first investigator named Tyler. So what is an investigator? It means that our teacher Brother Berryman pretends to be the person we are teaching. He goes into full character though. We are given a bio of the investigator and then plan with our companion about what we feel that Tyler or the investigator needs. We pray before we do this to ask God what Tyler needs because God knows him way more than we do!!! Me and my companion sister Schilre taught the lesson and to be honest... it was so hard. we didn’t do very well. We were devastated after and the elders in our district were trying to gives us advice and it wasn’t helping. But we moved on and it got better because....

Friday we taught Tyler again and this time it was amazing. I could tell that The Spirit was in the room and that Tyler could feel at least a part of Gods love for him. The elders I guess were listening the whole time and after they said that it was amazing!!! Definitely an answer to prayer. Me and companion learned this entire week that when we have bad times and hard moments God always finds a way to lift our spirits up and remind us that we aren’t prefect but we are trying! We had classes focused on people and my purpose that day too. We basically learned about how as missionaries we have to truly LOVE the people we teach and try to see them as Christ sees them. We also talked about how the reason we are all here is because our purpose is to bring people to Christ! I love the MTC so much!!!! Every class and every teacher is just amazing. And learning about how to be a better missionary just makes me even more excited to go out and meet the people in Zambia and Malawi! 

Saturday was General Conference where we get to hear from the apostles of the church (It happens twice a year). It was amazing to be in a room full of missionaries watching conference. And conference has never meant so much to me before then it did this week. Every talk seemed to tell me how I could be a better missionary. My favorite talk was Elders Zwick when he talked about looking at people how God sees them and how sometimes the natural man judges too quickly. It made me think how the people I meet in Zambia will be very different but if I just focus on loving them the way god does then i will be able to help them the best I can. Our little quadpanionship is amazing too. That night we were really tired and we had noticed some of the elders in our district were struggling so we decided to stop in a random classroom and say a prayer. We prayed that the elders would be comforted and that we would be able to know how to help the other sisters in our zone that are struggling. Later on that night we had a testimony meeting were we shared our thoughts and every one in our zone got to talk about what they learned. Most of the elders testified that they were really struggling and found peace in the messages and realized that this is a hard thing that we all choose to do but that God sent us here for a reason. They all bore strong testimony of their Savior and I was so impressed and humbled by the ability they have to overcome trials. I bore my testimony about how grateful I am for a loving Heavenly father who has a plan for me. I wouldn’t want anyone else planning and guiding me. He called me to serve for a reason and I know that he will help me do this. 

Sunday we watched conference again and then for lunch we had the famous chicken cordon bleu!!!! I guess its famous here and wow it was good, AND THEN THERE WAS ICE CREAM TOO THAT WAS THE SAME KIND I ATE AT BYU!!!! Ah, that was by far the best meal we have had...the other ones are more like cafeteria food haha. The bagels are good though! oh and the cantaloupe for some reason is really good too in case anyone was wondering lol. Sunday night we watched a devotional called "Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. It completely changed my outlook about serving a mission. He talked about how we must turn outward as Christ did. We have to overcome the natural man and instead of thinking about how upset we are about things or how sad or mad we are personally we must turn to others and help them. In turn, we can become more like the Savior and help others feel his love. It takes a whole lifetime to do this though. But God is willing to help us. we just have to ask! My testimony of prayer has grown tremendously. We pray over everything at the MTC.. . food, blessings, classes, tender mercies, bad feelings and honestly, I can totally feel a difference. It shows God that we are humble people and we can’t do it without him! 

Monday we taught our first investigator that wasn’t our teacher! They are still members of the church playing nonmembers but their acting is incredible. We get little bios about them again and pray to know and be inspired on what to teach. We plan and study and then go in with a hope that the Spirit of God will fill in our holes. Our first lesson was with Linda. Me and my companion ended up not sticking with our plan and so it didn’t go very well. We took our mistakes and determined to plan better for the next one. That afternoon we taught Haley. I got to recite the first vison from memory and it was such a powerful experience. After the lesson me and Sister Schirle really felt that Haley was ready to commit to baptism and she said yes! She said she wanted to but wanted time to learn more. That is the best answer ever! we told her of course and we have another appointment with her to teach her more about the plan of happiness (basically where we came from, why families are important and what are purpose here on earth is!) We are so excited to know that through our teaching we are helping others realize who their Heavenly Father is and that God loves them!

The other day our entire district was coming back from class and we got in the elevator and one elder made a joke about pulling the doors open so he started to and then the ELEVATOR STOPPED. WE WERE ALL FREAKING OUT!!! We were in there for a good two minutes that felt like forever and then it opened. Then we all could not stop laughing because I guess my face in the elevator was just hilarious because I was just so scared. I WAS SCARED! But it was a good bonding moment lol.  

A common phrase in our room (which has my companion and the two other sisters) is the phrase "look good play good." We live by that and we definitely are some pretty cute sister missionaries I’d say! every morning me and the sisters put on nice clothes go to the mirror in our hallway and take a mirror pic. Its the little things haha. 

The exercise time we have gotten has been the best! they have an indoor track and a volleyball court! 

THE BEST MOMENT WAS THE OTEHR DAY WHEN MY FLAG FINALLY APPEARED IN THE COURTYARD!!! the Zambian flag!!! The elders thought I was crazy because of how excited I got to finally see it up. BUT IT JUST MADE ME SO HAPPY! Seriously the little things haha. 

If you made it this far then great! I just want you all to know that I am so excited to be a part of this work. This is God’s church and I know that this is an opportunity for me to bring it to people in Africa! Jesus Christ is our Savior and the more we become like him, learn like him and trust in him the better the person we are and the happier we will be. 

Anyways I hope you all have a great week! 

with lots and lots of love,

Sister Harper Moulton