November 17 Email!

Kinfolk,

Winter has arrived in Utah, I'm sure glad I'm not there. It has been pretty cold in Round Rock this week though, like 30's or 40's. It did not snow though, so that is good! I finally had to dig through my suitcases and pull out my jackets and sweaters from last winter. That was a weird experience. I couldn't believe it had been a year since I was in Heritage ward teaching Dion, and Manuel (PT) and all the other great people there. This year flew by!

I'm glad that y'all are getting some snow though, you'll have to send me a picture of it. I can't quite remember what snow looks like anymore haha

A Pair Of Thermals:

A week ago, Monday, we had a return appointment with a man we talked to a few days previous. We met him when we was walking outside of his house about yo get in his car. We were on the other side of the road, but started talking to to him and went over to introduce ourselves. He mentioned how he grew up Jehovah's Witness, but never actually believed it. He is 38 years old and has been looking for truth in religions for most of his life. When we told him what we do, he invited us back for Monday evening,

We knocked on the door, and he answered the door in nothing but a pair of thermals and working boots. He seemed quite comfortable, even though we were in a shirt and tie. This man is African American, probably about 6'3'' and looks like he works out quite a bit. He has one extremely lazy eye and a nice set of dreadlocks.

The lesson went very well. He understood everything we taught and was eager to read from the Book Of Mormon. He wanted to come to Church on Sunday but didn't make it because his flight got in later than he though. We have another lesson with him later this evening.

I'm curious to see if he is in his typical thermal and boots combination.

My Boy, Malik:

Malik is getting baptized this Saturday. It will be the fastest baptism I have ever been a part of, or even heard in this mission. From the first time we taught him until his baptism is 11 days.

We taught him for the first time this past Tuesday. The Spirit was so strong in the lesson, and we was loving everything we were saying! A few days after the lesson he told us that when we told him the "First Vision", he felt The Spirit stronger than he has ever felt it in his life. He knew that what he felt was The Spirit, and that Joseph Smith a true prophet of God.

I could tell that he was ready for baptism, by all the answers he was giving throughout the lesson. So at the end I said, "Malik, when do you want to be baptized?" ,"As soon as possible" ,"Okay, November 22", "Okay".

hahahaha it was so awesome!

This week we taught Malik: The Restoration, The Plan Of Salvation, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Law of Chastity, Word Of Wisdom, Law of Tithing, and the 10 commandments.

I have never met someone so prepared to receive the gospel before. He is so full of faith, and is an inspiration to the entire ward.

After we taught him the Plan Of Salvation (which was so powerful!!), Elder Nichols and I were back at our apartment planning for the next day when he sent us a text... I'll send you the picture I took of the text.

 

Malik At Church:

Yesterday was Malik's third time at Church. The first two times he pretty much just wore whatever, he didn't really have any "church clothes". However, he walked into Church yesterday in this nice black suit and purple tie. He was looking like a modern day Johnny Cash (except that Malik is black). It was so awesome to see him at Church, in a nice suit and how excited and comfortable he looked!

In the Sunday School class, the teacher called on him and asked him essentially, "how do you feel now that you are getting baptized?"

"In my life, I have been excited for a lot of things. When you are a child, you get excited so easily and there have been many things in my life that have made me feel excited. but.... I have never been more excited for anything, than how excited I am to get baptized"

Malik is just such a boss. I love how much faith he has! He is a miracle.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I love y'all!!

 

-Elder Giles

p.s. the other picture of of a Texas-sized doughnut we ate

 

 

 

Here is a lunch I made this week:

 

November 10 Email!

Family,

Mission Leaders Council: Is a meeting that happens every month for all Zone Leaders in the mission, at a chapel in San Antonio. I've been going to it for a few months now, and before it was just a few minutes from our apartment. However, Round Rock is the very top of the mission. The drive is much, much further now. This past Thursday, we had to wake up at 5 am, to shower and get ready and drive to San Antonio. It was a long drive haha. M.L.C. is always so awesome though, we just learn from our Mission President all day, as he just fills us with knowledge and doctrine of the gospel. The previous MLC a member of the Seventy was with us.

After M.L.C. was over we began our long journey back home. We stopped in downtown Austin at a little Mexican restaurant called "Super Burrito". It reminded me of Rancherito's only a lot dirtier and greaser. So, obviously, I loved it! (even though I was feeling pretty sick the next day)

We didn't get home until around 8 pm, it was such a long day! I feel asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow that night

Sabbath Day: Because we cover two wards, we are in Church every Sunday from 8 am- 5 pm. The first Sunday was really rough haha I was not used to that long of Church, but I think I am already getting used to it, and love it! There are a lot of really great people in the wards here.

The Chisholm Trail ward (Young Single Ward) is considerably smaller than the adult ward. For example, this Sunday there were not enough speakers to take up the full hour. So, they just called me up to take up the last 15 minutes of Sacrament Meeting hahaha. It was really fun though, I actually love speaking now. I just talked about receiving answers and then following through with our answer. It was good.

We have an investigator in the Young Single Adult ward named 'Malik', who has come to Church twice now. He is just an absolute perfect investigator, he loves everything and want more! In Priesthood class he stood up to introduce himself and said "My name in Malik, and I will be converting here very shorty", and then sat down hahaha! SO COOL!!

The reason it is so amazing, is that it's an answer to prayers. Elder Nichols is getting towards the end of his mission, he has less than 2 months left. The area that we are in now, has been very slow for a while now. They haven't had a convert baptism in a very long time. I promised Elder Nichols that we would get him at least one more baptism before her goes home. WE have been praying really hard, and working just as hard for that miracle. The next thing we know, Malik is brought to Church by one of his friends. It seems as is he will be baptized before November is over!!

~miracle~

 

 * * * * * * * * * * *

Thank ya'll for all the love and support. You really do have an incredible on me. Please keep Elder Nichols and I in your prayers, also Malik.

Until next week

-Elder Giles

November 3 Email!

Family.

This week was really crazy. I spent the first few days packing and saying goodbye to all of the amazing people that I had to go know in the Bulverde ward. It's a shame that I was only there for 2 transfers. I really did love it there, and there are so many amazing people. I took many pictures, i'll send you the one of me and Jose Gomez. He is one of the investigators that we were teaching. He is such an incredibly humble, kind man! He is a Mexican cowboy, and so I borrowed one of his 13 cowboy hats to take the picture haha.

Brother Bermea:

This will be just one example of the amazing people I have met on my mission, and the affect they are having and will have on me.

Brother Bermea only got baptized a little less than a year ago, and he is already about to get the Melchizedek Priesthood. He is a humble man, who doesn't have a steady job. He works here and there whenever he can find work. He always offers to feed us, and they had us over for dinner at the time. They live in a very humble double-wide trailer.

We went over there on my very last night in Bulverde to say goodbye and have one last lesson with him. While we were there talking, the topic came up on what makes a good father and he went on the explain...

"When a woman has a child, that is when she becomes a mother. But that's not when the man becomes a father. The man becomes a father when we wakes up in the middle of the night and sees his wife stumbling through the dark on her way to their crying child and he gets up, tells her to go lie down, and takes care of the baby. That's when he becomes a father"

A father is much more than just someone who has children, it's a man who would, and does, do everything for them.

I'm grateful to have such a father in my life.

New Area:

I got transferred on the day before Halloween, up to Round Rock, Texas (to the best of my knowledge there isn't a town here titled "leaf" BUT there are a bunch of leaves on the ground...)

***2410 Great Oaks Drive #702, Round Rock, Texas, 78681*****

That is my new address. I would love to get some letters this week :)

My new companion is Elder Nichols. Man, he is a BEAST. He is such an incredible missionary! He only has about 2 months left on his mission, and you can tell he is very experienced. He is a bigger guy, with a large build, but he is such a soft-hearted person. He loves everyone, and sincerely wants to help them all.

Elder Nichols is a phenomenal missionary, and I am so excited to serve along side him and learn from him!

In this new area, we cover two separate wards. One is the family ward, "Walsh Ranch" and we also cover the YSA ward "Chisholm Trail". For the YSA ward, our boundaries are two full stakes, so when we visit some of them we have to drive pretty far.

So far, I love working with the younger people who are closer to my age. I feel it is easier to be real and genuine with them, and it's easier to connect with them.

Unfortunately, this week we have a lot we have to do and I can't write much more in the E-mail. 

I love you all though, so much!

Please continue to pray for me as I start this new area with my new companion, your prayers mean more than you think.

October 27 Email!

My People,

Thank you for all of the pictures this week. 

Elder Hamula:

A member from the Seventy came to visit our mission for a few days this week. It is so awesome!

His name is Elder Hamula. In preparation for his visit, he did a mission-wide fast the Sunday before to better prepared to learn from him and the Spirit when he spoke to us. We met with him in a very large meeting on Thursday. There, he spoke a lot about Revelation and the steps, and procedures to better recognize and follow revelation. To me, it all boiled down to 2 things: Learn to call & learn to listen.

We must learn how to properly call on the Lord and, just as important, we must learn how to listen to him when he speak back.

A few days later, he met with only the Zone Leaders in the mission, so a much smaller group. That was also incredible! He talked a lot about being an example to everyone. Referring to how people who watch you will act to what you do, he said, "As you are, so are they"

That applies to all of us. Grandparents, siblings, coworkers, friends, neighbors and so on.

It was so awesome to spend time with Elder Hamula and to learn from him. Also, just so you can picture him, he spoke in this last General Conference at the Sunday morning session, he spoke on the sacrament/atonement.

Conversion:

We have an investigator and her less-active husband who we have been meeting with for a while. They are both coming to Church most Sundays, and reading and doing most everything they should be doing. We decided to have a lesson with them this week about 'conversion'. We went through the story of Alma 23-24 and discussed what "weapons of war" they might have.

They were both sharing personal experiences and it was a spiritual lesson. At the end of the lesson, Lisa Segel looked at us right when the lesson was over and had tears in her eyes. She said, "When I woke up this morning, I just knew that I needed to hear something today, something that could really help me. This has helped me so much. Thank you"

That was an awesome lesson. I love teaching lessons when the Spirit is so strong and people always want to become better afterwards. That's what it is all about.

Bitter-Sweet:

Transfer calls came last night. Elder Shorts has been a Zone Leader in this Zone for a transfer longer than me, so we were both confident that he was going to be the one to leave. Strangely, however, he is staying and I am getting transferred. I am pretty sure I know where I am going haha it's not that hard to find out, but I will let you all know my new address next Monday

***DO NOT SEND ANYTHING TO THIS ADDRESS***

**WAIT UNTIL NEXT WEEK**

I'm excited for my next area, and to have my new companion. It will be so fun! I am also pretty sad to be leaving Bulverde after only 2 transfers. I really did love it here. The people are fantastic, and the ward is amazing. We didn't have any baptisms in the last 2 transfers, but we now have a handful of people who will be baptized in the next few weeks! Which is so exciting! But also sad that I won't be able to be a part of them :(

                                        * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I could go on and on, but I must close this E-mail so I can go play basketball.

I love ya'll!!

-Elder Giles

October 20 Email!

La Familia,

Thank you for always sending me pictures of ya'll. It always looks you are staying busy and keeping happy!

Awesome that you went to Temple Square this week. I miss Temple Square a lot. I really wish that I would have went there more often. 

Frog Legs:

On Tuesday, we had a large meeting with missionaries from all around the area. It is always a good time to see everyone together. I gave a 'training' for over an hour haha it was so long! It was really fun though. We just talked about the history of 'Israel', starting with Abraham all the way to when Moses restored certain priesthood keys to Joseph Smith (D&C 110).

AFTERWARDS, a family in our ward took us to dinner at a restaurant called "Antler Cafe" in Bulverde. The menu looked delicious. Steaks, burgers, ribs and more! However, my eyes were drawn to something elder on the menu.

They were selling frog legs. I have never had frog legs before... so I ordered me some frog legs. They were pretty decent, i'll probably never do it again though ahah. I'll send ya'll a picture of them

James Richard:

On Saturday night, we drove up to Canyon Lake to have a baptismal interview with a man. His name is James Richard. He is around 50 years old. A classic Texan, he has always worked manual labor and now climbs telephone poles all day. Being raised baptist, he had a strong love for the Lord, and had always believed. He had struggles and problem in life, which soon dissipated when he found The Church.

He had smoked for 30 years, it was simply just past of his life. He wanted to stop, but never had a strong enough desire to. Once he was meeting with the missionaries, he felt that desire. One day he promised God that he would stop, and he hadn't smoked since that moment.

During our conversation, I asked him when he first believed that this was all true. I was half expecting him to say 'while I was praying' or 'It just made sense!'. Rather, his response was 'Here, at this building'. It was once he finally came to the Church that he found his testimony.

Sunday services are infinitely more than just sitting in pews, or watching the kids in front of us draw in their coloring books. Men like James Richard can receive revelation from God there. We should never go to Church expecting anything less than receiving personal revelation.

This Morning:

We are the closest missionaries to the Temple. Our apartment is only about a mile away. For working out this morning we all just decided to run to the Temple.

Big Mistake.

haha It is on the top of a huge hill! It was so hard running up! It took a lot longer than we expected, and it destroyed us. 

After we came home and showered, we met back up at the Temple. A lady in our ward works at the Temple to clean every Monday. She invited us to help clean this morning!

It was so awesome! We got a tour of every room in the Temple, and we were able to clean a lot of it. The Temple is always spotless, haah but it was fun cleaning it anyways.

Because of everything that we did this morning, we don't have too much time to E-mail!

I love ya'll!

Love, Elder Giles

October 13 Email!

Kinfolk,

Here's an update on my week:

Spanish Speaking Branch:

I went on an Exchange this week with Elder Vazquez in the Spanish Branch here. The Branch building is in Boerne, Texas. Elder Vazquez is a short Mexican who is from the center of Mexico. He is around 5'2'' and is so hilarious! hahaha he doesn't know English extremely well, so he always uses weird words and phrases. It's hilarious.

We spent the day on bicycles. Which I was excited about! I haven't ridden a bike for like 8 months.

Most of the day was in spanish, which was interesting because I do not know spanish. haha all I know is how to say simple things, but I can't have a conversation.

We met a man wearing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles boxers, so we knew he was nice. We taught him more about The Book Of Mormon and explained it's relationship to the Bible. It went very well.

Bikes, Spanish, Elder Vazquez, and TMNT... good day.

NFL Superstar:

Spending the day with a Priest in the ward, we decided to knock on a few doors. We knocked on a door and a man that looked like he just rolled out of bed answered. He told us that he wasn't interested in listening to us. As we were walking away he said, "Wait a minute. I have something for you."

What was it.. A bottle of water? Some money? Maybe a book?

Nay. What the man brought out was three large pictures of himself (one for each of us). Turns out, that he used to play for the Minnesota Vikings a while back, and was their starting quarterback. His name is Tommy Kramer.

He signed these pictures of himself and gave them to us.. haha after talking about football for a few minutes, he invited us inside. His entire house was a shrine to himself. His front room was only pictures of himself, and trophies he has. He had magazines laying out, turned to the page that it mentions him. I got the hint that he was very proud of his accomplishments.
He was a nice guy though, and I still have the autographed picture!

Miss Jonas:

On Friday night, we had a lesson planned with a family we were teaching. We were very excited for the lesson and even had another member family coming with us. An hour before the lesson, the mother called us and said that he is "joining" another Church, and not to come over. That was upsetting.

We had to call the member family and tell them that the lesson canceled. Elder Shorts and I were both pretty bummed out. So, instead of having that lesson, we went out to try and find other people to teach. Right before it got too dark, we decided to go visit one more street before we stopped for the night.

At the last house we visited, a very nice lady opened the door. She was really happy to see us, almost like she had been expecting us. She told us how her husband 'used' to be a member of the Church, and she has always been interested.
We went back the next day, and taught her about the Restoration of the gospel. The lesson went incredible, and it made perfect sense to her! We even stopped by later that night and met her inactive husband, who was super nice and told us that he "still knows the Book Of Mormon is true".

The husband had to work, but the next day Miss Jonas and her little son came to Church, and they loved it! The ward members were really friendly towards them and they felt comfortable. She will be baptized soon.

Looking back at it, I realized that if the first family wouldn't have canceled, than we would not have found Miss Jonas. They would not have came to Church, and who knows if the missionaries would have ever found them.

It was a true miracle.

ALSO, she is related to the Jonas Brothers. So yeah, she's awesome.

Please keep Stacy Jonas, and Albert Garcia in your daily prayers!

I love you all very much!
Love, Elder Giles

October 6 Email!

Kinfolks,

"Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper." (2 Chr. 20:20)

That was my 3rd General Conference here in Texas. It was so incredible. I have really grown an unquenchable desire to listen to the Lord's oracles and follow the counsel the give. That same desire came come to any of us, by simply acting on their counsel to begin with (John 7:17)

I hope that we can all show our sustaining of Thomas S. Monson by following the counsel we have received, and sharing it with others.

Also, thank you for all the letters I have been getting. I love reading them over and over again. I am sorry that I can not write back as much as I would like. I do love receiving letters and am so grateful for everyone writing me :) thank you

*This picture is the missionary I was with in Kerrville and Fredericksburg this week*

Kerrville & Fredericksburg: This last Tuesday I traveled up to Kerrville and Fredericksburg. They are both really old, beautiful towns.  Fredericksburg is an old town that was originally settled by Germans, there is still a high German population there and the architecture looks like an old German town. It's incredible.

In Kerrville, we saw many miracles. We decided to stop at a random street and go meet people. As we were walking up to one of the first houses, a man inside stood up and ran to the door. His name is Steve. He is from Las Vegas, Nevada, but has recently moved to Kerrville. In the next few minutes of talking with him he talked about the many trials and addictions he is now battling with. We told him about the power of Christ and the sanctification that comes through The Holy Ghost. He was in tears for most of the conversation. We prayed at the end and he was crying the whole time. We gave him a Book Of Mormon, gave him the time for the Addiction Recovery Program and invited him to Church. As we were leaving I heard him say,  "I love you guys".

We has so many other amazing experiences in that city, but I will have to save the others to tell you face to face.

Emerson Family: A few days ago, Elder Shorts and I were about to leave a neighborhood. As we were hopping in the car, we saw a woman and her two young kids walk around corner. We promptly decided to talk to them before we left. Luckily.

She told us how she is "looking for a church" and was concerned about her family.... that's a perfect thing to say to missionaries. haha
A few days later we taught the family. A humble family. We taught the lesson in the garage as they were on a bench and Elder Shorts and I were on lawn chairs. The lesson was powerful and they all were excited to read The Book Of Mormon, and continue to learn more. Each of them committed to be baptized, and become a member of The Church.

Please keep the Emerson's in your prayers

General Conference: Sunday Morning Session was extra special for Elder Shorts and I. President Slaughter invited us over to his house. We went over there at 10 am, and they had a huge breakfast prepared. Large portions of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. It was so good! We then watched the first session with him and his family. It was a great experience. We really love and respect our Mission President and it was a great privilege to be able to watch General Conference with him.

I wish I could tell you all everything that happened this week, but it would take 7 days and I don't have that much time.

I love you all, and I am so proud of each of you!

Everything is going amazing here in Texas!

Love, Elder Giles