The Power of Deliverance

Deliver: verb de·liv·er.  to do what you say you will do or what people expect you to do : to produce the promised, wanted, or expected results

This past week was a little bit rough. And when I say a little bit, I mean a lot!!! BUT HEAVENLY FATHER WAS ABLE TO DELIVER US JUST AS HE ALWAYS DOES. (Alma 36:27) <---One of my favorites.

I will just lay out all of the things that went wrong. It is honestly quite hilarious now to think about what happened. Sister Calamity just kept telling me, "It's because of my last name that all of these things are happening! It's a curse Sister Platt." hahahahahahah It was great.

1.) I will first start by talking about how I got pulled over for the FIRST time in my life. Reason? Because our bike rack is covering the license plate. Just so y'all know, EVERY CAR in our mission has a bike rack that covers the license plate numbers. Luckily, we only got a warning. Right after, we took the bike rack off and placed it in the trunk. I scratched my finger and now I have a gnarly scab on it. yum. SO ROUGH. AND to make it even better, a member (sister Robinson) totally drove and stopped right next to us while we were waiting for the cop to write out a form and she was just laughing hysterically and asked us what we did wrong. WE WERE INNOCENT.

2.) Sister Calamity has been having some problems with sleeping at night and has other health problems. (bless her heart). She is such a stud and works through it, but one night, it was bugging her a lot and she just didn't look good. Her eyes were drooped and she refused to stop working. I finally just said, "WE HAVE TO GO TO THE DOCTOR. Let's go!!!!" So we did just that. I waited in the waiting room for over an hour and a half and just read The BOM because there was no one in there to talk with :( Poor Sister Calamity...

3.) All of our investigators that we thought were promising are not keeping their commitments. It is just so comical now. For example, one of our investigators said that she would be available at 8 pm on Friday night. We go over there. Her brother answers the door and says, "Oh. She just started her job and just barely left."

We had made an appointment with another guy for Saturday. We knock on the door. His mom answers and says, "He is never home on Saturdays! He spends Saturdays in Montgomery with his girlfriend!"

AND remember when I talked about Kris in my last email? We went over to her house for our appointment and no one was there. We called her as we were standing outside of her home and said, "Hey Kris! We thought we had an appointment with you, but no one is answering the door." All we could hear in the background was loud music and she couldn't hear us and she told us she would call us back. She never did. It is just so crazy to see how flakey people can be. THERE IS DANDRUFF EVERYWHERE. If you don't want us to stop by and share a message, please, just let us know!!!!

4.) We got our phone stolen on Saturday night. Couldn't find it anywhere. Very very stressful.

Alma 29:12 "Yea, I have always remembered the captivity of my fathers; and that same God who delivered them out of the hands of the Egyptians did deliver them out of bondage."

As we took a step back and looked at our week, we were truly able to see that God delivered us out of bondage!!!!!

AT LEAST we didn't get a ticket when we got pulled over.

AT LEAST sister Calamity was able to get the help she needed. Thank goodness for doctors. We found out today from the doctors that she is allergic to strawberries and raspberries. #random

AT LEAST we are sifting through our investigators to find those that are WILLING to keep commitments and ACT.

AT LEAST we had a spare phone that we found on top of our fridge and activated that one instead.

AT LEAST we have an AMAZING mission President who always knows what to say to make you feel like a million bucks. Literally, I am so grateful for President and Sister Hanks. I have heard from missionaries before that we are sometimes "called to the mission president" instead of called to a certain area that is perfect for you. Luckily, I was blessed with both a wonderful mission president AND a WONDERFUL SOUTHERN MISSION that I am obsessed with. SO GRATEFUL TO CLAIM THE SOUTH AS A PLACE THAT I LIVED IN FOR 7 AND A HALF YEARS.

"Sister Platt,

You will always be one of my heroes!

Keep searching for the elect.
You are making such an important difference in people's lives, (including your own.)

With all our Love,

President Hanks
Steadfast in Christ!"

What an answered prayer!!!! He is way too kind to us missionaries. God is a God of miracles and knows where to put us!!!! HE KNOWS HOW TO DELIVER US!!!!

Anyway, let's continue on to what else happened this past week....we were able to have a couple "Emmaus" experiences that have shaped our testimonies. So grateful.

We felt like we needed to go see a lady named Pansy who was a former investigator that the Elders told us to go see sometime. We went over there and she let us right in! Pansy is my inspiration. She is the strongest person I know. She is younger and has 2 kids and is pregnant with her 3rd. Her husband randomly passed away in his sleep just 3 weeks ago and she woke up during the middle of the night and she saw it all happen. She told us that she now just forces a smile on her face for her kids. It was the saddest story ever. I can't even imagine what she is going through. Especially being pregnant with their baby!!! She told us how she doesn't know what to believe in anymore and how she didn't see God's hand in her life. We mainly just listened to her and the spirit was SO THICK in that room. OH my goodness. Pansy started crying and said, "I can feel him here." I looked over at Sister Calamity and mouthed the words, "She needs a priesthood blessing." Sister Calamity mouthed back, "I know. That is what I was thinking too!" We told Pansy about the priesthood and how it can bless her. We are hopefully going to have the elders come by this upcoming week to give her one. We also talked with her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how God is our LOVING Heavenly Father. How grateful we should be for the opportunity that we have to refer to God as Father. He knows us so well! We could just feel His love and concern for her and it was a beautiful experience. As we were about to leave, I was looking through my scriptures and found a bookmark that my mom gave me that had a quote about trials. It was absolutely perfect for her and so I gave it to her. YOU ARE SO INSPIRED MOM!!!!

We also went tracting in a really really really pretty area with houses all around a lake. Ah. It was wonderful. We felt like we were walking through a thick forest. Because we were. We walked down a random dirt road to a couple houses near the lake. We jokingly said to one another, "I bet these people have never had missionaries knock on their door." We met a man named Gene who had seen missionaries a couple of years ago. He reminded me SO much of Tom!!!! Oh. It made me so happy to talk with him. We said, "Hello! We are missionaries and we are out sharing a message that changes peoples lives." Gene was super open and said, "Well. It's a nice day outside so let's sit out here and I will listen to what y'all have to say." We began by asking him questions which later turned into a conversation about how Jesus Christ came to the America's. Gene said, "I always wondered about where y'all came up with that fascinating idea of Jesus coming to the Americas." We read 3 Nephi 11 with him which is a WONDERFUL chapter. Oh. It was so great to read it with him. We felt like little kids getting so excited about a candy bar or something. The spirit was really strong as we read from The Book of Mormon. Again, the spirit confirmed to me the truthfulness of that amazing book. At the end, we asked him what he thought of it and he said, "That was beautiful! Can I keep this?" SO GOLDEN!!! Only problem is: He goes out of town for work on the weekends so he can't make it to church, but once he starts to learn more and more, we are convinced that he will start coming :) As Sister Calamity and I were walking away from his home, the joy we beheld on our faces was priceless.

We are also teaching a lady named Connie who is FROM CLANTON!!! yes. yes. yes!!! She just moved here to Wetumpka about a month ago and is still looking for a church!!!! We have taught her a couple of lessons this past week which have been grand. She is so cute and so humble and can't read very well so we read to her and she asks a lot of good questions :) I am OBSESSED with her accent because it reminds me of good ole clanton.  She wanted to come to church yesterday, but she called right before and told us that she had the flu and she sounded awful on the phone so we know she wasn't lying!!! HOORAY!!!!

Alma 29: 10 "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."

Even if it is just the "few" who will listen at the end of the day, we are filled with JOY. I have learned SO much about noticing and remembering the little miracles throughout each day. I wish y'all could see what we go through every day here; the good and the bad. I am currently keeping a calendar that I write a miracle for each day. If we didn't, we would go crazy as missionaries. Not every week or day on the mission is going to be filled with golden people that are waiting for you to baptize them. Not every day is going to be filled with people answering their doors. Not every day is going to be filled with people who treat you respectively. Not every day will people accept what you have to say even after they have felt the spirit. Not every day will you find a new person to teach. BUT every day CAN BE filled with JOY if we look for the tender mercies of the Lord.

1 Nephi 1:20 basically sums up what The Book of Mormon is all about and also what OUR lives are all about.... "...I, Nephi, will showunto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

Do we see the tender mercies? Do we see how He has delivered us?

I love the people in the South because they understand this. It is so great because 90% of the people give the same answer to the question of "How has God blessed you in your life?" The answer? "He blesses me every day by just waking me up and letting me live another day."

Let us all have that attitude as we approach this week. I will do it as well. Life is such a beautiful thing. The Lord is able to deliver us through ANYTHING! Through the lost of a loved one, through getting pulled over, through catching the flu, through having investigators drop you, through ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!

. “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). INFORM YOUR FACE! <---- This is what President Hanks always says after reading this scripture. It's so true. WE are meant to have joy! SHOW IT BY SMILING!

In other news...

-We found a new neighborhood to tract behind the casino!!!!! We accidentally made a wrong turn and found it!!! MIRACLE!

-Found a new favorite scripture this morning in my studies... Philippians 3:2. Just the first line. Basically describes my whole mission. #bewareofthem #theyaresoannoying #especiallypitbulls

-I gave a talk yesterday! It went well! It's crazy how my nerves have calmed down A LOT when it comes to speaking. So grateful for the mission. #blessesyouinsomanyways

-Read about the "Casa De Macho" in dad's journal writings last night before bed. DAD IS SO HILARIOUS!!!! OH MY GOODNESS. HAHAHAHHAHA

-Our less active neighbor is coming to church again!!! yay!!!

-We called Dana on the phone (she is the less active who was in a tornado and lost her family) to ask her advice on how to give my talk and what I should say. It was the cutest thing ever because she got really excited and started to search for scriptures that I could use. oh. I love her so much. She has not been doing well (health wise) so she hasn't been able to make it to church, but she had us download all the lessons on her phone. She is so precious and such a good example to me!!!!

-Got a letter from Sister Stark in the mail who is from Russellville. LOVE HER.

-We knock on a door. A guy comes to the door. Looks at our badges and says, "Look. I'm a firmly rooted Presbyterian and have been going to that church down the street for over 40 years and y'all have just as good of a chance to change me as I do you. I don't mean to sound ugly, but I'm just not changing. okay?" SO CLASSIC. I LOVE IT. #thesouth

-We found a cute girl last night while tracting who said we could come back whenever this upcoming week! hooray!!!

-There was a Mardi Gras parade on Valentines day. What is Mardi Gras anyway? Still confused... THEY WERE SELLING FRIED ALLIGATOR TAILS for 8 bucks. Should've gone for it, but I didn't.

I LOVE EACH OF Y'ALL SO MUCH AND JUST WANT Y'ALL TO KNOW THAT I KNOW THAT THIS GOSPEL IS REAL. IT BRINGS PEACE. IT BRINGS COMFORT. IT BRINGS KNOWLEDGE. IT BRINGS CHANGE. IT BRINGS HAPPINESS. IT BRINGS DELIVERANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MYKY,

Sister Platt

As I have loved you, love one another

So sorry that I wasn't able to email yesterday. We had Zone Conference which WAS AMAZING!!!! So today is our pday!!!!!! 

Let's talk about zone conference first. Oh my goodness. I am obsessed with this mission and the people in it! I love President and Sister Hanks SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!! I had my first little break down during a musical number because I realized it would be my last zone meeting. Ugh. I hate it so much, but life goes on... 

ANYWAY, this is what we learned....

-Acts 5:29;38-42 Suffer shame for His name! Obey God rather than man.

-There is power in our name tags!!! People DO notice.

-"Assume the sale" Assume that members are just dying to go out with you on team ups!!! Don't let them say no!!!!! (y'all. Please work with the missionaries in your home ward. Show them you care and that you want to help them out! Give them rides. Feed them dinners. Go to lessons with them!)

-If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you.

-Real deep penetrating prayers are important. Missions are supposed to be tough.

-Create a personal brand! What is the first word people think of when they hear our name? Have a personal legacy

-Tell the baptists that there is MORE to what they already know. Grow a polite spine and tell them what we have to offer!!!!!

-You can't help but love the ones you serve and the ones you serve, you will love fiercely.

-One of the gutsiest things you can do as a parent is let your children fall. Heavenly Father was gutsy because He loves us!!!! 

-How to make the atonement effective? 2 Nephi 31 

It was just a really good meeting and the spirit was really strong the entire time. We are so blessed to be serving here :) 

This past week was a little "off". Everything just kept going wrong. People were never home when they said they would be. No one was answering our calls/texts, but we did have some tender mercies that make me smile. The Lord is so good. 

-While contacting at walmart, I felt like we needed to be somewhere else, but didn't know where to go. We got a call from the Elders while we were contacting and they told us to come over to a certain home and meet someone that they were with. WE WERE SO EXCITED TO LEAVE WALMART. We hopped in our car and drove over to the home. An adorable girl named Kris opened the door and let us right in!!! She told us that she had been praying that night for help on moving all of her stuff in her home and then the Elders just knocked on her door after she was done saying her prayer. She told us that she took it as a sign that God was aware of her. We were able to help her fold laundry and clean up her room. While cleaning, we talked to her about religion and about how she had met missionaries all growing up and how she never really listened to the lessons. She told us that she is really confused about her purpose in life and is even confused about who God is. She said, "I don't even know what God is. A boy? A girl? or just an it? I have no idea. It all confuses me so much, but maybe y'all can help me?" UM. YEAH WE CAN. She is so excited to learn more and we are going over to her home tonight to mainly focus on who Heavenly Father is. We are so excited because this is the first time on our missions that we have taught someone about Heavenly Father. Everyone here knows who He is. I feel so blessed for this opportunity to help Kris draw closer to her Father in Heaven and let her know of His love for her. :) 

-We visited with Erica and her sweet boys again. I love them so much. Erica and her boys all got baptized last November!  we played football with them because we thought it would tire them out.... It didn't....and then went inside for a lesson and asked "trivia" questions. Before meeting with the missionaries, these boys didn't even know how to pray. THEY ANSWERED ALL OF THE QUESTIONS RIGHT!!!! After they got it right, we would give them a piece of candy. Erica joined in on the fun and felt so confident in all of her answers. It was the cutest thing ever. They are so eager to learn and so excited when they get things right! We then reviewed the lessons with them and asked them who the prophet was who split the red sea. They all confidently yelled, "LEHI! LEMUEL! NEHI!!!" They were naming all of The Book of Mormon prophets that they had heard of before. It was the cutest thing of my life. 

-We have been striving to work with the members more on their missionary efforts because the members truly are the ultimate source for finding people who are ready for the gospel. We have presented a Family mission plan with most of the families in our ward and it has been such a great experience for us as missionaries to just be in the members homes and feel of the spirit that is present there. We had a little "testimony meeting" with one of the families and we went around and shared reasons why we loved Jesus Christ. We then all knelt down in prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help this family find people who are in need of the gospel. The hastening of the work is such a beautiful thing to be a part of!!!!! PRAY FOR MISSIONARY OPPORTUNITIES Y'ALL!!!! 

-There is an ADORABLE lady in our ward named Mable. She is absolutely hilarious. She got baptized a good minute ago, but no one in the ward can find her records and she doesn't even remember what day she was baptized or where she was. haha she is the most precious human being ever. We went over to her home to bring her a bible because she has been wanting one for the longest time. She sang to us a song about John 3:16 and mumbled things she loved about Jesus. She faithfully comes to church every Sunday and participates in all of the discussions. She is the first one to get up EVERY fast and testimony meeting. She is striving to go to the temple, but she can't until they find her records!!! Poor poor Mable. She makes me smile! Heavenly Father always gives us such amazing people in our lives to make us happy. If they can't find her records, we might have the opportunity to teach her all of the lessons again!!! WOOT WOOT.

-I got a text from the Gadsden Sisters telling me that the homeless guy that Sister Bailey and I found on exchanges has been coming to church for the past month and has a job and a baptismal date this month!!!!!!!!!! Do y'all remember the story I told of him? ah. Definitely one of the best experiences on my mission :) WHAT A BLESSING TO SEE GOD'S HAND IN THIS WORK!!!!!!!!!!!! 

-We tracted out in the middle of the country and it was BEAUTIFUL WEATHER ALL WEEK. SO MANY PRETTY SUNSETS. Ah. It was simply breathtaking and I was screaming with joy the whole time. I couldn't help but smile as we taught people out on their porches and people who were sitting outside with their dogs who wanted to kill us. I couldn't help but smile when we tracted homes near a beautiful lake. I couldn't help but smile when we drove past a huge field of cotton. Oh. I love  this place so much. It is breathtaking. The people. The weather. The sound of the frogs at night. The humidity. The porch swings. The sweet tea everywhere you go. Ah. It's so much happiness bottled up in my soul!!!!!!! 

-A girl from the ward came up to me and said, "Are you ever not happy?" I just laughed and said "sometimes". But honestly, how can we NOT be happy? Heavenly Father has created such a beautiful world with such beautiful people!!!! I have realized how much happiness I have gained on my mission. It's so crazy to see how much Heavenly Father molds us missionaries. Holy cow. I still feel like the same person, but I know I'm not. What a blessing!!!!!!!!! 

I would LOVE to talk about LOVE right quick because Valentines Day is coming up so I thought it would be appropriate. 

Everyone here in the south LOVES John 3:16. It's the scripture that everyone says is their favorite. I love it as well. God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten son. What a beautiful thing. Ah. Heavenly Father's love is amazing!!!! 

President Uchtdorf said:

"God does not look on the outward appearance.  I believe that He doesn’t care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely. He loves us because He is filled with an infinite measure of holy, pure, and indescribable love. We are important to God not because of our résumé but because we are His children. He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken. God’s love is so great that He loves even the proud, the selfish, the arrogant, and the wicked. What this means is that, regardless of our current state, there is hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow, no matter our mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near to Him so that He can draw near to us. "

obsessed with this quote. Heavenly Father loves us no matter what. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and yet, He still wants to bless us!!!!!

How grateful we should be to Jesus Christ. He just makes all things possible. All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

I still don't know/ can't comprehend how He did what He did. All I know is that He did it because He LOVES us. It's pretty amazing to think that as He was suffering on the cross, He still pointed His arrows out and was concerned for the thief next to Him. What an act of LOVE.

I would like to invite y'all to think of the Love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have offered you so freely and how you can show that love back to them. How do we show our love to them daily? Monthly? Yearly? Do we think of them as our Father and older brother? Do we TRULY rely on them??? 

 Moroni 7:48 helps us know how to show that pure love. Read it. Live it. Let it change you!!!! 

This past week, I have truly learned that Heavenly Father has given us SOOOOOOO many things to love that there shouldn't even be room for hatred in our hearts as long as we focus on the good. (Matthew 5:14). 

I LOVE each of you so much. 

I LOVE my family.

I LOVE my friends.

I LOVE Alabama.

I LOVE our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I LOVE Heavenly Father.

I LOVE The Plan of Salvation.

I LOVE the scriptures.

I LOVE the knowledge I have gained.

I LOVE the temple.

I LOVE pecan pie.

I LOVE sunsets.

I LOVE puppies.

I LOVE how we can be forgiven for our wrongdoings.

I LOVE being happy.

I LOVE the beach.

I LOVE school.

I LOVE going to church.

I LOVE scrapbooking.

I LOVE teaching.

What things do y'all love? Who do you love? HOW do you love? LET ME KNOW WHAT Y'ALL LOVE!!!! 

In other news....

-If you can drive in Montgomery, you can drive ANYWHERE. (Scariest drivers/busiest roads ever)

-We tracted a neighborhood last night at 8 pm. EVERYONE went to the same baptist church. One of the guys who answered said, "Just to warn y'all. My preacher lives down the street from here." Our response? ..."PERFECT!!! We will go meet him! We love everyone!" (the preachers wife answered the door and was REALLY RUDE)

-Giving a talk this sunday. The topic (for the first time on my mission) is NOT on missionary work!!!!! #mixingthingsup I got assigned the topic of Following Jesus Christ. So excited!!!!! 

-We have literally knocked on every door in Wetumpka.... 

-Braydon. You still have time to write me. YOU CAN DO IT! I BELIEVE IN YOU!!!!! TIME IS RUNNING OUT!!!!!! ;) 

-Our bishop here is 36 years old. His name is Troy. #crazy #soyoung

-I am not coming home. I made an arrangement with a girl in the ward to stay in the extra room in her home. Sorry y'all. #onlyinmydreams

-MOM! Last night, I had a dream that you came here and I wanted you to go tracting with me and you did!!!! You hated it. hahahahaha 

LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!! GO OUT AND SHOW SOME LOVE TO YOUR FELLOW MEN. 

BE STEADFAST IN CHRIST :) 

MYKY,

SISTER PLATT. 

Point your arrows out

This past week was just beautiful. We have learned so many things :)

The top three things I have learned: Fasting works, Heavenly Father is aware of us, and BE SELFLESS!

 Heavenly Father is so aware. 

I know I say that a lot, but we just keep seeing His hand more and more every single day. At the beginning of last week, Sister Calamity and I decided to fast together to petition for Heavenly Father's help and guidance to truly find those people that He has prepared. There were SOOOOOOOOOO many miracles!!!!!

I will be honest, I started off the week just feeling bummed because I felt like nothing was happening and that our hard work wasn't shown by our outward results. 

People who promise to come to church don't. People say they are comfortable and satisfied with the church they are going to. People tell us that they already have the gospel.

 People literally quote a scripture from The Book of Mormon without knowing it. "A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible." (2 Nephi 29:7) 

But ya know what? I LOVE THESE PEOPLE SO MUCH!!!!!!!!! 

They are all so faithful and love our Savior, Jesus Christ. How grateful I am to be serving in such a place as Alabama where the people are "few" who will truly listen. (Alma 21:12) "And they did preach the word unto many, and few believed on the words which they taught." 

To give ya an example of how it is here: we invited 179 people this past week to learn about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ (through tracting/contacting) and received 6 new investigators from it. Was it worth the hard work? OF COURSE!!!!!!!!! We were able to meet some pretty amazing people this past week and I know it's because of Heavenly Father. 

Missionary work is SO HARD, but so worth it. We are serving in the Bible belt, not The Book of Mormon belt so we just have to accept how hard it is here and LOVE IT. 

We really do just have to look at all the tiny miracles that happen and stop thinking of ourselves for things to start happening. 

POINT YOUR ARROWS OUT. DON'T TURN INWARD.  

In Preach My Gospel, there is an amazing quote that is one of my favorites about missionary work...I have read it hundreds of times on my mission, but it really stuck out to me this week after I prayed for guidance.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland states: "More important than speaking is listening. These people are not lifeless objects disguised as a baptismal statistic. They are children of God, our brothers and sisters, and they need what we have. Be genuine. Reach out sincerely. Ask these friends what matters most to them. What do THEY cherish, and what do THEY hold dear? And then listen... I promos you that something in what they say will always highlight a truth of the gospel about which you can bear testimony and about which you can then offer more... If we listen with love, we won't need to wonder what to say."
During Companionship study, I shared this quote with Sister Calamity and we both decided to really really REALLY focus on the people we contact every day and truly focus on their needs more than ever before.
It was beautiful weather this whole past week and so we walked EVERYWHERE and met SO MANY amazing people. I will just make a list of some of the sweetest moments of this past week...
Destiny: We met Destiny while tracting and she let us right in. We got to know her and found out that she is struggling because her brother has cancer. We asked her what she thought her purpose was in life and she told us she had no idea. Our hearts sank for her. Ah. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was super strong. She told us that she knew that we were an answered prayer for her because she had been praying for direction in her life.
Paula: We met Paula outside and she acted like she knew us. She is 18 years old and told us that she met with missionaries for 6 months when she was living in Connecticut, but hadn't seen any more after she moved to Alabama. MIRACLE. She told us that she is still super interested in learning!!! We invited her to church, but she couldn't come, but promised she would come next week! We shall see!!! We are seeing her again tonight :)
Helen: Helen was taught by missionaries before and found her information in the Area Book. She attended a ward in another city for 6 months with her friend, but was never baptized. We decided to go try and see her again and she let us right in. We felt inspired to read 2 Nephi 31 with her and invited her to be baptized. She said, "you know what's weird? I was just thinking about how I need to be baptized again and start a new life. It is so crazy that y'all showed up."
SO COOL. She said she would come to church, but she didn't come yesterday and won't return our calls. :( ugh. We shall see if she is still interested!! It was still a great experience!
Charles: We were walking and tracting at night time and saw Charles going out of his home to check the mail. We stopped by and started talking with him. We asked him the typical questions that every missionary asks.. ("where are you originally from?" or "Have you lived here your whole life?") He told us that he had just moved there 4 years ago to take care of his 36 year old mom who was dying of cancer. We asked him how he got through the trial of losing his mom and tears started to well up in his eyes as he said, "I honestly still haven't been able to get through it. 4 years later and I'm still not over it." Talking with him flashed back memories to me of losing my dad and I started to cry as I heard Charles desperate call for comfort. We felt prompted to talk to him about the Spirit world. After we explained where his mother is, he said, "wow. I never thought of it like that, but that would be amazing if that was true." We testified to him that it was true and the spirit was very strong. Gah. This gospel is so amazing y'all!!!!
Dakota: Right after meeting Charles, we met Dakota!! A 17 year old boy who told us he was living with his grandparents. We got to know him and he told us that his dad died while fighting for our country 4 years ago and then his mom died from cancer just this past year. He told us that he holds a weekly Bible study class with his friends from high school and he has found great comfort from that. WOW. The people here truly AMAZE me. He wasn't too interested in what we had to say because he is "very happy with the church he goes to", but we were able to bear testimony to him and give him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet.
Clint: While trying to contact a referral from the Elders, we got lost and Sister Calamity and I both jokingly agreed that Heavenly Father was just leading us to someone else. Well, Heavenly Father totally did. Clint was just about to get into his car when we quickly shouted over to him and asked him if we could share a message. He agreed and said that he had just moved to Wetumpka and is looking for a church home. He just said all of the golden words that every missionary LOVES hearing. He said that he also is confused by all of the churches and just wants to know of perfect truth from God. Yup. We shared the Restoration with him and he was SO excited!!!! It was awesome! We handed him over to the elders and hopefully they will go and teach him again tonight!!!!!
Shannon: So we share the car with the elders, right? right. So we gave them the car basically all last week and decided to go on foot this past week. We had an hour left of the night and it is dark EVERYWHERE in this small town. We said a prayer and told Heavenly Father that we wanted to use His time wisely and asked Him to lead us because we had no idea where to go. He answered our prayer by meeting Shannon. Shannon is the sweetest woman ever. We met her outside as she was taking a break from her job. She doesn't live in our area, but works part time in Wetumpka. She told us her whole life story about her rough past and we were able to share some scriptures with her from The Book of Mormon. The whole time, I felt a HUGE prompting to give her The Book of Mormon and invite her to read it. We were able to give her one and as we walked away, Sister Calamity said, "I am so glad you gave her The Book of Mormon! I felt really strongly that we needed to give it to her!" Ah. So grateful for the spirit. :)
Sister Rhodes: We felt like we really needed to go see Sister Rhodes yesterday. She is a lady in our ward. We went over and she just started to bawl as she said, "Heavenly Father is so aware of me!!!! How did y'all know to come over?" After listening to her talk, we found out that yesterday was her and her husbands anniversary. Her husband died in 2004 and she is still grieving over it. She said, "I don't get how some people act like it's okay after they lose a loved one. I know the gospel is true and I know the plan of salvation, but it really doesn't make anything better!!!!" Seriously, Heavenly Father is SO SO SO AWARE!!!!!!! Sister Rhodes is so lonely and so it was a blessing to help her. Little did she know that she totally helped strengthen us!!!!!!
Sister Davis: Sister Davis is a less active member who just got put in the rehab center because she fell and broke her leg. It was crazy because we were wanting to go visit her, but the rehab center wouldn't pull up in our GPS and we had no clue where it was. WELL, Heavenly Father came to the rescue again and led us to it! We were just on our way to an appointment with an investigator and saw it as we drove by! Tender mercy! We were able to visit with her and she was so excited. We read some scriptures with her and she asked us to randomly open the Bible and point to a scripture and start reading. Sister Davis just loved it and totally applied it to her life and said it was the perfect scripture for her. So grand. :)
Sister Mann: Sister Mann is a recent convert of about 3 months. After she got baptized, she has dealt with a HUGE load of trials. She texted us this past week and told us to just pray for her family. We went over to her place and listened to her. We read Alma 36:27 with her and asked her cute son Hayden why he thought bad things happened to good people. Sister Mann got frustrated as she said, "well. I'd like to know that as well. Why am I going through so many hard times when I'm trying to do everything right?" We explained to her of Alma and Amulek's story of seeing the women and children burning in the fire and how they were imprisoned and smitten. The spirit was strong and man, the Book of Mormon is TRUE. It can answer ANY question!!!!!!!!
It was just a very powerful week and Sister Calamity and I learned a lot of life lessons. It was wonderful. I know that as we focus on the NEEDS of others and stop focusing on ourselves, Heavenly Father will bless us with people who are in need of this gospel. This gospel can literally help and change everyone if they are willing to let it. So, I would like to invite y'all to pray for a missionary experience this week and ask Heavenly Father to help you focus on the needs of others and point your arrows out!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO IT. DO IT RIGHT. DO IT RIGHT NOW. Remember, the amount of those who will truly accept are FEW, but that is okay. It will be worth it :)
In other news....
-We had a return appointment to see this family. As we were walking down the hill, the family was all sitting outside. when they saw us, they all SPRINTED inside their home and even the grandma sprinted inside. They locked the door and the next thing we heard was yelling from the mom as she said, "EVERYONE! THEY ARE HERE. GET TO THE BACK OF THE HOME RIGHT NOW. COME HERE RIGHT NOW!!!" She was clapping her hands to the beat of her voice and it was hilarious because we could totally hear everything they were saying. We decided it would be comical to knock anyway just to act oblivious. So we did. And no one answered. hahahahhahaha We could hear hushes of whispering the whole time. We kept walking along the street and saw a little boy from that home peep his head out of the door and yell back to his mom, "Hey momma! they be gone!!!!!" They then went back outside and we just laughed and laughed. WE HAVE THE PLAGUE.
-Tracted during the super bowl...#"whyareyouknockingonmydoorduringthegame???" ***SLAM****
-There was an annoying dog named Rocky who followed us for 2 MILES. He would come up to all the doors with us and at first it was cute, but then it got really really frustrating. He would chase after all of the cars on the road and everyone would honk and think we were dumb for not watching "our dog". WE COULDN'T get rid of him!!! Finally, we ran around a corner and he couldn't see us because he got tired of running after cars. BOOYAH. Success.
-Old man who answered the door: "come back next year!"
me: "I won't be here next year!!!"
Old man: "neither will I!!!"
Sister Calamity: "where will you be?"
Old man: ***Points up towards heaven**** "with the good Lord"
hahahahhahahahah

I love y'all so much! have a great week and go share the gospel with EVERYONE!!!!
MYKY,

Sister Platt

What does "Wetumpka" mean?????

AH. SO HAPPY. 

CAN I PLEASE JUST SAY THAT I LOVE MY FAMILY??? I love y'all a lot. Thanks for always sending photos. It makes my day!!! Seriously, I'm so so blessed with the best family in the world. Why are we so lucky???? It is so crazy to see how messed up the families are here and it truly just makes you grateful. I'M GRATEFUL THAT WE ALL GET ALONG SO WELL. WE WORK LIKE A TEAM and love one another at the end of the day. I thank Heavenly Father every day for y'all. Keep being you. 

Leaving Gardendale was super weird after only being there for 6 weeks. I think one of the major reasons I was there was definitely to gain a stronger testimony of this gospel that we are so blessed to have by constantly having my beliefs challenged. Another reason was to meet the Bishops wife, Sister Bennett who totally reminds me of YOU mom!!!!! She is the most selfless person in Alabama and taught me so much through her example. I strive to be like her one day. She always made us yummy cookies and was always the first one to volunteer to pick someone up who needed a ride to church. She has been teaching seminary for the past 10 YEARS!!!! It's amazing to see what people Heavenly Father places in your life to learn from. 

Let's start off with talking about Transfer Meeting. I loved this past transfer meeting A LOT. President Hanks is so awesome. 

-Disciple: LOYAL to the Savior. Don't be a missionary. Be a disciple.

-How would you behave if you were alone on your mission?

-Love God by obedience Love people through service.

-Fast. REALLY FAST. Fast until your knees are weak. 

-Sometimes God blesses us in "x" while we work our guts out in "y"

-Involve the Savior in everything you do and you will be happy

-Don't count the days. Make the days count.

-Satan can't stop you. CRUSH HIS HEAD. If we could see Satan, we would see a wimpy guy. (2 Nephi 24: 12-16)

-Have self mastery. Gain control of your behavior, feelings, thoughts, and actions

-BE STEADFAST IN CHRIST. 

I always come out of transfer meeting feeling invigorated and ready to go. Ah. It is so refreshing every single time!!!!! 

I AM BACK IN A SMALL TOWN!!!!! :) <3.  I LITERALLY THRIVE OFF OF PLACES LIKE THIS :)))

The ward is great here! yes. It's a ward and it's huge!!! Everyone is related here which makes it fun and everyone is willing to help with team ups and dinners!!!! YES. ACTUAL DINNER APPOINTMENTS Y'ALL!!!!! 

On our way here, we totally drove through Clanton which is only 30 minutes away from here. So crazy. My heart ached as I wanted to visit everyone there so badly, but I had to keep driving. :( 

Okay. Let me just talk about my AWESOME companion for a sec. SISTER CALAMITY. She totally reminds me of Jeanette Broberg. She is quiet, but when you get her talking, she is absolutely hilarious. She is from Cedar City, Utah and has been out for 7 months. She is half navajo, quarter paiute, and quarter white! SO COOL. She is a very hard worker which is such a blessing. We work really hard together and I'm grateful for Heavenly Father and Him answering prayer. Ah. We have been working soooo hard this past week and have seen so many blessings :) AND while tracting the other day, a lady who we knew was home didn't answer the door and so I naturally/jokingly said in my miranda voice, "haters back off!" and Sister Calamity got really excited and said, "You sounded like Miranda!" UM YEAH. SHE KNOWS MIRANDA SO WE HAVE BEEN BASICALLY TALKING LIKE MIRANDA FOR THE PAST TWO DAYS. She and Sister Gustafson have been my only TWO companions who know who miranda is. (s/o to Sista G-U). 

Our most promising investigators right now is an ADORABLE family!!! They live 30 minutes away from us so it's hard to see them a lot, but they came to church last week and loved it! They weren't able to come this sunday because they don't have a car and no members were available to give them a ride. SHAOOT. BUT we were able to teach them the Ten commandments, Word of Wisdom, and keeping the Sabbath day holy. It was awesome. The family consists of a single mom named Sonja and her 4 beautiful kids: Tatyana (14), Lorenzo (10), Tyasia (9), and Ja'kavion (3). Ah. I'm obsessed with them. They are so cute and were all so excited to try to live the word of wisdom and give up their sweet tea which was the only problem for them. So grand. :) 

We went on a team up with this cute 30 year old member who isn't married, but loves coming out with the missionaries. All of our appointments fell through, so we asked her if she would like to go tracting. SHE TOTALLY DID IT!!!! And guess what? She was our good luck charm because 3 out of 4 people let us inside!!! We would knock on the door and the people on the other side would just say, "come in" without even opening the door to see who it was. People are so trusting here! We taught this one older lady who was absolutely hilarious! She was showing us all of her Bibles and pictures of her family. We were talking with her about how great Heavenly Father is. The people here just make me smile and uplift me everyday. 

We were able to pray with lots of people while store contacting. It's just amazing to see how aware Heavenly Father is of all of His beautiful children. We met a lady in the thrift store who we felt like we needed to talk with. We asked her if she needed a prayer and she just started to break down and cry. She told us how she lost her daughter last year and how she is still going through the grieving process. We said a prayer with her and afterwards, she said, "God bless you angels" and then she gave us a huge hug. Man. This work is amazing. People here are wonderful. 

Yesterday, we visited with this less active lady named Dana. She is such a great example to the WORLD of strength. In 2011, she was in a tornado and her daughter and granddaughter passed away from it. Dana survived and her house was destroyed. Because of her brain being injured in the process, she went from having a deep southern accent to now having a BRITISH accent. It is the craziest thing!!!! She shared her testimony with us and it was simply very humbling. She told us, "I am a survivor and God is good to me and I want to let the whole world know about it. I'm not ashamed of my scars." She is the most giving person as well. She went through her closet and just started to throw clothes at us to take home.  :) SO PRECIOUS. 

There was a lady in our ward who passed away this past Friday named Sister Enselin. Her husband is the main judge in the town of Wetumpka and was a stake President for 8 years so basically the whole town and their dogs know who this lady is. There was a viewing last night at the church for her and we, as missionaries, were in charge of making sure everything ran smoothly and that people knew what way to enter and exit the church building. I am not exaggerating when I say this: There as a good 1,000 people who showed up. So yes. half of the town showed up. Looking at the photos of Sister Enselin gave me chills. You could just tell by looking at her photos that she was a beautiful woman inside and out. She was just SO classy!!!! It was amazing to see a whole community come together to celebrate her life. GUESS WHAT???? I SAW THE GRAYS AND QUINCY'S WHO CAME FROM CLANTON!!!!! AH THEY REMEMBERED ME THANK GOODNESS OR ELSE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SUPER AWKWARD. Brother Gray told me that I would have a place to stay whenever I wanted to come back to Clanton. Oh. The south is just wonderful. People are soooooooo nice here!!!!!!! 

This brings me to my next point: The topic of pride. I was reading in Alma 5 which is an awesome chapter in The Book of Mormon. Verse 28 really caught my eye and made me think... "Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God." WHOAH. Talk about a BOLD scripture!!! Well, are we stripped of pride? 

So I was studying the talk that my mom sent me a couple months ago via mail. The talk is entitled, "Beware of Pride" by Ezra Taft Benson. GO READ IT IF YOU HAVEN'T YET. 

It talks about how pride is a very misunderstood sin and how everyone basically sins in ignorance when it comes to pride. Pride is a result of comparing ourselves, not trusting God, wishing God would agree with you, etc. Humility is something that we need as missionaries every single day, but pride always tries to creep in. I have learned that true miracles come when we put everything on the table and show Heavenly Father our willingness to follow Him and DO HIS WILL. 

SO LET'S ALL GO OUT AND DO HIS WILL AND CRUSH SATAN'S HEAD. DO IT. OKAY? OKAY. PERFECT!

In other news...

-ANOTHER person told me I looked like one of the Duggars off of 19 kids and counting. 

-We saw a guy with a huge plate of Cheeto's puffs in his hands and stopped our car to talk with him. This is how the convo went:

us: "Hey! we know the guy who created the cheetah for cheeto's!!! (pres. hanks)

guy: (laughing awkwardly) "cool. what you girls doin?" 

us: "Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you know anyone that could use a prayer?" 

guy: "I could use a wife!"

us: "Great! We will look around for one! Do you know anyone that could use a prayer though?"

guy: "Is you married? We could talk about the gospel on a date."

us: "Have a GREAT day sir!!!" 

We then drove off. #lifeiswonderful.

-This past week, I made a personal goal to truly see people as Heavenly Father sees them. It has helped a lot!!!! For example, I looked at the old man who could barely speak in the assistant living home as an apostle. haha it sounds weird, but it helps so much to just see peoples full potential and love them no matter what. TRY IT. YOU'LL LIKE IT. 

-S/O to Sister Amelia Knuth. There are TWO ensign articles on potatoes this month. #servingamishinidaho

-MIKKI AND BRAYDON! We traced into photographers and I told them about y'all and even gave them y'alls website. wahoo. Y'ALL ARE FAMOUS. THEY LOVED Y'ALLS WORK. Y'ALL HAVE FANS IN WETUMPKA, ALABAMA!!!!!!!

-But really, what does the word "wetumpka" mean? I keep asking everyone and they all respond by saying, "I have no idea sweetheart." 

-We tracted into a teenager who told us we were weird because we smiled too much. :D :D :D :D IT'S OKAY TO BE HAPPY Y'ALL. JUST SMILE.

I cannot even believe that this is my last transfer. I really dislike it and it makes me want to throw up, but this mission is so grand and I'm grateful for the time I have left. Heavenly Father is so great! He loves each of us! He knows us! He REALLY REALLY DOES. Trust Him and you will see His hand in your life!!!!! 

Goodness, these emails never make sense. Just know we are happy missionaries and we are working hard! Love y'all and have a grand week ahead! Go watch a miranda sings video for me. 

ROLL TIDE ROOOOOOOLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!! 

MYKY,

Sister Platt

Happy MLK Day

Ah. Life is so beautiful. Heavenly Father is so grand and just wants us ALL to be happy. I am happy. Are you happy?

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

I never said it was going to be easy, I only said it would be worth it.

HOly cow. This mission is teaching me soooo much!!!! Ah. This work is so hard, but SO GOOD!!!!!!

This transfer is coming to a close; can y'all believe it??? IT FLEW BY!!!!!!! TRANSFER CALLS ARE THIS SATURDAY.

This past week was wonderful. The people here amaze me and I am humbled by their examples.

There have been some ups and downs, but that is where growth begins. Right?

Here are some of the experiences that I will just jot down because I'm terrible at organizing my emails:

-Brother Dean: We met with a less active man named Brother Dean who is the sweetest man I have ever met!!! He takes care of foster children for a living Brother Dean is also an inspiration to me. We could just tell from the way the house looked that he just adores the foster kids he takes care of and is really selfless!

-Brother Perry: Brother Perry hasn't been to church in a while because he is taking care of his wife. We met him for the first time last week and oh my goodness, he is an inspiration!!!! His wife is in her 60's and recently had a stroke and also has a severe case of dementia. He simply adores her and expressed to us how much he loves her and knows that God has a plan for them. ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE!!!! We sang her the song, "I stand all amazed" and wow, the spirit was very strong. I know she could hear us and I know that she was aware of us at that moment. It was precious. Heavenly Father is so aware of her and I could just feel the love that He has for her.

-Our mission has created this AMAZING/GENIUS idea that has literally changed our mission as a whole. Wanna hear it? It's called "HOUR OF POWER". Every day, at 5 pm, we have been invited to INVITE people to baptism for a whole hour!!!! ITS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!! Sister Cooper and I have been able to invite 53 people to baptism just by tracting!!!!! AND 2 HAVE ACCEPTED. The two that accepted are very sweet people who we are handing over to the Elders because they are single men living at home. WAHOO. We had a really neat experience one of the nights. We had 2 minutes left of the hour of power and were literally running from house to house, waiting for people to answer their doors. We saw house number 216 and felt really good about knocking there for the last 2 minutes we had left. Before knocking, Sister Cooper and I both agreed that the person on the other side really needed the gospel. A guy named Nathan answered the door and warmly welcomed us with a handshake and acted like he knew us. He explained to us that he had met with missionaries before, but lost contact because his work schedule got crazy. AND THAT HE HADN'T SEEN ANY MISSIONARIES IN 8 MONTHS. SO COOL. He then said, "Can y'all come see me on Monday?" (um. yeah we can.) No one ever sets their own times to see us so it was definitely a miracle!!! He also said, "Here's my number! Just text me and remind me and I will be home." CARAZY. We are seeing him tonight y'all!!!!!!!

Average number of baptismal invites as a mission per week: 214

Number we had this past week because of hour of power: 1,530!!!!!! Isn't that CRAZY???? A vision makes us way more motivated!!!!!!!!!!!!

-A less active man who we have been working with CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 9 MONTHS. It was AWESOME and everyone welcomed him with open arms. Ah. It was beautiful and I just wanted to give him a big hug, but no. That doesn't work in missionary work.

-Our car had some major problems so we went in to get it fixed. The man told us that the car wouldn't be ready for another 2 days. So. We were on foot. AND it was 20-30 degrees outside. The coldness here is worse than out west. The humidity makes it so that the coldness literally reaches your bones. It was awful. We went tracting around the surrounding areas and no one let us in/people told us to go home because it was too cold to be out. NO. WE WON'T GO HOME. After many attempts, we decided to go store contacting instead. On our way to the local grocery store (NOT WALMART. THANK GOODNESS), we saw the less active lady that I mentioned in my last email Sister H!!!! She saw us and asked us why our faces were all red and why we were out in the cold. We explained to her our situation and then she said, "Oh my goodness!!! Do y'all wanna come over to my place for some chili? I'm fixin' to make it as soon as I get home!" MIRACLE. AH. SO. GRAND. Without hesitation, we agreed and she drove us over to her home. While eating dinner, she said something I will never forget, "ah. If I wasn't working tomorrow, I would drive you girls over to whatever appointments you had!" UM WHAT. Her heart has softened soooooo much and it's the best thing ever. She told us all about how she used to attend early morning seminary and how she had missionaries over when she was little. It was great to hear her stories because she had a big smile on her face as she was reminiscing. Even though she has decided to go to the Catholic church, it was cool to see that she still has good feelings toward the church and will always defend it :)

-Because of our car being in the shop, we decided to turn the situation into a positive one and make sure that all the members in the ward knew so that they would help us with our missionary efforts. haha. Sister Bennett (aka my favorite person ever/she acts just like my mom and even uses a wheat grinder) came out with us on a team up. We saw our investigator Amber and her mom Alice.  It was a tender mercy that we were able to be there for them. We also had a lesson with this kid named Jaylin and the spirit was really strong. At the end of the lesson as we were walking out, Sister Bennett looked at us and exclaimed, "man. Y'all are great at teaching! You just act like everything about the Restoration is normal and exciting! You don't let them doubt any of it!" Her comment made me think. It is so true. We teach some pretty bold doctrine about how Joseph Smith SAW Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We teach that Peter, James, and John came as resurrected beings to Joseph Smith and gave him the Priesthood keys. We teach that there is ANOTHER set of scripture that is a helpmeet to the Bible. It does sound a little crazy huh? BUT IT'S TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-We were invited over to dinner at Juan and Maritza's home. The other sisters are teaching them. They attend a Spanish branch in Birmingham and have been investigating the church for over 6 months. At the end of dinner, Juan bore his testimony to us in Spanish and I was the only one in the room who didn't know Spanish. Tears started to form from his eyes and I looked over at the sisters who had a HUGE smile on their faces. Sister Latu looked at me and mouthed, "He wants to be baptized!" Ah. The spirit was so strong!!!! The missionaries have been trying to get Juan into the waters of baptism for a long time!!! SO COOL. He is so ready and the sweetest man ever. He and his wife are both getting baptized this Saturday!!!!! His reason for finally wanting to get baptized??? He wants his kids to go on a mission and be mature and educated like all of the missionaries who he has seen come over to his home. SO EXCITING!!!!!

-Yesterday was amazing! We taught these cute teenagers named Kyla and DJ. They were step siblings. We asked them what they had a strong testimony of and they both shared inspiring stories of strength and faith. DJ explained to us how he has been bullied his whole life and how God has strengthened him. The scripture found in Jacob 3:1 came to my mind and so we read it to them. It was quiet for a bit after we read it and both of their eyes got really big as they said, "WHOA! That is such a cool scripture!!!!! Do you have any other cool ones?" haha it was awesome! The Book of Mormon can apply to us today y'all!!!!! We set a return appointment with them for this upcoming week and we are getting frozen yogurt with them! STOKED.

In other news...

-Only in the south AND Utah are roads completely empty on Sunday

-Little kid to his mom: "Mom! what are those girls doing knocking on the doors?"

Mom: "Honey. They are saving people by teaching them about Jesus" #precious

I love y'all and I love the work going on here in Alabama. We are continuing to preach the gospel to everyone that will listen! It's hard, but it's so worth it. Not everyone will listen to us and a lot won't even look at us as we wave or say hello, but Jesus Christ knows what we go through. We are constantly trying our hardest to find people and everyone gets anti-ed, but hey, I'm grateful that this mission isn't easy. We are learning SO MUCH!!!!!! Have a fabulous week ahead and know that life is supposed to be hard or else we wouldn't progress.

MYKY,

Sister Platt