Oct 13, 2014

Our baptism didn't happen this last weekend, but this weekend FOR SURE! We announced in church and everything. He still hasn't decided who he wants to baptize him, but I'll send home pictures eventually.

I'm feeling a lot better! I was fine all day on Friday, but after I finished the taco, it was lights out.  I was doing better through Saturday night, Sunday and Monday morning, but again got a huge dizzy spell and decided to stay in Monday night. We talked to the mission nurse and she thought it would be best to have me go into Instacare.  They did tests on me there, and told me I was just dehydrated from vomiting so much on Friday night. She gave me some medicine, and it has helped.  There was one other elder that was throwing up on Friday too, but we didn't find out until Sunday about that. After, several other missionaries got really sick too. They think mine was just because of Taco Bell... I think there was a really bad stomach virus. Pres and Sister Sweeny helped me while I was at their house, and checked up on me every few hours when I wasn't. Sorry for freaking you out, Mom!

The week has been good. We have 8 baptismal dates now! One this week, and the rest in November.

Nothing much new, Elder Sorensen is doing well.  It's tough at times for me to balance the ZL responsibilities and trainer responsibilities, but I'm juggling them well.

 

Just a short update this week.  More to report next week!

Oct 6, 2014 (Happy 42nd Birthday, Uncle Dave)

What a weekend! Conference is always a great time of year.

We had plans to go to the Stake Center to watch all of the sessions, but those plans changed a little bit on Friday night.

We went home a little bit early to finish planning, and while doing so, a lady came to our door. We had only talked to her once, and she had expressed to us that although she was not a member, she had close family who were members of our church. When we opened the door, she explained to us that her aunt asked her to buy food for the missionaries she had talked to. She was just leaving to run some errands and offered to buy us food. We denied the offer, but she wouldn't accept no for an answer. We gave her our Taco Bell order, (always a mistake), and she left. A little while later, she returned with our bag of Taco Bell. I'm pretty sure I only had a few bites when I started feeling a little bit different, but that didn't stop me. The last bite of the taco just about killed me. The room started spinning in circles around me and I saw four different Elder Sorensens surrounding me. I barely mumbled out to him that I felt a little sick, (a big understatement), before I just about blacked out. He caught me and dragged me to the bathroom, where I threw up everything in my system. It was awful. I'm pretty sure the lady spiked my food.

Anyway, we ended up going to the mission home and watching conference there with President and Sister Sweeney for the Saturday sessions.

We were able to get home and go to the Priesthood session that night, and Sunday we went to the Stake Center as well.

My conference highlights were:

Lynn G Robbins- Apostasy= lowering the Lord's standards to the level of inappropriate, worldly behavior. There are a lot more 'apostate' things going on than most of us think.

Chi Hong (Sam) Wong-  Every calling is important.

Dallin H Oaks- Even though we are in the world, we must not be OF the world.

Neil L Anderson- Despite what comes, this great cause will go forward.

Tad R Callister- I just want to thank my mom and dad for providing Suzie and me with our spiritual breastplate, shield and sword as we grew up.

Lots more, but not much more time. Sorry.

Elder Pilkington

                                                       Elders Pilkington and Sorensen

                                                               Breakfast of Champions

 

 

 

9/30/14

(In Thomas' email this week, he is mostly answering my questions...)

 

Still crazy stuff for sure. We have been doing our very best to keep up with lessons even though I'm busy with ZL stuff. Somehow, we are leading the zone still in all of our numbers, which is good to see. My comp is doing well. We get along super well and teach great together!! He has been a little stressed so far with the language and having to be a comp to a ZL, but overall I think he likes everything. 

There is a family coming soon! On Thursday night they'll be there and I believe that they are planning on being there until Sunday at some point. They are going to the conference, but I'm not sure at what time. Other member families are going as well, but are staying in other places around the valley.  The dad reminds me of my dad so much!!!! He's a goofy guy haha.  They don't speak any English except for a few of the kids speak a few words. 

 

 

I love AZ a lot, and even the heat this year didn't  kill me like I thought it would. (I was in a car, so that helped.) I wouldn't mind living here, but I do love my snow during Christmas time. 

 

We will probably have 2 baptisms this week!! :D 

Have a great conference weekend and do all you can to get something from it! :D 

 

Thomas

9/21/14-Elder Sorenson

We have 6 new investigators! Training is so great, but I feel bad that he has to sit through my ZL duties so often. We'll have to do several exchanges this week for different meetings that we'll be going to.

 

When does Suzie have Pday? I want to talk to her :)

 

We were able to sit with, shake hands with, and listen to Elder Nelson on Saturday! That was incredible. I absolutely know that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ and I can't wait for General Conference to listen to him again and the other amazing men and women! It really is my favorite time of year. I can now admit, that it is a more important time for me than the Super Bowl. (I wouldn't have ever said that 1 yr. ago). The importance has really hit me.

 

Speaking of General Conference, would you or Grandma and Grandpa be willing to host some members that are going out this time? I'm not sure how many are going, but one of our investigators may go as well. What are your thoughts?

 

I'm so happy to hear how your week goes

 

 

                                                          Elders Pilkington and Sorenson

Transfer Day with new missionaries

                                                           Trainers and New Missionaries

                                

9/17/14-New Assignment AND Companion

Suzie, I love you! :D I'm so excited for you to be in San Diego and enjoy the Spirit that you will feel throughout the next 17.5 months. It'll go by fast, so make the most of it!!

We got calls early last week due to a conference President had to be at. He called Elder Swanson and me on Wednesday. He asked me if I would train!! Of course I accepted it. I'm staying in the same area with the car on the reservation. Then he asked if Elder Swanson would train a missionary into Spanish work. He has been out for a while but is switching to Spanish. THEN he asked us if we would still be Zone Leaders..... So now we are split up but still the ZLs for this zone.

My companion is super cool. His name is Elder Matthew Sorensen from South Jordan, UT. We get along great and it will stay that way. He has awesome desires to serve and do the best he can. We are just going to follow the spirit in everything we do and we know we'll be blessed from Heavenly Father.

The two baptisms we were planning on won't happen this week either, but Y will be baptized on the 27th. She has told us already that she is ready, she just wants her family to accept it more than they do right now. O is close as well. He told several members, during church last Sunday, that he was going to be baptized soon. He also has two young kids who we are trying to teach as well. More on that to come.

Something that has been impressed on my mind strongly this past week are family home evenings. For those who don't know, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Monday nights have been set aside for family time. During this time, we are encouraged to set goals together, learn about certain principles and guidelines that will bless our family, and really just be with one another. Even if your kids are grown and out of the house. Our church leaders have counseled us on the importance of doing them regularly, and I have seen lots of blessings go to families who do it. I want everyone to have the same blessing! :D

Wish me luck on this training thing so I don't ruin the rest of Elder Sorensen's mission! ;D

Elder Pilkington

PS It's been raining and flooding here a lot! It's fun to drive in though ;)

PSS Elder Nelson is coming this Saturday to address us and the Mesa mission!!

Happy Birthday, Thomas!

I'm finally am setting apart some time to fill people in on my life. These things are going to be super out of order probably, but I'll at least give you some decent detail.

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUZIE!!! :D:D:D I love you.

OK, let's move on.

A few weeks ago, one of the elders that was living with us got a call from our president, explaining to him that his step father had passed away. His mom can't take care of herself too well, so he finished early and went home to be with her. That left his companion to be with us. It has been a great few weeks with him, other than not being able to get to his area a lot. Our area has been so busy lately!! (More on that in a few minutes). Anyway, the elder that has been with us got a call on Friday, and was switched to another area, leaving me and my companion with the whole ward by ourselves. We've gone from 6 missionaries to 2 in a matter of 3 months. That has really piled on the work!!

Other than our own area, we have been doing A LOT of zone activities. Temple trip, zone conference, exchanges with other missionaries, Mission Leadership Councils, Zone Training Meetings, etc. Not to mention the countless doctor appointments, chiropractic appointments, and LDS family service appointments that we give rides to. It seems like we barely have time in our area some days.

Let me give some more detail on some of these activities:

Temple Trip- We are able to go to the temple once every other transfer, or every 3 months. We had the chance to go a few weeks ago with our zone. I can't even begin to describe the answers and the feelings that I received from the Spirit while we were there. If you are member and haven't been to the temple for a while, I highly encourage you to take the opportunity and GO!! IF you aren't a member, find the closest temple with a visitor's center, and learn more!

Zone Conference- We have the privilege to meet with our president once every 3 months to have a small conference. This one was incredible! We talked about several different ideas or principles, but one of the most powerful was the discussion about Peter. In the Bible, we learn that Peter has ups and downs during the period of time before the Resurrection. He shows his faith by getting out his boat, but then quickly loses that faith and begins to sink. We see this same concept when he promises to the Savior that he would NEVER deny him. Shortly thereafter, we learn that he denies Jesus three times. We talked about how this often happens to us as members and missionaries as well. We often tell ourselves what we believe and make promises to ourselves to become better. We set goals to do so, but sadly, we often forget our own knowledge and understanding. We continued to study about Peter after the Resurrection of Christ. He becomes a completely different man. He goes through the 'Refiner's Fire' so to say. We are now focusing on making ourselves better through his example.

Dang, that was a long one...

MLC- We usually have one MLC at the beginning of each month, but this month we were lucky to have two! The first one was great. We had a few trainings given, and had some discussion of different matters in the mission. That one was good, but the one with Elder Lawerence E. Corbridge was a little better. ;) He is a member of the seventy that came and spoke to the 30 ZLs and STLs in our mission. (Zone Leader and Sister Training Leader). It was such a spiritual, enlightening meeting. I always love hearing from General Authorities, whether in person or not.

SO much more to talk about!!! I'll keep it short..ish.

A couple weeks ago, one of the elders in our zone got hit by a car and got some gross looking road rash to the face. He's doing OK now, don't worry. The funny part, is that after he got hit, his companion wasn't paying attention and smashed into the side of the car. Karma I guess.

We have 2 baptismal dates for the 13th! One of them is an 18 yr old girl and the other is 40ish yr old guy. They were both referrals from one member family, and now they both have dates. I'll keep you updated on them.

We have been implementing several new finding ideas in our ward. One of them is a sports night, (which I bought a new bball for), and another is an English class, which nobody comes to.

We've had some cool services recently that have involved mowing lawns, cleaning up wood piles full of lizards and scorpions, and cleaning churches. Gotta love the service!

We have pizza a lot at the church. We call it capizza. (capilla+pizza=capizza) Capilla means church in spanish. So like church pizza, churizza, but it flows better in spanish.

I got a jar of syrup for my birthday from the Stake President and his wife! :) It's good stuff!!

Yeah, that's pretty much it. I hit my year mark on Thursday, and that's pretty cool too.

I'll probably get better at blog emails. This one was scattered. Apologies.

I love you all, thanks for the support. You make a bigger difference than you realize, just from your prayers and thoughts.

Elder Pilkington

Pictures!! August 2014

 Doing Service with a Machete!

 

 Good 'ole Thumbs Up

 

 Elder Clements and Elder Pilk

 

 Being Zone Leader and the hospital responsibilities that go along with it

 

" Haboob"  Major dust storm!

 

 Elder Pilk and Elder Swanson-current companion!

 

 Proud to say that Thomas is officially pepper-spray certified against dogs

 

Baptism for Manuel

 

Elder Clements and Elder Pilk