April 16, 2018

From east to west (with a stop in the middle)

So I'm getting transferred to Nantes tomorrow with a new companion coming from the MTC :D neither of us will know the sector but that's okay!
It was quite a surprise! Sister van Duyse is staying in Paris, she was happy about that. To celebrate my birthday early we went out to eat at a real French restaurant!! And it was so delicious. And yes I got the card 2 days ago, thanks so much!

My 2nd semester I took those piano lessons at BYU and my teacher's family lives in Nantes! I'm pretty sure his dad is the bishop so that's cool! Maybe my teacher will come back during the summer.

This week was full of good lessons, good hours of finding and a little riot in the park! We were at the park with an investigator, he is 88 but we had to give him a chance. A senior couple also was there with us when there were a few loud bangs and then people started running so fast to get out of the park! We start to get up and the police came and told us to get out real fast, 88 year old men can't walk that fast so we are taking it slowly. Well a group of about 30 college guys start running through the park and the police were chasing them. They weren't trying to hurt anyone just cause a scene. But it cut our lesson short. Then we went to the Luxembourg gardens to have lunch with a member, Terri Lee! She's awesome.

Last night we went to a devotional at the temple visitors center to watch a recent convert from our ward bear his testimony! Since this is the time of the strikes in France, about 4 out of the 7 days of the week there are hardly any trains. We were running to catch the train to the temple and missed it by 20 seconds! Then we had to wait half an hour for the next one.

This week I was reading in Ether in the book of Mormon. Well the first chapter was the one I really liked! Jared and his brother had a lot of faith and a lot of courage to ask the Lord to not confound their language, and then to ask a 2nd time for their family and friends. Then they asked a 3rd time for guidance to know where to go. And they promised the Lord that they would be faithful. I love a line from the last verse "And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me "

I know that the Lord is loving, full of charity and that he takes care of us. It just requires a little bit of faith to make all the difference!

Love,
Sœur Giles

April 10, 2018

Transfers are coming a week early so Soeur van Duyse and I had to take the chance to go to the temple before one of us is transferred next week! We have no idea what is going to happen haha
But we are so happy to have both been here for Lindsay's baptism on Saturday. She gave such a sweet testimony about how difficult it was to change from being atheist to believing! But she has found a lot of peace and comfort knowing that there is more to life. Her family is not too happy but she is happy with her decision. The first lesson she was taught I was on exchanges with a sister. That sister went home a few months ago and was able to attend the baptism! Such a cool tender mercy for Lindsay because she hardly knew anyone that went. She also said she felt better knowing that we were there :) she loved general conference as Well!

Another investigator that is progressing is Victor! He was found a few weeks ago and we have taught him every time by video. He didn't really want to come to church, probably nervous. But we had a member join us over Skype for the lesson and the member invited him to come, they exchanged numbers and they had been talking throughout the week! And he came!!!! And he really liked it!!! He is just a regular French guy so that's pretty awesome.

Yesterday morning during personal study I reviewed some scriptures that I had memorized in the past but since forgotten a little bit...so I went over one in the bible that says that Jesus is the light and life of the world, those who follow him don't walk in darkness but will have the light of life. We then went contacting that morning and we talked to a lady who started crying when we stopped her! I was able to share that scripture and that really touched her.

Another thing we did was go to the temple visitors center with a member and her friend! They are both 16 and the member really wants to go on a mission haha but her friend really loved it! She thought it was so beautiful!

It's getting so much warmer, soon we won't have to wear tights! Yay!

The kitchen looks great and congrats to Nancy for getting married!! And woohoo Lucas and Kailee its been a year! That came so fast!
Love,
Sœur Giles



















Lindsay's Baptism!

April 2, 2018

Miracle of the week was Deborah! We had met her a few weeks ago and then set up a lesson and she wasn't able to come. We had forgotten to message her back until last week but she didn't respond. A few days ago she called from a random phone number saying that her phone was broken but she had saved our number on the sim card and when she saw it she knew she had to call us! And so we were able to meet and she loved hearing about the restoration. She said she really felt something special and that she loved being with us. She still doesn't have a working phone but we set another lesson up for Sunday to watch some general conference together. We get there a few minutes late and we were praying hard that she wouldn't leave. When we get there Deborah is waiting for us! She had arrived at the metro stop but had forgotten where the church was, so she prayed to know where to go and she heard in her head "2 letter so she did that and she found the church! She has so much faith and is really prepared!
Tourist time: after we watched the Saturday morning session of conference (it ended at 8 at night) we walked out of the senior couples apartment right as a couple walked by. They were members and from San Diego. Immediately they said hey it's the missionaries we've just prayed to find someone to help us! There phones had died and they needed help finding their hotel.
On Sunday evening we were walking back from a members house (they live right next to the Eiffel tower so we got another quick picture :) and we pass a group of people and one girl says hey it's the missionaries! So we stop talk to them, they are from Utah but they aren't members. Turns out the last name of the girl is Giles!! She is probably a really really distant cousin.
Today we visited les petit et grand palais! They were really beautiful!

Another miracle this week was Angelique! We talked to her about 2 weeks ago on the street and she was super interested. She was sick and couldn't come to the lesson appointment we had set but she lives not too far from the temple so we make an appointment to go there. We go all the way to the temple, it takes about an hour and a half and she doesn't show up. About 20 minutes after it was supposed to start she says she was scared and had some doubts. No problem! So we asked what her doubts were, no response. Fast forward a few hours. We are teaching English class and we get a call from the senior couples and says that Angelique showed up to institute! All by herself!!!! And she loved it!!! She wanted to watch general conference this weekend too, we aren't sure yet if she did but it was so cool that she came even though she had had some doubts. She had even started reading the book of Mormon!
Another awesome miracle was Kassim! I was calling random people in the phone and he wanted to meet that night. And he almost cried when we talked about the Savior and all that He has done for us.
I loved what President Nelson taught about personal revelation. Over time we can come to know the spirit really well, that is after all the goal of life!
Have a great week! :)
Love,
Sœur Giles

March 26, 2018

Gold plates?

So today was cool! Last week during zone conference President told us about the gold plates that are in the Louvre. So today we went and checked it out. Apparently it's writings from about 700 years before Christ. It was a palace of a guy named sargon. He also had inscriptions on other types of material but look at the difference between the gold and the other ones. It's so much clearer. More evidence that the book of Mormon is true :)

Cynthia's baptism went really well!! Other than the fact that they were late because of a train strike and she forgot to close her mouth while going under water. So she coughed up her lungs right after! But she was happy and it was so good. She is going to do so many good things.

We went to le Havre again on exchanges and we had a really cool experience on the train ride there. We were just talking and about 30 minutes in the guy next to us asks us about our plaques. He just spent time looking up the church on his phone but wanted to ask us about it. So we talked for another hour before he had to get off. He was super cool and he was happy to have a book of Mormon!

One thing I'm super grateful for is the sun shine! It's been so long since the sky has been blue. Just looking up at it helped me to widen my perspective more. It was so clear that there is a plan and that Heavenly Father is there !

I didn't slip on a slug but I slipped while running up an escalator and now my shin is a little bruised up. Moral of the story- stop being so late to trains!!
Love,
Sœur Giles

Cynthia was baptized! Best part of the week! Of the month!! Of the year!!!

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