Right on the Edge!!!

Hey Family!

How is life going? How are you all doing?

Life in Cullman is pretty fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Training has been absolutely incredible. I seriously love training so much- I know I'm probably the first missionary in the history of the world to say this, but it is SO much less stressful than being a regular missionary. Sister Harris is amazing. She is the youngest of 7, most of them being girls, so I kinda feel like I'm training Steven. Haha- offers a really new perspective on things. 

This week has been pretty fantastic. We have SO many investigators that are RIGHT on the edge of progressing. SO many of them!!! Unfortunately, for various reasons they are just not quite progressing. Is there any chance you could pray that they would start progressing and allow themselves to dive into a font? They really need to start doing that. 

This week we did have an investigator nearly dive into the font. It was really cool actually. One night we had everything fall through, so we decided to go see one of our potential investigators where she works. We've seen her off and on a few times. We gave her a Family Proclamation and talked about families (mostly husband advice because she just got married...), but nothing too in-depth. Well, on Thursday when we had everything fall through, we decided to go see her. She was working with another coworker, and she started talking about the Proclamation, and Boom! Suddenly we found ourselves in the middle of a really intense, really good restoration lesson. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing. :) We even got her to pray out loud at the end of the lesson (It was really kind of funny because she was super scared and super embarrassed, so she sent my companion away and whispered her prayer. But it was a really good, really sweet prayer. The Spirit was so strong). 

Well, the next day we received a text from her saying that we should come in again. At first I was kind of leery because I was worried that she might have said that because she was bored, not because she really wanted the spiritual nourishment. Fortunately the Lord knew her heart, and canceled all of our plans again. (I'm starting to think that is His favorite way of getting a hold of me...) Turns out that that night she went home and told her husband all about everything she learned. And she was super excited to hear more. As we were talking, a woman came up to check out. As usual I asked if she knew anyone that would be interested in our message or would like some service. She basically said, "Sorry, I don't know anyone. You're going to have a really tough time converting anyone in Cullman county because the people are really close minded and you are a Mormon. I'm a Catholic and people misjudge me all the time."  Not really helpful... but we rolled with it. Long story short, the topic of baptism came up and our sweet investigator, who had never been baptized, asked if she was going to Hell. (Seriously, this poor girl has been told by SO many people that she is going to Hell. Personally I don't find that as the most effective method to win friends and influence people, but apparently I'm one of the few.) Well... this lady didn't really say she was going to Hell... but didn't make her feel stellar about not being baptized and having a church to go to. Kinda felt nasty. Afterwards, though another series of miracles (including making a lesson with our mexican go short- which is a near impossibility) we were able to call her and explain that God loves her, No, she was not going to Hell, but that baptism is really important, and although she doesn't have a church, we would love to help her through the baptismal process and that she would become a member of not just any church but the church of Jesus Christ. It was an absolutely incredible experience. The Spirit was SO strong. So strong. It was an incredible experience.

So- challenge for the day. Don't tell anyone they are going to Hell- you make them feel nasty. Do explain true, pure doctrine in a loving uplifting manner. Works better every time.

That's about all I have time for! But I hope you all have a great week! I love you all so much!!

Love always,

Sister Pratt

~Steadfast in Christ

Pictures:

1 & 4-5: The Fair came to town!! Super exciting (apparently... the kids actually have today off of school so they can go to the fair.) Picture #1 was the biggest pumpkin, and it was 1,096 lbs I believe. You can check the picture to make sure I'm right, but it was HUGE!!! I also took a picture of the watermelons and the pumpkins and the cotton. I thought they were pretty cool and pretty descriptive of Cullman.

2- Oktober fest is coming up!! Haha- should be rather interesting. This town is very German, so oktober fest is a really big deal. These are giant hay bales in the park near our home dressed up in German attire. Today they have spray painted faces, but we took our pictures a little too early.

The funniest part of this whole celebration is going to be a huge clash of cultures- the HUGE church culture that kept this county dry until just a few years ago, and the culture that says that beer is a huge part of the Oktober fest celebrations. So... we'll see how it goes. :) I'm kinda hoping the church culture wins out a bit more.

3- I made my first ever Danish Dessert. It was quite the occasion. I sincerely hope I did not disappoint my ancestors too terribly in the creation of this dish, but since we didn't have wax paper, a 9x13 pan, adequate strawberries or a mixer, I am grateful none of y'all were there. Fortunately since nothing with that much sugar, cream cheese and cool whip can taste too bad, everyone seemed to appreciate it.