September 23 Email

Howdy,

      I haven't got the package yet, but we have a zone P-day today, so I'll probably get it then haha sorry about that. Yeah, confirming him was awesome. Also, at his baptism his little brother came up to me and said that he wanted to get baptized, so we are now teaching his whole family. They are sweet. They are from Missouri and they have some think accents! Their grandma lives with them, hahah. Her accent is so think you can only pick up a few words here and there, so talking to her is a real challenge. It's like a riddle, you have to go off the clues you get from those few words and try to form together what she is saying... Most the time I reply, "I bet", and do a little laugh. It works.

      We get fed pretty good here. We have a dinner just about every night. I've had tacos like 5 times haha but they're actually all really good. One of the members here is Puerto Rican, and he owns his own Puerto Rican restaurant. So we went there this week and got a free buffet. It was actually really good!

      One of the people who are working towards baptism is a 10 year old kid named Deon. His parent are members, but just really Less-Active, but they want him to be baptized and he really wants to be baptized also. He's a cool ol' kid. 
They live out in the country though, it's like a 20 minute drive to their house. There are so many trees here (in some parts ((the Hood doesn't have any trees)). When you are on top of a hill, you can't see any houses, all you see is trees. The sky here is so cool! The clouds here are really cool looking and every sunset makes you stop and look at it for like 5 minutes.

      We've been doing a lot of teaching, we're actually doing so much that sometimes we have to go on member splits, where I go with a member and Elder Miner goes with another member, because we have to schedule two appointments at the same time.

      Did I tell ya'll about Manuel? The really big guy in the trailor park? Well we taught him and his 12 year old son, LaTrell, this week. It went awesome. I talked to him the next day and he said that he knows that he has to read The Book Of Mormon. We are meeting him again tomorrow. He is such a homie! He told me a lot about his life, he grew up in & out of foster care and he has been through A LOT in his life, but he loves talking to us.

      Did I tell ya'll about the Hepworths? They are the couple with the Herbie car? She talked to me a few days ago and said that they have kinda been having problems with their marriage. So we went over for dinner this week and after dinner we played a talk by Richard G. Scott about the importance of families and marriage. When we first started listening they were sitting on different pieces of furniture, but about halfway through Brother Hepworth stood up and walked over to her. He sat next to her and help her hand. They were both crying. It was awesome.

       I know there is a lot more that happened this week, but I can't think of what to say right now.

       Well, I pray for ya'll every night and I really miss you. I've been comforted though by helping others feel happiness in their lives. I've already told a few people how to pray, that never gets old. I don't know what I would do without prayer. One thing I love about Texas is the diversity of people here, from one door to the next you'll find a straight thug, then a nice old lady, a family of immigrants, or a group of rednecks. It's so amazing how they all find common ground when we help them learn about the Savior. These people seem like they're all different species from one another (some might actually be..) but Heavenly Father loves them all, and they all are looking for the truth. Whether they know it or not. When they pray, they pray to the same Father in Heaven, when they "feel good" it's the same Spirit. From Deon to Manuel, God placed me in their lives to help them come back to him. I've already learned so much about myself and my testimony by helping others find those things out for themsleves.

       Before my mission, I was worried about 'changing'. I'm not changing who I am at all, I still freestyle rap everywhere I go (I battled this little punk a few days ago hahaha), I still make the same dumb jokes and die laughing at the same dumb things. I still love the things I loved before. I just feel more confident. I know that the person I am is the person God needs me to be to help all these people come back to him.

      I love this Gospel, I love my mission, and I love ya'll!

 Love, Elder Matthew James Giles Sr.

Carson and Tano: I am so proud of you guys! I love you so much. When I read your E-mail about your mission calls it took me like 10 minutes because I was crying so hard haha. You guys are my brothers, we have been through so much together and now we get to go through so much together haha but this will be so worth it. Being a missionary is the single greatest feeling I have felt in my life so far. Nothing beats helping others become happy. I have taught people how to pray, I have taught addicts that they can receive strength through Jesus Christ, I have taught crying mothers that they can see their children again and live with them forever. I have never been so happy in my life. I am so proud of you, brothers. I love you so much, and I can't wait to kick it with you for the eternities.