What a year it has been. Looking back this whole year I have been on mission! Best year yet!
To celebrate Christmas and everything we had a good time.
First was our zone Christmas party, then the branch Christmas party, and then our Sister Christmas dinner!
The zone party was fun as always. We have a great mission president and wife and every time they come it makes me feel like I’m sort of home haha. I know my real parents are FAR FAR away, but I’m so grateful for the mission president’s love and the good food they feed us.
To top all the parties off, ORTON got baptized! Just before the branch party all the members came to support him. He was so pumped. This guy has been preparing for a long time, but because of his English is took him awhile but he kept working and working and now he is so good. It was truly amazing to see how much of a desire he had to be baptized. He learned English for it! Happy, happy day. After, our branch made food and we all ate together. It was a great time and we had lots of investigators come too. They had kind of like a little talent show and everyone got so into it. Malawians know how to make something small really great and I love it so much.
Highlight of the week was Christmas Eve. Because Christmas was on a Tuesday we had a proselyting day on Monday. It was kind of a hard day cause we were tired haha but it ended up being one of my favorite days on mission. First off it rained during the day but it was still ok and we managed to see the people we needed to see. We even got to do some service on the way when we got to help a guy who’s bag of potatoes had fallen off his head! I rushed out of the car to help him and then everyone shouted "Azungu!!!!" They were somehow surprised I would get out to pick up potatoes and then a bunch of people came running and helped us do it fast before the rain was too much. Then to help us really get into Christmas, one of our investigators had asked about Family Home Evening. We said we could come and do one with them! So we went to their house and brought little treats and everything and a lesson. The family is a mom and dad and two kids that are under 12. We taught about the story of baby Jesus and how the circumstances showed how our Savior was the Prince of Peace and how even his mother Mary had to sacrifice a lot but was so humble about everything. It was a humbling experience to share the Christmas story with that family. Every year at home my family and I share the nativity story, but to be able to share the light with another family was really humbling for me and made me especially grateful for this time I have to be on mission. That was our Christmas Eve and it was the best.
Christmas day we got to skype our families. It’s a great day for missionaries! Then that night we made SO MUCH food and ate ate ate and opened presents that my mom had sent.
The most important lesson I learned this past two weeks comes from a phrase that we kept hearing last week. Two different times someone has come up to us saying, "I am a sinner," both of those guys were drunk people who needed help and when we ended up teaching one of them it really showed me that really all of us are sinners. But you see we just all have different sins. We all have different weaknesses. Sometimes we struggle with loving and forgiving others. Some of us struggle to control our anger and it leads to hurting our brothers and sisters. Some of us, like these men, struggle overcoming temptations, but you see ALL OF US ARE SINNERS in some way. The best part of God’s plan is that ALL OF US CAN REPENT! Because of our Savior, Jesus Christ all can enter into his rest. I love this scripture in Alma 12:33-34
“But God did call on men, in the name of his Son, (this being the plan of redemption which was laid) saying: If ye will repent, and harden not your hearts, then will I have mercy upon you, through mine Only Begotten Son;
34 Therefore, whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these shall enter into my rest.”
When we humble ourselves and realize we make mistakes and have weakness and don’t let our hearts be hard, He will give us mercy and we can receive forgiveness! The part I love most is, “enter into his rest.” Through following our Savior’s example we can become better people. We can be happier and one day rest with our Heavenly Father. For me, I know that I have weaknesses and make mistakes but I also know that our Savior is real. Jesus Christ is our Savior and because He lives I can always become better.
I hope you all have a happy new year!
with lots and lots of love,
Sister Moulton
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