Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Sister Sarah Kemp arrives at the Alabama Birmingham Mission

Sis. Sarah Kemp arrived at the Mission Home in Birmingham, Alabama today. She flew down from the MTC in Provo along with
five other missionaries.

The missionaries will stay at the Alabama Birmingham Mission Home tonight - and will leave for their assignments tomorrow.





Pictured above Sisters Kemp, Schroeppel and Seidl along with Elders Jensen, Neilson and Kaupert.

Pictured right Sisters Schroeppel, Seidl, and Kemp


Monday, January 30, 2012

As Sisters in Zion ...

Sarah will arrive in the Mission tomorrow.

As Sisters in Zion

Mission Gathers for Arrival of New Missionaries Tomorrow

This past Friday morning we held a specialized training for those missionaries who have been assigned to train the new missionaries arriving tomorrow afternoon. They will receive their specific assignments (locations and companionships) at our transfer meeting on Wednesday. Sis. Sarah Kemp will be part of that group of missionaries arriving in Birmingham.

Those invited to attend this training began to arrive at the Lorna building just before 8:30 am with their current companions. The zone leaders joined us at 9:30 am for the last hour of training.

Our office missionaries (Elder and Sister Curtis, Elder and Sister Greenland, and Sister Dunbar) stopped by to help us.

After a prayer, we began with a breakfast of kolaches (Recipe), juice, oranges, apples, and pears. Kolaches are a Czech food and since Elder Klabacka is a descendent of Czech immigrants, we thought it was fitting to have him experience this ethnic food now a part of the Southern cuisine. We served ham and cheese and sausage and cheese kolaches from Shipley's Donuts.

We covered an outline provided by the Missionary Department in Salt Lake City. As part of the training Sister Jeni Holzapfel, spoke to the missionaries about our four children who served missions and their first companions in the mission field (Chile, Costa Rica, Hungry, and Switzerland).

(Photos & details courtesy Alabama Birmingham Mission website)

Friday, January 27, 2012

Spanish speaking missionaries - Alabama Birmingham Mission

Each Thursday the Spanish language missionaries gather at the mission office to study Spanish for about an hour and English for about fifteen minutes.
They generally meet in the office of Mission President Richard Holzapfel, at the 3100 Lorna Road suite (mission office). When the Lorna Branch building, being re-modeled just a few blocks down the road from the mission office, is finally open the missionaries will hold their Thursday studies there.

Seated, upper photo Elders Andersen and Thomson (visa missionaries heading to Bolivia) and Elders Abac and Olson.

Seated in the lower photo: Sisters Belford, Oyarzabal, and NewMyer with Elders Coburn and Blair (visa missionaries heading to Bolivia). (Photos & details courtesy Alabama Birmingham Mission website)

Welcome Elder & Sister Johnson




Elder and Sister Johnson arrived last evening (January 25th) from a four day trip after finishing their orientation at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. They have been assigned to serve in the West Point and Starkville branches. They are living in Starkville, Mississippi. We now have twenty-one senior missionaries serving in our mission.

(Photo & details courtesy Alabama Birmingham Mission website)

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Huntsville (Alabama) District Meeting

Huntsville (Alabama) District held their weekly meeting with the zone leaders, Elders Lofthouse and Reed.

Sisters Simpson, Belford, Nieves-Mercado, and Spendlove, Elders Reed, Loftfhouse, Rollins, Abac, Coleman, and Konold.

(Photo & details courtesy Alabama Birmingham Mission website)

26 January 2012

Our devotional on Sunday was given by Brother Clayton M Christensen. He talked about how the missionaries should be the link between the members and the investigators.

The member's role in missionary work is to turn everyday activities into missionary opportunities. The investigator's role is to ask, seek, and knock for themselves.

Our role, as our purpose states, is to invite others to come unto Christ. Brother Christensen is such a great man. He is a professor at Harvard and has created 2 businesses, but it struck me how humble he was. As they were reading his biography before he spoke, he held his head down a little as if he didn't want people to look at him. He was just so amazing to me.

Our devotional on Tuesday was by
Elder Jose Alonso of the 1st Quorum of the 70. His wife spoke first and she fave her testimony in Spanish with her daughter translating into English for the rest.

It was a very powerful thing especially for those going on Spanish speaking missions because it really showed that this is a worldwide church. Elder Alonso shared many things, one important one being, "finding by the spirit is just as important as teaching by it." We don't really practice contacting as much here because it's not as easy to simulate as teaching, so I never really thought much about it. He told us to talk to as many people as possible because nothing will happen until we find someone to teach.

Last Saturday we taught in the Teaching Resource Center (TRC). This is a place where emmbers volunteer to be taught lessons as themselves and not as investigators. We taught the Kitchen family about receivng revelation through prayer.

There were 3 people- the parents and their 15 year old daughter. The mother was a native Spanish speaker and the father served a Spanish speaking mission so we taught in Spanish. At one point we were talking about how much we learned here so the father shared this story with us.

When he was in the MTC he heard this story from a general authority.
One day a class was being taught and the general authority was observing them.
He was on the other side of a one way mirror so the class didn't know he was there. The general authority said there were many more teachers in that room than just the one speaking. He saw angels ministering unto and teaching each missionary. I never thought about that before, but it is so true. This is a dedicated, set-apart place for the learning of the Lord's missionaries. That's why He is giving us the best He can so He can sent us out with everything we need to teach His gospel.