Sister Clifford: Week #14 in ALABAMA "Can You Show Us How To HOLY DANCE?"

Sister Clifford: Week #14 in ALABAMA "Can You Show Us How To HOLY DANCE?"

Hey Y'ALL!

   Wow. What a week!!! Such a great week full of so many miracles and hilarious stories! First off, I have said this many times before, but I love my companion and we have the best time together. She's amazing!

   So this week we WORKED HARD. SO hard and it felt amazing! We just really gave it our all and saw many blessings because of it! It was amazing.

   First off, I have said this many times before but the Southern people are INCREDIBLE people. So many of them live such difficult lives and have nothing AND on top of all of that they face so many trials every single day. It breaks my heart. BUT they are the most loving and caring people. So many people we meet, no matter if they are interested in our message or not, will invite us in, talk to us, and send us off with a huge plate of food. This past week we had a family who we had just met that day, give us a full plate of food and as we were leaving said, "you two are doing an incredible thing. You are doing the Lord's work. There aren't many people in this world who could do what you are doing." It's moments like that, that truly make this all worth it. People here are so welcoming and so caring. I learn something from them every single day. I am so lucky to have this opportunity to serve them.

  This week, we were over visiting our recent convert Nicole and she is just the cutest ever. We love her so much!!! It was so sad though because right when we walked in the cute neighbor girls from next door were there and they had to leave because we showed up. They told us how their uncle hates Mormons. Sometimes it definitely is hard hearing things like this. We do our best to talk to everyone, BUT some people just choose to push us out, AND I have learned that it is okay! Although it breaks my heart that they choose not to listen OR in this case, aren't allowed to listen, I know that they will be able to hear the Gospel one day!

  Well, our investigator Megan is doing AMAZING!!! She is so incredible. We had an amazing lesson with her this past week. We talked about the hope that can come from God and how He can continue to bless her life no matter what. The spirit was strong. Her crazy husband was outside playing basketball, her kids were calm and the spirit was felt. She loves reading the Book of Mormon with us and always asks us to read with her. During this lesson, the spirit kept saying to me "invite her to church! invite her to church". I won't lie, I was definitely skeptical because we have invited her to church so many times and she has told us that she doesn't think she needs to. BUT I trusted Heavenly Father and guess what!!! SHE SAID YES. It was the best!!! Unfortunately, something came up this last Sunday, BUT she said next week she will be there! We are so happy! Megan is amazing.

   Also, we had an incredible lesson with our investigator Lee. I wish everyone in the world could meet Lee. She is the cutest and has the brightest spirit. I honestly love her tons!!! It is always our favorite thing to go and visit her. Anyways, a few weeks ago we received the saddest news ever that she had miscarried. It broke our hearts. This week, we went to go visit her and it was a powerful experience. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and how she will be able to see her baby again. I shared Alma 40:11-12 with her:

 11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.

12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.

The spirit was so strong and she just told us how much better she felt!!! The Spirit can work miracles if you let it! We love LEE!!! She is amazing.

Anyways.. SO MANY funny experiences happened this week! First off, it is so funny how everyone here that is from Alabama hates it so much. They always look at us and go, "Why the heck did you choose to come here?? IT SUCKS". We just die laughing every time. It probably has happened 8 million times.

2 Funny Stories:

1. So this week we did service at the food pantry downtown and a lady walks in and started getting upset at all the ladies that worked there because she thought they were talking bad about her fur coat. Well I am just watching as she starts raising her voice at them in her deep southern accent. All of a sudden she turns to everyone in there with us and goes, "ALL OF Y'ALL NEED TO DEVELOP A BETTER RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS!!!" And then just storms out. This pretty much sums up Alabama for ya. Some people sure are crazy, BUT they love JESUS!!! Bless their hearts.

2. This was the funniest moment of my whole life. So we tracted into a lady named Lizzie while we were downtown at the well and she told us to come visit her at her house and so we went this past week! One thing to know about Southerners, THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO STOP TALKING. They have no sense of time and will talk for years! (Not even exaggerating) Well, we sit down at her home and she starts chatting up a storm! It was 25 minutes in and I am pretty sure she hadn't taken a breathe yet. Not kidding. We pretty much just said 3 words. She opened up the Book of Mormon and just kept saying "this ain't the Bible. No it is not". It was taking everything in me not to start dying laughing. She was talking about EVERYTHING. About knives that were hidden in her couches (After this, we decided she was definitely not stable), she kept yelling JESUS and talking about how her Pastor thinks she is not stable. Well, at the end of this crazy experience she looks at us and goes, "Do y'all Holy Dance at your church? It is in the Bible." AND my dear, sweet companion goes "NO can you show us?". She all of a sudden stands up and starts raising her hands high in the sky and is shouting "YES LORD!! I AM FEELING IT!!! I AM BLESSED" and starts shaking all around her living room. If you are reading this,please just picture this moment. It was incredible. I was just holding Sister Oscarson's hand so tight and we were doing everything we could not to die laughing. We then quickly decided it was time to GET OUT. We left her with a Book of Mormon and we left! It was definitely the best moment of my life ;) There is always a crazy story to tell here in BAMA!!!

   Yesterday at church we had something called a "Spiritual Feast" where all the members invited as many people as they could!! It was amazing and we had our investigators show up as well. I love the Sabbath Day. I know that a Sunday well spent, will definitely bring a week of content.

    This past Friday we had Zone Conference and it was amazing! We headed down to Montgomery for the day. Zone Conference is definitely such a fun experience! I love hearing our Mission President and his sweet wife speak to us. They are so awesome!

  Well, it definitely was a busy and successful week full of lots of crazy moments and blessings! I love Alabama and I LOVE the people here. I learn from them every single day. They are a blessing to serve. They are faithful people who love Jesus Christ. I love this work! I love this Church! I know it is true! I am grateful for the Book of Mormon. I know it can bring peace and joy into your life. It has blessed my life in so many ways. I am so grateful. I hope everyone has a happy week! Thank you for all the love and prayers. I really do feel them daily. I love my Heavenly Father. Every day, I work my hardest for Him.

LOVE YOU ALL!!! Be happy!

xoxox

sista skillz