Duck Dynasty

Hey!

Wow- you all looked like you had a great time ice skating. :) This past week I've actually been dreaming about how much I want to go ice skating when I get home. I'm glad you were able to go ice skating. Mom- you look ridiculously thin in that picture! And Boys- Stop growing! Right now! :) You are both getting to be too tall! Same with you Julia! Pretty soon I'm sure the younger ones are all going to eclipse all of us short older ones. 

Happy Birthday to Grandma!!! She is amazing, and I hope she had an amazing party. :) And YES- she is by FAR the youngest 72 year old I've ever even heard of. She still looks like she's in her younger 50's. 

Cool story from this week- are you familiar with the popular reality TV show Duck Dynasty? It is CRAZILY popular out here, and I'm pretty sure it should be fairly big out in Utah. Well, the other day we were in Wal-Mart talking to a Less-Active, and as we were leaving I saw a guy with an awesome walking stick. Of course if a guy has an awesome walking stick, I just have to comment on it, so I did. Well, turns out his walking stick is made out of blood wood- the same wood that Queen Elizabeth used on all of her furniture. It was all imported from Nigeria and looks really cool. After telling us all about that, he turns to a case advertising Duck Dynasty paraphernalia, and says, "You know Si? Well, I used to work with him. Actually he used to work for me. After he came home from the war we worked together quite a bit, and then I hired him for one of my ventures." We spent the next 30 min. listening to this guy tell us all about the life of Si pre-Duck Dynasty. :) It was super awesome. Of all the random things at Wal-Mart.

Well... this past week has been rather slow. Hopefully next week will pick up the pace. I love you all!

Love always,

~Sister Pratt

p.s. This story is SO cool! Actually, most of these videos are super cool. 

http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/members-and-missionaries?lang=eng#media=43435130806737641490-eng

http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/members-and-missionaries?lang=eng#media=14955957341324948655-eng

Also- just for your entertainment: http://www.mormonchannel.org/more-videos?v=1571558644001

Interviews

Hey!

How are you all doing this week? I hope and pray everything goes well this next week. 

We go to the temple about every 3 months, so I've been to the temple twice since I've been out.

The Lord has been taking care of me. Thank you for that reminder. I'm not entirely sure what he's doing, or where he's going with me. But hopefully its somewhere good... and hopefully we'll be able to get this whole mission thing figured out well enough to do some sort of good. 

I haven't had a terribly exciting week. We had interviews with President this week. It was really neat to get to talk with him. I was amazed at how well he knew my companions and I- he has nearly 300 missionaries to look after, but he still has somewhat of a grasp on who everyone is. It is amazing. I'm very grateful for my mission president- he's a great one and he's really helped my out. 

We went tracting with a recent convert on Tuesday and it was really neat to hear her testify how the church has changed her life. Hopefully we'll see some interest from those contacts.

Well, I hope you all have a great week! Sorry this letter isn't terribly interesting. Its been a good week- we've been working hard and doing everything we can. It just hasn't been a terribly interesting week... :) So maybe next week we'll have some great stories. In the meantime, I love you all! Hope you have a great week!

Love always

~Sister Pratt

High Priest's Christmas Present

Hey!!

I am so glad to hear that everything is going well. Except the places that aren't... in those places, I hope they will start going well. Please give my condolences to the Lauritzens.

Of course everything is super busy! :) What would life be like if it weren't? How was the activity day girl's performance? Mom didn't say anything about it except that she was super stressed out. :) Was it worth the stress? Whew! I hope you are able to maintain your sanity throughout all of that craziness! The video from FHE is absolutely adorable. Sister Wells thinks you both deserve awards for your thrilling performance.

This week has been an absolutely incredible week. Sister Wells (my new companion) and I seem to get along pretty well, and she has really helped me. I think she's got some great things for this area, and I'm excited for this transfer. She is from Montana, is the 2nd oldest of 6 and has been out nearly a year. Its pretty great.

So- awesome story this week. 

Long Version: Dad, that Christmas present from the High Priest group is very powerful. The moment I opened the box, I could feel the Spirit pushing out of the box. It was one of the most powerful forces I have ever felt. Between the truths taught in the Book of Mormon, and the testimonies backed by lives filled with dedication to Christ, the Spirit those books are incredible powerful. Because of that, I prayed that the Lord would help me to use them wisely. I know those books will change Alabama, and I want to be sure to put them in fertile ground. 

As I was fingering through them, I noticed a testimony written in Spanish (possibly Brother Garcia's?) , but it was in an English copy of the Book of Mormon. I prayed to know which testimony I should put in my bag, and I was told to put the Spanish one in my bag. Now, that one made no sense- A) I am an English missionary, I don't speak Spanish... at all. B) In Birmingham we run into plenty of people that speak Spanish, and some English, but Huntsville... not so much. C) The Book of Mormon is pretty intense reading, even for someone whose first language is English. D) It would have to be someone with a heartfelt connection to Spanish in order to fully appreciate the testimony. It made no sense, but like most good stories, I put it in my bag.

During nightly planning on Thursday, I was wondering what we were going to do the next day, (The wonderful part of being the experienced one in an area you hardly know... sometimes you just stare at your board for long periods of time wondering what in the world you are going to do the next day.) and my eye caught the name of a couple that is basically a Do Not Contact couple. Now, I am a bit of a chicken in that area- if someone doesn't want to be contacted, I would much rather just not contact them. Let them be until they realize that they really do want to be contacted, and then we'll have a much happier reunion. But, the Spirit was telling me to visit them. I said, "Fine! If they live down South in the area we are visiting tomorrow, and if the Spirit reminds me of it tomorrow, we'll visit them."

Fast forward to the next day- all of our sparse plans fell through... :P So, like slightly desperate missionaries, we sat on a park bench and prayed about what to do. I was told "Don't knock" and then the name of that couple popped into mind. :P Sister Wells felt like we should go up the road. We pulled out the GPS, and this couple was exactly 1 mile, straight up the road. I never have things like that happen to me... NEVER... Heavenly Father was being rather obvious. Well, we went up the road, but I was still scared to death- Do Not Contacts are Do Not Contact for a reason. You don't contact them. So, while we marched to our death I prayed, "If this is a bad idea- get them out of here quickly, because we are going up. If it is a good idea, please, please, put the man out in the yard, maybe doing yard work, and make him have a friendly reaction." I'm pretty sure I prayed this the entire mile up. 

As we got closer, I looked to see if someone was in the yard, and there wasn't. There was a man in the yard next door, but no one in the yard of the home we were going to. As I looked at the home we were going, I almost turn-tailed and ran. It was HUGE. It was like the Bennett's, but 50x more foreboding, and you could see all of the levels from the street. I started walking up the large, sweeping steps towards the large, black door, and decided I'd much rather talk to the man in the yard next door. 

He smiled at us, I started talking to him, and guess what- the Spirit told me that was the man who needed the Spanish Book of Mormon. Turns out he can read English, and speaks Spanish. It was crazy. We're giving him to the Spanish sisters, but if I find out anything else, I'll share it with you. But Whew!! That was one crazily led copy of the Book of Mormon. But it was certainly led. 

p.s. Also- the DNC couple weren't home. Sometimes I think the Lord really likes irony... 

Short version: We gave out a copy of the Book of Mormon!! Maybe someone will be saved!!! (or Exalted... because we are not Baptist and we set our sights much higher.)

Well, I love you all! I hope you have an absolutely fantastic week. I love you!

Love,

~Sister Pratt

Leaves, My Banana Wreath and Transfers

Hey!

How are you!?!?

In answer to Dad's question... It REALLY depends... LoL. We seem to go in waves- we will have two months with 31 baptisms, and then we will suddenly have 55 baptisms (that was the month Andy was baptized... we had 13 baptisms in our zone alone). So it is kind of crazy. I though we had a bunch of baptisms this past month because I have seen 5 people get baptized, but we only had 31. But it depends... by a lot. 

Transfer calls came on Saturday. I'll be staying in Monte Sano, and Sister Nokes will be leaving. I'm sad to lose Sister Nokes- she has been an incredible blessing to this area and she has been an absolutely incredible companion. But I'm also super stoked for this next transfer. Monte Sano is lush and ready to be harvested. I am confident this next transfer will be a great transfer where we will be able to do great things. Hopefully my next companion will be ready for all of the awesomeness.

This past transfer has been a rather difficult one for me, but now I know the area (somewhat), the holidays are over, and I'm just having a good feeling about this next transfer. Prayers would be much appreciated!

~Sister Pratt

The Pictures

I have this on going joke with a recent convert- Christine. :) She found out I didn't like bananas, so she decided to put a banana in my stocking. I decided to make her a banana wreath. You know I've been in the South too long when I start making wreaths. Her face was priceless when she saw the wreath. She is also has 10 bananas she now has to take care of. LoL. Tonight we are eating at her place, and I wonder if she is going to serve us the banana fritters she said she made.

 It has been FREEZING lately. Today the windchill is -10 F... Last night we had a rain/snow/sleet/ice storm... the temperature dropped 10 degrees in about 30 min. It was crazy. Last week, when it was only "pretty cold" we were out, and all of our appointments fell though. When that happens, it typically means go find someone, which is easy enough in the warm... but when it is that cold, you have tracting, Walmart or a restaurant. Tracting isn't really doable in our area (Super rich- no Soliciting signs), We had just spent an hour at Walmart, so we prayed and went to the nearby Sonic. My companion froze, we talked to the waitress, and left a mormon.org card. Oddest, randomest bit of inspiration that didn't really reap any fruit, but hey! We got a picture, and hopefully someone will appreciate our mormon.org card.

So... Sister Gauchay and Sister Nokes decided to secretly rake a ward member's lawn, but they did not have garbage bags, so they left the piles where they were. This man has back problems, so he wasn't able to pick them up either, so they just stayed there. The other day we were talking to him, and he mentioned how sweet it was that someone would do that, but he wished they had not put them in piles because it was going to kill the grass under the piles. The next time we were out there, they were not home, so Sister Nokes decided we should probably make up for her mistake. :) We had 4 grocery bags in the car, no rake, and it was FREEZING. But we picked up those wet, soggy, rotting leaves with our bare hands, and put them into the grocery bags, hopping that he wouldn't suddenly appear and ask what in the world we were doing. It was perhaps the funniest and oddest service project I've ever done.

Sister Nokes received 4 stockings for Christmas. :) She asked what she should do with them, and I said, "Wear them." Well. She did. And this is her picture.