One of the best lessons of my mission

So let me just say I am really hungry right now, like haven't had breakfast, had dinner forever ago, and am planning on getting an apple fritter for breakfast FROM. SLODOCO. 

This week Elder Pilling goes on 2 exchanges, plays on the beach, eats some corn, and tries to convert some devil's. 

My first exchange was with Elder Kennedy. He's from Utah and graduated high school in 2018.  It was great doing his first exchange, I got to enjoy our time together and we did some cool training for him as he committed to live the mission standards etc. We met some very good people, had a great dinner, and had one of the best lessons of my mission.

Our lesson was with Andrew, our African American single father of 4. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was so so so good like, really good. He wants to change so much and really is seeking that forgiveness and coming closer to Jesus. He has even lost a friend over meeting with us. It was super good and Elder Kennedy has an amazing way of thinking things through logically and his testimony on top of that just sums everything up. Super very good. Andrew is so good but he's hard to keep in contact with, doesn't use his phone all that well... But we are working on solutions. 

Then the next day, Thursday, I was on exchanges with Elder 'Anitoni, the district leader over the North district. He's Tongan and super wonderful. They are Spanish elders so the English work is always weird for them. Takes them a a little bit to figure out how to treat white people. Our exchange was super super good! We had lots of fun and had some really good contacting going on, got some ideas and gave some ideas of how to improve. We even talked to a guy who was abducted by aliens and met the higher power. Super crazy things. But we had some really neat contacts at the end of our exchange, we met some ysa folks who really want to learn more and we are excited to introduce them further. 

Then Saturday we went on the beach in Avilla as part of a ward activity. It was super good, had a corn feed. The corn here is so not taber corn but still good. We played Frisbee on the beach and it was just really relaxing, also did missionary work so don't worry. 

Sunday Mardal came!! Hallelujah it was so good. She is figuring out her work schedule to make it more often. Hopefully. 

And that's pretty much it, just an update here. Isn't it interesting, how endure to the end can be so hard? We recently discovered that there are 700 less active melchezadik priesthood holders in the stake. That's a ward in itself Without their family members... It's incredible how we forget those necessities and lack our daily scripture study, prayer, and church attendance. Once you stop doing those things, the spiritual feelings become more vague and then it's a hard sell to get you going again. I've met a lot of less active members, I've heard their stories and life is rough. 40% of return missionaries go LA and that's not okay. According to the stats that could very well be me! Ahhhhhhh life is so crazy. Anyway, these are just some thoughts. 

Love yah 

Elder Pilling

2375 Johnson Ave 

San Luis Obispo CA 

93401