June 23rd and June 29th, 2015

A new mission, Buenos Aires East, is being formed. Elder Giles is moving into the Buenos Aires South mission.

Hello,

I am glad that everything turned out fine this week and that you are enjoying the summer vacations! I hope that everything goes well this week and the you all can take a "break" ha ha ha ha.

So this week was pretty fun weather wise. I was super cold Monday through Thursday and then on Friday the temperature rose with the humidity. Then it rained all day Saturday and Sunday which was fine because we got to use our rain boots! But it wasn´t that great because when it rains, basically everything shuts down in Argentina and basically no one goes to church. My comp and I also gave talks on Sunday but there was only like 30 people that showed up... oh, well. Better luck next time.


This week we also did exchanges with the district leader, Elder Hokanson. In Preach My Gospel in Chapter 9 it talks about talking with everyone, so we took that as a challenge and contacted everyone in our path. We had set a goal to talk to 10 new people that day and we ended up talking to about 30. It was a good day but contacting that many people drains you physically and spiritually so after lunch we were walking around like zombies, ha ha ha ha. It was fun. On Thursday we did service, picking a hole in a less active family´s wall. And we found a new couple and grandma to teach. Then on Sunday we turned into marriage counselors and helped two families set dates to get married. That´s one thing that is hard about the mission, when you find families with kids but they are not married... welp, no one said it was easy.


This Wednesday we will be in the South mission. Tomorrow we have lunch with President Robertson and on Thursday we have a conference with the new president. We think that we will have transfers this week and that at least one of us is leaving. I am excited to see what happens.


Have a great week!


Elder Giles




Buenos Aires West Mission: Last time together.

Elder Giles is in the back row on the left, centered in the gate

Letter from June 23rd

First. HAPPY FATHER´S DAY!!!!! and HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY!!!! We had a great time too. My comp felt sick so we couldn't do much, just rested a little. ha ha ha ha. So this last week was crazy? the family was all over the place. Good thing it's summer vacation! I hope this week goes well for you. Hahaha, that´s hilarious that you want to show Veggie tales. Most of my knowledge of the Old Testament is from watching those movies, ha ha ha. They´re great!


This past week was alright. We found some new investigators from some part member families and some former investigators. One Friday all of our plans fell through and we went with members and everything! It was a long day... On Wednesday we did splits with the zone leaders and district leader to find new investigators. We did A LOT of tracting but it was fun. We met a bunch of interesting people, most of which had already talked to missionaries before in past years and are happy to talk to us again.

Not much else happened this week. We went to the temple again and this is our last week in Buenos Aires West Mission. The next week will be very interesting....

Have a great week!

Elder Giles

June 23, 2015

Our Zone

This is what a bus ride looks like from the inside

My Comp and I in front of the BA Temple, June 22, 2015

BA Temple, Monday, June 22, 2015

Two of my former comps Elder Smith and Elder Ortolano

June 15th, 2015

Hello Family,

So in our zone meeting, President Robertson gave us a surprise visit. He came to tell us about what is coming up in the next few weeks. So on the 22 of June, next Monday, we will go to the temple as a mission so I will be emailing you guys on the 23, Tuesday. On the 30th our zone, Gonzalez Catan, and the other zone, Aldo Bonzi, will have lunch with President Robertson because on the 1st of July we will move over to the South mission. On that day we will wake up in the south mission and then on the 3rd we will have a conference with the new mission president. President Robertson also said that most likely there will be transfers in that week and one of us will be changed. So lots of exciting things are happening!


This week was super weird, weather wise, because there were no clouds in the sky and the sun was bright but there was an ice cold wind that was blowing so my comp and I were wearing our overcoats all week. It would be super cold in the morning, warm up during the day, and then cold down again at night. for now none of us are sick.

We are working really hard too. We are running all over the place and visiting a lot of families. On Monday we had a cool experience. We had planned a family home evening with a less active, part-member family but when we got to their house they weren´t there. So that was kind of sad, but instead of getting down on ourselves we decided to find another family to do it with. We decided to go to another part member family that we are working with and they let us in, everything went great, and they ended up giving us dinner! We also had an investigator go to church on Sunday and it was really good! One member gave a really good talk on prayer and shared some personal experiences. The spirit was there and we hope that it helped out our investigator. We also have another family that we are working with and they have to get married. We talked with them this week and they set a date to do it. We are planning for their baptism in August because it takes time for them to make the appointment and get everything ready. We are super excited for them as well.


One thing that I am worried about is that my comp and I are putting on a little weight. The members are inviting us to dinner more so we are eating a lot during the week. Another thing is that the members give us fruit, especially oranges and mandarins, so I have come to love eating oranges.... something that I didn´t like to do before the mission. weird....


Anyway, we are having a great time, the branch is moving forward little by little and my comp and I are getting a long great. He is teaching me a little bit of cooking because he used to work as a chef´s assistant so now I know how to cook rice, Peruvian style, ha ha ha ha.


Have a great week!


Love, Elder Giles

June 1st, 2015

Hello,

So this week was pretty interesting. We had a lot of lessons with less actives and investigators. One of the families that we are teaching went to church this week too, so that was great. The wife, Patricia, is a less active member and her husband, Walter is not a member and they have two boys. They enjoyed church a lot. especially the class that my comp and I teach: Gospel Principles. ha ha ha. It´s a little weird, but I kinda like teaching now.... ha ha. We also had a few less actives go to church too so the work is moving along. We also did service for an elderly brother in the ward. We had to go on top of his roof and  clean out his water tank which was full of moss and stuff like that. We were a little negligent in forgetting our cameras to take pictures.... we were on the roof of the second floor so we had a pretty good view.


This week is also the beginning of the new transfer and my comp and I are staying together for another transfer. So that basically means that we are going over to the south mission at the end of June unless president wants to change us out in the middle of the transfer but that is unlikely. The weather this week was also pretty cold. I have to use two sweaters because one is not enough and my over coat is too much. It would be nice to have something in between but oh well, I just have to make due with what I have. This week will be a little warmer so I won´t have to worry too much about that.


I hope that everything is going well and that seminary graduation went well and that everyone had a good time. There are only 2 weeks left of school right? I bet everyone is getting ready for a relaxing summer. ha  ha


Hey, what is Summer´s job? you haven´t told me yet.


Have a great week!!!!!!!


Love, Elder Giles

March 25th, 2015

This week was pretty good! We talked to a really great family from Paraguay: Patricia and Walter. Patricia is a less active member but from along time ago and Walter is an investigator. They are super interested in the lessons and love to learn about our church. They have gone to many churches but didn´t feel satisfied with any of them but they love our church and what we teach them and how different it is from the rest. On Thursday we taught the Plan of Salvation and Patricia commented to Walter: you see, most churches don´t teach this kind of stuff, this is great! We have a great time teaching them. On Tuesday we did exchanges with the District leader and it was great! we found a new investigator but he lives like 3 hours always so we passed that referral on to the offices and then we talked to a less active family about going to church. We walked a lot! our area is really big and there is a lot to cover. We also gave a blessing to an older woman that lives in our area and has been investigating the church for 5 years. She has been through a lot in the past year and right now has a broken wrist so we gave her some comfort and shared about Job and all the trials he had to go through. in the end she felt happier and the pain in her arm left.

Well, this week is the last week of the transfer and it is starting to get colder at night. Winter is approaching..... Also, I have no idea when my exact return date is but I am pretty sure that it is in December but we will see what happens..

So These past two weeks we did some fun stuff! We had our Zone meeting and also played soccer as a zone activity. Then my comp and I went to Walmart in our area and I bought peanut butter and some crackers! then we had our branch activity in the church and we ate a dish called "Locro." It´s like a soup where they put in beans corn squash and many different types of meat like pork and beef. Today is a holiday in Argentina and this is a traditional food that they eat. It was good! we also played soccer and volleyball with the members.

Have a great week!

May 18th, 2015

Hello,

So this week I hit 16 months.... wow, time is flying by sooooooo fast. It still seems like yesterday that I was in Marcos Paz, but at the same time it feels like I have been with my comp for a few months... It´s weird. Another thing that is weird is the weather... It was hot this week. I didn´t even have to use a sweater! The weather is supposed to be cooling off for the Winter but it feels as though we jumped the Winter and went straight to Spring again. any ways it´s great. We also got sprinkled on in the morning even thought there wasn´t a cloud in the sky...


This week was good! On Tuesday and Wednesday we spent most of the day doing paperwork for Elder Portaro´s documents. Well he went with another elder who was doing the same thing and I stayed in the mission offices with the other elder´s comp. We helped a little bit in the offices but mostly we just waited. Then on Friday we talked to our investigator Ezequiel. We were talking to him and asking questions about him and how he is doing and he basically told us that he is frustrated with himself because he tries to be the best person he can but everything he does turns out wrong for him. We helped him understand that Heavenly Father loves him and that some times bad things happen in our lives so that we can learn and we have to do what we can and continue having faith in Christ and know that the trials and difficulties are just for a short moment and that they will pass.


Another cool thing this week is that on Saturday night we had a big dinner with a part member family from Paraguay. We had Asado, chicken, and Sopa Paraguaya. We then taught about the Plan of Salvation and it was good! Then on Sunday we saw the dedication of the Temple in Cordoba. That was really nice to see. President Uchtdorf and Elder Christofferson  there to dedicate the temple. Elder Chirstofferson spoke in Spanish and Elder Uchtdorf spoke in a little bit of Spanish, which was cool, and the rest in English with someone translating. It´s exciting to know that the Lord´s work is moving foward and that the members here in Argentina have another temple to worship in.


Have a great week!


Elder Giles

May 4, 2015

Hey Family!

The week was good! We found some new investigators and part member families and we are working a lot with less actives. I am adjusting just fine to the area and comp, and we are working hard everyday to get everything done that we need to. Our area is huge for only two of us, so we are running all over the place. It is also getting colder here in Argentina. Last night there was a super cold wind blowing so we were freezing. Time to break out the winter clothes! 

On Sunday was the stake conference for our stake Gonzalez Catan and there were to Elders from the Seventy that came: Elder Zaballos, who spoke in General conference in April, and another but I forgot his name ha ha ha... :( One thing that was cool is that I talked to Elder Zaballos a little, well actually at the time I was talking to him, I didn´t realize that he was from the seventy and after he left my comp told me who he was. I was like gaahh! I missed my only chance to talk to a seventy.... que tonto... )  

Elder Zaballos, his wife, President Robertson, and the 1st councilor of the temple presidency spoke. They talked a lot about how as members of this church we need to be more like Nephi and less like Laman in our assignments and that we should do all we can to bring more people into the fold. Sister Zeballos talked about getting up and getting stuff done because many times we think that "some day I will do this" but in the end we don´t end up doing it. It was a great talk.


Any ways, I hope that everything goes well for Sunday and that we can Skype. Hopefully you all will be on at the appointed time and if not I will call beforehand to warn you guys.


Have a great week!


Elder Giles