letters from November 17 and 24

Letter from November 24th:

So some crazy stuff has happened this week. On Wednesday we had a zone conference with President where he told us about the awesome new program the the church is doing for Christmas to help people remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas. It launches 28th of November and it will be a huge part of missionary work for December! Then on Thursday we had a flash transfer! I got moved to Marcos Paz 2 and I am working with Elder Steck who is from Ephraim, Utah. I was super sad when that happened because this week was going to be super awesome in Rivadavia, but now I will miss it. At least I can go back to our baptism on Saturday so that`s good. Marcos Paz is basically out in the middle of nowhere because it is surrounded by fields and fields and we have to take the bus everyday to our area from the apartment. The area is basically the opposite of my last area in many ways but it will be good to work here. Last week the elders baptized a family of four after not having a baptism in the ward for 8 months. We also have two more people that will be baptized in December so we are super pumped and ready to work to find more.

I know that the Church is true and that Jesus Christ lives and continues to lead and guide his church through his leaders and the prophet. I love the work, even though it is hard. I hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Giles


Letter from November 17th:

I don´t have much time so I will talk quickly about what I learned from our meeting with Elder Christofferson on Saturday. He shared a scripture in D&C 6:9 where it says that the Lord commanded us to only preach repentance. It was a little confusing at first but then he explained that repentance is only possible because Jesus Christ Atoned for us. So really when we preach repentance, we preach about our Savior and how we can find happiness in our lives through him. Another thing that he talked about that I liked was in 2 Nephi 25:23 about that if we do all of our part, the Lord will will make up the rest through his grace and mercy and we will be able to be saved and reach the Celestial kingdom.

I know the Church is true and that only through the grace and mercy of God that we can be saved, but we also have to do all we can to keep his commandments and help other do the same.
Have a great week!
Elder Giles

Elder Ritchie and I. Our last day together as comps

These are pictures of a few weeks ago when it rained a LOT! We called our area "Lake Rivadavia"

November 10th, 2014

Hi,

This week was pretty good but the heat started again so that´s a bummer. It also means more allergies... Whoo! Ha ha.

This week was pretty normal. We did a lot of visiting less active members and trying to find new people to teach. Our investigator, Miriam, is progressing very well for her baptism at the end of November and this week we had a super good lesson with a member that came with us. Miriam was super happy to meet more members. She has also come to church for the past 2 weeks and she loves it a lot! There were also transfers this week and Elder Ritchie and I will be working together until December. Also some exciting news: On Saturday Elder Christofferson will be coming to speak here in Argentina so all the Buenos Aries Missions will be going to the BA North mission to listen to him. Also on Monday the 24th we are planning to do a Thanksgiving dinner with the ward. Elder Ritchie and I are going to do a presentation before the dinner and then we will eat a bunch of food. They don´t have turkey here and if they can find it, it is really expensive so we are going to do chicken instead. So could you send me some information about the roots of Thanksgiving, like where/when it started and stuff like that and that would be great! Argentina doesn´t celebrate Thanksgiving so we want to show them a little bit of what we do in the USA.


Have a great Week!


Elder Giles


P.S.
So Elder Ritchie and I are asking/looking for members to help us out on Christmas day but on the 17th of December is another transfer meeting and we are hoping that none of us will get transferred that day so we can enjoy Christmas here with the members that we already know, but we´ll see. Hopefully none of us gets transferred.

That is super cool that you all got to do the Ragnar! It sounds like so much fun! We will definitely have to do it when I get back! Did everyone have to run a leg by themselves and how long was each part they had to run?

Thanks for putting the package together! I´m pretty sure that when a package gets dropped off at the mission home that they take it to the mission offices so there I can pick it up. I think I am good on stuff right now, Thanks!

November 3, 2014

Hola!

The week was pretty cool and filled with rain but it was really good. We are teaching a Mother who has a baptismal date for the end of November. We are working with the daughter, who is a member, to activate her and at the same time teaching her mom and helping her progress towards her baptism. They also came to church on Sunday and they liked it a lot and we are super excited for them! Also we played Soccer on Saturday in which we had some new boys come and play and the cool thing about it is that we invited all of them to come to church the next day and one of them came! He also lives a few houses down from the church so its easy for him to go and we plan on teaching him and his family on Thursday. We also had a bunch of less actives come to church again so our work is starting to pay off a little bit.

There is another cool thing that I forgot to mention earlier that in this area there are more fields and open spaces and at night there are fireflies everywhere and it is the coolest thing to see them.

Also thanks for sharing the song with me! It is a really good one!

Thanks for all your help and we will see each other again next week!

I know the Savior lives and that he loves each and everyone of us and that we are all special to him.


Chao!
Elder Giles

October 27th, 2014

So this week was super hot. It is nice in the morning and at night but it just burns throughout the day so we are doing our best to have lessons and be inside as much as possible. The worst is that no matter what we do we are just sweating all the time. It´s really gross. But we keep pushing on.

This week we had some cool experiences. On Tuesday we had a good lesson with a part member family about the Restoration of the Church. The mother is a less active member and her sons are not members and in their 20s and her daughter has a baptismal date for the 22nd of November. So we started the lesson by asking if they had read the Book of Mormon since the last time we met and they said they hadn´t but the mother expressed to us that she thought that  only the Bible was the word of God and that the Book of Mormon was basically a knock-off. So we talked about prophets and the priesthood authority and that there is an order to Christ´s church. They all enjoyed the lesson and then at the end one of her sons said the closing prayer without us inviting him to. It was a spiritual lesson and they are all happy to continue to keep meeting with us.

Then on Saturday we went to visit an investigator who we had given a Book of Mormon to and all we did was invite her to read it. So for the past two weeks she has been reading it and loving it. She told us that every time she feels sad or mad or just can´t sleep, she opens to any page and starts to read and doesn´t stop until she calms down or feels tired. It was really surprising and so we talked a little bit more about the book and invited her to church. She didn´t come this week but we hope that she will come the next.

Sunday was really good too because My companion and I spoke in sacrament meeting about visiting and fellow shipping the less active members and also a bunch of less actives that we and a few members have been working with came to church. So we are happy that these families are starting to realize the blessings that come from the Gospel

We are doing a lot of Family home evenings in our ward with investigators and members so could you send me some ideas of fun examples or games to play. It would help a lot!

I know that Church is true and that the Book of Mormon is a True book. I love going and teaching people and helping them feel the spirit and realize that their Heavenly Father Loves them and that there are blessings and comfort that come through following the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ.


Have a great week!
Elder Giles

Last week on Saturday we had a baptism in the ward! His name is Nahuel and is 10 years old. The elders had taught him for a while but recently he decided he wanted to get baptized. He is awesome and understands the gospel really well.

Last week on Monday we had a zone activity in Castelar! We did a bunch of "minute to win it" games. The one that I sent was a game were you had to place the m&m´s on top of the straws while sucking through another straw to put them on there. It was pretty fun!

this picture is out of our front window. It´s a nice day but SUPER hot.

October 20th, 2014

Hi!

This week was pretty good! My companion and I are doing great and getting a long just fine! We are heading into summer right now so I wish that our apartment was a little bit cooler. The days are nice and sunny so I`m starting to get my tan back even though it is only on my face and arms... We are staying safe. This area is one of the more safer parts and the missionaries have worked here for a long time so the people know us and respect us but we still try to take precautions and walk in safer areas and roads.

So this week we decided to focus more on getting to know the less- actives in the ward. We went to visit one family on Tuesday night and we talked a little but about the basic things they should do everyday like praying, reading, and going to church. Then I asked the husband if he had prayed to know if the church was true. He told us that he did and also how he got his answer. He said that a few years ago he was praying to get his answer and that he wanted to know and feel and touch that the church was true. So he said that one day he was coming back from work on his bike through some fields and that he saw a piece of scrap that he wanted to take home. Then he went into the back of his house and pulled out a huge sign that said: "La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos do los Ultimos Dias." It was an old wooden-like sign from an old church building. It was probably one of the coolest ways to get an answer to prayer and that Heavenly Father answers our prayers exactly.

Then on Saturday we had another baptism! His name is Nahuel and he is the son of a member family  who the missionaries have taught for some time but just recently wanted to get baptized! The primary president wanted to do a special musical number for the baptism so I had to play the piano and my companion had to sing with some other members. I had practiced the song all week and I could play it pretty good, but when the time came to play for the baptism, I choked and messed up really bad... it was terrible. But there is always next time! Ha ha.

Have a great week
Love,
Elder Giles

October 13, 2014

Hi!

This week was pretty good! We focused a lot on finding new people to teach and getting to know a lot of the members, both active and inactive. We did a lot of door clapping and contacting referrals and so forth but we didn`t find much during the week. On Tuesday our zone had interviews with President in Castelar. Then on Thursday it rained super hard in the early morning with heavy thunder and lightning so our plans for finding new investigators that day all fell through. We walked around in the mud for about 3 or 4 hours and didn´t find anyone nor teach a lesson, but at the end of the day we started knocking doors and the first one we knocked, the husband let us in and we taught his family about the Restoration of the Church. It was a miracle. Then Friday we had a lesson with both of our investigators with baptismal dates, one of which will be baptized this Saturday and the other will be baptized on the 1st of November. We are super excited and they are awesome. Then on Saturday we played soccer in the evening with a bunch of investigators. The only thing that was that great was that not many members showed up. I guess we have to push more people to go next week.

The ward has warmed up to us very nicely and they are super excited to do family home evenings with us. In fact, we have one tonight and the family we are doing it with has invited their friends, so it will be pretty fun. If you have any ideas for fun family home evening activities or fun examples about certain principles, could you send me some because my comp and I don´t have that many.

We have not seen the Meet the Mormons video and I don´t know if we will be able to see it...

Thanks for the safety tips and prayers! They are working!

Christmas List: (in order of most importance)
New pair of proselyting shoes. Missionary Shoe would be fine
Garments 3-4 pairs
Ties. 4-5
Skittles! :D
I don´t know how big the package is going to be so start from the top of the list and put in what you can! Thanks!

Have a great week!
Elder Giles

This is our apartment! It is super small with two rooms and a sweet spiral staircase!

We made an American breakfast today with a part member family! We made Pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage. We tried to do hash browns but that failed miserably so we dumped that idea. They said it was good!

October 6th, 2014

October 6th, 2014

So this week was pretty exciting. Elder Bartold had left last Monday so Elder Lee and I worked hard until Thursday when he got a call from President Robertson that he will have to go work in the offices again because the current secretary was having back problems, so the next day, Friday, he went to the offices, and I got transferred out and our area would be closed again. So Friday I got sent to Rivadavia in the Castelar Stake with Elder Ritchie! He has been working in the area for only a week. This is the third time that I have been sent to an area where my companion and I hardly know anything. So it is another great opportunity to learn and grow.

Then on Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference at a member`s house in English and we also brought investigators to watch it too! It was awesome and they really enjoyed it. It was interesting that they had the General Authorities speak in their native language! So I got to listen to the voices of the English translators, which was cool. Did you have subtitles or did someone speak over and translate? I like Elder Joerg Klebingat`s talk and Elder Bednar`s talk. Elder Joerg Klebingat talked about 6 things that we should focus on during our life and it helps me understand and point out things that I need to work on. Then in Elder Bednar`s talk I liked when he said that we invite people to learn about the Gospel in order to enlarge and expand people`s knowledge and beliefs and not to change their or destroy them.


I have had some really good experiences with the Spirit this week in teaching and testifying of the power of the Atonement and that we can all be forgiven. We went to visit a less active member and talk with him a little bit about why he doesn`t go to church and stuff like that when I got the impression to ask him about how he is doing in keeping the commandments. So I told him that the only way to resolve his doubts about the church was to go and talk with the bishop to help him. When I said this the Spirit struck me in a way that I had never felt before and I am pretty sure he felt it too. It was like as it is described in the scriptures: like a javelin that pierces the heart. Then I continued on saying that through repentance and the Atonement, he can truly be happy.


I know that the Spirit of the Lord is in all of us and that if we focus on helping others and reaching out to meet their needs, He will tell us exactly what to say


Have a Great Week!


Elder Giles