Feb 2, 2015

This week was busy but rewarding!

We started it off with a nice game of golf last P-day. We get to play for free in Snowflake. I played horribly, but that was expected since I haven't touched a club in months and never played that well beforehand anyway. We're going to play again today, so hopefully I can improve.

We decided to do our exchanges early this transfer, so we were out of town from Monday night through Thursday morning working with other missionaries in our zone. It covers out into Luna and Pie Town, so it's a pretty good drive to be able to visit the other missionaries. The exchanges went really well!

As I did my personal study during those exchanges, I prayed that I would be able to take something from my BOM reading. I did! I read in Alma 60, and in verses 5-12 it talks about the neglect of the armies. I twisted it a little bit and thought of it in a street contacting way instead. Every time we pass someone on the street, we are neglecting their right to hear the gospel AND we're giving the adversary more time to work with them. ESPECIALLY in the mountains, we HAVE to talk to everyone if we want to have teaching opportunities.

When we came back to Snowflake, we did our best to get into the routine again. We took some time to contacts as many formers as we could over the phone and actually got several people to accept lessons again! One of them even came to church!!! The phone is a huge tool that we sometimes don't utilize to it's maximum potential.

We had an amazing lesson with a family who has been inactive for the last several years because their son committed suicide. It was sad to think that they were denying blessings that they need just because of their son's choice. The Spirit was very present and taught very powerfully as we testified of the Plan of Salvation. We were able to share our own stories of how WE came to the knowledge and understanding of the Plan. I don't usually cry during lessons, but a few tears were shed during this one. We invited them to be sealed as a family in a year from now, and they thought for a long time and said they'd think about it.

We were able to deliver some gifts from our Mission President to the Temple and Stake Presidents in the area. It was so peaceful in their homes, and you could easily tell that they are faithful members of Christ's church. We have such great leaders in this area and are extremely privileged to serve with them.

On Saturday night, we had a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader about the work in the ward. It was a little stressful for me, because we felt stuck between a rock and a hard place. It was 9:25 and we told him we had to leave in order to be home by 9:30 (a mission rule). He wouldn't let us go without a piece of pie and a 'quick' visit with his wife. What do we do? We can't be disobedient, but we don't want to be rude to members either. We expressed our desire to be obedient and each took our piece in one bite and left. At church the next day, he was announcing to all the members that they could trust us because we were EXACTLY obedient and that we WANTED to obey ALL the mission rules. It was so neat to hear that from him. I know we made the right decision and gained member trust from it.

I was able to share my testimony in both of our wards yesterday which I really enjoyed. I hope the members will see our dedication to the work and intense desire to do what's right always.

I hope you enjoy your week and ALWAYS think about what the Savior would do. I know that as we model His example, we will be happy.

Elder Pilkington

Jan 26, 2015

Happy 2015!

Sorry I'm a few weeks late. I'm not doing as great as I would've hoped on getting these letters sent out. 

First of all, you may have seen the animal pictures already. [I love animals. They taste supa goooood (Not the eagle, that's illegal) (I'm a poet)] {Not funny, Thomas...}There is a bald eagle on the reservation in Mesa that we've taken pictures of. Another one was of me skinning a sheep. In Mexico, they have a tradition of eating sheep every New Years Eve. We went out to the sheep field that the church owns on the res and caught one for the ward party. That's all the detail I'll give. (You're welcome Mom ;))  {I, Jill,  asked him if the Sheep's name was Lucy....got to get a little guilt in there, right?  It didn't work. This was his response....}

 

Nope, but close. His name was SAAAAAAM (in a sheep voice)

After having spent the last year in Mesa in the Mesa Grande Ward, I've been switched to the mountains! Several things have changed actually. First, I'm now 100% in English work. No mas espanol. Hopefully I don't lose it too quickly. I'm still going to study as much as we have time for.

Second, I'm a zone leader again. I was kind of hoping the transfer long break they gave me would be two or three transfers long. It was great to have the entire day to work in the area. I really am glad to be able to serve in leadership again though. So many fun stories come from other missionaries that we're able to work closer with as zone leaders. Third, we are covering two wards. That will be a big change to adapt to. 

My companion is Elder Hinds. He is also from UT and lived most recently in Layton. He has been serving for about a year. More details on him will come. 

I'm in Snowflake. Luckily, there's no snow, but I was still asked to buy some warmer clothes and boots. The area is great! We cover two wards, Snowflake 1st and 8th. Our boundaries are pretty much east of main street to the county line. One half of concho rd is 8th and the other half is 1st. Our ward mission leaders are brothers. One of them is the city judge and the other is a guard at the prison. Both have some pretty neat stories. We go to meetings and church starting at 7 am and are gone until about 3, so it's not as bad as the missionaries covering 3 wards who are gone until 5. The zone covers all of Snowflake, Concho/St. Johns, and out to Eager. The entire part of the mission in New Mexico is one area and is in our zone. (I may be wrong on that, but we DO cover at least part of New Mexico in our zone.) It takes about 1 hour to get to the missionaries in Concho/ St. Johns and another hour from there to get to Eager.  I'm excited for the service we'll be able to do. I'll send pictures in the next few months. 

This is a big change for me, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to grow. I have faith and trust that the Lord will help me as I struggle with the language barrier for the first few weeks. I know that this IS part of His plan for me and that He knows my full potential. I'm excited to see how this change will provide me with a stronger ability teach in English and to figure out the best way to help this area grow. 

I know the Lord lives and loves us each. He truly does have a plan for us all. 

Until next week! (Or a few months... sorry ;))

Elder Pilkington

 

                                                                            Bald Eagle

                                                              Dead New Year's Sheep :(

 

Skinning the Dead New Year's Sheep...How is that a celebration?

                                                            Bald Eagle on Reservation

 

                                                      Elder Pilkington in Snowflake on P-Day

 

Jan 5, 2015

This Christmas wasn't as festive as last year. We had half decent tamales and tomatoes with feta cheese. I loved seeing and talking to you again :) Calling home has changed since the first Christmas, but I still love it! I'm feeling good about things. We just had interviews with President Sweeney and he gave me some different information that I'm a little nervous about.  In the interview I had, he asked me about going to English work. He think it will be a good change for me and I would have to agree with that. He also told me that big things were coming, which I translate into training again or maybe a zone leader or something of that degree. Other missionaries have been joking with me and saying I'm going to be the assistant, but I'm pretty sure that's not a thing. The zone leaders we have right now know something that I don't and won't tell me--haha. I guess I'll just have to wait. We get our news on the 17th.  The elders that I'm with are awesome! The ward is great, but I'll be sad to leave. I'm having all the members write in my little book, and everybody is saying I'm their favorite missionary because of how long I've been here. It'll be like leaving home probably!

I had a little surgery on my toe for an ingrown toenail.  It's feeling better now. I'm supposed to soak it every night and clean it in the morning. I got surgery with a different elder named Elder Walter. He is in the mountains now. He put like 4 shots in the toe to numb it and then just did it in front of me. It was nasty to watch, but I didn't feel anything. He just pulled back the skin and cut it out. I think it was straight down. Then he did something to it so that it wouldn't grow back.

Dad mentioned some things about following the promptings of the spirit.  I've found some great things about it. One of my preferred scriptures to share with members that also goes along with the Spirit and the Spirit of conversion is in Luke. I believe it's 22:32. It teaches us that once we've been converted, we are to turn to our brethren to strengthen them. I think there is a focus there on our brethren who have already joined the church but that are struggling. I look back before my mission and never once  looked around the congregation to see who was missing. Now, that is my entire focus and I'd like to bring that home with me. ALSO, a sentence I've come to hate when our bishop asks a member how another member has been, is, "That's not my family." Just because you aren't assigned to them means you can push their welfare and well being off to the side? Not in God's book.

 

The area is going ok. We don't have a lot of progressing work right now, but we DO have a date for THIS Saturday. O's son who is like 20 is getting baptized in our ward! We began to teach him when we were teaching his dad, but he is married to a native woman who doesn't speak Spanish so we transferred him to the English ward. They taught him the majority of the gospel, but he then decided to switch to Spanish again. I'm so excited, especially because I was one of the first teaching missionaries! Pictures to come. We'll have to come back to their sealing hopefully. It will likely be in January or February of 2016.

                                                                            P Day!

                                                              Had to have toenail surgery

                                                        Great baptism with family of 3

                                                         Elders Pilkington and Strike

Dec 15, 2014

Transfers came around again and I'm staying in the same area, again! This will be my 8th transfer in the Mesa Grande Ward in Mesa, which is equivalent to a full year (just about). Our Bishop is highly considering giving me a calling and the other members want to buy me a house. ;)

The companionships were switched up a little bit. I am still on the reservation part of the ward, but am now with Elder Hugh Strike from Cincinnati, OH. He is great! He went to Harvard for a year before he came out, so is a pretty intelligent guy. Hopefully I don't rub off on him too much, or else he won't be accepted back into Harvard. He is 19 too, but just like 98% of the other missionaries, he is older. Our apartment is a little backwards. I have the most time on the mission out of the four of us, but I am also the youngest. The other companionship in the ward is Elder Trout and Elder Call. Elder Trout was in the Air Force for several years before coming out. He was actually converted during that time. He only has 2 years of being a member.

The ward is doing great! The Bishop had asked us to all speak on Sunday and it turned out great! Elder Strike gave a great talk on the story of Christmas as told in the Bible, and then the 3 of us followed with powerful talks about missionary work and the effect it can have on ourselves and all those around us. Elder Call focused mostly on families and charity. In the middle of the talks, we sang Venid Adoremos. (I can't remember what it is in English. Come Adore Him?) I played the piano and the other elders sang. Elder Strike is a super good singer along with Elder Call! We are performing another musical number this Friday at our ward Christmas party. After the song, I centered my talk in a quote from PMG which basically gives the equation for success. The three things we must understand are 1. How an investigator must feel to be converted, 2. How a missionary must feel to teach with the converting power and 3. How a member must feel in order to successfully help in the conversion process of the investigator. Elder Trout then followed by relaying the overall message of the importance of every member in this work.

There is a scripture that comes to mind when we talk about a successful team of missionaries. It is in DC 84 something. Like 122-125 or around there. It just stresses the importance of EVERY PERSON on the team basically. Please try to find it and take the message to heart!

Over the last several weeks, we had 2 baptisms! Y, who we have been working with for several months, finally made the decision to get baptized! I bet you'll never guess how we were able to help her. In our mission for the past several months, we've been pushing the Temple a lot. It has definitely become a necessity for me to mention in almost every lesson I'm a part of. As we sat with Y a few weeks ago, we lovingly but very seriously explained to her that she is the link. Even if her family 'disowns her' (which they didn't), she is the way they may be sealed together after this life. The Spirit was strong during that lesson it testified to her our words were true. She agreed that same day to be baptized and hasn't looked back since. My testimony of 'Beginning with the End in Mind' has grown so much!

We also taught and baptized a younger kid named J, who Elder Pope and I worked with a lot when we were together. He had moved away before he was able to ever accept a baptismal date, but has since moved back into the ward. It's awesome to actually see a seed that we planted begin to grow and make the decision to change his life through the saving ordinance of baptism!

We have been greatly urged by members to go caroling to all those with whom we are working. Our old ward mission leader pulled us aside after our musical number on Sunday and promised us that if we did THAT with everyone we know, we will baptize THIS month and start off the year with success as well. We set aside about an hour every day to do this. We have the faith that as we bring the spirit to our investigators in this way, even if we take a teaching hour out of the day, we will see fruits from it. Please help us by praying this will work. Also, we are working together as a ward to pray for families. Please pray with us for these two miracles to happen!

I know that we are in the one and only TRUE church of our Savior Jesus Christ. He loves us more than we understand and recognize. Take time to look back on difficult times of life and witness the role He played. He always has been here and will always be here. Let's do all we can to allow His presence to be with us as we strive to bring others to His fold!

Enjoy this comforting time of year!

Elder Pilkington

Dec 1, 2014

(Again, Thomas' letter was mostly answering some questions.  We are excited to hear what happens with transfers this week!  Also, they were going to have a baptism on Friday and one on Saturday.  Excited to hear how those came about!)

 

Elder Sorensen, my companion who went home, sent me a few messages today and called us last week. He has some stomach virus that could have been a lot worse had he stayed here. I'm happy he took care of it!! He may come back out in about 4 months if it medicine can take care of it.

 

I'm so excited for Dustin! (friend who was just called to the Alpine Germany Mission) Will he be there when Chloe is still there? (another friend currently serving there)

 

Elder Gutierrez left on Saturday to go home to Mexico. President and Sister Sweeney let us go to lunch together on Friday. In fact, they went with us! We went to LoLo's chicken and waffles. It was SOOOO good!! He left behind some Mexican souvenirs to send home!

 

Thanksgiving was all traditional except one member had beans too. I was surprised. We had 4 dinners and a breakfast and I kept it all down. The 4th dinner I had to cut back the portion a lot though. The Breakfast was after a 'Turkey Run' that the Stake did. We helped set up at 6:30 and then ran a mile after. Then we had a Turkey Bowl with the Natives which was sweet! Our first dinner was with the Stake President and his family, (The Palmers). Then with a recent convert, then a member family, then the ward mission leader. I was stuffed! We don't have a scale at the new apartment, but I probably gained a few.

It sound like you had a lovely Thanksgiving! Not too busy at all. The best part is that that was your last one alone! (Well, without at least one of your kids there). I only have 5 transfers left, which will fly by. I've already been in Mesa for 7 transfers! If I stay one more transfer, I'll hit a year in this ward almost. That rarely happens!

Uhh... mmm.. ya know, the mission really makes me have a bad memory. I wouldn't know what to tell you.... But really though, I don't remember ever getting around the fire at all. (The fireplace in the basement was broken and the repairman said that it looked like someone had smashed into it and the spring-loaded connection came loose.  I had asked Thomas if he "knew anything about some horseplay/wrestling near it".  Maybe his friends who are reading this blog can help Thomas jog his "missionary memory"?  LOL!)

Dad's news is crazy! It's super awesome, but how?!?!? Please take video, pictures, everything! (Thomas' reaction to his Dad singing with Weezer this week!)

Nov 17, 2014

I have had an enjoyable past few weeks in AZ. The weather is improving greatly which has been nice. No more heat for another 5 months or so!! It's actually been pretty cold!

 

We were able to have a baptism a few weeks ago of our investigator O. He has been investigating since early August after one of our members gave him to us as a referral. It is a really neat story actually:

We had been (and still are) pushing a lot for our members to help us by doing the finding. After several attempts with different families, one family came through with several referrals of families in their apartment complex. Concerning O and his family, the members told us that they would never accept the Gospel of Christ, but that we might find service opportunities if we knocked. The first time we knocked, O opened and allowed us to share a message with his family. I was able to baptize him 2 weeks ago.

 

Even when we don't think people are ready and willing, they might be. God has a different idea and plan than we do in many aspects of life, and we have to conform to His will in order to accomplish His plan.

 

For our monthly Mission Leadership Council, we were able to hear from Elder Larry R Lawrence yesterday. He is in the Second Quorum of the Seventy. We discussed many things that we've seen in the mission, both good and bad. We discussed several topics of concern and decided that our 'mission culture' needed to be changed. After some discussion and even dispute, this is what we sustained:

 

1. We are exactly obedient missionaries

-Perfect study schedule
-In/out of bed on time
-Avoid all forms of worldly entertainment*Music: The only artist we may listen to is Mormon Tabernacle Choir (No more 'MoTab'); We may only listen to hymns or children's songbook by them
-Never waste time

 

2. Our missions are spiritual experiences

-Live up to our baptismal covenants (Mosiah 18:8-10)
-Be lovingly bold with commitments
-Read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year, marking all references of Christ

 

3. We are accountable

-Each mission leader (me) will help each companionship to be exactly obedient by:
*Going on exchanges with each missionary to help them meet their goals and live up to the mission culture
-Inform our branch/ward/stake leaders of what we are doing

 

4. We are dignified and joyful representatives of Jesus Christ

-We use dignified language

*Refer to missionaries as Elder or Sister

*Refer to members and investigators as Brother or Sister

*Refer to leaders by their appropriate title (ie; President Monson, not Tommy)

-We are light hearted with great reasons to rejoice

 

 

I can't describe the joy I have with this new standard! It may seem difficult to follow, (especially with the music), but I know how much it will help each of us and our mission as a whole too.

We were able to gather as a mission on Wednesday and discuss these things. We were also taught about certain doctrine in the scriptures for several hours by Sister Lawrence that morning. I never thought I would be so mesmerized from a lecture on scriptures, but it was incredible.

There have been changes in companionships for me this week too. My companion who I was training became really sick at the beginning of October. He had struggled with this illness for over a month until the decision was finally made to send him home. He left late Thursday night. I hope the illness will be diagnosed at home and that he will have another chance to serve.  I was moved in with Elder Call and Elder Swanson (again), and we will stay in this companionship until the next transfer, which is December 9. The chances of me staying another transfer after this one has shot up now! If I stay one more transfer, I'll complete a year in this ward. They might as well give me a calling. ;)

If you'd like to see what we do on Pdays, check my facebook for some great shots of cricket! If you've written me in the last month and I haven't gotten back to you, I'll do that soon :)

 

 Keep the Faith

 

Elder Pilkington

 

 

Nov 3, 2014

Another short report for these last two weeks...

 

The zone only had a few changes with this last transfer, and none of them were with our ward. We are all the same setup. We do live together for now (zone leaders, but each training different companions), but President is thinking about switching us up a little bit to help some other missionaries stay on task. We are the only spanish ward in the zone. There are several spanish branches in Phoenix and one in South Scottsdale. One of my buddies and I are talking to President about opening a new spanish branch in North Scottsdale. If it actually does happen, it won't for some time. 

The Spanish trainings we do are for the spanish missionaries in the valley zones. We get together and have discussions basically of what we can do to improve. 

The facebook is going well. I'm not supposed to chat, but if you have referrals for missionaries, I'd love to help :)

 

I was able to go for Halloween and I took a family name! I did the baptism, confirmation and initiatory for William Pilkington. I found out that the 'duplicate check' that I did probably wasn't the most thorough and that he has probably already had his work done. Oh well, it was cool for me either way.