There is opposition in all things!

There was something great that came out of EVERY day this past week. Man oh man. I am loving this work!!!! I think my favorite part of missionary work is to witness the gospel CHANGING people.

 

I can't remember what happened last monday, so I am going to start with Tuesday!!!!!

 

Tuesday "A day of answered prayers": We had a lesson with Jalisa on the Word of Wisdom. She accepted all of it and knew that it was all true. She was honest with us and told us that she REALLLLYYYY wants to drink on her 21st birthday which is coming up on the 29th of this month. We testified to her that she would be blessed if she chose not to drink on her bday and that we would have a party with her and drink Martinelli's! She laughed and thought we were funny, BUT WE WERE SERIOUS.

We had a lesson with a lady named Erica who we met at the grocery store! We met her the week before and have been trying to see her for the longest time and she never answered. WELL, we decided to try just one more time and she answered the door and let us right in!!!! She told us that it was really weird that we had knocked on her door because she was just praying about church and how she needs to get closer to God. SHE IS AWESOME! She has 3 teenagers and they all joined in on the lesson. Erica told us that she has been looking for a church and her kids all go to a church together with their friends. After the lesson, her 16 year old son said to us, "y'all are some cool girls! Please come back!!!" Um. OKay. we will. No problem.

We also had an AMAZING lesson with Antrianna and oh my, everything that she said to me was an answered prayer. Sister Drummond asked Antrianna why she let us in in the first place and Antrianna had a huge smile on her face as she said, "Well. Sister Platt and Sister Van Komen (S/O to Sis VK) were just so nice to me and they have truly changed me! I used to not smile at all and now I'm smiling all the time while I'm at school! I have never been so happy in my life!!!!! I KNOW that y'alls church is the only true church. It's the only church I want to go to! Everyone was so nice and welcomed me right in! OH! AND I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL I'M BAPTIZED!" Yeah. It was super precious and she almost made me cry! I LOVE HER SO MUCH! She is like the little sister I never had. We then taught her the Word of Wisdom and oh my, she is so elect. She said to us, "OH NO!!!! I have tea in the fridge!!!!! I will throw it out! Ah. No! I feel so bad!!!" hahaha she is so cute! I just want y'all to meet her soooooo badly!!!!!

 

Wednesday "Amen. Amen. AMEN!": We had a lesson with this lady named Audrey who sister Vk and I felt prompted to talk to at Wal-mart. She loved the message right until we invited her to be baptized... She turned all "stand-offish". She then later told us to pray for her "partner" who is a girl. Oh well. 

We decided to see a cute girl named Asia (who we brought cupcakes to for her bday and it was super awkward, yes her.) and her grandma invited us right into their home! As we walked in, there was a HUGE familly gathering in the kitchen and they were all smiling and saying "HEEEEYYYY" to us. I felt really cool. We shared some scriptures with all of them and then we said a prayer as each of us held hands around a circle (EVERYONE holds hands while praying. It's so great and I will probably do it when I get home haaha). There were a good 15 people there. I said the prayer and at the very end of the prayer, everyone shouted "AMEN!" in unison and it was really really funny. I love these people so much. GAH.

We had another lesson with Erica and her kids. We read the 3rd chapter of 1 Nephi with them and they loved it!!!! We love sharing that chapter because the chapter ends with a "cliff hanger" and it makes people want to read more!!!!! They committed to read the 4th chapter that night all together before bed time :)

We drove over to Columbus (30 mins away) to help the Columbus sisters with appointments because one of the sisters was sick. Sister Smith and I went and visited a couple people and taught some awesome lessons :) We met with their investigator named Becky who has obviously been anti-ed recently. We went over the gospel of Jesus Christ and she asked us what the Holy Ghost was to us. We started to explain and then she just started to argue and told us that the Holy Ghost is when you speak in tongues and blah blah blah. Finally, I just asked, "Becky! I have a question for you... Have you read and prayed about the Book of Mormon yet?" She then looked down and said, "well... no." and then I asked her if she knew what a Keystone was. She informed me that she didn't and so I drew an archway on a piece of paper and explained to her that if the keystone was taken away, the arch would crumble. We then were able to testify that the Book of Mormon is that keystone and that she needed to pray about the Book of Mormon to know if everything else was true!!!!! She accepted to read it :) WAHOO. Seriously though, every argument can just point back to the Book of MOrmon and I'm so grateful for that. CAUSE IT'S TRUE AND IS THE WORD OF GOD.

 

Thursday "This gospel changes people": We had the new member lesson with Tammy and reviewed the Restoration with her. Oh my y'all.. She is a COMPLETELY different person ever since she got baptized. It's the neatest thing to witness. For example, when Sister Van Komen and I first started to teach her, she would barely talk and wouldn't look us in the face. BUT NOW, she is changed and truly converted! GAH. We asked her how work was going (she usually tells us that she hates  it and never wants to go) She told us with a big smile on her face that she was loving it and that she has been having a really good week!!!! We asked her how she has felt ever since she got baptized and she said, "Oh girl! I feel so much at peace! Everything is falling into place!" LOVE HER. SHE EVEN GAVE US A HUG GOODBYE WHICH IS SUPER RARE. OH. AND SHE GAVE US HER PHONE #!!! (before, we had to communicate with her through Sister Edwards). MIRACLE.

 

Friday "1 MILE=TORTURE": Sister Edwards called us in the middle of the day as we were out tracting and told us that she had gotten locked out of her house and how it had been the worst day ever for her. We ran over there (literally) and Sister Drummond somehow got her door to open using a credit card. BOOYAH. She was sooooo happy to finally be inside because it was super hot and sticky outside (surprise surprise). She invited us in to get some water and then we helped her clean her kitche. Then, after that, Jonathan came home from school and he asked us if he could come out walking with us. We told him that we walk really fast and we walk a long distance. Jonathan, being his 9 year old self said, "I CAN DO IT! Let me go!" Okay. Sure Jonathan. So he ended up walking with us along with Sister Edwards 16 year old niece Kya. IT WAS HILARIOUS. They walked behind us and were getting soooo tired. We maybe walked only a mile and we heard Jonathan's voice from behind say to us, "Man! This is the farthest I've ever walked in my whole life!" Oh my, we were laughing so hard!!!! We said some prayers with people and it was great. Kya called Sister Edwards to pick them up because they were too tired to walk back home. hahahhahaha and apparently Kya fell asleep on the car ride home!!!!!!!!! I love it.

We had a really really great lesson with Jalisa. A type of lesson where you just think to yourself, "Yup. I love being a missionary! Yup. I'm supposed to be here! Yup. We were supposed to meet her!" We taught her about the temple with an emphasis on the Law of Chastity. She has a boyfriend who comes around sometimes and we knew that she had been breaking the law of chastity. I had studied specifically for her that morning and so I defiinitely prepared myself to be bold with her. She accepted all of it and told us that she definitely wanted to give up her sins and change. She told us that we would have to keep her in line and visit her as much as we could so that we would encourage her. We asked her how she felt whenever we come over and she said, "I just feel light. I don't know how to explain it. Y'all just make me so happy!!!!!" We then testified of the spirit and how it testifies of truth. We asked her if she knows everything that we have been teaching her is true. She said, "Well. Yeah! How could it not be? Everything y'all say just makes me happy." AHHHHHHHHHH THIS GOSPEL IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! I then asked her if she wanted to get married someday with her boyfriend in the temple and she said she wants to strive to get there one day. yayayyayayayayayayy!!!!

 

Saturday "Very odd day": We tried contacting a lot of random referrals with no luck and the Hendersons (people in our branch) drove us out to different appointments that we had, but no one was home. The Henderson's asked us if we wanted them to drop us off at home and we told them to just drop us off in a random neighborhood and I jokingly told Brother Henderson to follow the spirit and just decide on a random street. So he did just that. We knocked on a good 20 doors and no one was answering! Lots of people did the classic yell from the other side of the door as they say, "WHO IS IT?" and then we say, "The missionaries!" Then they reply saying, "WHO?" (people always ask "who is it" twice. soooo funny) And then we say, "THE MISSIONARIES!" and then there is always an awkward silence and then they just don't answer. hahahahha We did find a guy named Mitch who talked to us for a while outside. He told us that he was wanting to understand the bible better and we offered to help :) Turns out, his dad is our mailman that we see all the time!!!!!!! We have a return appointment with him for tomorrow!!!!! We tracted into a lady named Ashley who let us right in!!!! We taught her the Restoration and she had lots of questions about prophets and told us about this prophet who helped her with her finances. It was a really weird lesson and everything just felt "off". We are seeing her again tonight though! Hopefully everything will go better!

We had a very interesting lesson with our investigator Dominique. We walked inside the door and I instantly smelled weed. Sister Drummond had no idea what the smell was. The only reason I know what it smells like is because of Europe and dad telling me what it was as we were walking down the streets in Venice. hahahha (shout out to dad in heaven :)) We QUICKLY taught her the Plan of Salvation and Dominique was just out of it the whole time. It was so sad. After we left, Sister Drummond looked at me and said, "What was wrong with Dominique????" I told her what the smell was and she freaked out. hahahahahha Oh the experiences you have as a missionary... priceless.

We met a really really crazy lady on the street who told us all about how she has accepted Jesus into her life and how the devil is out to get her. She kept asking us how we are so skinny and it was just really uncomfortable.

Weird day, goodness gracious.

 

Sunday "There is opposition in all things": We had no investigators at church today :((( We haven't been able to get a hold of Antrianna for the LONGEST time and we are very confused with what's going on with her. Jalisa didn't come because she was cooking? That's what she told us. She did say that she would come next week though!!!! It's just so crazy how hard satan is working to get people to not come to church. lame. lame. lame.

We had a really neat experience this day! All of our plans had fallen through so we decided to contact people at the park. We saw a HUGE crowd of people in the center of the park and they were having a revival of some sort. So we kept walking and saw three teenagers who were sitting on a bench. 14, 15, and 17 years old and they were ALL smoking!!!!!!! How sad is that? Anyway, we had a really good discussion with them about religion. And Chrissy, the 17 year old is the grandchild of our relief society president here!!!!! She told us that she wasn't too interested in what we had to say. Chrissy basically talked the whole time and her friend, Danielle was quiet. We left both of them with our number and told them to text us so we would have their number so that we could go get icecream together sometime. 10 mins later, Danielle texted us and said, "Thank y'all so much for talking to us. Y'all are some cool girls and good examples to me. I am in a dark place in my life and I want to be better. Will y'all help me?" AHHHHHHHHHHHHH She melted our hearts!!!!! Danielle just moved here from Tennessee and she told us via text that she really doesn't have any friends and that her family life is rough and that she really wants to go to church!!!!!! I LOVE HER!!!!!!! We set a time up this week that we can see her and she is so excited :) We are too!!!!!!

We went over to have a lesson with JOSH (YES. JOSH. He had a "come to jesus" moment with Sister Edwards and now he wants to learn from us again). Chantel was there and we ended up having a HILARIOUS night with both of them!!! Usually, Chantel is very stand-offish when it comes to talking with us. I have been praying for the longest time for her heart to soften and it finally has!!!!!! We were all laughing so hard as she told us the difference between "us white folks and black people." Oh my. She went through a super long list from hair texture to how white people eat vegetables to how black people threaten their kids more. Tears were coming from our eyes. I love the south so much!!!! It was so great! I'm grateful that we have broken through the tough wall that she placed in front of us. We were able to teach them an awesome lesson too!!!! YAY!

Quote from Chantel: "A whoopin' to y'all is like a spankin. A beatin' to us is like a DEATH SENTENCE." Oh my, the way she said it was hilarious and the look on her face was priceless!!!!

 

Well, in other news....

-Tom totally passed his baptismal interview and is GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY. GUESS WHO GOT PERMISSION FROM PRESIDENT HANKS TO GO??? ME!!!!! SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED! I MIGHT CRY.

-Sister Drummond and I got proposed to TWICE this past week from two different men. YIKES.

-1 porch swing that I sit on=20 new bug bites

-Vocab words for this week that I wan't y'all to use:

"Fiddin" =another way to say "fixin" which means "I'm about to..."

"cut" =turn (ex: Cut them lights off! or Cut the TV off!!!!!)

"It's been a minute" = It's really been a long time!!!! Ex: I've been waiting in line for a minute. (in reality, I was waiting in line for 2 hours)

-We find at least 3 large pieces of fake hair a day on the street. Braids, wigs, dreads. You name it.

-Classic ways that people kindly say no to us #southernhospitality.... "We are busy right now, but do y'all have a number we can reach you at?" (We give them a card and of course, they never call.. unless they are creepy) or "I work 24/7"

-I always like to ask people what their favorite scripture is when I meet new people.... there are always 2 classic answers... "I don't know! I can't choose! I just love the whole bible!" or "John 3:16!!!!" And then they begin to quote it. IT'S ALWAYS JOHN 3:16 and I don't know why. Sure, it's a great scripture, but there are SOOOOO many good ones!!!!!! Preachers....

 

Well, I love y'all so much!!!!! Like I said, I have been focusing on change a lot and how to get people to change for the better. People here truly do have a desire to change, but they just don't know how. They don't know how to apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that is why we are here as missionaries!!!! I love this quote: "Every challenge you face, every hard thing you confront, every bad thing that happens to you, every unfairness, every conflict, every sadness, tragedy, every disappointment and heartache, every temptation and every opposition happens for one purpose only: to give you opportunity to respond by applying in your life the teachings of Jesus. As you do so you are changed to become more like him." AMEN. We, as people, are given so many different trials so that we can test our faith and our ability to change for the better. I am grateful for the trials that I have received on my mission. I'm (oddly) grateful that investigators are stubborn sometimes and don't come to church because it allows me to look myself in the mirror and see what I need to change about myself. It helps me react in a more positive way and learn how to do so more often. YAY FOR TRIALS!!! :)

LOVE Y'ALL SO MUCH! GO AND DO. BE GOOD EXAMPLES. LOVE FIERCELY.

 

myky,

Sister Platt