Nov 25, 2014

Hi! So this week, really this whole month, has been just something else!  Sorry I haven't written a legit blog in a while. I'm with Sis. Hyde now. She's pretty rad!  She was called here Spanish-speaking,  so she's teaching me Spanish! She's also been in mostly ghetto areas her whole mission so we just joke about how we started from the bottom now we're here in La Jolla. The other day we drove past a dog wearing a t-shirt better than we ever could. And we're getting UCSD bennies to remember when we were at the top. Our members and the people we're teaching are really just amazing! They're all going to school to be Doctors or engineers.  For me it's really amazing to be in this area at this time because these people are already so successful and have everything working out for them. We're not in poverty saving people or turning their lives around which is what I thought a mission would be. It has just shown me that He is always here waiting us to turn to him in the good and the bad. These people still need the Gospel even though they already have great lives. And it's been really cool to see people come to the church and humble themselves. Oh! We're also having Thanksgiving with our Bishop. He's amazing and we're pretty excited because he is a good time!

We also had a pretty miraculous experience recently. We didn't have any appointments so we went to a few people's addresses in the area who were potential investigators. We knocked on this one door looking for a Justin and a woman answered and she had no idea who Justin was. He probably moved. She was a single mother in the navy and we just told her about how we believe in forever families and asked if we could come back and tell her more. She said she actually had a few Mormon friends and wanted to go but didn't know there was a church in the area. She also really wanted to see Meet the Mormons but didn't get the chance. Anyway we went back and taught her then passed her off to the elders in the family ward. She loved church!  She is getting baptized Dec. 6th!!! That was pretty amazing! Especially because we never heard a voice telling us to go knock on that door or try to find people in that area. It's just how things worked out that day. It also wasn't even the perfect time. We woke her up from a nap the first time we met her. I also expected a mission to be like that but just doing what we're suppose to be doing puts us in the paths of people who are prepared. That was my cool story of the week.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving!

Oh ps!!!! There's a new video out called He is the Gift. It's like the Because of Him they did for Easter. It's on Christmas.mormon.org also #sharethegift. Because everyone in our area is home this whole week we're just going to walk around the mall on black Friday and tell everyone that Jesus loves them and he is the true meaning of Christmas and show the video to them. The church is going all out with it! Dec. 7th they're doing a youtube takeover where every advertisement for that day will be "He is the Gift". They also have billboard in time square for it so SPREAD THE WORD AND WATCH IT!!! It's great! Love you!

Nov 18, 2014

Hey! Sorry I haven't been able to give you the deets of my last few weeks.  It was crazy so I'm just going to give you the rundown of what happened. So I was companions with a temple square sister as my follow-up trainer. That  was really difficult because I barely knew what I was doing and she wasn't familiar with full-proselyting or working with wards or the area and I was just really overwhelmed. We just weren't getting along at all.  So I emailed my President telling him how I was feeling and how I was having really bad anxiety. Then he called to see what was going on so I just told him how I was feeling and my companion got upset because I didn't come to her first, which is understandable, but I didn't feel like I could. So Sister Schmitt, the mission mom, came to study with us to get a better feel of what was going on.  I explained how I was feeling and how upset I was. We had interviews with the President and he decided the work would move forward better if we split up. I'm glad it happened because it was a good learning experience, but it was really hard for those few weeks! And the Schmitt's are the best people I've ever met! They were just so loving and understanding even though this was probably the last of their concern. So now I am with Sister Hyde and we have a party! Sister Schmitt still calls and checks up and Sis. Hyde is mad that we're on the radar. It's just funny and we laugh about it now.  But we work hard and see a lot of miracles. The coolest one was we went to go find a potential investigator and the woman who answered the door had no idea who we were talking about but she is a single mother in the Navy and she is super interested in Mormonism, so the Elders are teaching her now! Miracles! I love you guys! Thanks for all the support! Keep being the best and don't die of Swine Flu, Mom. Also Dad, you are dork. JK. haha you're funny and I love you! People think it's weird that you guys are my best friends, but you are.

                                      Sis Pilkington with her new bear friend from her ward

                                                                 Sis Pilk and Sis Hyde

                                                                    Sis Pilk and Sis Hyde

                                                                        La Jolla Cove

Nov 4, 2014

Transfers were last week!  I have a new companion from Chile and Sis. Larson is going back to the Battalion Museum.  I can still see her all the time if I have an investigator to take to the Museum. We moved to another apartment with MTC Sis. Larson and Sis. Thaler, her trainer. It was the 4 of us for a week and it was a party! We decided to have the bedrooms for studying so our beds are in the living room right when you walk in the appt., orphanage style.   I am really sad trainer Sis. Larson is leaving though. Our YSA ward is either all freshmen or 30 year olds. We like to play matchmaker with the freshmen. We should probably focus more on the 30 year olds but c'est la vie. haha! But we're really good at it. There was a really cute less active girl who showed up on sunday and no one was sitting by her and so we told our friend to go sit by her and now they're going on a date!!!

My new companion has been out for 9 months and is actually a missionary from Temple Square.  The missionaries there get to go "outbound" for two transfers.  It's been a bit challenging because she isn't a proselyting missionary so even though she has been out longer, she is still kind of a greenie here.  And she doesn't want me to tell her how we have done things here.  So, it gets pretty frustrating at times.  I am worried that we will lose our investigators.  I should have 6 more weeks of training, but I won't be getting trained right now.  It doesn't help that I am getting homesick too.  I guess this week has just been hard.  Hopefully I will have more positive things to report next week.

 

A few time a week we run a booth at Mesa College.  We have to park at the mission office across the street, then walk a good ways into the center of campus because of construction.  We have to carry a table, chairs, banners and our big box of BofM's. It's a long walk with all that stuff!  We don't do it on set days but it's usually Mondays or Wednesdays. There aren't a lot of students there on Friday so we don't usually go then.

 

Our investigators are good. We had to pass off X to the Chula Vista missionaries. B and his friend dropped us :( But it's ok. It was mostly arguments anyway. They didn't want to learn.

 

T is finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. She kicked her boyfriend out. He cut up all of her clothes before he left and trashed her room. We went by the next day to drop off a bag of clothes we found in our closet from a previous sister while moving out. We had no idea that any of this had happened so it was a huge blessing to her. He wrote all over her sheets and there was a set of sheets in the bag we gave to her! She had no pajamas and there were pajamas in there too! She wanted to go to church on Sunday but had no church clothes to wear and it was all missionary clothing so that was good. So many miracles! Now that he's out she can start focusing of herself and her progression. The ward members have also been super great! We told some sisters in relief society about her and they got her a huge basket of clothes and our ward mission leader got her a HUGE box of pantry food.

Oct 22, 2014

Transfers are next week. Sis. L is going back to the Batallion after this transfer and I will most likely stay in this area. But! We are thinking that the area will be split, sis. Larson will take half of it and I will take the other half because it's really busy now that school has started.   Have a lovely week. 

                                                     Dinner on Beach with Members, etc

                                                                    Dinner on Beach

                                                                      Great Member!!

                                                             Mormon Battalion Museum

                                                      Dinner on Mt Soledad with Pals

                                                                          Down time

                                                                    Love Sis Larson!

                                                            So much fun with Sis Larson!

Oct 13, 2014

Hello! So this last week has been so incredibly amazing! Leilani got baptized and that was amazing! Then we added 5 new investigators!!.. Which is pretty legit. One of them is V. She struggles and has had a really hard life. She's really ready for something in her life that will bring happiness. One of the members in our ward is so wonderful! She already doesn't have a lot, but she comes to every lesson with Victoria and every time she brings a bag of things for her like food or clothes. Victoria doesn't have church clothes so Linda, the member, brought her all of the church clothes that she hasn't worn recently. This is why missions are so amazing. I can't give her clothing or food as a missionary but we're bringing her closer to the gospel. And when I get home I'll have Linda's example and give all that I have. She's getting baptized November 15!

 

 

B is another investigator. His girlfriend is a member going to BYU. He's a freshman at UCSD and grew up pretty devout catholic. But because of his girlfriend and his other Mormon friends he's meeting with the missionaries. He really likes the religion and wants to get baptized!

 

 

X was a guy we met at the booth at Mesa. I usually hate doing the booth because we're stopping people on the way to class asking them what they know about Mormons and usually it's not good stuff. But he was so interested in the Book of Mormon! We met with him again and he said he was so grateful for us showing him "God's new book". We also heard him pray for the first time. That was amazing!

 

 

J was another guy from the booth. We're meeting him again this week and he's bringing friends!

B is not as solid. He has a lot of questions and he's very skeptical. He grew up Christian and now sees everything too logically. We're meeting him again tonight to talk more. Hopefully it goes well :)

 

 

One thing I've noticed, especially being in a YSA ward, is people are very influenced by their friends. The majority of our recent converts in the ward were first introduced to the church by a friend or significant other. Don't be afraid to stand up for what you believe in and be an example because people really do notice and it changes people's lives!

 

Anyway, I love you! Have a great week!  Go see Meet the Mormons. Bye!

 

 

October 6, 2014

Being in YSA is such a party! We watched all the sessions at the institute! Everyone brought treats and there was lunch between sessions! It was so super fun! None of our investigators came. L was in Utah. She said she got super sick the 2nd day there so a lot of their plans didn't work out. But she really wanted to meet you guys and Sister Larson's family so she's planning on going back within the next month! Our other investigator has been M, but we had almost all our recent converts there and a few less active people so it was great!

 

 

We got 2 new investigators, A and A. He was a former investigator who we randomly called and he said he was interested in learning more. The sisters dropped him before because he said he wasn't willing to change or keep commitments but now that his girlfriend is also learning hopefully they can change together. She seems pretty open.

 

 

Last night at FHE we had a BBQ for the new school year. We met a ton of new people and Mark was there!!! It was so great to see him! We also got 2 new potential investigators! We're meeting with them tomorrow so hopefully they are solid!

Super great week and weekend!

 

 

Oh btw have you heard about Meet the Mormons?!  It is soooo good! It's playing here this weekend. We can't go to the theaters but we watched it for zone conference. It just is so good! You should go see it with people!

                                                                              District

                                                       Suzie got her "Greenie Package!"

Great friend, Mark Larson, got to spend FHE with the Sister Missionaries!

   Keeping things appropriate

 

                                                                       Great friends!

                                                        Suzie loves her first Cali burrito!

 

 

9/30/14

One month! It seems like so much longer than that! Our Bishop is pretty great! He's lots of fun. I asked him if Mark (mutual friend between her Bishop and us) has told him about dad and he said that he's heard dad is delusional....because he's a Ute fan. We went to FHE last night. We can't usually go because it's on the beach but last night was at the church building. :) It was way fun! That's where the picture was taken.

 

 

 

I Love being in a YSA ward! It's only not fun at home cuz I have to be presentable. But here it doesn't matter! I'm good pals with a lot of the members already!

There are 2 recent converts who we spend a lot of time with. S, who was baptized last Saturday and I sent you a picture of her, and S. They were friends before and S introduced S to it. We spend a lot of time with them because they left behind all of their friends because they're always out partying. So we go out with them a lot. They also have big girl jobs so we go to nice places :) and R is a member in our ward and he's dating S. So he took us out to gelato with S.

 

 

Our new investigator, L, is probs the coolest person I've ever met! She's going to conference this weekend! I wanted to have you meet her but Idk if she'll have time. But I might just give her your number and you can meet up. She's in the military and she grew up Baptist. She investigated these things all on her own then found us :) It's like she's already a member. She already lives like she is. I'll also send a picture of her.

 

I think we fried Lars (the cricket living in their stove). I was cooking eggs and it smelled weird then we never heard him chirp again,...... so.... He died. We got Raid for the spiders. It was kind of gross, sprayed all over our patio, then a ton of spiders just came out of the cracks trying to survive, but we killed them. PS... if you spray a spider directly with Raid its legs will fall off and it will explode. So no more spiders :)

 

 

I'm doing really well. At first I was so tired it was crazy! Now I'm adjusting better. But I absolutely LOVE being a missionary. I have more confidence then I ever have! because I'm on the Lords time doing His work so I can't mess up cuz He's got my back.

9/21/14-La Jolla YSA Area!

It has been the CRAZIEST week! It feels like it's been months but I've only been in California for a week. 

 

 I actually met an elder last week, Elder Dahl, from Medina, OH! He knows the Kings, and the Taylors, and the Denbors. He's the sweetest.

 

My trainer is Sister Larson. She's super great. Two sister Larson's in a row. Haha. She's from Lehi. It's a party working with her all day. We are serving as the La Jolla YSA sisters and we live right behind the Temple so we meet with investigators there a lot for lessons. I could not have possibly been more blessed with a better trainer, area, or ward. We have a great time with the members. They're all pretty old for a YSA ward because they're living in La Jolla and all have big boy jobs because it is Expensive to live here!!! And they really like the social aspect of "going out to eat" so we get treated pretty nice. Everyone is like obsessed with the missionaries.  The only down side is our whole apartment complex is infested with spiders......like big fat papa spiders with massive webs and egg sacks. We have like 7 bottles of windex so we can kill them from afar. There's also a cricket living in our stove top. We can't really find him but he's super loud! We named him Lars.

 

There was a baptism already on my first Saturday in the area! She is super amazing! Her name is Sara. On Sunday another girl came up to us and told us she wanted to get baptized. Her name is Leilani. She is so amazing. She's in the Military and grew up Southern Baptist. She investigated everything herself and is dating an older member in a family ward. She's practically teaching us! So we're meeting her every day this week and hopefully we can have another baptism on Saturday! It's been so amazing!

 

 I love you!!!!

 Love Sis. Pilkington.

 

PS Sister Pilkington is hard for people to say apparently, so explain it like "milkington" but with a P and I use milking hand jestures.... like milking a cow...with udders.

 

PPS Oh...Paige, my SUU roommate....her cousin is my Zone leader! and his Companion was friends with Justin, and probs Thomas, in the MTC! Cray Cray!

 

                                          MTC District at the Mission Home-La Mesa, CA

                                                View from our apartment

                                                    Investigator at Temple

                                                                             Baptism

9/16/14-Leaving for San Diego!

                                                                      MTC District

                                                      Sister Larson & Sister Pilkington

                                                                   Sisters in District

                                                              Crazy Sisters in District

                                                         Sister Banks & Sister Pilkington

                                                                     MTC District

                                                   New San Diego Missionaries-9/16/14

                                                                      MTC District

                                                                       MTC District

Sister Pilkington-Week One-MTC

It's been a long few days but super great!!!! It's been intense but really fun! My whole district is brand new and we're all going to San Diego speaking English! I love them all!!! It's an adjustment to not say guys or dudes. The elders have decided to punch each other every time they say that word. Yesterday at church I was sitting in front of them and I turned around and called them guys so they all instinctively hit me. The president was not happy. I wasn't even phased, I just thought it was funny. We are learning some mind blowing doctrine and it's great! Sister Larson and I teach really well together. She is like a doctrine wizard and I just sit next to her and make the investigator feel loved. But we split up the work, don't worry ;). She also runs marathons so we run together! We run laps on the track and she passes me like crazy but it's still a good time! I've seen a TON of my friends here so that's been really comforting! Sorry I'm drawing a blank of everything that's happened. But being on a mission is not easy! But it is VERY rewarding! My advice to all of you is if you is if you have any sort of sorrow or burden at all, turn it over to the Lord. It seriously lightens everything and just brings a certainty that everything will be okay. I'm going to admit that I haven't prayed before like I have in the MTC. It's sometimes a hard thing to humble ourselves and ask for help but it is so necessary and peaceful. Even if there is someone reading this who isn't religious or believe in God, try doing this and see if your burdens are lightened. That's all I have time for. I love you all!!! 

Love, Sister Pilkington

 

 

Day 1-Entered the MTC

Suzie has officially started her mission today, 9/3/14.  She will be in Missionary Training Center until September 16th.  We were in San Diego as a family a few weeks ago and were able to visit the Mission Office.  They were all so excited to meet Suzie!  They gave us a tour of the office and showed us how the mission functioned.  We saw the supply room, files, etc.  They showed us her personal file which showed that she will arrive in the next transfer, 9/16.  She was also able to meet many of the sister missionaries.  They were all very nice and hoped that she would be able to stay with them when she arrived.  She is so excited to start this adventure!