Sweet Home Alabama: We have a Chick-Fil-A here

Oh my goodness. First off, I'm obsessed with this area and miracles are happening!!!! There are TONS of stores here and I really do feel like I'm in heaven. During transfer meeting, when my name popped up next to my new area with my new companion, chills flew through my body and I just had a really strong confirmation that this is where I'm supposed to be. I'm serving in Madison which is REALLY close to Huntsville which is also in our area. The official NASA museum is right next to where we live!!! It's so cool!!! There are a lot of geniuses roaming the streets of Madison and the first counselor in our ward is a Rocket Scientist. No big deal. Oh, and guess what? I have been fed by a member of the ward EVERY SINGLE NIGHT and our dinner calendar is full of appointments every day this month. hahah It's so different here!!! No one has a southern accent here because most people are not from Alabama originally. I almost feel like I'm not in Alabama. We are staying in an apartment with two other sisters and oh my, it is so much fun!!!! We all get along really well!!! We do "insanity" workout every morning and I am getting into shape fast!!! WAHOO!!! life is so grand!

Sister Sheffer is seriously the BEST and I am SO grateful that I am serving with her!!!! We work really really really well together and I'm so excited for everything that has been happening the past 3 days of working together in this area!!! We have seen so many miracles and I know that we are seeing them because Heavenly Father can see our diligence and hard work. Seriously, Sister Sheffer is the hardest worker and the kindest person I know. We have taught so many lessons together already and the spirit is so strong!!!!

As missionaries this month, President Hanks wants us to focus on The Book Of Mormon and handing them out.

I have loved this challenge that he has given to us. It has really made me realize the importance of sharing it. I am always trying to hold one in my hand when I go out and it has made a difference because people truly do notice.As a companionship, Sister Sheffer and I want to hand out 40 by the end of this month!!! This week, we were able to hand out 14!!! Woot Woot!!!

Yesterday was an AMAZING DAY!!!! We taught this man named Edward and his two cute kids. He is so prepared, but doesn't even realize it. He is really confused about all of the churches and we just started to testify of the Book of Mormon and started to talk about the first vision. The spirit was SO STRONG in the room and when we were done talking, it was quiet in the room. I think Edward recognized the spirit and felt uncomfortable because he then started to go off topic and told us about Muslims and how they have arranged marriages. It was really random, but whatever. I KNOW that he felt the spirit. He committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it so that was good!!! He even gave us a referral to see his friend who lived across the street. We contacted his friend, Jason and he said he has an open mind and is willing to listen. He was busy so we set an appointment with him to come back!!! AH GOD IS GOOD!!!! Just wait, the BEST part is coming....

Sister Sheffer and I continued to tract and after many failures to find people, we decided that we would try just ONE more person and go up to the next neighborhood. We said a prayer of what house we should knock on. After saying the prayer, we looked over and saw a man just walking outside of his house and staring at us. Sister Sheffer and I both KNEW that we just had to talk to him!! We ran up to him and introduced ourselves and asked him if he goes to church. He told us that he just found God again and is going to a Non-denominational Christian church. I asked him if he had ever heard of the Book of Mormon and he said he has heard different things about it. I asked him if he knew what it was about and he said no. Sister Sheffer and I started to explain how it is another testament of Jesus Christ and his eyes just started to light up. He then just said, "Here, let's go inside and talk more about this." His name is Randall. We taught him the first discussion about the restoration and he seemed pretty interested. The spirit was so strong in the room. Right as we were about to talk about the Book of Mormon, his friend named Lisa (She is renting a room upstairs from him) came downstairs and went outside to smoke. Minutes later, she came back in and sat down on the couch to join in on the conversation. She told us, "I don't know why I'm sitting here, I just feel like I need to hear whatever you girls have to say." She then started to talk to us about how depressed she has been and how she never socializes with anyone and doesn't get out much. She told us how she has been mad at God a lot this past month and doesn't understand why He isn't answering her prayers. She just started to cry and said that she feels "so much peace in the room from the spirit we brought." AH. It was just amazing!!!! We invited her to church and our Book of Mormon study class and she said she would love to come!!! She asked us when we would come back because she is at home all day long because she doesn't have a car. She was so excited to hear that we teach all day every day. hahaha! She is so prepared and so is he. I'm so excited for the tender mercies and the miracles that God provides every day!!! Goodness. I LOVE being a missionary!!!!!!! When we were about to leave, Randall pulled us aside and said, "I'm so grateful that you both came. She needs you both so much right now. I'm glad she was able to come out of her room. She never leaves that room."

On saturday night, we were biking home in the dark from an appointment that we had with this really spunky girl named Aliyah. Wait. I will talk about the appointment with her first... So we went over to Aliyah's house. She is an 11 year old girl who loves to talk about Jesus. haha We walk into the house and her mom and cousin are playing wii and are really getting into it! They are playing the dance game (can't remember what it is called, but it reminded me of my family hahah) it was hilarious to watch them. Aliyah was getting really distracted so we asked her if we could teach her in her room. She agreed so we went into her room and started to talk about the restoration. Her cousin who was dancing (Mary) came in the room and asked us if she could join. DUH. Aliyah kept asking all of these random questions and got really off topic. She is hilarious and really crazy. After the lesson, she told us, "Thank you so much for talking to me about our Lord Jesus." haha it was pretty funny, but it made me realize how great our calling is as people who know about Jesus Christ and His gospel. We NEED to share it!!! People are just waiting and don't know where to turn!!! Let us all go out and find them!!!!!!

Anyway, back to the biking story... So we were biking home in the dark and guess what? We both had grocery bags on our handle bars as we bought icecream for "Sunday sundae". I completely flew off my bike and landed on the hard gravel road. It hurt pretty bad. Sister Sheffer felt awful. My bike chain fell off and we were a good 3 miles from home. I quickly just started to scramble and pick up everything that fell off. haha it was awful. We were able to put the chain back on (THANK GOODNESS) and ride home!!! When we got home, I looked at my knees and I was bleeding pretty bad. SO MUCH FUN!!!! We share the car with the other sisters so we bike every other day which is actually really fun!!! I'm getting so much exercise!!! Everyone in the ward lives super close to each other so it's a lot easier for us to bike around to appiontments.

I really just love it here!! The ward is great!! It just split, so there are probably 150 people in the ward! I'm so grateful for all that is happening here and I can't wait to see what will happen!!!!

Heavenly Father is so grand and I hope y'all are doing well and that this past week has been great as well!! I challenge y'all to share the Book of Mormon with a friend who you think would need it. It could even be just a verse. JUST DO IT. I can promise you that the Lord will bless you for your efforts in doing so. :)

LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH!!! I'M SO HAPPY AND I'M SO EXCITED TO BE A MISSIONARY.

MYKY,

Sister Platt