Mik in the CLAM: FERRETS, EARTHQUAKES AND A NEW INVESTIGATOR

March 31, 2014

To My Dearest Family:

I really liked the idea of joint activity for missionary month. I had forgotten about missionary month and thought, "Hey we should do that here!" Then I remembered that I am currently serving in a YSA Ward and that probably wouldn't have the same effect. But the ward is having a huge Luau activity soon. We are encouraging everyone to bring non-member friends. So hopefully that will be fun!

The broadcast was super great! Unfortunately, none of our investigators could make it, which was disappointing because I'm sure they would have loved it! But I was glad I was there. It was super neat to watch girls and women of all ages sing together. We are all daughters of God. And we can all learn from each other. It was great.

So there are times in my mission where I think to myself...”only in mission life would this ever happen”. I had a few of those this week. Tuesday night we had a dinner appointment with one of the guys in the ward. We brought Lauren, our recent convert, to come with us. We knew nothing about this guy before hand, except he was willing to meet with us. Lately, we have been going and visiting all the members and going over the Ward Mission Plan with people. So that's what our plan was. We'll this kid turns out to be one of the coolest people ever!! He was in a motorcycle accident about a year ago and has a prosthetic leg, so he told us all about that. You would never know about the leg though with the way he walks. We also found out that he is way into magic, and not your dinky little let me find your card in the deck tricks. Like he blew our minds with the card tricks he did! It was like dinner and a show. And then he pulled out his ferrets! And we were playing with his ferrets. It was probably one of the most fun dinners I've been too on my mission.

Second crazy thing that happened this week - I finally felt my first earthquake. It was during our planning session and all of a sudden the pictures on the walls started to shake. My companion and I just kind of looked at each other. It was the weirdest feeling. I guess we should have ducked and rolled or something, but we just sat there. Ha-ha. We had 72 hour kits and they just upgraded them a few weeks ago. Now they are like 90 hour+ kits. And they gave us a whole bunch of food to keep in our cars. A few nights ago we were all ask to go home and read instructions on what to do if an earthquake strikes. We were talking with our zone leaders last night and were like, "are we planning on having another earthquake soon"!

Also, we have a new investigator!!!! We are super stoked about him! Some Elders found him on the street and he actually went up to them and started asking questions. Not usually the normal thing that happens, but very exciting when it does! So since he is YSA aged, we get to teach him! His name is Jimmy and he came to LA to pursue the singing/acting dream. We brought our recent convert Lauren with us to the lesson, and I was so glad we did! He basically has a very similar story compared to her. Both grew up Catholic, both had doubts and both noticed something different with the Mormon people they had met before in their lives. Both went and found the missionaries by themselves. Jimmy asking all these questions like "How come whenever I meet a Mormon they are so sure in their beliefs?" or "Why do Mormon families seems different?" Ha-ha we were like, these are the questions we love to hear!!! So it was a super cool lesson, and we are excited to teach him again.

We are still teaching one of the models and Isis. She's the best. She calls herself Sistah Grills. Love it!!

If possible could you send me a new pair of shoes? The navy Clark ones if you can find them.

We are going to do a general conference flash back-throw back; the quote from last conference by Elder Uchtdorf came up this week where he said, "Doubt your Doubts, not your faith!" I've thought about that a lot, and realized I know more, I believe more, and I have stronger testimony than what I give myself credit for. Sure we have questions, but having questions was never a bad thing. This church was restored because of one question. And I am so grateful, that there was a young boy who had the courage to ask it. Look at how far we have come! I encourage all of you to prepare your questions, and expect them to be answered this general conference. We will be hearing the words of the prophets, who speak for God. And God will speak to us! I promise you that!

Love you lots!!!

Sister Mik Pillar