Week #7 - Smell of Miracles

Garden City, Kansas

Companion:  Elder Yardley

                                                                        Monday, March 7, 2016

Hola familia y amigos!

I am here in Kansas in a town of about 30,000 people, Garden City.

It's very far west in Kansas, about 3-4 hours away from mission home

in Wichita. We have had some incredible weather and smells wonderful.

It smells like "miracles"... Cow poop hahaha. My companion is Elder

Yardley, he is from a very small town Beaver, Utah. He is 6'7" and has

been out about 20 months on his mission. We have been okay, we are a

bit different from each other. He is Spanish speaking but hasn't been

in any Spanish speaking areas until now. Our ward is very missionary

minded and is half English half Spanish.

President Bell is so incredible. When we met him at the airport he

gave one of the biggest hugs ever. Also before leaving for Garden he

gave me a massive hug. He is very passionate about mission work and is

so inspired. I guess one of the members of the quorum of the 70 came

out and said that he's met every single mission president in the

world, and that we have the best one out of all the presidents he's

met. I didn't spend too much time with him, but he is pretty awesome.

I won't lie this week has been extremely hard. One of, if not the

hardest week of my life. Missions are no walk in the Lilly field. I

definitely knew that the mission was going to be hard, but I thought

that would be more from the rejection and the people , mocking us, not

finding success. Nope. There is a lot more to it. It's been hard to

feel at home and get comfortable, definitely not in the MTC anymore.

I've really been missing my family a lot this week. Which is odd

because I've never really struggled too much with at college nor when

I was in the MTC. It's really been hard. A big culture shock, people

here are so different than anywhere I've ever been. There are some

nice areas but mostly very very poor areas. We aren't speaking as much

Spanish as I was hoping we would. I'm trying to study my butt off but

you can only study a language so much. I'm trying to work on getting

Elder Yardley and other Spanish speaking missionaries to speak Spanish

with me.

Anyways, Sunday was exactly what I needed. We got 2 people on date for

baptism. We did get a family who dropped us, the parents were not

liking us coming over anymore. That was heartbreaking because the kids

were so ready. We did a lot of member visits and got a lot of

referrals. Being in members homes is such a wonderful feeling the

spirit that is there. I want all of you to know that life WILL be

tough and we will endure really hard things but they are all for our

experience and there are lessons for us to learn. The way we endure is

by getting down on our knees and wrestle with the Lord. Now sometimes

we don't always receive that instant peace and comfort but I know that

it will eventually come, with time. There are lessons that need to be

learned as we endure through the hard times, D&C 122:7, "And if thou

shouldst be cast into the pit...if thou be cast into the deep... If

fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness...and

above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide

after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee

experience, and shall be for thy good."

I testify this is true. There's a reason for all of our struggles in

life, they are there to help us progress towards becoming more like

our Father in Heaven. I know I'm here to serve the Lord with

everything I have. I am here to leave my family for a short amount of

time so others may be with their families for eternity. This church is

true, otherwise I would not be out here serving a mission for two

years. Please keep the missionaries I'm your prayers, they need them.

¡Les Quiero mucho!

Con amor,

Elder Pilkington

Mission Headquarters in Garden City, KS

Week #6 - Hasta Luego CCM!

Provo MTC

Companions:  Elder Busby and Elder Perry

Zone Leader

                                                                                                Saturday, February 27, 2016

Buenos Dias!

We are going to Wichita!!

Well the last week in the MTC was quite a week. To be honest I can't remember what happened because the days all seemed like one. I feel bad saying that but it's true! It was an amazing last week though, very productive and got a lot of work done. 

My district in the MTC

 " I love my district so much. We are not loooking forward to saying goodbye, we all wish we could be going to the same mission. The bonds we have formed have been great, but know that we are all going to help different people in different places. I am so excited to see the success that these missionaries have. They have strengthened my testimony and helped me as a missionary. I love them love them love them.

We had the General Primary President, Sister Wixom, come and visit us for our Tuesday Devotional. In the choir we sand the song "A Child's Prayer". This is one of my all time favorite songs from Primary, they had little primary kids sing in the choir with us, it was adorable. It really made me miss my little sister Rachel, even though she's not in Primary anymore, that's the Rachel I will always remember. It was so awesome having Sister Wixom come because it rekindled my testimony that I had when I was a little child in Primary. It caused me to reflect on my primary days and realize what amazing teachers and leaders I had in Primary. For those of you who don't know what Primary is, it is the Sunday school that kids age 4-11 go to. It also reminded me of how we need to be like little children. Sometimes we let logic get in the way of our faith in Jesus Christ, they just believe. I think sometimes we need to be that way and just trust in Heavenly Father that what He is doing is what is best for us.

Hermano Humble.  He was the best!!!!

I have a challenge for each family. Each Sunday night before you have your family prayer, have Sunday Share time. It's just where you share what it is that you learned from the day. It will allow you and your kids to focus on keeping the Sabbath Holy and also strengthen each others testimonies. 

Ready for In Field Orientation

We had in-field Orientation!! It honestly wasn't as bad as people said it would be. It made me soooo excited to leave for the field. The one thing that pumped me up was when they talked about our Purpose. We are here to Teach Repentance and Baptize converts. We learned about the importance of members in missionary work. Members, missionaries unfortunately can't talk to every single person that they want to talk with, it's just not possible. In most cases there are only two missionaries in one ward, or two wards. YOU know the people that are ready to hear the gospel. The missionaries need YOUR help to hasten the work. When the members start helping with missionary work, that is when the work begins to explode. Trust your missionaries in your ward, give them referrals. Don't be afraid to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You should be wanting to share it with everyone you know because you know how they can return to live with our Heavenly Father. 

I am excited to be leaving the MTC, it has been a wonderful experience learning how to be a missionary, how to speak the Spanish language, but most importantly realizing that I am a Representative of Jesus Christ. I am so excited to leave for the field and help the people of Kansas with whatever it is that they need help with. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to serve the Lord and the people of Kansas for TWO years. I get to devote all of my time to serving him, every waking minute for two years. Jesus Christ lives, he is our Savior. Because of Him we can live with our families for eternity, we can be rescued from our sins, we can live in the presence of God. I love my big brother, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Sorry this e-mail is a little bit scatter brained, it's been a busy day. I love each and every one of you. God bless. Les Quiero!

Con Amor,

Elder Pilkington

Elder Allen!  Stud!

BYU squad!

WOOOHHHH!!! The whole BYU squad!!

Somehow someone got into the districts room...
felt pretty bad.

So our showers were not cleaned for 3 weeks!!
It felt like Christmas morning when we found them sparkling clean!