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

November 27, 2017

Snowed on Sunday!

To start off thanksgiving was super fun. We had district meeting Wednesday evening so we ate dinner together to celebrate. Also we went to our ward mission leader's house for Thursday night to eat as well. He invited the 2 ward missionaries as well. I am so grateful for the city, the members, and all the people I've met while being here. Truly is a blessed place.
On Saturday we had a cool experience! We set up a rendezvous with a new investigator but they ended up not being there so we passed by an old investigator that I had never seen. She was home and she let us in! She said that she had looked at her phone the day before and thought to call us but she didn't have any credit, then the next day we show up! She said it was Jesus who sent us to her. We talked for an hour and had a good discussion about prayer. We will hopefully see her again soon.
We had the last lesson with Raphaël this week and he is all ready for his baptism this Saturday! His whole family is coming to support him and he is really excited.
Sœur Hunt and I studied in Mosiah 5 this week and verse 13 says "For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?" I love that it shows the way to get to know our savior and master. We serve him! But how do we serve him? In verse 15 it says the answer "ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life". It was a great start to this Christmas season where we have some great opportunities to serve the people around us in small but meaningful ways. We truly can light the world with the light of Christ!
Sœur Giles

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Letter to Mom and Dad:

So the baptism is actually this coming Saturday! Still exciting!
One of the other sisters has a really good singing voice so yesterday we did a musical number in sacrament meeting. I played and she sang an arrangement of where can I turn for peace. It was super beautiful. The ward really needed it as well. I guess a ton of people where crying (I didn't see because I was behind the piano) but it was super nice.
This week will be a busy week! We are going to Paris to have a conference with elder Gary Sabin of the seventy. So I'll get to see soeur warr before she goes home in a few weeks! That is so weird because when she trained me she was in the same transfer as I will be in a few weeks.
Also our bishop is gone pretty often for work and is just super busy so we don't work with him that much but yesterday he was in between interviews and asked us to come into his office and we just talked for about 5 minutes about how our families are doing, how we are doing and we got to know him a little better. He shared with us that when he was in high school he ran track but he only liked to run without shoes. So right before the race started he would take off his shoes but keep his socks on and then race! He would still win even though the other rich guys would have the fancy spikes on. It was very nice of him to take a few minutes to see how we were doing. He also asked if we had been invited for Christmas yet and said he would make arrangements so that we would be, since his family will be out town haha
Thanksgiving looked liked it turned out well. I still can't believe how many people are getting married. It's so weird to think about!
I did get your package last week, the pillow cases went right onto our pillows and the mangos are already gone haha thank you so so much!!! It was a nice surprise :) soeur hunt is very grateful as well!
They do have black Friday shopping but it's not very big. They have set up for Christmas though. They have cute little markets that are made of cottages and fake snow, I'll send pictures next week. We will explore them today! We ended up going ice skating.
Also we knocked doors and made friends with a cat!
I hope both of their boyfriends are real...that would stink if they weren't! I remember having a dream about Nancy's old boyfriend! We were in the temple waiting for him to show up for their wedding but he never did! I think that we after they had broken up though. It was a while though.
Also last week I showed some pictures of our family to one of our investigators and the next time we saw her she said that she had just dreamed about a picture of me and mom! So that was funny haha. I guess she liked it :)
Thanks for your emails, have a wonderful wonderful week! Tell Clay hello and happy turkey day.
Love
Sœur Giles

November 20, 2017

This week we:

Ate two new foods - frog legs and pumpkin soup. The frog legs weren't bad! Just small and a little messy. The soup was absolutely delicious, good thing soeur hunt asked for the recipe.
Went to Luxembourg again for exchanges! While there we were able to teach a part member family. The mom is from Portugal and joined the church when she was little but since she moved to Luxembourg she hadn't be able to find the church until now. She walked in last Sunday with her non member husband and some kids as well. We also were able to visit a member and do a little bit of practice teaching. It turned out to be so helpful. She really encouraged us to testify of the principles with the spirit and with our own words. She was a very good teacher.

Had an unexpected rendezvous with Caroline! She just moved into a new office and she invited us to come and help her rearrange and say a pray together. She is just so cool and normal and I'm so excited to go teach her this Friday! I can tell that her husband who is already a member will have so many good experiences while helping her understand the gospel as well.

Had the best lesson with Irène! She is our investigator that has been coming to church for a while now but doesn't feel like she understands anything. So we met with just her right after church and she opened up to us so much. She talked about how difficult it is with her family but that she feels something pulling her to keep coming. I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to share with her the joys of the gospel.

That's about it for this week! 

Sœur Giles

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Letter to Mom and Dad:

That's too bad about the lesson with that family. Hopefully the next week it works out.
I'm sending Summer a card in the mail for her birthday but I don't have her address so I put yours on it, will you either give it to her sometime soon or send it again in the mail? Thank you!
Also thank you for the money, I bought 2 warmer sweaters today. I am excited for those. 

It was funny eating those frog legs. Because it really is frog legs. You eat the thigh and there is a little meat from the calves. Kinda funky. Soeur Hunt started playing with them a little bit haha. But we ate them at a members house and they have 4 kids under the age of 5. And the 5 year old is so kind! His little brother was about to say the dinner prayer so he said don't forget to bless the sister missionaries! So the little boy did and it was really cute. 

I'm not sure if you've ever read the lectures on faith for the school of the prophets in the olden days. But another missionary sent it to me in PDF form and I was able to read it while on the train to luxembourg. And it was really good! One part in particular touched me about sacrifice "5 For a man to lay down his all, his character and reputation, his honor and applause, his good name among men, his houses, his lands, his brothers and sisters, his wife and children, and even his own life also, counting all things but filth and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, requires more than mere belief, or supposition that he is doing the will of God, but actual knowledge: realizing, that when these sufferings are ended he will enter into eternal rest; and be a partaker of the glory of God. " as well as this paragraph "those, then, who make the sacrifice will have the testimony that their course is pleasing in the sight of God, and those who have this testimony will have faith to lay hold on eternal life, and will be enabled, through faith, to endure unto the end, and receive the crown that is laid up for them that love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ". 

It helped me to realize that as we sacrifice or rather do what the Lord is asking, we will have sufficient faith to endure to the end, to continue making right choices and finally inherit eternal life. And when we do forgot ourselves and go to work, we have peace that what we are doing is acceptable and there isn't a lot to worry about. It was a nice perspective shift on what missionary work is and even more what life is.

So Raphaël's baptism is next Saturday! We have a last lesson with him this week and we will plan all the details. It'll be fun and exciting because it'll be the first baptism since I've been here!! Pretty cool. He has a huge support system here and he is just so ready. 

So transfers are the week before Christmas, and well I'm not really sure anymore if I'm going to stay in Nancy or will be leaving. So that will be a surprise for you on Christmas, it's cool that its on p day ! It would probably be best to do a Google hangout with everyone. It's so easy! Not sure if we will be at a members house or just at the church. But it'll work out. 

This week I learned the words polir : to polish and coudre: to sew. For the past month or so a member has had a french lesson with us during the week and this time we talked about the future tense. We worked on the future anterieur. It's used to describe which future events come before other future events. Pretty fun! Sometimes its just so amazing to realize that i have the privilege to wake up every single day and go outside and talk to people in France and in french! Such a blessing. 

Oh my the primary program went so well on sunday! I'm so proud of them. They say 10 songs and did so well. The best one by far was the courage of Nephi. When the kids sing the chorus it is so powerful. Also I may or may not have gotten a little teary eyed when we sang families can be together forever and i realized how much of a family this ward has become. I cannot express to you how excited I am to show you around this place!!!!!!!!!!

Have a great thanksgiving at grammas! I enjoy her weekly letters, hopefully her back doesn't give her too much trouble.

Love you all very very much!

Sœur Giles

November 13, 2017

Rain and more rain

So this week was a little different than most! We spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday moving and cleaning. 10 years of missionary build up in one apartment is not pretty! We took out about 10 huge bags of trash. When we went to through them out, there was one bag that was heavy and a little ripped. So they tried swinging it into the dumpster, well on the last swing the bag ripped completely and all the trash flew all over the place. So we went to go get a new bag. 

Another thing we did Tuesday night was carry the dryer from our old apartment to the new one. We, as in, me and soeur hunt. Luckily the dryer isn't too heavy. The walk from apartments is about 5 minutes but it took us over 30 minutes because of all the little breaks we took haha. We got many strange looks as we carried it through busiest part of Nancy.

Saturday we helped a member paint a room in her apartment! We helped her come back to church a few months ago and she hasn't missed a Sunday since. She even gave a talk on sunday about divine design, and she shared her own story of being able to help an old lady in her apartment building with her groceries :) it was a great moment for her!

We now have the opportunity to teach Rafael! He was an investigator for the elders but since they left, we get to help prepare him for his baptism the first weekend in December. He is awesome and so ready. 

All in all, everything is going well here! Other than this is the first day we have seen sun in the past week. It feels great! 

Sœur Giles

Letter to Mom and Dad:

We are in a big apartment building now, we live on the 12th floor. I see Nancy from a different point of view now. Literally!

It's so fun being 4. We went grocery shopping together and we bought so much food, it was awesome.
A few of our amis are on vacation right now. But we have some good member rendezvous this week.
Also thats so awesome!! Ah i really hope that lesson goes through on Thursday that would be so awesome!! So it's a husband, wife, and boy? Does clay know the kid? What would they be taught next?
How much did you teach with members when you were on your mission dad? 

Also thats so sad about Brenda! I'm sure she loved the music. That was such a nice thing for you to do mom, you are awesome. I'm proud of you!
So the family we met a few weeks ago ended up not wanting us to come back but we met another lady with a daughter, we are going back on Wednesday. Good promise there. 

They put up a ginormous tree in place stanislas, and there are some things hung between buildings. It'll be fun when There are lots all over the place. Apparantly they eat lots of sea food for Christmas. Like oysters and clams and things like that. It'll be interesting.
It's been a fun week of adjusting though. Little different than before. 

Yesterday I had a great personal study on what diligence and why we should be diligent. I went through chapter one of preach my gospel and pointed out all the things that are our duties as missionaries. And then in the book of mormon reading I happened to be in Alma chapter 8 where alma gets transferred to ammonihah and he gets rejected but the angel tells him to go back and then he meets his new companion, amulek! I liked the part where the angel tells him to rejoice even though he was accepted. He went back and ended up finding some one super cool! It was nice reminder that heavenly father has a wonderful plan even though it doesn't look like it to us. He knows when people are ready and he knows how to helps us to find them. 

Thanks a million for all your support and guidance you've given me the past few years. You're the best!

Love,
Sœur Giles

November 6, 2017

Nancy can't get rid of me yet!

Sœur Hunt and I will be staying together for another transfer! I'm so excited. We will see some miracles for sure. In addition 2 other soeurs will be joining us! So we have to move apartments in the next few days. We have had good practice though, these past transfers I've helped at least 4 families move.

Well not too much happened this week. Almost all our rendezvous fell through new people. But we did get to see Karen and Joseph, and Victor.

With Victor we talked about the plan of salvation. He really enjoyed hearing about what happens after death.

We also went to a little English group. We met an old lady while knocking doors a while back and she invited us to speak English with a few friends. They were all so cute and talked like they were form England even though they are all French. She served us little treats and some juice.

We also accidentally went trick or treating! We knocked on a door in the early evening and they were expecting trick or treaters. We talked for a minute and they gave us candy anyways.

We also started our own English group with the ward. We had about 6 members show up and it was awesome. We played a few games and everyone was laughing.

Last Monday night we had another family night with the family Chretien. We talked about the cycle of the gospel and they shared with us a few missionary moments that they have had recently. They gave a book of Mormon to their friends, so cool! Then the dad bore his testimony on sunday about how important it is to share the gospel.

Well Nancy is my home, it's the perfect place to be!

Have a great one!

Sœur Giles


Letter to Mom and Dad:

Surprise surprise I'm staying here!! It really was a surprise..but it will be super fun! I'm bummed about moving apartments but living with 4 people is so fun! They are selling the one we are living in now. We are moving into the elders old apartment and it's old and gross. More cleaning!

I have had a lot of special moments with the members this week! Well mostly because we thought I was leaving...but they were just so kind and loving. And I am so grateful to be able to serve here. I don't think it is the same as in the United states. The members rely on us so much and need us to keep them going.

One tender mercy that I have seen is Veronique. She was less active until recently. We had visited her a few times just a few months ago and since then she hasn't missed a Sunday! She comes to all the activities and just told us she is giving a talk on Sunday. I love seeing how happy she is! She has even been talking to other less actives, including her parents and helping them out as well. And she will be doing a little musical number with another member in relief society. She is so cool! I am so so grateful for her.

Such cool pictures and I love that video mom!! I could see it. It was so awesome!! It looked so beautiful out there. Was it pretty warm? It is soooo chilly here. Ah. I would actually love some more fuzzy socks! Even right now my feet are cold.. all mine are several years old. Except for the nice white pair that you gave me last year :) those are nice!

Other than its been a normal week. Thanks for all the pictures. Have a great week, tell Clay good job from me. He is a stud even though they lost. Also I did get your letter mom, thanks again! You are all awesome!

Love, Sœur Giles