August 18th, 2014

Hey!

We had transfers this week and I got moved to a city called Pontevedra with Elder Navarrete! We were transferred in an "event" that´s called a "white wash" where they take out both of the Elders in one area and put two new ones so my companion and I don´t know anything about our new area. So this past week we were getting to know members and some investigators. This area is completely different than my last area. In Santos Lugares the city was paved, clean and small and the people had a lot nicer houses, but here in Pontevedra, the only paved streets are in the city center and the main highways and the rest are dirt roads. The city isn´t the cleanest and the people are a lot more humble, but I am not complaining. I feel a lot more humble here and a lot more excited to work and teach and serve as much as I can. My companion is Elder Navarrete from Chile and he has 20 months in the mission. He has been all over the mission and the cool thing is that I met him in my last zone so the transition was a little easier. He and I are super excited to be working in our new area!

Could you send me a recipe for chocolate chip cookies? I have been dying to bake some...

I will send pictures next week!

Le Amo!
Elder Giles

August 11th, 2014

Hola!

Wow! Summer is already over? That was really fast! I bet the summer was great for you all and that you had a great time enjoying the sun and warmth and rest! I am glad that everyone is doing great and are active in doing stuff! Is Summer still there with you guys and did she find a job?

Argentina continues to be cold, but we press on with the work. This week went by pretty quick. On Saturday we went and helped out in another city called Villa Tesei where they had an Open Chapel. It was like a mini tour where people went and learned about the different organizations and about the church and stuff and my companion and I where in charge of doing contacts in the street and bringing people in. We did a lot of contacting and inviting and a good amount of people went.

Then yesterday we did divisions with two members from the ward because we had a lot of people we wanted to visit. It was really good for me because I had to basically do everything solo and it helped me gain more confidence in myself. This is something that I have been lacking but yesterday helped me realize that I can do it!

Have a great week!

Le Amo!
Elder Giles

 We went to the Cathedral Lourdes again today and this time the top part was open so we took pictures up there too!

August 4th, 2014

Hola!

Last week was pretty good! We had a Zone activity on Monday and divisions on Wednesday and Thursday with the Zone Leaders.In the Zone Activity we ate lunch at the Peruvian Restaurant a block away from the church, played soccer, and played a game like charades. It was hilarious.

Then we had divisions with the Zone Leaders and I went to their area in Villa Tesei. It was really good because I was with Elder Collins from Wyoming and I learned a lot from him. It was also a little difficult because we, being native English speakers, don´t understand everything that the people say and our Spanish isn´t the best so some of the people had a hard time understanding us. But it was awesome because we found a bunch of new people to teach and I got to practice my teaching skills.

There was also a big change in the mission. President did away with a bunch of the rules for all of the missionaries and many aspects of proselyting. In effect, he gave us less rules to follow, which is good for some and bad for others. However, it shows that he trusts us a lot, which is pretty awesome.

Summer finally started creeping in this week with warmer weather, but winter is not giving up without a fight so it is expected to drop a little this next week.

Have a great week!
Le Amo
Elder Giles

playing charades with the zone

playing charades with the zone

enjoying Orea cookies with Elder Collins

July 28th, 2014

Everything is going great! The weather is getting a little colder and we haven´t had that much rain. I think it only rained on Monday and a little on Tuesday but we are expecting more this next week. Sunday was really cold in the morning and then warmed up with the sun.

My companion and I are getting along great! We haven´t had any problems and we are working hard to find and teach a lot of good people!
On Saturday we had three baptisms: Maria ( in the middle), Abril (left), and Jesus (right)!!! Marcos is their little brother and he is only 6 years so we couldn´t baptize him even though he really wanted to! I baptized Abril, Elder Cañari baptized Jesus and... Julian baptised Maria! It was great! We had a lot of members attend and we are so happy for them!

I did my first confirmation yesterday! I was pretty nervous, but not as bad as my first blessing a few months ago. It is so good to use my priesthood a little more! My companion and I also do a good amount of blessings of health, and after church one Sunday a family asked us to give a blessing to their youngest child and the father asked me to do the sealing and blessing. I am getting a little better now that my Spanish has improved a lot but, still, it´s difficult.
Just wanted to share something quick and if you have any ideas how to improve, they would be welcome!

Les Amos, Elder Giles!

July 21, 2014

Last month we were looking for new people to teach by contacting people in the street and knocking doors. We contacted one woman who was coming our way, we talked for a few minutes, and then my companion suggested that we go to her house to teach her and her family. She accepted and we taught her and her kids. The next week we meet the father of the family and had a powerful lesson about how the gospel blesses families and we set a baptismal date for everyone in the family! We taught the family for four more weeks and she and her kids came to church every week and they are going to be baptized next week! This family moved here in my area about 3 months ago and me and my companion have been working here for about a month and a half. There have been missionaries here for many years and they could have moved here anytime and other missionaries could have taught them but I have realized that our Heavenly Father trusted us enough to guide us to this family, all we needed to do was be diligent in His work. I know that if we do all we can to keep His commandments and be diligent in the work of salvation, He will guide us to people who need our help. Heavenly Father has a specific plan for all of us and all we need to do is trust Him and follow Him.

Les Amos,

Elder Giles

July 14th, 2014

The World Cup finally ended this week so now we can go back to our regular lives! Ha ha, just kidding, but now we, as missionaries can focus entirely on the work of salvation and not have to worry about the scheduling of the games. Argentina lost so everyone is bummed but not too bad, at least they got 2nd place so its not too bad. Argentina was super bummed,  but people were still lighting off fireworks and honking their horns and everything after the game. I guess they were bored. We had to stay in the apartment for the game and afterwards. But Wednesday, when Argentina won the semi-final, everyone went crazy! The new mission president let us watch the Wednesday game in a member´s house so that they could drive us directly to our apartment after the game. 

This week was great, but also hard with respect to the missionary work because we didn´t have as much time as we usually do in a week. We finished everything we needed to but we had to work harder than normal.

Wednesday we also met the new mission president: President Robertson!
He is pretty awesome. He and his family have spent many years in Latin American and he came here straight from Perú so he, his wife, and son and daughter can speak Spanish pretty well. We had a meeting with him and another zone and we got to know a little bit about his family. Then we had lunch of empanadas and pizza then short interviews with him. There are going to be a lot of changes in the mission in the next few months and I am excited to see what will happen.

Yesterday we had a bunch of investigators go to church like last week. One of them was a partially deaf and mute guy. He came halfway through the second block and met the bishop first (who had a hard time communicating with him, I heard) and then he handed the investigator off to us in the middle of class. The last hour we had the sacrament meeting where we sat with the mute guy in the back row and "talked" with him. He had some questions about the Sacrament and other things and we had him read some chapters in the Book of Mormon especially 3 Nephi 11 (Which is Jesus teaching about baptism) and then inviting him to be baptized, which he accepted! Ha ha! The only thing is that he lives within the boundaries of another ward so we handed him off to the Sister Missionaries. It was the most interesting Sacrament Meeting yet.

This week was a little warmer than usual and it rained pretty good on Saturday and we didn´t have our umbrellas so we got soaked. My zone leader told me once that this is the only time to enjoy the rain as a missionary. I enjoyed, but I don´t think my companion did!
Have a great week!

Les Amo!
Elder Giles!

In front of the Cathedral Lourdes

Empanadas for dinner while watching the World Cup

dinner with a family to watch the world cup

World Cup Shirt

Hamburger lunch with Sis Missionaries in honor of the World Cup

inside the Cathedral Lourdes

statue inside Cathedral Lourdes

June 30th, 2014

Hola!

It is the end of June and we are in the middle of winter. This winter has been basically nothing but sun and humidity, an improvement from the last winter I am told. It has been pretty cold still but we are still working hard to find new people and progress more towards baptism. This week we found a very good family! We found them early on this week and have taught them multiple times already! They have yet to attend church, but I have high hopes for their baptism at the end of July and I have faith in the Lord to help us accomplish his work.

I have experienced many blessings throughout my time here in the mission and especially the blessing of knowledge about Heavenly Father and his plan for us. I have learned so much from my companion and from teaching our investigators and especially how we can apply it to our lives. I love this gospel and this church!

Have a great week!
Les Amo!
Elder Giles