Monday, October 27, 2014

Men are that they might have JOY

Hey y'all!!!!! What a wonderful week that we had here in Leeds :) So many exciting things  have been happening here!!!! I LOVE this work so much and I KNOW that without Heavenly Father, none of the success we are having would be possible.
 
 Surprise. Surprise. Sister Madsen is leaving and I will get another companion AGAIN. (Shout out to Sister Gustafson.. the ONLY missionary I have been with for more than one transfer). I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve with Sister Madsen. She has taught me a lot about truly trusting in the Lord. We are going to be lifelong friends and I KNOW that we were meant to be companions. I know President Hanks is inspired when he prays specifically for each of us missionaries and where we need to be and who we need to be with. I know that I'm supposed to be with a new sister so that I can learn and grow even more!!! Sister Madsen and I concluded that we are way too much alike and we got one transfer together because God wants to challenge us more. This transfer has been a breeze with her because she is so easy for me to get along with. She reminds me SO much of Lexie Reategui! #shoutouttosisterreateguiinthephilippines :) I will be "training" a new sister training leader which will be so much fun. I'm so excited!!! I WILL find JOY in this new transfer!
 
He has blessed us so much! I have been focusing a lot on the topic of JOY in my studies recently. We are reading The Book of Mormon from cover to cover as a mission and right now I am in the book of Alma. HE IS SUCH A STUD. I love Alma 29:9 which reads: "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance;and this is my joy."
 
Do we find joy in the things that the Lord commands us to do?  WE SHOULD.
 
 
Let's talk about Brother Mack for a sec. Holy cow. Can y'all say ELECT??? He is so perfect! We should first read Alma 29:10 which says: "And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy, then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me." BROTHER MACK WAS TRULY PENITENT AND IS NOW COMING TO THE LORD.
Last tuesday, we had a lesson with him on keeping the commandments. We asked him how it was going with him keeping the word of wisdom and he expressed his struggle with quitting coffee. He told us that he was just planning on finishing the can of coffee that he had and then he would be done with drinking it. Sister Madsen and I followed the promptings we received and bore testimony of Christ and His atonement and how hard it must have been for Jesus Christ to do God's will, we invited him to show that act of faith and give us his whole can of coffee right then! I shared with him a quote that I learned from President Hanks which is, "Do it. Do it right. Do it right now!" Brother Mack then looked at us and then looked down at the ground as he whispered under his breath, "I can do this. I can do this. I can do this." He then got up out of his chair and went out of the room towards the kitchen. Sister Madsen and I looked at each other with our jaws dropped. WE WERE SO HAPPY FOR HIM and knew exactly what he was doing... He then came back in the room and plopped the can of coffee mix on my lap as Sister Madsen shrieked with joy. It was awesome. He has truly purified himself and it is INCREDIBLE to see the change in his life now. He smiles more. He loves more. He expresses happiness more!!!!!!
The next day, we had a lesson with him and the Nicola's came over to help teach. The Nicola's are an adorable older couple who expressed to Brother Mack that they were planning on going to the temple for the first time... Y'all wanna hear Brother Mack's response to them? He said, "OH! You haven't been to the temple yet???? I have been and YOU NEED TO GO. You won't believe how strong you feel when you go in. You walk different. You breathe different. You even feel different!!!!" So precious.
Now onto the most exciting day ever. Saturday. Brother Mack was baptized!!!! It was the most beautiful baptismal service and everything went VERY smoothly. After the service, he bore his testimony and said, "I didn't really expect to feel this way. I thought I would feel peace, but I never thought I would feel THIS MUCH peace that I'm feeling right now. (Then. with tears in his eyes he said...) I would like to thank the sisters for teaching me and showing me how I can be happy. They are disciples of Jesus Christ. I know I'm in the right place in my life. In Jesus Name, Amen." It was simply beautiful.
His confirmation the next day was wonderful as well. Bishop Hopper confirmed him and gave him a blessing that was definitely a tear jerker. THIS GOSPEL BRINGS SO MUCH JOY. AH.
 
We have a new investigator named Krista who we met at walmart last Monday while buying pens. She is 15 years old and goes to her baptist church ALL by herself every sunday because her mom isn't religious. We had a really powerful lesson with her and set a baptismal date for her for November 22nd. Her dad passed away a good 4 years ago and is still grieving over it. Her mom is really sad towards it as well. We started to read The Book of Mormon with her and she LOVES it. Oh my goodness, she just kept telling us how happy she felt :) We are trying to get her mom involved in the lessons so we are going to go over tonight and bring cookies and share a movie (Finding faith in Christ) with her mom which will hopefully help her soften up. Krista really wants her mom to come back to church and she expressed to us how rough her life has been. She has lived in a car half her life and is now trying to get back on her feet. So heartbreaking. It's crazy to think that we can't fully understand or comprehend what people are going through, but Jesus Christ does. What a comfort to know that we can AT LEAST let them know that Christ has felt what they are feeling right now in their lives. This gospel is perfect.
 
We had a fall festival this past weekend at the church and it was a success. Sister Madsen and I decided to dress up last minute as dorothy and the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. Heavenly Father obviously wanted us to be them because we found the most PERFECT outfits at the thrift store. BOOYAH. There were a lot of people there and we were able to help set up! A lot of less active people came which was awesome :) It's so fun to see the ward get together and just have fun and enjoy activities and a potluck together. Mormons are SO good at doing potlucks. Ah. Being a Mormon is the coolest thing ever.
 
CRAZY STORY TIME:
Oh my goodness. Sister Madsen and I were contacting in Walmart at 8:30 one night because the town goes silent around that time and the only hoppin place is walmart. (Or "walmarks" as everyone calls it here). Anyway, we saw a lady wearing all camo down the baking isle. We stop. Talk to her.. I will just write out the conversation to the best of my memory:
Us: Hello ma'am! Are you baking something for a fall festival?
Lady: No. OH! YOU ARE JEHOVAHS WITNESS HUH??????
Us: Nope. Try again!!!!
Lady: OH. Y'ALL ARE MORMONS?!?
Us: Yes!!! We are!!! Have you met mormons before??
Lady: YES. WHY DO THEY FORCE Y'ALL TO BELIEVE IN SUCH FALSE LIES? y'all look so innocent, but YOU ARE DECEIVED. You have the devil in you!!!! In the name of Jesus, I ask that the devil will be forced out of you!!!!!! (She then started to shake our hands and hit our shoulders...)
Us:.... Thank you for your----
Lady: (interupting us and not letting us speak) Y'ALL ARE BRAINWASHED. Profess NOW that you don't believe in Joseph Smith!!!! DO IT.
(At this point we are just smiling and start walking away)
The lady then starts to run after us and grab our arms.....
(yes. this is all happening AT walmart IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BAKING ISLE)
Lady: "Let's denounce Joseph Smith and that mormon bible RIGHT NOW! LIFT UP YOUR HANDS!"
Us: No thank you. Have a nice day. Thanks for your passion about your beliefs!
Lady: (In tears...) IT'S NOT PASSION. IT'S COMPASSION. I WANT TO SEE YOU TWO IN HEAVEN AND YOU CAN'T BE IN HEAVEN IF YOU DON'T ACCEPT JESUS IN YOUR HEART AND DENY JOSEPH SMITH.
 
 
Ah. It was awful. The spirit was NOT there at all and the lady was yelling VERY loudly and I'm surprised no one noticed. All Sister Madsen and I could do was just laugh. 
I also love Alma 29:13 which reminded me of this experience... "...that same God hath called me by a holy calling, to preach the word unto this people, and hath given me much success, in the which my joy is full." I KNOW that God has called us to do this work. To stand up for what we believe in. He gave us success by not letting us get down or discouraged. He allowed us to have joy!
 Heavenly Father blessed us seconds later by letting us talk to an ADORABLE group of college kids from Tuscaloosa. SO MUCH JOY. They were really interested in what we believed and they respected our beliefs so much. We were able to talk to them and laugh about the rivalry between auburn and alabama. #tendermerciesareallovertheplace
 
We went on 3 exchanges this week. back to back to back. It was insane. I will be honest, I was very stressed and very tired, but Heavenly Father helped me keep a great attitude which I am so grateful for!!!!! I'm so grateful for the sisters in this zone. They are powerful. I love meeting all of the people they are working with. It makes me so happy to see them all work so hard and apply the trainings that we receive from President Hanks. Alma 29:14 "But I do not joy in my own success alone, but my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren." amen to that!
 
Heavenly Father blessed us with a beautiful miracle last night. It gets dark now around 6 which makes it a little rough when it comes to contacting people; especially on sunday nights when we can't go into stores. We had been having a pretty interesting day with tons of random encounters with people basically preaching to us and not letting us speak. We decided to try to contact a lady we met the day before. We couldn't find her house at all, so we decided to go to a random house on the street and ask the people sitting outside if they knew where the lady lived. We walked up towards the house and saw two ADORABLE kids carving pumpkins outside. They were 12 and 14 years old and were the most polite and well put together kids I have ever met. SO MATURE. I want my kids to be like them one day. Anyway, their door was open and we ended up talking to their parents. They excitingly told us that they had just gotten back from the temple in SLC for a field trip for girl scouts. AND the wife told us that she had read through the WHOLE Book of Mormon when she was a teenager. So random. We started to discuss our religious beliefs with them and they did the same to us about their quaker religion. wow. we are pretty similar to quakers!!! They don't have a preacher. They believe in being service oriented. They believe in turning the other cheek. They believe in finding truth for themselves. And they believe in modesty and education. As we were about to leave, the husband says to us, "hey! I just made some lamb and pork and we would love for y'all to join us for dinner and just enjoy your time with visiting with us." UM. THAT NEVER HAPPENS Y'ALL. MAYBE THAT WOULD HAPPEN IN UTAH, BUT NOT HERE. So, they invited us in for dinner and I had lamb for the first time in my life and LOVED it. They gave us apple pie to go :) How cool is that? They aren't very interested in learning more, but they told us to stop by whenever we needed anything! SUCH WONDERFUL PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH!
 
I am so grateful for the people here. The south is literally my home. The phrase doesn't lie when they say "sweet home alabama". The skies really are SO blue. Bugs attack us every day here. Dogs attack us every day here. The smell of honey suckle is in the air. Leaves are falling and trees are changing colors so beautifully. The sunsets are gorgeous. The people are so faithful and humble here. I am truly filled with so much joy. Ah. I feel like Ammon sometimes who "cannot say the smallest part which I feel." (Alma 26:16) So blessed.
 
In other news...
-Just found out that Tom from Russellville RECEIVED the aaronic priesthood last sunday :) WAHOO. so happy for him :) So grateful that Heavenly Father allowed me to be in his life.
-The weather is SO bi-polar here. One minute, it's 60 degrees, the next, it's 80. People here think they know how to tell the weather, but no one really does.
-I found Dodger this week!!! except it was a brown cocker spaniel. But just as cute as him!
-tracting is literally one of my favorite things to do. The name game really helps us enjoy it.
-us to a man on his porch: "We know that The Book of Mormon will bring more peace to your life and help you answer the questions that you are wondering about." Man on porch: "yes. that's great." us: "When can we bring you a copy of your own?" man on porch: "maybe in 30 years." #k
-One of my goals: to finish reading "Jesus The Christ" by the end of my mission. #wishmeluck
-Another goal: to baptize an asian. #therearenoneinalabama
-brother nicola (at church) asking sister madsen what she wants for dinner this tuesday.. Sister Madsen: "anything BUT ham and cheese sandwiches" 4 hours later at our dinner appt with a different member in our ward. guess what we had??? yup. ham and cheese sandwiches. #Godhasasenseofhumor
-Are hashtags still a thing?
-"Once you start to get to know a missionary, they always just take them out!!! Y'all come and go too fast!" ---what every member of the church says to a missionary who is leaving the ward/branch
-Sister Fowler (the lady who we are living with) bought us pumpkins to carve #sheissoprecious #prayforustohavethetimetocarvethemtoday #sistermadsenstillhastopack
 
 
 I LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH. GO OUT AND FIND THINGS THAT BRING JOY TO YOUR LIFE. FIND JOY IN THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD LIKE BROTHER MACK HAS. FIND JOY IN THE SUCCESS OF OTHERS. FIND JOY IN THE CRAZY THINGS THAT HAPPEN. FIND JOY IN THE JOURNEY :)
 
MYKY,
Sister Platt

Monday, October 20, 2014

So happy all the time!

AHHHH THIS MISSION IS THE BEST THING IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD. I LOVE MY LIFE.

First off, sorry we are so late with emailing today! We helped an
ADORABLE family move into their new home for 2 hours!! We just tracted
into them last week and they just moved to Leeds from Kentucky!!! They
kept thanking us over and over again and told us that we were a VERY
specific answered prayer for them because they don't know anyone in
Leeds and they are looking for a church and nice people to
meet!!!!!!!! SO COOL. They then insisted on paying us each $50 bucks
for helping (yeah. really nice) but we declined the money and they
insisted even more with taking us out to lunch. we just got done
eating at a yummy mexican restaurant. Hopefully we will start teaching
them soon because they are basically mormon. They have 2 kids. They
have a big food storage. AND they LOVE chili. Chili cookoff anyone?

ANYWAY, this email won't even do it justice to everything that has
happened this past week. We are so busy here and I love it!!!!!! Have
I mentioned how GRATEFUL I am for Sister Madsen? yup. She's perfect.
We are best friends. I love her so much and we are PRAYING that we
stay together another transfer. We shall see. Knowing my streak of
luck, we won't be together :( BUT PRAYER WILL CHANGE THE NIGHT TO DAY.
Now onto the AMAZING EVENTS OF THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!

We went over to the Nicola's again to have another "new member"
lesson. Sister Nicola excitedly started to tell us how she stayed up
until 2:30 am doing family history!!!! WHAT? She is in her late 60's
and usually goes to bed at 8 pm!!! Sooo funny. Oh my. It was great.
Her and her husband are doing baptisms for the dead this upcoming
friday :) so excited for them!!!! They also went over the next day to
our family history consultant's home and spent 6 HOURS at their house
doing family history. They traced her lineage clear back to the
1200's! NUTS. #spiritofelijah

Had exchanges with the Anniston sisters and I was with Sister Horan
and stayed here in Leeds. This transfer is Sister Horan's first one.
She is SUPER shy and won't talk unless you ask her questions. One of
my goals for the day was to make  her laugh. I accomplished the goal
y'all! It was so fun to be with her. Ah. I love her so much. She is
the sweetest sister ever and wants to be the best she can be. We were
able to see a lot of miracles that day and I'm grateful that Heavenly
Father made things work out so perfectly for the exchange. We ran into
this old lady who had just pulled into her carport. (No one has
garages here). The old lady had TONS of groceries in the back of her
car and we ran up and asked if she needed help. She said no, but we
refused. I just said, "Ma'am. We are here to be the Lord's hands for
people. Let us help!" She started crying as we carried the groceries
in. She then invited us to sit down and meet her husband. Her husband
was the sweetest man in the world. He was on an oxygen tank and was so
precious and old. We sat down and read some scriptures with them and
then talked about God and how good He is! Sister Horan spoke up and
was super brave as she asked them for a return appointment. I WAS SO
PROUD OF HER. THE OLD COUPLE TOLD US WE COULD COME BACK AND TEACH THEM
:) As we were leaving, the lady gave us each a hug and said, "well,
darlins' I love y'all and I barely know you, but I love you." So cute.
What a tender mercy.
We walked down and saw a guy dribbling a basketball. I asked him if he
played and he started to ask us who we were and wondered if we were
prophets. He thought there was a basketball hoop at the park,
but unfortunately there wasn't so we asked him if we could teach him a
lesson instead. (Heavenly Father is so great at making things
disappear ;)) So we went to a park bench and taught him the
restoration!!!! Sister Horan did so great and I learned so much from
the way she teaches. She is a wonderful teacher!!!!!!!
After teaching the man at the park, Sister Whitbeck (the relief
society president) picked us up for a team up and we went over to
Nicole's home. Nicole invited us in and about 10 minutes later, her
grandma kicked us out of the house because she apparently doesn't like
us. Super awkward. We were so grateful that Sister Whitbeck was there
because she handled the situation very well. Nicole was crying and it
was just really rough. We still haven't heard from Nicole since that
day. We think she ran away. :( so unfortunate.
Seriously, missions are so crazy! We just never know what's going to
happen every day, but I love the adventure :)

I also went on an exchange with Sister Bailey in Gadsden, AL. SO MUCH
FUN. Sister Bailey is new as well, but oh my, you'd think she has been
a missionary her whole life! She is so outgoing and so good at talking
with people!!!! We were able to find some solid new investigators and
have some good lessons as we tracted and street contacted. We had an
interesting experience with talking to this man who was muslim. He
basically tried to convert us the whole time and the conversation was
not going anywhere. haha he said, "I wish I could just shake you girls
and tell you what you are missing in life." We were thinking the same
thing for him. It was hilarious. It made me realize how BOLD we all
need to be in standing up for what we believe in. This man was super
bold and a little overbearing, but hey, he shared what he believed in!
MAY WE ALL DO THE SAME. OPEN Y'ALLS MOUTHS.

Sister Madsen and I helped Sister Fowler out with a baby shower she
was doing for her daughter. (Sister Fowler is the lady we are living
with). Oh mother, I felt like I was with you all morning as we made
crafts and as Sister Fowler organized everything. We helped make cake,
pigs in a blanket, jello, apple dip, and onion dip. It was a ball!!!!
Ah. It was really depressing though because Sister Fowler spent hours
preparing for the baby shower and only 6 people showed up :( We felt
so bad! But we just kept praising her and told her how much of a
success it was. SO PLEASE GO TO A BABY SHOWER WHEN YOU ARE INVITED TO
IT. OKAY?

Sister Madsen and I did our classic tracting game again where we come
up with a random word that we have to say during a conversation with
the person who opens the door. Oh. Here are some of our favorites....
We knock on a trailer door. Sister Madsen tells me the word "crock
pot" The guy answers as I say, "Oh! Your house smells like a crock pot
dinner!" The smell of weed starts to come over us as we start talking
to him. He wasn't interested at all...
We knock on another door. I give Sister Madsen the word "calculator"
An old man answers the door and immediately invites us to come in.
Sister Madsen then says, "Is there a female in the home? Sorry. We are
just trying to calculate if we are allowed to come inside or not." TOO
GOOD.
Then. We knock on another door. Sister Madsen gives me the word
"peanut butter". The man tells us to come back later. I say, "Okay!
sounds good! We are just going to go and make some peanut butter
sandwiches and then we will come back."

TRACTING IS SO MUCH FUN Y'ALL. hahaha we have way too much fun together.

Now... are y'all ready for the most EXCITING miracle that happened
this past week?!?

We had a lesson with good ole' brother mack who is getting baptized
this Saturday the 25th!!!!! We went over with the Martins and had a
lesson with him on temples and family history. Brother Mack has lost
his wife and son and as we talked about the temple and how we can be
as a family forever, his face lit up and the spirit in that room was
REALLY THICK. Brother Martin shared a very personal experience with
losing his son to a car accident. He started crying and told us that
he heard a voice say to him at that time, "I need him on the other
side to help with missionary work here." I, of course, started to bawl
and the spirit in that room was UNDENIABLE. At the end, we asked
brother Mack if he would prepare himself to go to the temple after he
is baptized. He gave the sweetest answer as he said, "I want to go
NOW!" He is such a stud and I'm so grateful for Heavenly Father for
preparing him for this gospel :)
Let us fast forward to the day after this lesson. We head over to
Brother Mack's house and he isn't there. We were so bummed, but
literally 2 minutes later, Brother Mack shows up as he drives his car
into the garage. He gets out of the car and he has his camera hanging
on his neck and a magazine in his hands. He then says to us with a
huge smile on his face, "Hey ladies! Guess where I've been?" Oh, if
y'all could've seen the look on Sister Madsen and I's face. It was
priceless. Our jaw was dropped for a good minute. HE HAD JUST GOTTEN
BACK FROM THE TEMPLE. WHAT? WHO DOES THAT??? ELECT PEOPLE DO
THAT!!!!!!!!!!! He then proceeded to show us the magazine on temples
he got from the visitors center and also showed us all the beautiful
photos he took of his daughter in front of the Birmingham Temple.
Writing an email about this experience is stressing me out because I
can't put into words how we felt at that moment. AH. We then asked him
how he felt and all the questions we could think of. Brother Mack said
the following during our conversation (so precious) :
"It was so peaceful there! NO ONE. Not ANYONE can deny the peace that is there."
"All the worldly things that I worry about just erased when I went
inside" (He got inside to the visitors part of the temple)
"Y'all didn't tell me about Angel Moroni! Did y'all know he always
faces east because of the second coming?"
"Yeah. I stayed inside for 2 hours. I couldn't get myself to leave!"
"Everyone was so nice and kept coming up to me. I like when people do that."
"The man at the front desk asked me if I was meeting with missionaries
and I told him that I was and that y'all were changing me. Man. Y'all
ARE changing me!"
So basically, Sister Madsen and I are still on cloud 9 from this
experience. I have never heard of anyone just going to the temple on
their own like that. So unexpected, but such a happy thing! GOD IS
GOOD. :)))
Brother Mack also came to church yesterday and wanna know something
precious? Brother Gause (who is less active) CAME TO CHURCH AGAIN. DO
Y'ALL KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS??? HE IS NO LONGER CONSIDERED LESS
ACTIVE!!!!!! Brother Gause went up to Brother Mack after Sacrament
meeting and invited him over for dinner!!!!!!! SUCH A HAPPY MOMENT. I
remember when I first met Brother Gause... He told us that he would
NEVER come back to church for at least another year. Heavenly Father
is able to soften sooooo many hearts!!!!!!!
Brother Simmons who is less active also came to church and WALKED to
church AGAIN. :)

SO GRATEFUL FOR THIS AREA. I'M OBSESSED.

I love the people here so much and I'm grateful for how challenging it
is to serve in the South. It's the best place ever because we can walk
up to anyone and ask them about Jesus Christ and it's just a normal
thing/conversation. We can drive up to someone walking along the
street and ask them if we can share a scripture with them. What a
wonderful place to be serving!!!
I love how fast we can sift through people here and really know who
the elect are by their ability to keep commitments. People aren't
afraid here to just flat out tell us that they are not interested and
I love that!!!! It helps us not waste our time on those who aren't
ready for this gospel.
I strangely even love getting put down for our beliefs; it makes my
testimony EVEN STRONGER to know that Satan is working so hard on this
gospel because even he knows it's true. Truth will always be opposed.
We have had a lot of experiences like that this past week that have
shaped my testimony...
We ran into a man who basically told us we were going to hell. We
knocked on a door and a guy started telling us that prophets aren't
necessary. A lady told us that we didn't believe in the same Jesus
Christ that she did. Another person told us that we weren't
Christians.

Always remember that, y'all. Truth WILL ALWAYS BE OPPOSED.
One of my new favorite scriptures is Romans 8:31. "If God be for us,
who can be against us?" AMEN TO THAT.

In other news...
-Good quote I saw on a wall the other day: "Attitudes are
contagious... Is yours worth catching?"

I love y'all so much and I love my life so so so so so much! Heavenly
Father is so grand and so aware of us :) I love being an Alabama
Birmingham missionary and I KNOW that this is EXACTLY where I need to
be. How grand is Heavenly Father and His plans? SO INSPIRED.

MYKY,
Sister Platt