CRAZY SMALL WORLD

February 10, 2014

 My Dearest Family,

Okay, to answer your questions first…

My new companion is so great. Her name is Sister Bobelenyi, and she is from Kentucky. Actually she attended the same YSA ward as my former companion and they knew each other before they came on their missions. Crazy small world. She is so great and full of energy and lots of good ideas. She will be a huge asset to the area. 

And I have to say that so far I do like being a trainer.  It’s definitely making me expand and grow and it’s been a good experience so far. I feel like I have to be super optimistic for her, which benefits me as well. 

I loved the package. I laughed but loved it! I was like "My mom really doesn't want me looking like a homeless person using plastic bags for exchanges." :)  

Editor's note:  Mikayla mom saw that many of the sister missionaries in the Raleigh, NC mission didn't have an overnight bag for when they went on exchanges and usually just used grocery bags to hold their clothes and personal items.  Mik's mom asked her what she used for exchanges and Mik replied that if she used grocery bags she fit right in with the homeless population of LA.  For Valentine's Day Mik's parents sent her an overnight bag. 

And the valentines! I was laughing so hard. At first I just thought they were normal "I love you," "Hope Valentine's Day is great," but then I actually read them and started laughing. Thanks so much!!! 

Editor's note: Mikayla's family also sent her and her companion "Heart Attacks" for their wall.  Each heart had a personal message, such as " CA Sisters Rock" or"Remember Pilar" which references a bull who gored a U of U student during the running of the bulls in Spain. 

I totally forgot the Olympics started! It amazes me how much we don't know sometimes!!!! The downhill solemn sounds epic. Maybe I can catch the highlights in nine months...? 

If its not an inconvenience to you, could you keep sending me Ashley's emails. I'm don't usually get them.

And we don't have district meeting this week. We have zone conference. But we might go with Lauren, our investigator, and heart attack people's apartments on Valentine's day. We shall see. For some reason I don't think meeting with the sister missionaries would be a high priority for people on Valentine's Day.

The pictures you emailed are super cute. But my goodness! James and Maddie look so old!! Mom and Dad, lookin' good of course :)  Like how tall is James now? 

And I'm totally laughing at Sister Pulsipher's comment about watching Blake’s wedding via Facebook.

Its official, I won't recognize anyone from the neighborhood when I get back. Sad day. 

Editor's note:  Mikayla's friend, Blake, didn't tell his parents he was getting engaged.  They learned about it via Facebook and stated that maybe they wouldn't attend the wedding, just have Blake post in on Facebook. And many of our neighbors have been moving away. 

So stories from this week.... it was a really good one. We have three new investigators this week. Well technically they aren't investigators yet, but we have appointments with all of them for this week. And Thursday, we got a call saying we were getting a mini missionary. Of course just starting as a trainer wasn’t crazy enough. I was like "Of course", when we received the call. Mini missions are for the youth ages 16-24. They come and live with the missionaries for a weekend. We had a second mini missionary on Saturday, so I had three people with me, all who had less than a week's worth of experience in the mission field. It turned out to be so fun though and we saw so many miracles.

One huge concern was not having enough food. Sis B came straight from the MTC, so she didn't have any food and then I didn't have a ton, so we were already stressed about what we were going to eat. Then with the mini missionaries we had 2 more mouths to feed. There were a lot of prayers said and I was so grateful I knew how to cook. But we made it until P-day. Sure we had a lot of pancakes, but nobody went hungry. :)  

Nida (no idea how to spell her last name its Samoan) was the cutest thing ever!  A highlight was when we were street contacting around UCLA campus and she just marched up to these guys and asked, "Do you love Jesus?" When they said yes (totally stunned) she offered them a pass along card with a picture of Christ. I was so proud. :)

Well I'm almost out of time. But I do know Heavenly Father answers prayers. We had so many answered this week. I was so amazed at his Hand in our life. I wish I had more time to tell you everything that happened. Like one guy on the street told us, "God is good."

Thank you so so much for all your prayers and support. It means the world to me.

Love you all!!!

Sister Mik Pillar

P.S. Dad,

Sometimes I have ideas in my head of what we could do or Sister Harrison and I would talk about stuff we could do last transfer. But I always have to think and make sure it’s a good one, right. Often times I hear your voice saying, "Don't be stupid." haha :) Keeps me on the straight and narrow and basically out of the sketchy places. So thanks!!!! 

Sister Pillar and "best zone leaders ever"-  Elder Dingess & Elder Bird. 

So once upon a time we went to visit a member and she took us to the roof of her apartment building to see the view.  With our mini missionary Juanita.