Hello hello!!! k. HOw is it already September? It just hit me today.MERE! I hope you're birthday was the best!!! Jenna! You are next :) Oh my goodness y'all. Time is FLYING!!!!
This past week has been a little rough, but I have been learning what Heavenly Father intended for me to learn and for that, I am grateful :)
I won't go through everyday, but I will talk about the rough times and then the wonderful BLESSINGS that have occured as well.
-Jalisa totally blocked us on her phone. So awkward. We think she may have gotten anti-ed, but aren't too sure. We sended her a text on Monday night to see if we could stop by and we got a text back that said, "The person at this phone number has chosen to not receive messages from you." When we got the text, Sister Drummond and I were almost in tears as we looked at each other, but all that could come out of my mouth at that time was laughter. I think that is how I have learned to cope with trials on the mission. I seriously just think to myself, "okay really? THIS WOULD HAPPEN." and then I just laugh. hahah We really don't have too many promising investigators at the moment, but just like the quote in the title of this email, WE CAN ADJUST THE SAILS and CHOOSE to be happy!!!! 3 days later, Sister Drummond and I both felt the desire to go over to Jalisa's house and embrace the awkward and just knock on her door. She had just pulled up in her car as soon as we got there and she was acting SUPER uncomfortable, but let us in. She started to tell us how she is going to move to Columbus and how she wants to live there with her boyfriend and yadayada. I think she was trying to hint at us that she doesn't want us back :( SO SAD. OH WELL. Missionaries will find her again when she is ready!
-A blessing that happened that night was while we were planning. Sister Drummond and I felt super down about the whole situation and then we randomly get a text from our investigator Mitch, asking us when he can meet with us again :)!!!! It definitely lifted our spirits!!!
-I received a letter from Sister Gustafson and she told me how the people that we were working with in Clanton are NOW getting baptized!!!! Sister Lutz's daughter, Sara just got baptized (we think) and Nick (who is one of my favorite people on this earth) has a baptismal date!!!!!!!!! :) I am so happy for them!!!!!!!!
-I had a really neat experience while on exchanges this past week. Sister Drummond and Sister Smith knew a lady that was getting endowed, so they had the opportunity to go to the temple while Sister Klein and I stayed in Columbus. We were at this members house and teaching them a lesson/trying to get them excited about member missionary work. The family that we were visiting consisted of a wife and husband who were both returned missionaries and their two 3 and 1 year old girls. The wife turned to her little 3 year old and asked, "Afton, what do missionaries do?" Afton excitingly looked at her mom and said with the cutest lisp ever, "Missionaries help others come unto Christ!!!" I got chills. It was a very spiritual experience for me and honestly has changed my life. It was so simple, and yet, exactly what I needed to hear. After hearing her say that, I couldn't stop smiling as I thought to myself, "One day, I want that. I want my kids to grow up knowing the importance of missionary work. I want my house to be a place of peace and refuge for everyone. I want my kids to know the importance of coming unto Christ." Goodness, I am so grateful for this mission. #blessing
-Another blessing was the chance that we got to teach Tammy how to hold a Family Home evening. As soon as we walked through the door, they all screamed as they said, "Yay!!!!!! The missionaries are here!!!!" It made us feel really famous like miranda sings. But really, it was a simple tender mercy to know that we are doing our part here in West Point. We had a fun time teaching them all about "putting on the armour of God" and Chantelle dressed Jonathan up in the "armour" using alluminum foil.
-We were tracting one day and this lady answered the door as I said, "hello! We are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and we are going around today leaving prayers with people." This lady nervously kept looking back and forth at Sister Drummond and I and then kept studdering as she said, "okay. okay. okay." She let us in and we were able to say a prayer with her. After the prayer, she started to cry and then said, "You have no idea how much I needed that prayer. My son is sick in the hospital and I just found out that I have MS. God sent you ladies to me and I really appreciate it." Ah. It was the best. It makes me so happy to pray with people here. They are all so full of love here in the South. My goodness.
-We had an AMAZING lesson with Mitch on the Restoration outside on his porch. Oh Mitch... He is so funny. He is 38 years old and lives with his parents and loves video games. He is the sweetest guy ever. The spirit was really strong in the lesson and we asked him if he felt the message was true. He said, "Well. yeah. I can totally believe it! Especially hearing y'all bear testimony of it. Y'all are very sincere unlike the Jehovah's witnesses." hahahah it was great. We invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and he said he would! At the end, we asked him to say a pray outloud and he got super nervous and refused to do it. We didn't take no for an answer so I grabbed a sticky note and wrote down a prayer for him that he could read and say. I gave the note to him and he reviewed it a good ten times. He then started his prayer which was WAY better than what I had written down. He didn't even look at the note that I had written :) It was amazing!!! He said, "Dear Heavenly Father. I thank you for sending Sister Drummond and Sister Platt to me today. I am learning a lot and I feel very peaceful. Please help me know about the Book of Mormon. I am going through a lot in my life and Lord, you know my heart, please help me. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." SO PRECIOUS. I have said it before and I will say it again, I love hearing investigators pray!!!! We asked him how he felt and he jokingly said, "I feel all dizzy, but I know that must be God and not some drug that y'all gave me." We explained to him that he was feeling the spirit :) Mitch still has a lot to learn, but we were able to clear up a lot of concerns about our church that he had heard from talking to his friends.
-We had ANOTHER AMAZING lesson with Mitch 2 days later at the church with Brother and Sister Wilson who are an adorable older couple in our branch. He loved them and I feel like he could really relate to Sister Wilson because she is a convert and used to be Southern Baptist like Mitch. It was perfect. We focused a lot on Joseph Smith and praying about the Book of Mormon with Mitch. We asked him how he felt as we have been teaching him (my favorite question to ask) and he said, "I have never talked about religion so comfortably in my life with anyone. I usually get all defensive so it's nice that y'all listen and help me." We invited him to be baptized and he said he would still have to pray about it. He expressed his fear of attending church on sunday and kept saying, "I can't make any promises that I will be there, but I will try." Usually, when people say that, it means they aren't coming. haha it's funny to decode what people say. (He ended up not coming yesterday:( ) I personally think he is scared to come and socialize with new people, but the branch would be perfect for him!
-OH! I forgot to mention that we did a scavenger hunt one night with the STL's and wrote down different people we wanted to find and get contact information/return appts from! We split up into companionships and had two hours to find everything on the list. For example, on our list, it had:
-Someone with a batman shirt on
-Someone with a green house
-Someone who likes zombies
-A baptist preacher
-A black girl wearing a neon shirt
-A man with a cross tattoo
-Someone who has met with missionaries before
Oh my, It was HILARIOUS!!!!!!! We found a lady sitting outside on her porch and her house was green. We started talking with her and asking her the typical questions (what church do you go to? How long have you lived here? etc.) and about 5 mins later, her husband rolls up on his bike and tries to get off his bike and almost falls. He was completely drunk. His name is Barry. The poor lady we were talking to had no idea and kept saying, "What's wrong baby?" It was so sad. We then asked the lady when a good time would be for us to come back and her husband looks at us and in a slurred voice says, "NEVER. maybe next year." We ignore him and just smile as we get her information. Then, Barry looks at me and yells, "WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS SMILING? STOP SMILING. IT'S CREEPY." hahahahhahahahahaha oh man. It was funny. I just laughed and said, "oh. sorry sir! I just love being a missionary and talking about Jesus Christ." Good times. Good times.
Good news, we found everyone on our list except the guy with a batman shirt on. We had 5 minutes before it was time to go inside for the night and we were SO desperate to find the man with batman on him. I saw a guy sitting in a car and he had tattoos all over. I awkwardly asked him if he had a batman tattoo and he said NO :'((((
-There was a cute boy that sister Van Komen and I met when I first got to West Point. He is about 8 years old. He was riding his bike as we saw him again and he said, "HEY!! DO YOU REMEMBER ME????" and when we said yes, he got SO EXCITED. It was the cutest thing ever. He then told us to go see his mom and so we did, but she didn't answer the door. He then asked us to come back and see him every day. Oh my. It was the best. He was with his two other friends and they were all riding bikes and it reminded me of a classic southern movie that you would watch like forrest gump or something. They were all wearing cowboy boots with their pants and had camo hats on with white tank tops. So adorable.
It's the little things here in the south that make me so happy!!! Like yesterday, while tracting, I just had to stop and look around me as I saw green all over the place. It's so beautiful here! I love the huge letters that people put on their front porches. Basically everyone has them here. I want a letter to put on my door when I get home! MOM! Put a cute decorated "p" on our door please!!!! I also love how everyone says, "have a blessed day". It's the best and I say it all the time. I love the lady in wal mart who we were trying to contact who then invited us to her church and promised us that we would have a "hallelujah good time" and feel the spirit as we "jump up and clap for Jesus." I even love the creepy men that smile and wave at us and ask us to be their girlfriend.
Even though the "winds" may be a little crazy here and it's a tough area, I KNOW that as long as Sister Drummond and I "adjust our sails" and think positively, things will happen here!!!!
I love y'all so much and I am truly happy. This work is hard, but that's how we GROW.
-I ate Chick Fil A to celebrate my year mark. #tendermercy #chickfilaisn'tinwestpointbutitsincolumbus
-Yesterday, we hear a guy with dreads yell, "happy sunday everyone!" and then he turned on his atrocious rap music as loud as he could. Sister Drummond and I just shook our heads #notkeepingthesabbathholy
-We didn't get proposed to this past week, but a man did pull over his car as we were walking and asked us both out on a date. We just said, "no thanks! but you should check out mormon.org! It's a great website that helps people come unto Christ"
-President Hanks has encouraged us to carry around the Book of Mormon in our hands as we are walking everywhere. We went to a gas station to contact one night and we did just that. We walked up to this man waiting in his truck and he had the window rolled down. I then said! "hello sir! If Jesus came up to you and told you that he wanted you to read another book about him and his life, would you read it?" He then gave me the WEIRDEST look and said, "Uh. I guess." We then said, "GREAT! Here it is! It's called The Book of Mormon. Will you read it?" He then said NO. REALLY RUDE. We refused no for an answer and asked his son in the passenger seat if he would like it. HE SAID YES. hahhaha little children are the best. Oh. How I love being awkward. It's the best.
-Our windows vibrate EVERY morning as we are studying from the loud music that people play in their cars as they drive by our apartment.
-We are having another conference type thing with one of the 70!!! Elder Zwick will be here to speak with us missionaries and we have the opportunity to go to Huntsville this tuesday!! !SO STOKED!!!!! Tonight, we are going to drive to Hamilton which is halfway to huntsville from here and meet with the other sisters in our zone and have a sleepover/make a music video! STOKED. I love the sisters here in this mission!!!!!!!
Now, I would like to invite y'all to go out and serve the Lord! Help someone in need! Recognize the little things in life and adjust your sails!!!!!!!!!!!
MYKY,
Sister Platt
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