HAHAHA isn't that scripture hilarious????? I figured that would be enough to say, but then again, it's my last time writing an email to y'all so I guess I better try to make it good. :)
This past week was pretty grand. It was a mix of emotions and I stressed myself out too much that I am now not feeling well.Sore throat. Headache. Stuffy nose. YUM. I will just blame it on the bipolar weather.... So grateful it has been only my SECOND time ever getting sick on the mission. What a blessing!
We continued to work hard and not stay inside our house because that would be silly.
I will just tell y'all all the sweet tender mercies that happened:
-Beverly took us out on a team up. Beverly is the sweetest woman on this planet and is 30 and has never been married. After meeting with one of our investigators named Reid, we got back in the car and she said, "Y'all needa convert him." IT WAS HILARIOUS. WE WERE LAUGHING SO HARD!!!!!
-We made pecan pie with a less active lady in our ward. Oh. It turned out AMAZING! It was so cute because the lady kept showing us all of these tricks and she was very excited for us to come over and learn from her. Pecan pie is SO easy to make. So excited to make it all the time with y'all!!!! I have been wanting to make it my whole mission so yes, it was a tender mercy.
-Rosemary is a less active lady in our ward who is less active because of her poor health. We had the opportunity to make her dinner one night and the look in her eyes when she saw us was priceless. She was so excited and it was the cutest thing ever. She kept saying to us, "y'all need to fix ya some puddin to eat so we can all eat together!" We were able to read some scriptures with her and she was so grateful. Even though she lies in a bed all day long, she still serves those around her and is still happy. What a great example!!!!
-Church yesterday was simply AMAZING!!!!! Wanna know something cool? CONNIE CAME TO CHURCH!!! She is our investigator who just moved here to wetumpka from Clanton. How fun is that? It's a full circle!!! She loved it. During fast and testimony meeting, Joe got up to bear his testimony. Joe's mom recently passed away (the judge of wetumpka's wife). I looked over at Joe's dads face and his jaw was dropped as he listened intently to what Joe was about to say. Joe got up and said, "I never get up here. I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing this for my mom. I am representing her today because she can't be here right now. I miss her so much. I know God lives and that Jesus Christ lives. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." The bishop then stood up on the pulpit and embraced Joe with tears strolling down his cheeks. I started bawling and I looked over at Sister Calamity and she said, "look around. There isn't a dry eye in this chapel." EVERYONE WAS CRYING. Oh my goodness. It was such a tender mercy.
-while tracting, Sister Calamity and I shared some scriptures from The Book of Mormon with a lady named Becky. As Sister Calamity was reading the scripture, I quickly gazed up at Becky's face and saw her face drastically change from a smile to tears. After Sister Calamity was done, Becky said, "Oh my goodness. You two are sent from God! I really needed that today. Thank you. How did y'all know I needed that? Will y'all come back please?" Ah. Heavenly Father is so aware!!!
-This past week, I prayed to have at least one more experience of a classic southern encounter with someone about religion. We tracted into a Jehovah's Witness lady and that was my answered prayer. hahahah The lady sat us down and talked with us for 40 minutes straight about how God is Jehovah and how Eve is evil for partaking of the fruit and how we would have lived in a perfect world if it wasn't for Eve. Ha. Moments like that just strengthen my testimony so much!!!!! I finally just said, "That is why I am so grateful for this book right here. The Book of Mormon. It helps us know the answers of why it was important for Eve to partake of the fruit and what our true purpose is here on earth." After I said that, Sister Calamity bore a strong testimony and the lady just changed the subject and read a random story with us from the book of Judges. SO FUNNY!!!!
-We taught people at a laundry mat at 8 at night. We walked in and said, "HEY! We are sharing uplifting messages with everyone!!!! What do y'all feel like your purpose is in life?" They blankly stared at us and then said, "Shouldn't y'all be inside? Isn't it a bit late for y'all to be going around and doing this?" We laughed and said no and then had a discussion with them about scriptures and their purpose in life. So wonderful. Missionary work is the best!!!!
And now for the unfortunate event... (there is only 1).
-Remember the cool story about Matt and the rain in my last email???? Well... We went over there again and he didn't answer. So we kept trying with him and finally he answered and he was completely wasted. It was SO SAD!!!! He told us that we didn't need to come back and that he wasn't interested anymore. ONE DAY HE WILL MEET MISSIONARIES AGAIN AND CHANGE HIS LIFE!!!
All I know is that I am SO grateful for this mission. So grateful for Alabama. I love these people so much and I truly didn't come to teach them, they taught me. It still hasn't quite hit me that I am going home. I still feel like I will be here for another 6 months. I hope that I don't come home being a missionary, but I hope that I come home being a DISCIPLE of Jesus Christ.
I'm so grateful for my awesome companions that I have had. I have learned SO much from each one of them and they will each be lifelong friends of mine.
Heavenly Father is SO amazing and I would need a good week to tell y'all what I have learned on my mission. Get ready for me to talk about it for the next year or so. Yes. I will probably be one of those annoying RM's that can't stop talking about their mission. I NOW understand them.
In my studies this morning, I was pondering about the major things I have learned on my mission/needed to learn. A big theme that kept coming to mind was that of Jesus Christ and how He wants to make us WHOLE.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation."
We must let our old bad habits pass away and allow new, better habits to shape us into what Heavenly Father wants us to be.
I also like the scripture found in Alma 23:7. What "weapons" are we willing to put down for the Lord and for our fellow men? What are we willing to do to allow the Lord to be in our lives more? Only by consecrating ourselves, will we be made WHOLE.
I love the story of Jesus healing an "impotent" man on the sabbath near the pool of water. Jesus went up to the man who had an infirmity 38 years and said, "Wilt thou be made whole?" The man replied saying, "when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me." So basically, the man is saying, "AH! I can't do it!!! There are people who beat me to the water every time and only the first person to reach the water can be healed." Jesus Christ doesn't care about who is first, he just cares that we all become whole. Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."
"Immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked." (John 5:5-9)
I have felt the cleansing and enabling power of the Atonement on this mission. I have felt the touch of our Saviors hand lift me up and gently tell me to walk and keep moving forward. There have been times where I just want to scream and times where I just wanted to talk to my family and times where I just wanted a hug and times where I felt completely alone. I caught myself saying, "why me?" or "why is this happening?" on my mission a lot, but as I have looked back on those experiences, I can now say the answer to all of the "why's" I had. How grateful I am for the opportunity to walk side by side with the Savior and to know that He wants us to rise up every time we fall. Jesus Christ's atonement is there for us whether we think we are worthy of it or not. It's simply always there.
I'm grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who wants to make us better each day. He wants to bind up our broken hearts and heal each one of us.
We always read in the scriptures how Jesus stands at the door and knocks. Are we willing to open and let Him in? HOW do we let Him in? Jesus Christ also always invites us to abide in Him and the Father. That is another thing I have learned on my mission; how to truly let Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ into my life and let them stay. I have learned that the best way to pray is on your knees. EVERY chance you get to do so. Heavenly Father wants to hear from us and He wants to know how we are doing. Even if it's just to hear about the yummy cookie that you ate. We need to also read the scriptures and learn more of Him to let Him in.
I have learned that this gospel is for everyone; no matter what you look like or what you've been through or how much money you have. Being in the south is truly a whole other world. I have had the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life and education. It is such a humbling experience to see how the gospel can bless each of them in such different ways. It's great to see that the gospel can help one who can't even read as much as it helps a rocket scientist.
I have learned that obedience and sacrifice brings forth miracles. Why go on a mission to mess around and slack off? I'm grateful to know that I served an honorable mission. Obedience is the first law of heaven and we promised we would do our best to be obedient.
I have learned the importance of MEMBER missionary work. My mission will not end here. It will continue on and I'm so happy for that. We don't need badges to be missionaries and my family is a great example of that.
I have learned how important my family is. I'm so grateful for each of y'all so much. I have the best family ever. I really really do. We get along so well. There are so many broken up families and it is quite depressing to see how they treat one another. WE ARE SO BLESSED!
I have learned to look for the positive things in life and stop focusing on the bad. There is so much evil in this world that people try to focus on, but why not just focus on the good? I have learned this lesson from the people here in Alabama. They are all God fearing people and each one of them will humbly tell us that they are just glad to be alive and see another day that God has blessed them with. :)
I could go on and on!!!! SO GRATEFUL FOR THIS MISSION AND FOR ALL THE SUPPORT!!!!!
I love y'all so much and I can't wait to see each of you and your smiling faces soon :) so crazy. I am going to be very awkward. It's just a warning.
In other news...
-***After telling a less active family that I was leaving**** the teenage girl says, "I expect three kids by the end of next year from you." #nonono
-That moment when we have breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner appointments tomorrow because I'm leaving.
-Did y'all share your testimony yesterday?
-You betcha the first music I'm going to listen to is T-swifts new album. Some things never change.
-WE HAVE TO GO EAT AT PANDA EXPRESS AS WELL. THEY DON'T HAVE ANY IN ALABAMA. THEY ONLY HAVE MCDONALDS AND KFC HERE.
-I don't want to click the "send" button on this email. SO SAD. ugh. I will make a blog. NOT the "wholoveshilaryduff" one. hahaha
SEE Y'ALL IN 3 DAYS. WHAAAAAAATTT????? so excited :)
MYKY,
Sister Platt
