Sweet Home Alabama: Maybe one day I'll stay in an area longer than 3 months

Hello everyone!!!!! Yup. I am getting transferred AGAIN. WHAT THE HECK. Good thing I trust in President Hanks and know that he is inspired and that I am supposed to be somewhere else at this time in my life. Other missionaries keep saying I am going to be an STL, but there is NO WAY. I don't know anything as a missionary yet!!!!!!
I am really going to miss this area and the people in it. Holy cow. I feel like I have been here my whole life because of the love I have for these people!!! I have learned so many things from serving here and I have learned how EASILY it is for us missionaries to just get attached to such wonderful people that we serve with. MY GOODNESS. When we received the call on Saturday telling me that I was leaving, Sister Crandall and I just screamed, "WHAT??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???" We both thought we would be together for at least another transfer because everyone thinks Sister Crandall and I are basically twins; which we totally are!!!!! We get along SO WELL. Mah. I'm going to miss her!!! But no worries... we have decided to be roommates in College!! haha we will have to live in a huge house in order to fit all of the companions that I want to live with in college. Shoot. haha Seriously though, I have been so blessed with such great missionaries here. I could go on and on about the topic of me leaving, but it would take me a good hour to express my love for the people here. Wow.

I really am going to miss Sister Crandall. She is absolutely hilarious and such a fun person to be around. She has taught me a lot about how to teach simply and how to make missionary work fun!

I don't really know how to organize this email because I have honestly been super tired every night and haven't been writing in my journal as much. I guess I will just write about the highlights of this week!!!! :)

***Tom is progressing a lot! He is almost done with reading Alma and he excitingly told us that he has LDS.org and Mormon.org on his "favorites" list on his computer!!! Yesterday, he excitingly told us that he got a new cable service and it has BYU TV on it!!! He told us that he watched a special on Abinadi and thought it was super interesting. hahah We told him I was leaving yesterday and his response was, "Oh no!! YOU CAN'T LEAVE! Who do I need to talk to so that you can stay? That is just cruel!!! You have to convert me and see me be baptized before you leave!!!!" Oh Tom. I am going to miss him so much. I know that I was supposed to be in this area for him!!!!! It has been great to see the change that has occurred from him learning more of this beautiful gospel. His whole countenance is different now. Hopefully, I will be able to come back for his baptism!!!!

***We are teaching our 16 year old neighbor named Amber. (This isn't the same Amber who y'all saw in the photo I sent last week). Her mom is anti-religious and lets us come over anyway. We have taught Amber half of the lessons and we have felt like she didn't grasp a lot of them so we decided to show her the Restoration video. She told us that her mom said we could watch it as long as her mom couldn't hear it from the other room. So we ended up watching it and barely hearing it. Amber LOVED it and just kept saying, "Yeah. that's a really good video! I wish I could watch that over and over again." We then shared a video on mormon.orgabout a lady who is in the band "Neon trees" and is a mormon. She LOVES neon trees and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Before we left, I excitingly asked, "Are you coming to church with us tomorrow????" She shyly replied saying, "My mom says I can't come to your church, but please come back and teach me more!" SO SAD. Sister Crandall and I were so upset as we walked away from her house. We went back home and ate dinner and just as we were about to leave for a team up, we hear this loud knock on our door. It was Amber!!!!! She look super flustered as she told us how her mom was arguing with her after we left. Amber said that her mom told her that she looked up the mormon religion on-line and found a lot of information about us... ANTI STUFF IS THE WORST. Amber then said, "I know that what my mom was saying about your religion is NOT true. I know that is not what y'all have taught me." We then confirmed Amber's testimony and basically bore our own testimony. Amber told us that her mom said she could come to church with us (next sunday) as long as her dad came with her to make sure that we weren't crazy. I am grateful that Amber has built up a strong testimony of this gospel without me even knowing it. I seriously thought that she wasn't really listening when we taught her, but she totally was and is!!!! YAY.

***The other Amber has completely fallen off the face of this earth. She is never home and won't respond to our texts/calls. ugh.

***Sister Heirtzler, our ward mission leader's wife, brought her friend Lesha over to Sheffield to have lunch with us!! I LOVE LESHA!!! Lesha has been taught by missionaries for over 8 months, but she can't join the church because of her family. She goes to a pentecostal church and she hates it. She told us that she wishes she could go to ours because she really feels the spirit there. Lesha is in her 40's and has an ADORABLE 6 year old daughter named Kayla. Kayla came along with us and was being absolutely hilarious. We were planning to go to the park by the river to have a lesson with Lesha, but there were BUGS everywhere. They were creepy bugs too. So annoying. So... it ended up not working out and Lesha ended up having to go home. mah. We did share with her a scripture (1 Nephi 7:12) in the car on the way home and she LOVED it. She told us that it was exactly what she needed to hear :) I love when that happens!!!

***Sister Stark took us to visit with her best friends who are members of the Church of Christ. We enjoyed a really good lunch with them (BBQ) and visited with a lot of members of that church. THEY WERE SO NICE. They apparently don't believe in the Holy Ghost and just think that the Holy Ghost is not needed anymore and that "the word" is more important. HOW SAD IS THAT? Seriously, I am gaining such a strong testimony of this church every day. It just makes sense.

***We had a team up with the lovely Sister Adams one day and we helped her with visiting teaching. We visited with a less active lady named Sister Maddox. Sister Adams was being AWESOME and super bold/funny as she kept saying, "You know, Sister Maddox, we would love to see you at church!" ... "Sister Maddox, when we see you at church, people will just love you!" "Remember that one time that you were supposed to take me to church, but you never showed up Sister Maddox?" hahahhaha it was great. Sister Maddox then responded saying, "Yeah. I have no excuse for not being there. I really don't." After our visit, When we all got back into the car, Sister Adam's started laughing hard as she said, "Yeah. She's not ever coming back to church" BAHAHHAHAHAH. I love her so much.

We visited with a less active man named Brother Young. Brother Young was baptized not too long ago, but goes to the Church of Christ now. He makes dentures for living in his shed in the backyard and it's actually REALLY COOL. His cousin was with him and we introduced ourselves to him. He asked us about our missions and all that good stuff. After talking to him about how great Jesus is for 20 minutes, we asked if we could share a scripture with him and he said, "Oh no thanks." Then I said, "Not even a scripture out of the Bible???" And he quickly replied saying, "No way! Don't y'all believe in a different Bible than me?" We then explained that we believed in the KJV of the Bible and also told him all about the Book of Mormon. He then said the classic line that I hear ALL THE TIME from people here in the south: "Well. As long as you accept Jesus Christ in your heart than you are saved. Have you accepted Jesus into your heart?" YES. I HAVE. I took out my mini bible that I got to share a scripture and he snatched it out of my hand and put it into his shirt!! super awkward. Apparently he thought I was giving it to him, but it's all good! Sister Crandall was cracking up. Then, as we were about to leave, Brother Young says to his cousin, "See? Wouldn't these Sister Missionaries make the best wives when they get home?" uh. Thank you? hahahaha People are so funny.

We also visited with Sister Evans who is less active as well. She is a recent convert and her husband has been a member all his life, but hasn't been to church in a while. She was really struggling while we were there because she has this tube in her stomach and apparently the doctors didn't give her the right supplies that she needed and she just started crying and told us that it felt like acid was being poured in her stomach. We said a prayer with her as she was crying and we just felt so bad for her. It was so sad. I asked her what her favorite hymn was and we ended up singing, "How Great Thou Art" with her. With tears in her eyes, she started to faintly sing along. The spirit was so strong in the room! I have gained a new testimony of the power of music for sure!!! This is what the gospel is ALL ABOUT. It's about helping others feel the spirit and know that God is aware of them.

***Yesterday at church, I looked around for Brother and Sister Evans and didn't see them anywhere! I was getting a bit discouraged. After Sacrament meeting, I went around shaking peoples hands and then I SAW BROTHER EVANS. I had to do a "double take". Brother Evans is a truck driver and the only outfit that I usually see him in is a white tank top with tattered jeans. He looked great!!! He looked so happy there!!!!! SISTER EVANS WAS THERE AS WELL. It made my week to see them at church! Gah!!!!!! :) When we told Bishop that they were planning on coming to church, he said to us, "Sisters. I want you to know that the Evans have been known for saying they will come and then they end up not coming so don't be discouraged if they don't come." WAHOO. THEY CAME!!!!!!

***Our refrigerator hasn't been working for the past week and a half so we have been using Sister Adams' fridge. We have been eating noodles like every night. It has been so rough haha No worries, we have the BEST members in the world here and Sister and Brother Woodward came to the rescue last night and brought us a mini fridge. It's so cute! NOW I CAN HAVE MY HONEY NUT CHEERIOS IN THE MORNING. (Some things never change).

***It is SUPER hot here and I don't even know what to do with myself. People keep telling me, "Just wait until August". NO. NO. NO. Humidity is really rough guys. Sometimes, I lose all focus when I am trying to teach a lesson because I am just looking at the sweat dripping down the peoples faces who we are teaching.

***Becky just invited me over for breakfast tomorrow morning. She told me that she would make me grits and sausage!

***Heavenly Father is so amazing and is so aware of each of His children. I see it every day. He knows us all so well! It is amazing how fast He allows me to LOVE these people and know their needs. This gospel is so simple and if people would just read the Book of Mormon, they would know it is TRUE. Gah.

You know you're in Alabama when...

-the bugs are the same size as the birds

-Your neighbor next door is randomly shooting his rifle up in the air

-People tell YOU that YOU have the accent, not them.

-The weather is perfectly sunny and then it randomly starts to thunder and pour for 20 minutes

-People give you directions such as, "When you reach the tractor, turn left and then go until you see the baptist church on your right and then make another left until you reach the Methodist church."

-Mosquito spray and Duck Dynasty gear is the only thing people buy at wal-mart

-lightning bugs is a form of entertainment for you.

Southern Dictionary word for the week:

Fixin': When someone is about to do something. Example: "I'm fixin' to go to the store." OR "I was fixin' to call y'all"

I love it here!!! My new motto: If baptisms were everything that mattered on a mission, everyone would be sent to Brazil.

I am so grateful for the specific trials that I am going through here to make me into the person that God intends for me to be. I know that I am supposed to be here. I love how easily it is for us as missionaries to bring up the church here. EVERYONE loves talking about church!!! I honestly love how challenging it is to be here. It makes things interesting for sure. I know that God watches out for each of His children. He loves us. He NEEDS us to return unto Him!!!!

You is kind. You is good. You is important.
Have a grand week!!!!!!! :) LOVE y'all!!! Thanks for everything :)))

Show the Lord all the LOVE in your heart for Him this week!!! Make Him proud! Stretch yourself! Go out of your comfort zone every day!!!!!

MYKY,

Sister Platt :)