I just love this work so much and I'm obsessed with this mission and never want to leave. It's the best. This past week was FULL of tender mercies from the Lord and I KNOW that He is looking out for each of us and places certain people in our path for a reason. God is so incredible!!!!!
Monday "Church is better together": We had a lesson with Tammy and Jonathan. Sister Givens (a recent convert) came to the lesson with us and we taught them about the Restoration of the gospel. The lesson went really well and Tammy really started to open up to us. Towards the end, Sister Givens bore her testimony and told Tammy that she NEEDED to come join her kids at church. (Jonathan and his brother brandon go to church every sunday). Then, in the middle of the day, we got a phone call from Sister Edwards (Tammy's sister) and she told us that Tammy was really upset with what Sister Givens said and that she didn't want us to come over anymore :( IT BROKE OUR HEARTS. Ah. We were really upset. Then, about 4 hours later, Sister Edwards called us back again and told us that Tammy and her talked about the whole situation and now Tammy is PUMPED about this gospel and has been reading from the Book of Mormon!!!! Apparently she even fell asleep with it in her hands!!!! AHHHH!!!! SHE HAS A HUGE CHANGE OF HEART!!!! I am so grateful for Sister Edwards and her desire to bring her family into this glorious gospel. Member missionary work is the BEST. We are going back to teach Tammy today!! We are super duper excited because we haven't been able to see her since because she has really odd hours and works at McDonald's.
Tuesday "We found our quarters": Okay. Today was one huge miracle. Seriously, Sister Van Komen and I were elated by the end of it. We started off our morning with Personal Study (like every morning) and I was reading a talk in the Ensign called, "The Privilege of Prayer" by Elder J. Devn Cornish. Y'all should read it. Anyway, Elder Cornish tells a story of when he was biking home from work and was super duper hungry and saw the fried chicken shop across the street. He only had 4 cents and the chicken was 29 cents each. He explained how he said a prayer and asked God to help him and then he found a shiny quarter across the street from where he prayed. He said, "In His mercy, the God of heaven, the Creator and Ruler of all things everywhere, had heard a prayer about a very minor thing... I believe that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that the things that are important to us become important to Him." I thought about this story throughout this whole day and we were able to find our own personal "quarters". The first "quarter" that we found was in the morning as soon as we headed out the door. We took about 5 steps outside until we realized that we had forgotten our phone inside the apartment. We ran back in to grab it and as soon as we walked back outside, we saw a 17 year old girl walking along the sidewalk near our apartment. We started talking with her and she told us how she was going over to the school to see if she could start going to school again next year. She told us about how her mom forced her to drop out of high school and how she missed 3 whole years. It was really sad. We were able to encourage her and let her know that she was doing the right thing. We ended up walking with her all the way and taught her the first lesson!!! She told us we could come see her on Saturday!!!! Her name is Liz! AH. Seriously. God is good. Just think about it: if we wouldn't have forgotten our phone, we would have never met her!!!!
THEN, as soon as we say goodbye to Liz, we walk over to our next appointment which was with Melisa. We heard a voice from behind us saying, "Hey Sisters!! I have been trying to get a hold of you for the LONGEST time!!!!! I'm so glad I found you!!!!!" We turn around and we see this super cute lady named LaTasha whom the sisters used to teach. (OUR SECOND QUARTER) She told us that she really needed someone to listen to her and she needed advice. So, we walked over to the park and started to listen as she started to cry and tell us about how she was kicked out of her house and has no money and how her and her sister no longer get along. It was really sad. The whole time, I was thinking, "LaTasha will get her answer through the Book of Mormon". Finally, when there was a space of time between us listening and replying, I said to her, "I know that you're going through a hard time and we can tell that you just need comfort at this time. Would it be alright if we read from the Book of Mormon? We KNOW that you will feel that comfort that you need." She happily agreed and got so excited about reading. We first read Alma 7 which applied perfectly to her. She just cried and cried through the whole thing. Sister Van Komen was totally inspired as well and asked if we could also read the account of Nephi getting wrapped in cords by Laman and Lemuel. IT WAS JUST AMAZING HOW PERFECT EACH SCRIPTURE WAS FOR HER!!! I felt the spirit so strongly while reading those scriptures. It was the strongest I have ever felt through reading. It was a really neat experience for me and I'm so grateful for the Holy Ghost. Ah. LaTasha then gave us each a big hug and just kept saying thank you. She told us that she KNEW that God had put us in her path. GAH. I just love the tender mercies that happen in missionary work. It's the grandest feeling in the world and something that I will never forget.
We then went over to Melisa's home and had a lesson with her. We read from the Book of Mormon with her because she told us it was hard for her to understand. Afterwards, her three ADORABLE little kids asked us to play a game with them. We played telephone and oh my, it was the cutest thing of my life. They kept whispering the same thing like, "I love cookies. I love pizza. I love riding my bike." I just love little kids so much and all of them remind me of my sweet nieces and nephews.
Wednesday "You can give her a dollar": This day was a really really really weird day. I feel like we always have an "off day" in missionary work at least once a week and this was the day. We went to the local "Hole-in-the-wall" BBQ place with Jonathan, Brandon, and Sister Edwards. We were able to teach them a lesson about the Tree of Life and showed them a picture and they loved it!!! haha funny story: As Sister Van Komen and I were paying for our BBQ Sandwiches, the lady charged me 4 dollars for mine and 5 for Sister Van Komens. (She should've charged me an extra dollar). I started to tell the lady that she only charged me 4 dollars and she just couldn't figure out the math of what to do, so she just said, "Don't worry about it." then, she pointed to Sister Van Komen and said, "You can just give her one of your dollars." hahahahhaha WHAT? It didn't make sense at all and we just laughed about it afterwards. Anyway, the rest of the day, we spent in a small town called Aberdeen that is also in our area. We tried to contact some referrals and tracted/contacted a few people there, but none were really interested. We had dinner with a super cute girl named Sarah who attends the Tupelo Ward because they have a YSA there. Sarah is 27 years old and loves to feed us! She told us that we helped her a lot by letting her serve us food. So precious. It started to randomly storm (surprise surprise) and we luckily were inside. hahah do y'all wanna hear a funny joke that I heard from someone in our branch? He said, "If you don't like the weather in Mississippi, just drive a mile down the road." BAHAHAHHAHA SO TRUE.
Thursday "Grilled PB&J": This day was another weird day, but it was good and I learned a lot from it. We went on a Blitz with some sisters from Haleyville, AL. They are both going home by the end of this transfer and one of the Sisters is suffering from a really bad form of depression. We had weekly planning this day and so we planned for 3 hours. The one sister who was having problems ended up sleeping in until 10 and then took another nap at 3. I was companions with her for the day and I was able to learn patience and compassion. Sister Van Komen made me the best thing I have ever tasted in my life. A GRILLED PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH. OH MY GOODNESS. I AM NEVER TURNING BACK. So: here's how to make it... Mix pb&j in a bowl and then lather it on some bread. Put both pieces together and then put butter on the outside of each slice of bread and then grill it!!!! holy cow. EVERYONE. GO AND TRY IT NOW. PLEASE. Anyway, after the sister finally woke up from her sleep, we went out and visited a less active lady named Sister Scott. Sister Scott is really sweet and needs a lot of support. We were able to help her and even sang her the song, "teach me to walk in the light". Sister Scott closed her eyes as we sang and then when we were done, she said, "Sisters. Y'all have beautiful voices. " hahahah it was great. I love it here. I then took the sister out to get icecream and we were able to contact people at the Baskin Robbins and we were able to talk with one another and we were able to just open up with each other and it was perfect. I learned a lot from this sister. She is so strong and just wants to finish out her mission strong!
Friday "Happy B-day USA. Let us hum for you": We had Zone training this day!!!! It was lots of fun and our ZL's and STL's decorated the church gym in red white and blue. All the Sisters in the zone had to sing this super cheesy song and we also hummed along to it and it was super duper awkward. That's all I will say. We also got popsicles and did a three legged race! I tied the piece of cloth on way too tight and Sister Van Komen and I were struggling to even walk. It was hilarious. After Zone Training, we went contacting and found this super cute family sitting outside enjoying some ribs. Four cute toddlers were all playing in this small plastic pool. We walked up to the couple sitting on the porch and started talking to them. (Phillip and Jackie). We asked them if we could teach them a quick lesson and they agreed! Half way through the lesson, Jackie randomly got up and left, but Phillip stayed the whole time and was super interested. He said he would read the Book of Mormon and give us a call if he wanted us to come back. I really hope he read it! Seriously, if people would JUST read the BOM, they would KNOW it is true!!!! You just can't deny it because it all speaks of Jesus Christ. Anyway, after that, we went over to Brother and Sister Shields house for dinner and we had some ribs. I will be completely honest, ribs are probably my LEAST favorite thing to eat because it is just so messy and I feel like I eat more fat than the actual meat that is on the rib, but they were good!!!! On our way out the door, there were 5 toads hopping along the driveway. I shrieked and ran back inside as Sister Van Komen and Brother Shields laughed at me. It was AWFUL. AGH. Then, on our way home, there was a HUGE bug in our car that WOULD NOT get out. Sister Van Komen is terrified of bugs and she was the one that was driving. I tried so many times to get the dumb bug out of our car with no luck. Sister VK was freaking out and all I could do was just laugh and laugh. To make the situation even better, there were cop cars along the road that were checking eveyone's license as people drove through (they were really checking for drunk drivers). Don't worry, we were prepared!!! haha such good times on the mission. Goodness gracious.
Saturday "Huh. Ya don't say": We went to visit Liz and couldn't find her house for the life of us. 20 minutes later, we found her with her dad as they were both just standing outside looking at their bibles. I just thought to myself, "uh oh. This can't be good." Sister VK and I just gave each other "the look" and we prepared for the worst. Her dad ended up talking to us for the longest time about how he and his daughter are Jewish and how Jesus really has dark skin and how the picture on the pamphlet is completely wrong. He would not let us speak at all. It was so annoying to be honest. hahah what's really ridiculous is that they said they were Jewish, but that they loved reading from the old and new testament and totally believed in it. We were really confused and I think they were as well. Oh well, I still know that we were supposed to meet Liz and that we planted that seed!!!! We then ran over to help Sister Swift mow her lawn. Oh my, her grass reached as high as my knee. It took a really long time, but we got it finished and I totally used the lawn mower!! (Throwback to the day when mom took a picture of me mowing the lawn at braydons haha). I only made the lawn mower stop 3 times on accident. Then, we had another lesson with Melisa and decided to just drop her for now because she is not keeping her commitments and won't read/pray.
Sunday "Take me out to the ball game": Okay. Heavenly Father is just really amazing. It's cool to think how He works when it comes to missionary work. After a week of working super hard and not finding any "golden" investigators, Heavenly Father just hands them to us because He notices how hard we are working. We got a referral from Brother Shields to see one of his patients in the hospital. After church, we went straight over to see her and it turned out to be an amazing lesson. Her name is Debra and her husband was there as well and his name is Ricky. Debra explained to us that she has been looking for a church to go to and none of them have seemed right to her. We taught her and Ricky lesson 1 and when we asked Debra about Jesus Christ, She started to cry and said, "They nailed his hands n' feet to the cross." She just sobbed and sobbed. She is just the sweetest lady and we could tell that she has a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. Oh, and wanna know something funny? haha one of the nurses came in right after she got done crying to take her blood pressure and it went up a lot. Whoops. Anyway, at the end, Debra looked at Sister VK and I and said, "How do you feel?" We both said, "Happy". She then started to cry and said, "Good. That's what I want to feel like. I just want to be happy for once." We invited both of them to be baptized and they both said yes!!!!!! They said they would both come to church once Debra got out of the hospital. Ah. It was so grand!!!!! AND WANNA KNOW SOMETHING ELSE GREAT? They live literally across the street from the church and have never been :)
As missionaries, we set goals every week for different "Key indicators". One of our goals is "unplanned Invites" which means that we have to invite a certain amount of people to learn more of this gospel. Sister VK and I set a weekly goal of inviting 70 people. Sunday night, we had 58 and still needed to find 12 more people. No one was outside and it was really starting to stress us out because we can only invite people who are outside and it doesn't count if you tract. We said a little prayer and BOOM. It was answered. We look over to the left of us and see a BASEBALL GAME going on through the field that we were standing by. We quickly ran over there and found a good 60 people there watching and playing baseball. GAH!!! GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS Y'ALL!!! We ended up having 73 unplanned invites by the end of the night!!!! We were so happy!!!!!!!
You know you're in West Point when...
-People do fireworks the whole weekend during the day time.
-You know the cops by name because they stop you so many times while you are walking around and tell you not to go in certain areas.
-People have a special seat for their dog to sit at the dinner table.
FAQ from people here:
-"Are ya'll pentecostals?
-"Do y'all walk everywhere?"
-"Why would you want to come on your mission here?"
-"Why aren't you in Africa or something?"
ATTENTION EVERYONE: Sister Van Komen and I go running every single morning of the week and I have lost 5 pounds. We are also learning how to cook and have cooked a lot of good meals. We are doing well and we are just so happy all the time. I love her so much and I'm learning a lot from her! She is an amazing companion and I'm so GRATEFUL that I am with her :)
God is aware of us and He is real. This gospel is amazing :) Heavenly Father answers prayers and wants us all to each succeed!!!!
MYKY,
Sister Platt
No comments:
Post a Comment