October 5, 2015

Hey,

So we are taking this time between the sessions of general conference to write you right now. It is a little weird to have p-day on Saturday. But it is good that we can change the hours a little bit. Because on Friday, we took three hours for p-day and then on Monday we are going to have the district activity, so that takes up a little more time as well. But everything is going well here in the offices and we are super busy as always. So some cool things happened this week; like a bird was trapped in the church so we had to get that out. Also our apartment is also like the mission hotel because all the missionaries that have to do things in the offices and go to the hospital and things like that stay over night. So the other night, we had like 8 extra missionaries and it was crazy. Then on Thursday we did interchanges with other missionaries in the offices and so I got to go to a city in the country that is called Cañuelas. It was a pretty day to go out. Then we got everything ready for the interviews for all the zones in the mission and now this week we have to finish some reports for president! How fun ha ha ha.

Also this week was great because we have a family of investigators called the Sanchez Family and they are great. Brother Sanchez likes to talk with us and said that we are the first "ministers" of a religion that he has let inside his house. He and his family have been to many religions and they say that they are looking for the truth and are not sure where to find it, so we are helping them out a lot. So on Thursday we had a great lesson in which we went over the Restoration and then we invited them to be baptized, and they said yes! Well the wife and daughter said yes but soon the father will decide too. They said they will come to the general conference tomorrow so we are super excited. Their baptismal date is set for the 31st of October, Halloween! hahaha!

I am happy for the time I have in the mission and I know the Lord loves us and wants what´s best for us. And yes, my mission president is Pres. Thurgood.

Have a great week!

Elder Giles

September 28th, 2015

Hello Family,

So this week was pretty fun. It is really weird to be in an office basically all day but it reminds me of my days working in DP technology.. kind of... ha ha ha. So yeah it rained basically all week but we didn´t feel a thing. We had a lot of stuff to do because it was the first week of the transfer and so we didn´t get to go outside and work too much. Normally we try to get out for 3 hours a day but this week we only got out to visit people like an hour a day so that was kind of sad, but hopefully this week we´ll be able to get out more. The offices are really quiet. It is mainly my comp and I and the Mitchell's here. The other two that are in charge of housing and visas are usually out and about so we don´t see them that much.

So this week my comp has been showing me all the stuff that we have to do as part of records and it is pretty cool to see the administrative side of the mission. Another cool thing is that we will be a little closer to president and get to know him better. So this week we prepared some things for the district leader meeting and training meeting for the newbies. My companion, Elder Maldonado, is district leader along with secretary so he went to the meeting on Thursday and I did splits with another elder, Elder Portugal, in San Jose which is close by. It was fun and we got lost because he only had 4 days in the area, so yeah...


Tomorrow we have church and our church is huge compared to the one in Laferrere 2 so it´s pretty cool. I have met a few members like the bishop´s counselors and the ward mission leader and they are going to have me present myself in church  tomorrow, so it will be fun!


Have a great week! I´ll send more pictures later!


Elder giles

September 21st, 2015

So today we had transfers and there is some exciting news: I am in the offices of the mission! My companion is Elder Maldonado from Chile and we are the secretaries in charge of records, so we are going to be pretty busy. Today I have time to write you, but my p-day will be Saturdays from now on. Also, I think I am going to end my mission here in the offices because I only have 3 transfers left in the mission and it will be good because there won´t be time to be trunky, ha ha ha. So I will be in contact with many things and also on Uncle Matt the Kid´s progress.( this is the family nick name for Elder Giles' cousin, Matt) The secretary to the president told me that Matt won´t come for like 2 weeks for the ingrown toe nail and it is quite possible that I will see him, and if not, I could call him! ha ha ha. Today was pretty relaxed because there wasn´t that much stuff to do and my companion is showing me the basic stuff that we do for right now but things will pick up pretty soon. They say that our job is the busiest.


This week was also pretty good. We continued to work with the less actives that we were teaching and with Maria who is super excited to be baptised. It was funny because on Sunday she saw the calender for lunches and asked when she could give us lunch, and she´s not even a member yet! ha ha  it´s good to see that she doesn´t know the difference.


Sounds like you guys had a great week and I am glad that everyone is doing great. Sometimes Heavenly Father puts trials in our lives to test our faithfulness and our dedication to the gospel and I am super happy that you are true to the gospel and the church in this trying time. I know that we are blessed for being faithful and the Lord will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings that there will not be enough room to receive them. That is also an awesome story about the fast for rain! There is a lot of power when the ward comes together. Tell Clay I say hi and congratulate him for being awesome in football!


Have a great week!


Elder Giles

Maria, who will be baptized in October and the church

The Vasquez family who gave us lunch every Sunday and Martin who is an investigator

September 14, 2015

Hi

This week was pretty different. Cold and super windy but we had a good time. The overcoat I have works wonders! My companion and I are doing well and are working hard. Even though we don`t have many investigators we are contacting and talking with a bunch of people and it is really fun! ha ha ha! We can see that many people are willing to listen to us and others not so much. Yes, I am getting over my cold and living conditions have been the same for the last 6 months... But we did deep clean the apartment today so that was fun. I am also doing a lot of "cooking." This morning I made pancakes, last night I made popcorn and a few times I have made rice and noodles. It`s pretty fun! We also learned from a member how to make a white sauce for noodles so we tried it out today and it was good! ha ha ha!

I am happy that everything is going well and that everyone is improving. You guys also seem pretty busy! That`s hilarious that you went on a night ride with Clay and his friends. Sounds like they crashed a bunch, ha ha ha. I am super happy that everything is going great with everyone and that everyone is happy. Looks like Clay is getting stronger and bigger height and width wise, ha ha, but that`s great and I am glad that he`s doing well in football. 

Right now I am about one block from McDonald's and after we`re done here we`re going to go get some ice cream because it is starting to get hot here. It has been windy all week and pretty cold. We have one investigator that is progressing very well that has a baptismal date set for the 10th of October and we are super excited. She has gone to church twice already and loves the Book of Mormon. We had a bunch of other investigators but they weren`t progressing so we stopped visiting them and now we are looking for new ones. We are also working a lot with members and are trying to get a member in just about every lesson that we have but it is hard because my area is a branch and there aren`t that many members that can or that are willing to accompany us. But we are working hard and doing our best.

It`s a little hard at times in the mission but it is very comforting to know that the Lord loves us and helps us in every way that He can as long as we are obedient. This week I was reading about the 7 plagues and how the house of Israel left Egypt and one thing that I was thinking about this week was that the only reason that those things happened was so that the people could remember the Lord. If Pharaoh had let them leave the first time that Moses asked, the people would say that Pharaoh had set them free, but they passed through all those trials and through the red sea so that they could remember that the Lord loves us and helps us in every moment of our lives. The more we recongnize him in our lives, the happier we are and the more blessed we will be. I know that to be true.


Have a great week


Elder Giles

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.
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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