August 27, 2018

The best moment ever was Favor's baptism on Saturday! Everything went really well and I am very excited to tell you more about her. Her testimony was so good. She said she was grateful for the mercy of Heavenly Father and she has committed to follow the commandments for her whole life. She has been bringing her friend to church and her friend really likes the gospel as well.

It was sad saying good bye to all the members here. They are very supportive and loving and I really enjoyed teaching with them. 

Today we are packing because sister Morrison is also leaving, she is going to Colmar, which is a little city in the east in the Nancy zone! Soeur Hunt is staying here and getting a new companion. Then we will get a last few things and head over to the family Giraud for a lesson and dinner. 

Last week we also had a lesson with a friend that a member brought to church last Sunday. She just loved church and loved the book of Mormon we gave her. In Sunday school we had talked about a paragraph in the family a proclamation to the world so at the lesson we gave her her own copy and she kissed the paper haha it was so funny!

Thanks for your emails! I am so excited to see you on Thursday! It feels so not real, it feels like we were just driving to the airport to go to the MTC. Soon we will be doing that for Cassidy :D see you soon! 

Love,
Sœur Giles

August 20, 2018

So last week was awesome because we taught Favor every single day! She is the referral that we recieved last week. She had been going to church in Nigeria for a while because a friend invited her but she never felt like she could completely commit. When she came to France , a lot of horrible things happened and she remembered all the good things she felt and things she learned from the church in Nigeria. She knew that Christ had never left her even through those really hard times. She looked up the church in the south but then was moved to Nantes a little while ago. The missionaries in the south were able to contact us and then send us her number! And we taught her everything last week and she passed the baptismal interview!!! If everything goes right she will be baptised this Saturday :) she is just incredible and is committed to following Jesus Christ for the rest of her life. We were just in the right place at the right time, willing to do the right thing!

Today we are going to Le Croisic for p day as a district! It's a beach town! 

To answer Dad's question about my companions, Sœur Morrison is definitely easier to startle, it happens quite often. It makes soeur hunt and I laugh a lot! 

Other than that it was a great week!

Love,
Sœur Giles

August 13, 2018

This week went by so fast! We did a lot of fun things. We visited a member and talked about the temple. She really wants to go in September! She took us around her area because she lives so far away so we got to see the passage du gois where the tour de France went through this year. We also went by a salt field where they cultivate salt by hand from the ocean. It was super cool!

Then we had zone conference in Rennes. I had my last interview with president Sorensen. We talked about the future. He double majored at BYU in accounting and french and he really liked it!

Then at zone conference on Friday, our district sang a version of the Spirit of God as the musical number. It went pretty well! In zone conference we talked about how to teach repentance using simple words and simple testimony. 

The best part of the week was a referral named Favor! She moved from Nigeria to the south of France and then to Nantes a few months ago. She has been searching for the church ever since she left Nigeria. She had been going for a few years before leaving but had never been baptized. But we finally received her as a referral and called her and she was grateful we called! We met with her on Saturday and she came to church on Sunday. She wants to be baptized soon! 

Today we visited the history museum inside the chateau of Nantes and a Viking exhibit. Nantes was a big source of trade for France, especially slave trade. It was cool to see the evolution of the city over hundreds of years.

Yesterday I gave a talk in church and I shared that quote from Brigham young about searching the pioneers in the plains that were stuck. The same one that you used Dad in a talk a few weeks ago. I talked about listening to the Holy Ghost and that I am grateful for those people that went to find our ancestors! Afterwards a lady came up to me and asked if our family would be willing to take her family names to the temple. She doesn't go very often and it takes a really really long time for them to go through the temple even if she sends them for other people to do. She could email us the list and we could print them out and take them! Are you going to the temple soon? 

 
There really is no experience like this one, I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord full time. There is nothing like being able to help other find light and hope in their life because of Jesus Christ!

Love,
Sœur Giles

August 6, 2018

Another great week all the way over here in Nantes. I try to cherish every moment here, every lesson, every french phrase, every baguette. What a blessing it has been to be here! 

We were able to have some really really good lessons this week. We taught two people about the restoration one day and each one came out with the understanding that there is one way back to God and they have to discover and pray for themselves if this is it! One was named Antoine who was an old investigator from a few years ago. He testified of the peace and joy he felt in the past with the missionaries and was so grateful that we came again. The other one was Papis, who we met on the tram a few months ago. He does want to discover the truth but he has a hard time actually reading the Book of Mormon. He said he would pray about baptism though! 

We also saw the family Giraud last week and I ate snails for the first time! They were actually really good haha a lot smaller than I imagined so it was not too much squishy to eat. They were in a really good basil tomato sauce. 

We also had a family home evening with a few members, we had invited a few investigators but they cancelled at the last minute. The members were Spanish speaking and one doesn't speak any french so the spiritual thought was in Spanish by one of the elders who took Spanish in high school. We each learned a phrase and testified afterwards, I testified that I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior! 

Between my companions Soeur Hunt would win a joke contest, she says lots of funny things. It's almost been a year since she came to Nancy with me for the first time!

Last Monday we went to the art museum here and it was super cool! So many cool paintings and some cool modern art things. Today we are going to visit the castle and hopefully go into the museum there, we aren't sure if it is open on Mondays.

I love being able to testify of the restored gospel every single day. Have a great week!
Love,
Sœur Giles