Sweet Home 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