Goodbye Talladega, Hello Cullman!!

Hey!

How has your week been?

This week has been a pretty incredible week. Honestly a pretty incredible week. First off, I am going to miss Talladega like crazy. I miss it so much. I have no idea how they all managed to steal such a big chunk of my heart, but it might be because of the incredible love they have shown me. I love them all so much. It should be difficult to leave them; I know for sure that the Lord is enabling me to feel only their love, and not feel the pain of leaving, but I love them so much.  

I also miss Sister Stahle quite a bit. She is incredible. Absolutely incredible. I've been able to learn so many things from her. It was SO hard leaving her. Fortunately, we believe in life after the mission and although it is sometimes hard to imagine, I am sure I'll be able to see some of my friends when I go home. Haha It also helps that she'll be going to BYU.

Also, fortunately, the Lord keeps sending good things. A) Sister Nalder seems really awesome. She is very chill, but very diligent and hardworking. It already feels pretty natural, which is something I have been praying for. B) I got one of my other best friends back!!! Sister McDougal is my STL!!! And she is in my district!! :D I was super happy about that. I miss her bunches. C) we seem to have a really cool district. Nearly everyone seems to have a striking spiritual depth to them, and our district meeting was very very powerful. Hopefully we'll be able to make friends and support each other in the work.

So, that has been my week. Packing, saying goodbye and then getting used to this area. I've received a bunch of revelation recently, a lot of it telling me that the Lord knows exactly where I am, and he is going to continue to be near me. I am grateful for those reassurances. He has blessed me so much, and most of it has been with the things that I most desire- an understanding of Him and a strong relationship with Him. It has been incredible these past few weeks how He has shown himself to me through my studies and the meetings. I hope this never ends.

  

We don't really have any investigators right now... :P So we have spent all day the past three days contacting and tracting. Oh! I am SO tired of finding!!! I just want to curl up in a hole and never talk to another stranger again. But, hey! We did have some pretty neat experiences finding people- I think the Lord will bless this area to blossom before long.

While we were tracting, we ran into some of the neatest people. We started talking to one guy, and he gave us the usual "I'm a Christian" stuff, but we kept talking, and as we kept talking, I actually believed that he was a Christian (not just that he went to church). After a little while, we asked if we could leave a blessing on his home, and as we were praying, I felt the Spirit tell me to say certain things, and as I said them, he started crying. His son had passed away fairly recently and we blessed him to know that he would see his son again. We were able to give him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and testify of those precious truths. It was an incredibly neat experience.

Well, that's it for my week! I hope yours goes really well. I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do. To close off, I'll leave you with my favorite picture from the speedway. 

Love always,

Sister Pratt

~Steadfast in Christ

Being Perfected in Christ

Hey!

How have you been doing? How has life been in the Pratt household? Its fun to hear the comings and goings of the Pratt household; more the goings than the comings, but its fun to hear about it all. Sounds like everyone has been doing well, and I really hope that is the case. How has everyone been doing spiritually? How has scripture reading, prayer and church been? Had any cool insights lately? Had any uplifting thoughts?

I've been doing a lot of reading lately- and a lot of it has been about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Did you know he healed the lepers in ancient Jerusalem? I knew that, but I don't really think it meant a whole lot to me until I saw him heal me. I knew about the lepers and the blind men and the woman with the issue of blood, but I didn't really understand Him and his power until I had to go in front of him with the rotting mess inside of me, the pain cause because of blindness, and issues that I could not seem to control. It wasn't until I was willing to surrender those things to Christ that I was able to be made whole- to be healed. The scripture I have chosen for this next transfer is Moroni 10:32, "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." Be perfected in him. That's really what I want. I want to be the perfect missionary, I want to be the perfect sister, the perfect companion, I want to be perfect. But notice that it doesn't say "Be perfected in Sister Pratt, and by her grace shall ye recieve eternal life." It says to be perfected in Christ. I can't do it alone. I can't heal myself, fix my problems or bury my hurt. I am not the one who has the power to make myself perfect, put myself into the Celestial kingdom or push others in. I don't have that strength, I don't have that power. He is the one that heals the leper, the one who heals the blind men, and the one who heals me. It is Him- by his grace; his power, that I can be healed. No other source. 

In the mormonchannel video, Come Unto Christ (http://www.mormonchannel.org/youth-theme-2013?v=3358025312001), these doctrinal truths are perfectly illustrated. Once we let go of the idea that we are the ones in control of our growth and our perfection, we allow Christ to change our hearts. Once we let go of our pain, our sorrow, our stress and our hurts, we allow Christ to heal us. Come unto Christ, turn to him. Will you watch this video, and think about how you can let go so Christ can change you?

I hope you'll think about the things I've said. When I send spiritual thoughts home, I'm never really sure if you read them, or just glance over it. I'll be honest, I would probably just glance over most of them, but this one is different. I hope you'll read it and think about it. It is one of the great pearls from my mission; a great piece of my heart. We are a family, and each one of us has aches and pains. Some of them cause by me, some of them caused by other people, and some of them caused by ourselves. It really doesn't matter what causes those aches and pains. What really matters is what we do with them. I pray you'll take them to Christ. Take them to Christ and allow him to take the burden of perfecting you. Please do it. Search the scriptures, learn of the Atonement and how it applies in your life. I promise you will find the healing and peace that you seek. You will find Christ. I testify it is true because I have done it, and I Know he is there to be found. 

I love you. I hope everything goes well this week. And I hope you are able to find the peace you seek.

Love you all very much.

Love always,

Sister Pratt

STEADFAST IN CHRIST

Letter #2 This week

Hi-

So, this email and my previous one did not really seem to go together... I wrote this one, and then I started praying about what I could share to help our family out, and that next one just flowed out. I know that is what God wanted me to tell you about. I've been learning so much about the Atonement recently, and I want everyone in our family to feel the way I have been feeling. I would also love to hear your in depth thoughts on the Atonement. What have you been learning? How has the Atonement become more real to you over this past little bit? I think that is honestly what I want for my birthday. I want a letter from everyone talking about what they have learned about the Atonement, and how they have learned it. Would that be okay? I hope it would be just as sacred for everyone as it has been for me as I've been learning more.

I am so grateful for the family we have. It is an incredible one. :) We love each other, we lift each other, we are amazing. I am so grateful. Thank you for all you do. I really love you and hope you have an incredible week.

This week has been hot, Hot, HOt, HOT and HOTTER. It has been absolutely crazy. We've also been biking most of this week because we are short on miles, so it has been a rather sweaty week. Heat is certainly NOT my forte (remember my desire to move to England? Yep. Still there). More than once this week I have simply not had the energy to keep going because it is so hot, but somehow the Lord has given us both the strength to keep going. Everyone suggests that we stay inside during this hot weather... I can't wait till I'm actually able to follow that advice. We had a rather funny experience when one of our dear sisters prayed for us. She said, "Lord, please turn down the sun for these girls...that was a joke Lord." Haha it was one of the moments on my mission when I just HAD to laugh, :) Although I certainly wasn't joking about turning down the heat. I'm sure the Lord knew exactly what my intent was because he turned it down just a few degrees on the bike ride home. 

The evening of transfer calls, Sister Stahle and I decided to go store contacting. I walked up to a lady and started talking to her. After a bit, the conversation turned awkward, so I turned to go, but the Spirit said, "Wait! You haven't invited her!" of course the Devil said, "Oh well, just keep going." and the Spirit said, "Just try it." Wonder if this is how investigators feel... Fortunately, I followed through on my commitment, turned around and asked her if we could visit her. She said, "Yeah! Actually, my family is Mormon. We go to the church in Talladega." I said, "Sweet! When can we come see you... WAIT!! What?!?!?!" She smiled, repeated herself and I said, "Wait... Who are you?!" She laughed, and then repeated herself. We have been looking for the phone number and address of a Less-Active for quite some time; the records the clerk has are incorrect. Turns out that was her- walking around the store an hour from her home. It was amazing. As I walked away, I had the distinct impression that I was walking back with one of the lost sheep. She was the Lord's sheep, and I had found her. It was an incredible feeling. I also had the distinct feeling that I had just finished my work in Talladega/ Oxford/ Lincoln. The other sisters will continue to work with and teach the incredible people here, but I had just finished my part. That is also kind of a neat feeling. Brings a lot of satisfaction.

Yes, I am getting transferred. I'll email you my address as soon as possible... probably Wednesday or Thursday. 

Today I am doing a LOT of moving! We have two families moving into the branch- one we helped move in this morning, this afternoon I will be packing to go to my new area and tonight we are going to move another one in. We almost managed to spend our whole day in jeans!!!! Unfortunately, we had to come to the library, so we changed. Once we get home I will continue packing and writing letters to everyone. By the time I get home, I will be a professional mover!! No wonder the Elders Quorum and High Priests always offer to move people. 

Well, I still love you! (Two letters later, and I still do! ;) 

Steadfast in Christ,

Sister Pratt

~Steadfast in Christ

Ashville and Talladega

Hey!

Sounds like Mom isn't doing too good. :( Terribly sorry about that!! I really hope you get feeling better. Haha great reward for helping sick kids out.

And Dad- Happy Father's Day!!! I hope you had a great dinner, and an incredible day. You are an incredible father, and I am so grateful to have you. Thank you for everything you do!

Sorry, this email is going to be rather short. Partially because its been a little bit of a rougher week and partially because we are going to go do something rather fun. :) At 1:00 we are going to tour the Talladega racetrack. I will take plenty of pictures for Steven! And Dad and Wesley. It should be pretty fun. 

This week has been a rather crazy week. I don't think we've had a single meal at home this week... and twice this week we've had two dinner appointments in a row. Haha if I gain 50lbs it will be because of this area. I am so fat this week. Ugh! I also posted a picture of the world's craziest doughnut. Snickers!! We've also attended 2 birthday parties. Brit (Sister Chapman's daughter) is obsessed with Frozen. :) So she got a Frozen cake for her birthday- You would be proud to know that I did the ocean frosting. :) Sister Chapman and her aunt did the clay figures. It was really cool! 

We went to the Temple this week. It was pretty good, but afterwards we were completely drained. We've also had several sudden turns as Mother Nature hasn't been able to decide if she is a steamer or a car wash... either way it isn't really comfortable. But hey! I really do love the rain. My companions never do, but it always makes me super happy.

This Saturday we had an incredible miracle. A few weeks ago we taught some kids down in Ashland/ Lineville, and this week we got to go back to teach them more. We taught four high school students that referred themselves on lds.org. Since we saw them last, they have been talking to a bunch of their other friends, sharing the four copies of the Book of Mormon that we gave them and they have a whole bunch of friends that want to meet up with us. One kid has even read half the Book of Mormon! He loves it, and can't wait to meet with us. To make the story even better, they are all really good friends with a Less-Active who lives down there. The Less-Active family is a really good family; one of those that would be completely active if it weren't for the fact that they just don't come to church. We also have a SUPER amazing family moving down there next week. Before we got this referral, we had never heard of Ashland or Lineville. Now I feel like we've just found the promised land. No one has seen missionaries down there, and almost everyone we talk to seems SUPER prepared. The Lord is doing something down there. 

I included a few pictures from past weeks. #1- just how ridiculous some church signs get... We live right next to this church and I sigh every time I see their newest message. #2- I found the Paper Bag Princess!! They are selling her outfit in the mall near our place! I guess if its a good way to get rid of fake princes... #3- The Doughnut #4- The Burrells. I'll miss them so much! #5- The Frozen Cake #6- We found a baby snaping turtle!! Must have been washed up from all of the rain. No, I didn't go anywhere near it. But it was cool.

I hope y'all have a great week. Love you tons!

~Steadfast in Christ

Love always,

Sister Pratt 

Miracles and the Spirit in the sticks

Hey!

How is everyone doing? 

This week has been incredible. Absolutely incredible. We had two days where Sister Stahle and I just turned to ourselves, and said, "Yeah. The Lord took that one." And I haven't even written about those two days. That is how crazy our week has been! It was like miracle after miracle after miracle. The Lord really does amazing stuff!

On Tuesday we had the unique opportunity to teach a lesson on a bunch of logs. They were going to be chopped up for firewood, I'm pretty sure. It made me laugh, and I'll have to send you a picture soon. But it reminded me just how deep in the South I am. Haha singing I am a Child of God on a bunch of logs- unique experiences of my mission!

On Friday we had an incredible Zone Training, the Spirit was very present, and I received much revelation. It is odd how in someways I see myself becoming the missionary I've always wanted to be, and yet I still see just how far I am from becoming it. It is a weird combination. And yet it moves! Also on Friday we went on exchanges again. I'm not quite sure why we did it twice, but I enjoy Sister Sheffer, and Sister Stahle had an absolute blast. It was a pretty good exchange.

Before I begin this particular story, I would like to say really quickly, this story is NOT about me. This story is not about me, but about how incredible the Lord's work is and how good it feels to be his servant. All of the words were coming out of my mouth, but it was not me. It was the Lord and no one else. It was absolutely amazing. 

The lesson that started off with one of our progressing Less-Active families deciding to suddenly quit coming to church. It was mostly the Mom, so we worked with her. Obviously not exactly what we wanted to hear, but it gave me an opportunity to pray, ask for help, and then watch as the Spirit just completely took over. It was amazing how quickly scriptures, personal experiences, questions, techniques and analogies just started popping into my mind. LoL- I even mixed analogies and compared keeping the commandments to eating ice cream- you can still have a variety while keeping the commandments and coming to church, but not coming to church and keeping the commandments is like eating a cow pie. Sure you are doing what you want to do- but honestly, Why!? Its nasty, there are limited flavors and keeping the commandments is SUCH a better way to protect your agency. 

It was an incredible lesson. It was powerful, it was clear, and they were given a good invitation. I left knowing, absolutely knowing, that the Lord and I had done everything in our power, while still respecting her agency, to get her to choose the right. What happened afterwards was her decision. I absolutely love that feeling!!! I know that sounds awful- especially since I don't entirely know what she is going to end up choosing... she didn't come to church on Sunday, but she texted me today to tell me that she's been thinking about what was said. I don't know. I love her, and I pray she'll decide not to eat cow pies, but I know that absolutely everything in our power was done to convince her of the error of her ways. After that it was her choice. It adds a finality to a lesson that we rarely get as missionaries. I don't have to worry about what I could have done- the ball is in her court, and I could walk away with confidence in the Lord. Maybe that is what the Book of Mormon means in Ether 12:37 when it says, "And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father." I'm not quite as incredible as Mormon, but the Lord is. Also, applying it to myself helps me understand a lot of mission life. It was a beautiful lesson, and the Lord did absolutely everything, and because of that, it simply boils down to her use of agency. 

On Sunday we had an absolutely CRAZY day. First off, we had a lady call us on Thursday and tell us she wanted to come to our church on Sunday. We offered to come out to meet her first, but she said she would be fine just showing up. Well, she actually showed up! Haha- the Elders gave the talks in Sacrament meeting, which was absolutely incredible (especially since their topics were the Melchizedek Priesthood, and the Sealing power). They did a Great job! And then for Gospel Principles we decided to do the first lesson. The other people in Gospel Principles were supportive, and it was one of the most incredible first lessons I have ever sat through. The Spirit was strong enough to cut with a knife. We got to watch the other members of the class testify to her of their experiences, she testified, and she kept saying, "this makes sense. This makes so much sense." She is SO humble and SO prepared, I cannot wait until I'm able to see her baptism. 

I also had the opportunity to teach the lesson in Relief Society. It was lesson 10 in the Joseph Fielding Smith book, and it was about our Search for Truth. We had an absolutely incredible lesson. I started off talking about how I had been given the opportunity to learn truth from a very young age, and as I talked I felt the Spirit point out that nearly everything I know and everything I feel about truth is because of my mom. She taught me so much about learning and loving truth- She taught me where to find it, and forced me to find it even when I would rather read Harry Potter, she taught me that I have to take care of the truth I receive or else I would lose it, she taught me to thirst after knowledge, and she taught me about how precious true, pure doctrine is. I am incredibly grateful for her and all she's done to teach me truth.

I could use some extra prayers this week. And please pray for the family that is deciding what to do with their activity in the church...so their hearts will be softened. :) Thank you so much for everything you do! I love you all so much! Hope you all have an awesome week!!

I love you!

Love always,

Sister Pratt

~Steadfast in Christ

Exchanges with Sister Sheffer

Hey!

How are you doing? How is life going?

This week has been a pretty good week. Not much has happened, though. Sister Stahle was pretty sick, so we mostly just spent the week doing whatever she could handle (Which was quite a bit- that girl is TOUGH!!!). I spent most of the time worrying about if she was okay, and convincing her that it was okay to take a break. Thursday (my year mark), she finally let herself crash, and boy did she crash! We didn't do much, but I'm grateful she let herself crash because she started improving afterwards. Sister Stahle... super amazing and super focused on other people, even when she is sick! She's a great example to me, and she's helping me become such a better missionary. So, not terribly exciting, but that was my week.

I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges, and it was the best exchange ever!!! I love Sister Sheffer. Mostly it was the first time I've ever had a STL that I actually felt like I was friends with. The other sisters were too intent on training me, or I didn't really feel like they cared about me, or we just didn't really click. This time we didn't have any of those problems, and I was SUPER grateful. Because of that, I was really able to focus on helping her and learning from her. Its amazing how much easier I learn when people aren't teaching me. It was also neat because I felt completely comfortable in teaching situations, and I was able to help teach a lot of her really awesome investigators. We were able to teach a lot of REALLY cool and REALLY prepared people. I had a couple of neat experiences where I just put my "Sister Stahle" on, and I was able to talk to people that I never would have been able to talk to before. It was great! I loved that exchange partially because I realized how much of a better missionary I have become this transfer. I really have shot up. (Not to be bragging on myself or anything ;). ) I am so grateful that the Lord has been working with me. I hope He continues to work with me. Its hard at times, but when I see it, it is so much better.

Well, I hope you all have a great week! I don't really know if this letter really has much for the blog... probably not the first paragraph... but hey! Last week's was a pretty good one, and so was the week before. So... I'm just happy it was a week. And Hey! Manda wrote me! Probably the highlight of my Monday. :) She's awesome. Also, I really hope you got President's letter. If not, please tell me and I'll send it to you. Probably MUCH better reading than my email. haha- it was HILLARIOUS!!! But, anyway, I hope you all have a great week! And Enjoy Life!

Love always,

Sister Pratt

~Steadfast in Christ