April 7, 2014--General Conference Weekend

What an incredible weekend!

Those were awesome sessions of Genereal Conference! It's amazing how much all the talks really do relate to every single one of us, no matter what situation we are in. The April session is by far my most favorite weekend in the first half of the year. My second favorite is the Super Bowl... but that's not important.....

There is truly nothing better than hearing our Prophet's voice. It is a comforting, re-assuring sound, that brings peace and happiness. We were unfortunately unable to get anyone to accompany us to watch the sessions, nevertheless still had a great time.

There were many great talks that were given, and I got something important from every one of them, but a few that really caught my attention were these:

First, the talk by Sister Linda S. Reeves. She focused the second half of her talk towards families. She taught us how important it is to have certain things occurring in our lives on a daily basis. The three main things that were mentioned were 1. Daily scripture study; 2. Daily prayer; 3. Weekly family home evening. As a missionary, I do these three things consistently. The blessings that have come from doing them have been incredible. I have had the Spirit with me more and been able to make better decisions in everything I do. She said we must make these things a PRIORITY in family life.

Another that I enjoyed in the first session on Saturday, was that given by President Henry B. Eyring. He focused his talk on the power of Satan. One of the very first quotes that was given, said, "The Lord does not quit, and neither do we!" The Lord is always here to help us. It may take time, but He will never leave us. We too must stand strong in the face of adversary. He continued to talk about choosing the right. "If the blessings were immediate, choosing the right would not build faith." It is so important that we are constantly doing what we can to follow the Lord and his servants the Prophets. As we do this with scripture study and observation in all things, we will have the power needed to overcome Satan.

Priesthood session was incredible as well. I encourage everyone who has not watched it to do so. Especially the talk given by Dallin H. Oaks. The best quotes from his talk were these: 1. "Forget the rights focus on the responsibilities." This one is talking about Priesthood and/or leadership rights. They are not to give people power, rather to help them help others. We can not forget the purpose of sacred callings and authorities given to us. 2. "Marriage is a full partnership." On my mission, I have seen a ton of relationships go down hill a little bit because one of the two seems to think they have more right or power to things. This, as mentioned by Elder Oaks, is not the case at all. A marriage must be treated as an equality. If it is not, it will cause problems in the future.

I don't want to write forever about conference, but here are just a few more quotes that I loved from conference:

"Who we are right now, is NOT who we can become!" Donald L Hallstrom

"Worldly things CHOKE our abilities and sacred powers." Donald L Hallstrom

"What we consistently desire, we will one day become." Randall L Lidd

"REFINE, PURIFY, and ELEVATE your desires!" Randall L Lidd

"Negative habits WILL become addictions if we don't change them." Dieter F Uchtdorf

"If you ever find yourself where you should not be, GET OUT!" Thomas S Monson

"Be the same person in the dark and in the light. Everywhere you go." Thomas S Monson

"Choose to be grateful, no matter what!" Dieter F Uchtdorf

"The Gospel is not a checklist of things to do, rather, it lives within us." Jean A Stevens

"Never think we can't change." Gary E Stevenson

"We are NOT and NEVER will be alone." David A Bednar

"Learn from, change, or accept our challenges through prayer." David A Bednar

"Blame keeps wounds open; only forgiveness heals." Thomas S Monson

I KNOW that every single one of these speakers has been guided by the Lord in the messages they shared. These are things that the Lord has purposely put into our minds to ponder and use in our everyday lives. If you haven't yet had the chance to watch these sessions, please do it! Your lives will be blessed.

I know that as we follow the counsel and guidance given, we will be blessed.

Elder Pilkington

April 2, 2014

Well, it's been a couple weeks. Still not a whole ton of exciting things happening out here.

Last week, I got a call from the Relief Society of the branch, and they wanted me to play their Joseph Smith for their activity. I had to dress up kind of and read a few paragraphs. Pretty cool stuff.

I also was invited to attend a large meeting. We had some church representatives come down from Utah and speak to us. One was the Director of Proselyting for the missionaries, and the other was the Director of Referrals. They only invited about 40 out of the 120 missionaries that there are in the mission. Still not really sure why I was one of them, but very happy to have had the chance to attend. I learned so much from them on how to become a better missionary! So many great ideas that were opened up to us. They also told us that in the next few months, we will be getting ipads. Nothing new to us, we've been told that since I got to Arizona.

We had the opportunity to do a church tour practice this week as well. Even though it was only a practice and we didn't have an investigator with us, it was great to feel of the Spirit in the building. It's crazy to think that 1 year ago, I was annoyed that I had to go to church. Now I see the Spirit that comes and the blessings as well. There is such a great importance that I guess I didn't realize before my mission. It is so hard for me to see all these less actives around me that have no desire to go back. If they only could see it from the perspective that I am at right now....

The successes that we HAVE had this week, have been small, powerful, spiritual lessons. We have been able to find a few more people, making our count of investigators about 15 now. Unfortunately, not all of them are progressing like we would like. The ones that are have honestly been prepared to be taught. One of them is new as of this week, and our very first lesson, he kept telling us how much it all made sense to him. He had a huge smile on his face as we invited him to be baptized. He happily accepted the invitation for the 26th of April.

We still have another date for April 26 with Alejandro. He is progressing spiritually, but is in an unfortunate situation with his family right now. His wife is extremely Catholic and she does not want anything to do with us. The more we go over, the worse it gets.

I have to go, but please pray for these people!

I am so grateful for your support!

Papago Zone-March 2014

March 17, 2014

If you read this blog consistently and don't write me at all, DO IT! I would love to hear from all of you.

We are now up to 10 investigators, which is great, but they aren't progressing like they need to be. There are a few, however, that have really made a large impact on me during our discussions this week. I'll give a little information about of few of them.

First, we met with Juan. He is a younger father of two, but his kids have been separated from him for one reason or another, and are living in Idaho. He lived in Idaho a few ago as well until he had his accident that caused him to move down here with family to take care of him. He was involved in a car accident where the other driver ran the red light and t-boned him. Luckily, he didn't die, but he is now paralyzed from the chest down. As he was describing his feelings to us, he kept including God in his thoughts and feelings. He has such an amazing testimony and knows there is more in life than what most people think. That is what got him involved with missionaries.

Another woman we met with this week has had her own problems. Her name is Lizet. She is a very young mother of 2. The experiences she has had are so amazing as well. Through God, she has been able to fight her difficulties and, the same as Juan, see that there is more in life than what she thought before. Unfortunately, she has family that is against us, and because of that, she doesn't want to follow through with anything. They believe the things we teach, but have the same problem as many. They don't want to change their drinking and smoking habits. That is somewhat understandable to me, but it is sad to see them miss so many promised blessings through something that only gives them small amounts of pleasure. Oh well, I know that one day, they will desire to change.

There is a man named Jorge who LOVES to fight us about the Bible. He doesn't really know enough to fight it in my opinion, because every question he had about a scripture that 'didn't exist', we found and explained to him. During one of these 'argumentative lessons', he stopped and looked at me for a second and said, "Te voy a decir algo. Tu eres un buen ejemplo de Cristo. Eres una persona llena del Espiritu y eres muy humilde. Te quiero mucho!". That was hecka weird at first, but then I realized he was being serious. It was incredible to see this man go from completely hot headed to calm and spiritual. I don't know what I or my companion might have done to cool him down, but the change was amazing.

We were able to participate in our Zone Conference during this past week. Our Mission President came with his wife and addressed us, giving trainings, discussions, and talks. It was great. As a zone, we sang a Tongan hymn, which turned out really cool as well. The spirit when missionaries are all singing is great! Unlike anything else.

We have been eating nothing but grapefruit, lemons, and oranges the last few days. That is the beauty of serving in AZ. Citrus everywhere! We spent a long time on Saturday at a service project which included us picking a ton of fruit! Real life Fruit Ninja has been pretty sick as well! ;)

Have a good week!

Elder Pilkington

March 10, 2014

This week has really helped us to see the miracles that God puts in our lives.

 

After a great dinner with Bob and Ginger Newell, (one of my Dad's mission comps and his wife), we had an great Family Home Evening with several recent converts and a member family. It was such a powerful message that was shared and the spirit was felt so strong.

 

On Tuesday, we got to feel more of the amazing spirit as we attended the Mesa Temple as a zone. It was one of the most spiritual sessions I have attended. As one of our strong members was helping us with some visits, he told me that his son who is serving in California right now, sent him an email asking if he knew an Elder Pilkington. That was extremely surprising to them, as it is not a common name.

Throughout the week, we have really built strong relationships with the people, and gotten to understand them better, the same they have with us.

 

I had a sweet exchange with Elder Lindeman from South Jordan, UT. Although he is an English missionary and doesn't know Spanish, it was great to have his awesome spirit with me. He really helped me focus on what the purpose as a missionary is. Awesome spirit and awesome missionary. We were able to give a blessing to an older woman who has been struggling recently. As I closed this particular blessing, she, being full of the spirit and crying, thanked us for always bringing the spirit of Christ with us.

 

We had the majority of our appointments cancel during the week, but the ones we did have were full of the spirit and truth that the gospel brings. I encourage all who aren't members or who have been away from the church, for different reasons, to come back. You are missing so many blessings and even though you may already have happiness and peace in your lives, you can have even more.

 

We taught various lessons this week with our new investigators, now 8. If you were to ask me last week about the possibility of having 8 investigators, I would have told you a low percentile. My faith was obviously lacking and I have now realized that. As I discussed my frustration with our Mission President, President Sweeney, he explained to me that we are doing what we need to be doing and that it isn't just about whether we are doing things right, but also the time frame and desire of the Lord. This is absolutely true in EVERYTHING we do in life. The Lord is in charge of it all and we need to put 100% trust and love in Him in order to be successful.

 

Bloopers of the week:

 

1. As I was 'dismounting' my bike earlier this week, my pants caught the seat and completely ripped. I had to walk home with my underwear showing.

 

2. When we got transferred, our mail was being sent to the wrong box, which we didn't have a key for. We just barely realized it, and found all the mail. If you have sent me mail in the last 2 or 3 weeks and I haven't responded yet, this is why. I'll get on that today.

 

I know the Lord lives and guides us in all we do. He gives us tests and challenges to go through in life, with the intention of helping us in the long run and making us stronger. No matter how bad a problem may be, DON'T GIVE UP and especially, DON'T try to get through it alone. God wants to help, you just have to let him.

 

I love you and thank you so much for the support I have from family and friends. I can truly feel the prayers of the people.

 

Elder Pilkington

Pictures!

                                                                Ummm, SO Handsome!

                                                         Happy Valentine's Day, Thomas!

                                                                           Great Family!

3/3/14--6 MONTH MARK!

Man same slow week. This white washing thing is a lot harder than we both thought.

 

We still don't have investigators, but we spend all day everyday looking for and talking to everyone we see. They are all either members already or white people that don't know spanish. The main way we have been able to talk to people so far is through the members. They have given great referrals!

 

On Monday, we were driving through the reservation and we saw 3 massive Bald Eagles at the top of a tree. That was pretty cool. Also, there are lots of wild dogs on the res., and we got chased by a couple going over 30 mph. Then we saw a larger native brother on his bike getting chased by like 4 of them. His face was priceless. We probably should've helped him, but I think he got away ok.....

 

We have had several decent lessons with some less actives, but the spirit was missing in most of those. These are people that don't have much desire to return and honestly don't want us there, so it's tough to feel much spirit if there is contention.

 

The majority of our week was walking, (my bike tire popped, again), to appointments that ended up getting cancelled, and getting poured on in the rain. Two days getting soaking wet from the rain this week. When it rains in AZ, it rains. The flash floods that people talk about are real.

 

The Temple dedication for the Gilbert Temple was sweet! Awesome experience to partake in.

 

My half birthday passed on Saturday, (if anyone cares), and my 6 month mark hits tomorrow. The time has flown by. I don't even realize that I am one fourth of the way done with my mission.

 

Again, I want to thank you all for the support that you give me. It really helps to strenghthen me and my companions as well.

 

Never stray from the Gospel of Christ. 1 Nephi 22:31 has been shared by me a lot this week. It is absolutely true. We don't have much that we need to do in order to enter the Kingdom of Our Father.  

 

Elder Pilkington