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

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