Sweet Home Alabama: There is hope here in Clanton!

Hello family and friends!!! I love y'all so much and hope everyone is doing well!!!

So, I'm here in Clanton for another 6 weeks with Sister Gustafson!! woot woot!!!! We were honestly a little discouraged with being here for another 6 weeks because this area is so hard, BUT yesterday, we had a lot of answered prayers and comfort that was much needed for serving here in this area. I have come to understand my reason for being here.

One reason I am here is to help Sister Lutz, a recent convert. She was having a really hard time this past week with family issues so we invited her to watch a Christmas movie with us at the church and to have hot chocolate. We said a kneeling prayer at the end and I offered the prayer. I truly was guided by the spirit to know what to say because I honestly don't even remember what I said. She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "Thank you. I feel so calm right now. This is the calmest I have felt throughout the whole week. I feel like I will be able to sleep well tonight." I'm so grateful for the spirit and for the sweet and calming effect that it can have on us in our time of need.

We were able to see Kameron yesterday which was grand because we haven't been able to contact her for the longest time because she told us she was going through "family drama". We were scared that it was because of us so we decided to just show up at her house because she would NOT text or call us back. I feel the spirit in almost every lesson that I teach, but for some reason, I REALLY feel it when we talk and teach with Kameron. I feel like I ask more inspired questions with her which is interesting. Maybe it is because Heavenly Father KNOWS that she is prepared. She totally is. She told us that she wants to be baptized before she moves away. (she wants to do acting, modeling, and singing in NY or LA). We told her that wherever she goes, she will be able to find an LDS church that believes the same things as she does. She found a lot of comfort in that. She told us that she felt like there was something missing in her life that she needed to do before she moved.. I was just thinking in my head, "UH YOU NEED THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST!!!!" I just assured her that once she gets baptized, she will understand what she thinks is missing. hehe. Funny story while we were over there... We asked her if she was reading the Book of Mormon still and she goes: "GIRL!! I read it every day! It's the only thing that gets me through!!!" She loves reading in Alma! She told us that the only reason she wouldn't want to move is because she would miss us and she told us that we have helped her draw closer to the Savior on her "journey".

We tracted into this really cute 18 year old girl named Kimberly who is currently living with her boyfriend. She let us right in and we gave her the first lesson about the restoration and she loved it! She told us, "You know, I was having a really bad day until y'all showed up." She really soaked everything that we had to say in. We set another appointment with her, but she didn't answer the door :( We are praying that she is still interested!!!! If not, at least we planted a seed!!!

We taught this lady named Linda yesterday about the Plan of Salvation because we felt that is what she needed. At the end, she told us that she met with Elders before who tried to explain the P.O.S. to her, but she didn't understand it when they taught it. She asked a lot of "questions of the soul" which we answered through the spirit. A thought came to me to explain Adam and Eve to her and how we each have our agency on this earth. Her eyes lit up and she said, "ohhh okay that makes sense then." I asked her if she had ever been baptized and she said she has twice!! I then said, "Oh. that is so neat! I'm sure it was a beautiful day for you!!! Would you recommit yourself and follow that example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" She said YES!!! She then asked, "wait. So my other baptisms didn't mean anything?" We then assured her that we would explain everything better in our next visit. She is SO excited for us to come back. We gave her a restoration pamphlet to read so that she would be prepared! God is good :) She also asked me how I really knew that this church was the only true one. I began to bare my testimony and with tears in my eyes, I said, "You know. I'm so grateful you asked me that. I know that this church is true through the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am able to know that it is true through prayer and I know that you can do the same. You really can." She just gave both of us the biggest hugs and said, "you know. I'm grateful for young people like you who talk about Jesus. There are some really mean people here who probably don't even give you the chance to teach, huh?" YUUUPP. She was right about that one, but it wouldn't be really a mission if everyone was nice!!! We are trying to find those who are ready and willing.

We also met with this lady named Jeanette. It was kind of a really funny lesson because I swear she was glazing right over us. We taught about the restoration and then invited her to be baptized. When we did, her response was, "mmmhmmm." Afterward, when sister Gustafson and I were in the car, we just started to laugh and said, "DID SHE EVEN HEAR WHAT WE INVITED HER TO DO???" Oh goodness. I don't know, but we have another appointment with her this week to hopefully get to know her better and see what she is really thinking.

Yesterday was an absolute answer to all of my prayers!!!!!! AHHH. First off, one of the Young Women in our branch (Ashlynn, the only one who ever comes) brought her cute friend, Summer, to church!!!!! Sister G. and I decided to go into the Young Women room and sit for the lesson. We met with Summer afterward and she kept telling us that she was interested and wanted to be taught more. We are going to teach her this Wednesday at the church with Ashylnn and teach the restoration to her and have an icecream party as well!!! We gave her a Book of Mormon and oh my, I wish y'all could've seen her face!! She just grinned from ear to ear and said, "I can keep this??" Ah. I really do feel like my purpose here in Clanton is just to build up this branch with Youth and also bring the Less Actives back to church. There are 180 members in our branch... Only 30 come!!! We have so much work to do here!!!!! Also, the branch presidency got changed around and wowee, our new branch president got up and bore his testimony and said, "I don't know if y'all even realize how great it is to have 4 missionaries here in our branch. Let us introduce them to our friends and really reach out to them! They need our help!!!!" Ah it was just a really good sunday full of much needed hope and faith.

This is why I am on this mission. I have come to realize that I truly am guiding people closer to Christ. I KNOW that He is real and wants all of His children to come unto Him and be perfected through Him. We are the modern day shepherds bringing others back into the fold. I have really come to understand how REAL this gospel is. The gift of the Holy Ghost is crucial for everyone to have. Being here in the south makes me realize how important the Book of Mormon is in our lives. I was reading in Alma 36 and 37 when Helaman was explaining to his son that God made them write on the plates for a wise purpose in Him. How true is that? How true is this gospel? Not only is it true, (Satan knows it's true), but it is REAL.

Love you and hope all is going well wherever you may be. Heavenly Father knows us each individually and KNOWS what we need to go through in order to become more like Him. He really does.

MYKY,

Sister Platt

P.S. Shout out to the BLUTH FAMILY FOR THE AMAZING HUGE PACKAGE OF FOOD!!!!! It put a huge smile on my face!!!!