September 22, 2014
My Dearest Family,
One thing I have learned from my mission experience is how much
physical help the Lord gives us. I feel like a person as tired as a missionary,
shouldn't be able to function, yet we still manage to get up every morning at
6:30am and work until 9:00 pm. It’s simply amazing.
I re-learned this lesson yet again this week. Let's just say that I
was tired. Reason why....
Well on Tuesday, we had temple service. It was amazing. The temple
is shut down for a few weeks and we have the chance to work inside and clean.
We met one of the temple engineers and he was able to show us some pretty cool
rooms that I didn't even realize existed; one of them being the Prophet's room.
It was cool. The one downside to being on temple service is that we had to be
there at 7:00 am in the morning. And we basically live the farthest away. So we
left around 6:00 am and still were late due to traffic. Got to love LA. We work
in the temple for a few hours, eat, and then head back to our areas. Due to the
early morning, I was pretty exhausted, but the rest of the day was awesome.
That night, I was out by 10:32 pm. However, at 12:17am (I remember
exactly because I looked at the clock) one of the other sisters we live with
woke me up. She said, "Sister Pillar, someone is banging on the front
door, and I don't know what to do." I (still half asleep) walked into the
family room. And I just stood there frozen. Someone was literally beating on
our door. The other Sister Garcia and I just stood there. I don't know if you
have ever experienced that in our life. But 1) it wakes you up very fast 2) I
was so scared.
Luckily, our phone started to ring. I answered it. It was from
another Sister companionship in the zone. Come to find out, they were the ones
banging on our door trying to wake us. Apparently, they had gone to sleep that
night and in the middle of the night, their CO detector went off. They didn't
know what to do or where the CO was coming from so they grabbed some blankets
and came over to our place.
It was a miracle that the sisters were alive. And I was so glad to
see them. They slept on our floor that night and have since then fixed a few
things that may have been causing the CO in their apartment. We, in the mean
time, got another CO detector and check it regularly. My adivce... make sure
you all have a working CO detector.
Other cool things that happened!
We set a baptismal date with M M. She is the mother of G M (a recent
convert.)
We had an international fair on Friday, which included mole,
pupusas, and Polynesian dancers. It was one of those moments where I was like
"my life is so cool right now."
We did three exchanges this week. While on exchanges, my companions
met another family. We are hoping they have a lot of potential. We have a
return appointment with them tonight. Pray that all goes well with the M.
Also, last week my companions and I met a woman at a garage sale. It
was probably one of the coolest street conversations I have ever had. We were
bold and asked inspired questions and this woman opened up about the death of
her husband. She had met missionaries before, and I basically told her it
wasn't a coincidence that God had sent the missionaries to her again. So she
agreed to meet with us. Only to find out that she didn't live in our area.
She is in the area of the other sister missionaries in our ward.
They were able to meet with her last night. And she said she had been waiting
for them to come by!!! They said she sounds very promising. So hopefully all
goes well!! Keep I in your prayers please.
This week was so hard that I seriously doubted if I made the correct
choice to extend. Oh and get this. President called me and I don't get to
extend the whole transfer. I have to go home a few days before the transfer
ends. So my departing missionary fireside is in three weeks. I know I made the right decision, I
think the doubting came became I have been so tired. I think my dreams consist
of sleeping in until at least 8:00 am. Ha-ha-ha
So as a mission, we have been reading the Book of Mormon together
and I have been reading the story about Abinadi. And I cannot express how
impressed I am with Abinadi and his courage to preach the gospel with boldness.
And I wonder how Abinadi felt right before his death. Did he even realize that
anyone had been affected by his words? I don't know.
But because he did and served his mission, Alma listened. Alma
repented, changed, and brought hundreds more unto Christ. And then Alma's son,
Alma the Younger, went and was one of the best missionaries ever and converted thousands.
So in reality, thousands of lives were blessed because Abinadi opened his
mouth. And that touched me. We really don't know the impact we can have by
opening our mouth.
So family... please open your mouth. Please be the awesome
missionaries that I know you are and change some one's day, life, and eternity.
You have such an impact. Don't ever doubt it.
Love you all so much!!!
Hermana Mik Pillar
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