Words from Sister Brittany Platt in Colorado

"Hello everybody!

 

Best news ever, I get to be in Strasburg, with my awesome companion Sister Hoemann, for another transfer (6 weeks)!!!!! Woo hoo!!!! So excited and such a blessing!! We absolutely love it here and we love the people here. Every day we see miracles, great and small. And we're hoping to put a couple of our investigators on date and possibly get a baptism or two this transfer!!!

 

So this last week was wonderful. We met with a lot of Less-active families and we also had our huge mission meeting on Thursday. Very few missions get to meet together as a whole mission, so we were very blessed! The meeting was on New Years Day and it was to launch our mission goal of 1,001 baptisms for the 2015 year. I love our mission president's excitement for this goal and the energy that is coming into the mission. Hopefully, our mission will start to change it's focus and attitude. There's a lot of work here to do and the missionaries need to step up and be obedient and do it!! Not that we aren't already, but we can always improve.

 

So, the only investigator we got to meet with this week was Mike. We had a really good lesson with him teaching the Plan of Salvation. The things he struggles with are Resurrection and the Atonement. We kept explaining about the fall and why the Atonement is necessary, but he still doesn't quite understand. The problem Mike has is he's very intellectual and isn't necessarily searching for truth, but searching for information. Whatever information he "likes" is the direction he'll go. We're trying to help him understand the need to pray and ask God for a confirmation of truth, and he said he'd continue to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true.

 

Something that's really hard, I've noticed in Colorado (probably in all of America too), is that people don't see why it's necessary to come to church! We have so many Less-Actives that claim to believe in this gospel but they won't come to church. Sometimes I just want to shake them and tell them that church is not all about socializing and having friends!!!! It's about taking the sacrament, one of the most sacred ordinances we have, and to renew our covenants with God. Also, we are there to learn more about the gospel from each other and to help one another be better! I get so tired of the gossiping and the backbiting and the offending and the complaining and the way people treat each other. Why are we so prone to gossip about one another and dislike each other? We are all different! We have different ideas and ways of looking at things. We need to admit when we're wrong, because we are all wrong in different ways and at different times!! I'm wrong all the time!!! It's sad! :) People are so set on their opinions that they're willing to ruin relationships over it. The only answer to all of our problems and questions is the gospel! As Elder Perry said in the December Ensign, the gospel is the answer to any question and any problem!!! I know that and I believe that! We are so blessed in this country to live as we do and to have the freedoms we have. But, because of it, we are so spoiled and we're not humble! I'm the first one to admit my pride. I didn't realize until I came on the mission how prideful I was. How spoiled I am! We have so much here, and yet we're not willing to impart of it. Especially members of the church. Why are we so afraid to share the truth that we have with others? It is the most amazing gift we have and yet we won't share it! I've heard every excuse in the book from members on why they won't share the gospel. And I know that many of their excuses were my own before the mission! Life gets in the way and there are hard times, I totally get that. But maybe, if we let go of ourselves for a little bit and focus on other people, our problems would get solved. Our burdens would become light! And we will grow and become better. I love this quote from President George Albert Smith: "That is your mission, my brethren and sisters of the Church, that is your responsibility. Freely you have received and our Heavenly Father will expect you freely to share with His other sons and daughters these glorious truths....We will attain our exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom only on the condition that we share with our Father's other children the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and observe the commandments that will enrich our lives here and hereafter." 

 

Well, there's my rant for today. Sorry! I just feel so deeply sometimes that I get on my little stool and need to get off it! Mostly, that rant is for myself. :) I need to hear it more than anyone else! Thanks for listening and loving me inspite of my weaknesses and follies! Heaven knows, I have so many! Thank heavens for the Atonement. I don't know where my life would be or who I would be without Jesus Christ. I realize more and more how much I owe Him! How really, I am nothing without Him!

I hope you all have a wonderful week back at work and back to school or wherever you  may be or whatever you may be doing. Thank you all for your prayers, your love and support! This work is amazing and I'm so grateful for it! God bless you all!"