Road Rage, how would Jesus Drive? - Sign at a church

HELLOOOOOO EVERYONE!!!!
I am so happy.
I love missionary work so much and I'm so grateful for this opportunity!!!!!
I will start off with a joke...
So there were two missionaries who absolutely couldn't stand each other. One of the missionaries decided to talk to his mission president about it and his mission president told him, "Elder, go back to your apartment. Say a prayer and then randomly open up the scriptures and point at a verse and that will be your answer from God." This elder did just that and turned and pointed to 1 Nephi 4:12..... HAHAHAHHAHAAHHA LOLOLOL.

So last week, we were store contacting at Target and we walked past these workers by the DVD isle and a little voice in my head told me to ask the guy about how March madness was going... (pretty sure it was dad nudging me and telling me to ask him!!) So I did just that. I walked up to him and asked him if he knew what teams were left for march madness. This guy's face just lit up and then he started to go on and on about basketball and who was left and who he was rooting for. After talking for a while, he finally asked us who we were and we said we were missionaries for our church. He then started to ask questions about what we believed and we set up an appointment to meet with him!!! As we said our goodbyes, he looked at us and said, "I have never had a lady in a skirt walk up to me and ask me about march madness. I didn't even know girls knew what that was!!!" haha wanna know the sad part? He lives outside of our area so we handed him over to the Huntsville sisters.

We are currently working with this super great couple named Tiffany and Elijah Boyd. They are MARRIED (phew) with 4 boys!!! Elijah has A LOT of questions about the church and he is really intellectual. I think he is more interested than her, but she is the one who let us in. Anyway, before going inside their home, we were all feeling really tired and just not ourselves. We decided to do our pump up song that we learned from a 10 year old in our ward. It comes with a hand shake as well. We all sat in the car as we sang, "BUILD BANANA. BUILD BUILD BANANA. PEEL BANANA. PEEL PEEL BANANA. GO BANANA'S. GO GO BANANA'S." Us three were all waving our hands as we sang. I then looked out the rear view mirror and saw Tiffany drive up right behind us. SO AWKWARD. She totally saw us and all we could do was laugh it off. hahah. Anyway, some of the questions that Elijah asks is about Joseph Smith and the priesthood and how he doesn't think it's bad to drink wine because Jesus drank it and how he doesn't understand why we have a prophet on the earth because he believes that Jesus was the last prophet before His second coming. We finally just asked them both to read the Book of Mormon because that is the only way they will know anything is true. I felt prompted to share my story of coming out on my mission with dad having cancer and I shared how the Book of Mormon brought me answers that I needed to come out no matter what. I think they felt the spirit and they agreed that they would read it!!!! Tiffany totally has food storage so she gave us random food to take home and told us that she refuses to let us starve.

Sidenote: EVERYONE here thinks missionaries starve. ha like just the other night, we visited a less active lady and as soon as we walked in, she said, "what do you sisters want? cookies? cake? bread? water? soda?" haha and then we all politely decline almost every time because we are trying to eat healthy and SHE STILL GIVES IT TO US. So mom, when the missionaries say "no thanks" to food, THEY REALLY MEAN IT.

We went over to Matt and Jade's one last time because the other sisters couldn't be there. Matt was about to go to the doctor and was scared that he would have to go to a mental hospital. He has been seeing and hearing things (having hallucinations) because he used to be in the army and now he is just having a really hard time with getting over it. It is really sad. We called the elders and asked them if they could give him a priesthood blessing before his appointment and they came over within the next 10 minutes!!! IT WAS AN AMAZING BLESSING. The spirit was so strong and Matt went from shaking from nervousness to being completely calm. I am so grateful for the priesthood. After the prayer, Jade told us that Matt always feels so calm whenever us missionaries come over. Ah. I love them so much!!!! MATT CAME TO CHURCH AGAIN YESTERDAY. Jade couldn't come because of work, BUT she did go to the General Women's Broadcast that was held at the church this past Saturday.

Speaking of that, I LOVED IT. Did y'all get a chance to watch it???? I started crying whenever anyone started to sing. Guys, I think I'm becoming more and more emotional from this mission. yikes. I loved the focus that they had on Covenant keeping. Here are some lines that I loved from what they said!!!!...

Rosemary M. Wixom:

-As individuals, we are strong. With God, we are unstoppable!!

-There is no age barrier when it comes to Christ-like service.

-Don't just love each other more. Love each other better!

Linda K. Burton:

-Our true identity is that of a disciple of Jesus Christ.

-The best way to strengthen a home is to keep our covenants!

-Draw attention to the God we worship. Not ourselves.

President Henry B. Eyring:

-We have trials perfectly chosen just for us that will help shape us into what Heavenly Father sees.

-You are more alike as daughters of God than you are different.

-God watches over us in LOVE

I'm so grateful for this gospel. I'm grateful for the chance that we have to make and KEEP covenants with our loving Heavenly Father. AH.

Saturday morning, we went to the Petco that Jade works at because they were having an adoption day!! Everyone and their dog were there. (hehe I'm really funny.) It was the PERFECT opportunity to find people because everyone in Alabama is obsessed with their dogs and everyone loves to talk to you about their dog including their date of birth. We contacted at least 20 people while we were in there and about 2 of them were interested in our message. They lived about an hour away from us which is a bummer, but oh well. YAY FOR FINDING NEW PEOPLE FOR EVERYONE ELSE!!!!!

We have been working with members on hastening the work in the ward 3 days out of the week. We go over to 3 families a night and bring a spiritual thought with us and then have them think of names of people who are ready for this gospel or who need it. We went over to Sister Suneson's home and as soon as we got there, she told us, "YOU NEED TO GO TALK TO MY NEIGHBOR. TELL HIM I SENT YOU." We then asked her if she would like to come with us and she started to become really nervous and said that she would have to learn how to approach her neighbor. For the next 20 minutes with her, we "trained" her on how to bring up the gospel with her friends and even did role plays with her. She was being so adorable and kept saying, "I can do this!! I fear God more than man! I can do this!!!" She finally got up the nerve to come with us and knock on her nieghbors door. The nieghbor didn't answer, BUT Sister Suneson felt really accomplished and told us that she got over her fear. It was the cutest thing ever. I'm so grateful for member missionary work. It really is the best way to find those that are truly ready for this gospel!!!!! SO, everyone back home, PLEASE help the missionaries out!!!!! WE NEED YOU.

Wanna know something pathetic? I totally waved at a mailbox while I was biking. Totes thought it was a person. YIKES.

Alabama's weather has been really acting up lately. Oh my goodness. It's bipolar!!!

We went on a hike this morning with the STL's and Zone leaders!!! We woke up at 6 and hiked up this hill and had scripture study at the top! It felt so good to be in nature and to see the beauty of Alabama. I'm obsessed with it here. I really am. One thing that I absolutely HATE here is the Dogwood trees. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE. They are pretty, but they smell like dog. Did y'all ever have those trees in Georgia?

Y'all should look up the scripture Ezekiel 20:29. It talks about Alabama and makes me really happy!

Oh... By the way... I am getting transferred to a new area!!! The triple threat is now the double threat. :( So sad and so unexpected. I seriously thought I was going to stay in Madison for a really long time, but the Lord needs me somewhere else and I'm excited to see where I will go!! I will find out this wednesday!!! YAY. CAN'T WAIT TO START PACKING. WAHOOOO.

I'm so grateful for this gospel. It is all about change and becoming new people. I know that God loves us so much. I know that He works so close by us and that we are all made in HIS image. How beautiful it is to know that we are loved and known by the most powerful and glorious being in the UNIVERSE.

I want to invite y'all to read the talk, "Forget Me Not" by Uchtdorf. I read it yesterday morning for personal study and it is such a good one! I learned that I need to be grateful for my small successes because they are not small to God. I have learned to not put my happiness on hold until some future event. One really good quote that I loved from this talk is, "The why of obedience sanctifies our actions, transforming the mundane into majestic. It magnifies our small acts of obedience into holy acts of consecration."

May we all stretch ourselves to be a little better and to notice the good all around us! LOVE Y'ALL.

Insert your name into D&C 6:20 :)

MYKY,

Sister Platt

Our district, going to miss them!

Hippie's for life! 

Love Deanna Roberts, going to miss her!

All is Well

Sometimes, missionary work can be REALLY frustrating, but then I have just learned to take a step back, breathe, and continue on. This past week had its ups and downs. I would love to talk about a couple experiences this week and then close with what I have learned and realized :)

This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to go to the temple with all the other missionaries and wow, I am obsessed with that place. It was much needed. I am so grateful for a loving Savior who did so much for us so that we could return to live back with Him and our Heavenly Father. I really tried to focus on the Savior during the whole session and I came out with a greater appreciation of Him. As I was sitting in the Celestial room, Sister Hanks came up to me and gave me a huge hug and told me how proud she was of me. She then started to ask me how my family was doing and told me that she was reading through her old emails and cleaning out her inbox and found a letter that dad sent her at the beginning of my mission. With tears in her eyes, Sister Hanks told me that she just could not stop reading the email from him and that she could tell he was a VERY smart man. She told me that he was proud of me and that she knows he is close by. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I'm so grateful for her and President Hanks. President Hanks also came up to me and asked me what I had learned. I explained to him what I learned from the session and he started to cry and told me that he just thought of us missionaries the whole time and how lucky he is to have us. He then said, "AH. YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT THE HARDEST PART OF BEING A MISSION PRESIDENT IS??? Not being able to hug the sister missionaries!!!!" His head then drooped down as I started to quietly laugh. He then said, "come here, lamp." and he grabbed the lamp next to him as we are in the celestial room. hahahhahaahah SOOO FUNNY. Everyone was cracking up. I love that man.

In other news, Michelle (the one who had the baptismal date for April) is officially kind of crazy and has A LOT of problems. We met with her last night and saturday night and she is a serious partier and doesn't think that what she is doing is bad. We started to talk about the Plan of Salvation and then she went off on a tangent about "her man" so we ended up talking with her about the Law of Chastity. Her head could not wrap around the idea that we were living chaste lives and she told us that we were the oldest girls she has ever met that are still living virtuous lives. How sad is that???? Anyway, we are going to have to work with her for quite a long time and we are currently praying for inspiration of whether or not we should even teach her. Blah.

I will talk about my favorite day of the week which was this past Tuesday...

We taught seminary in the morning (freshman) and oh my, it brought me back to the good ole' days. All of the girls sat together in one corner and the 5 guys would all sit on the opposite end. We taught about Samuel the Lamanite and had them mingle and FORCED them to talk to each other. It was hilarious to see how much of "freshman" they were.

We then went over and did service (deep cleaning) at a members home because they are about to put their house up for sale. I had no idea how much I enjoyed cleaning until I did it then. It is a great tool to release the stress that comes from missionary work. We then went over to Michelle's and helped her clean her carpets and organize her son's room for the DHR people to come. We put up pictures on the walls and I felt like my mother for the day as I definitely had the "eye" for where everything should go. We then met with Matt and Jade and took them on a tour of the church. They both loved the fact that there were no gory photos of christ anywhere and they could feel the spirit. At the end of the tour, we asked them what they thought of it and Jade answered saying, "I feel like I could run a mile right now! I don't know why, I just feel so happy!!!" Then, cute little/innocent/awkward Matt answered saying, "It was nice." hahahah so funny. I love them so much!!! 2 days later, we had another lesson with them and I felt the need to show them the Restoration video. The spirit was so strong as we all watched it and I think it answered a lot of their questions. As we were about to leave, Matt blurted out, "I think I would like to attend church this sunday even though Jade can't make it." (Jade had work). GUESS WHAT GUYS??? MATT TOTALLY CAME. It was a miracle!!!!!! Matt is such a sweet person and he was super happy at church and soaked it all in. Before he left, he said, "Hopefully Jade can come with me next time." UM YES. I HOPE SO TOO. THEY ARE SO PREPARED. I'm so grateful for the spirit and how it works to convert others. The sad part is... Matt and Jade are in 2nd ward and so we are handing them off to the other sisters to teach them...

SO, basically, we are asking Heavenly Father to find the ELECT this week that are like Jade and Matt because we basically have no one that we are teaching at this point. I have gotten so discouraged, but I know that God will provide a way for us to find those that are being prepared.

Last night, the triple threat was feeling really really down and discouraged because of the lack of success we were seeing. I was getting so mad at myself and kept thinking about the things that I needed to improve on. This past week, I have been praying and asking what things I need to get better at and why I'm not seeing "success" on my mission. I was answered with a calm assurance that God's timing is better than my own and that my mission is unique and I will improve each day and that God was proud of my efforts thus far. We then had a mission wide conference call last night and our AP's talked a lot about obedience. I am so grateful for the guidance that they gave us. They basically chastened all of us and told all of us to repent tonight and refocus our attention on the work and dedicate our mission to the Lord. They then promised us that if we would do this, we would be able to see MIRACLES this week. The whole time, I just kept thinking, "wow. I have so much to work on. I know that I won't ever be perfect, but I can strive to live like the Savior. At least I have another year of this amazing work!"

I really just want to CHANGE for the better and let the Atonement do that for me. I have learned the importance of a positive attitude and BELIEVING in miracles. When we put our trust in God, He puts His trust in us!!!!

I hope that in my next email home, I will be typing the many miracles that WILL happen this week.  

Fun facts about this week/my missionary work:

-I get REALLY REALLY excited when I see a moving truck. We saw one last week in our apartment complex and ended up having the elders come and help us move our neighbors in. They were super grateful and kept telling us that they would have taken all night to move stuff in. (It really would of taken them forever). They said they were looking for a church home and we invited them to ours! They didn't come yesterday, but we are planning on bringing them cookies and reminding them about church next sunday :) (SIDENOTE:cookies are the KEY to getting into Less actives/ investigators homes).

- There is a "restoration" church that is located a mile away from our church. ha I am really tempted to go inside and see what it's all about :)

-People's agency is so annoying sometimes.

-Everyone tells us that they already go to a church here... well yeah you do! It's the south and we know that!!! hahah people are funny. They need this gospel so much!!!!!!!!!!!

Well. That is about it for this week. Sorry this email was kind of lame. I just want y'all to know that I love y'all and I am so grateful for this gospel and for Christ's atonement/repentance that allows us to CHANGE and become better. I know I am doing the greatest work I will ever do in my life and I just don't want to take any day for granted.

Jacob 1:7

Y'all should look up the talk, "The Songs they Could not Sing." by Elder Quentin L. Cook!!! He mentions Marion D. Hanks and how he was HIS mission president and how he had him memorize a quote that we use on our mission all the time :) It's pretty sweet!!!!

MYKY,

Sister Platt

P.S. Thank you mom for the scripture case!! it is perfect!!!

Learning Patience

WOWWEEEE a lot of things happened this week and it was a roller coaster for sure!!!! I am going to start off with a poem that I have heard recently and LOVE. 

"Master, where shall I work today? My love flowed warm and free. He pointed out a tiny spot and said, tend that for me. I answered quickly, oh no, not there. Not any one could see; no matter how well my work was done; not that little spot for me. When He spoke, He was not stern, but He answered me tenderly, little one, search that heart of thine. Are you working for them or for me? Nazareth was just a little place and so was Galilee."

I KNOW that I am supposed to be serving here and I know that it doesn't matter where you serve, but HOW you serve. 

Okay, let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start...

Monday morning during companionship study---We decided to pray for patience and humility as a trio. BAD IDEA.

Monday night--- The triple threat (we) had 20 extra minutes of our night left. We decided to randomly go into Petco and try to contact people there. As soon as we walked in, the roaring of the floor cleaner machine was making it hard to hear. They were about to close in 10 minutes and we felt like the idea of going in there was hopeless. We started to walk out and we saw one of the workers near the door on our way out. We started to talk with her as she asked us if we needed anything. We just said, "well. we are missionaries so we can't really own any animals at this time, but we thought we'd come in here to check out the awesome fish because we really miss being at home with pets." (yeah. sometimes we make stories up that are semi true so that they start asking us questions about missionary work hahha) Anyway, she talked to us a little and we gave her our card. The encounter with her didn't seem significant at all to me and I didn't even think about it the rest of the week.
THEN, 3 days later, we get a call from the elders from Athens, AL and they tell us that they have an AWESOME REFERRAL for us!!!! They give us this ladies name and number and find out that it was the lady we met at Petco (Her name is Jade)!!!!!!! CRAZY RIGHT?????? The elders from Athens met with her for the first lesson because a lady in their ward is best friends with Jade!! Anyway, we went over to Jade's home the next day and she kept telling us how she wants to be Mormon and that she thinks that God gave her a sign when she saw us at Petco. Apparently Jade was having a really bad day that day and we made it better for her by just having a conversation with her. GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS. Anyway, back to the appointment we had with Jade: Her husband (Matt) was in the other room and didn't come out. We asked her if he would like to join us, but she told us that Matt had received a lot of bad information about the church from his mom and that he was scared to meet with us. We went through the Book of Mormon with her and she LOVED it. She kept telling us that she wants to be Mormon and how every Mormon she has met has been super nice!!! 

2 days later, we had another lesson with her and MATT CAME AND JOINED IN on the lesson!!!! We cleared up A LOT of the questions he had and he loosened up a lot and really opened up to us. Matt is a really sweet and shy guy and told us that he usually felt uncomfortable talking to people, but he told us that he loves talking to us and that we were really nice. haha HE EVEN SAID THE CLOSING PRAYER. He was super scared/cautious to do it at first, but we gave him encouragement and he said an awesome prayer! He even brought his calender out and set the next day that we could see them :) BEST. THING. EVER. Heavenly Father is so good to us!!!!!

Okay. Now for the part about praying for patience....

Narcissus, Camala, and the Mitchell's ALL DROPPED us because some were anti-ed and some talked to their pastors the following Sunday and got chastened. UGH. Why? Why? Why? My first reaction to all of this was, "why did we pray for patience???" but then, I realized that God is preparing those ELECT people that we are going to find this week!! He just didn't want us to focus on those that are not ready for the gospel!!! I expect this next week to be FULL of miracles :) I CAN'T WAIT!!!

I went on exchanges this past week with Sister Kudlacek (sister training leader). We went around Huntsville. Huntsville=total opposite of cute little Madison. We went to contact this man Barry who is a former investigator. He was literally insane. He opened the door as he held a huge bag of coffee mix in his hand. The first thing he said to us was, "I can't get baptized into your church because I can't stop drinking tea and coffee." He said it in a really "frustrated" tone of voice. As we continued to talk to him, we just started to see how crazy he really was. He told us that he wants to be baptized and then give up coffee and tea. He kept arguing and saying that he doesn't understand why it matters so much. I just answered saying, "God's order". He then proceeded to quote a random scripture from the Bible that didn't even make sense and then started to cry and talk to himself. He then said, "I know something about this world and about God that no one else knows about and I can't tell you or anyone else because it would make you really sad." We kept telling him that he didn't have to tell us and then he kept mentioning it over AND over again!!!! He just kept talking and talking and talking. Yikes. It was really rough. Never a dull moment. Especially in Huntsville. 

Another thing that happened on exchanges was that we met these really sweet ladies sitting outside on their porch. We asked them if we could share a quick message with them and they said yes!!! One of the ladies, Dominique, told us about how she has been scared to go to church the past 4 years because the Pastors always would flirt with her or be mean to her. The other lady, Danielle, wasn't as interested and would randomly start yelling at her kids during the lesson. We went through the whole restoration pamphlet with them and by the end, we had Dominique pray and then asked if we could have 30 seconds of silence after the prayer. During the silence, I kept praying "Please let them know this is true. Please." Then, I looked at Dominique's face as tears started to flow from her face. She knew it was true and she wants to be baptized!!! She and Danielle told us that they wanted to come to church!!!! woot woot!! miracles happen :) Dominique also told us that she was talking to her mom right before she showed up about going back to church. She also told us how usually missionaries she saw would pass her on the street and she was so glad that we actually took the time to talk with her. IT COMES TO SHOW THAT TALKING WITH EVERYONE IS KEY TO MISSIONARY WORK.

Yesterday, was AN AWFUL MORNING. We had 2 and a half hours before church started and we decided to go tract because we can't go store hopping on Sunday. (obviously). The first door we knocked on was this huge man who didn't have a shirt on and his name was Barry. He had half of a belly button and the only reason I know that is because my eyes reached his stomach part of his body. Anyway, he talked and talked and talked to us for a good half hour. Ranging from the topics of his chest hair to the government to his yoda figure in the background. He then started to tell us that he used to be a member of the church and that he now doesn't believe in God because too many people in his family are messed up and that a loving God wouldn't let this happen to his children. He went on and on and my heart just started to break more and more for this poor man standing right in front of me. He wouldn't even let us speak and before we left, we all just blurted out a simple testimony of how we know God lives and that Jesus is the Christ. After he shut the door, I started to cry as I thought about that man and how sad his life must be. I JUST WANT HIM TO COME BACK TO THE FOLD. 

Then, on our way to church, this train was blocking the way and there was a long line of cars that ended up waiting for a good 30 minutes because the train had issues. We decided to get out of our cars and talk to the people in the cars behind and in front of us. We gave them each mormon.org/Jesus cards and most were friendly which made the day better!!!!

We had another lesson with Michelle and she accepted a baptismal date for April 12 and she even wanted to get baptized earlier, but she hasn't come to church yet :/ She will hopefully get custody of her son at the beginning of April and we offered to help her decorate her son's room to look presentable to the people who will be checking to see if her house is livable for her son to come back!!! We will help her this Tuesday and I'm so excited :) I love Michelle so much! She just needs to find time out of her busy school/work schedule to come to church and I know that she can!!!!

Well, in other news, it is officially bug season here and I currently have 3 new bug bites on my legs. WAHOO. YEAH. ALABAMA. BUGS. YEAH.

Okay, now is the time to say some "you know you're a missionary when" quotes that I have made up....

You know you're a missionary when:

---When you push kids off of you because you follow the white handbook. (hardest rule ever)

----When you have dog/cat hair ALL over your clothes at the end of the day.

-----When you tell everyone that their dog is cute even if it's hideous just so you can talk with them.

------When you are on your bike at a stoplight and you see a lady at the intersection taking photos of you with her i-phone as she snickers... and then you awkwardly wave at her.

I love missionary work. I'm so grateful for this gospel and the chance that I have to share it with those here in this amazing part of the country. God has a perfect plan for all of His imperfect people and I know that to be true. We need to do all that is in our power every day and then let God take care of the rest. (D&C 123:17)

I am so happy!!!! Going to the temple this Thursday and we are teaching seminary tomorrow morning!! WOOT WOOT. 

MYKY,

Sister Platt

Shooting a bow and arrow. #katniss 

Our funny elders showed up at our door this morning and brought us restoration pamphlets. Love my zone leaders!!! Happy St. Patricks Day!!!

Could this be the year that Jesus comes? Try Jesus!

The title of this email comes from one of the signs outside of the baptist church here. I love it. haha The south is the best place in the world.

I will start off with telling a joke... What is a missionary's favorite car? .... A CONVERTable!!!! bahahhahahahaha!! LOLOLOL

I am so happy. I just love this work so much!!! Things are going to be changing here in the mission and I'm excited to witness the joy that will come from everything!!!

We had training this past week down in Birmingham and a man (Brother Donaldson) from the Missionary Training department came down and talked a lot about why we don't see as many baptisms here in the South. He has given us A LOT of really good tips/insight. We have been implementing what he has taught us these past few days and I am shocked at how inspired his training is!!!!

Brother Donaldson spoke about how missionaries spend WAY TOO MUCH time teaching the restoration and not enough time with the most important part of the lesson which is prayer. He suggested that we use the pamphlet pictures to teach and that our lessons should be 7 MINUTES long and that the rest of your time there should be focused on getting the investigator to pray in front of you about the restoration. Sounds crazy, right? Well, IT WORKED.

On Saturday, we met with this super cute couple named Richard and Ariel. They are about the same age me and live together. We taught them the restoration in about 10 minutes. They were both really interested and were yearning for more by the end. We then asked each of them, "If God were in the room with us right now, what would you ask him?" Richard and Ariel paused for a moment and thought. Then, with a smile on his face, Richard replied saying, "I would want to know about the priesthood and if Joseph Smith received it from Peter, James, and John." Then Ariel replied saying, "I would want to know more about the Book of Mormon and if it's true." I then said, "Do you trust that God will answer your questions?" They both smiled and said yes! We then invited them to kneel down and pray with us. THEY BOTH AGREED TO SAY A PRAYER OUT LOUD. Usually, people feel uncomfortable praying with us, but both of them felt the spirit and knew that they needed to pray. Richard said the first prayer and this is basically what he said: "Dear Heavenly Father, we are grateful for these ladies who came to us this day. God, I just wanted to ask you about the priesthood and if Joseph smith got it from your disciples. I want to know if it's true. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." As he was saying those words in his prayer, the spirit filled the room and my mind kept thinking, "yes. yes. yes. It is true." It not only helped Richard with building his testimony, but it helped mine. Then, before Ariel said her prayer, she looked at us and said, "sorry. My prayer won't be as good as his." Then she said the most beautiful/simple prayer that I have ever heard. It was as if Heavenly Father was standing right next to her and she was just talking to Him like a friend. She said, "Dear Heavenly Father. I love you. Please let me know if the Book of Mormon is True. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." Peace and quiet was in the room for a good 20 seconds before anyone spoke. We then asked them how they felt and they both smiled and said that they felt so much peace. I am so grateful for the spirit and it's ability to comfort and testify of truth. It was simply an amazing experience! We left them hungering and thirsting for more!!! AND we left mormon.org on their computer so that they can look at that website for more information instead of a dumb anti one. YAY.

 

So as you can see, this new idea of teaching the lessons is going to work so much better!!!!! I'm so happy!! He promised us that our baptisms will DOUBLE in Alabama as long as we do this. I want to apply the scripture found in Alma 31:35. I want to see these people as God sees them and bring them back into the fold. Everyone is precious and has great worth. I wish I could see with God's eyes sometimes.

 

He also talked about referrals and getting them from members (which is really hard to do here). He told us that we needed to have a spiritual 10 minute lesson with members in their home and then ask them to write down as many names as they could on a piece of paper of those people that they wish would join the church. We then have them narrow down the names to those who they feel confident would be ready for the gospel. And then, ask them all to kneel down and ask Heavenly Father if the person they decided is ready. THEN, after the spirit is felt and after we get a confirmation about that certain person on their list, we ask them to COME with us RIGHT THEN AND THERE to that person's home because Heavenly Father just answered their prayers!!!! Pretty neat idea, huh? We tried this with a cute family of 9 people in our ward and opened up the spiritual lesson with a testimony meeting of Jesus Christ. The spirit was strong. We asked them to then write down as many names as they could and they all did!!! One of the teenage boys wrote down at least 40 names. #popularkidinschool We then had them read off the names and it was crazy because all of them mentioned the Johnsons who are their neighbors!!!!! We then had them kneel and pray about it and we all felt that Heavenly Father confirmed that they were the ones that were ready. Unfortunately, the Johnsons are out of town, BUT they said they would invite them over to dinner with us next week when they do get home!!! woot woot!!! miracles are happening!!!!!

 

I saw Sister Effinger (Madison 2nd ward) in the hallway yesterday at church!!! She told me about how her daughter, Maggie was reading the Book of Mormon, Heavenly Father loves each of His children and it's amazing to see how the BOM can protect and comfort everyone. I think the other Sister missionaries have begun to teach Maggie and Jaylee so that is super exciting!!!!

 

Wanna know a crazy story??? We were out tracting the other day. Our initial door approach (which works EVERY TIME) is to offer a prayer with the people who answer the door. After we say the prayer, we ask them if we can come back and teach them a message about Jesus Christ. Everyone usually says yes which is grand!!!! (We are currently teaching 25 people which is CRAZY) Anyway, we were at this apartment complex and knocked on this ladies door. She didn't answer so we decided to go upstairs. We went upstairs to the next door and the lady from downstairs finally answered the door and started SWEARING UP A STORM. We all looked at each other and said, "don't look up. Don't look up! please. Don't look up!!!!!" (The platform that we were standing on upstairs had holes in it so she could have easily seen us. She then started to scream and swear even louder about how she was going to beat up whoever was knocking on her door. These were her exact words (G rated version) "WHO BE KNOCKIN ON MA DOOR? YA BETTA RUN N' HIDE." AHHH IT WAS SO SCARY. She eventually closed her door and didn't see us. (tender mercy) We all just stayed upstairs for about 5 minutes without moving and then decided to sprint down the stairs and towards our bikes. Seriously, missionary work is NEVER dull.

We knocked on another lady's door who was super nice which made all the difference in the world. Her name is Shanika and she told us that she was praying to God for some answers and then we just showed up on her door!!! She was just about to leave for work, so we said a prayer with her and have a return appointment with her!! yayayya!!! Heavenly Father always gives us tender mercies and lets us know that He is nearby.

We were walking back to our bikes to head home for the night. I saw these two teenage kids walking in front of us. They both were blasting music and talking really loud. I said hi, but they didn't see me. I then decided to just run in front of them (yes. it was awkward) and then I said, "have y'all ever heard of the Book of Mormon?" They both laughed as they said no. (They thought I was really weird). We gave them both copies of the BOM and told them to read it!!! They both said they would and we ended up getting their numbers so hopefully we can contact them again soon!!!! There are so many times on my mission where I feel prompted to speak to someone and I just go for it. No matter how dumb I may look. I still have a lot to work on, but I know that my purpose is to share the gospel and talk to EVERYONE. I encourage y'all to strive to follow the promptings of the spirit more and realize that all good things/thoughts/impressions come from God!!!

Michelle wasn't able to meet with us this week because she has been busy with work and Dana hasn't been able to as well :( SUCH A BUMMER. We invited Narcissus to come to church and called her Sunday morning and she told us that she would come. She didn't show up :( I think that is the hardest part about missionary work. People just need to COME TO CHURCH!!!!! Does anyone have any suggestions of how to encourage people to come???? Michelle didn't come because she said she had too much homework. Lame. Lame. Lame. It's okay.. THEY WILL ALL JUST SHOW UP NEXT WEEK AND I WILL PROBABLY CRY WITH JOY.

I have started to read the Book of Mormon over again and this morning, I was reading in 2 Nephi chapter 4. I was thinking a lot about verse 16 and how I can easily apply to what Nephi was saying. My soul does delight in the things of the Lord. I continually try to ponder upon the miracles and tender mercies that I am seeing and hearing. What do y'all delight in?

 

President Hanks sent this in his email and I LOVE THIS. It can apply to y'all as well. He is a man of so much wisdom.

Do you want to be a great missionary or be just a returned missionary?
Do you want to be a champion for good or just a decent person?
Do you want to be a Disciple of Christ and Steadfast in your testimony, or just a believer?
How do you feel about education, career, fatherhood and motherhood, wife and husband?
Are you committed to integrity and honesty all the days of your life?
Have you decided to keep your mind and thoughts and actions clean before God?
Have you decided to become one of the STP (Same Ten People) in your ward, or just be a member?
Do you want your arrows to continue pointing outward all your life, or do you want to shrivel back into self-absorption and inward thinking?

 

I want to be the best missionary possible. I want to be a champion for the Lord and be STEADFAST in Christ. I am constantly trying to improve myself each day and I'm so happy that I still have a year left on my mission, because I have SO MUCH MORE TO learn!!! Ah. It can be overwhelming at times, but I wouldn't have it any other way. God is good!!! I love y'all so much! You is kind. You is smart. You is important.

 

I had 3 BBQ themed dinners this week. Summer is getting SO CLOSE. I'm so excited!!!!! People are so much happier when the sun is out here and they seem more receptive to wanting to learn more.

Mere and Annie-We sang "True to the Faith" this morning in comp study and I thought of y'all. "no" "yes!" I almost started to giggle.

I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY IN THE WORLD

MYKY,

Sister Platt :)

Beanie boos are our best investigators ever! We may or may not have role played with them being the investigators.

Chalk is always a good idea.

This gospel changes EVERYTHING!!!

Hello everyone!!!

I know I say this EVERY week, but I am seriously SO happy to be here! It's crazy to think that this mission will be one of the hardest things I will ever do and yet, I am on cloud 9 by the end of every week. God is so good!!!

Ah, I don't even know where to start!!!!

I guess I will share three stories with three of the triple threat's most promising investigators....

 

Narcissus: We met Narcissus outside last week as she was getting her kids into her car. We asked her if we could come back a different day and pray with her. She said that she would love that and gave us her number. Two days later, we came back to her home and had small talk with her about her family and her religious background. She began to explain to us that she knows all about the Book of Mormon and that she used to go to the Mormon church when she was a little girl. She told us that she now goes to a church in Huntsville, but doesn't like it that much because she doesn't feel God's spirit there. She then said, "Maybe I should go to y'alls church so that I can save on gas for my car." Uh. YEAH YOU SHOULD. haha She then proceeded to ask, "So what makes your church so different anyway?" Then, all three of us in unison say, "Would you like us to tell you a story?" hahah so grand! #triplethreatunity

We sat down with her and gave her the restoration lesson. As sister Downs quoted the first vision, I really tried to focus on the words that were spoken by Joseph Smith. I was able to bare testimony so much better through just focusing more on the spirit and on what I was feeling. It was simply amazing. She wants us to come back this week! I'm excited to see what happens! She has 4 kids that are all 8 and over. It was funny because she was talking about how she doesn't feel like it's time for her 8 year old to be baptized in her church in Huntsville and she didn't know why. HA. WE KNOW WHY. hehe. But really, it was a great experience and I love Narcissus so much. She is a single mom and wants the best for her kids. We brought cookies over to her on saturday and her 13 year old son answered the door and said, "Yeah. My mom isn't home, but she was talking about you guys and she says that she really likes what you teach her." So precious.

 

Dana: We found Dana through tracting (I briefly mentioned her in my last email). We went to her home again and as soon as we walked in the door, she said: "How can you believe in a prophet? How do you know he is called of God?" She continued to be super "snappy" with everything that she was asking us. We asked her if we could just start from the beginning and begin with a prayer. After we said the prayer, the spirit was back in the room and we began to teach her the restoration. After saying the first vision, Dana said: "yeah. I can accept that." We then continued on with the lesson and showed her a lot of scriptures from the Book of Mormon and Bible. She said she would be willing to read it and pray about it. She then said, "I hope that this is true. I want to believe in it." Dana then mentioned how her mom passed away 4 years ago and how her church always taught her that she wouldn't know who her mom is in heaven and that she would just live by herself. I began to testify to her that she would indeed see her mom again in heaven and that heaven would not be heaven without her family. She paused and her face lit up as her eyes got really big and said, "whoa. That's a comfort. I've never even considered that." We invited her to be baptized and she said she would as soon as she knows that the Book of Mormon is true!!!! She is so prepared and I think the next lesson that we have with her tomorrow will really open her eyes. Only problem is: Dana is a nurse and works CRAZY hours and never gets sundays off. I know that God will provide a way for her to attend church anyway!!!!

 

Michelle:Ah. We had a lesson with Michelle yesterday!!! (The lady with the crazy/cute puppy). GUESS WHAT??? As soon as we drove up to her apartment, WE SAW THE PUPPY OUTSIDE ON HIS LEASH. We all shrieked for joy because we knew that the puppy being outside was definitely a tender mercy from the Lord. NO puppy inside=No distractions/the spirit will be in the lesson. Anyway, we decided to teach the restoration to Michelle in more detail because the last time we met with her was a little crazy. She LOVED it and really felt the spirit. Wanna know something else crazy? Michelle didn't say a swear word the WHOLE time we were there!!! (last time we were with her, she was swearing like a sailor). I know that it was because of the spirit that was in the room. At the end of the lesson, she started to talk about her son that she doesn't have custody of and how it is stressing her out. She went on and on and finally, I decided to interrupt her and said, "Michelle. I can feel the love that Heavenly Father has for you so strongly right now. I can promise you that we were supposed to be here for you and that God has led us to you." It was quiet in the room for some time and then Sister Downs said, "Michelle. As representatives of Jesus Christ, we can PROMISE you that you will get your son back if you follow the path that the Savior is leading you to." Michelle then said with a big smile on her face, "Really?" Then, Sister Clark said, "Yes. Michelle. Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" She then replied, "yes. That would be neat! I could be a part of Christs true church right? You know, I was baptized at the Asbury church and it just didn't feel right. I felt like it was a huge show and that the spirit wasn't there. Yeah. I will be baptized again." SHE IS SO PREPARED. Her whole life is going to change and I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who NEVER gives up on people like her who has been through so much. She told us that her ex-boyfriend told her that if she should join any church, it should be the mormon church. Crazy huh??? God works in mysterious ways. Michelle will have a lot of things to work through in order to be baptized, but I know that Heavenly Father can soften hearts and change people's habits. I know that through the Atonement of our Saviour, that Michelle can be cleansed and start a new life. I am happy!!!!

 

Basketball:We played basketball with the elementary school kids again and decided to play J-E-S-U-S (like horse, but we spell jesus ahha) they thought we were so weird. I thought of dad when making up this game because it is totally something he would do. I kept making up random rules so that we could introduce the gospel to them. If someone missed a shot, they would have to tell one thing that they loved about Jesus. It was a double rim so basically everyone missed a shot every time. hehehehhehe.

We drove over to play basketball with another group of kids who were older and decided to awkwardly drive past them because they were playing shirts vs. skins and probably thought it wouldn't be a good idea for us to play with them. ha.

 

We lost three of our investigators because they said that they talked to their preacher about meeting with us and the preacher got super mad. #yay

 

We have been visiting with this less active who apparently used to be in the area of the 70. Crazy. Does anyone have any ideas of how to help this man out? We want to be bold, but not overbearing. He went through a rough divorce and I think that is the reason why he no longer comes to church. He sounds like Uncle Randy when he talks and I just laugh inside whenever I hear him speak.

 

Well, that is basically it for this week! It has been a good one! I love being with the triple threat. We all work really well together and lots of people have told us that. I feel like Sister Clark and Sister Downs will be lifelong friends of mine. They are definitely my best friends here and I'm grateful for the chance that I have to work with them. We embrace awkward situations and laugh all the time.

Did anyone watch the CES devotional last night that was @ BYU-I? It WAS SO GOOD. Sister Linda K. Burton (General Relief Society President) spoke. She talked about learning the language of the spirit. She talked about how we can recognize the promptings we recieve and how the Lord speaks to us. She said that the Lord answers sincere, tender, and child-like prayers. It made me reflect on the way that I pray. I know that I need to be more sincere, tender, and child-like. She then talked about how important it is to let Heavenly Father know that we are willing to do HIS will above our own. We need to let Him know that we are striving to find an answer from Him and that we are willing to act upon the answer we recieve. She also talked about personal worthiness and how worthiness is a small price to pay in order to open the windows of heaven. SO TRUE. Then, she talked about how if we feel like we haven't recieved an answer to our prayers, it just means that God trusts you to make the decision yourself and that you should be happy that the Lord trusts you so much. Anyway, y'all should go watch it! It's probably on the main page of LDS.org!!! I want to challenge y'all to turn your heart to the voice of the Holy Ghost. Trust that God has us go through some preparatory experiences in order to finally get an answer to our prayers. He is there and wants to help!! I will do the same this upcoming week :)

 

I love this gospel so much. I love my Saviour so much. I'm obsessed with this work.

 

The weather here is REALLY bipolar. Yesterday, it was 74 degrees all day and today, there are snow flurries with a temperature of 29 degrees. I think it's tornado season guys.

 

We are going to the temple this month on the 20th!!!! SO EXCITED. I was looking at the pictures of the Gilbert temple and OH MY, IT IS BEAUTIFUL!! I'm obsessed with it and I want to go!!!!

Thank you so much for all of y'alls support!! I can feel the prayers working and I know that this gospel is real!

 

MYKY,

Sister Platt

Our doormat, Represent!

JASMINE. the only girl that played bball with us and wanted a pic with us. love her!!! 

matching shirts... may or may not have showed up to church yesterday with them on....