Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Testimony+Spirit=Power

I really can't put into words how I feel right now. It is the strangest thing to think that I will be going home in a little over a week. I hate it, but just like my mother says, "God puts limitations on time for a reason". It's hard to explain how much us missionaries just grow to love a place. I never thought I would love a place like Alabama as much as I do. I am obsessed with every bit of it. It's so funny because when we meet people, they say, "why are you serving here in boring ole' alabama and not in Africa?" In which we respond saying, "WE LOVE IT HERE AND WOULDN'T BE ANYWHERE ELSE." 
It's also hard to put into words how difficult this mission has been. Oh, it has been SO HARD, but oh my goodness, it has been the best 18 months of my life. I have learned that discouragement is one of the devils BIG tools. I have learned that the only secret to missionary work IS work. We can only be happy if we are doing God's will without wrestling with Him about His will. He knows us best!!!! So grateful for Alabama. ROLL TIDE. 

This past week was wonderful! Ah. Life is so good. So grateful for the testimony we gain as members of the church. I have seen my testimony grow in leaps and bounds!!!! This week, I would like to focus on testimony and how it can bring a big change of heart. That was definitely the "theme" for us this past week :) We are working so hard and I'm so grateful for that. I want to come home on a stretcher. I really do. 

Brother Russell: We met Brother Russell for the FIRST time this past week. He is less active and hasn't been back to church since he was a teenager. The address next to his name on the roster is wrong, but we felt like he lived on a street that had a different spelling than the one on the roster. if that makes sense. ANYWAY. We drove up next to the home that we thought was his and HE WAS OUTSIDE! We talked to him for a good 30 minutes!! He told us that he wants to get his daughter to a church and asked us where the nearest mormon church was. When we told him where it was, he said, "you've got to be kidding me. It's right down the street??? SO CRAZY! yeah. I'm interested in going again once I learn more about it. I have forgotten a lot about it's teachings." We gave him a copy of The BOM and he said he would read it!!! :) yay!!!! 

Pansy: We had another lesson with Pansy and taught her the Plan of Salvation. We felt inspired to focus on the spirit world and where her husband is who just passed away. We read 1 Peter 4:6 with her and after reading it, she said, "WHOA. Read that again! So many people have been trying to comfort me during this time in my life and all of the scriptures that they send me are great, but that one brings me the most comfort! To just know what he is doing right now!!!!" yup. This gospel is so perfect. It has the answers!!!! Pansy goes to a church in Prattville and she refuses to leave it because that is the church she went to for the first time with her husband and the preacher told her that God led her to his church, but I think as we continue to meet with her and as she realizes what this gospel will do for her, she will change :) 

Joe and Sharee: We met them while tracting and they let us right in. As we sat down, Joe says to us, "Just so y'all know, I am strong in my beliefs as a Catholic and grew up in the Catholic faith my whole life." We just smiled and asked him more about what he believed. As the conversation went forward, Joe started to inch his way closer and closer to the couch and then said, "Well, I guess I will listen to what y'all have to say. I've heard a lot about mormons, but never from actual mormons so go for it." We taught them the restoration and they both agreed on everything and kept saying, "well yeah. that makes sense." and then they asked us for a copy of The Book of Mormon!!! So exciting!!!! We are meeting with them again tonight! 

Keke: We went on exchanges with the Millbrook sisters and I went on an exchange with Sister Downs in Millbrook (fun fact: I went on my FIRST exchange on my mission in Millbrook while serving in Clanton. FULL CIRCLE EH?)
We went tracting in a huge trailer park and met Keke. Keke told us that her niece is Mormon, but that she wasn't going to change/wasn't interested because she has been raised Baptist her whole life. We didn't know what to say at first, and then we just decided to bare testimony to her of how the gospel has blessed our lives. After we were done bearing testimony to her, she said, "well. I guess I will take one of y'alls books." IT WAS SO COOL. THE SPIRIT WORKS IN CONVERSION Y'ALL. 

Les: Sister Calamity and I were at a gas station filling up our car. The machine at the gas pump told us that we needed to go inside to get our receipt. We saw this as an opportunity that Heavenly Father gave us to find someone at the gas station to teach. No one was inside the actual store, but as we were walking out, we saw a guy walking in and we said, "HEY! We are representatives of Jesus Christ. Can we share an uplifting message with you right quick?" He laughed because we were super enthusiastic and it was 8:30 at night and he probably thought we were crazy. No. Not probably. He did think we were crazy. He said, "Y'all seem very happy. yes. I will listen to y'alls message. Let's go inside and get out of this cold!" (It was a very freezing day. Humidity kills.) AND GUESS WHAT?? THERE WAS A TABLE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAS STATION STORE. HOW CONVENIENT, RIGHT??? We sat down and started talking to Les and he said, "Hey. Don't you think we should get something to drink? Y'all want some carrot juice?" After saying "no thank you" a couple of times, he insisted that he would buy us a drink. Gotta love southern hospitality. Well. I had some carrot juice while sister Calamity had some apple juice. I LOVED IT. I am still craving it right now as I type. Les converted me to carrot juice. 
Anyway, we taught him the restoration and the lesson went really really well!! Les is super funny and went off on random tangents, but we were able to control the lesson which was nice and he even asked us for a copy of The Book of Mormon! He lives out in the middle of nowhere and works A LOT which is kind of a bummer, but he said to come see him whenever we are in the area! BOOYAH. Heavenly Father blessed us so much that night. We were struggling with finding new areas to tract/finding new people to teach, but He just gave us Les to teach for the last 30 minutes of the night!!!! :) HE IS SO AWARE OF US!!!! 

Matt: Are y'all ready for the BEST experience ever that happened yesterday? Experiences like this make the hard times worth it. Experiences like this make me never want to come home. On saturday night, while sister Calamity and I were planning our day for Sunday, I said, "Sister! This may sound weird, but I have been thinking a lot about how we need to go tract the oaks apartments again. I feel like someone needs us there." Sister Calamity then responded, "I WAS JUST THINKING THE SAME THING!!!!!" (Sidenote: This apartment complex has been tracted out by missionaries a good million times and when we went tracting there before, everyone was mean to us.) So. There we were on Sunday in the POURING rain. Tracting the oaks apartments. Our shoes where soaked and my eyes were all blurred from the mascara getting into them. It was not a pretty sight, but we knew we needed to be there. I love rainy days because I feel like that is when the Lord blesses you most because it is awful to be outside. So there we were. Walking up and down several flights of stairs and just knocking and knocking. We saw two guys outside on their balcony and when we waved and said hello, they just started laughing and kinda mocked us as they went back inside. TALK ABOUT A GREAT AND SPACIOUS BUILDING SCENARIO. (1 Nephi 8:27) It made us a little upset, but more motivated. We kept knocking and then we saw the two guys who were outside before come outside again. They started yelling at us and said, "HEY! Why are y'all out in the rain? Go home!" We told them that we were out sharing a message that was worth the sacrifice of being out in the rain. The two men got a little quiet as they looked at one another and then back at us. They then said, "well. We would love to hear what you have to say!" We thought they were going to just be mean to us, but we went anyway and walked up the flight of stairs to meet them outside. The conversation we had with them about the gospel flowed VERY naturally and was totally guided and directed by the spirit. So grateful. One of the men was named Matt. He totally looked like GARY!!!! It was really weird to look him in the face because he looked so much like him. He was more interested in it than his friend kacey. the conversation we had with them was amazing and I wish it could have been recorded. It was totally the spirit who did all of the teaching. Here is basically how it went....

Matt: "So. What do you girls have to say about John Smith?"
Sister Calamity: "You mean Joseph Smith?"
Sister Platt: (jokingly) "yeah. We don't really talk about pocohantas's boyfriend that much, but we do talk about Joseph Smith!" 
Matt: "Well. What made him so special?"
We then started to explain the apostasy and the first vision/the need for a restoration.
Matt: "Why do y'all have another Bible?"
Sister Calamity: "We don't. We believe in the King James Version of the Bible, but we also believe in The Book of Mormon which is ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ."
Sister Platt: "Yeah! The Book of Mormon is AMAZING! It helps us draw even closer to Jesus Christ and provides so much peace and so many answers to questions that we have about life." 
Matt: "Where are the gold plates then? Why are they not here anymore?" 
Sister Platt: "Where would faith exist if we could see the gold plates? God has always worked by faith throughout the scriptures. Would you agree?"
Matt: "Yes. That does make sense. But why did Joseph Smith claim he was a prophet?"
Sister Calamity: "We know that men don't choose to be prophets. A random guy on the street can't just decide one day that he wants to be a prophet. Joseph Smith was called by God."
Sister Platt: "Do you believe that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever?" 
Matt: "yes. The Bible does say that." 
Sister Platt: "Yes. Exactly. We believe that as well. If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, why wouldn't He call Joseph Smith to be a prophet?" 
Matt: "Where is y'alls church located? I really am interested in going." 
We then bore testimony to him even more of how the gospel can bless his life. HE WAS SO INTO IT. He literally just ate up everything that we said. The spirit was strong and we have a return appointment with him for this week!!! It was a BIG change of heart!!! WE ARE SO EXCITED! 
He asked us for a copy of The Book of Mormon before we left and he started to read it as we were writing down his information in our planners!!! :) SO COOL. I KNOW THAT THE SPIRIT IS THE MOST POWERFUL TOOL WE HAVE AS MISSIONARIES AND THAT IT CHANGES PEOPLES HEARTS!!!! 

"And thus the work of the Lord did commence among the (baptists) Lamanites; thus the Lord did begin to pour out his spirit upon them; and we see that his arm is extended to all people who will repent and believe on his name." 

So how can y'all use the spirit and your testimonies more? 
-Read the scriptures
-Pray
-Go to church AND BEAR your testimony AT church. DO IT!!!! I would like to invite y'all to just bear your testimony this upcoming fast and testimony meeting. I KNOW that you will be blessed for doing so. I will follow up with y'all next week to see how it went!!!!! DO IT. DO IT RIGHT. DO IT RIGHT NOW. 

I love y'all so much and I love this work. It is all SO WORTH IT. Holy cow, I have learned so so so so so so so much! SO MANY LIFE LESSONS!!!!!! 

In other news...
-Met a lady and her daughter... The moms name was MAMIE and the daughters name was ANNIE! I was freaking out. That never happens

-Sister Calamity and I made a promise with each other that we would stay away from walmart this week. It's my dying wish. 

-You know you're a missionary in the south when a lady in the ward cancels an appointment with you because she is too busy celebrating her dogs birthday. 

-So we went back to a lady's house who said we could come back right? We knock on her door. She answers and says, "Hey girls! Can you come back in an hour when my kids are home so you can teach them as well?" we excitingly say sure! we go back. We knock on the door three times and hear kids running, BUT NO ONE CAME TO THE DOOR. ugh. If you don't want us back, just TELL US!

-Sister Downs and I tracted into a sweet hispanic woman who didn't know any english! She motioned for us to come in. Sister Downs took french in high school and I took ASL so It was HILARIOUS. The lady kept talking to us in spanish and she went a million miles an hour with her talking and she thought we could understand. I kept saying, "lo siento" which is the only thing I have learned in spanish which just means, "sorry" hahahahah The hispanic lady was laughing soooo hard and tears started to flow from her face because she was laughing so hard. Oh my. it was so awkward. We gave her an El libro de mormon!!! 

-HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAYDON ON THE 27TH WOOT WOOT. THANKS FOR YOUR LETTER. I SCREAMED WHEN I SAW IT IN THE MAIL. My first reaction was, "what boy is writing me? this is boy hand writing and no boys ever write me!" and then I saw your name and squealed like a little girl. Thanks bro. 

HAVE A GREAT WEEK AND GO BARE/BEAR (DON'T KNOW WHICH ONE IT IS. OOPS.) Y'ALLS TESTIMONY. YOU CAN DO IT. GO OUT WITH THE MISSIONARIES. SHARE IT ON FACEBOOK. ON INSTA. ON TWITTER. ON WHATEVER PEOPLE ARE DOING THESE DAYS!!!!! AND SHARE IT AT CHURCH THIS SUNDAY! I BELIEVE IN Y'ALL!!!!!! 

MYKY,
Sister Platt

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