I'm so grateful for this gospel!

Wow. I am seriously SO grateful for this gospel! We are SO blessed to have it in our lives!

I have been pondering a lot about Joseph Smith and how strong of a person he was. He NEVER denied what he saw. He was tarred and feathered. He was thrown into jail. He was mocked and he got laughed at, BUT HE NEVER DENIED HIS TESTIMONY. One thing that is interesting to think about is how if he really just wanted to make a new church and receive all of the credit, he would of formed another church just like everyone else was doing, but he didn't do that. He was guided by the Lord to establish Christ's church back on the earth. Ah. It's so amazing!!!!

 

This past week, I have learned a very important lesson about following the spirit. On Thursday night, I kept thinking about this random lady that we met a couple weeks earlier who is the mother of a less active teenager in our branch. I couldn't get her off of my mind. On Friday, we decided to follow the prompting that I received and went over to her neighborhood. There were SO MANY people sitting outside!! We were able to have so many missionary opportunities there. You know what's funny? The lady that I was thinking about actually started to leave her home as soon as we got there. It made me realize that God works in mysterious ways and that we were not necessarily lead to teach her, but to teach her neighbors! I'm so grateful for the power that we have as missionaries to truly be lead by the spirit to those who are searching for more. I have been trying to work on being more BOLD when I speak. We saw this one man sitting outside and I just said hi to him and then immediately asked him, "Have you ever read the Book of Mormon?" He just started to laugh and said "no". I told him, "WHAT? you have never read the Book of Mormon??? IT's such a good book!!!!!!" We started to walk up to him and then he said that he was about to leave for work. We will go back later and teach him!!!!

 

Oh my. Guess what? We both had the prompting to go to Cynthia's home (She lived in the next neighborhood). background story with Cynthia: We hadn't seen her in nearly two months and she was never home!!!! Well, SHE WAS HOME!!!!! She saw us and just had the biggest smile on her face. She started to update us on her life and she was telling us about this minister in her church who was really not doing the greatest things in his personal life. She kept going on and on about it and finally, I had the thought to ask her, "Wait. So is your minister called by God to preach to you?" She was taken back and thought long and hard about it. She then said, "You know. I'm not really sure he is. I'm just so confused with what I need to do in my life. I hear so many different things and I just want to know what God wants for me!!!!!" SHE IS SO PREPARED IT IS RIDICULOUS. We then gave her the restoration lesson (again. for like the third time) and this time, she opened up to us and told us that she hasn't received an answer about the Book of Mormon. She told us that every time she prays about it, there is someone who knocks on the door or someone who calls her and she gets distracted. Chills rolled through my body as she said that. I then asked her, "Why do you think that happens?" She then paused and then said, "Ugh. The devil is not wanting me to do it." DING DING DING. She is totally right!!!!!! We invited her to pray about it and she said she would!! Oh my, before we left, she told us that she felt so warm and good when we came by. It's amazing to realize the effect that we, as members, have on this people as we share the gospel through the spirit. God is so good!!!!!

 

Teaching Kameron has been a little frustrating for us because she KNOWS that the Book of Mormon is true and that she feels the spirit when we come over. I think she is just scared of becoming "Mormon". In our last meeting with her, she asked us that when she gets baptized, if she will be considered a "Mormon". We told her yes and she seemed a little taken back. We are going to teach her today and read with her Moroni 10. We hope that we will be able to really touch her in a way that she will be converted and not just have a testimony. She told us the other day that because of us, she has really gained confidence in herself. It really made me realize that all of the efforts that I am doing here in Clanton, even though we haven't had a baptism, is NOT wasted. We are continuously planting seeds and trying to bring others closer to Christ.

This area is really tough, but I am so grateful for all that I am learning and experiencing. I have learned so many life lessons. I have learned A LOT of patience. I have learned how REAL this gospel is and how seriously EVERYONE needs it. A majority of the people here in Clanton just seem sad about life and are VERY stubborn when it comes to learning about the gospel. I have learned a lot about the spirit and how it works differently for each person. I have learned about the difference between knowing who Christ is and truly acting on what He teaches and is as a Savior and Redeemer of mankind. I have really come to understand how proclaiming the gospel is not the easiest thing to do, but it is what we are all entitled to do as members of HIS CHURCH. How cool is it to think that we belong to Jesus Christ's church? AH.

 

Always remember: Heavenly Father loves us. We CHOSE to come down here on this earth. We KNEW what we were going to go through on this earth and we STILL accepted the challenge because we KNEW what the gift we will be given. Eternal life.

 

MYKY,

Sister Platt 

P.S. Awkward story of the week: We went back to teach a man that we met the week before. We knocked on the door. We hear him walk up to the door. We hear him give a huge sigh and say, "Oh no. Not them." .... Sister G and I look at each other... He doesn't open the door. All in a day's work. The gospel is true!!!!!! WAHOOOO MISSIONARY WORK IS THE BEST!!!!!!! LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!

Christmas Eve sleepover, watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas and made pizza!

Christmas Goodies!

Miss Daisy on Christmas Day

This scene just screams Alabama

Christmas is here! I know him!

Oh my goodness!!! THIS IS THE BEST TIME OF YEAR. I'M OBSESSED WITH BEING A MISSIONARY DURING THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON. It seriously means so much more to me now than ever before. I just feel like I have learned so much about the birth of Christ and how beautiful the event is!!!! Can you imagine being there during that time? Hearing the sweet baby Jesus crying as He lays in His mothers arms. Imagine what it would of been like to see the glorious star. To see Joseph panic as he runs from door to door, pleading for help. I am so grateful for His birth and for His life. He is our Savior AND Redeemer. He's our older brother. How great is our knowledge of Him!!!

 

Well, this week was a great, but slow one!!! We taught Shanya!! (The eleven year old) and set a baptismal date for her on January 4th! She didn't come to church yesterday :( So we are going to move the baptismal date back a week :( She is so funny though. Oh my goodness, let me just say that teaching kids is SO different than teaching adults. haha She kept raising her hand and asked the most random questions. She kept asking us when she could get baptized and we told her that she would have to come to church and receive all 4 lessons. She also told us of her concern of becoming a member because she doesn't think she can wait until she is 16 to date. hahaha She then asked us how she could become a "minister". We just laughed and told her that she could become a missionary like us!!!! She looked at us with a shocked face and said, "REALLY??? WHEN??? CAN I RIDE MY BIKE WITH YOU???" We were laughing so hard and assured her that she could come with us to teach others as soon as she knows that the Book of Mormon is true. I love her excitement for learning and knowing more. OH. I ALMOST FORGOT THE FUNNIEST PART OF THE LESSON... So, at the end, we said something along the lines of, "Because of the restoration, the true church of Jesus Christ is back on the earth!!" She replied saying, "WHERE IS IT??" We told her that she was sitting in it (we taught her at the church) and she paused for a few seconds and looked around and said, "Really?...Oh. COOL!!!" hahaha Oh, how I love her!!! We talked with her mom as she picked her up from the church and her mom is really supportive of her taking the lessons from us and doesn't mind her wanting to be baptized!!!!!

 

Sister Gustafson and I went "shopping for investigators" one day and went to the Flea Market. Before I walk into any store, I usually say a prayer in my heart asking Heavenly Father to just help us talk to people and have people actually wanting to talk with us. We saw this couple sitting on the sofa's and I just said to them, "Are those comfortable?" Somehow, that dumb question broke the ice and they started to talk with us!! The man started to ask us all these questions about Mormons and finally, he asked, "What's the difference between your church and mine? (He was Baptist). We started to explain the Priesthood and he had NOTHING bad to say about it and honestly, couldn't argue it. The priesthood just makes sense. He was a youth pastor in his Baptist church and LOVES attending there, but hey, we planted a seed!!! Oh, and when we said goodbye to them, the main said to us, "By the way, I'm one of the representatives of the state of Alabama." No big deal. We were able to clear up a lot of the misconceptions about our church. I have come across so many people who still think we practice polygamy and also some who think we believe in a different Jesus. It's crazy to think that we HAVE the TRUE church and people don't even realize how great it is until they truly become humble and like a little child, ready to learn.

 

Yesterday, we decided to go tracting in a trailer park in a town called "Verbena". It was raining the whole time which was a great secret weapon to get inside doors because people felt bad for us. Our initial approach was to ask people if we could just share a Christmas message with them. You would not believe the many weird looks that we got!! Anyway, the VERY LAST trailer at the end of the road was the golden one!!! A 14 year old boy (Dalton) answered the door and he was super super nice. He welcomed us in and said, "Hold on! Let me get my mom!!!" He then went into the other room and told his mom that the missionaries were here! He came back out and told us that now wasn't a good time for us to come over because his uncle just passed away. We tried to comfort him and gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. He loved looking through it! Then, his mom came out of her room and looked at us and just started BAWLING. After a few seconds of not knowing what to do, I just gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet and said, "I am so sorry for your loss, but I KNOW THAT YOU WILL SEE HIM AGAIN." I gave her a hug and she just didn't want to let go of me. (Guys, you would be surprised at how "huggy" I am now. I am shocking myself). We asked her if we could say a prayer for her and at first, she said that she didn't need it and that she was fine. Sister Gustafson and I just knelt down and I said the prayer. She was crying the whole time and when I said "Amen", she just kept saying "thank you thank you". That experience made me realize that we can truly become more like the savior by loving our brothers and sisters. I hug complete strangers all of the time, but I know that it is what the savior would do if He was on this earth. I am so grateful for that experience that I had. She wants us to come back another time and teach her!!!! God works in mysterious ways. I know that we were supposed to show up to her place at that time.

 

Oh my. You would not believe what happened last night!!! We were driving out to Mama Gray's home and our car got stuck in the mud!! We were in the middle of nowhere with very bad reception. It sounds like an awful thing, but I honestly just laughed throughout the whole thing. We called our Branch president (who happened to live 3 miles away, thank goodness) and he towed us out!!!! We waited an hour to get a hold of him and  I ended up walking 20 feet through mud that came up to my knees. Yikes. It was really rough, but an adventure that I will always remember. Don't worry. I have pictures. :)

 

I have been studying a lot about the birth of Christ this past week. One thing that I would like to share with y'all that I thought was interesting is the difference of appearances of the Angel Gabriel to Mary and to Zacharias. While Zacharias was in the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared unto him and told him that his wife, elizabeth (who was very old) would have a baby. Zacharias's reaction was that of much doubt. He asked for a sign and was struck dumb. 3 months later, the angel Gabriel appeared unto Mary in a garden. He told her that she would carry the Son of God. Her reaction was much different. She asked questions and truly wanted to know more about what she needed to do. I just think it's very interesting to ponder about. Especially because Mary received the visitation in a garden instead of a temple. She must have been an AMAZING person!!!!!!

 

What gift are y'all going to give to Christ this Christmas season? Service? A knowledge of Him? A testimony? One thing that President Hanks said this past weekend was, "Believe in Him and Believe Him are two very different things that we must do." I think that is definitely something to think about.

 

I can't wait to see y'all IN TWO DAYS. OH MY GOODNESS. I CAN'T WAIT. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH.

MYKY, 

Sister Platt

cute sister Lunsford gave us earrings, rings, and a necklace for Christmas :) obsessed with her.

Stuck in the rain, trying to get our car out of the mud.

Cleaning up after getting mud all over us. Fun fun fun

Missionary Christmas Party

Jesus Christ = Peace

Ah. I am so obsessed with this Christmas season. I'm obsessed with the fact that I get to wear HIS name right next to mine all day, every day. I love our Savior AND Redeemer, Jesus Christ. He is what brings us the peace needed.

Well, this week was another REALLY GRAND one. I'm so grateful for this gospel and I'm grateful for the simple truths within them.

So, at the beginning of this past week, our car had some troubles and the Elders took it in the shop for us. We ended up biking 10 miles out to an appointment that we had with Kameron. TURNS OUT SHE WASN'T THERE. It was really rough to bike there because of the bajillion hills that there were, BUT we got a lot of honks from random people so that made us feel a little better. Oh, and on the way back, we met this girl named Faith who was waiting for her mom to pick her up from school. She started to ask us a bunch of questions about our religion and even some weird ones like, "Are Mormons allowed to cut their hair?" We found out that she is actually an Atheist and doesn't go to church. Very interesting. She told us that she thinks religion is "pretty", but she doesn't see why God would let so many things happen to her. We gave her a restoration pamphlet and told her that our message would bless her life in ways that she never would have imagined. She was super cute and super super super nice!!! Ah. She invited us to her band concert which we are going to this week!!! We are praying that she will be willing to let us come teach her soon :)

We had a lesson with Kameron on a different day and OH MY. She is SO prepared. It's honestly getting to the point of being ridiculously crazy. She hasn't been to church and so we decided to "drop the hammer" and really just see what is going on and why she isn't keeping her commitment to come to church. When we first got there, we asked her if she prayed about Joseph Smith being a true prophet and also about Thomas S. Monson. She replied saying, "OH GIRL. YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED. I was praying on my knees last night about that and when I was done with my prayer, my mom walked in and gave me a letter from that "prophet" that I used to believe in and guess what he wanted from me??? MONEY. Girl. That was the fastest answered prayer I have ever received." Heavenly Father seriously works in mysterious ways. Oh my goodness. Anyway, she told us that she is still scared to come to our church because she thinks that her parents will kick her out, so it is a really tough situation with her right now. I have seriously learned so much from teaching her. The spirit is so strong in every lesson and I know that it is strong because God loves her no matter what and wants her to hear the gospel!!!!! Oh my. At the end of the lesson, she said in her prayer, "Thank you for speaking to me through these sisters. I got a lot of answered prayers today. Thank you God." Ah. I LOVE being a missionary!!!!! I have learned that we truly need the spirit in order to speak the words that God would have us speak. God knows them more than we do, so why would we teach in any other way, but the spirit?

We are continuing to work with the Roberts!!! Sister Roberts just wants the best for her cute grandkids!!! (Alayna (5) Gracie (yes. best name ever. 9) and Katie (10)) Sister Roberts excitingly called us the other night and said, "SISTERS!!! I just wanted to let you know that Gracie started to sing "I am a Child of God" as she was cleaning her room!! She was talking about y'all all day today and won't stop singing that song!" My heart just melted. I'm so grateful for this chance that we have to teach Gracie and Katie about the gospel. We are continuing to teach them more and more primary songs and they are learning fast!!!! During our branch Christmas party, Sister Roberts came up to me and innocently asked, "How do I get the Holy Ghost back into my life?" I then was taken back by that question and really tried to rely on the Lord for the answer that I gave to her. I started to talk to her about repentance and how she has received the gift of the Holy Ghost through baptism. I honestly don't remember everything that I said to her, but I must have said something that she needed to hear because she was crying by the end of it. Ah. She is just such an amazing lady and I'm so grateful for her amazing example of wanting to Come unto Christ and be better. We are going over to her house tonight and teaching her and her kids more!!!! Sister Roberts has forgotten a lot of stuff so I am excited to review with her as well.

Oh my, guess who we had dinner with on Friday night? PRESIDENT HANKS!!! So, this is how president Hanks rolls.. He calls us up and says, "hey! I'm outside of your apartment! Come have dinner with me and the elders!!" Um. Okay. He is seriously the coolest mission president ever!!! We walk into the restaurant and President Hanks just yells to everyone in the restaurant, "Are you guys Mormons? You look like Mormons!! We are Mormons! Let us know if you have any questions!" hahhahhaha you should've seen the look on everyones faces!!! hahahhaha We had an awesome dinner. I'm so grateful for him and the person that he is. He is so hilarious and just loves his missionaries! :)

Wanna know something grand that happened? So, on Wednesday night, we were supposed to all gather together as a branch and go caroling. Well, only the Roberts kids showed up and another guy from the branch (brother Abbot). We started to sing some songs while waiting for others to show up. I started to lose hope and just started to pray. The Roberts girls looked SO BORED and I felt so bad for them and just didn't know what to do. Literally, seconds after I prayed, IN WALKS SHANIA!!!! THE 11 YEAR OLD GIRL THAT WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO CONTACT!!! Best. Thing. Ever. Shania is super outgoing and made the night so fun!! She was so friendly towards Gracie and Katie and all three of them were laughing and singing together by the end of the night. All three of them kept saying to each other, "Are you coming to church on sunday?!?" So grand. I love the way God works.

Katie and Gracie sang in Sacrament meeting yesterday!!!!!! They sang "I am a Child of God" and I was smiling from ear to ear. This gospel is the best thing ever and I'm so grateful for the way that it brings others closer to Christ.

We went to the temple on Thursday!!!!! AH I'm obsessed with it and I'm so grateful to have a temple in my mission :)

We have been teaching "Bob the bell ringer" who rings the bell outside of Walmart EVERY DAY for salvation army. It's so grand. We are slowly starting to teach him more and more and he loves it! more stories about him will come later, I'm sure.

Well, I love y'all so much!!! I love this gospel! I love Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and I love the fact that they can speak to us and comfort us through the Holy Ghost. I hope y'all have a great week and remember the celebration of Jesus Christ!!!!!

MYKY,

Sister Platt :)

P.S. MOM! I got the package and I won't open it until Christmas :) LOVE YOU. Thank you so much!!!!!!

Ladies and gents... WE HAVE A PRIMARY!!!!

Oh my goodness. Y'all don't even know how happy I am to say that we have a primary!!!! This week was full of tender mercies and hope!!!! I'm so grateful for the answered prayers and the way that we, as missionaries, are instruments in the hands of the Lord. Wowee!

So. The primary. Yes. 5 kids showed up to primary yesterday and oh my, I just had the biggest smile on my face!!! It's amazing how God works and how if we just exercise some faith, great things will happen!!!!

We have two cute new investigators named Jayden and Shania. We met them at "Dari Delite" (icecream place) and talked with them for quite some time. They are half sisters! Jayden is 10 and Shania is 11. Shania is this spunky girl who always keeps us laughing and Jayden is super sassy. I'm obsessed with them. They came to our scripture study class WHICH WAS GRAND BECAUSE A LOT OF PEOPLE SHOWED UP FOR IT. Shania went around and hugged everyone in the branch after the study class and just kept saying, "I love Mormons! This church is better than my other one because my other church doesn't even talk about Jesus." So funny. They were not able to come to church yesterday because they were staying at their grandma's, BUT NEXT WEEK THEY WILL. Their parents are really supportive and don't seem to mind us at all which is grand. We went to the Clanton Christmas parade with them on Friday night which was so fun! It was the cutest parade ever and lasted 30 minutes. It was fun to see the whole town get together and celebrate!

We have also been contacting this less active member, sister Roberts who has expressed a strong desire to come back to church!!! She is a super sweet lady and wants her grandkids to be taught by us because they are 9 and 11 and have not been baptized. They came to church yesterday and as soon as I saw her get out of the car, she said to me, "I bet you didn't think I would really show up, huh?" I just laughed and gave her a hug and told her how excited I was to see her there! I sat with her during relief society and she kept asking me all these questions about how the church services went. (She hasn't been back to church in 15 years). We had a really good sacrament meeting and the spirit was so strong in that room. I could tell that she knew she was in the right place. I'm so grateful for her!! She has had such a hard life and yet, she thanks God for all she has and wants to be better. I am just learning so much from the people here and how much faith that they have. It's inspiring.

Kameron has been acting a little "fishy" lately and I "reckon" that she is "fixin" (I'm trying to talk more southern) to move out and that she is stressed with everything going on. She has not answered our calls or texts the past few days which has gotten us a little worried. We did teach her twice this past week which went really well! She is just hilarious. We talked to her about agency with Adam and Eve. She expressed her concern about Eve and how she has always thought that Eve was dumb. We cleared things up for her and told her how it was all part of Heavenly Father's plan. She totally was absorbing everything that we said and LOVES talking about the Plan of Salvation. She kept saying to us, "shoot. I will have to say sorry to Eve tonight in my prayers." and then, we had her say the closing prayer before we left and she said, "Heavenly Father, Thank you for all that these sisters have told me about agency. Eve. (pause) We WILL HAVE TO talk tonight girl." Ah I'm obsessed with the South. Oh, and we also asked her if she had any more questions about anything that we have taught her and she just said, "You know, I'm just grateful. I am grateful for the chance that God has given me to talk with you ladies. It has opened my eyes and it has given me strength through this time in my life. And GIRL. the Book of Mormon is such a comfort." She is so great! She has still not come to church because she doesn't feel confident going, but we are working on it!!!

I am loving this time of year! It's super rainy/misty here which is super grand! We have sung A LOT of Christmas carols to the people in the nursing home. Ah. I just love it. I love hearing them softly sing along to the church Christmas hymns that we sing them. Christ is what it's all about.

We had a Christmas Nativity that we were able to go to yesterday night down in Montgomery!!!!! It was amazing and there were hundreds of nativities displayed!!! Did y'all watch the Devotional last night? Oh my. I just started to cry when we all joined in and sang "silent Night". Especially when it showed Thomas S. Monson, Uchtdorf, and Eyring singing along as well. I just started to really think how AMAZING this church is and how BLESSED we are to have the truth in our lives. I am so grateful that I can share the "good news" of Christ's birth and the life that He so beautifully led. Every night, when I pray, I just think about how glorious it is that I am on this mission in Alabama!!! I'm obsessed with the people here and I just love the culture and the way that people carry themselves here. God is so good and knows us so well!!!

I have recently been obsessed with Matthew 11:28-30. Christ can provide peace that NO ONE ELSE can. He WANTS us to come unto Him and lay our burdens at His feet. He wants to give us rest! How great is our older brother!!! Ah. He died for YOU.

Sorry, I don't have much time to write, but I LOVE Y'ALL so so much and I'm so grateful for this gospel and the way that it blesses others. I am grateful for Jesus Christ and all that He has done for each and every one of us. I'm grateful that he was born in such humble circumstances. I'm grateful that God knows us better than we know ourselves.

I hope all went well at the burial. I think about dad a lot and about how great of a missionary he was. I want to be like him and just be bold in my missionary efforts here.

MYKY,

Sister Platt

:)

Really Disappointed in My Team

First things first, Roll tide didn't really roll too well this past week against Auburn and oh my, there were some angry people at church on Sunday. hahaha ROLL TIDE ROLL. Speaking of rolls, how were JENNA'S AMAZING ROLLS???? Ah, I literally was thinking about them multiple times throughout the day on Thanksgiving. SO YUMMY.

 

How is everyone? I LOVE MY FAMILY SO MUCH!! I'M SO GRATEFUL FOR Y'ALL!!!!!

 

Well, I guess I will start off by talking about Thanksgiving day. We had TWO dinner appointments!! We went over to our relief society president's home (Sister Williams) and had dinner with her and her husband, the Smiths (in our branch), and their friends! It was a lot of fun and there was some good ole' southern cookin. I think it's safe to say that I am now obsessed with banana pudding!! It is SO GOOD and everyone eats it here for dessert!!! We also went over to Rena and Nick's home. They are both in their 20's and frankly, some of my favorite people to visit!! Rena is a member, but hasn't been back to church in years and Nick has never been to any church in his life!!! They are both awesome and they put on the movie, "The Other Side of Heaven" again for us to watch. Nick started to ask us questions about the after life and we ended up giving him a lesson on the plan of salvation and Rena even helped us explain it to him! Rena mentioned to us how she wanted to live with her family for eternity and told Nick that he and her could live together after this life is over. Nick gave her a weird look and jokingly said, "uhhh I don't know about that." I asked Rena if she wanted to be sealed to him and she said "yes!!!" BEST. THING. EVER. We invited Nick to be baptized and he said he "eventually would get around to it." Nick is the type of person who is very easy going and he has expressed his desire to come to church, but I just think both of them aren't motivated because of how far away they are from church and Rena has had struggles in the past with people in the branch. We are continuing to work with them! They seriously love us though which is so great! People in the branch are amazed that Rena is even giving us the time of day!!!

Oh. Funny story: Nick was looking through our "white missionary handbook" on the mission rules and as he finished reading, he just said, "y'all can't do nothin'" We just busted out laughing, it was really funny.

Oh. Another story which is quite awkward: We showed up at Rena and Nicks and noticed that Nick's dad Tony wasn't there (He always is) I asked them: "Where's Tony?" They all just started to laugh and Rena finally goes: "uh yeah he's in Jail." Alright.

 

Oh my so you know how we were supposed to teach that cute girl named Summer who came with Ashlyn to church and how we were supposed to have an icecream party with her? Well, Summer's mom is apparently REALLY anti-Mormon and didn't want her to come :( SO FRUSTRATING!!! But we were able to still have an icecream party with Ashlyn and Amy and their boyfriends. hahahhaha just imagine this, Sister G and I with 4 teeny boppers who are so awkward around each other. Oh boy. It was still really fun though! They acted too cool for us most of the time, but whatever. It's weird, everyone looks at me and thinks I'm old now. Lame Lame Lame.

 

So we are continuing to teach Kameron!!! We taught her a lesson on modesty and oh my she is just so funny. She showed us all of her clothes that she just bought and they were all really short. At the end of the lesson, she said a prayer and this is what she said, "Dear Heavenly Father, I just want to thank you for sending me these ladies to teach me about modesty. Please help me to wear longer skirts EVEN THOUGH IT'S GOING TO BE A REALLY BIG ST-RUUGLEE!" We found out more about her and how she agrees that marriage should be between a man and a woman. She says she has a female brain, but her physical nature is male. It's all very interesting, but when she explained it, it totally made sense!!!! Just search: "gender identity disorder".

She told us that she wants to still be baptized, but her parents don't want her to :( She explained that she wants to move out of her home first and then be baptized so that she won't have contention in the home. We are trying really hard to make her understand the importance of being baptized this month. We are going over again today and will talk to her about agency. I'm so grateful for her and the Christ-like love I have learned to develop as we have been teaching her.

 

During the Alabama VS. Auburn game, literally EVERYONE was at home and we were told that tracting would be completely pointless because people would be mad if two missionaries knocked on their door during the game. We decided to go "shopping for investigators" and go to the stores that are in Clanton. We biked to Walmart and just talked to the ladies working there, but the biggest success we had was at this HUGE flea market!! We bought cute Christmas tins to hand out to people for like 50 cents. As we were checking out, their were 3 ladies at the cash register. One lady (Nikki) asked us what church we belonged to and we began to explain to all three of them the restoration! It was grand! We handed them pamphlets and they continued to ask more questions like: "what do Mormons believe?" "Do you believe in our Bible?" "Do you believe in Jesus?" Ah, it was so grand and we are definitely going back there and visiting with them again. They said to come back anytime :) That experience made me realize how important it is for people here to realize that Mormons ARE Christians and that we are normal!!!! There are so many churches here who teach such false doctrines about our church and some churches even go through a "Crash Course on Mormonism". So crazy. Christ's church will NEVER falter though; what comfort that brings to me!!!! :)

 

Yesterday, we met with a lady who received the discussions years ago from the missionaries. Her husband is a less-active member. She was super nice and even told us, "you know what's weird? this morning, while I was at my church, I prayed to God and asked him to give me help during this time in my life and then y'all just showed up today!" I just love being instruments in the hands of God!! It's the best feeling in the world!!!! We were able to give her a great message about Christmas and she loved it!! She told us to come back whenever :)

 

One scripture that comes to mind with everything that has happened this week is Alma 5:19. I just love it! I want to have the image of God in my countenance so people here can recognize me as a follower of Jesus Christ. I want to have a pure heart and clean hands!!!! I challenge y'all to take this scripture to heart this upcoming week. Let people know that you are a follower of Jesus Christ!!! Let people know that you love Heavenly Father. Talk with the missionaries. Help the missionaries. Give them referrals!! May we all build up the Kingdom of God everyday!!! It is our duty and I wish I would of realized that before my mission.

 

I'm so grateful for this gospel. God is grand! This gospel is a beautiful thing that really can change hearts and minds :)

I'm grateful for the love that has been showed towards me this time of year. I love my family and friends!!!

MYKY,

Sister Platt

P.S. Thank you so much to the McHales and the Greenwoods for the YUMMY treats this past week!!!!

P.S.S. Sorry, but I won't have too much time today to write letters, but I love y'all so much :) mom-I will at least write you!!!!

P.S.S.S. We tracted into this guy who told us that he converted some Mormon missionaries to his southern Baptist church and then he asked us if he could baptize us. (umm. no) Gotta love the South!!!!

 Thanksgiving turkeys that we made! so precious

Thanksgiving with Rena and Nick. Nick looked at the picture and said, "I look like a toothpick".

Biking! wahoo so fun. We biked 4 miles to an appointment that fell through. wahoo!yeah! missionary work is the best!!!

HOMEMADE PIZZA. Guys. I'm getting really good at cooking. And mom-I eat spinach EVERY DAY!!!

Mama Gray! Love her. She loves "her angels" (us) and loves having us over to share scriptures and sing hymns! She is not a member, but has met with missionaries for 20 years and reads from the BOM! She is a funny lady and always wants to cook for us.