Sweet Home Alabama: Road Rage, how would Jesus Drive?

HELLOOOOOO EVERYONE!!!!
I am so happy.
I love missionary work so much and I'm so grateful for this opportunity!!!!!
I will start off with a joke...
So there were two missionaries who absolutely couldn't stand each other. One of the missionaries decided to talk to his mission president about it and his mission president told him, "Elder, go back to your apartment. Say a prayer and then randomly open up the scriptures and point at a verse and that will be your answer from God." This elder did just that and turned and pointed to 1 Nephi 4:12..... HAHAHAHHAHAAHHA LOLOLOL.

So last week, we were store contacting at Target and we walked past these workers by the DVD isle and a little voice in my head told me to ask the guy about how March madness was going... (pretty sure it was dad nudging me and telling me to ask him!!) So I did just that. I walked up to him and asked him if he knew what teams were left for march madness. This guy's face just lit up and then he started to go on and on about basketball and who was left and who he was rooting for. After talking for a while, he finally asked us who we were and we said we were missionaries for our church. He then started to ask questions about what we believed and we set up an appointment to meet with him!!! As we said our goodbyes, he looked at us and said, "I have never had a lady in a skirt walk up to me and ask me about march madness. I didn't even know girls knew what that was!!!" haha wanna know the sad part? He lives outside of our area so we handed him over to the Huntsville sisters.

We are currently working with this super great couple named Tiffany and Elijah Boyd. They are MARRIED (phew) with 4 boys!!! Elijah has A LOT of questions about the church and he is really intellectual. I think he is more interested than her, but she is the one who let us in. Anyway, before going inside their home, we were all feeling really tired and just not ourselves. We decided to do our pump up song that we learned from a 10 year old in our ward. It comes with a hand shake as well. We all sat in the car as we sang, "BUILD BANANA. BUILD BUILD BANANA. PEEL BANANA. PEEL PEEL BANANA. GO BANANA'S. GO GO BANANA'S." Us three were all waving our hands as we sang. I then looked out the rear view mirror and saw Tiffany drive up right behind us. SO AWKWARD. She totally saw us and all we could do was laugh it off. hahah. Anyway, some of the questions that Elijah asks is about Joseph Smith and the priesthood and how he doesn't think it's bad to drink wine because Jesus drank it and how he doesn't understand why we have a prophet on the earth because he believes that Jesus was the last prophet before His second coming. We finally just asked them both to read the Book of Mormon because that is the only way they will know anything is true. I felt prompted to share my story of coming out on my mission with dad having cancer and I shared how the Book of Mormon brought me answers that I needed to come out no matter what. I think they felt the spirit and they agreed that they would read it!!!! Tiffany totally has food storage so she gave us random food to take home and told us that she refuses to let us starve.

Sidenote: EVERYONE here thinks missionaries starve. ha like just the other night, we visited a less active lady and as soon as we walked in, she said, "what do you sisters want? cookies? cake? bread? water? soda?" haha and then we all politely decline almost every time because we are trying to eat healthy and SHE STILL GIVES IT TO US. So mom, when the missionaries say "no thanks" to food, THEY REALLY MEAN IT.

We went over to Matt and Jade's one last time because the other sisters couldn't be there. Matt was about to go to the doctor and was scared that he would have to go to a mental hospital. He has been seeing and hearing things (having hallucinations) because he used to be in the army and now he is just having a really hard time with getting over it. It is really sad. We called the elders and asked them if they could give him a priesthood blessing before his appointment and they came over within the next 10 minutes!!! IT WAS AN AMAZING BLESSING. The spirit was so strong and Matt went from shaking from nervousness to being completely calm. I am so grateful for the priesthood. After the prayer, Jade told us that Matt always feels so calm whenever us missionaries come over. Ah. I love them so much!!!! MATT CAME TO CHURCH AGAIN YESTERDAY. Jade couldn't come because of work, BUT she did go to the General Women's Broadcast that was held at the church this past Saturday.

Speaking of that, I LOVED IT. Did y'all get a chance to watch it???? I started crying whenever anyone started to sing. Guys, I think I'm becoming more and more emotional from this mission. yikes. I loved the focus that they had on Covenant keeping. Here are some lines that I loved from what they said!!!!...

Rosemary M. Wixom:

-As individuals, we are strong. With God, we are unstoppable!!

-There is no age barrier when it comes to Christ-like service.

-Don't just love each other more. Love each other better!

Linda K. Burton:

-Our true identity is that of a disciple of Jesus Christ.

-The best way to strengthen a home is to keep our covenants!

-Draw attention to the God we worship. Not ourselves.

President Henry B. Eyring:

-We have trials perfectly chosen just for us that will help shape us into what Heavenly Father sees.

-You are more alike as daughters of God than you are different.

-God watches over us in LOVE

I'm so grateful for this gospel. I'm grateful for the chance that we have to make and KEEP covenants with our loving Heavenly Father. AH.

Saturday morning, we went to the Petco that Jade works at because they were having an adoption day!! Everyone and their dog were there. (hehe I'm really funny.) It was the PERFECT opportunity to find people because everyone in Alabama is obsessed with their dogs and everyone loves to talk to you about their dog including their date of birth. We contacted at least 20 people while we were in there and about 2 of them were interested in our message. They lived about an hour away from us which is a bummer, but oh well. YAY FOR FINDING NEW PEOPLE FOR EVERYONE ELSE!!!!!

We have been working with members on hastening the work in the ward 3 days out of the week. We go over to 3 families a night and bring a spiritual thought with us and then have them think of names of people who are ready for this gospel or who need it. We went over to Sister Suneson's home and as soon as we got there, she told us, "YOU NEED TO GO TALK TO MY NEIGHBOR. TELL HIM I SENT YOU." We then asked her if she would like to come with us and she started to become really nervous and said that she would have to learn how to approach her neighbor. For the next 20 minutes with her, we "trained" her on how to bring up the gospel with her friends and even did role plays with her. She was being so adorable and kept saying, "I can do this!! I fear God more than man! I can do this!!!" She finally got up the nerve to come with us and knock on her nieghbors door. The nieghbor didn't answer, BUT Sister Suneson felt really accomplished and told us that she got over her fear. It was the cutest thing ever. I'm so grateful for member missionary work. It really is the best way to find those that are truly ready for this gospel!!!!! SO, everyone back home, PLEASE help the missionaries out!!!!! WE NEED YOU.

Wanna know something pathetic? I totally waved at a mailbox while I was biking. Totes thought it was a person. YIKES.

Alabama's weather has been really acting up lately. Oh my goodness. It's bipolar!!!

We went on a hike this morning with the STL's and Zone leaders!!! We woke up at 6 and hiked up this hill and had scripture study at the top! It felt so good to be in nature and to see the beauty of Alabama. I'm obsessed with it here. I really am. One thing that I absolutely HATE here is the Dogwood trees. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE. They are pretty, but they smell like dog. Did y'all ever have those trees in Georgia?

Y'all should look up the scripture Ezekiel 20:29. It talks about Alabama and makes me really happy!

Oh... By the way... I am getting transferred to a new area!!! The triple threat is now the double threat. :( So sad and so unexpected. I seriously thought I was going to stay in Madison for a really long time, but the Lord needs me somewhere else and I'm excited to see where I will go!! I will find out this wednesday!!! YAY. CAN'T WAIT TO START PACKING. WAHOOOO.

I'm so grateful for this gospel. It is all about change and becoming new people. I know that God loves us so much. I know that He works so close by us and that we are all made in HIS image. How beautiful it is to know that we are loved and known by the most powerful and glorious being in the UNIVERSE.

I want to invite y'all to read the talk, "Forget Me Not" by Uchtdorf. I read it yesterday morning for personal study and it is such a good one! I learned that I need to be grateful for my small successes because they are not small to God. I have learned to not put my happiness on hold until some future event. One really good quote that I loved from this talk is, "The why of obedience sanctifies our actions, transforming the mundane into majestic. It magnifies our small acts of obedience into holy acts of consecration."

May we all stretch ourselves to be a little better and to notice the good all around us! LOVE Y'ALL.

Insert your name into D&C 6:20 :)

MYKY,

Sister Platt