June 2 Email!

Mother, Family, and Aspen,

There was apparently a Tornado warning around here, we had to go into our apartment on Tuesday and such, but nothing happened. False alarm.

How is summer vacation coming along? Any fun plans coming up, or just chillin'?

drum roll please............................................. SUMMER IS HERE

haha it's been pretty brutal this week. The heat is here, and he brought his ugly cousin Humidity with him. Good thing we are in a truck with a nice A/C, but still... it's pretty hot here haha. 

Everyone is coming here for the summer to go boating and stuff, so everyone we see is all dressed up to go boating, and the lake is just filled with people. oh well.

Elder Whitney and I, are like best friends. haha he is such a cool guy, we really do get along really great!

We have been teaching a lot of lessons, and preparing many to get baptized.

I'm sorry that I will miss Amanda's wedding, I wish I could be there for the biggest day of her life. She's been my best friend 

since I was young, and she was the most reliable friend I have ever had. I know that she is proud of me though. I am so proud of her, she will be an amazing mother and wife. Friday will be a new beginning for her.

The next day, Saturday, will be a new beginning for a young man who lives in Texas. He is 18, and has been studying religions since he was 14. He has notebooks full of notes, scriptures, and studies he has been doing for years. He has been to, or investigated just about every religion imaginable.

About a month ago, he drove to a LDS Chapel by himself to check it out. We happened to be walking in together, so I started talking to him. Later that same day, we went to his house and introduced him to the Church, and the Book Of Mormon.

The next time I saw him was 6 days later. He was on page 62. He had been praying, and reading about 10 pages every single day. How many 18 year-olds can say that? 

Within days, he knew that it was true. He told us how he felt every time he read it, and he know it was from God. As we continued to teach him about the Restored Gospel, he would say things like, "That makes perfect sense" & "It's all fitting together now".

Ozzy is getting baptized on Saturday, and he's asked me to baptize him.

He has also said that he wants to serve a mission.

I am so thankful for the gospel being restored. I'm so thankful that God called Joseph Smith to be a prophet. The great questions about God and Life are no longer unexplainable. They 'make perfect sense' & 'all fit together'.

I love you all, and hope you have a great week!

Save some wedding cake for me!

Love, Elder Giles

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

May 19 Email!

Family,

It looks like ya'll had a great Bridal Shower! It's crazy to see the backyard again haha and the mountain in the background. I haven't seen any kind of mountain in months! ..Save some of those sugar cookies for me.

It's been in the 70's there? haha... that's cute. It's been consistently high 80's-100's already here. It'll be like that until like the end of September too, so hopefully I stay in Marble Falls for most of that, because we are in a truck. Riding a bike in Texas heat is a poor choice.

SPEAKING OF MARBLE FALLS: My new companion is Elder Whitney. He's from South Jordan, Utah, and he's been out for about 5 months now. Elder Whitney and I hit it off instantly! He's such a cool guy, and a stud missionary! We're going to do work together. I forgot to take a picture of him until right before I came here to write this E-mail. So I hurried and took a picture of us in our P-Day clothes. Sorry.

This week was great, we had a bunch of awesome lessons, and we had quite a few people come to Church! We'll be having many baptisms coming up in the next few weeks which is so amazing! I love my mission, everything about it, even the little things from day to day, everything is so much better when you're serving The Lord.

We were able to have an excellent lesson last night with a Less-Active family, straight out of Preach My Gospel. Preach My Gospel is not just for full-time missionaries. People think it's just for the few with name-tags, if you think that, you're a fool. For example, some of the chapter names are, "What is the role of the Book Of Mormon", "How do I understand and recognize The Spirit" & "How do I develop Christlike attributes". Behind The Book Of Mormon, and other scriptures, Preach My Gospel is the most powerful book, that has affected and blessed my life the most.

I love ya'll! and I love my mission.

Every single day. I have had so many incredible experiences already, I am so thankful for all those in my life who helped me get out on my mission.

I hope everyone has a great week, and sends me cookies.

Love, Elder Giles

Elder Christensen & I: Last Day

Elder Christensen & I: Last Day

Elder Christensen & I: Last Day

Elder Whitney

 

May 13 Email!

Fam,

It was so great Skyping ya'll! I liked that a lot better than just talking on the phone. Technology rocks.

Mother's Day sounded like it went great, i'm glad you hear it! That cake looks amazing,, probably send me a piece. Sorry I couldn't do more for Mother's Day. I'll make it up when I get home.

ALRIGHT, this week was extremely busy, but so fun! We went on exchanges for two days and had a Zone Meeting. Somehow, we were still able to have over 20 lessons. Today we went Mountain biking. It started to rain as soon as we got there, and so it was really muddy. It was awesome! I'll send some pictures of that!

Elder Christensen is getting transferred, and I am staying here in Marble Falls. So, i'll be getting my new companion on Thursday. So far all of my companions have been for 3 months a piece, this will be my 4th companion.

I love ya'll very much. I love my mission and everything I am learning and becoming

Love, Elder Giles

May 6 Email!

Family,

This week was another busy week, a lot of lessons. We were driving all around our area, and hit up like every town. Met this cool guy and his family in Llano, after a few minutes of talking he took us to Lunch at this super good and pretty famous BBQ joint called "Cooper's Barbecue". It was so good. It was the definition of Texas though haha as we were pulling up, all the parking lot was filled with Harley's. Walked inside and there were like one hundred bikers. It was great! haha.

Yesterday, at Church. We just parked and got out of our truck and we saw someone we didn't recognize get out of their car. We started talking to him, his name is Ozzy and he is 18. He went to a dance with some Mormon kids and was really impressed with them and it made him want to find out more, so he just drove to Church by himself. He stayed for all three hours and seemed to really like it. A few hours after Church was out, he wanted us to come by his house. So we went over and taught him the 1st lesson. He really enjoyed it and we have a lesson with him and his full family tomorrow! 

It's so great to just be in the right place, and let The Lord do the work.

This coming week will be super busy too. I am leaving in a few hours to Austin and I will be there until Wednesday evening, going out with other missionaries and such. That'll be fun though! Then on Mother's Day we call home AND get transfer calls that night.

MOTHER'S DAY CALL NEWS:

The Texas San Antonio Mission has now been approved to use Skype for calling home on Mother's Day and Christmas.

So, ya'll will get to see my face on Sunday!! haha I'm super happy about that, it'll be cool.

I love you all, have a good week, see you soon :)

-Elder Giles

April 28 Email!

Family,

The weather here is great. Bright and sunny. Yesterday it was in the 90's and it was in the 80's before that. Today is going to be another "hot" day, not a cloud in the sky!

I say, "hot", because I think I have become a true Texan. Yesterday as we were out, everyone was saying out hot it was and they were all like covered in sweat.. it didn't even feel hot to me. haha. Utah is going to destroy me when I get back, i'm going to freeze to death.

YES, I did get the Easter package! Thank you very much! I loved the Magic Cookie Bars.. or whatever they are called. We had so much candy though, it was ridiculous. Everyone here just gave us like bags of candy. So, we decided to dump most of it in a big basket and set it on our downstairs neighbors doorstep. haha they are a young couple just a little older than me, they are really cool, and loved the candy!

(not really sure why I told you that.... but there you go)

The week was great though!

It's summer in Texas, and it's feeling good. We did a lot of teaching this week, and we were really busy!

Charlie Sardo is getting baptized on May 9th, I'm so happy about that! The Sardo's are the best

This area is really getting busy, it's a super exciting time. Hopefully I stay here for a while longer. On Mother's Day, when we talk next, is also the day we found if we are staying for at least another 6 weeks or not.

We did a lot of walking this week, because we are running low on miles. You only have a certain amount of miles you are supposed to drive a month, which is kinda lame for us because our area is like the size of Utah.

It was fun though, we were able to met and talk with A LOT of people.

The week was great, and the days keep flying by!

Keep on doing good, and have a safe week!

I love you

Love, Elder Giles

April 21 Email!

Family,

Mom, I am doing great. I am *honestly* the happiest I have ever been. The only sad thoughts I ever think are, "rats. I can't do this forever. Only 16 more months :(  "  (today is my 1/3 mark. 8 months!!)

That's good it's almost spring there. It's already Utah's summer here in Texas. The humidity either hasn't kicked in yet, or isn't as bad up here as it is in San Antonio,  but it's not that bad yet. The heat is coming though, that's for sure.

SO, this week was more fun than you can shake a stick at!

There was some sort of carnival thing in Marble Falls this week. It was huge!! There were so many people there, it was ridiculous. So, we went.

We walked around and were talking to people and meeting people, it was just a good a time. Then, people just started coming up to us. At one point, a group of 7 people came up to us and asked, "What do you guys believe in?" haha that's an excellent question! So, we started teaching them right there, slowly other people started listening and walking over. I felt like I was an like some old-time missionary on a soapbox just preaching to a group of people. At the end of the lesson, someone asked, "If you could just like sum up what you believe, what would you say?". I said the first thing that came to my mind, "That Jesus Christ is our Savior, and He lives!".

It was so fun! Afterwards, I went around and shook everyone's hands and got their names, and my companion was handing them cards with out number on it! 

So many awesome experiences, I can't begin to explain a fraction of them. 

I want to say this: I am always sad when I see people who fall away from the truth they once cherished. Because none of them are as happy as they can be. Our true potential is only found in The Gospel, and that means the potential of our happiness as well. Whenever I share what I am thankful, it almost always is my family, you guys. It is so amazing that every person in my family is an active member of The Church! We can see how it has blessed us, I have never found another family in the world that is as close as we are. Now, the reason I am saying all of this is... I promise each of you that if any of you ever leave or begin to leave The Church, I will fight tooth and nail, from Heaven to Hell, to help you stay. And I hope you can all give me that same promise in return.

That being said, Easter was the bomb. Oh man, it was so fun! Church was great too because it was packed, people just come out of the woodwork on Easter... now if only they can come the other 51 weeks of the year...

We went to a family's house and had a Easter dinner and message with them, the Cowart's (the same one's that found out about my rapping career and know always play my raps whenever I am there) haha. It was a really fun week!

Ya'll are looking great in those pictures!

I really do love you all so much, and pray for you every night!

Love, Elder Giles