Sister Chelsea Pilkington

Sister Chelsea Pilkington
Sister Chelsea Pilkington

Monday, October 7, 2013

Take the Good With the Bad & Smile When You're Sad :)


Area:  San Marcelino
Companion:  Sister Hynes

Monday, October 7, 2013

My dear friends and family, ALOHA!:)

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BESTEST FRIEND HEATHERLY CONK!!! I know it won't be the same without me, but try to have fun :)  AND AGAIN TO MEGAN MCCAIN you old grammy!! AND SHOUT OUT TO PAIGE ROBERTS FOR THE ENGAGEMENT! I'm soo excited for you! :)  Big thank you to the Desert Hills Primary for the letters!  LOVED receiving them!!  J

You know those weeks you have where everything in the world just seems to be out to get ya? Yeah, that pretty much describes the theme of my week, but don't you worry! I am still smiling! So this week started off just fabulous. Thing number one. I got hit by a bus!! Not too many people can say that one! Just shows how crazy the drivers are here. Don't worry, I'm A-OKAY! It was actually really funny. Just imagine a street, where there are ZERO traffic rules, asians running around everywhere dodging cars, huge buses 30 feet high, little cars, big cars, driving around like chickens with their heads cut off. Then, imagine little Sister Pilkington standing on the side of the road being ignorant as can be smiling at all the people staring at her white self, and all of a sudden getting knocked to the ground because she somehow didn't happen to realize there was a HUGE 30 foot tall Victory Bus coming right at her bee-hind. Ha, no worries, it was just a little love tap from reality. I was dying laughing, how could I be so ridiculously ignorant to get hit by a bus! Who knows..don't worry the rest of the week continued quite the same. Thing number two. We have a beloved dog that has been our guard dog to protect us from all the meanies and creepers out in the streets, he lives in front of our house. Unfortunately, I let that poor skinny little thing out of our gate Monday morning..he never came home. Our baby boy died :(  Thing number three. I went on exchanges this week and was able to see the beautiful side of San Narcisso and not to mention the gorgeous beach. Sister Talent, my companion, showed me these cool rocks and told me I should take them as a souvenir, of course I did! I put them away in my bag on Wednesday, only to realize I still had them in my bag on Saturday. I was wondering why my bag was always so heavy. I just carried around rocks in my bags for four days. Captain genius right here. It's fine :) Thing number four. Out in the mission field I'm sure you have noticed, we sisters wear skirts every day. Unfortunately, I don't have a huge selection of skirts. I have black, blue, red, and purple and then repeat. Well, your smart sister Chelsea decided she needed to iron her skirt Sunday morning (Filipino's are super into ironing, if you have wrinkly clothes they get mad at you), I had a feeling not to iron it (prompting from the Holy Ghost I'm sure), but guess what? Yepp you guessed it, I did it anyways! Maybe half a second later I just hear psssttt;laksdfj;adlsf, yeah burned a FAT hole in my skirt, the colors are now down to three brothers and sisters. Yikes, you bet I was super happy with myself after that one :). Thing number five. Apparently I enjoy breaking and ruining things. I decided to rip the zip pull right off my backpack, just like making things trickier for myself, then I decided to break my pen and let it explode all over my arms. Yeah I was tatted up that day by my beautiful lime green pen ink. Thing number six. I decided to make a beautiful breakfast of french toast, eggs, and bacon for my lovely sisters. Here in the Philippines they don't really  have regular ketchup, it's like sweet ketchup or banana ketchup, but I had found a regular tomato ketchup pack at 7/11 and of course bought it. I was so excited to use it on my eggs in the morning, opened it right up and decided my shirt was hungrier than I was and that it wanted to eat my ketchup instead! Yeah I looked really pretty with a huge glob of red on my light gray shirt.Fashion statement for sure. Thing number seven. I decided to be super risky this week and try a little side of the road barbecue while on exchanges with Sister Almaras. I decided to try the blood! Ooh super cool. And of course, I had to document the moment, I asked Sister Almaras to take a picture of me eating the blood, she pulls out my camera and as if slow motion we see my 16 GB memory card with 1500 pictures drop out of the case and fall right.into.the.sewer. Of course we didn't try to save it, we thought the wind would blow it and save the day right? Nope. It didn't. My memory card went buhh-bye. Luckily the little kids here have the skinniest little arms they were able to fish it out of there for me, but yep you betcha, that thing was covered in mud and who knows what else. At least I got it back. Ha, it's been a happy week over here in San Marcelino ;) 

However, amidst all the crazy happy things of the week, I have something I would like to share with all of you. Each morning we read from the missionary white handbook as a companionship and discuss the principles we read. This morning we read from "Attributes"-I really liked this scripture "Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven" (D&C 121:45). I want you to imagine dew on the grass when you walk out of your house on a chill morning. Think of what the weather is like those mornings, is it windy and stormy? Or is it calm and still? The correct answer is still, the weather needs to be still for dew to form and to stay on the grass. Just like the weather that needs to be still, we need to be still so that our Heavenly Father can work through us. We all have busy lives of course, and are caught up in the day to day activities and craziness of this life. But sometimes, we need to take a moment to step back, and relax, and just be still. These are the times that we will be able to realize our purpose in life, envision our goals, dreams, aspirations; and these are the times where you will be in tune with the desires of your Heavenly Father for you. I challenge you to take a time this week to be still, and just listen, ponder, and pray. I want to share my testimony with each of you, it is something that I hold near and dear to my heart. 

Alam ko buhay ni Jesucristo. Siya ay ang Manunubos at Tagapagligtas sa buong mundo. Dahil mahal po tayo ng Diyos, ipinadala niya and Buktdong Anak niya si Jesucristo dito sa mundo upang na nagdusa para sa ng mga kasalanan sa buong mundo. Alam ko na sa pamamagitan na Pagbabaya-sala ni Jesucristo, mayroon tayo ang pagkakataon na magiging ligtas at malinis sa mga kasalanan natin. Ang ebanghelyo na ito ay ang isa-lang paraan na makabalik so ng piling ng Diyos. Sobrang masaya ako para sa na kaalaman ko tungkol ang plano ng kaligtasan. Alam ko na ang pamilya ko ay buklod para walang-hanggan. Alam ko din na isalang totoong simbahan. Ito ay ang simbahan ni Jesucristo ng mga Banal sa mga Huling Araw. Ang Aklat ni Mormon ayong saligang bato ng relihiyon natin. At sa pamamagitan ng kapangyarihan ng Diyos, isinalin ni Joseph Smith ang Aklat ni Mormon. It ay ebidensiya na si Joseph Smith ay isang Propeta. Sobrang masaya ako para sa ng pagkakataon na ibahagi ang ebanghelyo ni Jesucristo sa mga Anak ng Diyos dito sa Philippines. Alama ko lahat mga baay na ibahagi ako ay totoo. At iwan ito sa pangalan ni Jesucristo, ang Manunubos natin, Amen.

(I know Jesus Christ lives. He is the Redeemer and Savior in the world. Because God loves us, he sent his Son Jesus Christ into this world to suffer for the sins of the world. I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to be safe and clean from our sins. The gospel is the only way to return to the presence of God. I am very happy for my knowledge about the plan of salvation. I know that my family was sealed for eternity. I know this is the true church. This is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. And by the power of God, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. It is evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I'm very happy for the opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Son of God here in Philippines. I want you all to know it is true. And I leave these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, Amen.)

I love you all, am so grateful for you, please send letters whenever you can, mission mail is THEE BEST!


Have a GREAT WEEEK!!!

Sister Pilkington xo


1 comment:

Amy Swaney, CMB said...

Sister you are doing great work!

Brother & Sister Harrigan
Desert HIlls Ward