Missionary Broadcast

Thank you for your love and your prayers. I have certainly felt them sustain me as I have been working out here in Alabama. I know they place a lot of emphasis on not letting our family distract us from the work, but every time I think of you it inspires me. I really can't wait to tell you all of the incredible things that are happening out here. The Lord has been with us, and he is truly preparing people for us to teach. The words from Dad's letter last week about the poor kept running through my head this week. My area is rather fascinating because we have the poor, the rich, and the somewhere in between, but I have certainly seen many desperately poor people. We had an experience where we were tracting in a rather sketchy apartment complex, and my companion decided to do "just one more" hallway. We walked down the hallway, and a lady poked her head out of a door and looked at us. :) With an introduction like that, we just HAD to approach her. In our mission, our door approach is to invite them to feel the Spirit by saying a prayer with them. It brings the Spirit, most people down here are perfectly comfortable praying, but it allows them to feel something different (the power, authority and Spirit) than they have felt in any other setting, and they open up. It is a truly inspired approach. We briefly talked with this lady, and then said the prayer. After praying, you could literally see the peace come over her face. She let us into her apartment and then told us that she had been praying all day for the Lord to send someone. She was in desperate circumstances (had literally NO money to her name, lost her cell phone, she was a single mother, was facing a court hearing within the week and was possibly pregnant...) and kept calling us angels for coming. It was a beautiful experience. We have no idea how/if she will progress... at this point it isn't looking terribly great... but she took a copy of the Book of Mormon (after asking our policy on marriage... and then looking relieved when we said one man to one wife) and honestly, we walked out of there with the full confidence that we had just done exactly what the Savior would have done if he had been there in that apartment complex that evening. It was amazing. And the wonderful thing is, things like that have happened almost every day. I seriously have had at least one incredibly spiritual experience every single day. Yep, the Lord is guiding this work. It is amazing.

How did you like the missionary broadcast? I LOVED it!!! It was ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!! I did not see your sign ;) And yes, I would believe that Dad would actually do that... But I'm glad you were able to be there. And it really in incredibly inspiring to see the numbers of missionaries that are going out. 70,274!!! That is CrAzY! I can literally feel the hastening of the work. I have work to do, and I don't have much time to do it in. We honestly feel like the Army of Helaman sent out in the last days, it is a solem yet exciting feeling, and I've felt it with almost every missionary I've talked to.

I'm slightly jealous that you actually got to be IN the Marriott Center, but things are getting pretty exciting out here. We watched it at our Ward Mission Leader's house with the Elders, and then I had my first meal at a member's house. :) It was great.

I had some thoughts during the broadcast, particularly pertaining to Grandma and Grandpa Bradshaw. In the mission field, we are asked to offer baptism on the very first lesson unless directed otherwise. I've been struggling to understand why we do that... and I've come up with several answers, one of them is that the adversary works quickly on people. Just after they have felt the Spirit, and while they are still strong, we need to invite them to do something (or in the case of the baptismal invite, invite them to prepare for something) immediately so that they can remain strong. At our house, Grandma and Grandpa had an incredibly spiritual experience, particularly as pertaining to the Book of Mormon, and before they forget it and go back to their normal lives, I really think we should invite them to read the Book of Mormon. I have no idea HOW to go about doing that... or what their reaction will be... but I was really feeling like we should do it. And hopefully the promise of the General Authorities will come true. If we do it in a spirit of Love and sincerity towards the Savior and them, then they won't react badly... So... those were my thoughts during the Broadcast.

Also, I LOVED how much they talked about working with inactives. It really gave me a bit of feeling of purpose to the work. Because we are both fairly new to the area (my companion was juggling two areas last transfer, and President told them to focus in the Gardendale area. Previous to that, we didn't really have sisters in this area), we have been spending most of our time either finding or working with less-actives. And, as much as I love everyone we work with, it has been a bit frustrating to me that I had to work with less-actives. (Not necessarily frustrated at them, or our inexperience, or the faults of the missionaries that taught them, or the feeling that someone else should be doing this.... just at the situation in general and the fact that they even fell away). I quite honestly didn't know that the missionaries worked with less-actives, and because there is next to nothing on the key-indicators with them, we have really bad numbers. (And that is coming from a girl who hardly cares about numbers... :P) But, the Broadcast really helped me see that althought they have already been baptized, it is still an incredibly crucial role of the missionaries to work with the less-actives and recent converts. I just finally felt peace over all of the work that we had been doing.

In the MTC, we had a phrase, "become the Lord's investigator." :) It is terribly scary that she's only been out here for a little bit (and has spent hardly any time in the area), and she certainly appreciates your prayers, but it has been rather neat as we've been working on being the Lord's trainees as well as his investigators... :) Nearly every single time we've made a wrong turn, we've also made an investigator. Hopefully we aren't doing anything TOO off book (the White Handbook has been our best friend), but it has been nice to be free from the restraints of habit or tradition. So, please keep praying for us! But it is a great time to be serving!

Tell Grandma and Grandpa Pratt that I love them. We visited an elderly lady this week. (Not much older than them... but because of her health issues and because they seem so young, she seemed 20 years older than them.) And she just kept talking about her grandkids and everything they are doing in their lives. It really reminded me of Grandma and Grandpa Pratt and how much they love us. I just wanted to let them know that I love them too, and I am grateful for everything they do for us. So yeah, please make sure they get that message. 

Also- the make up of our ward- White, White and More White. Yeah... apparently in the South they are still having problems with segregation in churches. I guess we do have 3 black families.... but that is it. A bunch of elderly people, a bunch of young families and every one seems super strong.

It is a little weird that race even matters... But it does down here. I hope someday it just really won't matter... because it honestly shouldn't, but it still seems to be a big distinguisher down here.

Well, I love you all. And I hope everything continues to go well. If you ever want to write me in the middle of the week, :) You've heard how much missionaries love mail....

Love you lots!

~Sister Pratt

First Week!!!

Dear All,

This first week has been rather crazy in SO many ways! My trainer is named Sister Jackson (much easier to pronounce than Sister Gauchay), and she has been out for 6 weeks. She is incredibly nice, but it has been interesting figuring out this missionary stuff together. :) Luckily I don't think we've managed to squash anyone's testimony just yet, and my testimony that the Lord watches over his missionaries (even the lost, confused and unsure ones) has certainly grown. 

The area we are in is called Vestavia Hills, and it is just outside of Birmingham. This area has a TON of less-actives, so we've been working really hard on them. That is one thing I don't think I'll ever understand... After being given so much light and knowledge, after receiving a witness of the truthfulness of this beautiful work, and after learning about the beautiful opportunities that await the faithful- WHY would you just stop going? It really doesn't make sense to me... but maybe that is why I am still active. Most of these people are also recent converts, so it really impresses upon me the fact that not only do investigators need to get baptized, but they really need to understand the importance of the covenant they are making. Covenanting to follow God is not just a one act deal- it is a life time of steadily holding onto the church, my faith, and the covenants I have made. So- go to church! Cling to your covenants!! When your faith is being tried, just keep moving forward. If you don't feel like going to Sacrament meeting, do it anyways. If you are tired and don't want to read the Book of Mormon, do it anyways! Going through the actions isn't a good way to do things, but if that is all you have the strength to do at a particular moment, make sure that you keep doing that. As Elder Bednar said in an MTC devotional, remember to be converted unto the Lord. It is not enough to just have a testimony, you have to be converted unto the Lord (not unto the church, but unto the Lord... rather subtle but significant difference). :) Sorry, that is this week's rant.

This area was actually just recently opened up to sisters, so we've been doing a lot of finding... and hoping they turn into investigators. We've had several beautifully spiritual experiences, and I've officially met two people who were rather rude in turning us away. (One was a big rich guy and he just slammed the door- the other was someone who didn't like Mormons and told us to leave.) One guy told us, "Sorry I'm not really interested. I did vote for Romney, though!" I thought it was great. Mostly we've had beautiful experiences. I've heard that sisters can get into doors that Elders cannot, and I honestly did not really believe people when they said that. Two days ago Sister Jackson and I were out tracting, we knocked on two doors (same neighborhood, about 3 houses apart), and an old gentleman opened the door. Both of these men commented on the fact that they had never seen a sister missionary, and then said if anyone gives us grief to tell them because they would deal with them. It was really sweet. :) It was neat to watch them feel the Spirit as we talked, and it made me super happy to give them a copy of the Book of Mormon. Sister Jackson seems to think I'm a giving out the Book of Mormon machine... :) I just love giving it out. Honestly, reading the Book of Mormon and praying have the most incredible power to convert and change an individual. All the logic in the world cannot truly change an individual's heart... or at least not as effectively and permanently as the word of God- specifically the Book of Mormon.

Well, good luck to everyone on everything!! Wesley and Steven, way to start saving early- you WILL appreciate it. I hope Sabrina is able to do well at soccer camp, and same with Jenessa and dance camp. Everyone has been telling me to work hard, so it only seems right to return the favor. ;) Jenessa, Sabrina- WORK YOURSELF TO DEATH. Hmmm.... seems to be a life lesson hidden in there somewhere.... If you want to do a good job at anything, you should probably work hard.... something like that. ;) Maybe someone should start telling me to work smart. I've always thought that was about as valuable as working hard.

Sounds like you have an incredible week lined up. Tell the Adams I love them. Tell Alison good luck!! I'm sure she will have a great time at school. :) Enjoy Katie and Jacob. Seriously- besides Alison and Harrison, I'm pretty sure they are the best Adams kids ever. 

Whoot! I'm finally finished. Sorry this one was so long, hopefully the next one will be shorter. I'm not allowed to write you on other days, so that is why this one was so long. :) I hope you have a great day!

Love always,

Sister Erica Pratt

p.s:

1st picture- My companion, Sister Jackson. She is from Sandy, Ut, goes to school at SUU and is actually a few months younger than I am.

2nd picture- That is the building where we get to mail our letters from. :) It is a small private Baptist university called Samsford, and they have a public computer lad with REALLY nice Macs. I thought it was a gorgeous building, so I took a picture of it.

Erica MTC

Thank you so much for your emails!!! I've been looking forward to Wednesday all week long just because it meant that I could hear from you. I sent you a letter yesterday, sorry I didn't send it earlier. I kept trying to write you, but I kid you not, I was so tired that in all three drafts every single word was at least 20 syllables. When I tried to read one of them (to make sure it sounded sane), one of my roommates laughed and said "At least they will know you are still an English major." 

Also, I will be leaving the MTC on June 11th at about 4:00am... I don't think you would be interested in a call that early in the morning, so I'll call you during my layover in Georgia. It will probably be at about 1:30 (Georgia time... so I think that should be 10:00 to 11:00 ish... I'm not really sure). I'll be on a calling card, so please make sure someone picks up! :) Oh! I can't wait to hear your voice. I miss you a ton.

I'm glad everything has been so busy. :) At least busy with good things. Congrats to Miranda, that sounds like a great job! I'm glad she will have a change. Also, good luck to you Mom. I will certainly pray for you, although from everything I've learned at the MTC, I REALLY need to work on getting closer to the Spirit. :) I'm not surprised that Julia is a big hit back in New York. I hope she is having an incredible time. I'm also glad that she was able to feel the difference between their church and our church. One thing I've realized being here at the MTC is how incredibly important it is to know the difference between the two spirits. At times it really is hard for me because I've grown up with the Spirit around me 90% of my life. I am SO grateful for that, but sometimes it makes it hard to fully appreciate it.

Thank you for your fast, and your prayers. That really means a lot to me, and I could use every little bit of help. I've witnessed several miracles since I've been here, and I'm trying desperately to write everything down. President Claire wasn't kidding- you certainly witness miracles, and I haven't even gotten out into the field. I'm anxious to get out into the field. Not so much because I can't wait to get to Alabama, but more because I really can't wait until I can start interacting, meeting, and hopefully teaching people. 

The other day my companion and I were teaching a TRC investigator (they are paid actors that we have never met before... some are Mormon, some aren't. My companion swears the woman we had was not a Mormon... but we get a VERY short sentence about them two days before, and that is all we have to go off of.), and it was absolutely incredible. We've been struggling with actually recognizing the Spirit, following it during lessons, helping our investigator feel the Spirit, and making our lessons personal. While we were preparing for our TRC lesson, Sister Gauchay felt like we needed to teach her the Restoration, but I kept getting the feeling we needed to talk about the Plan of Salvation. Just in case, we decided to study both lessons and then really work on listening to the Spirit. When we went in, she was kind of skeptical, but seemed okay with us. We started talking about random stuff like the Word of Wisdom, Modesty and pretty much "The Church has so many rules." I realized that wasn't really going to get us anywhere, so I said something about how we were trying to build a tower without a foundation, so we needed to get back to the foundation and teach her some things that didn't really seem to do with all of our rules, but as we continued to teach her, they would help her understand our rules. I swear after that point, the Spirit just took it from there. The lesson was completely unorganized, we ended up covering both the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation because of questions she had, but it was incredibly personal and incredibly powerful. I don't think I'll ever forget that look on her face when she realized that the Savior Atoned for HER sins and that he died so that he could be their during HER hardest times. It was beautiful. I was so incredibly grateful I had the opportunity to bear such a powerful testimony. The Spirit was so strong, I could almost feel it. 

Basically, Missionary work is incredible. The Church is true, and the Lord answers prayers. I'm learning how to depend on the Spirit more, and it has produced at least two unforgettable moments.

Thanks for everything you do! I love you!! :)

The Church is true!

Sister Erica Pratt