ONE YEAR AND COUNTING

May 19, 2014

My Dearest Family,

I did it. I made it a year. And oh boy does it feel weird. Thursday was my year mark, and I literally just reflected. Well I did that and went to Café Rio to celebrate.

But it was pretty cool to think back on everything that has happened the past year.  I thought about my first day as a missionary and reporting to the MTC. I remember laying on my bed that first night, head spinning, and thinking to myself, "What have I done?!" I remembered that right then and there I decided I was going to endure and make it through. So far the road hasn't always been easy, but its been so worth it.

I also reflected on all the places that I've been too and served in, places I would have never imagined going to, and all the people I have met who literally changed my life. And I just felt so grateful that I was given the opportunity to serve. I've thought a lot about Matthew 10: 39 and how true it is. For the past year, I've given my entire self to the Lord, and I have never felt so blessed in my life. I've come along way, but am still going.

I had this thought this past week. My mission was never supposed to be the climax. It’s supposed to be the prep for a lifetime of missionary work. I'm stoked. I'm stoked for the months I have left and then the lifetime of missionary work I'll have afterwards. Sister Diaz always makes fun of me by saying that I'll be the RM who hasn't accepted the fact that she's not on her mission anymore. In all honesty, what's wrong with that? :)

So like I said, we went to Café Rio to celebrate and a random member paid for our food for us. I was so happy and so touched! Members, you are great! Just saying!!

Short version of what happened this week... (I wish I could tell you in person because it would be so much better) anyways.... so we are teaching this man named L. He is recently divorced (well going through the divorce process) and has two kids that live with him on the weekends. Usually our lessons with him are really spiritual. This past week was different. My companion couldn't feel the spirit at all and I couldn't understand anything he was saying. (We compared notes after the lesson.) My companion asked him about it during the lesson and said the spirit felt different that night and asked what had happened. Well we called him the next day and talk about that stuff and in that phone conversations he asked us if we had sent missionaries to his wife's house. We had NO IDEA where she lived. I hadn't even realized that it was close. L. said his kids had told him that five missionaries went to his wife's house. We were super confused.

We talked to the elders on Sunday. Come to find out, they had received a referral from the Tongan elders for a woman. So all the elders and a member went to teach her. Turns out its L.'s WIFE! So both of these people are taking the lessons and missionaries found them in completely different ways. 

Other news from this week, we had our last English Class. It was so sad to say by to all of our students. But we had a blast. We played this vocabulary game (that I had come up with) and everyone was laughing. It was a good way to end the class. Now our WML wants to rescue the class. So maybe it will come back? We are just kind of waiting to see what happens.

Also discovered that Sister Diaz has an allergy to seafood this week. The poor girl can't do shell fish. We had a delicious crab salad on Friday, which left us stuck in doors all day Saturday. I felt so bad.

The computer is about to log me off but know that I'm praying for each one of you and love hearing from you. I hope you are all reading the Book of Mormon and looking for the blessings in your life. The Lord blesses us when we follow his commandments.

From the west Coast,

Sister Pillar

BUENAS TARDES FROM LOS ANGELES!

May 12, 2014

My Dearest Family,

Buenas Tardes from Los Angeles!! It was so great to talk to you all. The Mother's Day and Christmas call seriously are the fast 40 minutes of the entire year. But I'm glad we had the chance to talk.

This week... I'm not even sure what to tell ya. It was a good one. We taught a ton of lessons and had three new investigators! One of them is C. We found her in a very unusual way this past week.

We were about to leave our apartment and do some Los Angeles English advertising, (which doesn't need to happen anymore because they cancelled the class) when our Sister Training Leaders called asking if we could do them a favor. Apparently, they had been teaching one of their new investigators, when his mom (C.) came out and started asking questions.... in Spanish. Neither one of the STLs speaks Spanish. And when the son tried to translate for them... things were getting lost. So we came over to talk to her.

C. was a mess. She came into the room and starting explain that her debt card was having problems and she had lost all her money, and that she had always tried to be a good person. And she kept asking why God was allowing this to happen to her. A scripture popped into my head, (right now as I'm trying to write this I can't even remember what scripture) but we pulled it out and read it with her. And literally it made all the difference. We read the scripture and she was like "oh... okay." And she stopped crying and all of a sudden was ready to listen to the message we had to share.

I loved how the power of the scriptures really just brought the spirit and softened her heart. The Book of Mormon has a power to it that you don't get from any other kind of book. It has the fullness of the truth and I am so grateful for it and its simple teachings! I encourage you all to make sure you are reading from it daily. God needs to speak to you each and every day. So open the book!!

I'll let you know how the later lessons go with C.. Other than that, I'm just trying to figure out where everything is and who everyone is. Also, we will be trying new finding ideas this week seeing as we are cancelling our LA English class. Hopefully, we will find some inspiration!!!

Love you all a lot!

Sister Mik Pillar

Oh and I forgot to tell you this yesterday... so I had my wooden pen sitting on the table. Sis Diaz picked it up and was like "Sister Pillar, what is your pen made out of...??? It looks like wood." I was like "Yeah it is wood. My dad made it." She thought it was the coolest thing ever.

WE REALLY SAW THE HAND OF GOD IN OUR LIVES

May 5, 2014

My Dearest Family,

Greetings from Lawndale, California! I'm officially serving in the Hermosa Liahona Ward. My mind was literally spinning for the first few days. Its a complete culture shock, new location, new companion, new ward, and trying to remember a language I once new. But even with all that, I love it here. 

My new companion is Hermana Diaz. She's was born in Honduras, but spent most of her life in New Jersey. And she's great. It’s only her second transfer (I'm starting to feel really old in the mission.) But she is doing so great. She has only been in the area for six weeks, so neither one of us knows the streets very well, but every time we get the address wrong, we just talk to whoever is there and offer them a Book of Mormon card. So it’s always a win. Ha-ha! 

We are currently work in Lawndale and our area actually borders the beach. The area is great, but like I said its a big difference. In LA YSA, we did so much street contacting because there were so many people on the street. I get here, and like no one is on the streets. Big adjustment. I feel like I have to relearn how to do missionary work again. Its like I'm starting my mission all over again. ;) 

So I was enlightened a few weeks ago. I'm almost embarrassed to say it took me a year to figure this out, but at least I have time to apply it. It hit me a few weeks ago, that I do nothing to convert people. The Spirit converts. My job is to place people in settings where they will feel the Spirit and feel it testifying to them the truthfulness of the Gospel. And that's the part that hit me. When planning for lessons, I've never really taken that into account before. I have always tried to teach to their needs, but never thinking about how to bring a strong Spirit into the room. So I have since repented and changed my ways, its still a work in progress, but it has helped me a lot in my planning. 

This week we really saw the hand of God in our lives.  First example was on Thursday. We had an appointment with a potential investigator. Apparently, Hermana Diaz had met this man and his wife once before. We had a return appointment, but as soon as we got there, we saw the wife leave. We didn't feel good about just going to talk to the man by ourselves. Well turns out, this family lives near an older lady named Hermana F. in our ward. So we decided to just drop by and let me meet her. We knocked, and she said, "You are an answer to my prayers." 

Hermana F. had been feeling really sick that day. Her daughter lives with her and helps take care of her, but had to leave for work, but was still concerned about her mother. When we stopped by that night, Hermana F. was still in pain. We said a prayer with her and then Hermana Diaz was inspired to call the Elders. They came over and gave her a blessing and then we all had to leave.  On Sunday, the daughter told us that she was so grateful for what we had done with her mother. When she had gotten home that night, the mother told her, the missionaries came over and gave her a blessing and after the blessing her pain was gone. It was a super cool moment to see how the Lord puts us where he needs us to be. 

Second miracle was last night actually. Our goals were one member present lesson and two new investigators. We had an appointment with a potential and brought our Ward Mission Leader. So everything was going well and we were going to make our goal. Well... the potential wasn't home. (Welcome to our lives.) I was so disappointed. Our Ward Mission Leader is literally one of the coolest people ever. (His name is Hermano R.) And he was willing to go with us for the rest of the night and try someone else. We had received a referral from another set of missionaries and went to try and contact them at their house. Well after getting lost, then realizing after knocking on the door that we were on the wrong street, and then finding the right house with a huge scary dog and neighbors yelling, we found the right door. And.... the referral wasn't home; once again, disappointment. I had this feeling that we really needed to meet our goals for that day. We had a member with us; it was just finding someone to listen.

 As we were walking back to our car, it was almost eight; I had this idea to knock on this one door. And let me tell you, this goes against everything that I believe it. I hate knocking doors, especially close to 8 or after. People get all mad because it’s "too" late. But there was a bunch of noise coming from this one house so 1) I knew they were home. 2) There was this feeling again that we had to meet our goals. So I asked Hno R. if we could do one more house. He and Hna Diaz looked at me like I was crazy, but consented. And that is how we found O. We knocked, he came to the door, and I did my very best to explain to him about the Book of Mormon in Spanish. He told us he had met missionaries before and was willing to let us come back. We are going to see him hopefully this coming Saturday. 

Both experiences were a huge testimony builder, a realization that Heavenly Father is very aware of us. I had been kind of having a week of doubts and questioning everything, and asking myself yet again why I was putting myself through this. I was wondering if there was someone listening to my prayers and guiding my steps. I had been praying for some experience to help strengthen my faith. And there it was last night. It reminds me of Doctrine and Covenants 123:17. Let us do our part and then watch for his Hand, because He is there, even when we falter and have our doubts. The feeling I had afterwards was so much gratefulness for a wonderful loving Heavenly Father. He is there. And I am excited that I have the opportunity to share that with others.

Love you all so much!!

Let me know if there is anything I can do for you!

Hermana Mik Pillar

PS Does 5pm your time work for skype on Sunday? We will be going to our Relief Society President’s place. And I think we are going around 2pm here. Let me just say that I can't believe its Mother's Day already. Like that flew. I feel like we were just planning when we were going to talk on Christmas.