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

God just wants us to be happy

Wow. This mission is amazing. I'm obsessed with my life. SOOOOOOO many miracles this past week!!!!!!! I really can't put into words everything that goes on in missionary work and I can't fully express how I feel every day. I am just so happy and constantly on a spiritual high. I just wish y'all could be a fly on the wall and see everything that happens in just one week! GOD IS SO GOOD!

So. I'm getting transferred AGAIN. I felt like it was going to happen. So sad, but so good too. I'm excited to have one more area left to just give it everything I've got! I will still be a Sister Training leader and I'm so excited!!!!!! I hope and pray I get sent to Tuscaloosa, that is my dream, but we shall see!!!!! I'm so grateful for the chance I had to serve with Sister Moore. She is such a sweet sister and I learned SO MUCH from her. God just knows who we need to be with :) What a blessing!

Monday: Went over to Brother Mack's and heard him just bare a solid testimony of Joseph Smith. The spirit was so strong. We just had a very natural conversation about the gospel and how true it is. He told us that his cousin who is basically the only extended family member he has left; was asking him why he was baptized and he told her his testimony!!! He is so solid. He always calls us his "shepherds". AND when he said the prayer, he said, "Dear Heavenly Father. I'm thankful that I have the priesthood. I'm thankful for the Leeds ward. Please bless the ward." AH. IT WAS SO PRECIOUS. HE IS A STUD AND EVERYONE NEEDS TO MEET HIM. 

Tuesday: Ah. We went to an appointment with this girl named Lauren who we met when she was getting out of her car. We shared the christmas video "He is the Gift" (If you haven't watched this yet... stop reading this email and GO WATCH IT!!!!! NOW!) Anyway, that video brings the spirit in the room EVERY SINGLE TIME. Without fail. We then explained to her that we were helping people embrace Jesus Christ more in their lives and sharing more messages about Him. We also invited her to church. Lauren spoke and stumbled her words as she said, "yeah. I just don't have time any more for church because of my son. (he is 2 years old) He is just very loud and crazy..." Then, Lauren's mom walked in the room and said, "Lauren, tell them the real reason you don't go to church anymore." Lauren then looked down at the floor as she took a deep breath and said, "yeah. I don't go anymore because my dad died this past year and I am still not over it." My heart sank. In that moment, I KNEW that we were supposed to meet her. After a moment of silence, I tried my best to bear a strong testimony of the plan of salvation and said, "I actually lost my dad a year ago as well and it was very hard for me. The only thing that got me through it was the comfort that only comes through Jesus Christ and the message that we bring to people." She then asked us where our church was located and wants to come!!!!! (She works @ walmart A LOT and only has a day off each week). We walked away from her home feeling amazing. Chills all over. I love those moments :) 

After that, we drove over to the TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We ended up being there for 5 HOURS because we were chosen to help with the laundry. It was a great experience and Sister Van Komen AND Sister Drummond were in the same session as me! TENDER MERCY!!! Sister Van Komen goes home this week and I am so grateful I was able to see her. She makes me SO happy and is one of my very best friends! President Hanks wasn't able to join us because he is still recovering, but Sister Hanks was there! I LOVE the temple SO MUCH! 

We then drove home and grabbed a quick dinner and then headed over to the church to have a lesson with our investigator John!!!!!! Brother Gause and his non member daughter Nicole joined us for the lesson!!! So hilarious. We showed up at the church right at 7:00 and Brother Gause, Nicole, and John were already there in the parking lot just talking away and laughing. I loved it so much!!! We taught John the restoration and Brother Gause AND Nicole bore a strong testimony of how their is a need for a prophet on the earth today. It was the cutest thing ever and they were great fellowshippers! WOOT WOOT!!!! 

We then ended off the night by seeing the Nicola's and helping them understand how to use their new smart phones. It was hilarious!!! They are both in their late 60's so they had no idea how to do anything!!! I love them so much and always feel like I'm at home when I'm at their place. We read from The Book of Mormon and the spirit in their home was wonderful :) We all just laugh all the time and just have fun together. Love them so much. 

Wednesday: I went on an exchange with Sister Sorensen in Sylacauga, AL. Sister Sorensen is a brand new missionary and is amazing! We were able to teach 9 lessons and worked super hard that we forgot about eating dinner. oops. She is awesome and is already such a stud of a missionary. She is such an inspiration to me! We ended up teaching a pastor who invited us right in! The pastor was very nice and asked us this interesting question that I want y'all to ponder: "What makes your heart cry?" SO DEEP. It threw me off guard. hahaha. We bore testimony to him of The Book of Mormon and I think he was only half listening to what we were saying. He started to attempt to shake our faith by saying that no man can see God and yadda yadda. Sister Sorensen is SO great at being bold and bearing her testimony and it was awesome!!! We were able to make Christmas cookies with the young women which consists of 2 girls! I admire them so much. One of the girls used to drive an hour every wednesday night for young women! They are so faithful! It reminded me a lot of the good ole' Clanton days. 

Thursday: The Gadsden Sisters texted us and asked if we could do a blitz with them in their area because they really needed help finding new people to teach. So I went with Sister Bailey in Gadsden and we had an amazing day. We experienced a miracle. The following story that I will tell will probably go in my top 10 most miraculous experiences on my mission....

Sister Bailey and I were out biking and Sister Bailey felt prompted that we should stop and walk our bikes along the cute downtown area of Gadsden. So we did. We kept walking with our bikes and there was NO ONE outside. I kept thinking to myself, "This is a waste of time. There are no people outside. Heavenly Father. Please help us and let some people come outside." Then, I looked over across the street and saw a man sitting on the bench. Sister Bailey and I both felt prompted to go talk to him. We crossed the street and started to ask him if he knew anyone who could use a prayer. He then replied, "I sure could!" We then started talking with him and asked him if there was anything specific that we could mention in the prayer. (his name is Kieth)

Keith: Oh. There are so many things you could mention, but it would take all day.

Us: What are some of those things?

Keith: Well... First off, I'm homeless. My wife of 30 years left me randomly and my only son won't speak to me. (He then told us his life story and it's the saddest thing ever. He is 58 years old)

I was shocked. Literally. So shocked. I would of never guessed that he was  homeless!!!! He was very intellectual and was wearing normal clothing.

I then shared with him the scripture found in 3 Nephi 13:31-34 and told him that God sent us to him. Tears started to flow down his eyes. I could just tell that he was trying so hard not to cry, but couldn't hold back. Sister Bailey then gave him The Book of Mormon and invited him to read it after she bore a strong testimony of it. I asked him how he felt and he replied saying, "Alone". And then more tears started to fall off of his cheeks. We then said a prayer with him and at the end of the prayer, I asked him again how he felt and he said, "Like God knows me." We were all crying by the end of it and we didn't even know how to leave him because we just wanted to stay there forever and comfort him. Keith then said something that I will NEVER forget. He said, "I have seen two angels before in my life and now I know I've seen two more. Y'all are sent from God. I don't feel as discouraged anymore. Thank you." SO AMAZING. 

Then, Sister Moore and I went to Walmart to store contact in Gadsden while the sisters went to volleyball with their ward. We saw even more tender mercies! We ate at subway for dinner and just as we sat down, we saw an ADORABLE little girl (probably only 6 years old) sitting by herself and just bowing her head with her hands clasped together as she had her tiny sandwich in front of her. She prayed for a good minute and it was the most precious moment for us to watch her do so. We gave her a picture of Jesus and her face just beamed. After she was done eating, her mom came back to get her and she jumped off her seat and gave us the biggest hugs for giving her a picture of Jesus. Just think about how Heavenly Father must think of her? Ah. I bet HE LOVES hearing her prayers :) What a great example!!!!! Only in the south would you see a 6 year old praying over her sandwich. 

We then were on the hunt for icecream for the sisters because they were having a rough time. We were far away from walmart when we decided to get some for them and the only close stores were dollar general, aldi, and walgreens. We went to dollar general and aldi and both of them were closed early!!! SO, we went to walgreens and got a little frustrated because it was taking forever to just find a tub of icecream. ANYWAY. We walked into the store and the worker asked us, "Can I help you find anything?" We excitingly said, "YES. WHERE IS Y'ALLS ICECREAM????" She then pointed us in the right direction and we ran over to pick up the icecream. Then, the worker walked over to us and asked, "where are y'all from?" We told her utah and california and then she said, "How are y'all so happy? Y'all are just glowing!" We then started to explain to her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and The Book of Mormon, etc. She then asked, "Do you have to be born into the church or can anyone join?" We told her that we help people join and she started to freak out and asked us when we could stop by. yup. GOLDEN. It was such a neat experience! Heavenly Father made it so all the stores were closed except for walgreens so that we could meet her!!!!! I'm so excited for the Gadsden sisters to start teaching her!!!!! 

Friday: We had our ward Christmas party this day!!!!!!!! Ah. It was so so so good! Before the party, Sister Moore and I went biking and invited everyone we saw to come!!!! GUESS WHAT??? A cute lady named Patrice came with her twin boys and 8 year old girl! AND THEY LOVED IT!!!!!! My favorite part of the night was when we all sang Christmas songs. I sat next to Nicole (Brother Mack's daughter) and she was singing SUPER loud. It was the cutest thing ever. Nicole has special needs and so she learned sign language. She was signing to the song, "silent night" and I was able to do it with her. It was just so much pure joy in that room. CHRISTMAS IS THE BEST. Sooooo much happiness!

Saturday: We had a miracle. Like I've said before, Sister Moore and I have very specific prayers of things we want to do in a day or people we want to find. We really wanted to help someone decorate a christmas tree. So we prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help us find someone. Yeah. Heavenly Father definitely helped us. A less active lady named Sister Hopper popped into our minds. We have never even met her because she never answers the door, but we decided to go anyway. SHE ANSWERED. MIRACLE. AND GUESS WHAT???? SHE HAD A TREE THAT SHE NEEDED HELP SETTING UP. YA. WE DECORATED IT. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 

We were able to have a really good talk with her about the meaning of Christmas and it was beautiful! So grand!!!!

We then went over to visit another less active girl named Jessica and guess what??? HER TREE WASN'T DECORATED. YUP. ANOTHER ANSWERED PRAYER. Heavenly Father truly just wants to make us happy and answer our prayers! hahaha 

Sunday: This day was beautiful!!! John AND his super cute daughter who is 19 named Hannah came to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was fast and testimony meeting. I decided to go up and bear my testimony. As I was up there, I SAW KEN WALK IN. WHAT???? Super random. Ken is our investigator and has come 3 sundays in a row, but he is never home for us to teach him and won't ever answer our phone calls. haahah he just comes on his own every time. It was great!!!!! We finally got an appointment to see him this upcoming tuesday though! haha It was a wonderful testimony meeting and it was full of so much happiness. 

We watched the Christmas Devotional which was awesome.Did y'all watch it? I  hope so!!!!

In other news...

--- We think Tony (the ex BYU football player now in a wheelchair) got antied. He won't respond to our calls/texts and hasn't tried contacting us. BOO. 

---- "God gave Him. Mary wrapped Him. Will you receive Him?" --- church sign. (my favorite)

-----Joke of the week by Sister Standridge: What do you call a pretty girl at Auburn? A visitor.

---"Christmas ain't about no jolly fat man coming down them chimneys." ---Shironda. A lady we met outside. LOL

---I added up the numbers for the whole transfer... In 6 weeks, we were able to invite 691 people to learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And we taught 134 lessons. NO EFFORT IS WASTED. It's neat to see it in a bigger perspective of the things we accomplish as missionaries. :) 

----Brother Gause sliced off his finger. #prayforhim It looks really gross. 

--When we went over to dinner at Brother Gause's this past week, there were 3 packets of post it notes sitting on the table for us. It was the cutest thing ever because the week before, we ran out of post it notes. hahah he is the sweetest man ever!!!! (we write down invitations for him and nicole on the post its.) 

------There is a cute lady named Sister Reeves in our ward who always takes pictures of us on her flip phone and then prints them out every week for us in a BLOWN up picture. It's the cutest thing of my life. So grateful for her and her sweet service. 

----Nick. The guy in Clanton who loved giving us sprite who we ate thanksgiving dinner with last year finally got baptized and totally is passing the sacrament. Sister Casperson (my trainer) sent me an email about it because she went back to visit and she said that he bore his testimony and said, "I don't know a lot about Jesus Christ yet, but I do know how this church makes me feel." and then he started crying!!! MIRACLE! Nick wouldn't even listen to us while we taught him about the gospel when we first met with him and his wife Rena. CHANGE OF HEART. This gospel is real. 

Things I have learned in my studies this past week:

--Don't SHRINK!!!! BE STRONG and trust in the Holy Ghost and the promptings! (1 Nephi 4:10)

----1 Nephi 5:20 <---- Can I truly say this?

---I read the book of Exodus this past week and the story of Moses. I am grateful for the opportunity to train on it in District Meeting!!!! In Exodus 4:10-12, it gives us a conversation of Moses and God speaking to one another. Moses explains to the Lord that he doesn't feel like he is good enough because he is slow of speech. I LOVE the Lord's response in verse 11. "Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord?" The Lord is able to make us mighty as long as we trust in Him. We may feel like we are insufficient or lacking in a certain skill, but Heavenly Father gave us weaknesses so that we would truly humble ourselves and ask Him for guidance :) 

I am so sad to be leaving Leeds. I have grown to love it SO MUCH! I know I was here for specific people and I'm grateful that Heavenly Father places so many wonderful people in my life! It's really weird to think how short this mission is and how short time is. I just want to make Heavenly Father proud and endure to the end! I can't wait to see what's in store! I will find out on Wednesday where I will be going! I love y'all so much. God is so good and loves us so much! I will go wherever Heavenly Father wants me to go! Joshua 1:16. Have a blessed week!!!! Remember: Don't shrink. Follow the commandments. Let God mold you. YOU WILL BE HAPPY IF YOU DO SO. 

GO #SHARETHEGIFT

CHRISTMAS IS IN 17 DAYS OHMYGOODNESS :))))

MYKY,

Sister Platt

So many inspiring people in this world

Hey y'all!!!!! I can't believe it's already December!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TIME IS FLYING AND I CAN'T STAND IT. UGH. BUT YAY FOR CHRISTMAS! WAHOOOOOOO YAY FOR IT BEING 65 DEGREES OUTSIDE TODAY. Oh Bama.... you are too funny and confusing. Life is so beautiful. I am so grateful. People are so inspirational to me. So grateful for each of them :) 

Monday: All of our plans fell through Monday night so we went and tried to find lots of people to teach. Remember the story I told about Kenya's mom? Well, she wasn't keeping her commitments, BUT we found someone FROM KENYA on monday night and got his information :) woot woot! God is real!!!!! On the main street of Leeds, there are a good 10 fast food restaurants all in one row. Sister Moore and I decided to get creative and drive through each one of them and ask the worker for water and then invite them to learn more! The guy working at KFC told us he would try to come to church. It was hilarious. Sister Moore was holding 10 watercups on her lap. I love mission life. It doesn't all have to be mundane things. YOU CAN HAVE FUN WITH SHARING THE GOSPEL!!!!!! 

Tuesday: This day was a day full of miracles!!!! I went on an exchange with Sister Martineau in Leeds. Sister Martineau is THE CUTEST. This is her first transfer out on the mission and she is super shy and just the sweetest thing. I love her so much and learned a lot!!! We were able to teach 8 LESSONS. Which never happens. Heavenly Father just put people in our path and we were able to teach on the spot. 

One lesson that stuck out to me was a lesson with this lady named Sabrina who let us right inside her home. Sabrina has been through SO much in her life. Her husband died from a tree falling on him and her best friend died in his sleep. Anyway, she has been through the ringer, but she just bore testimony to us of how God has been there for her every step of the way. My jaw was dropped the whole time. People have SO much strength and faith here!!!!!! Sabrina has also been studying with the Jehovah's witnesses because she wants to gain as much knowledge as possible. As we were teaching her, she kept saying to us, "okay. great. What more do you have to share? I'm ready to listen." At the end, I asked her if she felt like the message that we shared was true and she responded saying, "yes. I know for a fact it's true. God's word is always true and  y'all are servants of God." We invited her to church, but she said she doesn't believe in going to church, but just studying the word. mah. We shall see what happens with her. People are so confusing to me. So many receive a spiritual confirmation that the message is true, but won't act on it. ugh. #agencyisarealthing 

We also taught a guy named Scott. Scott has been through so much as well. His dad was abusive and sent him off on a greyhound bus to Alabama when he was only 15. He basically poured out his whole heart to us and we were able to bear testimony of the atonement. I LOVE bearing testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I love it. I love it. I love it. The atonement is the ONLY thing that will mend a broken heart like his. We asked Scott what he thought his purpose was here on the earth and he replied saying, "honestly. I have thought a lot about that for a while now and I have no idea." Ah. The people here inspire me so much. Goodness gracious. So many trials. We bore testimony of The Book of Mormon to him and gave him a copy. I hope he truly reads it and feels the spirit. That book is POWERFUL!!!!! 

To end off the night, I asked Sister Martineau what she wanted to improve on and she said store contacting. So we went store contacting and made a scavenger hunt list of people we wanted to find. It was awesome!!!!! It was so cute watching Sister Martineau approach people and shyly ask them if they wanted to learn more. She is definitely so much better than I was!!!!!! Missionary work is so amazing to witness and I am so glad that I have the opportunity to help these sisters grow. They are teaching me SO much!!!! 

Wednesday: I went on another exchange in Leeds with Sister Horan. This is Sister Horan's second transfer on the mission. Last transfer, I went on an exchange with her and she was super duper shy and would barely talk. Well, SHE HAS GROWN SO MUCH!!!!!!!! Heavenly Father is so great and has strengthened her so much. We biked all day because it was beautiful outside. We decided to go to an apartment complex and tract. I asked Sister Horan which door we should tract and she looked for a bit and then pointed at one and said, "that's the one!" So we went for it and knocked on the door she suggested. I knocked and then turned to Sister Horan and said, "you've got this. You start the conversation when they answer." Her face turned red and she started to doubt herself, but I just kept reminding her that she could do it. A cute lady answered the door and Sister Horan stumbled her words, but spoke with power as she asked the lady if we could share a message with her. THE LADY SAID YES and let us right in!!!!!!! We talked to her about The Book of Mormon and the lady's name is Augusta. SIDENOTE: Sister Horan is probably the purest person on this planet. No joke. She is from a small town on the outskirts of idaho falls and didn't even know who miley cyrus was. She is just perfect and exactly what I strive to be like one day. ANYWAY, because she is the purest person ever, she teaches and the spirit immediately just fills the room with whatever she says. It's amazing. Augusta totally felt the spirit and asked us where she could get a copy of The Book of Mormon :) When we were about to leave, Augusta said to us: "I could feel that there was goodness in y'all. I usually don't answer the door to nobody I don't know. But God told me to answer the door and I'm glad I did. Y'all are so sweet." SO GREAT.

We went store contacting for some of the day and I just let Sister Horan take the lead and she did great!!!!! I would just say, "okay. You've got this one. Go talk to that lady down this aisle." And then she would look at me and say, "no. I can't do it." BUT GUESS WHAT??? SHE WOULD DO IT ANYWAY AND TOTALLY TALKED TO SOME PEOPLE. She is so amazing!!!!!!!!! We even taught a muslim man at a gas station about The Plan of Salvation. Halfway through the lesson, he tried to convert us to his religion. gotta love it :) 

Thursday: Oh my. Thanksgiving was absolutely amazing and hilarious. We had dinner at the Carlisle's from our ward and as soon as we got to their home, they sat us down and said, "I hope y'all won't be too disappointed, but we aren't eating turkey this year because we didn't have time to make it. We are having pork roast instead." The pork roast ended up being really really really good so yay! It was a classic southern dinner. We had: cornbread stuffing, biscuits, sweet potato casserole aka my favorite thing ever, and potatoes. SO YUMMY.

We went contacting at walmart during "black friday" which started Thursday night. It was hilarious and so ridiculous. People were not very nice towards us. haahha Being there really made me appreciate the gospel of Jesus Christ and really made me realize that Christmas honestly is ALL ABOUT how Christ is the gift for Christmas and that nothing materialistic matters. 

Friday: We had a great district meeting on overcoming fears. Loved it. We have the best district leader ever and he is just so humble and giving. I'm so grateful. 

We had a lesson with this lady named Joy who totally has her heart changed around because 2 weeks ago, we were raking her leaves and she yelled at us and told us to go home. BUT we saw her this week and asked her if she was in need of a prayer and she let us right in and told us about all of the stressful things going on in her life. She apologized for yelling at us and explained her reasoning for doing so. It was really cool to see the change of heart within her and she even gave us some hot chocolate:) haha She takes care of all of the kids in the neighborhood and everyone basically takes advantage of her, but she just continues to love and love. Ah. There are so many great examples all around me!!!!!!!!! 

We had a lesson with Tony @ chick fil a and read from The Book of Mormon with him. He is so inspiring as well. He told us his story of how he got in a wheel chair. (he fell off a truck and paralyzed his legs). He explained that it takes him 4 HOURS to get ready every morning. So sad. (he couldn't come to church yesterday because he slept in and couldn't get ready fast enough). He never complains and just loves life and everyone in it. He is wonderful!!!! 

Saturday: This was the iron bowl day. So hilarious. People are so funny here and are truly crazy about their football. Luckily, the game started @ 6pm so we had plenty of time to find people/knock on doors without people yelling at us. We just visited some old less active people who didn't care about the football game at night. We also went to walmart and it was completely EMPTY so we talked to the workers about the gospel and it was grand!!!!!!! We also had a lesson with Nicole. She has been super wishy washy lately, but she called us and told us she was planning on coming to church and is still reading from The Book of Mormon. Sister Moore and I think once she breaks up with her boyfriend, she will be more committal. we shall see. 

Sunday: NICOLE AND KEN CAME TO CHURCH. We only saw Ken once this past week and totally didn't think he would come because he wouldn't call/text us back, but once again, he surprised us and totally came. haha Brother Mack received the Priesthood today! He was beaming! I love that man so much. It was a beautiful day at church! I love this gospel so much!!!! We taught Augusta more about The Book of Mormon and she started to highlight some scriptures that we showed her. So grand. The Book of Mormon is amazing y'all. READ IT. I was able to finish reading through it this past week and wow, I am so grateful for it. So many life lessons are packed in that book. EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ IT. 

Sketchy story time: We had an appointment to see dan from kenya, but he wasn't at home. We talked to his neighbors and they told us to go home because there was a prisoner on the loose in their neighborhood. (it was a super nice neighborhood too). Lo and behold, there totally was a prisoner and there were cop cars EVERYWHERE as we headed out of the neighborhood. So sketchy. Heavenly Father blessed us by Dan not being home because he wanted us to leave that neighborhood. God is so REAL!

In other news...

-As a mission, we have been invited to share a new church "christmas initiative" which is trying to promote the fact that Jesus Christ is truly the gift of Christmas. (For more info, go to: christmas.mormon.org) Anyway, we have been sharing the AMAZING video with everyone who is willing to watch. We showed it to Brother Gause yesterday and asked him what gift he would give to the Savior this year. Jokingly Brother Gause replied saying: "I'm gonna give God them dogs outside." We were laughing so hard. I have grown a strong dislike for dogs on my mission and I was just laughing with Brother Gause. Sister Moore is a dog whisperer and loves them. I guess it was definitely a "you had to be there" moment. 

-"no coupons needed for saving here." ----church sign

-"man dropped the ball. Jesus saved the fall." ---church sign

-"It's so hot ya feel like the back of a licked postage stamp" ---Lynne (a worker from Walmart)

-"If I had a biscuit, I'd give you half" ---cute lady we tracted into

-We had a lesson on thanksgiving night with all the guys working at the gas station. They bought us laffy taffy afterwards and we read them the jokes on the wrapper. I love my life. 

-A guy gave us a cup of coke with peanuts poured on top of the coke. Apparently it's a southern thing to do. Y'all should try it. It wasn't too bad. 

-WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE TOMORROW. STOKED. WE HAVEN'T BEEN IN 6 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

-Transfer calls are this saturday. Time flies. I really hope I can stay in Leeds. So many things are starting to happen here!!!!!!!!!!!! 

-I'm trying to gain more knowledge of the Bible as a goal for December. I was reading in the Book of Jonah today... Jonah was such a lame-o. I don't get why people talk about his story so much. He just complained and shrunk all the time. BOO.

-Sister Moore and I have different people we want to find and we have made a list and pray for them a lot. One of the people on the list was a man in overalls. Well. We found him y'all. We were out trying to find a less active's home and there was a man putting up christmas lights. We pulled over and started to yell up to him as he was standing on a fairly tall ladder. He nicely came down from the ladder and started talking to us about how he has visited his church before and is looking for a church home. BOOM. MIRACLE. We taught him a lesson and answered his questions and we have an appointment with him tomorrow at the church!!!!!!!!! STOKED. He is in his late 50's and recently divorced and has a 20 year old daughter. yay! 

Go out and be inspired this week!!! Share the gospel with people! inspire them! Share your testimony!!!!!! REMEMBER THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE GIFT FOR THE SEASON. 

I love y'all so much and I am so so so so so so so blessed to be a missionary at this time. I know that The Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I know that Heavenly Father lives. I know He listens to our prayers and cares about our struggles and successes. He wants us to be happy!!!!! 

What gift are you going to give Christ this season? I have been pondering this question a lot and this morning, I decided to study Christ like attributes and strive to develop them even more in my life. That is the gift I am giving to the Savior. 

What about y'all? Let me know what you will give to Him as soon as you find out!!!!!!!!!! LOVE Y'ALL. 

MYKY,

Sister Platt

Hallelujah!

Ah. I am so happy. ALL the time. It's not even a joke y'all. This work that we are doing as missionaries is absolutely INCREDIBLE. How grateful I am to be a missionary at this time. Heavenly Father is SO aware of us and wants the best for each one of us. I know that with all I've got. I KNOW God lives!!!!!!!!!! 

What a wonderful week that we had here in Leeds!!!! Lots of exciting things are happening here :) 

The weather has been acting up lately and one day it will be completely FREEZING and then the next day, it will be completely warm. So confusing. I just love it here!

We had a zone conference this past week and it was grand!!!! Poor President Hanks wasn't able to physically be there because he is still recovering from back surgery, but we were able to skype with him!!!! I love that man so much. 

Here are some of the notes I took:

-Sacrifice your time

-The three stages of missionary work: being on a mission. Being a missionary. BEING A DISCIPLE. Do I want to be a disciple???

-This gospel isn't fake. This is all REAL. Joseph Smith ACTUALLY saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. God ACTUALLY chose a 14 year old boy to restore Christ's church. 

-1 Peter 1:16 (love this)

-We are doing a hard thing

-99.9% of your doubts don't happen

-Throw away worries

-Show God what you've got

-Faith by definition is darkness. It's okay to not have a testimony of everything.

-Smilers never lose and frowners never win.

-Do not take advice from your fears

-We are involved in exaltation. How could that not make us confident?

-"We have the power to bring people to exaltation. If you don't know that, hit your knees and plead with God for understanding and He will let you know." -President Nolan (Pres. Hanks assistant)

-The assistants then discussed the scripture found in 2 Kings 6:15-17 which I LOVE. Elisha is a prophet and people are rejecting him. In these verses, it talks about how Elisha woke up in his tent one day and saw his enemies surrounding him. His servent saw them as well and cried unto Elisha saying, "Master! How shall we do?" (or, what shall we do?) and Elisha replied saying, "Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them." How cool is that? We have people on the other side of the veil cheering us on. We have God on our side. It reminded me of one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible found in Romans 8:31. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" 

GOD IS WITH US EVERY DAY. LOOK FOR HIS HAND IN YOUR LIFE.

Updates on investigators:

Diamond and Marquarious: We stopped by their home to see why they were ignoring our texts/calls. (the worst part about missionary work). Diamond answered the door and looked at us and just sighed as she said, "So here's what happened... Marquarious's friend showed him some stuff on the computer about how Mormons hate baptists and other stuff as well so we don't want to meet with y'all anymore." #antiistheworst It was heartbreaking to hear her say that. ugh. We asked her if Marquarious would come out and talk to us about it, but he refused to even look at us. SO SO SO SAD. We just invited them to go onto mormon.org and reminded them how they felt when they first started to learn from us. I know one day, missionaries WILL come to their door again or contact them on the street right when they are ready for the gospel again!!!!! 

Michelle: mah. Michelle has been super busy this past week because she works 7 days on and 7 days off so we weren't able to see her at all!!!!!!!!! Hopefully, we will get a hold of her this upcoming week :) 

Tony: We met Tony this past week! It was definitely a miracle/tender mercy from God with how we met him!!!! I was on exchanges with Sister Johnson in Leeds and we were about to drive away to go home for the night, but then we saw him yelling at us and waving his arms up in the air to get our attention. My initial reaction was, "uh. This guy seems crazy." but the spirit definitely nudged at both Sister Johnson and I and we felt like we needed to stop and talk with him. We pulled up next to his car and he started to explain to us how he used to play football for BYU in 1994 for 2 years before he got kicked out and how he has always wanted to study with the missionaries. He is now in a wheelchair because of some disease he had. He explained to us that he felt it was meant to be that he saw us because something crazy happens every 10 years of his life. (1994--played for BYU. 2004---In a wheelchair) and now it's 2014. I excitingly told him, "Hey! God wants you to learn from us and be baptized!!!!!" haha he totally agreed and asked us when we could meet with him. We met with him the next day at Wendy's and had a lesson with him there. He took religion classes at BYU so he already knows A LOT. It was hilarious because after we said the opening prayer, we asked him if he had any questions that he really was wondering about. He then started to ask all of these deep doctrine questions that I have never heard an investigator ask before. So hilarious. He is so solid, but has a hard time focusing because he just flips from one subject to the next. I love him so much though. 

Ken: Sister Johnson and I were out biking on exchanges and we biked past Ken. Sister Madsen and I briefly taught Ken last transfer, but thought he was just visiting for the day. We biked past him and felt like we should turn around and so we did. We taught him the Restoration right then and there and invited him to be baptized and he said yes!!!!! We set a date with him for December 13. Miracles ALWAYS happen on exchanges y'all!!! 

Tom: While on exchanges with Sister Maxwell, we found Tom! We started talking with him and he explained to us how his wife had recently passed away and that she was a member of our church. CRAZY. We had NO IDEA. He then said that he has pictures of the temple all over his house and that he used to study with the missionaries and go to church. I asked him if he felt that everything is true that we teach and he said yes!!! We invited him to be baptized and he said he would, but he has to get over his smoking. We talked to some members about him and they said that the missionaries have tried a long time with him to quit smoking and haven't been able to get him to stop, BUT MIRACLES HAPPEN so we WILL help him quit!!!! He is the sweetest, most humble man ever. So excited to keep working with him. He works A LOT during the week to pay off some things so it has been hard to catch him at home. 

Pam: We met Pam's husband at walmart one day and he told us we could stop by any time. We followed up on that invitation last night and decided to go over to their home. Her husband, Rocky, answered the door and told us that Pam was sleeping. Well, God answers prayer and apparently woke her up because she came out of her room and started talking with us!!! She told us how she was raised in church, but doesn't really believe that there is one true church and that all denominations have something to offer and as long as we know Jesus Christ, we are good. (this is how most southerners feel). We talked with her all about The Book of Mormon and shared some scriptures with her. I felt prompted to bare testimony about The Book of Mormon as we were about to leave and I said, "Well. Pam. I KNOW that this book WILL change your life and bring you the peace you are looking for. Sister Moore and I wouldn't have come out on this mission if we didn't know that this book could change your life." Sister Moore then bore a powerful testimony as well and Pam's whole countenance changed as she said, "really? I will try and read it." We have a return appointment with her this week!!!!! 

Sister Iverson: We received a referral from Sister Iverson's neighbor to go see her!!! She is a "jesus-loving" woman and is the sweetest woman in the world. She just thought we were so great for offering to say a prayer with her. We told her all about The Book of Mormon and she loved it and kept asking us when we would bring her "our bible". so funny. She is in her 70's and has been going to a "holiness church of God" for her whole life, so who knows what will happen with her, but she is the greatest!!!! God can convert anyone!!!!

Update on CHURCH:

Ah. In the morning, we called Tony, Ken, and Tom to confirm that they were coming to church. Only Tony replied saying that he would be there. Church yesterday was beautifully hilarious. Tony texted us telling us he was outside so we walked out and greeted him. He then just rolled in the church quickly and started to talk to everyone at church. It was great. We sat at the back row because it is the only row that is wheelchair approved. Someone started to say the opening prayer and we hear a loud, "hallelujah" come out of Tony's mouth. "uh oh." I thought as he kept saying it over and over again while the lady was praying.... hahahahhaha oh my goodness. The south... TOO GOOD. 

Then, while the sacrament was being blessed, Tony started to hum some random gospel song super loud. I looked over at him and his eyes were closed and his head was leaned back. It was so classic. I love my life. THEN, the choir sang a song and Tony started to yell even louder, "yes. lord. All for you. Yes. Jesus. You are the all mighty!!!!"  #thismissionistheBEST No one even said anything about it which is a total tender mercy!!!!!

Halfway through sacrament meeting, a man walked through the doors and Sister Moore looked at me and said, "who is that?" MY FACE WAS BEAMING. KEN TOTALLY CAME IN ALL BY HIMSELF. I totally learned a lesson right then: to never doubt. I totally thought he wasn't going to come because he wasn't answering our calls!!!! GAH. SO COOL!!!!! 

After Sacrament meeting, I walked up to Ken and he just laughed and said, "you didn't think I would come, huh?" GOD IS REAL. Tony and Ken both stayed for the Gospel Principles class that Sister Moore and I taught. (we teach basically every sunday now because the elders never want to do it and the teacher who usually teaches is less active). Anyway, we taught about the Savior's Atonement and I am so grateful for the spirit. He is the ultimate teacher and I have fallen in love with teaching gospel truths. It is so much fun seeing people grasp and understand the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ :) 

Update on Walmart: yes. yes. yes. of course we went to Walmarks this past week to contact people. President Hanks always tells us that God made walmart for His missionaries and that is a true statement. While on exchanges with Sister Maxwell, we made cupcakes and walked around the parking lot and handed them all out to random people as we invited them to learn more. WELL. Fast forward 3 days when Sister Moore and I are at Walmarks. A random guy walks up to us and says to me, "hey! do you remember me?" (I didn't recognize him at all). He then started to explain how we had given him a cupcake. hahaha I excitingly then asked him if the cupcake was good and he said yes and then gave us his number so that we could come and teach him!!! BOOYAH. CUPCAKES WORK Y'ALL. 

Update on Brother Mack: HE JUST HAD HIS INTERVIEW FOR RECEIVING THE PRIESTHOOD. He is such a happy 70 year old man and he makes me SO SO SO HAPPY!!! I love being around him and I want everyone to hear his amazing/heartfelt conversion story. He is the best! I love him so much and I secretly wish I could hug him, but no. I am a missionary. I wish y'all could have seen the change that has happened because of the Gospel that is now in his life. His whole countenance is completely different. He studies from the scriptures every day and always has intellectual questions to ask us. Yesterday, at church, we sang the song, "All Creatures of Our God and King" (yes. I thought of dad the whole time!) and I looked over at him during the song and he was shaking his head up and down and had a HUGE smile on his face as he sang the song. Oh my. He is so cute!!!!

FUN FACT ABOUT BRO. MACK. So brother Mack is an extremely picky eater. Like really bad. He told us a story how he went on a trip to Mexico and ate at a steak house for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for the whole week he was there because it was the only place that didn't serve mexican food which he hates. hahahhaha we came to the conclusion that the only food he really eats and loves is white rice. Sister Moore and I thought of a genius idea to fill up a Christmas stocking of rice to give to him!!! hahahahha He is the best. I want y'all to meet him SO BADLY.

Funny story of the week: We have been reteaching the missionary lessons to a lady who got baptized at the beginning of this year, but is now less active (so sad). Her grandpa was there and he is 95 years old and is absolutely hilarious!!! We invited him to join in on the lesson and he said, "hold on. I need to get my papers for you to read." He then got up out of his seat and went to the back room and rummaged through his stuff. We continued on with the lesson which was on the Plan of Salvation. He came back into the room right as we were about to finish up as we were talking about the different degrees of glory. He interrupted me mid-sentence and gave me a piece of paper that had a random story on it about an old house that had been restored. He demanded that I should read it. So hilarious. So I read it. Then, he started to pull out some more stories for us to read aloud. We had to leave really soon because we were already there for 45 minutes, but he kept telling us to read all the random stories. I asked him if we could finish the lesson and he can barely hear so I just yelled in his ear, asking him if he knew anything about the Celestial Kingdom. hahahahaha. I love my life. The grandpa was raised baptist and he just ignored my question. He was absolutely hilarious. I love old people so much. He reminded me SO MUCH of Grandpa Platt because he told the same stories over and over again about world war 2. It was quite amazing to talk with him because he is full of so much wisdom!!!

I am so excited that it is Thanksgiving this week!!!!! What are y'all thankful for? Oh my goodness, Sister Moore and I have been writing down all the things we are thankful for and the list is endless. 

I'm grateful for: Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, The Holy Ghost, Repentance, The Atonement, Plan of Salvation, Alabama, Missionary work, Food, Shelter, Cars, Oxygen, BBQ, Scriptures, Cameras, my planner, the south, gravy, clothes, southern accents, post its, puppies, bathrooms, children, my watch, sweaters, shoes, thunder, rain, MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS, etc. I really could go on and on. 

Be grateful in EVERY circumstance y'all!!!!!! Heavenly Father has blessed each one of us so so so much!!!!

Go read Mosiah 2: 19-21 :) One of my FAVORITE SCRIPTURES!!!!!

In other news....

-We DO have a dinner appointment for Thanksgiving, thank goodness. We are eating with the Carlisles!!! (The lady who used to be in the same ward as y'all in Roswell). I am so excited :) God answers prayer and gave us someone to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with. 

-The Iron bowl is this weekend #prayforus 

- Congrats to my sweet mom and sisters for running a HALF MARATHON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL UNDER 3 HOURS. WHHHAAAAAAT??? Y'ALL ARE AMAZING AND INSPIRE ME.

- Our current thing to work out to is Jillian Michels YOGA. #sosore #ohjillian #ithinkofdadeverytime #biggestloser

-"Honk if you love Jesus. Text while driving if you want to meet Him" ---church sign

- I officially can't stand cats and dogs. THEY DRIVE ME NUTS. THEY ARE GROSS.

-I had chicken n' dumplings for the first time on my mission. It's a classic southern treat. Not a huge fan.

-We tracted into a lady and this is how the convo went:

Lady: "You two girls are so pretty and are just glowing."

us: "thanks so much! We just know that the good news we bring can change your life"

lady: "ah. That is where y'all are wrong. I feel so bad that you are so deceived. Don't let Satan do that to you and make you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet." 

us: "Well. We hope you have a great day, ma'am. Do you know anyone in this area who could use the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives."

Lady: "no. I don't want you to lead any of my neighbors away from the truth."

#k #thesouthismakingmytestimonySOstrong

LOVE Y'ALL. HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING and avoid making caveman rolls mom! Let Jenna make them :) hahah have a great one!!!!!!

MYKY,

Sister Platt