I AM SO HAPPY.
Goodness.
Heavenly Father is such an amazing person.
It's neat to think that we are helping God fulfill HIS dream which is found in Moses 1:39 :)
This past week has been AWESOME!!!! I'm officially in a TRIO and it is honestly one of the best things that has happened to me on my mission. I am serving with Sister Clark who is from Oklahoma and Sister Downs who is from Colorado. We all work REALLY WELL together and we have so many inside jokes with each other and it's only been 5 days!!!! We call ourselves "the triple threat" and may or may not say that when we answer the phone. We are all constantly laughing and embracing how awkward a trio can be. Heavenly Father has helped us out so much! We have been starting with a clean slate of no investigators, BUT we have been able to find a lot of people in just a few days!!!!!
I am just going to list some fun/funny/spiritual experiences that have happened these past few days...
-We went to the store to go find new investigators and as I was walking back to get a cart, I just smiled at this man and he gave me a huge smile back and continued on his way. He then saw my companions (Clark and Downs) and stopped them and said, "So who are you girls?" I caught up with them and we started to explain that we were missionaries and that we were called to serve in Alabama. He then said, "Oh that's neat!!! I'm actually a prophet and I could sense that you girls are good spirits and that you have the light of Christ with you." We then had small talk with him and he started to explain all of the prophecies he has made about tornadoes and the second coming. ha, it was fun to talk with him. He is super devoted to following God which I admire. He then walked away and then we continued on our way through the store. Then, about ten minutes later, Prophet Tolan comes back and tells us, "God wanted me to tell you ladies that you will be taken care of with college and that you will receive scholarships." WELL SWEET!!!!! Thank you to Prophet Tolan!!!!! I am obsessed with the south.
It has been really nice outside recently and we have been able to find a lot of new people through just walking around neighborhoods!!! I had the chance to play basketball with 10 elementary school kids. It was hilarious because every time I would make a shot or steal the ball, one of the kids named Godwin would yell, "OOOHHHH THIS WHITE GIRL HAS SKILL." hahahah we handed them all pictures of Jesus and they loved it!!! We are going to start playing with them once a week and hopefully start to add in some principles of the gospel. CAN'T WAIT. We found three other guys playing basketball at a different park and asked them if we could play with them this Saturday and they said yes!!! woot woot!
We met this lady named Michelle who was just sitting in her car with a REALLY CUTE puppy. We approached the puppy first and started asking her questions about her dog. We talked with her for a good 30 minutes and it ended up with us giving her a Book of Mormon and having a return appointment with her (which we went to yesterday). Michelle has had such a rough life and no longer has custody of her 2 kids. She used to be into drugs and found God through that and the experience of losing her baby son because of SIDS. I KNOW that Heavenly Father has put her in our path. We had a lesson with her yesterday, but the puppy kept distracting the lesson because he kept biting and jumping on us and Michelle didn't do anything about it. Anyway, we have another return appointment with her which is great!!!! We are planning on bringing some chew toy for the puppy to have so that the spirit can be there in the lessons. Before we left, Michelle told us, "y'all are such innocent girls. I can just tell from the way you look and your countenance." It was so sweet for her to say and it meant a lot to me.
I am the designated driver for the trio and since Madison 3rd ward boundaries are so different, I had no clue where I was going and Sister Clark would direct me. Well, she said "turn left" and I didn't hear her and ended up turning left down a different street. I then jokingly said, "Well, shoot. Maybe God wants us to be on this street instead." We saw a cute family sitting outside on their driveway and decided to park the car and talk with them. As we got closer to them, the dad gave us a dirty look and told his kids to come inside with him. We then saw that his neighbors were sitting outside getting ready to leave. It ended up being this group of "artsy/gothic" musicians and we were a little hesitant to walk up to them, but I thought to myself, "They NEED this gospel just as much as anyone else" so we started to approach them and one of the guys popped his head out of his car window and said: "Are you the Mormons???" We smiled big and just said YES. He then continued, "Oh. I hate Mormons. I'm a satanist." .....awkward silence..... then he said, "Nah. I'm just kidding. I actually dated a Mormon in high school." Anyway, it was really awkward and the conversation ended with me trying to give his drunk friend the Book of Mormon after his friend called us pretty girls. hahahaha We were all laughing so hard after we walked away. Oh boy. Such good times. Missions are weird. But we did find a PREPARED lady named Dana right next door to the artsy musicians and we have an appointment with her this week!!!! She said she was super open and has been looking for a church for the past few weeks!!!
We met this lady named Mary who is this old southern baptist black lady who has really rough dementia. Ah. She was so precious and sang us a song!! over and over and over again... It goes like this:
"Jesus is alive and well. Jesus is alive and well. Jesus is everywhere. He knows me and he knows you. Jesus he watches over me. He loves to rock me to sleep." And then you repeat the song about 5 times more and that was basically the time that was spent with Mary. We sang along with her after the second time. Love her so much!!!!!!!!!
We went to visit this lady in our ward named Sister Ballers. She can't come to church because she has really bad MS. She has a caretaker at her home and her name is Lisa and she is in her late twenties!!! We introduced her to the BOM and gave her one!! It was so precious because she innocently asked us if she could write in it. Then, she wanted us to sign it!! Lisa has been through a lot as well and left her home when she was 15 years old because her mom was very abusive. She really opened up to us and it was such a tender mercy from the Lord because she seemed so "stand offish" when we first met her. I can't wait to see what unfolds!!!
These past few days, I have really been trying to focus on the idea of: "Is it better or is it easier?" I am striving to do those things that may be harder, but BETTER to do. We got finished with an appointment at 8:40 pm and had 20 minutes until we had to go home. President Hanks has really stressed the importance of using the extra minutes that we have to be successful missionaries. He likes to use the word "Lagniappe" to describe this idea. Lagniappe basically means: "for good measure. And then some. that little bit extra." God really will reward us for doing those things that will stretch us. Anyway, back to my story. We had 20 minutes left and we felt the need to go into the store "gamestop". Which is totally random for us to go to because it's a video game store, BUT we talked to the lady working in there for a good 30 minutes about the gospel!! She knows a lot of the Mormons in Madison 2nd ward which was really neat!!!!!! We are going to stop by today and give her a Book of Mormon!!!! God works in mysterious ways and really notices our efforts. One thing I have learned is that no effort is wasted!!!! God knows the intents of our hearts and wants to bless us.
I finished the Book of Mormon!!! WOOT WOOT!!! Seriously, I am amazed at this book and the power that it brings to conversion. What a beautiful blessing it is to have that added knowledge in our lives.
ANNOUNCEMENT: We will be receiving mini ipads this April and will also be using Facebook to share messages and chat with investigators!!! It will be such a GREAT resource to have for sharing the gospel!! I guess we are allowed to skype non-member friends from home and give them the lessons!!!! I AM SO EXCITED. I feel like missionary work will really change here!
I want y'all to search the talk, "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. His words are so powerful and inspirational!!!!
I hope all is well with y'all and I hope that you are noticing God's love in your lives. He is watching over us and knows us so well. We need to trust in Him. I love how Christ is always inviting us to come unto Him!!! What an amazing thing to understand!!!!! He will never push us away.
I am so happy and I am so excited to be serving here in Madison with the triple threat. We are all really hard workers and we balance out each other really well. The ward is great and is a lot bigger than 2nd, but I love it!!! I was able to bare my testimony yesterday in Sacrament meeting and it was the craziest thing because I wasn't nervous at all!!! Being on this mission has changed me in so many ways and sometimes, I don't even realize it until I take a step back and look at how I was before. I AM GRATEFUL.
Happy birthday to BRAYDON THIS UPCOMING WEEK!!!!! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!!
MYKY,
Sister Platt :)
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