June 24, 2013

Wow, I bet you're very busy doing work at the Temple.  There are so many missionaries now.  Last night, we had a special broadcast from the Church.  They said that there were now 70,246 missionaries serving.  They expect that number to double in the next few years!  They also announced that missionaries will soon be able to use Facebook and the internet to find people to teach.  That's very interesting.  How we do missionary work is changing, but it's still missionary work.

We've been teaching a woman named Patrica Peres.  She's from the Marshall Islands and English is her second language.  She has a baptismal date for July 13!  We're working very closely with her.  One of the biggest problems we're working with is that she can't read.  We might start teaching her how to read, or maybe have some of the sisters from the Relief Society come and teach her.  We hope for the best.

Wow, time is going by so fast!  I have about 9 months left!  There's too much to do before I leave.

I love you all and I'm excited to see the pictures.

Elder Giles.

June 17, 2013

Wow, it sounds like Hyrum is pretty active in doing church stuff.  We have some members who live here who used to live in Manti.  The Roundy family.  They actually used to be the directors for the pageant.  They told us all about it.  It sounds like a wonderful experience.

Yes, I did get your package.  It was great!  So much food!  Thank you so much!  I shared some with my companion because there was so much. 

Last week, I meant to make a card for dad, but we ran out of time.  I haven't had time to work on it.  Missionary work is really tiring.  But it's so great too!  I feel so happy when people do what we ask them to do.  We have a black woman we are teaching.  She is doing everything we ask here to do.  She says she wants to be baptized, but she doesn't want to set up a day yet.  She's so close!  We've also had some miracles happen.  When we were at church this past sunday, 3 people just walked in.  They said they wanted to learn more!  We were so excited to meet with them.  We taught them in a classroom that wasn't being used.  We got their information and we will be meeting with them soon.

I had a wonderful birthday and everyday is a great day.

I love you all.

Elder Giles.

June 10, 2013

Everything is going well.  We're still working on finding new people to teach.  We've started to find new people, now we're just trying to get into their homes.  I had a wonderful birthday.  My companion tried to bake a huge cookie for me, but it was toooo big.  It didn't get fully cooked.  Luckily, the Sister missionaries found out it was my birthday and made me some cookies.  They were delicious. 

On my birthday, we had a baptism.  A 10 year old girl joined the church.  Collette Cavenaugh.  My old companion and I got to teach her twice, but it was really hard to be able to meet her often.  When the sister missionaries came, we told them to go visit collette.  They were able to meet her because they didn't need a priesthood holder with them.  It was a wonderful baptism.   Hopfully, we'll have more soon.

Ok, I'm looking forward to getting your pictures.  I'm excited to see!

I'll talk to you next week.

Love Elder Giles.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Yep, everything is going great.  This past week has been a little bit slow, but everyday can't be the best.  We're doing better and better.  We've been meeting a lot of people, but now the problem is trying to set up an appointment.  Busy busy busy, that's what everyone says. God isn't too busy for them.  But, we're doing good work.

Yeah, I'll be in Fremont for a while.  Just send everything to my apartment.  I'll be here for the next 10 weeks, then for at least another 12 after that.  I'll be here.

We're just doing so much stuff.  This week was slow, but a wonderful thing happened.  We were trying to meet a person, but the family was too busy.  They were never home.  One day, my companion and I just stopped by.  We saw the dad and his son just sitting outside.  We started talking with them and he told us that his wife wasn't home.  We just decided to sit down with him and teach him.  The lesson went great.  He said he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  We're trying to meet with the whole family, but we'll meet with whoever we can.

Ok, I'll talk to you next week.  Bye!

Elder Giles