Sweet Home Alabama: Happy Day, All is well!

Can I just start off this email telling y'all how grateful I am for a LOVING Father in Heaven? He is so amazing and I am so grateful for Him AND Jesus Christ. I have been studying about them a lot this past week and every single day I am reminded of how GOOD they are to each of us. I have so many blessings in my life and I feel spoiled and don't know what I did to deserve so much.

I am so grateful for Sister Van Komen. Holy cow. We probably will only have one more week together because she has been in this area for 6 months. I can't believe this transfer is almost done. It has been the BEST. She is my best friend and I KNOW that we will be lifelong friends. She totally just gets me and my personality and it has been nothing but happiness with her!!! WE ARE PRAYING FOR ANOTHER TRANSFER TOGETHER. Just sayin'. haha yesterday, there was a 6 year old girl who walked up to us and asked us for gum, but we didn't have any so we gave her a picture of Jesus instead. I asked her if her and the girl she was with was her sister. She replied by saying, "No, but she is my BFF forever and ever." And then she said, "Are y'all Bff's or sisters?" We both quickly replied and said, "BFF's!!!!" haha it was great. Right before we said goodbye to this 6 year old girl, she looked at us very seriously and pointed her finger at us as she said, "Now remember, don't talk to any strangers!" Wise words from a 6 year old. #toobadwedoiteveryday.

I would like to apologize in advance, this email WILL be all over the place, but I'm keeping y'all on your toes!!!!!

Monday "She's a BIG GIRL NOW": The most exciting thing that happened on monday was that I convinced Sister VK to FINALLY GET HER EARS PIERCED. SHE DID IT! SHE DID IT!!! She is a big girl now! It was hilarious to see how scared she was as she sat on the chair. Oh man. Sister VK told me that she has tried 3 times before to get her ears pierced, but she had chickened out every time. Apparently, I was very convincing and she did it!!! She looks SO ADORABLE with earrings :)

Tuesday "Would you like tto be baptized?": We did a lot of tracting in trailer parks this day, but didn't find too much success. We had another lesson with Antrianna which was super duper good! We took Sister Edwards with us and we taught her the Restoration. SHE LOVED IT. She understood it all very very well and she is honestly one of the smartest teens I have ever taught. She understood a need for the priesthood and we invited her to be baptized and she said she would have to ask her mom. At the end, we asked her if she would like her own copy of the Book of Mormon and her eyes LIT UP. She had a HUGE smile on her face as we gave her the book. GAH. This gospel is a gospel of pure joy!!!!

hahah I have a funny story to tell y'all that happened today as well. We went with Sister Swift to visit teach a less active lady named Sister Scott. We talked with Sister Scott about coming to church and she gave us every excuse in the book. Finally, we testified of the Savior's love for her and of the Atonement. Then, Sister Swift invited her to be baptized!!!! she read a verse in The Book of Mormon that talks about "laying down every sin that doth easily beset you" and to show unto the Father that you are willing to follow HIm and be baptized. Sister Scott was so confused and I didn't know what to say and Sister VK saved the day by telling Sister Swift that she had already been baptized!!! haha classic!

Sister Edwards invited us over to teach Josh (her nieces bf who is 16). We went over to her apartment and Josh and his 2 other friends were there as well. We decided to do a "Book of Mormon" experience with them by inviting them to come up with a question in their minds and read a chapter from the Book of Mormon to get their answer. We read Alma 34 with them and THEY ALL GOT THEIR ANSWER. It was really really neat and another testimony builder for me to know that The Book of Mormon truly is the word of God and is inspired.

Wednesday "Do you want a better relationship with Jesus Christ?": This day was really really good! We met with our new investigator, Darmitrius who we contacted at the laundrymat. We taught her the Restoration and oh my, we are not sure if she is all there, but she was the sweetest person ever! She started to cry after the lesson and said, "Aw. y'all brought to life so many things for me. Now I know where the authority comes from that the Pope has and all the other preachers have. Thanks for bringing things into light for me and explaining Jesus's word to me." She was just a little confused, but it's fine.

We received a text from Sister Edwards that Josh wanted us to teach him more so we went over to her house again and taught him the Restoration. When we got there and sat down, Sister Edwards looked over at Josh and said, "So. Josh. The missionaries are here to teach you because I want you to go to the Celestial kingdom and I don't want to be the one to save you from Spirit Prison. You NEED to go to paradise. Is that what you want, Josh?" Oh my. I love Sister Edwards. She is so bold and funny. She was being COMPLETELY serious with him. She continued on and said, "Josh... How is your relationship with Jesus Christ?" Josh replied, "uh. GREAT!" She then said, "Well. It could be better. The sisters are going to make that relationship better today as they teach you." Then she looked at us and gave us the permisson to start teaching with a nod of her head. I LOVEHER. I wish every member of the church was like her!!!

Before we started, we asked him why he wanted to learn more from us. He shyly smiled and we said to him, "you can be totally honest. We don't mind!" He then said, "Well... I don't know. I guess because you guys are different and have a special light that I haven't seen in people your age before. Everyone at church is nice and it just feels like one big happy family." PRECIOUS. He understood everything really well about the Restoration and was even willing to pray about it at the end. He said, "Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for sending uhhhh.. Sister Van Komen? and uhh... sister Platt? Yeah! Them! to teach me today. They have taught me a lot of good things and I pray that you lead me to the true church. In Jesus name I pray. Amen." I LOVE hearing investigators pray!!!!!!! GAHHH. We invited him to be baptized and he has a date for August 16th!!!!!!!

We also saw Tammy and had an awesome lesson with her and went over the 15 step program to quit smoking!!!!!! She gave us the pack of cigarrettes she had!!! Jonathan was so excited for her and so was Brandon. They have been waiting YEARS for their mom to give up smoking :) SHE HASN'T SMOKED SINCE!!!!!!

We had another lesson with a lady named Britney and one thing that I learned during that lesson, is that I CAN be bold and CAN testify that this Church IS Christ's church and the ONLY church that has the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Britney asked a lot of questions and wanted to learn more and more about the Book of Mormon because Sister VK and I were bold with her :) yay!

Thursday "She wouldn't shut up": We visited with Sister Moore who is less active and just lost her dad. We were both able to comfort her because both of us have lost a parent so that was super neat! I shared with her D&C 24:8 which is the scripture that I just happened to turn to after hearing of dad passing away. SHE LOVED IT. She shared this really neat analogy that I loved! She talked about a group of people who carried crosses (burdens) on their back. One guy in particular, just wanted the burden/cross to be lifted so he prayed to God to have his cross be shorter. So God did as he wished and made his cross a foot shorter than everyone elses. The people all reached a river and used their crosses that they were carrying to get across the river. The guy who prayed for a shorter cross couldn't make it over the river using his cross because it was too small. Anyway, then Sister Moore started to explain that we all have burdens and crosses that we have to bear because it makes us stronger and helps us along life. IT IS SO TRUE!!!! (I hope this story made sense). We helped her make chicken salad sandwiches and fruit salad and she LOVED our company and kept thanking us for coming over. She told us about all the ghost stories that have occurred in West Point. I love the people here so much :)

Another funny story: We went to visit teach a lady named Sister Ramsey in our branch and went with Sister Givens who is a recent convert of 2 months. Sister Ramsey talked basically the whole time which shocked all of us because she is VERY quiet at church. When we were done with the appointment, the first thing Sister Givens says is, "She wouldn't shut up!" oh my. It was hilarious!!!! LOVE HER.

Friday "Let the games begin": We had exchanges this day and we decided to do a competition for how many unplanned invites we got. I went with Sister Smith to Columbus which is 30 mins away from West Point. It was a fun exchange!!!! GUESS HOW MANY PEOPLE WE INVITED TO LEARN MORE???? 41. Yeah. It was a miracle and we won the competition :) We talked to everyone we saw and even chased people down!!! I saw a lady sitting in her car crying as she held a beer bottle in one hand and a cigarrette in another. We asked her if we could say a prayer with her and she just wept and wept and told us about how she got kicked out and lots of other things that I couldn't really understand because she was slurring her words. After the prayer, I gave her a picture of when Christ comes to the America's. I said, "Here's a picture! This is of Jesus Christ and when he came and visited the people in the America's! He loved them so much that he wanted to visit them as well! He loves you too! He is aware of you and so is your Heavenly Father!" She loved the photo and just kept thanking us. Ah. I love this work so so so much :) We were walking to our next appt to see a less active girl named Tomeka who lived in a rough part of town. There was a man who rolled down his window and said, "You ladies realize you are in the hood, right?" we just exclaimed "YEAH!!!" and he just laughed and drove off. We played basketball with a bunch of little kids in the projects and asked them if they would like to say a prayer with us. At the end of the prayer, a little 8 year old boy said, "You know what's weird? I never thought I'd see 2 white girls in the projects before!!!" We laughed soooo hard. Oh my. It's just the best thing ever. We taught a lot of lessons and it was just a really good day full of miracles :)

Saturday "Are y'all lost?": We had an appointment to see a lady and as we drove up to the apartment complex, we saw 6 cop cars and one of the cops rolled down her window and asked us if we were lost. We told her that we had an appointment to see a lady named Kesha who lived there. She said, "Oh really? Kesha Bailey?" We said yes and she then told us to be careful. We decided that it wouldn't be worth it and turned the car around. It's never good when the cop knows the last name of someone you are trying to see... CLASSIC. Sister VK and I had no clue where we were supposed to go so we decided to pray about it. We both had the impression to go to a certain road and tract along that road. Door after door, no one was answering. It was extremely hot and we were very tired, but we kept going. We looked awful with sweat pouring off of our skin. It was not a pretty sight; no wonder no one answered their door! hhaha! BUT, we knocked on this one door and I just felt like we needed to straight up ask them if they would like to learn more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ (usually we ask to say a prayer with them because it's more effective because everyone loves to pray!) Anyway, the lady answered the door and she accepted to learn right then and there!!!!! YAY!!! Her name was Rose and she brought her friend Jasmine out as well to learn. They are both moms and live together in a small cute bright blue house. After quoting the account of Joseph Smith's first vision, we asked them how they felt. With a huge smile on her face, Jasmine timidly said, "I just got little chills that went down my spine." We testified to her that it was the Holy Ghost and that the Holy Ghost was telling her that the message was true! THEY WERE SO EXCITED :)

Jasmine was way more into the lesson than Rose was, but they said we could come back whenever their car is in the yard! SWEET.

Sunday "Miracle day!": Ah. I just love sundays :) Tammy came to church!!!!! WAHOOOO FINALLY! SHE CAME!!! She could only stay for the first 45 minutes because she had to go to work, but she came!!!! Jonathan and Brandon were so excited to have her there and were sad to see her leave, but it's great to see the family all come together and love the gospel :) She told us last night that she had the best day at work that she has ever had. IT WAS BECAUSE SHE CAME TO CHURCH :) I HAVE A TESTIMONY OF CHURCH ATTENDANCE. It was so great!!! Tammy HATES going to work and dreads it every single day, but blessings came through doing what the Lord wanted her to do! GUESS WHO ELSE CAME???? JOSH. He loves coming now! (He came last week as well).

Things are falling into place and we are so happy about everything that is happening :) The Lord is hastening His work here and I know that I need to just be patient!

I would like to invite y'all to read the talk called, "Believing Christ: A Practical approach to the Atonement." by Stephen E. Robinson. IT IS AMAZING. It has brought a new light into my life and I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for His atonement. It talks about how we not only need to believe in Jesus Christ, but we need to BELIEVE HIM. We need to believe that he will forgive us. We need to believe that he will heal us. We need to believe that he is right by us every day. Even though we are not celestial material, Jesus Christ can make us celestial material. We need to not try to save ourselves, but let Jesus Christ save us. That is why he is called our savior. I love 2 Nephi 4:17-19. Nephi, who is a great man and prophet still feels awful for the sins that he has committed, but he still says, "Nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted." No matter what, we can rely upon Jesus Christ and realize that all will be okay in the end as we trust in him.

He is the BEST and I have grown such a deep love and devotion to Him on my mission.

"Dearly, dearly has he loved! And we must love him too, and trust in his redeeming blood, and try his works to do." Jesus Christ went through all that he went through so that we WOULD trust Him and so when we repent, we will be cleansed. So when we make mistakes, we can start over again. So when we are lost, we WILL be found through Him. He wants us to come unto Him and use His atonement so that our burdens may be light.

I love y'all and I love this work so much :) We have interviews with President Hanks this week on Wednesday! STOKED.

MYKY,

Sister Platt