March 19. 2018

Invite someone to baptism through text? Why not!

Cool story of the week:
Exactly one and a half weeks ago, we received a text message from a random person asking for information about the church. We call him and talk for about 30 minutes. He had met the missionaries 10 years ago, took most of the lessons but stopped after he saw something on the TV. 10 years later he is talking with one of his friends, a member, and she gives him our number. Anyways we meet with him 2 days later in a members home and it went really well. He showed up already having read all of 1 Nephi. We cleared up some of his questions and he was really willing to listen and act. We asked him to pray if the book of Mormon is true and he said he didn't want to pray to know if it was true because he didn't doubt that it was. There's still a little to work on there. It's cool that he believes us when we say it is true but it's even better if he feels a confirmation of the truth for himself! Anyways he actually lives quite a while way so we send him to the closest church address. Then he sends us a message Sunday asking when it is possible to be baptized . So we explain a little bit more about baptism and send him some scriptures to read and then we get to the point where Sœur van Duyse is begging me to let her invite him to prepare to be baptized on a certain date over text message. He said yes!
Well he goes to church, talks to the elders, really likes it and now is getting baptized on Saturday.

In other news, it Snowed!

Have a great week!
Sœur Giles
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Snowed again!

First of all, on Saturday Lindsay and Cynthia both passed their baptismal interviews!! Yay!!! Cynthia's baptism is this Saturday so we are getting everything ready for that. But for Lindsay we will be skyping into the United States for that one. That was the highlight of the week for sure! We were actually able to teach both of them from the very very beginning, it's been awesome!

It was starting to warm up. Soeur van Duyse even started to not were tights (i didn't dare) but then it snowed this weekend! It's pretty but cold again haha it'll probably warm up this week though. Maybe.
So the elder's have an investigator from Argentina ! He moved to France like a month ago and found the church here. He said there are tons of churches in Argentina haha he is from Azul, quite a ways from Buenos Aires. But Lucas and Kailee what cities did you serve in ? I told him both of you were there and he was wondering! His English is super good.

We did some service this week for a family in the ward. They are from Madagascar . The mom is really sick and the dad is almost blind. The daughter is about 28 and going to school for her doctors degree. The mom and daughter live in one room and it hasn't been cleaned in years probably. So we spent several hours there going through papers and clothes. Cleaned the walls and the door and the floor. It was nice to be able to help out like that. The daughter sent us a text that night saying she will be able to sleep better than she has for years. It was such a better place to be in :)

A new set of missionaries came in this week and soeur van Duyse and I got to be with them on their very first day! We went to consecration hill where i went my first day too and did some contacting. I was with soeur Olsen. She is going to be serving in the temple visitors center! It was so fun and so cool to see how much energy and excitement they have. And it was weird to realize how fast time has flown. It still feels like I'm where they are!😅

Another cool thing happened. We were getting ready to leave the church to go home when a tourist family walked by and saw us! They came in to say hi and also asked for help getting to the metro. We were able to help this half American half Brazilian family get to the right line in the right direction. The cool part is the dad served in Brazil but he was assigned for the first 6 months to a mission in California, guess which one! Yep you got it right, Ventura! He was there in 1995 so we missed him by a few years. He served in Bakersfield and Ventura I think. We are probably going to be seeing a lot of tourists soon...they are everywhere!
It'll be fun though!

Thanks so much for all your emails! The kitchen looks good and good job Clay on your Eagle project! The gardens look really good. It stinks that baseball is being cancelled though! Hit a home run for me next time! :)
Have a great week !
Love,
Sœur Giles

March 12, 2018

Week end at the temple!

This week went by so fast! It was the last week of the transfer but Sœur van Duyse and I are staying together for another so that's really good.
One day we road the metro for almost two hours just talking to every one that sat down next to us. It was pretty fun! And really effective!

Lindsay picked a date for her baptism!! She is actually going to be in Salt Lake City in April and wanted her boyfriend to be there so she will be baptized there on April 7th! We are for sure skyping in, but we had a lesson with her and a young Tahitian couple in our ward. And it was so fun!

On Saturday we went to the temple with Cynthia and her husband!! It was so special and beautiful. They are really excited to be able to go inside together one day .
We also were at the temple on Sunday with our investigator souleman who is leaving for Africa today. He was really touched as well! We barely missed the train again, this time we made it by 1 minute with lots of running at the end.

On Saturday there was also the baptism of Jean Louis! One of the elders' investigators. He is one of the greatest people ever. And I gave the talk on the holy ghost! It was cool to be able to prepare a little talk specifically for him and how the holy ghost will help him in his life. It was a great experience !!

Have a great week!
Sœur Giles



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Letter to Family:


Sorry I don't have much more time! We went to Notre dame ( I think I saw Quasimodo's shadow) and got ice cream today but here are some more pictures from the week.

The work is going so well here! A few days ago I texted a random number in the phone and it turned out to be a girl from California who is really searching! I'm excited to see where that goes.

Also we taught a man with an awesome member named Terri Lee! She is from New York.
There is so much more that happened but I just can't remember right now....
Oh we went to do some more legality stuff. I am now really legal ! It's a cool pink card with my picture on it.
We bought a delicious tropezienne dessert and an olive pizza as well.

Saturday night we had 4 sisters sleeping over for stake conference the next day and we made our home made chocolate mousse that was delicious.

Cynthia bore her testimony to us this week about how she came to know that the book of Mormon is the word of God. She is so ready and prepared it's crazy!!!
I now understand when people say they didn't do anything, they just showed up already ready :)
Paris is awesome!!

Love,
Sœur Giles

March 5, 2018

 Sunset in Paris

So yes this was a good week! To answer your questions dad, the weather is becoming so so so so so much better! A lot warmer but still cold haha I still sleep in the under armor shirts that we bought for soccer many years ago. The heating in our apartment doesn't work too well. No to the beaux baton students maybe in the summer? No broomstick flying... my favorite french dessert is chocolate mousse for right now! The members feed us occasionally. The life style is different here, people go to school late, work late and eat late so it's a little more difficult but we are taken care of :) no tour de France t-shirt either, possible birthday present though this summer!
Anyways this week went well. We had a mission council and an exchange!

We also did some service at the bishops house. They ordered new dressers from Ikea and so we helped build them, that was super fun! And a good opportunity to help them out. They are from America but have been here for almost 20 years. They have 6 kids and the youngest is a year old! It's pretty crazy in the front row during sacrament meeting haha

On Friday we had our first family home evening with our investigators and members of the ward and it went so well!! There were a few members but it was mostly investigators and they really enjoyed it. Another sister and I gave the spiritual thought about hope. We read Ether 12:4 and talked about how hope compares to an anchor. And that even with just a little bit of hope, God can work miracles! Then we played a form of charades and had some snacks.

On Sunday they started a visitors sacrament meeting! So now at 11:30 there is a sacrament meeting for all the tourists. We walked into church and it suddenly felt so normal...like we actually knew who most people are and it's not as crazy. We were able to sit closer to the front and save a seat for our awesome investigator Lindsay who invited a friend on Saturday to come to church but the friend was busy. Too bad but such a good example! She is going to Salt Lake in a few weeks for general conference!!! So cool! She is super excited.

We also planned to go with our investigator Cynthia to the temple visitor center on Saturday ! She has a baptismal date for the 24th of this month, pray for her!!!

Sometimes it's amazing how Heavenly Father works. We had just finished our exchange so we hopped on the metro to go home but we started talking to this lady and missed our stop. We went to the end of the line and got off but she wasn't very interested. She took our card and said she would say hello. But we decided to take a bus home because it would be faster so we get on the bus. And immediately a man starts talking to us in English! He was baptized in 1989 but later had some difficulties and is no longer a member but said he still believes the church is true. He wants help in his life but has little hope. But we were able to testify that hope is the anchor of our lives. Hope in Jesus Christ will get us through any storm!

Have a great week of eating out ! :)

Love,
Sœur Giles

February 26, 2018

So this week was good ! Really really cold. The sun is out but the air and the wind are so freezy. And it is supposed to keep getting colder! Crazy! Basically everyday my companion gets "hey you are Canadian you must still be warm, and you are Californian so you must be freezing!". In reality we are both cold haha!
Thank goodness for trains and metros.

I did get my debit card but I havent used it yet. I looked at the sticker on it And it said to just use it at an atm to activate it so I'll try that and then let you know.

I got Clay's letter. Thanks Clay!!! Thanks for your encouragement. Advice for high school...I would say take french but it seems like you are set on German haha oh well! For the other classes, hmm. What are your options? I dont remember. well in general, don't procrastinate!! That is number 1. Just try your best , you will do great!

Bleu is blue but moire is like a silky wavy surface.
The seine is lowering so that's good!

We were able to find new people this week. We haven't done much kicking out other than if they don't respond after 3 tries to contact them in different ways. The area book has been neglected until recently so we do a lot of work like that. It's really going really well!

Last week we had zone conference and we talked about doing language study and it went really well. Lots of people participated even though it was in French and there were a lot of new people.
We got our smartphones!! It is extremely bizarre. Trying to juggle the tablet and phone is hard but over time it will get better I think. It is such a good tool because now we can have much better contact with our investigators.

We visited an older couple in the ward and we talked about Ether 12:27 and shared the new Mormon message video "Become". It is very inspiring!

Have a wonderful week!!!!
Sœur Giles

February 19, 2018

Fondu Fridays

We started a new tradition! We now eat chocolate fondu every Friday to go with french Friday. Last Friday I accidentally burnt the chocolate but this time sœur van Duyse made it perfectly!So we had a few good lessons this week! Last Sunday a member came to church with his wife. He is a member and she isn't. So we talk and set up a lesson and it went really well. Then they came to church yesterday and we had a lesson afterwards. We were talking about the plan of salvation and the things that bring us joy. I loved her answer. She said that is so happy right now because she is surrounded by people she loves and who love her. Her life a few years ago was not that easy so she is so grateful to have this opportunity to have the gospel! She agreed to be baptized at the end of next month!!

We also went to see a member that hasn't come to church in a while . She shared her favorite scripture with us which is 2 Nephi 2:11. For there must be an opposition in all things! She said sometimes she likes being that opposition haha but then she said it actually helps her to understand life, why there is so much bad. It helps her to find the joy in life! We took a picture with her and her sister :)
Other than that we went to Rouen twice, once for an exchange and the other time for a district meeting. It's very surprising how many close calls there to missing trains but the train rides are always very enjoyable.

This week I was reminded by Alma that as missionaries we help people enter into the rest of God "But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering; Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest."
Sœur Giles


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Double Miracle for the Giles family on Tuesday

Little did you know mom that your prayers were reaching the other side of the world!
Dad thanks so much for sharing!!! It's so cool how the Lord creates just the most perfect cricumstances to get to really important things on time.

So rewind to Tuesday in Paris. 2 sister missionaries hop on a train to go to Rouen to go to a district meeting to do a little bit of training. It's only an hour train ride so not too bad. We go have a great time, learned lots , ate a really quick lunch and left 20 minutes before our train back is scheduled to leave. We should get there with atleast 5 minutes! So we start walking quickly (fun fact it was our second time going to Rouen and this was our first time walking back to the trains station from the church) so we are going and we see a building that looks like the train station so we take a turn and keep going, we get closer realize it is not the train station and ask someone for directions. They say oh wow it's in the total opposite direction. Ok quick u turn and then we have no idea where we are ask another person for help, start running in the general direction, ask a third person for help with 3 minutes till the train leaves. Soeur van Duyse was sick, she could hardly breathe but we couldn't miss the train!! So we are sprinting and sprinting, and finally we hop on the train with less than a minute! We were breathing so hard and had to take a few minutes break before finding seats. Soeur van Duyse slept on the train But in the end your prayers worked, our prayers worked, miracles have not ceased!

It was a tender mercy to be able to come back on time because we were able to see a less active named Eileen! She grew up in salt lake city but moved to Paris about 60 years ago. Hasn't really been active at all since then but she visited the temple with a nonmember friend during the open house and is thinking about sending the missionaries to him. She told us all kinds of stories from her life: world war II, only girl in her physics class in college, worked in the Pentagon, in charge of the stake drama program, ysa ward in Paris 60 years ago, adventures with her kids ! Some of her friends from 60 years ago got married and moved to Mexico and one of their daughters actually lives in Camarillo! They had left the church since their 20s so the kids are members but she said she would give my email address to the daughter that lives in Camarillo so that when I get back we could meet up and talk about our mutual friend Eileen :) it was a really cool experience! She also taught us how to learn languages! Got some really good language study tips.

During zone conference tomorrow we are getting smartphones! It'll be really useful!

It was a good week, full of work! I'm excited to see the new kitchen!



Love,
Sœur Giles

February 12, 2018

More Snow!

Okay so the story of the week is named Alexander!
Rewind to last Monday. We get a call from a supposed member from the south of France. He said he had a friend to refer that he had met while at school in the United States. He already had a book of Mormon. We thought cool, we will call him! So we call him and he is a Jehovah's witness, says he is practicing and so are his parents, and not really interested in changing but willing to discuss. We had a super long conversation over the phone and we learned a lot about what they believe. We set an appointment for the next Friday morning. Nothing is weird yet. We get to Friday morning and he isn't online! Too bad. Fast forward to that night and we are at the church. We see the elders in the other room teaching a Skype lesson, that's normal. Well we call Alexander to find out why he missed the lesson that morning and he asked to call him back later because he is talking to 2 young men. Okay no problem. The elder's lesson finishes and we ask them how it went and it turns out it was the same Alexander!! We had called during their lesson and the elders were wondering why we were on the phone at the same time as their investigator. But that's not the weird part. Since they were on exchanges there was also 2 other elders there and about a week earlier they had received the same call! All for the same person. So one elder calls the guy who is giving the referral and tries to see where exactly he is from and the guy can't give a specific answer and hangs up. We search his number in Facebook and it turns out Alexander has been referring himself! All over our mission and probably others as well. We are not sure why but it was pretty weird! Especially because he seems not interested at all.

Other than that we had another really good lesson with a real investigator named Lindsay. She agreed to pray about a baptismal date! :)

The weather has been kind of crazy, snow and rain but there was a little sunlight today! California send some more over please!

This week I really liked Mosiah 29:20 "But behold, he did deliver them because they did humble themselves before him; and because they cried mightily unto him he did deliver them out of bondage; and thus doth the Lord work with his power in all cases among the children of men, extending the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him". Prayers work!
Have a great week!

Sœur Giles


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Letter to Dad,
Sorry I don't have much time left but sounds like your week went pretty good, Aladdin looked really good!!
This week we have spent a lot of time teaching about the book of Mormon.

We had a cool experience with a member on Friday night. There was some miscommunication about the temple trip and missed a ride . The temple is still about an hour away so he wouldn't be able to make it. Well we were at the visitors center calling people when he came. So we decided to do a spiritual thought with him about the book of Mormon. He told us he hasn't been able to read it lately but really wants to. We were able to testify of its importance and he asked for a book of Mormon to give to his co-worker. That's was cool!

We then had a lesson with a less active that is coming back and we talked about the same thing! It seemed like that was what everyone needed to hear this week. I really love the book of mormon and am so grateful for the truths that it teaches. Right now I am in Alma. As a mission we are reading it in 3 months while highlighting specific things. It has been really cool!

Thanks so much for all that you do! And also The kitchen will look great!

Love,
Sœur Giles

February 5, 2018

Today we went to Le Louvre ! It was pretty awesome. Here are a few pictures!
The rest of the week was also really good. It started off with a family home evening on Monday with a few members and an investigator. The investigator was actually found by the members a little while ago. They became friends just because of how often they walked past each other in that area. They ended up talking one time and became friends. So they invited him to come over and have dinner and now he comes to church!

We also went to see a member this week that had hurt her back at work a few weeks ago. She was still smiling so much though. She and her husband are form Ukraine and their conversion story was so cool. After they were married, every sunday her husband would put on a suit and tie and go church hunting! He wanted to know which one was God's church so he searched for many many years. It wasn't until his mother in law saw a flyer about the book of Mormon and gave it to them that they found the church and were baptized within a few months.

Another thing we have been doing is calling everyone in our area book. Since we have an application on the tablet and more people are added every week and some people were found but never contacted. It takes time but really worthwhile when we find people like Rose! She had been busy and was never able to meet the missionaries until now! I called her and she said she would love to meet. We met at a metro station and taught her the restoration and it was one of the best lessons ever!! She basically taught us about the great apostasy and when we introduced the book of Mormon and told her we were going to give it to her, she threw her hands up in the air and hugged us saying how much she hopped that we would give it to her! She said she would talk to her family and then invite us to teach them as well :)

Things are going really well here! Recently I've liked the scripture Mosiah 3:13 "And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them." We can rejoice because of Christ!

Sœur Giles




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Letter to Family


Wow it really has been a busy week!! It is really cold here.
Mom cleaned out the garage and dad almost choked... and clay is going to take German.
I would love that chip card! just send it on over and then I'll tell you when I get it so you can deactivate the other one. French people get so confused with a swipe card because apparently they never existed here. They always think they don't work but they do!

All is going really well here. Sister van Duyse is still awesome and just such a good missionary. She is constantly thinking about our investigators, such a great example.

I'll tell you a few stories.
One really cool miracle happened yesterday! We went to take our normal metro to church but for some reason another train wasn't coming for 15 minutes and usually they come every 4 or 5. So we decided to walk to a different line. We get on and sit down. The lady across from me looks so sad and so sick and it would just seem so normal to leave her alone but we say hi anyways and the minute we start talking she has such a big smile on her face! It was cute :) she lives in Versailles so we gave her a temple card. Well we get off and then we hear "hello sisters" . It's an American from Ohio who was going to church but had no idea where to go. The stop he had planned on getting off at was closed. So he followed us to church and he was so grateful! His son is on a mission in South Korea right now and had his first baptism! So that's exciting!

2nd tourist story. Since we live next to the catacombs we always talk to tourists. And we talked to a couple from Colorado and they went to the open house for the new temple there! I got to say my dad and cousin served there :) Then they said they were going to Versailles so we gave them a temple card as well.

Another cool story, we met this man on the street and he did not agree that Jesus was actually the son of God. But sister van Duyse just got all bold and said he needed to listen anyways. So we had a lesson with him on Saturday with the senior couple msisioanry in our ward. And he brought a book a Mormon that he recieved over 15 years ago!!!!! It was smaller and drawn in but still so cool that he still knew where it was. He even read a little bit!

One last story: rewind a few years and a German girl named Sarah hops on a plan to Nevada to be a foreign exchange student. Host family is Mormon, so she attends seminary and goes to church. Fast forward a few years and is in Paris nannying. Last week she went to a birthday party and noticed that one of the girls isn't drinking so she asks why and the girl says she is mormon!!! And this girl is in our ward. So we get a text Sunday morning saying that she is bringing Sarah to church. Sarah comes and we talk and it's so awesome. We offered the lessons but she said she will just keep coming to church and see how it all works out. It was a miracle nonetheless! !!

Thanks for your emails :) you are the greatest family in the whole world!!

Love, Sœur Giles