TIME IS FLYING AND I CAN'T STAND IT. UGH. BUT YAY FOR CHRISTMAS! WAHOOOOOOO YAY FOR IT BEING 65 DEGREES OUTSIDE TODAY. Oh Bama.... you are too funny and confusing. Life is so beautiful. I am so grateful. People are so inspirational to me. So grateful for each of them :)
Monday: All of our plans fell through Monday night so we went and tried to find lots of people to teach. Remember the story I told about Kenya's mom? Well, she wasn't keeping her commitments, BUT we found someone FROM KENYA on monday night and got his information :) woot woot! God is real!!!!! On the main street of Leeds, there are a good 10 fast food restaurants all in one row. Sister Moore and I decided to get creative and drive through each one of them and ask the worker for water and then invite them to learn more! The guy working at KFC told us he would try to come to church. It was hilarious. Sister Moore was holding 10 watercups on her lap. I love mission life. It doesn't all have to be mundane things. YOU CAN HAVE FUN WITH SHARING THE GOSPEL!!!!!!
Tuesday: This day was a day full of miracles!!!! I went on an exchange with Sister Martineau in Leeds. Sister Martineau is THE CUTEST. This is her first transfer out on the mission and she is super shy and just the sweetest thing. I love her so much and learned a lot!!! We were able to teach 8 LESSONS. Which never happens. Heavenly Father just put people in our path and we were able to teach on the spot.
One lesson that stuck out to me was a lesson with this lady named Sabrina who let us right inside her home. Sabrina has been through SO much in her life. Her husband died from a tree falling on him and her best friend died in his sleep. Anyway, she has been through the ringer, but she just bore testimony to us of how God has been there for her every step of the way. My jaw was dropped the whole time. People have SO much strength and faith here!!!!!! Sabrina has also been studying with the Jehovah's witnesses because she wants to gain as much knowledge as possible. As we were teaching her, she kept saying to us, "okay. great. What more do you have to share? I'm ready to listen." At the end, I asked her if she felt like the message that we shared was true and she responded saying, "yes. I know for a fact it's true. God's word is always true and y'all are servants of God." We invited her to church, but she said she doesn't believe in going to church, but just studying the word. mah. We shall see what happens with her. People are so confusing to me. So many receive a spiritual confirmation that the message is true, but won't act on it. ugh. #agencyisarealthing
We also taught a guy named Scott. Scott has been through so much as well. His dad was abusive and sent him off on a greyhound bus to Alabama when he was only 15. He basically poured out his whole heart to us and we were able to bear testimony of the atonement. I LOVE bearing testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I love it. I love it. I love it. The atonement is the ONLY thing that will mend a broken heart like his. We asked Scott what he thought his purpose was here on the earth and he replied saying, "honestly. I have thought a lot about that for a while now and I have no idea." Ah. The people here inspire me so much. Goodness gracious. So many trials. We bore testimony of The Book of Mormon to him and gave him a copy. I hope he truly reads it and feels the spirit. That book is POWERFUL!!!!!
To end off the night, I asked Sister Martineau what she wanted to improve on and she said store contacting. So we went store contacting and made a scavenger hunt list of people we wanted to find. It was awesome!!!!! It was so cute watching Sister Martineau approach people and shyly ask them if they wanted to learn more. She is definitely so much better than I was!!!!!! Missionary work is so amazing to witness and I am so glad that I have the opportunity to help these sisters grow. They are teaching me SO much!!!!
Wednesday: I went on another exchange in Leeds with Sister Horan. This is Sister Horan's second transfer on the mission. Last transfer, I went on an exchange with her and she was super duper shy and would barely talk. Well, SHE HAS GROWN SO MUCH!!!!!!!! Heavenly Father is so great and has strengthened her so much. We biked all day because it was beautiful outside. We decided to go to an apartment complex and tract. I asked Sister Horan which door we should tract and she looked for a bit and then pointed at one and said, "that's the one!" So we went for it and knocked on the door she suggested. I knocked and then turned to Sister Horan and said, "you've got this. You start the conversation when they answer." Her face turned red and she started to doubt herself, but I just kept reminding her that she could do it. A cute lady answered the door and Sister Horan stumbled her words, but spoke with power as she asked the lady if we could share a message with her. THE LADY SAID YES and let us right in!!!!!!! We talked to her about The Book of Mormon and the lady's name is Augusta. SIDENOTE: Sister Horan is probably the purest person on this planet. No joke. She is from a small town on the outskirts of idaho falls and didn't even know who miley cyrus was. She is just perfect and exactly what I strive to be like one day. ANYWAY, because she is the purest person ever, she teaches and the spirit immediately just fills the room with whatever she says. It's amazing. Augusta totally felt the spirit and asked us where she could get a copy of The Book of Mormon :) When we were about to leave, Augusta said to us: "I could feel that there was goodness in y'all. I usually don't answer the door to nobody I don't know. But God told me to answer the door and I'm glad I did. Y'all are so sweet." SO GREAT.
We went store contacting for some of the day and I just let Sister Horan take the lead and she did great!!!!! I would just say, "okay. You've got this one. Go talk to that lady down this aisle." And then she would look at me and say, "no. I can't do it." BUT GUESS WHAT??? SHE WOULD DO IT ANYWAY AND TOTALLY TALKED TO SOME PEOPLE. She is so amazing!!!!!!!!! We even taught a muslim man at a gas station about The Plan of Salvation. Halfway through the lesson, he tried to convert us to his religion. gotta love it :)
Thursday: Oh my. Thanksgiving was absolutely amazing and hilarious. We had dinner at the Carlisle's from our ward and as soon as we got to their home, they sat us down and said, "I hope y'all won't be too disappointed, but we aren't eating turkey this year because we didn't have time to make it. We are having pork roast instead." The pork roast ended up being really really really good so yay! It was a classic southern dinner. We had: cornbread stuffing, biscuits, sweet potato casserole aka my favorite thing ever, and potatoes. SO YUMMY.
We went contacting at walmart during "black friday" which started Thursday night. It was hilarious and so ridiculous. People were not very nice towards us. haahha Being there really made me appreciate the gospel of Jesus Christ and really made me realize that Christmas honestly is ALL ABOUT how Christ is the gift for Christmas and that nothing materialistic matters.
Friday: We had a great district meeting on overcoming fears. Loved it. We have the best district leader ever and he is just so humble and giving. I'm so grateful.
We had a lesson with this lady named Joy who totally has her heart changed around because 2 weeks ago, we were raking her leaves and she yelled at us and told us to go home. BUT we saw her this week and asked her if she was in need of a prayer and she let us right in and told us about all of the stressful things going on in her life. She apologized for yelling at us and explained her reasoning for doing so. It was really cool to see the change of heart within her and she even gave us some hot chocolate:) haha She takes care of all of the kids in the neighborhood and everyone basically takes advantage of her, but she just continues to love and love. Ah. There are so many great examples all around me!!!!!!!!!
We had a lesson with Tony @ chick fil a and read from The Book of Mormon with him. He is so inspiring as well. He told us his story of how he got in a wheel chair. (he fell off a truck and paralyzed his legs). He explained that it takes him 4 HOURS to get ready every morning. So sad. (he couldn't come to church yesterday because he slept in and couldn't get ready fast enough). He never complains and just loves life and everyone in it. He is wonderful!!!!
Saturday: This was the iron bowl day. So hilarious. People are so funny here and are truly crazy about their football. Luckily, the game started @ 6pm so we had plenty of time to find people/knock on doors without people yelling at us. We just visited some old less active people who didn't care about the football game at night. We also went to walmart and it was completely EMPTY so we talked to the workers about the gospel and it was grand!!!!!!! We also had a lesson with Nicole. She has been super wishy washy lately, but she called us and told us she was planning on coming to church and is still reading from The Book of Mormon. Sister Moore and I think once she breaks up with her boyfriend, she will be more committal. we shall see.
Sunday: NICOLE AND KEN CAME TO CHURCH. We only saw Ken once this past week and totally didn't think he would come because he wouldn't call/text us back, but once again, he surprised us and totally came. haha Brother Mack received the Priesthood today! He was beaming! I love that man so much. It was a beautiful day at church! I love this gospel so much!!!! We taught Augusta more about The Book of Mormon and she started to highlight some scriptures that we showed her. So grand. The Book of Mormon is amazing y'all. READ IT. I was able to finish reading through it this past week and wow, I am so grateful for it. So many life lessons are packed in that book. EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ IT.
Sketchy story time: We had an appointment to see dan from kenya, but he wasn't at home. We talked to his neighbors and they told us to go home because there was a prisoner on the loose in their neighborhood. (it was a super nice neighborhood too). Lo and behold, there totally was a prisoner and there were cop cars EVERYWHERE as we headed out of the neighborhood. So sketchy. Heavenly Father blessed us by Dan not being home because he wanted us to leave that neighborhood. God is so REAL!
In other news...
-As a mission, we have been invited to share a new church "christmas initiative" which is trying to promote the fact that Jesus Christ is truly the gift of Christmas. (For more info, go to: christmas.mormon.org) Anyway, we have been sharing the AMAZING video with everyone who is willing to watch. We showed it to Brother Gause yesterday and asked him what gift he would give to the Savior this year. Jokingly Brother Gause replied saying: "I'm gonna give God them dogs outside." We were laughing so hard. I have grown a strong dislike for dogs on my mission and I was just laughing with Brother Gause. Sister Moore is a dog whisperer and loves them. I guess it was definitely a "you had to be there" moment.
-"no coupons needed for saving here." ----church sign
-"man dropped the ball. Jesus saved the fall." ---church sign
-"It's so hot ya feel like the back of a licked postage stamp" ---Lynne (a worker from Walmart)
-"If I had a biscuit, I'd give you half" ---cute lady we tracted into
-We had a lesson on thanksgiving night with all the guys working at the gas station. They bought us laffy taffy afterwards and we read them the jokes on the wrapper. I love my life.
-A guy gave us a cup of coke with peanuts poured on top of the coke. Apparently it's a southern thing to do. Y'all should try it. It wasn't too bad.
-WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE TOMORROW. STOKED. WE HAVEN'T BEEN IN 6 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
-Transfer calls are this saturday. Time flies. I really hope I can stay in Leeds. So many things are starting to happen here!!!!!!!!!!!!
-I'm trying to gain more knowledge of the Bible as a goal for December. I was reading in the Book of Jonah today... Jonah was such a lame-o. I don't get why people talk about his story so much. He just complained and shrunk all the time. BOO.
-Sister Moore and I have different people we want to find and we have made a list and pray for them a lot. One of the people on the list was a man in overalls. Well. We found him y'all. We were out trying to find a less active's home and there was a man putting up christmas lights. We pulled over and started to yell up to him as he was standing on a fairly tall ladder. He nicely came down from the ladder and started talking to us about how he has visited his church before and is looking for a church home. BOOM. MIRACLE. We taught him a lesson and answered his questions and we have an appointment with him tomorrow at the church!!!!!!!!! STOKED. He is in his late 50's and recently divorced and has a 20 year old daughter. yay!
Go out and be inspired this week!!! Share the gospel with people! inspire them! Share your testimony!!!!!! REMEMBER THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE GIFT FOR THE SEASON.
I love y'all so much and I am so so so so so so so blessed to be a missionary at this time. I know that The Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I know that Heavenly Father lives. I know He listens to our prayers and cares about our struggles and successes. He wants us to be happy!!!!!
What gift are you going to give Christ this season? I have been pondering this question a lot and this morning, I decided to study Christ like attributes and strive to develop them even more in my life. That is the gift I am giving to the Savior.
What about y'all? Let me know what you will give to Him as soon as you find out!!!!!!!!!! LOVE Y'ALL.
MYKY,
Sister Platt
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