August 25 Email!

Kinfolk,

This week has gone by so fast! Holy Moly. We are teaching some hilarious people here. Let me give you a little taste:

Jose Gomez: Mexican, married to a member who doesn't speak English. He speaks English very well and says that he learned it all from watching 'The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly' haha. He smokes cigarettes and is trying to quit, so we are starting a program with him that helps people quit smoking really fast. It's the Church's 15-step program.

Lisa Segel: She's 6'7''. She has recently married an inactive member who is 6'8''. Tall people. They are both wanting to go back to Church, and so he is getting active, and she is getting ready to be baptized. She really wants her husband to baptize her, which would be awesome. The only thing is, it might be a little while until he is ready.

Chris Hughes: He is 18. He works with a member of the ward here and asked to come to Church with him. He has come a few times and really loves it! His whole life he has been agnostic, but now he feels like he has finally found the truth. He told us yesterday how he believes that God is his Heavenly Father and that Jesus is his Savior.

That is just a taste of some of the great people we are teaching here.

I love you all!

Talk to you soon

-Elder Giles

August 18 Email!

Kinfolk,
How are ya?!
My first full week in Bulverde was great! Bulverde is actually just a really small town, that we never go to. The majority of our area is the Northern top of San Antonio City. It's really nice and wealthy. There are a lot of great people here though, and we have been finding a lot of new people who we are now teaching!

Elder Shorts and I are getting along really well, we have a lot in common and have basically the same sense of humor. So, there is rarely a dull moment around here haha. It's insane that I have already had 7 companions, and they have all been like my best friend. I'm really not just saying that, or trying to be a nice guy. They are totally people I would hang out with after the mission, I've been really blessed.

This week has been good, hot and busy. I usually tell ya'll a little about what happened this past week, but this E-mail is going to be a little bit different. I have something else I want to talk about today.

In 2 days, I hit my year mark.

It has been a year since I was in Utah

It has been a year since I have seen many of my friends
It has been a year since I was dropped off at the doors of the MTC, and gave hugs to each of you

In this last 363 days:
I have worked harder than I have ever worked.
I have sweated more than ever before
I have laughed harder than ever before

I have met many of my best friends

I have been more tired than I have ever been

I have learned so much about myself
I have cared for people more than ever before

I have felt closer to God than ever before

I have been thanked more than ever before

I have been mocked more than ever before
I have had times when it wasn't so glamorous
I have had the most spiritual experiences of my life

This has honestly been the best year of my life.

This year has gone by so fast, it's hard to believe. I try to look back on everything that has happened, and am overwhelmed with all the amazing experiences and people I have met

I can't explain, or convey the importance of my mission in an E-mail. But I can say that I am a better man today than I was a year ago, and I will be an even better man in a year than I am today.

I am so grateful for my mission, and everyone who has affected my life to help me get out here

I love you all!

-Elder Giles

August 11 Email!

NEW ADDRESS:

**22202 Estate Hill Drive #15211, San Antonio, Texas, 78258**

I will be expecting oodles of letters this coming week...

The Zone I am in is called the Hill Country Zone. It covers basically the top north of San Antonio and the country area right above it. The actual area I am in is the Bulverde ward.

So, my area is about 1/2 super rich and wealthy city and 1/2 country. It is pretty different from what I am used to, but I really like it so far. We got "doubled-in" which means that me and my companion both got to the area on the same day and neither of us know any of the members, investigators, and anyone around haha. We ALSO, got moved into a BRAND-NEW apartment. I mean, this is unreal! It is in the nice part of the city. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two closets, a huge kitchen/living room area and a fireplace.... and it is just my companion and I.

haha next transfer they are moving two more Elders in there, but for now, it is just us.

My companion's name is Elder Shorts. He is 6'5''. haha I feel bad for him, everyone we meet makes some lame joke about how he's tall but his name is Shorts... haha it's so funny. Elder Shorts is from Gilbert, Arizona. He's a funny guy and likes to have fun. We already get along really good. I have been pretty lucky, I guess. I have gotten along really well with all of my companions.

 

This week I have been thinking a lot about prayer, and how grateful we should be for it!

Think about it.. we get to speak to the Creator of all, Almighty God, our Loving Heavenly Father whenever we want. We can speak to him for however long as we want, and we don't have to pay any money.

Think about prayer, how much it has helped you and how amazing it actually is. Now think about if we couldn't pray.

We would do everything and anything to have that opportunity to speak with God, tell him what is on our mind, and receive revelation from heaven.

It's an amazing gift we have to pray to Him. The more we pray sincerely, and listen for our answers, the more we appreciate prayer.

I love you all

Write me (holla at me)

-Elder Giles

Elder Kunz and I being weird on our last day together

here's a last-minute picture of Elder Shorts and yo' boy

August 4 Email!

Dearest Kinfolk,

TRANSFER NEWS:

Bad News: I am no longer a District Leader :( I was only a District Leader for one transfer, and I loved it!

Good News: I am now a Zone Leader.

I am actually really scared to be a Zone Leader. I went to a meeting in San Antonio this week, they call it M.L.C. (Mission Leaders Conference). The meeting is for all Zone Leaders. It was really awesome, but I felt pretty weird the whole time because I was the youngest person there (mission age). I was the only person there who wasn't to their year-mark yet.

I'm really nervous to be a Zone Leader already, but I am also excited! It's going to be really fun, and I already know I am going to learn A TON.

President told me I was getting transferred a few days earlier than usual, so I was able to tell people at Church. The First Counselor announced it over the pulpit and then called me up to bear my testimony haha it was awesome. I am really going to miss Marble Falls. I have learned and grown so much here! I have made some really good friends, and met great examples to me. The First Counselor made me promise to the ward that after I get married, I will come back and visit haha.

So make sure that no one sends me anything this week, because I am moving! I will give ya'll my new address next P-day! **DO NOT SEND ANYTHING THIS WEEK**. Also, I tend to collect a lot of random stuff that I don't need on my mission, so i'll be sending home another box (or two) this week.

I had my final District Meeting this week, haha also only my third District Meeting. I'm going to miss it. I love this District so much, we are all so close. We had a lot of fun at District Meetings. My current companion, Elder Kunz is taking over as District Leader here, he is going to do great!

The work here is going excellent, it's hard to leave. We just met this week a man named Milo (me-low). He is such a stud! He's like 27 or something and he just moved back from Idaho. While he was there, he had met with missionaries and even wanted to be baptized, but he couldn't because he was on parole. But, now he is off of parole! So, we are teaching him and starting to teach the family he is living with and we'll get them all baptized in no time!

I'm going to miss Elder Kunz, it's not fair that we were only together for 3 weeks. We got along great haha he is such a goofy guy, we are always laughing about something stupid.

Baptism is like giving a starving person a big feast. It will keep them alive and is the only way they can survive (be saved). But if they don't eat the feast, it doesn't mean much. We must eat, bite after bite after bite. Too many people think they are "good to go" because they have gotten 'the feast'.

We need to keep our baptismal covenant active, by enduring to the end.

I love ya'll very much!

Pray for me, as I pray for you!

-Elder Giles

picture of me last P-day golfing:

 

 

July 28 Email!

Kinfolk,

Everything is going great here. Elder Kunz and I are getting a long great. haha he is a really funny guy, and we have a lot of fun together. I think I told you last time that he was a vegetarian. I was pretty nervous because of that people would feed us no meat, and so I would just become a vegetarian too. Thankfully, that's not the case. Instead, people make him a vegetarian meal... and still make a giant carnivorous meal, but now they expect me to eat all of it by myself. I'm now eating meals intended for 2 large missionaries.

Hahaha ya'll probably think I am just going pounds left and right. I wish. I've only gained like 10 pounds since I started my mission, and it's pure muscle... so don't worry.

This week was intensely busy. District Meeting, exchange with one of the AP's, 4 baptismal interviews, stewardship's, and one giant Pioneer Day party.

The baptismal interviews were so incredible! They were each so different, but at the same time pretty similar. They all had totally different stories and backgrounds. Each of them had a different trials, and questions. Even though they were so different, they all had one thing in common: they all now believed in Jesus Christ. They believed in His Church, and believed that it was restored through Joseph Smith, the prophet. 

There were two brothers who I interviewed, both teenagers. They were born and grew up in China. They found out about the church, and studied all about it while they were there. They knew it was true, but were too scared to be baptized in China. Miraculously, they moved to Austin. The boys looked up the nearest church building and three weeks later were meeting with me.

It was so powerful to hear these Chinese teenagers testify in their broken English about Jesus Christ, and how they know it is all true. When I asked the oldest brother about Joseph Smith he said something similar to, "It is because God loves us. We really are His children, and he is showing us by calling a prophet in our lifetime"

It will never cease to amaze me how people can be so different, live absolutely unique lives, seemingly have nothing in common. But there is always one thing that links us together; Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is true. Jesus is the Christ, and Joseph is His prophet. These are true whether you are in Utah, or China. Whether you speak English or Mandarin. As long as you have some faith, you can know it. And as long as you have some intelligence, you can always know it.

Bitter-Sweet Experience:

We had a person we were teaching a few months ago. We stopped teaching them and told them to call us if they wanted us to come back.. well, they hadn't called. Every once in a while I would see their name, or be by their house, but I never went by because I knew they weren't really interested right then.

Well, yesterday I felt like we should just go by anyways. So, we did.

We showed up and she was just looking like a mess, and she started to tell us how her husband left her and the family a few days ago. She has really been dealing with a lot, and is very overwhelmed. She told us how she had been praying a lot, and then started to cry and said, " I knew you guys would come..... I knew you guys would come"

We were able to talk with her and help her, but most importantly we were just able to show up and help her realize that God cares about her, and is listening to her prayers.

I love feeling that God used me, to answer someones prayer. It's one of the greatest things you could ever feel.

Well... I could go on and on, but I should probably stop this E-mail so I can go catch a fish and go golfing. I love you all and pray for you. There's a few people I am pretty sure don't even read my E-mails that I pray for frequently. 

Thank you for everyone who has been sending me letters! Lisa Castleberry has been awesome with writing me and sending me stuff! So, shout-out to Lisa Lou.

All my family and friends, thank you for the examples you have been and are to me. I love YA'LL

ALSO: This Sunday is transfer calls again. So, there will be news this next P-day for ya'll!

Stay cool

-Elder Giles

(pictures: a sweet little girl who wants to be a missionary, so I let her wear my badge

& me standing in front of a sweet Dinosaur thing I found...)

 

 

July 21 Email!

Kinfolk,

 

It sounds like ya'll are really enjoying your summer! !'m glad to hear that ya'll had a fun, busy week.

Sounds like it has been pretty hot in Utah! Perfect weather to go swimming, play tennis, or write me a letter. BY THE WAY: Thank you so much for all the letters I have been getting lately! I really love to read them all! Letters are a very cherished prize in the mission. 

The heat never ceases here though, even at nighttime it is still really humid. We'll go sit out on porch at night and just be sweating and feel like we are in a sauna.. haha. oh well.

THIS WEEK.... WHERE TO BEGIN....

Well, Elder Whitney and I are no longer companions haha, last Monday he got what is called an "Emergency Transfer". It's when someone has to be transferred to a new area and it can't wait fro the regular Transfer Meeting. My new companion is Elder Kunz. The reason they transferred is because Elder Kunz was in an area where they only ride their bicycles, and he has some really bad knee problems and can't ride a bike anymore. So, they switched. It was pretty sad, and unexpected, to say 'adios' to Elder Whitney. Elder Kunz is really cool though, and we already get along great!

We were very busy this week, showing Elder Kunz the area and having many lessons. We have a few people who are preparing to be baptized, one lady named Shelby Barr, and someone else named David Sanchez. They'll both be ggetting baptized in the next few weeks! That's very exciting!

The rest of the district here is also having a lot of baptisms this week. There are 4 on this Saturday! So, I will be going to Austin on Thursday and basically spending the whole day having baptismal interviews with these people.

That is going to be a really cool experience. I get to meet with people who are making changes in their lives, who want to follow Jesus Christ, and are ready to be baptized into God's Kingdom. I get to hear their testimonies and tell them that, "yes, you are ready to be baptized."

That is just one of the many amazing experiences I am so lucky to have in my mission!

Dinner Updates:

Homemade Tacos

Chicken-fried steak (the size of the entire plate)

Fresh crock-pot chicken (from their backyard)

More deer steak wrapped in bacon

Hamburger Helper :)

This next week is going to be really busy. We have a District Meeting on Wednesday and two of the AP's will be there, then we are going on an exchange with one of them for the rest of that day. Thursday i'll be in Austin all day doing Baptismal Interviews. I'm excited! It's going to be a fun week.

Today is my 11 month mark! That's crazy! What even more insane is to think that I only have 13 months left!

The mission is flying by, I really am trying to just hold on haha. I love it. This is the greatest thing I have ever done.

I love ya'll!

Be good, and have a fun week

Love, Elder GIles

July 14 Email!

Family,

Yeah, it's been around 100 degrees here every day too, but it's "really humid". I put it in parenthesis, because I really don't feel the humidity any more, I guess i'm just used to it haha and I love the heat! It's not going to be good when I go back to Utah.

OHH, you're repainting the kitchen? what colors are you painting it? I have painted actually quite a bit out here. It's like one of the most repeated service things we do. Every house out here in these boonies are just double-wide trailer homes, and everyone refuses to do ANY OTHER kind of work on there house, besides just repaint over all the stains and mud on the walls haha.

Well, folks, we had another very stellar week.

I went on an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders named Elder Van Aken, from Oregon. hahaha he is very similar to me. When we were in the truck just driving to another appointment, we would freestyle the whole time (and we do a lot of driving). haha he had a 'rap group' in High School and would make rap songs, too. It was extremely fun, just rapping about missionary work, institute dances, baptisms, the millennium.. anything that came to mind hahaha.

Today, actually, i'll be going on an exchange until Wednesday evening in the richest area in the mission. It's called 'Barton Creek', it's the nicest part of Austin. So, that'll be fun. Totally different from what I am used to. My first area was the slums, and now i'm just out in the country.

Dinner Updates: (this will now be a weekly thing, updating ya'll on the grub i'm snacking on)

-Deer steaks with mashed potatoes and gravy (shot the deer and did everything themselves)

-Cajun Hamburgers

-Barbecue Brisket

-Sloppiest Joes

-Deer Meat patties with cheese and chili's wrapped in bacon

-Cocoa Pebbles

A lot of really incredible experiences happened this week.

Within hours, we unexpectedly showed up at two separate Less-Active families home. I'll just share about one of them.

So, the Bishop told us about a family who's papers he just received into the ward, so we went to see if they really did live there. Well, they didn't. It was some lady who didn't know who she was and wasn't interested in The Gospel. So, I asked the lady who else we could go visit on the street. She told us of an old widow named 'Mary' who lived just down the road. So, we went over to the old widow's house. Knocked on the door, and a shirtless 16-year old boy answers the door. I quickly realized that this wasn't a widow's house named 'Mary'. Well, we started talking to him and found out that him and his mother are members of the Church, but have moved a lot and didn't know where the Church was. He mentioned how just recently he was talking to his mom about going back to Church, and then we knocked on the door. They now are coming to Church, and have family members who are not yet baptized who we will start teaching.

It's awesome to feel that God just worked through you to accomplish something.

Thank you all for your prayers and for your examples

I love you

Love, Elder Giles