August 17th, 2015

Hello Family,

So here are some pictures of last week. On Monday when Elder Portaro left to Adrogué and with the group of papís (dads). There were 5 of us in the zone who where going to train so on Monday I spent the day in a trio with the Laferrere 1 elders and that night we visited some less actives and had dinner at a member`s house.

Then on Tuesday in the Morning we had to go to Banfield again to pick up our new missionaries and we also had lunch in President`s house (pizza and empanadas). My new companion is Elder Gonzalez from Uruguay. He is 25 years old and is awesome. He is also a convert to the church and was baptized 2 years ago. He served in his ward as young men`s president and the stake as 2nd counselor to the young men`s president, so he is awesome with the youngin´s. ha ha ha!

In the picture you can see all the Latin elders from the MTC here in Argentina. The American elders came at night because their flight was delayed so they are not in the picture.

So Wednesday and Thursday we worked "normally" in the rain and mud and visited less actives and investigators and just getting my companion used to missionary life.

Then on Friday we had to go back to Banfield again for a meeting with all the newbies and trainers in the mission. It takes about an hour to get from Laferrere to Banfield because we have to take 3 trains and one of the trains passes through a dangerous part of the mission, but it was fine and we got there and back safely. 

Then we had a family home evening in the church and one family of investigators came so that was awesome. Then on Sunday we visited many less actives and members. It was a good day because even though we didn´t have many lessons we talked to many members and were able to give them words of comfort and encouragement and do our best to attend to their needs.
--
Have a great week!

Elder Giles

August 10th, 2015

Hi

This week was pretty interesting. It rained Thursday- Sunday and continues to rain right now,  So there are many parts of the country that are flooded. Thankfully in Laferrere it isn´t flooded but just full of mud because most of the streets are dirt streets, so we are having a good time walking around in boots.

Then on Friday, luckily, it didn´t rain in the afternoon so we went to the temple with our investigators. The couple, Walter and Patricia, are going to get married on the 28th of August and Walter will get baptized on the 29th woot! And the other two are Elza and her daughter Marina and they are Catholics but interested in our message. They all loved it and they all enjoyed the peace that was there. We walked around the gardens and then we went inside the temple. There is a waiting room inside the temple that non-members can go in, which is awesome because then they can feel how it is inside and how strong the spirit is. It was a great experience.

Also today we had transfers! My companion, Elder Portaro, left to go to Adrogué with his new companion and I will train a new missionary!! I don´t know who he is yet because the greenies get here tomorrow so right now I am in a trio with the missionaries from Laferrere 1 who are in my district and they are training as well. I am super excited to be training again.

It´s good to hear things are going great and that the family is getting together. Hannah and Mackenzie are in College already or when are they starting? It´s weird to hear that only the three of you are in the bench, we used to fill the whole thing up by ourselves! 

I am glad that the letters got there. I will send others to my siblings then. Yes, I am fine with sitting with a tutor to study for the SAT or ACT. I think that will be better because I don´t remember much from school hahaha! I also talk with Zach every now and then but I haven´t asked him about his plans after the mission nor about when he gets home, so..... yeah. That would be cool to room with him, then we could talk Spanish the whole time! hahaha!

I hope everything is going well and that everyone is happy and content

Have a great week!

Elder Giles

August 3rd, 2015

Hi Family,


Sounds like you guys had a great and busy week! We did too! On Tuesday we had a great day because we were able teach to the majority of our investigators and we also found a super young couple. Then on Thursday we were going to go to the temple with two families of investigators but then it started raining like crazy! so we couldn`t go, we were super bummed so instead we went and visited some less active families. Then on Friday it rained all morning and then stopped and at night we had a family home evening with a few families in the Church. My comp and I gave the lesson and we talked about Christ-like attributes. Then on Saturday we did service in a member´s house reorganizing his shed which was filled with a bunch of junk. Then Sunday was great because a bunch of less actives came and also a bunch of investigators too! We were super happy that day and I felt so blessed! Also, One family that we are working with will get married at the end of this month! Then they can get baptized! Woooo! hahahaha. They are super happy and excited and so are we! Hopefully we are going to go to the temple this week with them.


So this is also the last week of the transfer and next Monday we will have new companions. We think that Elder Portaro will go because he has the most time here. We also think that the whole zone will have transfers because president wants to integrate us into the mission as quick as possible. I am super excited for these changes!

That is so cool that President Monson wrote you about the mission change! So far getting used to the mission is adjusting to the mission rules and policies but other than that it is pretty much the same.


Good stories to tell? Not really. We do have one investigator that we found last week that went to church yesterday. His name is Miguel and he is 63 years old. He is going through tough times right now but many people are helping him and he is going to many different Churches. He is also poor so we picked him up to go to church and then brought him home again. On the bus ride back to his house he said that he loved our church because of the peace that is inside and he feels so much better there than he does in the other churches because the Evangelist churches here normally yell into a microphone and they play loud music and stuff like that. its weird but that´s how it is. So Miguel came to the conclusion that our church is how a church should be. pretty awesome, right? We have high hopes for his baptism.

Have a great week!


Elder Giles