So you know how in my last email, I talked about how we basically dropped all of our investigators???? WELL. God has helped us find those that are READY this week!!!! I will just talk about each day so I can somehow make this email kinda organized....
MONDAY: Ah. I just loved this day so much!!!! WE SAW LIGHTNING BUGS FOR THE FIRST TIME WHILE WE WERE TALKING TO A LESS ACTIVE LADY OUTSIDE ON HER PORCH. WE WERE FREAKING OUT. I do remember catching them when I was little, but man, it was the coolest thing ever. We ran around like maniacs trying to catch them. A teenage boy on his bike asked us what the heck we were doing and we asked him to help us and that we were from out west and didn't know how to catch them!!!!! So, he ended up just laughing at us and told us to stand more still and just wait for them to appear. We did just that. I CAUGHT 2. We may or may not have put them in a plastic bag and eventually transferred them to a jar; hoping that they would light up our dark bedroom. UM. THEY DIDN'T EVEN LIGHT UP AFTER WE CAUGHT THEM. SO UPSET. What do we need to do for them to light up guys/?????
Anyway, after that excitement, we went to the gas station to fill up our car because we had to go to Tupelo the next day. There was 10 minutes left of the night and we decided to go into the gas station and find people in there. As soon as we walked in, we heard a voice from the back of the store say, "Hey! What are y'alls badges for?" We peered over to where the voice was coming from and found a super cute lady with pink highlights in her hair. She talked and talked and talked just like everyone else in the South and we eventually got on the topic of religion. She told us that she has been looking for a church and is looking to mend her relationship with her husband with Christ being at the center. Her name is Amber!!!!! We got an appointment to come talk to her 2 days later. We went over to her house and helped her with her LARGE pile of laundry. IT WAS A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF CLOTHES. We were able to finish the load in thirty mins. We just asked her religious questions and everything that she said she needed could be answered through this gospel. GAH. THIS GOSPEL IS FOR EVERYONE. We have another appointment with her tomorrow! woot woot! I love her so much.
We also ran into a family that I have been praying to see again for the longest time!! When I first got to Sheffield, Sister Weekes and I saw them and set an appointment with them, but couldn't find their house. It was a miracle that we were able to find them! We taught them the restoration and Nicki (the mom) just kept saying, "I feel so happy right now!!! I can't stop smiling!!!" Nicki's mother in law (Brenda) was there as well and told us that she couldn't understand the purpose of a prophet during these days. (WE NEED THE PROPHET MOST RIGHT NOW.) We were able to testify to her and we were able to clear things up which was good. They are both Pentecostal so it's a little tricky teaching them because they just believe that Jesus is the Holy Ghost and that we "talk to Jesus". They are such a sweet and humble family and I hope that we can come back and teach them soon! They are always leaving as soon as we get to their house. ugh.
TUESDAY: We had Zone Conference in Tupelo which was amazing!!!! Goodness, I love President and Sister Hanks. Such wonderful and inspiring people that you just always want to be around. We had great training on the importance of the Plan of Salvation. President Hanks simply explained it and the spirit was so strong! He also showed us the notes that his father made from young elder holland's missionary life as he trained in Zone Conference. (Elder Holland served as an AP to Marion D. Hanks) It was pretty sweet!!!!!
WEDNESDAY: We met with Tom. Oh Tom. He is so great and so ready for this gospel. We felt inspired to talk to him about the temple because he is basically the only one left in his family on this earth. I just told him, "This knowledge WILL bless your life, Tom." He then said, "Oh. It already has blessed my life! I used to be a lonely man with low confidence and then you ladies just knocked on my door and now I have a church family." UM. PRECIOUS. He is following his reading schedule really well and oh my, on the way to church yesterday, Tom said to us, "Do you mind if I catch up on my scripture reading?" So we read 2 chapters of 2 NEPHI in the car on the way to church!!!! He is a super smart man and might even be considered a genius. He understands the Book of Mormon better than anyone I've ever taught. He told us that he knows the Book of Mormon is true, but he still wants to read through it all before he gets baptized. Which, at this point, I'm totally fine with because I know that he will enter the waters of baptism soon! And what's even cooler, is that I KNOW he will stay active in the church. He already has so many friends and it's the greatest thing ever.
We went on team ups with a lady in our ward named Sister Todd. We went over to Sister Hart's home (less active) and helped her organize the rooms in her home and hang up clothes because she has bad health. She kindly fed us lunch which consisted of cornbread, pork, and broccoli! So YUMMY. We shared D&C 84:88 with her and told her that angels would be there to lift her up and help her as she has her many surgeries in Texas. She started crying as she told us that she had a desire to COME BACK TO CHURCH!!!!!!! WAHOOOOOOOooooOOOOoooo!!!!!!!
Then, on our car ride back home, the thought came to me, "you should go visit that lady that you met a month ago." I then saw the apartments where she lived at as we were driving back and I quickly asked Sister Todd if she had time to visit ONE more person. She said yes and I quickly said, "Okay! TURN LEFT HERE." I didn't even remember the lady's name at all, but I just felt like we needed to see her. The Holy Ghost is so real. We knocked on her door and she excitingly answered the door and told us that she only had 15 minutes before she had to leave to a doctors appointment. We promised her that we would only take 10 minutes for a lesson. WE TOTALLY TAUGHT THE LESSON IN 10 MINS. Best thing ever. Heather explained to us that she is not a religious person, but a spiritual one. She has been through a lot in her life and had to get brain surgery. She is SUPER pretty and such a good person. At the end of the lesson, she gave us each a hug and said, "Y'all just made my day! Thanks for coming! Please come back." We have an appointment with her today! wahoo!!!!
Thursday: We went tracting in the "projects" area of Sheffield. We saw this lady named Kiara who I have seen before a million times. She had her cute 2 year old son with her named Kidarius. We shared the restoration lesson with her and told her that this is what she needed in her life. Once we were done with our appointment, we came outside and Sister Crandall's bike tire was COMPLETELY FLAT. After examining the tire, we realized that someone totally slashed it for whatever reason. My bike is completely fine which is weird. SO, we have basically been walking everywhere now. It has been great though, we have found people and the Lord is still blessing us.
We visited Bobbie Jo (less active) and we shared the talk by Thomas S. Monson entitled, "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." SHE LOVED IT. She told us that she really appreciates it when we come over and that we are able to help her get throughout the whole week. Bobbie jo's friend from work was there as well and we found out later on that she is atheist. Bobbie jo wants us to teach her!!!!!!
Friday: We had District Meeting and we set a district goal of "EATING THE TOAST" which means to be completely awkward and talk to everyone no matter what. T.O.A.S.T=Thrive on awkward situations today. So, this is exactly what Sister Crandall and I did. We talked to old men without shirts on. We talked to the man that was in his backyard because we could see him through the holes in the gate. We talked to the man on his lawn mower who had headphones on. We talked to the lady in her car at the stop light. LITERALLY EVERYONE. It was wonderful!!! None of them were interested, but we did meet a SUPER nice Baptist minister who gave us his number to call if we were ever in danger. So so nice. We had a really uplifting religious discussion with him.
Saturday: TODAY WAS THE ANNUAL WARD FISH FRY. So much fun!!!!! It started at 5 so we walked around and talked to people before it started. We talked to this one guy who said to us as soon as we approached him, "you can't honestly believe in that John Smith guy and that vision he had, can you?" I just replied, "I believe that He saw God the Father and Jesus Christ with all my heart, Sir." He just started to laugh and I asked him if he had prayed about it. He told us that he only says the Lord's prayer and thats the only thing he says to God. Then he started to talk about how we don't need to be baptized by water, but just accept Jesus into your heart. I wanted to Bible bash so badly, but I kept my cool. BLAH. Anyway, the Fish Fry was lots of fun!! 130 people showed up!!!!! INCLUDING 3 LESS ACTIVE FAMILIES :))) I ate some "croppy" fish and it actually wasn't that bad. UM. Sister Crandall and I made these really cute fish shape invitations that we handed out. we handed out 50 of them and guess how many showed up that we invited? 0. Sucha bummer, but it was worth the try!
Sunday: Tom came to church!!! A lady that sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir came to visit our ward because she used to live here and she sang in sacrament meeting!!! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. Tom loved it!!!! :) We contacted some less actives after church and then decided to go "rich tracting" near where our FHE night was at. We actually taught 3 lessons while doing so which was basically a miracle!!! But no one wanted us to come back. We met this one old lady who asked us if we accepted Jesus in our life. We told her that we did and then she looked at our badges and then said, "I will pray for your salvation. Y'all need lots of prayers. I hope y'all will make it to see Jesus someday." Um. okay. We just kept smiling and then offered to do service and she said no. mah. We then went over to the Nebeker's home for FHE which was fun! Raliegh made us dinner which was a famous dish that he always ate on his mission in japan. It didn't taste like anything and it's safe to say that I'm glad to be serving here in the USA. We then went over to Sister Adam's home and watched some mormon messages with her and brought her homemade cookies. She has been feeling really sad lately and her feet are getting infected and she doesn't know the reason, but the doctor's may have to amputate them so please keep her in your prayers!!!!!!!!!
I know I'm probably missing other things that happened, but I just love this work and God is so good to us! This gospel just makes sense. Victoria sadly dropped us :((( She told us that she doesn't think the church is right for her and that she likes her baptist church, but she thinks we are great people. mah. So sad. :(((
It's really really really hot here. People keep telling us, "This is only the beginning." yeah yeah yeah. IT'S STILL ROUGH. hahha
We showed Tom the video of Elder Holland bearing his testimony of the Book of Mormon and he LOVED it. He said, "boy, I'd really love to talk to that guy for a good hour." DO IT TOM.
Sister Crandall and I get along really well and the work is moving forward. :)
Everything about this gospel makes sense! I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in a vision and that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through him.
I am so grateful for the freedoms that we enjoy each day from this country. I'm grateful for BOTH grandfathers who fought for our country and who continually kept the faith.
I love y'all so so so much!!!!!!! :)
MYKY,
Sister Platt
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