Loving Life!

March 2, 2015

   It's still so weird when I get to these emails and I don't remember anything that's happened in the past week.  Our investigator, Kelcy is still progressing to her baptismal date in a couple weeks, and we are so excited for her! Every time she talks about her baptism, she just gets this huge smile on her face and starts beaming. She is so amazing. The sad thing is, she is moving out of our area today! She's just moving a few blocks away, but we will have to introduce her to the new missionaries this week. I know that she will be in good hands.  It's crazy because she's already had 3 sets of missionaries teach her in the past 5 months! We are convinced that it is because everyone needs the opportunity to meet her and hear her testimony of the gospel. It is so inspiring every time I hear it! I love her so much. 

   We're also still teaching the Thornton family, (single mom & 3 kids) and they are awesome! The two kids, Emma and Hayden, have decided to be baptized on March 14.  They are so excited for it, and they just love the gospel. Every time we go to their house and we start visiting with their mom, the kids ask, "Is it time to start our lesson, yet? Can we start already? What's our lesson on today? etc." It's adorable. Sister Kingsolver and I have really grown to love that family so much. We are so proud of this decision they have made to be baptized, but more importantly, we know that Heavenly Father is even more proud of them!

   Well, we have a super busy day today! Sorry the email isn't longer, but hopefully the pictures will help :)

Love you!

Sister Pratt

Man from SnowyRiver!

Ok. This might take a little explanation... I went on exchanges with Sister Peckham. She is awesome, and half-way through our exchange, I found out that she is from Fountain Green, UT! That's where the Despains are from, and that's where Lamb Days is!!! When I told her that I knew what Lamb Days was, she got so excited!! We started going crazy talking about it. This is a picture of us with a program from last year's Lamb Day celebration that her family sent to her. CRAZY!

 

  February 23, 2015

   This week was so packed, I don't even know where to begin! On Wednesday, we went on exchanges, and I got to be back with Sister Capitan again!! Woo! I was gearing up for an adventure, and that's definitely what I got. Our first appointment of the day was with that lady from Nepal. We went to start teaching her English. We actually had a pretty good lesson with her, and when we were about to leave, she offered us something to drink.  The language barrier is incredibly thick, so we just assumed she meant water or something. We accepted. We were sorely wrong. I cannot accurately describe what she gave us because none of the ingredients were even remotely familiar. What resulted tasted like some sort of spicy-curry-squash-tea-something. The best part of the story is when she brought us the mugs of drink, they were both about half-way full. I turned my back briefly to grab my planner, and when I came back, Sister Capitan looked at me and said simply, "I took the one with the least amount." I looked in the mug she left for me, and it was almost completely full!! That little stinker had poured most of her drink into mine! We had a good laugh about it. I wish I could somehow convey to you how gross it was. Even worse than the taste, though, was how it made us feel. When we left her house, we were waddling to the car, trying to hold ourselves together without vomiting. I could go into details, but it will be sufficient to say that we went home so Sister Capitan could spend 3 hours hurling in our bathroom. I didn't actually throw-up, which could be a good or a bad thing because I just continued to feel miserable for the next 2 days. PARTY!!!! 

   Beside that whole incident, the other main event of the week was Zone Conference! It was so amazing. It was also a little hard because I knew it would be my last one! No more Zone Conferences for Sister Pratt. They made me and everyone who's leaving with me give their departing testimonies (we call them "trunkimonies").  It was definitely a weird experience because I won't be leaving for another 2 months.  It's almost like those awkward times when you see someone you know in a grocery store, have a conversation, and say goodbye... only to realize that you both have to go down the same aisle to buy bread.  It's not really a goodbye, yet because you haven't left. Anyway, I hope you know what I'm talking about. 

   The work has been going pretty well, here! We've still been working a lot with our investigators to help them feel the Spirit and recognize their answers from God. It's a great work. I love it.

Have a great week!

Find someone who needs help!

Share your testimony!

Sister Pratt 

Dinner with this RM named Melissa.  She's awesome!

Exchanges with Sister Tauiliili!! I love her so much 

 

 

Feb 17, 2015

 This will probably be one of those emails where it's purpose is just to tell you that I'm alive and that I love my mission and everything is going well! I don't really have a whole lot of time to write details. One crazy thing that happened, was that we found a Nepali lady to teach... but we don't know Nepali. We don't even know anyone who knows Nepali. It will be interesting. We had a visit with her this week, and we aren't sure how much she understood, but she knows that we're missionaries of Jesus Christ. That's probably the extent.

   Our investigator that I wrote about last week (Kelcy) is still amazing! She has a baptismal date for March 14th! She is so excited, and we are, too. I just feel blessed to be able to teach her.  She has so much real intent when she learns the gospel. Every time we teach her a new principle, she knows that she should act on it right away!

   We had another cool experience with someone we are teaching named Alex. For the first few lessons, he seemed interested, but we couldn't really tell what was going through his head. I guess we just didn't know how much he was really getting out of our lessons. One time we taught him, we read together part of Moroni 7, which talks about how we can determine good from bad. We committed him to finish the chapter and pray about it.  When we went back the next time, he not only had reread the whole chapter, but he took notes on the whole thing! It blew us away. I didn't realize how much he really was interested and listening. We're excited to continue to teach him! 

  Well, my time is up! I hope you're doing well. I love you.

Sister Pratt

Think "Man from Snowy River"

Most of our district eating lunch at Tocano's.  Party!

Look who came to visit!! Reunited and it feels so good

 

 

Feb 9, 2015

 I love being with Sister Kingsolver. With every transfer and new companion, there is usually an awkward first week or so when you are getting used to each others personalities and teaching styles before you can get some real work done. I feel like we totally skipped that because we've already been companions! It's been great. 

   We have been finding people to teach left and right! When we added our numbers last night, Sister K and I both realized that we've found more investigators these past 2 weeks than any other time in our missions. We have both served in areas that need a lot of love and cultivating before the work comes. This area is different! We feel so blessed to be a part of it. One of the people that we found to teach this week was Kelcy in the YSA ward. She is AMAZING! She has been taught in a different area for the past couple months, but she just has so much faith and understanding of the gospel. Yesterday, she came to church, and she was answering more questions in Sunday School than anyone else! She did the same in Relief Society. She is just incredibly prepared. There are still a few things she needs to overcome, but I know that if she continues this relationship with her Savior, she will be able to overcome everything!

   I decided this week that one of the saddest things is when someone thinks that they have sinned so much that they cannot be forgiven. If there is anyone reading this that believes that about themselves, know that it is false. Our Savior wants to forgive! He wants you to come to Him. He has His arms open to you, if you are willing to turn to Him. I know this is true. 

   We had a recent convert this week who let us know that he feels this way. He doesn't want to come to church because he thinks he will "stain" it. We are trying so hard to reach out to him and let him know that he can always repent. That is the reason for us to be in this journey. That's why Jesus Christ came to earth--to allow us to repent and come unto Him. We will never make it on our own. Never. We can only make it with His help. And we can make it with His help. It's possible.

I love you!

Sister Pratt