Hellooooo everyone!!!!! Ah, I have so much to say!!!!!!

GUESS WHAT I JUST FOUND OUT????? Helen Kellers house is like 10 minutes away from where I live!!! And a lady in my ward used to play with her when she was little!! So, basically I'm famous.

Okay. There was a lot that went on this past week and this email is going to be all over the place so I apologize...

One day, we were riding our bikes and we saw these 5 guys playing basketball. I stopped my bike and asked if I could play with them. They all looked at me with a really strange look on their face and just said, "uh. sure?" I then excitingly said "GREAT!! WE WILL RIDE HOME REALLY FAST AND CHANGE." So we did just that. We biked back to our house which was luckily only a block away. Changed. Then rode back. I started to play 3 on 3 with them. They expected me to be really bad and not know what I was doing... Needless to say, WE CREAMED THE OTHER TEAM and they were all really embarrassed. One of the guys was swearing a lot and then saw my badge and asked if I was Mormon. I told him yes and from then on, HE STOPPED SWEARING!!!!! We gave them all pass-along cards before we left. woot woot!

We had exchanges this past week and I went with Sister Wilson to TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI!!!!! GUYS!! My dream has seriously been to go to Mississippi ever since I've been on this mission and I finally got the chance to!! It looks exactly like Alabama haha but it was seriously so much fun!!! I love Sister Wilson! We did a lot of service that day and helped basically everyone in the Wal-Mart parking lot with their groceries and got some return appointments because of it! SERVICE SOFTENS STONEY SOULS. <----- What President Hanks says a lot. It really is true though. I love doing service because not only is it something that Christ would do, but it just makes you feel SO happy and makes those around you feel better.

Speaking of service, the Young Men of our ward and us went to help Colleen (investigator--58 years old) with her yard. She has leaves ALL AROUND her trailer and desperately needed some help. It was so much fun and a lot of work. I am seriously obsessed with doing yard work now. I think last summer trained me for it. haha. Colleen started to cry and was SO appreciative of all that we were able to do for us. She kept offering us sprite and water because she knows we won't drink caffeine. So precious. WANNA KNOW SOMETHING AMAZING???? Colleen totally came to church yesterday!!!!!!!!!! Rewind to this past Saturday, we went with a member to visit Colleen and Colleen ended up talking and talking and we didn't get to teach a lesson, but I asked her if she wanted to come to church and she motioned for us to come look at her sink. In the sink, there was a dress soaking in some detergent. She then told us, "I was expecting y'all to ask and I just want you to know that I have my dress soaking in here so that I can get the stains out." She is so great. She then told us to call her Sunday morning at 7 to wake her up. (Church starts @9). Sunday morning, we did just that. We called her and she told us on the phone that she has been up since 5am getting ready. haha oh boy. We then had Sister Stark pick us up and pick Colleen up. We made quite the grand entrance when we came in and luckily were able to sit in the 3rd row. COLLEEN LOVED CHURCH. Everyone was super super nice to her and truly wanted to be her friend. She participated in both Gospel Principles and Relief Society. Then, their was a baptism afterwards for a girl that just turned 8. COLLEEN ASKED US IF WE COULD STAY. uh. yeah we can!!! So we watched the girl get baptized and then get confirmed. Colleen started to cry when she was confirmed. One lady, Sister Stienke, is now Colleen's BFF. It's the cutest thing ever. They are perfect for each other and even exchanged phone numbers. Colleen kept telling us how happy and comfortable she felt at church and how she wants to come back next week!! AND she told us that she is so sorry for never letting us teach because of her big mouth. hahhaha I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!! SHE IS GOLDEN. I am so happy!!

We are teaching another girl named Valerie who is super nice and has 2 crazy kids who are 4 and 5. We have taught her twice and are teaching her again today. 

We have A LOT of Less-actives in our ward and it is just so sad how many there are. We have been contacting this lady named Sister Smith who apparently used to be really hard to get a hold of. We have seen her a couple of times and the other night, she called us and asked us if we would help her with a yard sale she is having!!! She trusts us! She trusts us!!!!! I am so happy!!! I don't think she has been back to church in a really really long time. She didn't even know what General Conference was. I invited her to look up Ucthdorf's talk on being grateful and she totally did and felt like it was perfect for her!

As we were biking to try to contact another less active, we ran into (not literally) a cute girl named Stephanie who was putting together a yard sale. We stopped and asked her if she wanted help. She then replied saying, "REALLY?? Are you serious? Who are you girls?" We just started to help her right away and she started to ask us questions about the church. The first question she asked was if we were polygamists. AGH. Seriously. Everyone in the South thinks Mormons are crazy and that is a big reason I feel like I am here as a missionary; to clear up all of the misconceptions. We exchanged numbers with her and we are going to bring her cookies this week and hopefully have a lesson with her!

We dropped this former investigator named Cassandra this past Saturday night. She KNOWS IT'S ALL TRUE. Which is so frustrating. She knows the Bible forwards and backwards and believes that there should be baptisms for the dead and the priesthood and she can see how there could be the BOM. She just doesn't want to leave her church home and told us that the "holy spirit hasn't nudged her to come to our church" and that we didn't have to waste time on her. This was the first time I had met with her and I just started to cry. I don't know if it was because I was frustrated or because I just wanted the best for her. Probably a little bit of both. It's crazy how much you can just love the people that you serve and teach; even if you don't know them that well. Heavenly Father just gives us that HUGE blessing of being able to LOVE how He does.

We had an AWESOME District Meeting this past week. The stake President's wife, Sister Pettus, gave an awesome "silent lesson" on Jesus Christ visiting the America's. It focused on the idea that Christ knows us ONE BY ONE. When He came to the America's, He blessed and spoke to everyone one by one. In 3 Nephi 17:25, it states that 2,500 people were in attendance. AND YET CHRIST MADE TIME FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM. He loves y'all personally. How beautiful is that? I think that knowledge will carry me throughout the hard times I experience on my mission and in life.

This morning, during my personal study, I was reading Alma 14. AH. This chapter just amazes me. Alma and Amulek are such strong examples to me. Despite the cords that bound them and the prison wall that they were in, they were able to exercise faith in Christ in order to break free from the cords and get set free. I loved reading Alma 14:26. I love how Alma is CRYING unto the Lord and asking Him to give Him strength according to His faith in Christ to deliver Him and Amulek out of the cords. Then, God performs the miracle through their faith and they are set free. I love how in verse 28, it talks about how they went STRAIGHTWAY out of prison and STRAIGHTWAY came forth into the city. It just makes me reflect on those "cords" in my life that may be tying me down and how I need to rely on the Lord and have faith that He will set me free. I need to also just GO AND DO and stay straight on the path. I have no clue if this is making sense to y'all, but it makes sense in my mind.

I am so grateful for this gospel. I know that prayer works and that if you want something bad enough, the Lord will provide a way for you to accomplish what you put your mind to.

May we all be a little kinder and a little more loving this upcoming week. Be your best self!!!!

MYKY,

Sister Platt