God is Good All the Time. All the Time God is Good!

Hey!  

Another week well spent here in Woodlands.

So uh somehow I hit my ten months this week???? Do not really know how the time went so fast but hey, I’m at 10 now the big DOUBLE DIDGITS! The sisters were so cute and decorated the hall for me when I woke up and bought me nice food. I love them lots ;-)

This week we went on exchanges and they went so well!!! I love doing exchanges cause you get to teach with someone new and learn and help them. And Sister Namunana still doesn’t speak much English but she tries so hard and I love that about her. Her simple testimony really brings the Spirit. 

This week we were preparing Kelvin to be baptized on Sunday. At the beginning of the week he described to us how he was still seeking answers to prayers and wasn’t really receiving them but he told us he knew they would come. . so we went later that week and he said, "Sisters the answer came." We told him to explain and then he told us how he had an experience at work. He works at a gas station fuelling cars and how this one lady came to get her car filled up and after the car was done she called Kelvin over and said, "God has answered your prayers. You don’t know what you are missing." Then she gave him a 100K and said to go buy what he wanted. Later that day another man gave and said something similar... and Kelvin took it as an answer to prayer. Pretty cool. I don’t understand exactly but to him it gave him the answer and that’s what matters. 

Also this week we continued teaching this couple named Kaunda and Chiyo. So long story they actually stay in Sister Jones and Sister Namunana’s area but they can only meet at night and they stay FAR FAR into their area and so its not really safe for them to go there by bus at night so Sister Kivlau and I have been teaching them now because we have the car. Anyways they are SO GOOD. They have their issues just like everyone else. They have been struggling to have children for many years now and have struggled finding religion. They have really come to love the gospel; of Jesus Christ and already see the blessings in their life. We love them so much. This week we brought the bishop and his wife with us to teach about the word of wisdom. Chiyo is heavy smoker and Kaunda drinks coffee ALOT and they told us how much they wanted to stop. The bishop bore a powerful testimony and helped so much. They helped them find alternatives. We followed up later that week and they had both come up with plans to overcome. Chiyo has a 24 day plan and Kaunda said, "I drank my last cup of coffee on Thursday. It was a big cup!" ahah she is hilarious and we are so happy for them! 

Okay so the big story of the week was yesterday, Sunday. So we wake up and the power is out which is pretty normal but it means that tons of people didn’t come to church. But Kelvin came and was ready for his baptism. Our church service goes normal with limited power haha until Gospel Principles Class. Our ward mission leader went to go make sure the font was still good for Kelvin and guess what? The Elders from the other ward after they had finished their baptism had drained the font (even though they knew we had a baptism because we told them) and now we weren’t able to fill it up again because there was not power to pump the water from the tank. Sooooo Kelvin has to wait until next week to be baptized.... To be honest it was really hard to control how mad and sad I was. I was frustrated with the Elders for not thinking and was felt super bad for Kelvin even though he totally understood and was okay, but still. I know it will work out and there has to be a reason. 

So yeah we were super sad yesterday cause no baptism. Even after when we went back to our area, esh! No one wanted to learn cause there was no power and everyone we visited turned us away. Our last ditch efforts were to go and visit James so we go and he tells us he has to go somewhere but he will be back soon so we wait and wait and wait and wait and nothing. While we are waiting thinking about our sad day a crazy dude walks up to us and talks and talks and he obviously was doing drugs or something cause the conversation involved him telling us about his crazy wife and his hair and how white people call Africans Africans and how he wants to change. Anyways, we are pretty used to the crazy drunk dudes by now but this one he came at the perfect time. We chuckled at his conversation with us and gave him a pamphlet and as he was leaving he said, "God is good all the time. . ." and then motioned to us that we were supposed to say something back. We acted confused and he just kept repeating it and telling us to say it back and then he goes "NO! YOU GO LIKE THIS. GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME. ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD!" OHHHHHHH! Okay so we were supposed to say, “All the time God is good!” HAHAHA! It was pretty funny and it made me and Sister Kivlau smile for sure. He even he taught me an important lesson too! Our Heavenly Father is good all the time. He is there. Even though we had a bad day. I know God is still good. So thanks crazy dude for making our day! 

So don’t forget this week God is good, all the time God is good ;-) 

Have a good week! 

with lots and lots of love,

Sister Moulton

No Speak English

Hello family and friends!  

This week was quite the week. So first off we are no longer in a trio! A new sister this week and so Sister Jones is training her. The sister is from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They speak French there. So this new sister doesn’t speak very much English. Hence the subject of my email. The first night we taught her words like shower, bread and chicken. It was pretty fun! Then she teaches us how to say it in French. Poor girl though she is called to serve in English in a country where they speak nyanja and bimba so she is just getting confused! haha It makes me so so grateful Heavenly Father called me to serve English speaking cause I don’t know how I would have done it. She is sweet though and we are learning different ways to communicate. 

Also me and Kivalu had some fun this week! She tried carrying me like the Zambia wowmen carry their babies. It worked pretty well! haha

This week we had another baptism! His name is Obey. (Awesome names the past two weeks right?) He invited his family members and the baptismal service was so good. A lot of our investigators were there and that was awesome for them to see how baptism is performed in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Obey is super tall and so the first time he went under he didn’t get completely immersed and so they had to do it again. And one of our investigators named Teddy was really confused and so I explained to him that it has to be done exactly right in order to be a real baptism. Our bishop also shared an analogy about enduring to the end. Ill share it with all of you. 

So I’ll paraphrase. "Imagine if someone told you that waiting outside was Jesus Christ. Would you go outside? "

Obviously yes

Okay so you go outside and he is there waiting to pick you up. He is in a van with some other people and they are on the way to heaven. Jesus Christ is the driver and he tells you to jump in. Would you jump in?" 

Obviously yes

Okay so you start driving and things are so nice. The road is clear, the aircon is on, the radio is playing nice Mormon Tabernacle Choir music. You would enjoy that right?" 

yes

okay but about an hour in, the radio stops working so now you just get to listen to the tires turning and the aircon blowing. Would you get out or stay in the car?" 

Stay in right?

Okay and then a couple minutes later the aircon goes out AND one of the tires go flat. Are you gonna get out?"

No you stay in right? 

Okay and so now you’re hot, there is no music, and you are traveling at 5 km per hour and all of the sudden a nice Range Rover sport drives up along side you, music blaring, aircon blowing and the driver offers you a ride as he pulls along side you. Would you get in the car?"

Hmmm and you see this is where maybe some people would think, “yeah I would get in the car. But you see the car is going the other way and Jesus Christ is NOT the driver. 

Our bishop, he compared this to how sometimes in life after we decided to get baptized and "get in the car" things they don’t always go smoothly. In fact, they never do. But we have to choose to keep going in the right way and in the end we will be blessed for staying on, so keep enduring!!!!

Also update on Kelvin and Lloyd, his friend. Kelvin is doing great. He should get baptized this week! He and Lloyd were walking to church on Sunday and our bishop drove by and saw them and picked them up! They enjoyed church SO much and stayed the whole time so that they could see the baptism. Every time Kelvin comes he sits next to the blind man in our ward named Noelle. This guy, he is very interesting, if ya know what I mean, but Kelvin loves talking to him and so he just goes and sits the whole time. And Lloyd does his best to sing the songs. They are awesome. This week though we met with Kelvin and he still has some concerns about Russell M. Nelson. We talked about it and gave him the resources to find out more about him and we invited him to continue praying. It’s hard for the people here in Zambia though because when they think of prophets, they think of men that cast out demons and that can prophesy for their lives. When really we know prophets are men called of God to teach us. I am grateful to know there is true prophet on the earth today! 

Anyways I hope you all have a great week! 

with lots and lots of love, 

Sister Moulton 

Innocent is Even More Innocent!

 So this week Innocent was able to be baptized!!!! Sister Kivalu and I were so excited for him. He is so dedicated and so humble. Someone asked me the other day who my favorite people have been to teach. By far he is one of my favs. He is so humble and willing to do a lot to live the gospel. His family still doesn’t really support him being baptized but he told us he was ready and was willing. On Sunday he showed up to church and everyone was all excited because it was his big day! Well as soon as he got in the white suit he came out and he was holding his hands to his chest looking SO SCARED! He was shaking and just kept telling us how nervous he was. We convinced him to take a pictures and calmed his nerves by having our funny mission leader tell stories of when he was baptized. But still he was so scared. And we just kept telling him he would feel better after. When he stepped in those waters with Bishop (who was the one he chose to baptize him) they both shivered cause I guess the water was SUPER cold. And then he was baptized! When he came up out of the water he was smiling!!!!! And after he looked so much less scared. Bishop gave the closing remarks and gave a powerful testimony about how much potential we all have but especially how much potential he saw in Innocent. It was awesome. And then after there was even refreshments! that’s super rare here. And we went to Innocent after and he just said "I feel so so much better now." He was so happy and people were congratulating him too. Its an awesome thing to see someone be baptized. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Lord’s work in bringing those people to him.  

Also this week we went and to visit our recent convert James. He has been struggling a lot ever since he has been baptized and has had issues getting to church. We decided to show him the Restoration video about Joseph Smith. As we were watching the spirit was so strong. And after we asked James how he felt and he said he was so touched. We bore our testimony after and it hit me how real my testimony was. Before I came on mission I would always say I know its true and I would just say it without even thinking but ever since I have come on mission that belief and testimony. ITS ACTUALLY THERE! I know with all my heart that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. That the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. And I know that because I have seen and gained that testimony. And guess what? On Sunday, James showed up to church in a white shirt and ready to be at church. Prayers answered. 

Kind of a funny story from this week!!! We have been trying to find more people in our area and this week we found this Chinese lady. We weren’t able to end up teaching her because we couldn’t really understand her. But the funny part was that we asked her what church she goes to and she told us she doesn’t go because it smells bad.... Yeah we were a little confused but hey maybe one day she will take us up on our invitation for her to come to church with us and she will find out that OUR church doesn’t really smell that bad haha ;-)

Also this week our security guard who guards our house at night randomly decided to buy us a live chicken and have us cook it so he killed it and then Kivalu plucked it and I prepared it and then Jones made rice and we feasted! WOW IT WAS SO NICE! FRESH CHICKEN ;-) 

Hope you all have a great week. Don’t forget to pray! 

With lots and lots of love,

Sister Moulton

SNAKE

Hello fam and friends!

I hope you all had a nice fourth of July week! Here is what happened over here in the wonderful country of Zambia ;-)  

This week was so great! We had an awesome time at zone conference and MLC. Zone conference was so good. Us Woodlands sisters got matching skirts to wear for zone conference. We looked so nice, and the conference was good too haha! ;-)  We talked about how we need to focus everything we do on Jesus Christ. Our motivation for our work should be to please our Savior NOT the mission president or other missionaries.  It really helped me see mission in a different way. I always worry so much about the numbers and the appointments but really I just need to focus on trying my best to be Christlike and bring people to know more about our Savior. MLC was so good too. Our mission president is so inspired!!!!!! He always knows exactly what we need to hear, We talked a lot about how because the church is small here we need to focus on finding those that are self reliant and committed and can help build up the church. Someday the church will be big here and there will be lots of members but for now there is so much good work to do and I am so grateful to be a part of it. 

After zone conference our zone plus the Lusaka zone went to a farm called Kalimba farms where they keep reptiles. It’s basically like a reptile zoo but its in Zambia so its cool. We all got to hold a snake! IT WAS SO COOL!!!! We also got to see these HUGE CROCODILES. I get to add it my list of animals I’ve seen in Africa. 

This week at church was GREAT! We walked with two of our investigators who have been struggling getting to church because of being "busy" and transportation so we said OKAY FINE THEN! We will walk with you! So we walked about thirty min to a bus stop and then took at bus for fifteen min to get to church. The little girl- the daughter to the mom- LOVED primary and the mom, Alice, really enjoyed the class. And Innocent also came! He is set to be baptized this week! We are so excited for him! Cool name right? And Karen! Man I love Karen so much. The first couple times we met with her and her sisters she was always so sad, but every time we see her now and when she is at church she is smiling so big and she loves to answer questions during classes at church. She told us she had prayed about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and felt good about it and knew it was true. 

This week I was able to gain a stronger testimony of our living day prophet- Russell M Nelson. Every morning as missionaries we have personal study for one hour before going out to the field. I read the talk he gave at the last conference during the priesthood session and the entire time I was reading I just kept getting the thought that this truly was a prophet of God. I could just feel the power that he spoke with. He talked about the priesthood and how powerful it really is. Many people in Zambia believe in prophets that do magic and pray loudly to cast our demons. I know that a true prophet of God holds the authority from God and I can not ever deny that Russell M. Nelson is the prophet called on the earth today. 

Also my companions and I were talking this week about how blessed we are to get to serve with people from all over the world. It teaches us to really adapt to different cultures and become more accepting of their ideas and ways. In our mission the there are sisters from Tonga, Nigeria, Botswana, Ghana, and South Africa. It is challenging sometimes but I am grateful for the things I learn from each of them! And now I can say I have friends all over the world! 

Anyways once again I am grateful for the wonderful people here in Zambia that I have to serve, and I’m grateful for the wonderful people back home that keep them and me in their prayers. 

with lots and lots of love, 

Sister Moulton 

Hump Month and New Comps!

HELLO! So yes, I got a companion. It was actually quite the week with transfer news, we were told we would find out on Tuesday and we kept waiting and waiting until Thursday morning…yeah waiting for transfer news is always a way we are tested in our patience because you never know when it will come haha. On Thursday Sister Nakale was told she would be going back to Copperbelt and that Sister Kivalu would be my companion and Sister Jones would be in a trio with us. We are still doing two areas though.... but we are finding ways to make it work. All of us were already living together and our house started with six then went to four when Orchard left then now its ONLY THREE! Its been insanely quiet,  haha but Sister Kivalu is an awesome companion. She is from the kingdom of TONGA! I have lived with her in every flat for most of my mission. SO it will be good to work as her companion now.  

So this week was kind of crazy I hit 9 MONTHS ON MISSION? We were sitting at a Dinner appointment this week and the lady said you must be new on mission and I said "uh well kind of I’ve been out... and then I paused... and said "9 months I’ve been out 9 months." When I said it, it didn’t feel right so I had to think about it again and then I figured out I HAVE REALLY BEEN IN ZAMBIA FOR 9 MONTHS!!!! Craziness! I still have another wonderful 9 months ahead of me and I’m looking forward to the wonderful things I can learn and the fun and spiritual experiences ahead. The sisters were so cute and decorated my desk with nine things they love about Moulton (side note they only did 8 I think they forgot the last one haha). 

I love them so much! They made a wonderful dinner that night too. I live with the best sisters. Also to celebrate for my hump month, I wanted to go back and eat shima so during our lunch we rushed to the place and got some! So nice. I sent a more close up pic so you can see it. 

This week I wanted to share about a spiritual experience we had with one of our investigators- Ruth. So Ruth is this lady we contacted a long time ago. But we have been teaching her really slowly cause she doesn’t really undesrtand English that well but can read well so we continue to teach her. When we first met Ruth we were getting to know her and she expressed her strong desire to have children but that her and her husband were struggling for many years. She said she wanted to increase in her faith so that God would bless her with a child. Recently we also learned of some other personal issues she is having. We have been teaching her little by little about prayers and about faith and it has been amazing to see how happy it makes her.  We have been teaching her with one of our members -hannah (the returned missionary) to help us with the translation. This past week we were teaching about prophets and priesthood. We had planned the lesson really simple to make sure she understood. During the lesson Sister Nakale and I would teach a principle and then if Ruth was confused Hannah would translate and then Sister Nakalae (who speaks some Bimba- Ruth’s language) would add some more. Little by little Ruth was understanding and she would say back what we just taught her and then smile really big when she understood. She asked so many questions about prophets and when we answered her and testified of the one true prophet on the earth the spirit became so strong in that room. I don’t know if when I bore my testimony Ruth understood everything I said, but the spirit was there and as I watched her smile and nod her head I knew that she could feel it too. I am so grateful for the opportunity we have to teach people like Ruth. Humble people who don’t have much but that are able to feel and be inspired by the love Heavenly Father has for them. The best part by far was at the end of the lesson when we had her say the closing prayer. So Ruth, she is a Pentecost and Pentecost they pray by saying Gods name LOTS of times and by speaking really loud almost yelling and so we taught her how to pray in a way that she can feel the spirit more. And then she gave the prayer even in English and it was so good. The spirit was so strong as she said her simple prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for sending us. I’m grateful he sent us too. 

Yesterday was such a good Sunday too! We had three people at church! (that’s really good for us haha) Kelvin brought his friend and then Karen a sweet new investigator came. She is the one in the pic of her and her sister. They fed us shima this week! We love them so much! They are the sweetest girls. They are studying to be teachers, and only one was able to come to church but she loved it! She almost got lost but we sent Sandra our RC to go and get here and she made it! 

Anyways looking forward to this week! We get to have zone conference and MLC and we get to find more amazing people! Its gonna be a good time. 

Hope you all have an amazing Fourth of July week! ME and sister jones will be celebrating over here ;-) 

with lots and lots of love, 

Sister Moulton