October 30, 2017

Halloween

Such a good week! Early in the week Sœur Hunt and I found a really good spot to knock doors. We went there twice, not too much success. We did talk to an old man on the door step for a long time. He was super nice but also he couldn't understand us very well so he just started telling us his life story. His wife, who died 20 years ago, helped him to budget his money so he could buy the house he lives in now. Her picture was the first thing he put up in the house! A few houses down, a woman popped her head out the window and said that many many years ago the missionaries came by and her cousin was converted! Now her cousin lives near salt lake. Kinda cool!
We also did a little puppet show. We memorized a video from the self reliance program in French. It was about looking at your options and making decisions.

On Thursday, the sœurs in Luxembourg came and did some finding with us. I went back to that same spot of houses and we found a family!! The mom is not so believing but her 10 year old son has been asking her questions so she wants him to learn. She also has another son as well. We are going back this week.
The other sœurs talked to a lady that said she needed help moving. So Friday night we went to help her. Turns out she needed help unloading everything from the moving truck into her new apartment. So they drove us about 15 minutes away and we spent the evening doing that. It was interesting but fun. They invited us over to eat so we will be able to share a message then!
On Saturday we had a ward Halloween party! It is not really a big holiday here, we were the ones that organized the party but it turned out very well. We played my dad's favorite game, bean boozled. It's the jelly bean game with the good and bad flavors. The kids loved it. They had a great time guessing whether it was gross or not. There was also a relay race and pinatas! The best part was that our ami Caroline and her husband came! They had a great time. We also got a picture with the bishops little daughter!
Sunday was good too. There was a baptism for the Épinal branch in our building so we helped set up for that. It was awesome seeing Alain make the covenant of baptism even though the water was freezing.
Life is so good!
Sœur Giles


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Letter to Mom and Dad

Glad to hear all is going well. And that the bathroom remodel is progressing. I'm excited to see It! Also Caitlyn has a baby?!?!? Things change real quick when you're out here. Probably my last week in Nancy and we are killing It! We found 5 new amis this week, including that family from the other email. 

On Friday we had about 30 minutes before we had to go to the church to help set up for Halloween and we decided to walk down the street we normally walk down. No one is interested but as we go back to the bus stop Sœur Hunt stops a lady who talks to us for a little, we got her number, set up a church tour and said a prayer with her. Her name is Rabia and we will see her on Wednesday. She was so happy! 

Another cool thing, I was talking to Eynora in our ward on sunday. She spent a lot of time talking to our ami at the Halloween party. She is the absolute best!! But as we were talking on sunday she told me that a few weeks ago she read a verse in the bible that says to pray so that the Lord will bring more servants into his vineyard. She sees the need for leaders in this ward. Our primary is insane! We just need more solid people. As soon as she started praying for that specifically, we started telling her all about the cool, normal, intelligent people that we were finding. She said it has strengthened her testimony so much. And it is so true! Instead of praying that the missionaries will find people, it's better to pray for our ward specifically, so that we will have the members we need to continue to grow and progress. We have taught with a few members and we have a lesson set up with an ami on Tuesday with members as well. In fact this ami name Valerie fell off the face of the earth right before I got here. I've called her many times, passed by her house but nothing! 2 weeks ago, we decide to try one more time and this time she picked up and said we can come over! She was taught everything and probably would have been baptised before I got here. We are just not sure if her marriage is legal or not. Right now there is a lot of confusion of whether tribal marriages in Africa are ok for baptism. We will see!

We also had lunch with Maité and Irène on Saturday. We taught the word of wisdom and Irène committed to stop drinking coffee. It wasn't even hard. We went through the pamphlet. This is what she said"oh I guess I'm sinning" and I ask her do you want all those blessings we talked about? And she said of course, that's all she wants. Will you start to stop drinking coffee? She said yes! It won't be easy but I'll do It! Yay! It has been hard to teach Irène. She doesn't understand us very well and Maité talks a lot. But when we get down to business and give her the facts, she is more than willing to change. It was a good day. 

Here are some more pictures!

Love,
Sœur Giles

October 23, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

Not too much happened this week!
We went and saw a member family on Monday night and it was awesome! It was so awesome because Soeur Hunt was just on top of her game. She was understanding tons and talking back and it was so cool to watch. She was so happy afterwards! We can't wait to go back again. They invited us again for a family home tonight but we already had a rendezvous so hopefully next week. 

Also my favorite member Maité came back this week from a month vacation in the south. She is the little old lady with red hair. Church was so happy with her there. I missed her a lot!

This week we went on a little adventure to find a missing package that Soeur Hunt's mom sent to her but because we weren't at home it was placed in the fed ex warehouse. And the warehouse is quite a while a way. So we get on the bus and just a stop or two later, a member gets on! This is his first year at college, he actually moved from the south just a few months ago to start. But he hasn't been to church since his mom left, which was also a few months ago. So we said hi and talked a little bit about how school is going. He gets off and says see you Sunday! The best part is..he came on Sunday!!! He probably just needed a little reminder. It was cool to see Heavenly Father place him in our path.

We also were able to watch another broadcast to the Europe region by Elder Ballard. This was for the youth though. He promised that each youth in this area can touch one person's life before Christmas. If we think about the atonement a little bit more, if we find joy in the gospel, God has promised us enormous blessings and one is bringing our friends into the gospel. It was a very neat promise


Other than that we spent some more time cruising around Nancy talking to people. No new potentials but we are excited to keep working! Its getting chilly and rainy. Yes I am wearing my scarves mom! We looked at cool cathedrals and these are the exact words I said to soeur hunt "can you take a picture of me so I can show my mom I'm wearing my scarves?" Guess that worked out perfectly!
Sorry to disappoint, I did not eat any bugs but we had rabbit and carrots at the same time again. Bizarre.


Also I got your letter mom. Thank you so much!! I think it will be a really cool thing to study together since we are all separated now. One thing I really thought was interesting from the repentance study was that forgiveness comes from first being humble and then recognizing Christ's role as our savior. Yes we have lots of things to change and repent of but Christ is our mediator with the Father. It is through him that we become better. So as we focus on him, the atonement, he promises us forgiveness and peace. What a blessing that is!

Soeur Giles

October 16, 2017

Make room for the trees!

We had 2 super good rendezvous this week!
The first on was with Victor, the guy I met in Paris last week. Turns out he has a wife and 2 kids, 1 one of them is just a month old. She is so cute! But he has studied quite a bit, he has read the bible a few times, and pretty much knows everything that goes on. He has so many correct beliefs, now they just need to be connected! We talked a lot about who we are and what our potential is. We talked about life is about progressing, trials are here to strengthen us. We made the analogy, when a child is first learning how to walk they have to fall so many times before they can do it by themselves. Well once a child falls, who is there to help them get back up? Their parents! Its the same with our Heavenly Father. He sent Jesus Christ to help us get back up every single time we fall in this life. It's was cool to discuss real doctrine with someone who already knew all the basics, he wanted to know all the little details of what we believe. Well we talked for 2 hours, by the end we were exhausted.

The second rendezvous we had was a real miracle! We had met this last a few weeks ago on the street and she was super willing to talk and discuss. She had been pretty busy since then but we sent her a text yesterday asking how her week was. She said it was good, we can't meet until November but then she asked us what we were doing right then! They were just walking around town, it was the perfect moment to ask! So we ran right into town and we met up with them and we talked for over an hour. Her husband actually joined the church in the 1970s when his parents met the missionaries, it has been over 30 years since he has been to church. One of the only thing he remembers is the articles of faith, one in particular. We believe in obeying and sustaining the laws, wherever we live. He is a judge in fact, so it made a pretty big impression on him. We just talked about goals in life and how God helps us to accomplish them. At the end right after we said the prayer, they both had tears in their eyes. Such a sweet moment! The gospel is true and we can feel that in our hearts. 

There is also a cool tree exhibit in place stanislas and we had a fun time walking through that!
Sœur Giles


















































Letter to Mom and Dad


Well not too much happened this week! We had those two really good rendezvous with new amis. We are super excited to teach families!!

We also went to Luxembourg. Its about a 2 hour train ride with a little stop in Metz. I was with Sœur Staley and this is her last transfer. We talked about byu, she is actually thinking about doing accounting as well. That was fun, We went contacting all day but we went to a smaller town called esch right near the French border. And the people were super nice there. Sorry didn't take any pictures. 

Also they put up this tree display in place stanislas. And it was super cool! We got to walk through it a few times. One day there was a bunch of old and handicapped people there and it was so fun to watch them explore and do some activites! There is a bridge and stepping stones across water, and a hammock. It's fun. Here are some random pictures of that!

Last night there was a broadcast to all the adult members of the Europe area. We heard from a few area seventy and also Elder Ballard. He warned against apathy. Do we feel the joy of having the gospel, of knowing about the restoration? We are the only church on the earth who has the truth why are we not being joyful and why are we not sharing it?? He said we can't let the church diminish here, it needs to grow! Then he told the members to share the gospel and find people for the missionaries to teach, it's the only way for us to find people! One of the members came up to us after and said we are hoping you will recieve some referrals soon!

 
I really really like the macarons here with raspberries in them, so delicious!!
And to run is courir. It is an irregular verb though so to conjugate it we say je cours,( I run ) nous courons (we run). Pretty fun! 

There was a fun relief society activity on Saturday as well. We did zumba and a relaxation time. During relaxation we got a small massage from one of the older ladies in the ward and it was awesome haha. The sœurs from Toul also came and whenever any one of us went up to get a massage she was like " missionary work is stressful huh? You need to take some time to relax! " we will see if we do! 

Have a wonderful week! Love you!
Sœur Giles

October 9, 2017

Another week gone!

This week was a full one! We had zone conference on Wednesday where President Sorenson trained us on how to use...Facebook!! It was quite long, about 7 hours spent trying to figure things out and learning but overall, seems like it will work well. At first it was interesting to think about, how are we supposed to not get distracted or off our purpose if we have this right in front of us? Well the next day we were in Paris to do some legality for Sœur Hunt. While the bleus were off doing their stuff, the trainers went contacting! Then I realized well we must already be extremely trusted. President Sorenson had left, same with the senior couple, it was just a group of 20 year olds all by ourselves in PARIS. But we did what we were supposed to! If we apply the same principle to Facebook, it will be a great tool! I am super excited! It will make staying in contact with investigators and other people we are working with so much easier.

Well Sœur McDonald and I went contacting together in Paris! She was in my group at the MTC so it was super fun to catch up. Well we had been out for just a few minutes and we stopped this man. We talked about the Book of Mormon and he accepted one! We were just down the street from the visitors center so we pointed to it and said that there are always missionaries there if you have time to stop by. We go on our way and a few hours later the elders ask hey which one of you stopped Victor? It turns out we did! They said he had just came by the vistors center and they taught him the whole restoration! Guess where he actually lives?! Nancy!! So Sœur Hunt and I have a rendezvous this Saturday with him. 

Also Wednesday night when we were at family night for the young adults, we talked about the story in the Pearl of Great Price where Moses was just called as a prophet by God. They had talked face to face, and Moses was able to learn about who he really is, a son of God. After that satan comes to Moses and says that he is a son of man and demands for him to worship him. Moses responds, no I am a son of God, I know who I am, where is your glory? He stood firm in his knowledge, no one could change that! Moving along to Thursday, again in Paris, we talk to a man. He tells us that we are strong enough to live our life without religion, religion causes war, not much good comes from it. On the other hand, he is content with his life, he helps out his neighbors and close ones, he is successful enough with his job. Then the thought popped into my head, hey this looks like the story of Moses! We had some uplifting words from the meeting earlier that day like we can do hard things, Christ is there for every single one of us no matter what. Now being faced with opposition, it was up to us to take the stand and say no I know who I am and I know in whom I put my trust. And that is in the Lord. He is our savior and He loves each one of us!

Have a great one!

Sœur Giles

Soeur MacDonald and Soeur Giles contacting together in Paris

Letter to Mom and Dad:
Okay not sure how long this one is going to be..i spent a lot of time cleaning today. While I was on power mode just scrubbing every hard surface in here Sœur Hunt was like you need to write your family or they aren't going to like you, we only get one day to talk to them, then I said we only get one day to deep clean. Basically you might have taught me too well Mom...
I cant believe Paige is having a baby!!!! Cute blanket, they will love it!
If you want a real french bathroom you should move the toilet into your bedroom (like where the tv is) but keep the tub and sink and everything else where it is. That's what they are like! Separated, atleast in homes and apartments, not in the church haha The toilet has a little 3 ft by 4 ft room all to itself. Kinda fun!
The week was good! Lots of meetings, not too many rendezvous, our amis are fine, haven't been able to see most of them in a while. But all is Well!
I learned the word ceuillir this week, it means to pick, like pick flowers. And the word gamin means kid. Most of the time people say enfant but I've been hearing that word more recently! I also have been working on the tense "would have done something" called conditional perfect in French. Like in the sentence "If I knew how to make carbonara, i would have put in the eggs before the cream." Yes this actually happened this week. We attempted to make carbonara but didnt quite know how to do it and ended up eating scrambled eggs and noodles. But the second time we made it, it turned out pretty good, pictures included.
I don't think I need anything for Christmas! Just some dried mangos would be perfect. I'm not sure where I will be for Christmas! Weird!
Hmm not much else happened this week! Its been an interesting adjust to have Facebook, we haven't been able to use it too much yet.
So you have been going go to gospel principles class? Are there any investigators? Do you have sisters or elders in the ward?
I really like most of the French hymns! They usually sound good, sometimes there is an extra note added but other than that mostly the same. Sometimes the wording is interesting, not as poetic but still pretty!
President and his family are super nice. Very enthusiastic to be out here. It's nice to be around them! We are setting a monthly baptismal goal now though, which is different from before. The goal for October is 32! We had 11 in September so it will be a stretch but very doable. Our zone has the goal for 4! Right now in Nancy there is an ami of the elders who has a date for the end of October and it is very possible he could be baptized! That would be cool.
Go Clay! He's a tough guy.
Thanks for your emails! Here's more pictures than last week! I forgot to send some that I took.
Love,
Sœur Giles

October 2, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

One day during language study, Sœur Hunt felt the need to just go contacting as soon as possible! So we go out and start walking. At first we weren't really sure what to do so we just went to a street that we walk almost every day and starting talking to people. No one was really interested at first but then we talked to a super nice lady. After about 15 seconds, she asked if there is a way we could meet again? I'm on my way to work but I'd love to learn more, i think my husband has even searched into your religion before. Well of course these is a way we can do that! We exchange numbers and we called her a few days ago to set up a rendezvous and she says "so i talked with my husband about your religion and actually he was baptized a long long time into your church but doesn't remember a ton other than you meet every Sunday. We could probably come in the future. Also I started reading the Book of Mormon you gave me. We are busy this week but we would love to discuss more". It was such a cool moment to see someone take the initiative and actually be interested right away! Following the spirit works!

Also this week we helped a member's mom move. The new apartment was just down the street so instead of renting a truck we put everything in shopping carts and wheeled them down the road haha! The hard part was that they lived on the fourth floor of a building without an elevator and the stairs were spiraled and pretty shaky. It was an interesting sight seeing the fridge being carried down!

General conference was awesome! We were at the church to watch a session at 11 and then at 2 and then we were invited to watch the Sunday morning at a members house at 6! One theme that I picked out was that the Savior works one by one. He knows each of our needs, he has felt our pains, and he knows exactly how to help us. If we run towards him and grab a hold of his outstretched arms, we will find relief and peace.

Sœur Giles







Letter to Mom and Dad,

Thank you for your emails! Sad about the conference tradition but its okay we will do a nice batch of cinnamon and orange rolls next year! I enjoyed the PowerPoint, i hope to see Ruth sometime soon! We didn't watch the Kirkland video but that is cool! I have loved being able to share ancestor stories with people and hear them talk about theirs. And that's cool that you are going to institute with Brother/Elder Clark! The couple from the singles ward right? Learning with the help of the prophets makes everything make more sense. Elder Hales was a much loved prophet!

I'm not really sure what kind of details you are looking for but here is my best try to thinking of lots of things to say!
This morning I poured a bowl of cheerios but I had the thought to taste them before putting in milk because they had been there for a few weeks. Well took a bite and yep they were gross and stale. Good thing I didn't waste any milk!
Last night I took a lot of hair put of the shower drain, it smelled real bad. I wish we had one of those tools to pull it out but I had to use my fingers.
Last district meeting we had a nice discussion about the lesson of the restoration and people were talking about how this has been a great experience to actually read the book of Mormon all the way through. I was a little confused...when I was 12 I read it all the way and wrote notes on every chapter. That is definitely a gift of the spirit to have a desire to read it since I was younger. So I have to put that into use. We started doing contacting this week by jumping to the book of Mormon this week and we handed out five! Our goal is 30 this transfer. Then we were wondering if it actually does make a difference, do they just throw it away or collect dust? Well then we had lunch with some members, a mom and son and one of the mom's friends on Friday. She told us how she joined the church. They had given her a book of Mormon and it sat on her table for a long time just collecting dust and more dust. One day she decided to actually read, it had to be important right? Well she started and read 1 Nephi 1 and then 2 and then 3 and then she called the missionaries because she had questions. Now a few of her sons have joined the church and one of them came back from a mission a few years ago. So yes! They do work miracles!
We talked to a lady on the street who was just a little bit crazy. She was born catholic but didn't like that priests can't marry. Anyways she wasn't interested in meeting with us but all the sudden she put her hands on Soeur Hunt's face and gave her a nice kiss on both of her cheeks and then proceeded to do that same to me haha then she walked away! We laughed about that for a good few minutes.
So our mission will be getting Facebook this transfer, I don't really know any details other than that because we will be trained at zone conference this week. But some people are really bummed about it. I wasn't at all! Its definitely not my first choice but if the prophets wants us to use it, of course I am going to! Then I realized I had been prepared for this change a few weeks ago. i read the book our heritage from the missionary library and it talked about the declarations 1 and 2 in doctrine and covenants and the family proclamation. Well I had the thought hey God inspired those prophets just as much as he did to Joseph Smith. Well duh everything we believe is based on continual revelation so of course all those prophets are really called of God and have his authority. It was great preparation for general conference and for the change in the mission. I know that the Lord is moving His work forward and I am grateful to be apart of it.
What else... oh in the mall you have to pay to use the bathroom and we were sitting in the chairs next to it downloading a video to use later and we watched at least 5 people try to stick the coin in the bill slot. It was kind of funny because the coin slot was about 5 centimeters under the bill slot.
Also this week I started reading the new testament and writing down all the questions Christ asked during his recorded ministry, well there a ton. But as I was watching conference I kept writing down reflecting questions like the ones Christ asked! I liked seeing that influence how the Spirit talked to me.
The young adults in the ward are preparing to do a musical number soon and they chose we'll bring the world his truth and they asked us to sing with them. It has been fun learning it in French.
Training is hard! Sometimes it feels more like an introduction to life rather than just to missionary life. I am very grateful for my time at college and the bigger perspective that has given me on everything.
We were at our meeting with the ward mission leader and he was asking us if we liked cats or dogs better. (He is Mexican and knows Spanish french English and Portuguese) well since I have been here I have come to appreciate the cleanliness of new homes and come to dislike furry animals. So instead of picking a dog or cat I said I like fish! Well he looked at me funny and started laughing saying ok I am going to explain one more time very slowly do you like cats or dogs, i still said fish haha we have some good times with him! We are planning a Halloween party for the ward and he is super excited.
Well that's about it or this week! Thanks for all that you do, thanks for supporting me to be out here, i really really appreciate all you do and all that you have taught me! You are wonderful!
Love,
Sœur Giles