Throwing Giant Metal Coconuts of Mean Words!

 That's a quote from a little girl, Halley K___, describing what happens when the Spirit isn't in your home. We had FHE with her family last night. She's so cute.

   Right now, the only thing at the forefront of my mind is how incredibly sore I am. Yesterday was Pday and we went to the Brunson's home as a zone to play games. It was SO much fun. We did double dutch and volleyball, as well as lacrosse, botchie and football.  We also played board games like Madgab and Trivial Pursuit: Lord of the Rings.  The best part by far, though, was the tug-o-war.  Imagine the anchors that they have at the end of the ropes that people can stand in and use their whole body weight to pull. Yeah ok. Imagine 4 of those made from deflated innertubes (one person in each) and they're all pulling in 4 opposite directions. It was so fun. We did it probably 7 times. I loved it so much, but I am SO sore... I noticed this morning that I have patches of popped blood vessels on my hips from where the band was sitting.  There are some STRONG sisters in our zone.. but I'm happy to announce that I won a couple times! At one point, the 3 other girls teamed up against me to keep me from winning... so basically the 3 of them were pulling in my opposite direction. It was insane. Hopefully we will have more pictures next week!

   Another exciting thing that happened this week was I got to go on exchanges with Sister Haas. A lot of you probably don't know this, but she was in my ward at BYU before the mission!  It was so much fun to be together for a day.  We met this lady named Olga. I was pretty excited to tell her I was almost named that--almost being a relative term because we all know Mom never even considered it--and she basically told me that I was lucky and she hated her name. I didn't really know what to say to that honestly. It was pretty funny.   

   Sister Roundy and I spoke in Sacrament Meeting 2 days ago. The only odd thing about it was that we were the only speakers assigned for the whole meeting. I was the second speaker, and I was so nervous that I wouldn't be able to fill the time, but I know that the Spirit was with me because I did fine! I actually even went over a couple minutes. I'm so grateful for the help from our Heavenly Father with things like that. 

 

Anyway, I know that recently I have been talking about how nothing would be able to shake my testimony of the Book of Mormon... well, I guess I had to walk the walk! If there was ever a week when I would have doubted, this probably would have been the one. Just a little background: there is a church here that really doesn't like our church (for whatever reason) and they actually fund the production of their own line of Anti-Mormon videos and pamphlets, etc.  Anyway, to make a long story, short, we were spiritually attacked and hounded by multiple people this week. It was really hard. I began to be fearful because I have known and worked with so many people that have fallen away from the church because of experiences like that. I finally realized that I don't have to be like them. I don't have to give in to the adversary, nor do I have to deny the sure witness that I have received from the Spirit of God. Despite what others may say about our church or about Joseph Smith, I know that this church contains the fullness of the gospel and that Jesus Christ is at its head.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and I truly cannot deny that, I cannot.

Love you all!!

Sister Pratt

(This is a reply to a conversation we had about this email....
I agree with you whole-heartedly about the reason for the anti-mormon hype over here. The building of the temple is having a HUGE impact on the members of the church and everyone in the area.  This stake is so special and so blessed, but blessings don't come without opposition! 

This is Elder and Sister Gibbons. They were the office staff that just got released from their mission! So sad to see them go.

We were going to visit someone in this house... then we saw the sign.... then we decided not to chance it.......