Good Times, I Guess!

Hey guys! So yeah this week honestly wasn’t one of my favs that’s for sure. The splitting areas thing is just no fun but we are still doing the work we have been called to do and the effort is what’s important. I love the other sisters so much and we are always finding ways to make the day better even when we drive back and forth or when investigators don’t show up.

One fun time was at lunch one day we were STARVING. We had gone to like five appointments already and so Nakale was craving shima so we went to this little place and got a plate of shima and chicken and gravy and “chinese” which is basically like another kind of cooked cabbage. Honestly, it was so good. Like I could have just eaten the shima plain! What’s crazy is at the beginning of my mission I would have never said that but now if its made nice its so good. AH so good. I love it, and you eat it with our hands so after I was pretty dirty.

Also this week because I was companionless I had to do what we call weekly planning on my own! So I took of selfie with me and the white board we write our goals on. Each week we sent goals for how we will help the people we are teaching and we talk about what we need to do to help them get to church or be baptized. I’ve learned a lot about planning on my mission. It makes everything have more purpose. Setting those goals helps me stay motivated during the week and have something to show our efforts. Our mission president always shares this quote with us, so I thought I would share it with you all just for fun. It’s from “Preach my Gospel,” the manual that we use. It has taught me so much about goals and why they are important.  It states, " I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.”–President M. Russell Ballard"

So THAT’S why we set goals! 

Also this week cause Sister Orchard was leaving so we tried to do fun things at night during our free time. Orchard and I found a super easy recipe for brownies so we made them like three times and then sometimes we would eat them all when they were hot and it was so fun! Another night this week we decided to do face masks after we were all done planning for the next day. I just love these sisters so much! This morning we had to say good-bye to Sister Orchard because she is moving on to her mission now. It was so sad. I have gotten so close to her. But I know she will do great things in her mission! 

This week I wanted to share a scripture i read in my personal study. Its in 1 Nephi 26.13 it states, “And that he manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by  the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue,   and people, working mighty miracles, signs, and wonders, among the   children of men according to their faith."

When I read this I can’t help but think of the people here in Zambia. Another nation, another tongue and they can feel the Holy Ghost and know that God is there. It’s up to them though to increase in their faith. And its up to us missionaries to help them increase in faith! This week we taught an old investigator named Innocent. He has been busy with work and things but was able to come to church. We taught him about faith and how an increase in his faith and repenting can really have a powerful affect on his life. But its up to him to believe and listen to the Holy Ghost that is teaching him. And even we have another investigator from a long time ago named Timothy. He has such a strong desire to be baptized but his family is against the church so, its taking some time. We taught him how we needs to keep enduring and increasing in faith so that Heavenly Father will continue to help him and soften the hearts of his family. But I have such a strong testimony that our Heavenly Father will manifest himself to us. He will show us tender mercies, perform miracles and comfort us through the Holy Ghost and we will know that it is only through his love and the Savior’s Atonement that this life is possible. I am so grateful for the love that He has for all of his children and especially for the ones here in Zambia. 

I hope that you all have a fantastic week. By next Monday I will have a companion! *hopefully 

Thanks for all the prayers!

with lots and lots of love,

 Sister Moulton

Four is Better than One??!!

Hello! So the subject line explains my week! My dear sweet second daughter (haha) Sister Tukufa was taken to Malawi this week. I miss her so much. We knew she would get moved after a month but it came so fast! So now I am with the other two companionships I live with. We switch off who I go with depending on what the schedule is and who needs me to drive them. For example, at church I drove the first set of sisters to their ward, stayed for their ward and then as soon as the other sisters arrived by bus I went with them and finished with my ward and then stayed with them the rest of the day and we switch back and forth when we need too. Its pretty fun. Honestly, I love these sisters so much and they make me so happy haha. Nakale and Orchard and I are always laughing cause when we go to their area there are such insane people! One of their investigators compared getting baptized to getting engaged, "You have to get to know Jesus before you commit!" It was pretty funny. So yeah, its stressful balancing two areas but the work still moves forward and its not fun to be alone so I’m glad I’ve got four companions now!  

So this week we received this referral from the elders in Lusaka and honestly I’m not sure if this guy actually stays in our area cause he says one thing and when we go he says another but we started teaching him and turns out he has been taught everything and was ready to be baptized but his family moved!  So he wasn’t able but be baptized yet but he expressed to us how much he wanted to be baptized! Like alot alot. So we will see what happens as we keep teaching him, but Heavenly Father really prepares people and gives everyone second chances! 

Also this week we got some of the worst excuses ever for not being at church... this week was a little rough for our area because each companionship was in two areas and so this week at church we had no investigators. It was so sad. Even Kelvin he is doing so well and was ready to come to church at 7 am and told his family he was going and then his dad said before he went to church he had a whole list of things he needed to do around the house and it took him up until we saw him after church to finish. He was so sad and asked what he could read about what we learned in church. Poor guy its like a Cinderella story honestly, but he can do it! And it’s been amazing to see how happy the gospel makes him! Even this week he brought one of his friends to the lesson and his friend was so interested! Kelvin is even being a missionary!  Okay but then some of our investigators had some pretty crazy excuses, "My uncle is coming to pick me to go to cabway," or they just don’t answer their phone and my favorite of the week from one of our old investigators, BONIFACE, "Sorry I’ve been busy trying to get married" WHAT???? I have attached picture evidence to prove that haha. But hey, everyone has their agency and we do everything we can as missionaries… we call the night before, we invite, we promise blessings, we pray they will come, we offer to walk with them, we offer to send a member to get them and then its up to them to make it. And when they do, they see blessings. I am grateful for the opportunity to go to church every week. I took it for granted back home but it is honestly one of the best parts of the week. It’s a time to recharge, learn, remember and rest from the world and I know it is truly a day God wants us to observe and keep holy. 

Oh and just today ah it was the coolest things! Okay so we went to go get sister Nakale’s hair done (she has dreadlocks so we took her to the place to fix them-- she is way cool by the way) and the place is in like a little market and there are restaurants and shops and next to the dreadlock place there was a lady stirring the biggest pot of shima I have EVER SEEN!!!!!!! It was huge. I think I’ve explained this before but Zambians eat shima as their main food. They eat it with a choice of meat and relish (vegetable cooked) so its kind of like play dough consistency. You mold it and use it to eat the meat and vegetable so you don’t have to use utensils. It is made out of corn flour and water. They stir it and boil it for a long time. I have come to really enjoy shima on mission! So I went up to the lady who was making it and she let me stir it and cho it was so hard! You have to be super buff! 

So this next week should be fun balancing two areas, transfer news, and more crazy stories, but I am truly grateful for the experiences I am having on mission. It isn’t easy somedays. I get sad about our people but then you just keep going, keep talking to people, keep teaching and keep listening to the Spirit and Heavenly Father does the rest. 

Hope you all have a good week! 

Happy late Father's Day to my Dad!

with lots and lots of love, 

Sister Moulton 

Members and Chitenge Dresses

Hey fam! 

Not much happened this week but it was awesome! 

We were able to work with so many members this week and they are so powerful! One is Hannah and she is an Returned Missionary who served in Salt Lake City. She really helped us when we were teaching Ruth, a lady who doesn’t speak a ton of English. It was powerful see how the people really were able to feel the spirit when she bore her testimony in their language. We also worked with Sandra, one of our Recent Converts. She is the funniest. She is Zambian, right, but the whole time she is laughing at the silly things Zambians do and pointing it out to us. She is the best. And then we also worked with Meloy a Returned Missionary who served in Tanzania. In our lesson yesterday she was very bold with the investigator and really helped answer his questions. I am so glad Heavenly Father is putting these people in our path to work with! 

Kelvin shared a cool experience with us this week. He was telling us how he is really starting to see God’s hand in his life. I guess the other night when he went to work the night shift, he was late because he was in a lesson with us, had forgotten his dinner and his wallet and he was starving. He didn’t know what he was going to do the whole night And then around 10 at night a man paid him 200 to fill up his car with gas and it only cost 150 and kelvin asked him what to do with the rest and the man let him keep it for food! Kelvin testified to us that things are really changing because he is learning about God and he really likes how it is going. His family is starting to be more accepting of us and so we are hoping one day they will accept our invitation to join us in the lessons too. I know that God is blessing him too though! He is keeping his commitments! Today we talked about the plan of salvation with him an he shared how he has always wondered about all of this and it made him so happy to know that it is all part of a plan. The gospel is the best! 

Oh also all of us sisters got chitenge dresses made this week! One of my favorite parts of Zambian culture for sure. Don’t me and my comps look cute??? 

Anyways not much to share and nothing compared to our chicken stuff last week! Thank you all for your support as well and the prayers too. 

Oh and congrats to my brother for graduating this week! He did it! 

Have a great week everyone! 

with lots and lots of love, 

Sister Moulton

Chicken Licken

HAHAH this week was so fun haha okay I’ll start by talking about the title of my email. So on Wednesday we were having a normal day and then we go and see our investigator Kelvin. He told us he was super busy getting the chickens ready for an order that day. He and his family have a mini poultry farm and then when the chickens get big enough they sell them either dead or alive. So a lady had come and placed an order for 15 chickens that morning and needed them by 2:00. FITEEN CHICKENS!!! So he had to kill them, then heat them, pluck the feathers, wash them, then cut them. My awesome companion said we should offer to help him ( I’m grateful for her because that never even crossed my mind haha. So he actually says we can help him. He goes inside and grabs some chatange for us to wear (skirts the ladies here wear when they are working) and has us sit down, gives us a bucket with a dead bleeding chicken inside and asks us to pluck. HAHAHA so we dig in and pluck each and every feather out! Then if the chicken gets cold you dip it in the boiling water and then pluck again and cho I never knew how many feathers chickens have! It was pretty cool and meanwhile Kelvin was cutting and bagging the chickens. It was quite the experience and the neighbors really noticed cause here is a white girl and Tongan plucking chickens! Anyways, Kelvin was so happy we helped him out cause there is no way he was going to be able to finish. I’m glad we did too! Later he even gave us another chicken and we had it for dinner and it was so good!!!!!! 

Okay but more about Kelvin. We found him because we went to go teach his aunt and she wasn’t there so he said he was interested and he asked us all about baptism and how he didn’t feel his was complete. We have been teaching him for a while and the other day he really opened up to us about how he struggles with his family because he doesn’t know who his real mom is and because they make him do everything, AND work at a job, AND go to school and pay for it. And he just doesn’t feel love in his home. pooor guy. But we testified to him of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how Jesus Christ not only suffered for our sins but our sorrows too. We know that as he continues to live the gospel God will bless him. He is always so thankful when we go and teach him and so am I. And we took a sister with us one day this week and she offered Kelvin a ride, and then on Sunday he came and he loved it! And was even able to see a baptism and he said it was a full baptism and he would for sure be back next week. 

Also we had zone conference this week and it always makes me so motived!! I got to see both of my daughters at zone conference too! I love this mission!!!!

Also we went on exchanges and its so fun showing people around our area. And I learn so much too. This week I learned that when we really plan the lessons and work with members and continue to follow the spirit Heavenly Father puts you to find the people you need to find. It’s amazing. 

I am so grateful for my time here on mission. Everyday I am more grateful for the people I get to be with and the testimony I get to bear. Even when this week this one guy was laughing as I bore a testimony of Joseph Smith cause he thinks its crazy I won’t deny it! I know its true, and I am grateful for the people like Kelvin who will really listen and will act on their faith to see how the gospel can bless them in their life. 

Hope you all have a good week! 

with lots of love,

Sister Moulton