Monday, October 28, 2013

This past week has been crazy. We found out Elder Domingo does not have any of his immunizations and vaccines. Normally, the church doesn't let anyone serve a mission until the shots are done. Somehow, Elder Domingo made it past. We've wasted so much time this week trying to set up appointments with doctors and visiting different clinics. It's hard because he's not a citizen of America. He also doesn't know what a lot of ASL means. He's still learning. Today, we finally have it all sorted out. He got 3 shots on one arm and 2 in the other. Now he can't raise his arms. He's too sore. It's so funny to watch him sign.

Today is my last day here in Fremont. Tomorrow I'll find out where I'm moving to. This past saturday, I found out that I was being transferred. It was really sad to say goodbye to the ward members in Central Park. It was even sadder to say goodbye to the deaf members in the Fremont ASL Branch. I don't know where I'm going, when I get there, I'll send you an email with my new address. It feels like Fremont is my home now. I have the same feeling I did when I left Utah to come to San Jose. I'm leaving my home.

My friend, Jordan Lesser, just has 18 weeks left on his mission. Wow! He's going to be home pretty soon. Wesley said he had 3 months or so left. I think for me, about 4 months. Or 5 months. Time is so fast.

Love, Elder Giles.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Hello!

I'm doing well here in Fremont. Elder Domingo is great!  He's doing a great job learning ASL. Sometimes we have to explain what words mean or we have to teach him new signs.  It's fun.

We're working extra hard to find new deaf people to teach. We want Elder Domingo to feel like he's working hard. It's a bit hard to find new deaf people.

Yeah, I'm still a District Leader. That is also really fun. Sometimes it's a little bit stressful. I have to plan for meetings and make sure everything is running smoothly. But I really enjoy it.

I haven't filled out any applications for universities, I don't have time right now. But I will soon. President Watkins says I should apply to BYU anyway. So I will. I'm not worried. President Watkins is a great man.

Also, I just sent a package in the mail to home. It has some stuff that people gave to me. But it's stuff that I don't need or not supposed to have. I put it in the mail today so I should arrive sometime this week?  It's in a white box. I put a letter inside explaining what I want you to do.  And I think next week, I'll send my memory card.

I love you all.
Elder Giles

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Now we have Elder Domingo!  He is the new ASL missionary. He's from the Philippines and he is deaf. He is the only deaf person in his family. He actually didn't know ASL before he went to the MTC. He knew Filipino Sign Language and English.  His ASL is pretty good.  I couldn't tell that he learned it at the MTC. He doesn't know too much about the gospel. He didn't have an interpreter in church. He's learning about so many things. He's great though.

I think in 2 weeks, I'll be leaving Fremont. I don't think I'll be in the ASL program anymore. Elder Horlacher, my old companion, is Assistant to the President right now. But he will be done in 2 weeks. He told me that he is going to be transferred back to the ASL Branch. That means that I will probably be leaving.

Right now, 2 hearing guys and 1 deaf, it's a little bit tough. We're trying to figure out how we can work together. Right now we work with the Central Park Ward (Hearing) and the Fremont ASL Branch (ASL) We visit hearing people with Elder Domingo. Sometimes I feel bad because we don't have a lot of deaf people to visit. There are only 15 or so active members of the ASL Branch. Lots of the deaf people have moved to different states or don't like the church anymore.  It's very expensive to live here. Our apartment is about 1,200 dollars a month.  Wow.

We're working on trying to have more deaf people to teach so Elder Domingo can be more involved.

I love you all. I hope Zach is feeling better. I'm excited to see the baby when I VP home.

I'll talk to you next week.
Elder Giles

Monday, October 7, 2013

General Conference was great!  For some reason, now that I'm a missionary, I learn a lot from General Conference.  Even though none of the speakers talked about prayer as a topic, I learned the most about prayer.  I don't know why.  I wasn't fully awake for the whole thing though....   I fell asleep a few times, but I still learned a lot!

How is Zach doing?  Is he at home resting?  Does he have a cast or anything like that?  I will pray for him to be healed. Prayer really works. I think you said his baby is coming in December?  Wow!  He will be born before I get home? Wow! That's really exciting!  The family will be different when I get home. Everything is going to be crazy when I get home.

Here, we've done a lot of good work. We've been following the plan we've set up. We invite at least one person everyday to be baptized. Sometimes it feels really weird, but things always work out. We've been finding more people to teach. It's great!

On Wednesday, our new ASL missionary will be arriving. His name is Elder Domingo. He's from the Phillipines and I think he's full deaf.  I also hear others say that he's hard of hearing.  I don't know what to expect. This is going to change a lot of things. We're going to have to figure out how we can still work with the deaf branch and the hearing ward.  I'm excited, but nervous.

Also, we have another appointment set up with Sarah and Windy Wildmon. This Tuesday we will see them. I'll let you know how it goes.

I love you all.  I will pray for Zach.
From Elder Giles.

Monday, September 30, 2013

 

Hello! 

 

Zach sent me an email about his motorcycle accident.  Lucky, he didn't break anything.  I remember when I broke my arm. Not fun.  Just some good rest will help. 

 

Well, things are going great here!  Elder Le Beau and I are doing some good work.  We finally got to meet Sarah and Windy Wildmon.  We set up a time to visit at a later time.  She didn't seem too like she didn't like us, she was nice and smiled at us.  We're trying to meet with more people.  It's hard to find deaf people here.  Mark Call, he's a sunday school teacher here.  He works for Sorenson.  He has a list of all the deaf people here in Fremont.  But he can't tell us, or he'll get fired.  He says once he retires, he'll share the list with the missionaries that are serving ASL.  Wow, lucky them! 

 

A member invited her friend to get a blessing from us.  Her friend's name is Shanthi.  They're both from India.  Shanthi is having a hard time helping her daughter.  So the member brought Shanthi to meet us.  We gave Shanthi a blessing and then taught here about how the gospel blesses families.  She said that we could meet heragain and teach her whole family!  It was great.  The member was teling us that she felt like she needed to invite Shanti to get a blessing, but she didn't know what to do.  The times before, Shanthi didn't want to do anything with the church.  But this member felt so strongly that she should, and was really surprosed when Shantyi accepted.  It was a great story.

 

This past Saturday, we went to the Boy Scout's Garage sale.  We just wanted to look around.  As we looked around, I found this really cool typewriter.  So I bought it for 2 dollars.  It's so cool!  I don't have to write letters by hand anymore, I just use the typewriter.

 

Love you all