December 27, 2017

So I don't have much time but I had a great time talking on christmas. You are awesome! Have a wonderful week!

And hopefully you got that email from today from that family where we went to lunch today, it was so fun!

Enjoy pictures of the Eiffel tower!

December 18, 2017

Goodbye Nancy!

Well the day finally came (it came way too quickly), this Wednesday I'm leaving Nancy and going to Paris! And by Paris, I really mean Paris! Our church building is less than a kilometer from Notre Dame. Now that's a little crazy! Also my new companion is from the French speaking part of Canada!
The rest of the week was pretty calm! Had some good lessons, had the ward Christmas party. We watched the first presidency devotional and then ate and played some games.
Sunday was awesome because combined with the other soeurs we had 8 investigators at church, the class for them was filled!! There was also an american family who came that has been traveling the world for the past 7 months, they are from Washington originally but sold everything to just travel. They have 4 kids with the parents right now and the kids are home schooled as they go. They've been to England, Spain, and lots of other places I'm sure.
Sunday night we were invited to eat with kamila!
Thursday we spent the day in Paris doing things for legality. That night we went to our ward mission leader's house for a burrito night! And it tasted so so good.
Also Raphaël, our recent convert, recieved the aaronic priesthood and is ready to go the temple next week!!
We were able to see Brian twice and he really seems to be progressing. He liked coming to church and he is willing to start praying. There is such a brighter light now in that family since he decided to come back! The mom even just found work after years of looking.
It was a very very good final week here, I'm so grateful for it all! No words could describe what this place means to me, I love it with my whole heart!
Have a great Christmas!
Sœur Giles


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Letter to Mom and Dad

I'm super excited to go to Paris! I never really pictured myself as a city girl but I guess we can give it a try. In my district there are 2 francophones(native french speakers) so that's exciting, I hope to really speak a lot in French.
I'm actually so sad to leave here! It's all I've ever known!
I have no idea about Christmas plans so I'll have to let you know before next Monday. Is Lucas staying in Idaho but kailee going to utah? I can't wait to talk to you though, it feels like it was just mothers day!
Yesterday another sister here and I did another musical number in sacrament meeting, she sang silent night, holy night and I played the piano. It was beautiful! The ward really really liked it.
This week we visited an investigator, she lives pretty far. As we were waiting at the bus stop, a member of the ward drove by and asks if we needed a ride. Our investigator had never seen him before and she was super creeped out, then we explained who he was and we all laughed. It was with Emine!
We went to Saint Dié, a town an hour south, for our district meeting so that was fun!
It's been very cold, it snowed last night and it rains every single day!
Also thank you very very much for the cards and mango! Clay, I died laughing when I read yours, thanks Mr President. I appreciated your french as well :) not too shabby. You even looked up vacuum!
The bathroom looks so awesome!!!
Change is good I think, there are other people that need to hear the gospel and if I can help find them in Paris that's where I am going to go.
The Lord is so good to us, He blesses us so much and is constantly giving us opportunities to open our mouths.
Soeur Hunt will do great with a new companion. Her new companion is just one transfer ahead of her so she will be pushed a bit as well :) so that will help her to grow so much!
Soeur Warr flies home tomorrow, the mission is so different now than before.
Can't wait to see you next week! Stay safe with the fire, don't breath in too much smoke!
I love you very much!
Sœur Giles

December 11, 2017

Has it been 9 months or 9 weeks? Cant tell!

Wow can't believe that the fire is so big!! Sad about all the homes, I'm sure clay was happy to sleep in a little though.

And Alisa' s reception looked very nice! Looked like so much fun! You did a great job mom, and dad the floors look flaw less. 

This week was pretty calm, we had interviews at the beginning of the week. President asked me how I felt about transfers right before Christmas so that made me a cry a little, not cool!! 

I was sick a little too at the beginning of the week, just a cold but then I ate tons of oranges and now I feel so much better.

It snowed a lot this weekend! It was so pretty but also very very cold. Then it rained all yesterday and during the night so it all melted.

I tried a roasted chestnut and it was a little odd.

We had a good few rendezvous. We met with a new investigator oceanne and we set a baptismal date! For February but still it was cool to see her want to change and she felt the spirit alot when we talked about Joseph Smith. She was supposed to come on sunday but it was snowing a ton and she has a 9 month old son, little difficult with public transport.
We met with our investigator emina and when we gave her a book of Mormon, she just glowed!! She was so happy! We were able to meet her 5 year old girl and teach her how to pray. It's so cool to teach little kids how to pray! It is so automatic, she bowed her head and and closed her eyes and listed about 20 things she was grateful for, like her bed and pyjamas and her tooth brush, it was awesome!
There was a baptism in the ward on Saturday, a little boy that had turned 8 a little while ago. His name is yan! He asked me if I had been baptised as well and also if I've made other covenants with heavenly father. He is very very smart! But a little crazy in primary.

Brian also came to the baptism on Saturday and church on Sunday ! Everyone was so welcoming and kind and talked to him so much, it was so awesome. We taught him the plan of salvation last week. He seems to like it.

On Christmas day it will probably be around 6 or 7 at night for me. So maybe 10 or 11 for you? We will see! I'll let you know for sure before Christmas. Google hangouts will work great!

Everything is going well, so happy to be out here. It's the best work to be doing!
Thanks for all that you do! Heavenly Father is watching over us!

Love, Sœur Giles

December 4, 2017

So this week was such a good week!!
On thursday we had a conference in Paris with Elder Gary Sabin. He talked about a lot of good things. One in particular was his celestial steps! He identified 8 points that are key to understand. They are 1. true doctrine 2. our true identity 3. plan of salvation 4. Agency 5. The atonement of Christ 6. Our desires 7. Service 8. Eternal life. He testified that as we focus on what truly matters and let all the little things go, we will be able to have peace in life which is a clear conscience. That is the Savior's gift to the world, He promises us peace. And I got to see my trainer Sœur Warr before she goes home in just a few weeks!

On Saturday Raphaël was baptized!! He looked so happy and he told us he felt way more calm than before. His whole family ended up coming, none of them are members. They were all so kind and supportive. His mom even played a musical number on the piano during the service. Not too many members came but the elders that taught him were able to come back for it, Raphaël was very happy about that!

On Sunday we got a call from a member family in the ward inviting us to come over that night because they had someone that wanted to meet us! I assumed it was a friend or neighbor but when we got there it turned out it was their 22 year old less active son! Recently his life has been difficult and he feels like something is missing. He is not sure about everything about the gospel but he knows that it is good, there are only good things that come from it. He had spent time talking with his parents that morning and decided it would be good for him to take the missionary lessons to learn again the foundation of our beliefs. We had prepared a few scriptures before hand based on a lesson for someone else but as we started talking , Soeur Hunt and I realized that what we had prepared was exactly what he wanted to talk and learn about. We started just by explaining the role of Jesus Christ and why he is so important, what he can do for us. And then he was able to learn about the restoration. He didn't remember too much, he looked at the picture of the visit vision in the pamphlet and didn't recognize who the 2 people in white were but as he read the account in Joseph's words, he flipped over the page and realized who they were! Because God loves us he doesn't leave us alone, he provides the way to come back. 

Moments like this make being a missionary so worth it. I don't think it was a coincidence that the very day Raphaël became a member of the church was the very same day Brian decided it was time to come back. There is so much potential for them to learn together and support each other as they keep going.

Doctrine and Covenants "10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;
11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.
12 And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.
13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth"


Sœur Giles


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Letter to Mom and Dad


So to answer questions, the city looks so good. There is a ginormous tree in place stanislas and there are lights strung in between buildings. I love it! Except that it does rain or snow pretty much everyday. Crazy! My very first white Christmas. In our apartment there are 2 trees set up, a little one that Soeur Hunt's mom sent and another one that we just found in the apartment. We have one strand of lights on the window sill. We don't have a stake wide mission class. Probably mostly because our stake is huge and takes multiple hours to cross by car. Luxembourg is in the stake. That is where the stake president lives. But that class sounds so helpful! Missionaries who come out knowing the doctrine are so powerful right from the beginning. Hold up, they are having another baby?!? Another boy?!? How old is the baby that they just had? Less than 9 months!

The baptism went very smooth. He already had everything planned so We didn't do much. Just showed up! Sadly our investigators were all busy, it was a holiday called saint Nicholas and so the whole world was out partying. There was a parade as well. Just the two main families in the ward came to the baptism and just one other member. So the turn out a little smaller than expected but the most important part was that his own family was there. It was so awesome to see him baptized and confirmed. Soeur Hunt cried!

So normally we don't go contacting when it is dark, normally it gets dark around 5h30 so that kinda sticks but Saturday we went after the baptism around 7h30 because there was just so many people out. We did a little split with the other soeurs so I was with soeur bell. We talked to quite a few people, not too many were interested but we gave out a book of Mormon. Towards the end we stop a lady with a little boy and we talk for a little, she does believe but she is so busy. She is a single mom and has 3 kids and works almost every day. She wasnt very interested so we say goodbye. Immediately as she walked away, I said to soeur bell "now that was a woman that needs the gospel". We keep walking on the street and decide to turn around and next thing we know we see that same woman crossing the street coming towards us. She stops and starts saying how if 2 young girls from the United States stopped her to talk about God then it must be a sign. She asks if we have a card and we try to ask for her number again but still says no and says she will call. Hasn't called yet but it was so cool because she felt something! She felt that it was important, important enough to go out of her way and find us again. Her next contact with missionaries, she will accept for sure. Her name was Rachel and her kids were Sam, Marie, and Tom. Who knows maybe she will walk into church next week!

That is so exciting about the Merril family!!! Goooo member missionaries! Those are the best kind :) it's so cool that Clay gets to be a fellowshipper for Keith.

Those bartschi girls are so cute! Those blankets look so cozy mom. And I heard you are in an a cappella group now dad? That's pretty sweet. Did you sing tenor or bass?

Sounds like life is busy and is just getting busier! You'd think that with only 1 kid at home, itd be a simple life but it sounds like your times is being used to serve others and there is no words to explain how much that means to those you are serving. I for one am a recipient of all the good you do. Thank you so much!!!

Love you tons and tons!

Sœur Giles