A REAL LIFE BATMAN SCENE

June 10, 2013

Dear Family!

First, Mom you seriously are the best. I didn't think I would get mail this week, but at our district meeting there was my beautiful package. SO THANK YOU SO MUCH! I opened my package today and busted out laughing when I saw the shot glasses... my companions might have judged me a little for that, but I loved them! I couldn't figure out why everything was all green. I just kept thinking St. Patrick's Day was months ago. Finally, my companion said something about it being a "Greenie" package, and I had to laugh again. Mom you are great! Thanks!!

A few of the items from my "Greenie" package!

I hope you had a great birthday! Sorry I couldn't be there! (PS I mentioned to Sister Burrows that it was your birthday and she was the one that sent the text message. I had nothing to do with that. So don't think I am breaking any mission rules or anything.) It sounds like you all are super busy, but doing great! I hope all is well on the East Coast.

Things are great here! I am literally in love with the work! I cannot remember if I mentioned this to you earlier, but we have a baptismal date set for the 23rd of June! The date was set before I arrived in the area, but I have had the opportunity to teach the investigator as well. His name is Saul. He's from Mexico, doesn't speak English, and in his early twenties. He's a little bit on the quite side, but it’s been so fun teaching him. We taught him the Plan of Salvation this past week, and he really liked the idea of eternal families. He's the only one from his family here in the States. I am so excited for his baptism though. (I might even be a bit more excited than he is!) Plus, there is another recent convert in the ward that is going to perform the service. It’s amazing to see testimonies in people grow. I absolutely love it. Plus, the Spanish is coming along. I might have told someone yesterday that I have a younger daughter instead of a younger sister...an honest mistake. But overall the language is piece-by-piece coming together.

As for Friday, we left our apartment about 10:00 am for the district meeting. We meet close by the temple. There was a ton of police cars that morning because President Obama was in town. Well after district meeting, when we tried going home, we saw even more cop cars, fire trucks, and some tank looking like machines. I had no idea what was going on and super confused. Our conclusions... this was a real life Batman scene where they were trying to protect Obama just like they did with Harvey Denton. But moral of the story, we couldn't get back to our apartment. All the roads were closed. We stopped at a gas station, and that’s when we found out there had been a shooting. Long story short, after some more time spent driving around, we called our bishop and ended up at his place. When we arrived, there were cops blocking the streets and helicopters flying all over. We had to park down the street, ask permission from the cops, and then walk down the street to our Bishops house. His first words once we got inside, "Welcome to LA." ha-ha. We spent a couple hours there, because the cops wouldn't let us leave and we also had no place to go. We found out the shootings had all occurred in our area, and some were just a few streets over from where we live. Kind of crazy. It was definitely a day. But we were totally fine and totally blessed by the Lord. There are some Sisters who track at Santa Monica College, but we were all at District Meeting that morning and away from the shootings. The Lord really does protect his missionaries.

Another exciting thing from this past week... I had my first LA Carne Asada. It was AMAZING!!!

So cool lesson I learned this week. At District Meeting we talked about the Atonement and how not only can we be forgiven of our sins through the Atonement, but we also can become better. Basically, with the Atonement our weakness can become strengths. We read about two examples with Moses and Enoch. Moses had the fear of speaking and didn't trust in the Lord, as a result, he wasn't able to progress. Enoch (one of my new favorite Prophets) felt inadequate but put his trust in the Lord. As a result, he became a powerful speaker. Check it out for yourselves... Moses 6: 31-32, 47. And don't just take my word for it. Try it our yourselves! Try and improve one of your weaknesses this week. I'm working on my Spanish. 

Thanks again for the package and updates. I miss you guys a lot, but am so grateful to be serving here in LA. Thanks for your support and love and prayers. Not going to lie, I can feel them. You guys are the best. The Church is true.  Keep the faith!!!

From your daughter who is loving the work,

Hermana Mikayla Pillar

Lock down at our bishop's house