July 27th, 2015

So this week was pretty good. We taught a lot of our investigators and less active families. We are also visiting a lot with our Branch Mission leader. He is super pumped to work with us and does a good job. But the funny thing is that he is 62 years old but walks a lot, like he would be 30 years old.... It´s great. Sunday was super good because the branch is fellow shipping Felicia, my convert, very well and she feels super happy in the branch. We also set a baptismal date for one of our investigators. Her name is Teresa and is 70 years old but is super happy to meet with us. She has been Catholic all her life but feels the spirit when we teach her and also when she reads the Book of Mormon and prays. She really wants to go to church but she has problems walking and getting out of bed in the morning. Could you include her in your prayers so that she can keep progressing? That would be awesome. I know that the Book of Mormon Changes lives and that if we read it and pray about it it will bring new light into our lives and will soften our hearts. One example that I see in the mission is that we are also teaching an other Catholic couple but the thing is that they are not progressing in comparison to Teresa. Why is that? It´s because they are not reading the Book of Mormon. This week we invited them to baptism but they didn´t accept... :( We will keep trying!


Have a great week!


Elder Giles

July 20th, 2015

Hello,

So this week was pretty eventful. We had Felicia´s baptism which was awesome. It was super spiritual and special for her and and her daughter, Patricia. They both received answers to their prayers and they now have testimonies that the church is true! Sweet!


On Wednesday we also had interviews with president and he told me when I would be going home. There is a transfer date on the 14th of December and the 26th of January. So president has the authority to let a missionary go home at most a month earlier or later that his start date so for me to go home on the 14th of December, he would have to ask permission, and also have a reason to do it. otherwise I could go home on the 26th. I am fine with going home in January. What do you think? We could celebrate Christmas in January? 

Another thing. I talked to President about how to get into BYU Idaho because he used to work there as head of the Religion Department, I think. He wasn´t sure when the dead line is but he said that we should start doing the applications right now. So could you look up the requirements and stuff like that? Also president told me that if I need to, I can get permission to look up here during p-day. 

The other pictures are of the chapel and my comp wanted to sleep in my bed so I gave him one of my blankets 

Thanks!

July 13th, 2015

18 months in the mission!

This week was pretty good. We had a lot of success in finding and teaching our investigators and we had a few go to church along with less actives. so the chapel was a little more full yesterday, which was great. We are now starting to see the blessings of our work here in Laferrere but we need to keep on working harder along side the members. We met with one of our investigators this week named Elsa. She is super special because she has had dreams and visions of life after death, especially about the Celestial Kingdom and Paradise. It´s interesting to listen to her tell what she has seen and felt. You meet all kinds of people on the mission.

On Saturday we also have a baptism: Felicia. She is from Paraguay and is super spiritual and super excited to take this next step towards salvation. We are also teaching her daughter, her husband and their two kids, so I hope that they will see Felicia´s example and want to do the same. So far they have been going to church so that´s awesome.

Some thing that I liked that I read today in the Book of Mormon in Alma 32:1-16 about humility and that people are blessed when they are obligated to be humble through many ways such as being poor in money as in the chapter, but they are blessed even more when they are not obligated to be humble and when they believe. I have seen many examples of this and it is always better to be humble and follow the councils of our Heavenly Father. I know this is true and that when we strive to put our lives more in harmony with the Lord´s we will find greater light and happiness in them and in all that we do.

Have great week

Elder Giles

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