April 28th, 2014

Wow, April flew by so fast!‏

This week was pretty interesting. On Wednesday we had a special training for our zone in that we practiced teaching 3 principles to our zone leaders, AP´s, and other helpers which lasted for 3 hours. We practiced teaching the Word of Wisdom, Baptism, and how to invite some one to baptism. It was really helpful for us and we learned a lot about how to teach better and how to apply our teachings to our investigators better.

On Saturday we did splits with 2 members in our ward. I was with one Hermano visiting some of our investigators and Elder Rivera went with another Hermano in another part of our area. This was a really good experience because for a few hours I had to lead the area, greet people and start lessons. The Hermano and I gave 2 lessons and also a blessing to one of our investigators who is sick. I was really nervous, but I did it and it really helped me boost my confidence (which was why Elder Rivera wanted to do it).

We are not having much success but we are continuing to work hard and pray for Heavenly Father to help us.

I hope you all are doing well!

Les Amo,   Elder Giles

April 21st

What a Beautiful Week!

The weather this week was amazing! There were about 3 or 4 days in a row where there were clear skies and lots of sun. It is nice to have a break from the dreary, rainy days.

This week was also very good for us as missionaries as well. We found some awesome new investigators and had some very good lessons with members. One of our new investigators is an older man who is not a member and his wife who is a member. On Thursday we went to visit them with another member in the ward. The lesson was awesome because the member that went with us basically talked the whole time and bore a strong testimony of how the gospel and the church blesses his life tremendously and how it can bless the life of the investigator. The investigator did not accept the invitation to be baptized, but he will think on it. Elder River and I are continuing to work with him.

On Monday evening last week we taught a powerful lesson on the Atonement of Jesus Christ to two of our investigators: a mother and her daughter. What makes the Atonement so amazing is because it is key to our salvation. Through Christ´s selfless sacrifice, we can be forgiven of our sins, be clean spiritually and mentally, and have joy in knowing that we will return to live with Heavenly Father again. The Atonement is so amazing to teach and I know that our investigators felt something special, especially the mother. She has a desire to change, but at the same time she doesn´t want to change, which makes Elder Rivera and I sad because the Gospel can really help her in her life.

On Friday we had divisions with Elder Eraso and Elder Bell, who is from Bakersfield, California! I was with Elder Eraso in Loma Hermosa and Elder Bell was with Elder Rivera in our area. It is nice to have a break from the "usual" day to day stuff and experience how other missionaries do things. Nothing much really happened except that Elder Eraso helped me speak more in lessons and do more contacts which helps me a lot.

My Español is doing very well! I can understand people about 85% of the time and I am helping a lot in lessons and talking with the members and generally just trying to speak as much as I can.

Easter Sunday was really good! We had an investigator attend church, we ate Asado with a family of investigators for lunch after church, and gave 2 blessings. The Asado was Amazing!

Hope you all had a wonderful week and Happy Easter!

Les Amo,  Elder Giles

Our baptism on the 12 of April! Belen was baptized by her father and then confirmed by Elder Rivera on Sunday!

There were 3 baptisms on the 12th. Melody is the baptism of Elder Eraso and Elder Bell (Elder Paskett was transfered the Wednesday before) and the other is from the ward!

April 14th

Saturday we had our baptism! It was such a wonderful experience for us and our investigator. She is pretty awesome! Elder Rivera and his last companion started teaching her in February I think and she was basically a golden investigator. She accepted everything that we taught her and it also helped that her father is a recent convert so she has an anchor in the church and he was very helpful in teaching her especially outside of lessons. Another special thing about her baptism is that her father did the baptizing! Elder Rivera and I are so happy for them! I am not able to send pictures because the USB on this computer is broken :(

Not much else happened this week. I am improving a lot in my ablilty to speak and understand Español and I am helping Elder Rivera in lessons, doing contacts, and other stuff like that. Yesturday (Sunday) we did mini divisions with Elder Araburú and Elder Hawkey. They came over to our area for a couple of hours to help us find new people to teach. Elder Araburú is one of our Zone leaders and he went with Elder Rivera and Elder Hawkey, who actually extended his mission a little bit to help train in other zones, came with me. Elder Hawkey was pretty awesome and set a really good example of how to do missionary work.

It is starting to get cold here, especially at night and in the early mornings. Now I get to use my sweaters!

I hope everything is going well for you all!

Les Amo,  Elder Giles

Dang! General Conference was so good! I only got to watch the Priesthood and Sunday Morning sessions and they had some really good talks! My favorite was Elder Uchtdorf´s talk on having an attitude of Gratitude because he said that having an attitude of Gratitude is the gateway to having all the Christ-like attributes and that forgiveness is the only way to heal the soul. I like this because I have experienced both of these points on my mission. Another great thing about conference is that we had a family of 5 investigators attend the Sunday Morning session! They liked it so much that when they went back to their house, they watched the second Sunday session on the internet! They are awesome!

We watched General Conference at the chapel in Caseros. Conference was streamed in the chapel in Español and also in a smaller room in Ingles so all the American missionaries in our zone could watch it in English! So I watched the Priesthood and Sunday morning sessions in English but I couldn´t watch the Sunday Afternoon session because the power went out at the chapel. That was pretty lame....

Elder Rivera and I are much happier after this past week because we seemed to be more blessed by the Lord. We found a bunch of new, amazing investigators and progressed a lot with others. One thing I have forgotten to mention before is that Elder Rivera and I seem to have an affinity for finding Jehovah´s Witnesses. One of our investigators is a Jehovah´s Witness and from what I understand about their doctrine is that it is very confusing. He also is trying to convert me and Elder Rivera... It´s not going well for him.

We are going to have a baptism this Saturday! We are so excited! She is going to be baptized by her father who is also a recent convert and I know that this will make her experience that much better!

I hope you are all doing well! I am getting more accustomed to the missionary life and Argentina and I understand and speak a lot more Español now!

Les Amo!
Elder Giles

Empanadas!

Elder Eraso, Elder Pasket, Elder Rivera, and I in Loma Hermosa!

We had a Zone Meeting on Tuesday! Our zone is called Caseros