HARD STUFF MAKES US STRONGER

August 12, 2013

Hello Family!!!

Okay mom you are the best! Your blogging skills are helping to forward the work! We had a Los Angeles English meeting yesterday to help prepare for the start of classes tomorrow. The Elder in charge of the whole production mentioned that the website search ratings went up because someone put a link on their blog. He was like "Its called Mike in the Clam or something like that...?" I was like "THAT'S MINE!!" So way to go Mom!!! 

And that's so great you are getting to know the Elders. I'm sure their families are appreciating the pictures. Missionaries are the best! Not that I'm bias or anything. :-)

To answer your questions, I was in Hollywood for only one night and it was during the week. The Preach My Gospel class is something they do on a Tuesday night. It’s the same time as mutual and all that stuff. As for adding music to the i-shuffle, I have no idea. And I don't know if the mission leader sells wands. I don't think he has in the past. He and his wife are out of town for the next few weeks, but if I stay in the area I'll be sure to ask. I LOVE my shoes, especially the blue ones. They are so comfortable. The black ones are great too. The only ones I don't really like are the brown ones. I thought they would be the most comfortable and they are the ones that gave me the blisters. Plus, they aren't that cute. And thanks for not letting me get the old lady shoes. I saw a man wearing the “man version” the other day. I was like, I almost bought shoes like that…awkward. 

CONGRATS TO MCKENZIE!!! I'm sure she will love serving in DC; especially in the Visitors Center!!! 

(Editor’s note:  Mikayla’s cousin, McKenzie received her mission call and will be reporting December 18, 2013). 

Thanks for the update on your lives. It’s always great to hear about what everyone is up too. 

This week we did a lot of service! A lot. We were assigned a time to help with Temple Cleaning on Wednesday. When we arrived assignments were changed and we end up not working in the temple, but in the patron apartments, which are right next door. It was fun. They are renovating the apartments, so we just helped moved out old furniture. My companion Sister Perry found this sound soother thing. It has all these different sounds like "ocean waves" "thunderstorm" "rainforest". You get the idea. She has been having problems sleeping at night, and she took it as an answer to a prayer. She asked the man in charge what they were going to do with the extra stuff and he told her she could have it. So this whole week we've been falling asleep to the sounds of thunderstorms. Apparently it’s working for her. 

Yesterday was also Sister Perry's birthday. She's finally left the good years of what she calls "joventud" and has become a full grown adult. She's twenty. It’s been fun living up the past week. Last P-Day I took her for pedicures to celebrate her birthday. Oh and funny thing about the pedicures. We didn't have enough time to let the polish fully dry, so they put bags around our feet to prevent the paint from smudging. Yes we walked in public with bags on our feet. We also currently have four birthday cakes in our fridge at home. The members love to take care of us especially during our birthdays. So there has been no shortage of cake. When we were at Rogelio's house on Saturday for lunch and cake, they told her to participate in the Mexican tradition and bite the edge of the cake before cutting it. Well as she went for the bite, they shoved her face into the cake. It was hilarious and she loved it! I love the Mexican culture. 

One of my friends (shout out to Mackenzie Peay!!) sent me a talk last week in the emails and I absolutely love it. It is by Elder D. Todd Christofferson and called "Give us This Day our Daily Bread." LDS.org - CES Fireside - Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread  It talks about how we need to trust and rely on the Lord every day. Just like the Children of Israel had to trust the Lord every day to give them the mana, we have to trust him every day to provide us with our needs. Take things one day at a time and put your full trust in him. It’s definitely something I am learning to do on the mission. But it’s a wonderful talk. If you have a second, read it! 

Love you all and thanks so much for your support. Also, transfers are next week so P-Day will be on Tuesday. Just a heads up for when my next email will come your way. There is a chance that Sister Perry will be transferred. She is the best and I've never been without her while I've been in CA. If she leaves I'll be the one to know the area the best. That's terrifying! But I think I could do it. Hard stuff makes us stronger right, so I'll just look ahead at how this is improving me.  Oh and guess what, I will hit my three month mark this week. I'll officially be on the mission longer that I was in Spain. That is so weird to think about. I can't decide if the time is going fast or not. This transfer flew by, but this past week was really slow. I guess to make up for it. 

Thanks again for everything. LOVE YOU ALL LOTS!!!

Hermana Mik Pillar 

Pedi by Linda 

Happy Birthday Sister Perry!

When polish isn't dry!

Happy Birthday Hermana Perry

"EXPELLIARMUS"

AUGUST 5, 2013

Dear Family,

First, please let the YW know that Sister Perry and I say THANK YOU SO MUCH! Their candy grams were so cute and really touched us. Neither one of us was expecting it. So thanks you!!! 

(Editor's note:  The Young Women in Mik's home ward made candy grams for all the missionaries serving from the ward.  They contact the missionary's mom and asked for 2 of their favorite types of candy.  The Young Women were working on a Good Works Personal Progress experience.  Mik's mom had the Young Women make a candy gram for Sister Perry as well.)

To answer your questions really fast: It depends on the week if we have a lot of meals or not. Last week was a tender mercy and we were fed every day. But some weeks we do cook for ourselves a lot more. I do use my i-pod shuffle. We listen to it in the morning while getting ready or during a meal. It’s been a real blessing. No washer and dryer in the apartment. So we just take it to a laundry mat. Nothing too exciting. I use my blue fuzzy blanket all the time. It’s basically my favorite thing; it’s just so soft!!!! We don't have a set number of hours for service, we just try and do it whenever we can. This week I think we will be helping cook food for Youth Conference. And yeah when I was in Hollywood I spend just one night there. 

I love that we have the opportunity to email you each week, but it’s frustrating because so much stuff happens and I just don't have time to type it all. This must have been what the ancient prophets of old felt like trying to carve the scriptures. Well, more or less. I'm sure they had more patience that I do.

Anyways... the highlights! So some exciting news is our ward will be starting an English class for the Spanish population. The Chinese in our mission developed a program and it’s LEGIT. They have handouts with copyrights and a website. (Check it out... www.losangelesenglish.com) So we are the first area to translate the program into English, and we are excited. Hopefully all goes well. My companion and I will be teaching the intermediate class. I'm so excited, but really nervous too. I have no idea how to teach a class so once again I am referring to my motto of the year "building character." I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. The first class is August 13. 

Other cool stuff, I met a ton of really cool members this week. First would be T. L. He's in the English Ward so long story of how we actually met him, but he took us out for REALLY good Mexican food this week. And he's the coolest guy ever. He has been in the producing business for a long time and apparently worked with some really famous people. I was blown away with his stories. He's been a convert for about 12 years and his conversion story is the coolest!! Plus he's been helping us find some referrals. So basically, he's the man. 

He asked us to go visit an elderly woman in his ward, which we did yesterday. Her name is Mary Ellen Y. and she's 92 years old! 92 years old!! People that is a really long time!!! She's so cute and very little, but I love her. She's legally blind and her hearing is fading (so my telephone call with her to let her know where were coming was a bit interesting,) but her memory is great and she has the cutest stories. Her husband died when she was in her seventies so she said she's been a widow for a very long time. But she said that she has never had an interest in marrying again. Her direct quote was, "I was married to the best man in the world. Why would I want another one?" Ahh man it was really precious. And I felt so privileged just to meet her. She' has lived through so much history its amazing! I seriously cannot wait to go back and visit her. 

Yesterday we also had the chance to meet with our ward mission leader. And I'm obsessed with his and his wife's life. They have traveled the world together and have the coolest pictures. Also, something very interesting, he likes to carve wands. So he gave us a tour of his wand collection yesterday. I felt like I was in museum. And in all honesty, they were really cool. He's really good at it. They are just a really cool couple. 

Someone else who I have already met, but is so cool is Rogelio. He's one of the recent converts in the ward and has basically become our third companion. He accompanies us on a lot of our lessons, which has been a great help. He's gotten some people that have dropped us to agree to go to the Visitor's Center. I'm amazed. Plus even on the street, he will go up to people and offer them a pass along card and tell them to meet with us. He's the best and been a huge blessing in our lives! His testimony has really helped me and really shown me not to take the Gospel for granted. We are privileged to have it in our lives. So it’s our responsibility to share it. 

In the scriptures lately, I've been reading in Mosiah about King Zeniff and his people. When the Lamanties went to attack them, they knew they had the Lord on their side, He protected them, and they prevailed. The Lord really does protect us in our times of need. It’s been amazing to see how He protects his missionaries and on top of that how He even comforts them in their time of need. I love this Gospel and the joy it brings me. We are very blessed, so blessed. It’s crazy. 

Well those are the highlights. 

Thanks again for all your prayers. Not a lie when I say I can feel them. 

Love you all so much. 

Hermana Mik Pillar

"Expelliarmus"

Candy Gram from the Morrisville YW