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

God wants US to be happy

Ah. I LOVE MY LIFE SO MUCH <3333 

I JUST GOT DONE EATING BREAKFAST WITH BRAD AND KATHY!!!! SO MUCH FUN. I LOVE THEM BOTH SO MUCH!!!!!! hahah we ended up going to cracker barrel because there is nothing in this town. Brad was of course, trying to use the southern terms (like dad would of done) and kept saying, "yes sir" and he attempted to say "y'all" hahhahah too good. He ordered grits while the rest of us ordered some classic french toast and the waitress said, "Them grits are some good eatin". #lovemylife :) I'm so grateful for such amazing people in my life. I'm so grateful for the south. God is so good!!!!!! 

So this morning, as I was brushing my teeth and reflecting on what I wanted to email to y'all today about this past week. I was thinking a lot about happiness and how God really just wants us all to be truly happy. I was also pondering about the people here in the South. They all go to church and they are all trying to do the right thing, but so many are not as happy as they COULD be. I think we often think if nothing goes right in life, we have the rightful claim to be unhappy, but we NEED to remember the little things in life that makes our heart leap for joy!

The events that stuck out to me the most from this past week was just the little things that happened. There were just so many little tender mercies from the Lord. I feel like so many times as people, we focus on the huge events that happen in life and don't take the time to appreciate the cute/funny/spiritual things that happen. I am guilty of it as well. So I will list just some that I can think of, but I KNOW that there are SO many more!!!! And yes, this email will be all over the place. 

>While reading scriptures with Brother Mack, his daughter Nicole starts singing in her room REALLY loudly about how Christmas is coming up soon. I could NOT stop smiling. Oh my goodness. IT was the cutest thing ever. Brother Mack just shook his head and said, "yup. that's my baby. I would do anything for her!" I then asked Brother Mack if we could go knock on her bedroom door and give her a huge hug. We did. Seeing her just confirms to me more and more every time that I want to work with kids with special needs. I love her so much! 

>When we went over to Brother Gause's home for dinner last night, his daughter said, "turn the channel to number 334." So he turned the channel and guess what it was? The BYU TV station. How precious is that? It was the cutest thing ever that they were so mindful of us. #southernhospitality

>Yesterday, it was raining ALL day long, but Sister Moore and I decided to build our character and tract anyway. We found 3 new solid investigators!!!! People who have been searching for truth in their lives and one of the guys in particular is searching to know if God really does exist. We were able to share a scripture with him and it was powerful. So grateful. 

>At church yesterday, we sat near Brother Mack and as we sang, "count your many blessings" I looked over at him and he had the BIGGEST smile on his face and was singing every word. 

>One day, it was FREEZING outside, but we decided to be crazy and just bike to build even more character. Oh my goodness. It was the funnest bike ride of my life!!!!! We were laughing so hard the whole time! I kept praying and asked Heavenly Father if He would send us to someone who had hot chocolate. WELL. HE DID. We went over to follow up with a member on a referral activity we did with her and she had prepared hot chocolate and cookies that were there as soon as we walked in the door. We didn't even ask her for it!!! God answers the most simplest prayers. It's the neatest thing! 

>Last night, it was raining really hard and we still had one more hour left of the night. We drove over to the walmart parking lot and literally ran from person to person and held up an umbrella for them, asking them if they needed help to their car and then invited them to learn more. IT WAS A SUCCESS. We had so much fun doing it and we were drenched from the rain. When it rains here, Alabama really doesn't mess around. IT POURS. One man said to us, "can I say a prayer for y'all? I want to ask God to keep y'all this positive and happy for the rest of y'alls lives. Thank you gals." THIS PLACE IS THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD. 

>While on exchanges in Taladega, we went store contacting and started talking to a lady at target in the cookie aisle. We asked her if she knew anyone in the area who needed a prayer. Immediately, she dropped everything that she was holding and held out her hands and said, "I could sure use one!" and then closed her eyes. We then said a prayer with her just in the cookie aisle at target. WHAT. That would of NEVER happened out west. 

>I saw a church sign that said, "You be fishers of men. You catch them. He'll clean them" I LOVE THAT. 

>We met a hilarious lady who told us ALL about her medical problems and how she was given three shots in one day. As she was explaining this whole situation, she said, "yeah. The doctors just gave me a wam bam thank you ma'am." hahhahah I asked her to repeat what she said so I could write it down. I LOVE ALL THE PHRASES PEOPLE USE HERE. 

>We tracted into a couple who let us in right away and then sat us down on their couch. The husband started to throw a bunch of anti things at us and we were able to just smile and keep our composure the whole time. We were able to leave their home in peace without any feelings hurt. By the end of our conversation with them, the husband said to us, "well. I guess y'all aren't too bad after all. Y'all will definitely make it to the kingdom before us." haha people are so funny. Heavenly Father definitely helped us leave a good impression on them :) 

>We taught this cute hispanic lady named Gloria. When I asked her what Jesus Christ meant to her, she got all teary eyed and said in her broken english, "Jesus is my everything." 

>My new favorite saying that I saw on the wall of someones home: "Life is fragile. Handle with prayer." 

>I got amazing/hilarious letters this week from my mom, mere, and gary. It made my day!!!!!!! It just made me realize how STRONG my family is in the gospel and I am so grateful for that. We are so blessed to have everyone in our family still active. Thanks mom and dad for raising us up and working so hard to support each one of us :) 

>We helped an older lady take in her groceries. She was a classic southern lady who is CRAZY about Jesus. She has a Jesus carpet of the last supper and has Jesus pictures ALL OVER her house. As we were talking with her, she said, "The Lord blessed me with the opportunity to share my testimony with 3 people in Walmart today!!!" She then started to tell us all of her experiences with God and how she has been able to help others. WHAT A GREAT EXAMPLE SHE IS. 

>A less active girl in our ward just got married this past week. She asked us if we would help decorate the place where she was getting married. It took us an hour and a half to decorate. Guess how long the wedding was?!?!? 9 MINUTES LONG. The shortest wedding of my life. It was adorable though. It was so classic as well. hahha the wedding took place right in the middle of the Alabama football game so people were checking the scores and listening to the game on their car radios as soon as the wedding ended. People are just so hilarious here. I love them so much!!!! 

>We prayed and asked Heavenly Father where He needed us to be one night. I thought of a gas station. Sister Moore thought of the railroad tracks. SO, we went to a gas station near some railroad tracks. The only person in the gas station was the worker and he was muslim. He talked to us for quite some time about religion and he expressed to us how sad it is for him to see how americans view his religion that he holds so close to him. I was able to tell him all about how I went to Turkey and how I fell in love with the muslim religious practices. He was so grateful for us just stopping by and we told him that God wanted us to come by. We asked him if there was some random candy that he had in the gas station (which they didn't) and then asked him what his favorite candy was. We were able to buy it for him without him even realizing what we were doing. It was such a simple act that we were able to do for him and it made me realize how easy it is for us to just make someones day. 

>We had very spiritual lessons with our investigator Michelle this past week. We had her think of  a question in her mind and then read Alma 26 with her. The spirit definitely confirmed to me as she was reading that her question was totally getting answered and she didn't even tell me what her question was about. At the end of the lesson, Michelle offered the prayer and said, "Dear Heavenly Father, I just want to thank you for this book I am reading. It helped answer questions that all of my pastors haven't been able to answer. I want to thank you for these... (she paused for a moment)... I mean, MY sisters here. Thank you for speaking to me through them. In Jesus name. Amen." She is SO solid!!!!!!!!!! She wasn't able to come to church yesterday, but she said she would next week!!!!!

>We had a lesson with Diamond and Marquarious in the car last week because it was freezing outside and their brother had friends over in their home. We taught them about the gospel of Jesus Christ and then showed them some EFY music. They loved it and we were all just sitting in the car singing to some really cheesy efy songs. (shoutout to braydon. Totally think of you every time we listen to it... "I... love EFY.") SAD SIDENOTE: They haven't been answering their door or returning our calls :( don't know what's up with them. But, I DO know that God was able to change them in the small time we were able to teach them. They are now closer to God than ever before!

>I forgot to mention last week about how Sister Gustafson gave me a call on November 7th and just talked with me. We laughed about all the good ole' times we had in Clanton. miss that place. I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR HER. I HAVE SUCH AMAZING PEOPLE IN MY LIFE. SO MANY LIFELONG FRIENDS HERE ON MY MISSION. GOD KNOWS WHO WE EACH NEED.

I love my life. I really can't even explain it through email how much I love this mission. I go to bed every night with a huge smile on my face. The people here amaze me. They are all so nice. I am still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I am a missionary. gah. Heavenly Father knew exactly where I needed to be. I feel immediate chills whenever I think of the state of Alabama. The people. The food. The culture. All of it is so beautiful to me! 

May we each strive to focus on the little things in life that make all the difference. I am reminded of the scripture in 1 Nephi 16:29 which says, "And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things." IT IS SO TRUE. 

Do the little/mundane things as well that are often overlooked!

Go read The Book of Mormon. IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. 

Read an ensign article. 

Go on a run.

Buy the cashier a candy bar.

Help someone with their groceries.

Tell someone that they look beautiful.

Go volunteer at a food pantry.

Say a prayer with someone in need.

Give someone cookies. Just because. 

Rake some leaves. AND DON'T FORGET to jump in the pile of leaves.

Say a kneeling prayer and leave all distractions behind you for a couple of minutes.

There are soooooooooo many things in life to be happy about. I think that is one of the biggest things I have learned on my mission. HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE. Appreciate the little things and appreciate them with a smile on your face. This life is way too short to live unhappy. God is by our side and with us. He will NEVER leave us alone. NEVER. I know that God lives and wants us all to be happy. I know He wants us to be happy because He sent His only Begotten Son. I know He wants us to be happy because He has given us the Holy Ghost. I know He wants us to be happy because it makes Him happy. 

Love y'all and have a happy week ahead! 

Look for the little details within the day that make you smile!!!

MYKY,

Sister Platt

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?

Ahh. This week was absolutely AMAZING!!!!!!!! 

I feel like every week has been incredible on the mission. I never know where to begin with how everything played out this week. gah. I am so humbled to be serving the Lord. He never ceases to amaze me. We have been focusing a lot on prayer this past week and I KNOW that God truly hears and answers our prayers!!!!!!! 

Let prayer be your steering wheel. Let the answers and promptings you receive control everything you do during the day and you WON'T go wrong!!!!!!!!!

Here are some examples from this past week:

-We had 2 hours left of the night with all of our plans cancelled. We sat in the car and decided to pray and ask Heavenly Father where HE would like us to be. During the prayer, the random name "kenya" popped into my mind. I questioned myself and thought I was crazy for thinking of that name, but told Sister Moore about it. She then told me that Chick fil a popped into her mind. We followed both promptings and headed over to good ole' chick fil a. We didn't get any food (YES. I HAVE SELF CONTROL NOW Y'ALL. CHICK FIL A IS MY FAVORITE AND I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE ANY.) but instead, we went from table to table and asked the kind southerners if they knew anyone named Kenya. Most responded saying, "uh. no. What does she look like?" and then we would respond saying, "we have no idea! We have never met her! We just have a unique message to share with her. When can we share it with you and your family?" hahhahah it was hilarious. We met this really nice man named Ted who asked us ALL about our religion and was super nice. He is a lawyer and is super motivated to change the world. He brainstormed ideas with us on how we can get people to draw closer to Jesus Christ. It was the coolest experience! ONLY in the south can you walk into a restaurant and talk to a nice lawyer about Jesus Christ for 30 minutes. 

We were still VERY determined to find Kenya and had an hour left of the night. So yes. We ventured to Walmart. (and yes. I still can't stand that store). We asked a good 30 people there if they knew a Kenya and everyone said no. We were getting discouraged, but still had that inkling of hope within us. It was 8:55 and we were fixin to head out the store because we had to be home by 9. We decided to ask the last bit of workers who were standing by the door if they knew a Kenya. They confusingly looked at us and asked us why we were asking them that question. We started to explain our experience of prayer and how we asked God who we needed to see and how the name Kenya popped in my mind. All the workers just shook their heads no and we began to walk away... THEN. One of the workers started to squeal as she called after us and said, "NO WAY. NO WAY." She then had her jaw dropped as she started to point her fingers at a lady walking in the store. The worker then said, "ASK THAT WOMAN WALKING IN IF SHE KNOWS SOMEONE NAMED KENYA!!!!" We did and GUESS WHAT????? THE LADY WHO WALKED INTO THE STORE HAS A DAUGHTER NAMED KENYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CRAZZZZZZZYYYYYYYYYY. HEAVENLY FATHER IS SO REAL AND IS A GOD OF MIRACLES. SO COOL. 

We told the lady our story of the name kenya and she was freaking out as well. I could barely talk because I was so excited. Sister Moore and I were shaking our voices as we said to her, "WE NEED TO SEE YOU SOMETIME SOON!!!! WE KNOW WE HAVE A MESSAGE THAT YOU AND YOUR DAUGHTER NEED. GOD LED US TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The lady agreed and said we could stop by :)))) 

We are going to see her this upcoming week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

If Sister Moore wouldn't of thought of going to Chick fil A, we wouldn't have run into the lady whose daughter was named Kenya. Man, God's timing is everything!!!!!

I KNOW that the experience we had that night was definitely (as southerners say) "a God thing."

Heavenly Father is in the very details of our lives and totally cares about everything that we do. We can ask Him for anything and HeWILL answer!!!!! 

-Sister Moore and I were out biking and it was freezing outside. We found a wonderful neighborhood that neither of us had ever been to before. It was starting to get really dark around 5 and didn't know if we should bike there or not because we had an appointment at 6. We both felt prompted to go anyway and just start tracting in the dark. The first house we went to was an answered prayer. Sidenote: Our mission has been focusing on asking people inspired questions while tracting. For some reason, I felt like we should avoid asking her an inspired question and asked her if we could just say a prayer with her. Sister Moore felt the same way as I did. SO COOL. A cute mom named Michelle answered the door and we just told her that we were representatives of Jesus Christ and that we were leaving prayers with people. Without hesitation, she let us in!!!!! Her friend Mishayla was there as well. Before we offered the prayer, Michelle just started to ask us a million questions about what we believed in and so did Mishayla. They both started to express to us that they had been praying the past few days to understand truth more. It was crazy. They are both no longer going to a church because they don't trust anything the preachers say. 

 This is basically some of the things they said that just made my heart burst with joy: 

"I don't understand the Bible! I don't know what is truth and what isn't. I wish there was a better translation of it."

"I have been just praying and asking God to send me a sign or something to let me know what truth He wants me to hear." 

"We are so glad we let y'all in. I feel like God is giving us a sign by y'all coming inside. I usually say no to people at the door, but something told me to let y'all in." 

AH. THIS EXPERIENCE IS SOMETHING THAT I HAVE DREAMED ABOUT MY WHOLE MISSION. THEY ARE SO PREPARED. 

We were able to teach them about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they LOVED it. We invited them each to say a kneeling prayer at the end and it was precious... 

"Dear Heavenly Father, I just wanna thank you for sending these sisters to my door. I know it's a sign from you. Thanks for answering my prayer." 

The spirit was SO thick in that room. They both recognized it as well. I love asking investigators how they feel. In my opinion, it's the best question to ask. Mishayla smiled after we asked her how she felt and she just lifted up her arm and said, "LOOK! I have goose bumps." :) 

We have a return appointment with them this week. STOKED.

-Yesterday after church, Sister Moore offered the prayer as she asked Heavenly Father to guide us to people who were truly ready. We went biking towards a neighborhood that we wanted to tract. On the way there, we found a cute lady named Audra who was sitting outside on her porch. (thank goodness for the south and their porches). We started talking with her about her life and she opened up to us a lot and told us about all of the medical problems she is having. (People are SO open here in the south). We asked her if we could share a scripture with her in which she replied saying, "sure! can you please share one from The Book of Mormon? Just share one of the popular verses that y'all use a lot. I want to know more about it." UM. WHAT? This never happens y'all. It was crazy. NO ONE EVER ASKS US TO SHARE A SCRIPTURE FROM THE BOOK OF MORMON. 

(We usually share a scripture from it with people and they end up loving the scripture and ask us where they can find that scripture in their bible and then we explain it's only in The Book of Mormon and then they usually become all defensive)

BUT AUDRA IS SO OPEN. We handed her a copy of The Book of Mormon and she said, "Oh no. I can't take that from you. I don't have any money." NO AUDRA. IT'S FOR FREE!!!! She was so excited to get it!!!! She then asked us if we had ever seen the movie "17 miracles" about the pioneers. um. what. She told us that she watched it just 2 weeks ago and cried through the whole thing. hahaha she told us every story that happened in that movie. She is basically already Mormon and we are seeing her again tomorrow. So excited. People are being prepared left and right!!!!!!!

-Diamond and Marquarious are doing great!!!! They both came to mutual on Wednesday night and loved it! Marquarious is shy so he stayed with us as we did crafts with the Young women :) hahaha it was great!!!! Diamond also went on a hike with all the young women in the stake on saturday morning and LOVED IT!!!!!!! She was able to make so many new friends and all the young women love her. 

They were unfortunately not able to come to church yesterday because their aunt unexpectedly is in the hospital and they stayed all day with her yesterday. 

It was so cute because at church yesterday, all of the young women leaders came up to us and asked us where Diamond was and even gave us cute hand outs that they made for her. GAH. I love this ward so much :) 

-Brother Mack is such a stud. He is still doing really well!!!! He is so faithful. When we saw him last sunday, he told us his experience with fasting and how hard it was for him because it was his first time doing it, but he told us that God answered His prayer right away :) 

-I went on two exchanges this past week with some AMAZING SISTERS!!!! I LOVE EXCHANGES. I was able to be with Sister Nelson in Sylacuaga and we were able to have so many wonderful lessons. I learned so much from her. I'm grateful for her love and her unconditional service that she renders. We taught the Plan of Salvation to a family of 3 kids. The 10 year old girl totally shocked me with how much she knew. She was asking such deep questions!!!! Little kids just remember and know God at such a different level than adults. She was a great example to me of just being humble and being willing to ask questions. 

I also had the opportunity to be with Sister Taylor and serve in Leeds with her for the day. Holy cow. I didn't know Sister Taylor at all before the exchange because she is a new sister in the zone and has only been out for 3 transfers, but wow, we became best friends right away! SHE IS HILARIOUS. I wish I knew her beforehand, but I'm glad I finally got to meet her!!!  She is the most humble sister I know and I learned so much. We were able to have some good talks about life and she is such a strong person. We were able to teach some workers outside of walmart about The Book of Mormon and Sister Taylor was so excited afterwards. She just said, "SISTER PLATT. I HAVE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE. THAT WAS SO COOL TO TEACH THEM JUST OUTSIDE OF WALMART." I am so grateful for the leaders who taught me how to be bold and I'm grateful for the chance I had to show her how to do it as well. Heavenly Father is so great to us!!!!!

That is about it for this week!!!!! There are so many other things that happened, but I don't have much time left. I KNOW Heavenly Father lives and answers prayer. He really does. Here are some quotes that I LOVE about prayer:

"Have we prayed about it as much as we have talked about it?"

"Fight all of your battles on your knees and you will win everytime."

"Satan tries to limit your prayers because your prayers limit him."

"What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked God for today?"

"If you don't have time to pray and read your scriptures you are busier than your Heavenly Father ever intended you to be." 

CAN I GET AN AMEN????? AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I urge y'all to kneel down every night and morning and offer up a prayer to Heavenly Father. Let Him know EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! HE WILL ANSWER.

In other news...

-We met a guy yesterday who owns a company that makes camoflauge hot tubs... He showed us pictures on his phone of him with Si from "duck dynasty" in one of his hot tubs. NBD. Just met Si's best friend yesterday.

-Only in the south do they have a congregation that goes hunting on sunday and then has a church service out in the woods with all the animals they killed.

-(referring to southerners) "We die young, but we eat better" ---random guy we tracted into. 

-"You is precious. May God bless you and prosper you." ----cute old man complimenting Sister Moore and us. #lovethepeoplehere

-We are going to the mall today!!!!!! #haven'tbeentoamallmywholemission #thisismyfirstareawithamall

-I'm sorry for this email being ALL OVER the place. Thanks for dealing with my scattered brain every monday. yikes. 

-I saw t-swift's new cd @ walmart and a little part inside me died a little. SO WEIRD to think I haven't listened to her in quite a long time. #misstswizzle #missionsareworththesacrifice

-Brother Gause is still coming to church :) 

I love y'all so much! I'm so grateful for my life and this mission. Prayers work. Jesus Christ lives. The truth is back on the earth. Just pray about it and God WILL answer you. HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE ANSWER YOU RECEIVE AND FOLLOW THE PROMPTINGS. 

MYKY,

Sister Platt