I received the package from Ontario this week, thank you so much! Those cookies came just in time haha. Those pictures look like y'all are having a lot of fun there.
Thank you for sharing your testimony of the Sabbath Day, Mom, that really touched me. You've always had such a strong testimony that I've depended on many times. Thank you
UPDATES:
I'll begin with the updates and news from this past week! It was such an incredible week. Really though, probably one of the greatest weeks of the mission so far (that's impossible to judge though). First, TRANSFER NEWS: Elder Nebeker and I will both be staying together again in this area!! That is going to be four and a half months together! That's usually a long time, but Elder Nebeker and I are just about best friends, so it's nothing. We are so excited to be staying together. He's going to be the companion I had for the longest (because after this transfer, I only have two more..). This is also his last transfer in the mission, so he goes home in just six weeks.
THAT IS GOOD NEWS!
ALSO, One of the reasons we are so relieved to be staying together is because we are so busy and have sooo much going on. For example, David Boyd is getting baptized this Saturday. Yvonne Carter is getting baptized two weeks after that. A week and a half after that Danny and Tulsy Cavasos are getting married, then Danny is getting baptized the next day. ALSO, Angelita Gonzalez and Gilbert Navarro will both be baptized in the next few weeks, we just don't have a set date yet.
THAT IS GOOD NEWS!
EXCHANGES:
This past week, I was very humbled. I went on an exchange with a certain Elder and learned much more than I was expecting.
I could tell that he was pretty nervous as soon as I got there, so I tried to get him comfortable and open with me, before we went out to try teaching others.
Throughout the day, we continued to talk and he started to open up about a lot of things that have been on his mind, and things that stress him out about the mission.
We stopped, and talked. We talked about what's on his mind. The conversation ended with what we are going to do to make sure we never fall away from the Church.
We didn't have any amazing lessons, or lose pounds from sweat... but, it was a perfect exchange.
Now, a little background: I don't mean this to come across in any other way but to show how long it took me to learn this lesson... I have been a Zone Leader for about 10 months now, and I have been on probably 30 or so exchanges with other missionaries.
This past week, I finally realized that exchanges are all about. It's not about how fast the Elder walks, or how he knocks on a door. It's not about how he teaches, or how I teach.
It's about where he is going, and how I can help him to never, never leave this Church.
It's about love. Truly loving this person, and ministering to them as Christ would.
Obviously, this principle is universal. In all interaction with our fellow-man. Why wouldn't we be Christ-like? Why wouldn't we want to ease the burdens, that we don't know specifically, but we know are there? I hope we will all strive to always leave a disciple-like impression on friend, and foe.
-- I wish I could go on and on.. but time is my enemy today. The words of the Book of Mormon best describe how I feel, "...this [E-mail] cannot contain even a hundredth part of what was done..."(3 Nephi 5:8). But, more GOOD NEWS, I continue to write in my journal everyday and I have now written over 600 pages.... so, we will all be able to reminisce on those :)
As the days of my full-time mission go on, the truth of God sinks deep into my soul. My veins are filled with the blood of the Restoration. I feel as if every part of my body wants to cry out that, "God lives! Jesus is the Christ! and Joseph is Their Prophet!"
After many months of many people yelling at me, shaking their fists and stomping their feet, insisting that this isn't true.. yet, my testimony is unshaken.
I know what I know.
I love y'all!
Love, Elder Giles
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