February 10th, 2014 (Lucas turns 19 tomorrow!)

Life at the MTC is alright. It snowed a few times this week but i think it is starting to get warmer, or I'm just used to the cold already (which is a bad thing). The food is still not that great and they rotate the same meals every 2 weeks which doesn't help. The only thing that they serve that is some what decent is their soup.

I haven't really talked about what we do for exercising that much. Elder Penaia and I love to play Volleyball so basically everyday we go to the volleyball "bubble" and dominate the game we play in. Elder Penaia is a very good front row hitter and has perfected the art of hitting the ball at people's faces. I haven't been able to run or exercise intensely because my companion is of the "not running" type.

This week we had our first investigator for TRC which is the Training Resource Center. This is a way for missionaries to teach people outside of the classroom and to experience/ practice more Spanish and lessons with real people. Our investigator this week was a member acting as a non-member so we practiced teaching doctrine and the restoration to him. Next week we might get a REAL investigator for TRC.
Spanish is coming along very well and I am loving learning it and teaching in Spanish.

I want to testify about the power of showing charity to help the lives of others. 2 weeks ago I could tell that my companion was having a hard time here at the MTC and was feeling discouraged and unsure about his role as a missionary, so I, trying to be the best companion that I could, wanted to do my best to cheer him up. I did my best in serving, loving, and helping him with Spanish throughout the week and letting him teach as much as possible in our lessons. Then last Sunday, Branch President Wilkins interviewed our district. In my interview he told me about the change in my companion from the last time he interviewed him. He said there was a huge change from discouragement to happiness and excitement for his mission. I am not trying to say that I was the cause of his change but I know it was through the Lord's blessing and guidance that I was able to help out my companion through charity. To help explain this principle, you should listen to the talk by Elder Bednar called "Characteristics of Christ." It is a very amazing talk.

One cool thing we did this week was hosting the new missionaries. Since I am in the west campus we wait for the buses to drop off the new Spanish speaking missionaries in front of the chapel there and then take the new missionaries to their residences and then to their classes. There is something fun and exciting about helping out the newbies. We are also assigned to host this week again, I'm so excited!
My District is awesome! We have become such great friends over these past few weeks!
Elder Penaia and I have been called as the new Zone Leaders!
I hope you all are doing well!

Love,
Elder Giles

E. Penaia, E. Giles and E. Leaupepe