All is Well

Sometimes, missionary work can be REALLY frustrating, but then I have just learned to take a step back, breathe, and continue on. This past week had its ups and downs. I would love to talk about a couple experiences this week and then close with what I have learned and realized :)

This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to go to the temple with all the other missionaries and wow, I am obsessed with that place. It was much needed. I am so grateful for a loving Savior who did so much for us so that we could return to live back with Him and our Heavenly Father. I really tried to focus on the Savior during the whole session and I came out with a greater appreciation of Him. As I was sitting in the Celestial room, Sister Hanks came up to me and gave me a huge hug and told me how proud she was of me. She then started to ask me how my family was doing and told me that she was reading through her old emails and cleaning out her inbox and found a letter that dad sent her at the beginning of my mission. With tears in her eyes, Sister Hanks told me that she just could not stop reading the email from him and that she could tell he was a VERY smart man. She told me that he was proud of me and that she knows he is close by. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I'm so grateful for her and President Hanks. President Hanks also came up to me and asked me what I had learned. I explained to him what I learned from the session and he started to cry and told me that he just thought of us missionaries the whole time and how lucky he is to have us. He then said, "AH. YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT THE HARDEST PART OF BEING A MISSION PRESIDENT IS??? Not being able to hug the sister missionaries!!!!" His head then drooped down as I started to quietly laugh. He then said, "come here, lamp." and he grabbed the lamp next to him as we are in the celestial room. hahahhahaahah SOOO FUNNY. Everyone was cracking up. I love that man.

In other news, Michelle (the one who had the baptismal date for April) is officially kind of crazy and has A LOT of problems. We met with her last night and saturday night and she is a serious partier and doesn't think that what she is doing is bad. We started to talk about the Plan of Salvation and then she went off on a tangent about "her man" so we ended up talking with her about the Law of Chastity. Her head could not wrap around the idea that we were living chaste lives and she told us that we were the oldest girls she has ever met that are still living virtuous lives. How sad is that???? Anyway, we are going to have to work with her for quite a long time and we are currently praying for inspiration of whether or not we should even teach her. Blah.

I will talk about my favorite day of the week which was this past Tuesday...

We taught seminary in the morning (freshman) and oh my, it brought me back to the good ole' days. All of the girls sat together in one corner and the 5 guys would all sit on the opposite end. We taught about Samuel the Lamanite and had them mingle and FORCED them to talk to each other. It was hilarious to see how much of "freshman" they were.

We then went over and did service (deep cleaning) at a members home because they are about to put their house up for sale. I had no idea how much I enjoyed cleaning until I did it then. It is a great tool to release the stress that comes from missionary work. We then went over to Michelle's and helped her clean her carpets and organize her son's room for the DHR people to come. We put up pictures on the walls and I felt like my mother for the day as I definitely had the "eye" for where everything should go. We then met with Matt and Jade and took them on a tour of the church. They both loved the fact that there were no gory photos of christ anywhere and they could feel the spirit. At the end of the tour, we asked them what they thought of it and Jade answered saying, "I feel like I could run a mile right now! I don't know why, I just feel so happy!!!" Then, cute little/innocent/awkward Matt answered saying, "It was nice." hahahah so funny. I love them so much!!! 2 days later, we had another lesson with them and I felt the need to show them the Restoration video. The spirit was so strong as we all watched it and I think it answered a lot of their questions. As we were about to leave, Matt blurted out, "I think I would like to attend church this sunday even though Jade can't make it." (Jade had work). GUESS WHAT GUYS??? MATT TOTALLY CAME. It was a miracle!!!!!! Matt is such a sweet person and he was super happy at church and soaked it all in. Before he left, he said, "Hopefully Jade can come with me next time." UM YES. I HOPE SO TOO. THEY ARE SO PREPARED. I'm so grateful for the spirit and how it works to convert others. The sad part is... Matt and Jade are in 2nd ward and so we are handing them off to the other sisters to teach them...

SO, basically, we are asking Heavenly Father to find the ELECT this week that are like Jade and Matt because we basically have no one that we are teaching at this point. I have gotten so discouraged, but I know that God will provide a way for us to find those that are being prepared.

Last night, the triple threat was feeling really really down and discouraged because of the lack of success we were seeing. I was getting so mad at myself and kept thinking about the things that I needed to improve on. This past week, I have been praying and asking what things I need to get better at and why I'm not seeing "success" on my mission. I was answered with a calm assurance that God's timing is better than my own and that my mission is unique and I will improve each day and that God was proud of my efforts thus far. We then had a mission wide conference call last night and our AP's talked a lot about obedience. I am so grateful for the guidance that they gave us. They basically chastened all of us and told all of us to repent tonight and refocus our attention on the work and dedicate our mission to the Lord. They then promised us that if we would do this, we would be able to see MIRACLES this week. The whole time, I just kept thinking, "wow. I have so much to work on. I know that I won't ever be perfect, but I can strive to live like the Savior. At least I have another year of this amazing work!"

I really just want to CHANGE for the better and let the Atonement do that for me. I have learned the importance of a positive attitude and BELIEVING in miracles. When we put our trust in God, He puts His trust in us!!!!

I hope that in my next email home, I will be typing the many miracles that WILL happen this week.  

Fun facts about this week/my missionary work:

-I get REALLY REALLY excited when I see a moving truck. We saw one last week in our apartment complex and ended up having the elders come and help us move our neighbors in. They were super grateful and kept telling us that they would have taken all night to move stuff in. (It really would of taken them forever). They said they were looking for a church home and we invited them to ours! They didn't come yesterday, but we are planning on bringing them cookies and reminding them about church next sunday :) (SIDENOTE:cookies are the KEY to getting into Less actives/ investigators homes).

- There is a "restoration" church that is located a mile away from our church. ha I am really tempted to go inside and see what it's all about :)

-People's agency is so annoying sometimes.

-Everyone tells us that they already go to a church here... well yeah you do! It's the south and we know that!!! hahah people are funny. They need this gospel so much!!!!!!!!!!!

Well. That is about it for this week. Sorry this email was kind of lame. I just want y'all to know that I love y'all and I am so grateful for this gospel and for Christ's atonement/repentance that allows us to CHANGE and become better. I know I am doing the greatest work I will ever do in my life and I just don't want to take any day for granted.

Jacob 1:7

Y'all should look up the talk, "The Songs they Could not Sing." by Elder Quentin L. Cook!!! He mentions Marion D. Hanks and how he was HIS mission president and how he had him memorize a quote that we use on our mission all the time :) It's pretty sweet!!!!

MYKY,

Sister Platt

P.S. Thank you mom for the scripture case!! it is perfect!!!