August 14, 2017

Drum Roll!

This week was a crazy one! Our transfer ended and we had no idea what was going to happen to the three of us. So I will be staying in Nancy and a new missionary straight from the MTC will join me! I'm super excited but incredibly nervous. Sœur Meredith is going to Lille and Sœur Robertson is going to the city right next to it, Villeneuve d'Ascq. They will be in the same apartment but not companions! I am super happy to still be in Nancy, I love the city and I love the members here. They are incredible!

This week we had a fun rendezvous with a new amie Dominque! She is open to talking and likes that we dont focus on the death of Christ. We showed her the Prince of Peace video and she liked it enough. She had one problem with it...she said that Jesus didn't actually turn wine into water. He just added more water to make it into water and the disciples didn't even know it! Well actually the miracle was water into wine so her logic makes no sense...oops!

We were also able to have a good family night with Iman! She bought us a little cake and we sang together. We also read Mosiah 5 and talked about how important covenants are.

This week, we discovered a cool way how to work with less actives. In chapter 12 of President Howard W Hunter's teaching manual he talks about how important our relation is with the Savior, how important our covenants are with him. So we decided to talk about that with 2 of the families we went to see this week. And it was awesome! We talked about what they really wanted in life. One really really wants to be sealed in the temple and the other wants to be a good example to her grand kids. Both stem from keeping their covenants!

Other than that one of the elder's amis made us dinner, tartiflette. Potatoes and cheese and bacon and onions. Its special because of the cheese I guess. It was super super good!!

Bonne semaine!
Sœur Giles

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Letter to Mom:

Oh wow lots of change! How is your mouth feeling now? Cassidy is a great nurse!
French is coming along. It is nice having a francophone in my district because he corrects us a lot and that helps! But he is leaving to another ville, sad! But I'm sure I will get lots of practice these next two transfers if my new companion isn't francophone.

Glad to hear the return missionaries are doing well! Its such a good time to be our here serving, i love it! Every day is absolutely insane and lots of crazy things happen but its soo good.

I will really miss my companions, they have been such great examples and have helped me a lot. Sœur Meredith was really sad to have only spent one transfer here. Nancy is the best! But i am also nervous to be taking over Nancy, I know the most about everyone!

Also yes I am very comfortable with public transport, it seems like its the only way i will ever travel. Super easy! Here there are about 15 bus lines and I have ridden most of them.

Glad you got back safely, summer is almost over! It is starting to be pretty chilly in the morning. But I am doing really well. 

Have a wonderful week mom!
Love you!

Sœur Giles

August 7, 2017

We've had another great week! Last Monday we were able to go and visit lots of World War I sites. This area of France suffered a lot of damage during those years and most of the places are preserved. We got to go up close to so many remnants of buildings and churches. We also went to see the trenches! Walking through them was so interesting! It was thundering while we were there which made it feel more real. Each year French and German students come together and clean them. We also saw an american cemetery and monument. The Americans were able to do a lot of good over here. 

We had a fun rendezvous with our amie Chloé! We went to the church and made cookies together. She loves american cookies haha but we also showed her around and talked about the restoration of the church. She was very interested in all the classes we have and all the activities we do. She does not have a big religious background so she thought it was so cool that our church is a big family and help each other out. She works on Sundays but she will come to some young adult activities!
We had a good rendezvous with Cyril also. We talked about the atonement of Christ and how much it can help us. He took it really well. Unfortunately he lost his phone and didn't show up to church. Hopefully we can find him around town!

So we visited this young couple in the ward last week and we ended talking about how they want to share the gospel with their friends but that they are pretty nervous. Since then, we have thought of a few ideas of how to work with them. Then yesterday during fast and testimony meeting, the husband, a convert of about 4 years, got up and bore a 1 minute testimony on the power of missionary work. It was so powerful and so meaningful knowing that it is something hard for him but he did it anyways!!
I read a great talk today from the April general conference about the role of the Holy Ghost. With this gift we can be warned of danger, comforts us, and testifies of truth. As we seek for God's help and ask for it, He will help us along the way. I know it! 

Have a great week!

Sœur Giles

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Letter to Mom and Dad,


Looks like you had tons of fun! Gramma did alright? Thanks for the pictures!
These past 2 weeks have been crazy! We have had lots of lessons, amis and less actives. Its going well! Most everyone is on vacation though. People here leave for a whole month so church has been pretty empty! But they are starting to trickle back in, thank goodness!


Last Monday was super awesome!! Frère Houmeau took us all over! He has such a cool story and speaks about 6 languages, he does some translating for the church as well. We started in Pont a Mousson, a smaller town north of here. We learned about some architecture-old buildings from the renaissance and before. In the main town square they designated whose shop was whose by a head on the arch so I took a picture of one haha then he showed us the little statue for the american ambulance drivers. They were very crucial in this part of France. We also went and visited some destroyed villages. One had a replica of the church and some remnants as well. One of the towns was all mapped out! We then went and saw some areas where Germans had blown up some trenches. They were just huge pits in the earth, cool! Something interesting is that there is still no grass there. I took a picture of the chart describing the effects of the bombs. Finally we went to the trenches! The Germans build some nice sturdy ones with rocks while the French just settled for lumps of dirt piled up. It was so weird walking through them. It was thundering a little bit while we were there...that made it feel more real! When we went to visit the American monuments, we saw a group of bike riders riding up the hill as well and we talked to them a little at the top and they took a picture for us! One of them had been to Utah before. Its a pretty steep hill so I was impressed. I'll give you full details of pictures when I show them to you in person!


I did a good study on gratitude and why Heavenly Father needs to be thanked. Its kind of a crazy circle. But I found that when we are grateful, Heavenly Father promises us so many blessings! He made this all for us and and wants to help us progress and being thankful allows that. When we are grateful for the Spirit, he blesses us with it more and we are able to become better and align our will with his. Then I thought about how it is His work and glory for us to progress. So in turn, He progresses as we do! It makes it way more meaningful to be thankful to think about how much good comes about because of it.


In addition to that , I have been thinking about the scripture Matthew 7:7. It is the ask and ye shall recieve verse. Heavenly Father doesn't hide anything from us, his mysteries can be unfolded as we seek them. I love this concept. Nephi experiences this a lot in 1 Nephi. He desires to know what is father had seen and he was filled with peace and belief in his father's words.


This is the last week of the transfer which is super weird to think about but here we are 6 weeks later! This Saturday we will find out what happens to our dear trio. We have so much fun together and it would be super awesome to stay together another transfer. But most likely at least one of us will be transferred. With our new president, anything could happen!


Here are tons of pictures!
Love you!
Sœur Giles


Pictures from WWI memorial sites

July 24, 2017

Rose ice cream!

This was a week with some good rendez vous!
We met with our new ami Cyril. We met him on the srteet a few weeks ago, well he came up to us and interrupted a different contact. But anyways we got his number and he came to church last week! We weren't quite sure if he was homeless...doesn't smell very good and just very interesting. But we met with him and talked about the restoration, he liked it! But he also talks a lot a lot a lot. So our next rendez vous we will have to ask more direct questions. So he came to church this Sunday with nice black shoes and a button up shirt! And he said he was going to shave his beard this week. Kinda cool to see the little changes in life style that he is already making.
We also met with a super cute girl named Chloé. She is so smart and just wants to learn about religion! She wasn't brought up religious but she knows she cant say no until she tries it. We ate at McDonald's and she was very disappointed that we all got chicken nuggets...next time we have to get something more french haha she asks so many questions, about lots of random things! We talked about the french and American revolutions, medicine, but we managed to tie most things back to Heavenly Father's love for us!
Another cool rendezvous was with Alexandra! She is the daughter of a member and has come to church a few times. But we had a good time getting to know her with my new companions and she came to church! But it was really timed perfectly because we only have one young women and she gets really lonely all by herself in there. Her mom, Anouck, probably one of my most favorite people in the whole world!!, told me that she was feeling lonely that morning but then Alexandra was there! Everyone is being taken care of.
I love the image in the prodigal son when the father, when he sees his son on the road back home, runs out to meet him, rejoicing! That's what it is like for Heavenly Father as well. He rejoices when we turn to him!
Sœur Giles


















Letter to Family:


Thanks for all the updates, it seems like everyone is doing well. Summer is such a fun time! Well almost everyone here is on vacation, church attendance was about half as normal. But it also rains a lot which makes it not as hot. One day it rains the next day is super hot then it rains and so on. Its a nice cycle. It has been a good week of growth! I studied ch 7 in pmg and then i made a new language study plan, i realized i really have to grow my vocabulary so now i am studying more talks in french and defining the words i don't know. Its been going good. Paon means peacock! Also I've been working on applying my personal study into the day and one day this week i shared what i studied twice with people that we talked to. I liked that a lot!
Also I'm going to study those 2 topics this week: gratitude and the walls of Jericho.
The trio has been going good. We taught the lesson for gospel doctrine yesterday and it was awesome. It was ch 11 in the book, the life of Christ but is insanely long and tells so many details. So we decided to pick 3 things. 1 miracle: woman with faith touching the robes of Jesus, 1 teaching: the prodigal son, 1 event: peter declaring that he is the Christ. We split them into groups and then had them answer questions. We had a great discussion about who Christ is and what he means to us. Alexandra our amie said she learned a lot!
Have a fun time on the cruise! Is clay staying at theLunds? Tell him i say hello and happy birthday and that i will send a card soon!
Love you so much!!
Sœur Giles

July 17, 2017

This week was definitely a week!
Another zone conference and an exchange in Paris. We're always busy!
We had a cool church tour with that guy Daniel and his friend Wally. I'm excited to see where that goes. They seem pretty solid!
Also a guy we talked to on the street came to church. He said he was very touched by the Spirit that is here. We have another rendez vous with him this week as well.
This week I read a talk called "of regrets and resolutions " by president Uchtdorf. I loved this paragraph "Instead I see the compassionate and caring Son of God purposefully living each day. When He interacted with those around Him, they felt important and loved. He knew the infinite value of the people He met. He blessed them, ministered to them. He lifted them up, healed them. He gave them the precious gift of His time."
Instead of bustling all over to all our obligations, its good to take a step back and look for opportunities to help those around us.
Bonne semaine!
Sœur Giles















Letter to Family:


This week was a real good one! I feel a little time warped. It was just Monday but the week went by kinda long. We spent many hours at the church because of zone conference, interviews, district meeting, and church! I learned a lot. I'm excited for this new mission president! He has a really good vision and is very enthusiastic. His french is funny to listen to haha you can really tell when people are not from here. I know i sound the same which is embarrassing, oh well!
Us 3 have lots of fun together. I'm loving it! Fun fact, people here don't really celebrate Bastille Day. Also they call it the 14th of July. They were supposedly fire works but I sleep through it all.
Hmmm other than that not much else happened! We had to cancel most of our rendez vous because meetings kept getting changed.
Thanks so much for your support! I'm so grateful for all that you do, and I really appreciate what a wonderful family we have. You're awesome! Keep having tons of fun!
Love, Sœur Giles

July 10, 2017

You can have his number!

A Nigerian contacted us on the tram and we talked for a while, he has friends that are missionaries. In the end, he didn't really want to meet with us but as we got off the tram together, he pointed to his friend and offered his number to us! His friend got a scared look on his face "do I have to?" No of course not! But then he said "I think I want to..." so we are giving him a chapel tour this week! Bizarre!
We met our new president this week. He is super nice and very excited to serve with us. We talked a lot about working with members and with the ward council. The church is still very new here and its growing! Good things are happening!
We also met a woman named Chloé. She is in her twenties and is studying psychology in college. Super smart and open to learning about what our beliefs are. We have a rendezvous on Tuesday with her. I love talking to the younger people here because no matter what they believe, they are interested in knowing other people's point of view!
Also we had a finding day here with all the missionaries in the zone! It was a little tricky finding areas for everyone to go. It was hot and not too many people were out but as a group we found some good solid people! For the last two hours, a few members came and helped as well. It was fun to hear about their contacts and to see how excited they were to find out what happens!
We had a rendezvous with a less active this week where we talked about a talk called "But if not.." from April 2004. We read the first little part in it about how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego stood up for their beliefs and had faith that God could save them. The important part is that even if God didn't save them at that moment, they would still be faithful to Him. Even though some things might not work out the way we think, doesn't mean God isn't there. He has perfect timing!
Sœur Giles
















Letter to Family:


Sounds like your trip to San Fran was super awesome! Glad you had fun, thanks for the pictures.
This week has been really good! We have found a lot of potentials and have had many good times together. In the span of 48 hours we had 6 people contact us! One guy started singing amazing grace in the tram because i said he spoke English very well (he knows the numbers) and he said he learned it by singing! Little did he know i was humming the same song earlier that day haha.
Another time we were contacting this lady who absolutely loves america and wants to travel there so bad when all the sudden a guy walks up (we thought they knew each other) and starts talking as well. This lady turns and jumps a little because he is so close haha so she leaves but he stays and talks to us for about 20 minutes. We get his number and he says he will come to church and when we prayed with him, he started tearing up! But he didn't come..and we actually saw him on the bus today, we weren't able to talk to him though. Maybe he will want to learn more!
We were able to see our ami Elizabeth this week. She is searching for the truth and wants to improve her life but she goes to an evangelical church...man those pastors are the worst! They buy things for the people that go. And when they don't go, the pastor calls and ask where they are so Elizabeth feels an obligation to go so she can get money for food. But she found out this week that her papers for France are moving a long, she was so grateful for our prayers.
Our other ami is a teenage girl, her dad is a member, her name is Alexandra. I'm not sure if i have talked about her before. But we haven't been able to meet with her because she is on stage and super busy. She has a desire to learn more though!
So I am the missionary in Nancy that knows the most about this city! Its creepy to think about but also cool. I love it here, it is my home! :) i really like not feeling so little. I can understand and talk so much better, starting to get the hang of this! we have done some more exploring, finding cool cobble stone roads and old buildings. Like the castle i sent a picture of last week. It reminded me of the castle at Disneyland. As an companionship we are doing really well. Sœur Meredith is super hilarious and very open. She does not sugar coat anything and it is super awesome. Sœur Robertson has a very kind heart and has such a strong desire to be out here and to work hard.
Meeting the new mission president was really cool. His family is super cute but also definitely american. Weird!
Unfortunately I wasn't able to see the Tour de France but the elders in Epinal did and they both got the mountain jersey in a shirt form, jealous!
There is an older man in our ward who is a translator for the church and LOVES history. Yesterday he offered to take us to the world war 1 trenches that are near by. So in a few weeks we will be going to see those! He also has published a few books. One was made into a movie just recently. He found these records at BYU about a soldier in the war who was in Pont a Mousson. Which is a little north of here. But he translated it into french and he saw a poster that the movie would be showing there for a few days! I don't remember what it was called, but he was so happy!
Definitely have learned that God is looking out for each of one of us!
Bonne semaine, Je vous aime!
Sœur Giles

July 3, 2017

Trio for the 3rd transfer

Monday night we went to Steak n Shake with Iman, Maité, and Mami Irène! Maité ate her burger with a spoon and Mami Irène kept sighing about how much food there was but still ate it all. Classic old french ladies! I love them so much!

Then Tuesday night we went to the Couterier's for a good send off for Sœur Warr and an elder in our Ville. I ate a sardine and some shrimp, but you have to de-shell and de-bone it all and it was horribly messy. But tasted pretty good! 

Wednesday we went and picked up my new companions. Sœur Robertson and Sœur Meredith are both super nice and love to share the gospel. Soeur Robertson is from Utah and Soeur Meredith is from Boston.Its going to be a great transfer. We will meet our new president this Tuesday!
We had some good rendezvous with amis and members and lots of finding! 

We met with a less active that I had never seen before so it was new for all of us. I heard that she was very intimidating which is very true! Her life has not been easy and she told us she really didn't want us to come over but felt like we should anyways. Turns out Sœur Meredith had known her son for a few weeks in her last ville, and this less active hadn't heard news from her son in a long time. It was cool for her to recognize the hand of the Lord in her life. We ended up not sharing what we had planned but took the opportunity to understand her situation and listen! 

Sunday was a good day as well. There was a baby blessing! Cute little Celestine Freard. The chapel was so full! Also I went to primary for a little bit to play their monthly song but they weren't quite finished with the lesson when I got there so I was able to sit and listen! They were talking about how important it is to fast with prayer. There was a little object lesson. 2 kids stood together at the front of the class shoulder to shoulder. One was fasting and another prayer. Then the teacher had another kid try to walk through them, easy! But then the teacher had fast and prayer link arms really tight while the other tried to walk through again, impossible! If we fast without meaningful prayer, it means nothing but with a meaningful prayer God can give us the strength to overcome trials.
I am so grateful for this gospel and the knowledge we have of our Savior. He is the greatest example for us. He taught us how to pray with our whole heart and taught us that Heavenly Father is always listening. Make those prayers count! :)

Sœur Giles
























Letter to Mom:
Absolutely love it Mom! You're busy and sound very happy :) glad clay is working! Hopefully he is happy about that.
We are meeting with a lot of members this week so they can get to know my new companions. We have quite a few part member families and are trying to build those relationships. Can't wait to see what happens!
We are still in the same apartment, just had to rearrange some things. Little bit crowded, little bit more dirty! But we'll get it all figured out.
Can't wait for the pictures of San Fran. Hope summer is doing okay!
Weeks fly by so fast and it all melts together. Things are just so much better in person to tell anyways. I've been writing in my journal that you got for me and taping some little things in it to remember. I dried the flower I got for mother's day from the primary and put it in there! It'll be cool to look through later.
Travel safe and have tons of fun!
Love, Hannah


Letter to Dad:
Very nice!! Good old San Fran. Let me know how Summer is doing!
I wish the tour went through here, we wouldn't be able to watch but it'd still be cool. I know the soeurs in toul! Its a cute small village.
Trio is going well, we're eating more than just salads so we'll see if I put on any kilos.
We had a good rendezvous with our ami Elizabeth. She told us she is searching for her life, we can help her find it! She's just got to keep the commitments and learn how it applies to her. We're trying to help her connect that line to the Lord.
We also did a pass by and they were there! Missionaries lost contact with her a few months ago so we're excited to keep working with that family.
Have a fun trip!
Love, Hannah