Burmingham Alabama Mission

Repentance Recipients: Alabama Birmingham Mission 27 Nov 2017 President Sainsbury Dear Sisters and Elders, A mission is a wonderful time to come to know God, to find out who He is, to feel of His love. And as we come to know God, we come to love God, to put him first in our lives and to seek His approval. One of His greatest gifts to us is the gift of repentance. The ability to repent and to be forgiven is one of God's greatest manifestations of love for us. And our willingness to repent is one of our greatest manifestations of love for God. How blessed we are to have the gift of repentance, to be able to joyfully repent every day of our shortcomings and mistakes and to be washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. However, repentance is not something to be taken lightly. To tap into the atonement and the forgiveness it brings requires a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Repentance requires that we yield our whole heart unto God. We cannot hold back when it comes to repent

     Sister Barfuss loves peacocks and a dear friend sent this Thanksgiving Greeting along with several cherished others.  It is wonderful to have the humidity slow down with temperatures between 40 and 73 degrees. Decorations for the holidays bring a festive spirit everywhere now, but the drivers will still take every opportunity to fill your safe following space!!      Elder and Sister Barfuss are growing to love the Sylacauga Branch members.  They even run a tight family history program on Tuesdays with Sister Blanchard and Young Women's for two girls every Wednesday!!  The Whitbeck family from another ward spoke in Sacrament meeting and really inspired everyone.  The Spirit touched our hearts on the truths from their speaking assignments, "Repentance is Always Positive" by Stephen W. Owen and Sister Oscarson's "The Power of One."  Their teenage son also spoke on the tree of life and Joseph Smith's vision.  For Sunday School Brother Cordner gave an

  "My favorite color is October"  Maybe November in "Sweet Home Alabama"  There are autumn colors everywhere now and the beauties of nature as the air gets a little crisper and thermostats go up. While traveling to Branch Sacrament Meeting in Sylacauga, we snapped a few delightful photos.      The last three Saturdays, we have been feeding the missionaries and last night we made them breakfast for dinner.  Serving waffles, scrambles eggs with cheese, bacon and onions, orange juice, little smokie sausages and cinnamon rolls with ice cream.  Then we shared the leftovers with the Sylacauga missionaries for their lunch!!  Both sets of missionaries are always grateful for a home cooked meal and are very gracious with compliments and leave spiritual messages. Twice they have secretly hidden missionary shirt thank you notes that make us laugh when we find them later!!       One of the outstanding lessons in Sunday school was #39 "The Hearts of the Children S

     At all the Zone Conferences, President Sainbury opens the floor for missionaries to share their miracles.  It is one of our favorite parts of the day.      One set of Sisters were doing service helping a man set up Christmas trees for the Bed and Breakfast where he was employed.  "One Sister related, "It was the cutest B&B EVER! and we were helping him so he could come to church on Sunday instead of having to set up all the trees on Sunday.  Being able to set up Christmas trees helped him and was a tender mercy to both of us."      Two missionaries were riding the free bus in Starkville and a man boarded saying, "I am on parole and stuck in Mississippi and REALLY need Jesus right now!! One of the missionaries replied, "Here is Jesus in this book of Mormon."  The missionaries explained to the man about the origins of the Book of Mormon and how it testifies of Christ.  The man would tell every person climbing onto the bus, "Hey we are reading

     Elder and Sister Morrison have served almost eighteen months and are getting ready to go on a country visiting tour towards Farmington, UT, where they live, in three weeks.  They have been amazing hard workers in support of all the young missionaries and are great fun to be around.      Morrisons have lived all over the world during their married life following Elder Morrison's work assignments. (One time they had to live apart for ten years.) He worked on the original GPS systems used for surveying land, was employed negotiated military contracts in Saudi Arabia and even arranged a marriage for a Prince!!  Sister Morrison said women are not allowed to drive in Saudi and you have to get your husband to take you everywhere!!  She had to have her clothes taylor made and their furniture custom built because that is the only way to obtain what you need!!      Elder Morrison works in the mission as the "Car Zar" and has some great stories.  One was about a foreign elder

      Sometimes when we travel, we face-time the married kids and grands and it is so fun to see how they are changing. We took another trip to Huntsville to toss a bedbug mattress and replace it with the truck and trailer.  There was a threesome that also needed a new mattress and desk etc. we needed to deliver.      The missionaries are pretty much amazing, and in August, September and October there were nine,  12 and 14 baptisms. President and Sister Sainsbury are devoted leaders and wonderfully focused and filled with love for the work and the Savior. During Zone conferences the Spirit was so strong and the missionary miracles and robust singing make everyone tear up.      Steve is the housing coordinator over 93 apartments he is suppose to check every three months.  He was initiated on Conference weekend with  a flood from an elder hanging his wire hanger on a ceiling sprinkler(4 inches of water on the 3rd floor) 1500 gallons a minutes for 20 minutes!!(big insurance

     Sister Barfuss was assigned to be a mental health nurse, but after the SLC, UT training and counsel from President Sainsbury, it is more about teaching the missionaries good self care and "Mom Medicine."  We talk a lot on the phone, check up on the Elders and Sisters, refer the missionaries to a great booklet the church created, "Adjusting to Missionary Life" and become sounding boards for the stresses that accompany this amazing training ground. Most of the issues are stress related, anxiety, sleeping problems and home sickness.  Many miracles come forward from all the hard work in the trenches, both from the missionaries and the nurses.         Sister Jackie Dillard and Sister Patricia Rochetto are church service missionaries and share the alphabet caring for the medical needs of the missionaries.  They both are career nurses with 40 yrs and 35 yrs of nursing experience.   Sister Charmaine Prosch is a service missionary with 40 years of mental health work th