I have been reflecting a lot on happiness and how He just wants us to follow Him and keep His commandments.
Seriously, I am obsessed with this mission. It has made me a lot happier. I know I was happy before the mission, but man oh man, this gospel is just life changing when you actually learn about it!!!!!
WELL GUESS WHAT?
I am getting transferred AGAIN to a new area. This will be my 7th and last area. So weird/sad. Goodbye Gardendale! President Hanks called me to "release" me as a Sister Training Leader and he told me that I was going to go to a smaller town. #stoked. My guess is that I will be going to Wetumpka, AL because the assistants hinted that I would be going there. WE SHALL SEE. :)
Gardendale has taught me so much and I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to serve here for a short 6 weeks. I have never felt so frustrated and have never been on my knees as much before in my life. It's a beautiful thing. Heavenly Father truly did help me and so did our Savior, Jesus Christ and also the Holy Ghost. THEY ARE A GREAT TEAM!!!!!
I just want to work work work and do some more work this last transfer. The Lord deserves everything we've got as missionaries. :)
Let's see.. What happened this week? hmm. A lot of anti people. a lot of annoying dogs. And some good weather. yeeehaawww!
HAPPY MARTIN LUTHER KING JR DAY!!!! SOOOO GRATEFUL TO BE HERE IN THE SOUTH WHERE IT ALL TOOK PLACE. THERE IS SO MUCH HISTORY HERE AND I JUST ADMIRE IT ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!! So grateful for people who are willing to STAND UP for what they believe in!!!!!!! Martin Luther King Jr is such an amazing example of DESIRE, PATIENCE, AND LOVE. Let's talk about each of these today, okay?
Let's talk about DESIRE right quick.
Mosiah 28:1-9 The sons of Mosiah had a DESIRE to preach the gospel to the wicked Lamanites. We, as missionaries here in the south have a strong desire to teach the baptists. (I am not saying that the baptists are wicked; just roll with me on this one).
Anyway, the sons of Mosiah had SO MUCH LOVE for the Lamanites that they "might bring them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and convince them of the iniquity of their fathers; and that perhaps they might cure them of their hatred towards the Nephites, that they might also be brought to rejoice in the Lord their God, that they might become FRIENDLY to one another, and that there should be no more contentions in all the land which the Lord their God had given them." (verse 2).
I think this story basically sums up our time here in Gardendale, Alabama. Heavenly Father has taught us a very valuable lesson: we will be blessed if we put forth our desires to help those who are so hateful towards our religion. We have had the capacity to love them anyway and I'm grateful for that.
"Now they were DESIROUS that salvation should be declared to EVERY creature." (Verse 4).
Do we have that desire within each of us?
My desire has become stronger over the course of my mission.
Now, let's all turn to Alma 26 aka one of my FAVORITE CHAPTERS!!!!
At the end of verse 23, it reads, "we go up to the land of Nephi (Gardendale), to preach unto our brethren, the Lamanites (the baptists), and they laughed us to scorn" Then verse 24, "For they said unto us: Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites (baptists) of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers, as stiffnecked a people as they are...."
In these verses, Ammon is saying that people were laughing at him and his brethren for thinking that they could go teach the Lamanites, but he did anyway and found MUCH SUCCESS because he had a strong desire!!!!
This past week while on exchanges with Sister Canniff, we went tracting. The first door we knocked on was an old man who yelled at us and told us that we were brainwashed. He then proceeded to give us some pamphlets. While he was yelling at us, the spirit was obviously not there. It felt awful. While he was going off on random tangents about untrue things about the church, the thought just came to me that I just needed to bear my testimony. I started to bear it and he kept interrupting me, but I just kept bearing it and told him that I KNEW The Book of Mormon was the word of God and that it contained the fulness of the gospel and that he shouldn't put limitations on God by saying that God didn't appear to Joseph Smith. We walked away from his home knowing that we fulfilled our purpose. yes. He was a very stiffnecked man, but at least now he knows that Mormons aren't worshiping Joseph Smith.
"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." (Alma 26:27).
Do we truly know what the word "patience" means? In Preach My Gospel, it states that patience is: The capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering WITHOUT becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. I always thought of patience as just enduring, but no. We have to make sure that we do not become frustrated and angry.
Doctrine and Covenants 6:34 is one of the best scriptures ever!!! "Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail."
Sister Canniff and I did just that. We kept walking and we kept knocking despite the hardness of the peoples hearts here. The Lord truly did comfort us and helped us bear with patience our afflictions. We were able to talk to a man who really needed us that day. A man who was worried for his daughter. We were able to share a scripture with him and pray. We also ran into a man who was struggling with a pipe in his front yard. We walked up to him and asked him if he needed help. He looked up at us and said, "Did y'all not hear me?" At first, we were scared because we thought he said something bad about us, but then he said, "I was swearing because I was frustrated. Please forgive me." We then asked him if we could say a prayer that the pipe would work and he kinda laughed and said, "go for it darlin'. Say your prayer". After the prayer, we walked away and the PIPE TOTALLY WAS FIXED. UM YEAH. SO COOL. Once he saw it was fixed, he gave us a list of names of people to pray for. hahaha
After a long day of tracting, Sister Canniff and I were unsure of what to do next, so we said a prayer. We needed to have a lesson with a less active to make our goals for the day, but no less actives were within biking distance. After the prayer, Sister Canniff looked at me and said, I think we need to go up the street and turn right. She jokingly told me that we might just find a random less active on the road. We got on our bikes and did just that. We biked to the near by gas station and saw a man filling up his car. We rode up to him and said, "Hey sir! Do you know anyone around here that is in need of a prayer?" He looked at us all confused and said, "Do you not know who I am? I'm a member of y'alls church!" SO CRAZY. This man that we met was totally less active and Sister Cooper and I had been trying to contact him for the LONGEST time, but he was never home. MIRACLE. He told us his conversion story and gave him a Bible because he had lost his. It was truly amazing. Heavenly Father really is aware of where each of us are at any given time and it just blows my mind. Sister Canniff is just a brand new missionary, but boy, is she powerful!!!!! She has taught me so much about following the spirit. So grateful for the missionaries in this mission!!!!
"Now my bretheren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen." (Alma 26:37)
Heavenly Father really is so mindful of each of us. He knows us. He is cheering us on. He weeps with us. He smiles with us. He is the best dad we can think of. He sent HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON FOR US. What a selfless man!!!!!! Ah. So grateful.
In other news....
-Sister Cooper and I went tracting in Bham this past week which is always very entertaining.... We found a couple that recently just had a baby girl. The father (willy) of the baby is 61 years old and the mother (Sharida) is 28 years old... We taught them the restoration. Oh my. So hilarious. Willy said, "I'm a daddy. A grand daddy. A great grand daddy. And now I'm a daddy again." YIKES. And get this, willy's oldest daughter is 43 YEARS OLD.
-We met an ADORABLE 16 year old girl who is from Afghanistan and taught her the gospel!!! SHE WAS SO OPEN and told us that she has started to read the Bible. Crazy huh? She was so excited to learn and told us afterwards in her broken english, "Thank you so much for coming here! It made me smile!"
-We were talking to a man in the bookstore about the Bible and he got super excited that we knew what he was talking about. He then asked us what church we went to and when we told him, his face got REALLY serious and he ran away from us!!! WE ARE FULL OF SICKNESS. RUN AWAY!!!!!!
-There is a cute recent convert in the ward that we see once a week, she is very lonely. She is so excited about the gospel and reads for hours and hours every day out of the scriptures, ensign, and gospel principles book. She told us, "I just read and read all morning and all afternoon and then I reward myself with TV at night!!!!" #precious. She calls the "Doctrine and covenants" "Doctrine and commandments". I love her so much and she has taught us A LOT about truly putting God first in everything we do!!!!!
-We had interviews with President Hanks this past Friday!!! oh. I love that man so much!!!!! It was great to talk with him and he brought a lot of needed peace into my life and gave me great advice!!!!! He and Sister Hanks took us all out to BURGER KING (out of all places haha) for lunch. It was the best thing ever. He was telling us about all the times he would get a parking ticket in Italy for not placing the pass the right side up in his car. It reminded me sooooo much of dad!! It was hilarious. I have him convinced on wanting to go to Turkey!!!
I love y'all so much and hope that everything is going well!!!! Be PATIENT. CREATE A DESIRE. STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN. LOVE EVERYONE AND SEE THE GOOD IN THEM. AND JUST BE HAPPY.
I'm grateful for my family and love each of you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH! Gah. All the pictures that you send me ARE ADORBS!!!!! <--some things never change.
I hope this email makes sense. Sorry if it doesn't. Have a wonderful week!!!
MYKY,
Sister Platt
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