April 14 Email!

Family,

YOU'RE KIDDING. It's still cold and snow there? It was in the 80's this week. I was sweating, and got way tan. haha I love Texas, being cold is for losers.

Ya'll probably coulda guessed, another great week! We had more lessons this week then ever before, and we got a lot of new people to come to church!

One of them is Charlie sr.. So, we found a 'Sister Sardo' who, we later found out, has been inactive since she was 14. She remembered having great memories of Church though. We taught her and her son, Charlie jr., two brief lessons about the Church, before we were ever able to teach them with the Dad, because he is super busy. Well this week, we finally got the whole family together. When we began the lesson, I offered Charlie a Book Of Mormon to read and follow along when we share scriptures. He said, "no thanks, i'm not going to take that, I really won't read that.". I replied, "You can give it back at the end of the lesson, if you'd like". He cautiously accepted.

Well, it was one of the most spiritual lessons I have ever been a part of. Everyone felt it. Charlie not only kept the Book Of Mormon, he did most of the reading, and he was the one who wanted to come to church and bring his whole family! Sure enough, they were there Sunday morning!

I had nothing to do with it, neither did Elder Christensen. We can't pull The Spirit out of our pockets, throw it at him and convert him. We just tried to invite The Spirit into the lesson. It came, and did all of the teaching.

AWESOME!

It seems like everyday, I have an experience that I will never forget.

It's sad to think I have already been put 1/3 of my mission! It is going by too fast!

I love Texas, I love this Work, I love ya'll, and I love my Savior and Heavenly Father.

I have everything I will ever need.

I took a picture of this at a member's house, I thought it was funny. haha

But, it's true. I try to thank God everyday that I am at, where I am at.

I love you all!

Love, Elder Giles

April 7 Email!

Family,

Conference was the bomb! It was weird watching it in the small chapel here in Marble Falls, on a static-y TV because it is so close to my house and I have been there many times. It was awesome though.

 

Conference was incredible! We watched all the sessions at the Church Building, besides Saturday Afternoon at our Bishop's house and Sunday Afternoon at another member's house.

 

One of my favorite talks was given by our Prophet in the Priesthood session. He was speaking on courage, and what courage really is. One of my favorite quotes was, "courage has few witnesses". Courage to do what's right, is what we have all lacked at some point in our lives. Russell M. Nelson quoted him earlier in the day by saying, "All men have their fears, but those who face their fears with faith have courage as well". Everyone has fears, whether we are trying to work on them, or even acknowledge them, they are there. When we face our fears with faith, meaning that believing we can overcome, that we can triumph over any obstacle with God, we will have courage. Remember that real tests of courage are inner tests.

 

Let us all have the courage to become more. To smile at more people, to uplift the arms of the downtrodden, to be examples for others. "You might forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may remember them for a lifetime".

Let's have the courage to make everyone's day a little brighter.

I promise that as you do, you will find greater happiness, greater belonging and greater self-worth in yourself.

M. Russell Ballard, gave every person an invitation to get their own copy of Preach My Gospel. They are free.

That's my invitation to you as well.

I love you all! 

-Elder Giles

 

March 31 Email!

Family,

TRANSFERS:

I will be starting my 5th transfer this week, which means that I will hit my 9 month mark this transfer. Un-be-lievable.

 

I am staying in Marble Falls and Elder Christensen will be here with me! I am super stoked about that, we have been getting a lot great. Really, he is a super chill kid and he actually laughs at the jokes I make throughout the day (unlike everyone else I have ever met). We have been meeting a lot of new people and trying our best. We have another person who is getting baptized in April now, his name is Charlie. Super cool.

 

We had another really inspirational week! We were able to do a lot of service for people and we had some really meaningful lessons. I've been so excited for General Conference all week though! Get yo popcorn ready!!

 

I remember maybe just a few short years ago when it was General Conference. The family would usually all roll downstairs and most of us would have our blankets and pillows wrapped around us. This specific Conference I went a little further. I remember trying to squeeze my mattress around the corner of the stairwell, so I could be more "comfortable" while "listening" to the talks. Everyone just thought it was stupid. I still think it was funny, really, i'm laughing as I write this. The reason I bring that up is because I have gained such a respect and love for these Men of God. As I was able to meet Elder Bednar a few months ago, I truly knew that he was an Apostle of Jesus Christ.

 

Think of it! God lives! He still speaks to us today! He has again called a prophet! We have the chance to hear these men speak to us, and give us the council God would have them give us at this time. It's almost overwhelming, the people we read about in the scriptures would love to be able to read about our day. 

 

1-Prayerfully consider a question, 

2-Audibly utter it to God and write it down,
3-Let God know that you will *act* on the answer you receive,

4-Buckle up, because, God Speaks!

Love, Elder Giles

March 24 Email!

La Familia,

The work is going great, we have been fortunate enough to have found like 5 more serious investigators this week.

Ronald (the man from the trailer park), it is going great with him, we saw him a few days ago. We only had a few minutes to talk because we had other appointments but while we were talking I just felt impressed to say something. I very briefly said, "We believe that God has called another Prophet named Joseph Smith, and through him Christ has again restored His church to the earth. Do you believe that?" He said, "yes."

hahaha I have never taught the Restoration so briefly before, but it worked! haha 

 

A few days ago I was spending the day with another missionary (Elder Harris, Kansas City, Missouri) and we were walking out of a lesson in an apartment complex. We walked past this little playground area and saw a father playing with is little son on the slide. We started talking to him (Chris), and found out that he is a teacher at the local Catholic Church. He had his big bible open on the bench and he said he was preparing his lesson for the day. He was telling us how much he loves the Bible. I asked him ,"Have you heard of The Book Of Mormon?" He said that he has, but he has never had the chance to read from it. So we gave him a copy of the Book Of Mormon and a pamphlet talking about the Restoration of The Gospel.

 

Last night I talked with him on the phone, I asked him if he has had a chance to read from those yet. He said that he has read the entire Restoration pamphlet, the Introduction to the Book Of Mormon & the first chapter of the Book Of Mormon. haha I was pumped, he said that he really liked it! 

That was cool.

We've met so many great people recently. On Saturday we met this 20 year-old named Adam. He is super cool. We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to Church the next morning with us. Well.. he was there before we were. haha Throughout the entire day he kept telling me how much he loved it and how he feels like he has been missing out his whole life.

Adam and I are the same age, and it made me think how grateful I am that I have always knew about The Gospel. I am so grateful for my parents who raised me with The Gospel in my life so I didn't have to wait and then feel like I have been missing out my whole life.

The work here is great, and it is all in the hands of the Lord. I feel like I became a little better everyday.

Also, everyday feels like i'm in a weird cheap movie. Everything that happens in Marble Falls is so strange hahaha I get a bunch of new stories every day!

I love you all!

-Elder Giles

March 17 Email!

Family, 

Honestly, I had no idea it was Saint Patrick's Day today until I read your E-mail. I don't think Texans even celebrate that holiday haha. You don't know when anything is as a missionary, the first 2 hours of the day usually consists of Elder Christensen trying to figure out what day of the week it is.

 

However, I do have one green tie.. I haven't worn it in months, but today I decided to wear it without even knowing it was Saint Patrick's Day. So, i'm good.

 

This week was really fun. Elder Christensen was still pretty sick most of the week, so we only worked as much as we could. We still met new people and had great lessons though!

 

We met with Ronald again (the guy from the trailer park). He was telling us about the other missionaries who he met with before he moved. They were trying ot get each others numbers before he moved, but he moved so fast that they never exchanged numbers. So he was kinda sad about that. Then, just a few days after he moved in, we knocked on his door.

 

haha I need you to understand the impossibility of that. Our area is 120 miles form one area to the area. With over 20 cities, mostly very small. The amount of people in our area is overwhelming. So that chance of us knocking on his door is practically zero, espeically because we hardly ever knock on doors unless we know who lives there.

It truly was a miracle. He loves us and loves us coming over. We are going to start going over there often and teaching him the lessons!

 

One of my favorite scriptures is Alma 26:37, but before I tell ya'll why it means so much to me. I want you all to read it and tell me why you like it, and what it means to you.

 

I love you all, and I can feel your prayers for me.

 

Love, Elder Giles

March 10 Email!

I am doing great and had another stellar week.

The baptism this week went great! It was super spiritual, and powerful. Awesome! They are a sweet family! They are renting this super duper nice ranch house out in the boonies. Great people.

Thank you for the letters I have gotten so far, I'll try to write back quick!

 

A few months ago we had a lesson with an investigator, and we had a member in the ward named Brother Jeralds come to the lesson with us (old, HILARIOUS, black guy from the south). We got to the appointment and knocked on the door, well the man wasn't home. So as we were walking back to Brother Jeralds car, I was telling him sorry for coming out and not having a lesson with us and then he said, "That's alright, man. God brought us to this exact spot." I think I stopped walking when I heard that haha It just hit me so hard. I'll never forget that night and when that man told me that. Because it is true, we are never somewhere where God doesn't know we are. He knows where we are, and even if it's a bad spot He has already prepared a way out for us. 

Now,

Elder Christensen has been sick the last few days so we have been staying in the apartment trying to find something to do haha. On Saturday night, I was looking at his Family History chart... and I thought I saw a name that looked familiar.... so I went and grabbed mine.

His Great-Grandpa's last name was Tolman, born in Oakley, Idaho in 1915. My Great-Grandpa's last name was Tolman, born in Oakley, Idaho in 1916. WHAT!!?? (His Great-Grandpa's name is Parley Glenn Tolman)

After a little more investigation we found out that they were cousins, a few generations back Elder Christensen and I have the same Grandpa, named Cyrus Tolman. hahahahaha I am dead serious. So we are like 4th cousins are something.

God brought us to this exact spot. Whether it's something smaller that finding out that you're cousins, or something much more large, we can always see and feel God's hand in our lives. The more we pay attention the more we will all see that "God brought us to this exact spot."

I love you all and hope you have a great week.

I love you, Mom

Love, Elder Giles

March 3 Email!

Howdy,

 

Yeah, I love it here, it's not too far from Austin and we have to drive in to Austin like once a week for District Meetings and stuff. I haven't been to Blue Bonnet Cafe yet, but I read that to my companion and he said, "we have coupons there!" haha so I guess we'll be checking it out soon. I absolutely love it here, it is so much fun! Just talking to anyone here will make your day, haha everyone is sooo country, it truly is another language out here. If I spoke to them how I speak to ya'll, they wouldn't understand anything I say. Apparentally I am getting pretty good at talking like them, I practice a lot haha

What kind of service do we do here? oh boy. Let me put it this way, a service we did this week was helping a guy kill chickens and getting them ready to cook hahaha I took some sweet pictures, i'll send some that aren't too bad.

The only Temple in my mission is in San Antonio, and i'm awhile from that now, so I won't go until, hopefully, my next area.

This was a great week! We met a lot of sweet new people, had a bunch of lessons and we actually have a baptism this Saturday! haha Her name is Chelsey and her husband is a member of The Church. She is the softball coach at the High School here in Marble. So, that's sweet.

There is family here named the Cowart's. They are like my favorite people I have ever met! They drove us to Stake Conference this Saturday (It was in Austin and we can't use that many miles) and on the way home they found out about my rapping past haha and found all my songs on SoundCloud!! They said they listened to them all the way to and from Church on Sunday and when they came up to me and Church they said, "I want my waffles back" haha from that one song called "HotCakes". I tried to keep my secret Identity on the down-low, but that only lasted a few months. The secret is out haha.

The Work is going great! We were in a Trailer Park the other day we were looking for a guy who lived somewhere in the Trailer Park, but we didn't know where. All we know is that he lived somewhere in there and he is really interested (we didn't have a phone number or anything). So we drove in there, I drove to the back left corner and we walked up to a random house, when the guy answered the door I asked him if he was the man we were looking for. Before he answered he told us to come in. It turned out he wasn't the one we *thought* were looking for. He told us that he used to meet with the missionaries where he used to live, but then he moved and lost all contact and didn't know how to get in contact with the missionaries. We thought we were looking for Chad, but really we were there to find Ronald.

We don't always know the future, but God does. We don't need to try and predict or change the future. Just do what we can do, and trust the Lord. I thought I was going to meet Chad, but I didn't drive there that day to meet Chad. I drove there to meet Ronald, and it was a surprise to Ronald and me.

I love you all!

Love, Elder Giles

6 Month Tie Burn

6 Month Tie Burn

Chicken