Monday, June 2, 2014

May 26 Email!

Family,


It's raining here! Hallelujah! haha it's been raining pretty hard here for the last few days, and everyone is so excited. This year we are supposed to hit a really big drought, so this rain is gooooooooooooood news!
This week was fun! We were able to meet some cool people and had a few barbecues! haha I love the barbecues here in Texas, they have every kind of meat, cooked in every way you can think of.
Ozzy is getting ready to be baptized, and his mother right behind him. We had a great lesson with them this week when we taught the the Plan of Salvation. It was really spiritual and I think everyone was crying at some point during the lesson haha. Sandra (Ozzy's Mom) kept thanking us during the lesson. She was thanking us for coming over and teaching them this, she understood that it was true and how important it was. She probably said 'Thank you' over 20 times.
Ozzy understood it well, and at the end he said, "I feel like I understand God more". Which is the best response I could ever hear! No discussion, lecture, or lesson will teach you more about God and his nature, than the Plan of Salvation.
I love it. I love being able to share happiness with others, all day every day.
That's just one amazing experience that happened this week, there were many others.. but I need to start talking about our "Preach My Gospel" study.

Mom, you mentioned in your E-mail, "...be sure to give us the first lesson that you want to give us. We will enjoy reading it during Family Home Evenings each week. We are doing really well with doing our scripture reading every night!"
Oh, you have never been so wrong. haha. I will not be giving lessons, I will be joining you in a study of Preach of Gospel. Again, any of you, feel free to cop out. You're only a quitter and a loser, nothing too bad. 
Week #1: Chapter 6- Christlike Attributes
"If you define hypocrite as someone who fails to live up perfectly to what he or she believes, then we are all hypocrites. None of us is quite as Christlike as we know we should be. But we earnestly desire to overcome our faults and the tendency to sin. With our heart and soul we yearn to become better with the help of the Atonement of Jesus Christ." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

So, let's become more Christlike.  On Page 115, the chapter starts. There are 9 'Christlike Attributes' in the chapter. Each person, (Laura, Royal, Jeremy, A-man-duh, Trevor, Hannah, Averie, Brett Clayson and whoever else wants to try) will pick one that they wish they were better at.
As you study, think about at least these 3 points:
1-What did I previously know about this Attribute?
2-What new knowledge have I gained about this Attribute?
3-How will I become more Christlike in this attribute tomorrow? *not in two days, not next week, not soon. TOMORROW.*

Then, either in a letter to me, or your weekly E-mail include these three things, and how you noticed a change in your life once you applied it. I will be doing this too, don't worry.

This may seem lame or boring. People may think, "Matt is in his missionary mode. We don't have time for this in the real-world". Or, "I don't have time for this, Matt is adorable that he is trying to do this... but that's not really how it works out of the mission-world"

I know this may seem dumb. I know I may seem like I have "changed". But, trying to become better, especially becoming closer to Christ is the realest your life is ever going to get. I'm not doing this because "i'm a missionary", i'm doing this because my life used to be a lot different. My life is so much better now, and I know what can help people.
As I have worked on these exact things you will study, I have felt closer to God. I have more self-worth, and confidence. I am happier. I feel stronger. Everything is a lot clearer. Life is better in literally every sense.

I know that God lives, and is watching over us individually. I know that Jesus Christ is out exemplar, and as we try to become more like him, we find out who we really are. Life is a lot brighter on Christ's side.

I love you all,
-Elder Giles

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