April 24th, 2017

Baguette vending machine

So the vending machine actually makes the baguettes during the day all by itself, what a genius invention, I might need one in my house!

Anyways this week was super good. First district meeting was on Tuesday, and I learned a lot! It was about being a more consecrated missionary. As a zone, this transfer we are really focusing on working hard but also working well. It should be an awesome transfer.

 
Thursday we went to the open house of the Paris temple!! It was absolutely beautiful. It is truly the house of God! It was a lot of traveling but very worth it. We also went to Chipotle, a good taste of regular food!

After that we went to the Couturier's home for dinner. We had a barbecue! We then ate an awesome cake, it was chocolate but also had olives on it so strange combination but good, with the coolest candle ever!!! I know its a bad picture, from a video...

We taught a lesson on the Fall and Adam and Eve to a recent convert, Iman. We were able to teach about the importance of choosing between good and evil. It's the greatest gift. Iman really understood and appreciated Adam and Eve. Because of them, we have the chance to have everlasting joy.

Other than that the week just flew. I am so happy to be a missionary and I love that Heavenly Father is always finding ways to bless his children. He loves you!

Sœur Giles

Paris Temple

The Avenue des Champs-Élysées 

Couturier's home - really cool candle!

Letter to Mom,


Ah mom that's so awesome. Glad you're doing well :) honestly doesn't feel weird to be 20, it's just weird to talk about it haha. So cool that Elder Christofferson is coming, he will for sure enjoy the choir. Also Cassidy is singing in the choir?? Cool cool. She sent me a picture of her dress, so pretty. Also tell me about the dress you wore to the wedding!!
I love that analogy with the salt. I really in Ether 6 this week. Read it and apply it to life. Why doesn't the Lord just push the jaridites with a nice breeze? Think of the boat as the Holy ghost and the stones as Christ.
Glad Clay is enjoying baseball and that his team did well. Is anyone playing catch with him? :) tell him I would if I could!! Also I had the thought yesterday for him to start reading the tennis shoes among the Nephites books! I remember reading them in middle school and really being interested in the book of Mormon after that. It made the characters come to life. Also I remember reading one of them in the bathroom late at night, yes I did that a lot haha, and being so touched by the spirit when Christ came to the Nephites after he was resurrected. Anyways just a thought for him!
I loved walking through the temple and remembering the covenants that we make. Honestly God is giving us so so much. We are promised so many awesome blessings when we obey.
Keep it up mom, I love you so much!!
Hannah


Letter to Dad,




Ah Dad I know im so sorry for not emailing you back last week!! I really appreciate hearing about your week! I wrote a draft for last weeks as well. Here it is.
Thanks so much, especially for the birthday cake emoji, just delicious!! It's been pretty cold this past week but I think it's supposed to warm up this week and start spring. It's only rained one time. So my comp had a baptism the Saturday before I got here so we have been reteaching the lessons to her. Right now we have lots of potentials but only one progressing ami. We are working hard for more!
Sounds like work is getting pretty busy! Has the USC deal been finalized or is that more of a continual process? #3 exec though!! Go dad!! I'm sure he enjoyed your new car.
I'm glad all the reception turned out well. Have you used the new smoker yet??
I haven't had snails yet! Closest thing was snail butter but not too many weird foods yet. Something different here is that they eat vegetables by themselves, not in a salad. Almost everyone for dinner has a bowl of cucumbers covered in sour cream, another bowl of tomatoes with olive oil and spices, and another bowl of shredded carrots. It's interesting!


The temple tour was amazing. There was some cool sun, moon, star Stain glass window pieces. Also the chairs are very comfortable. So the Chipotle we went to after the temple was on the Champs...we were there just a few hours before the terrorist attack. Heavenly Father takes care of his missionaries, we were long gone on a train by then. We were supposed to have exchanges in Paris this week but that got changed, they will be here in Nancy the next week I think. We have quite a few meetings with new amis this week, I'm excited to start teaching.
Here they only bisou 2 times, the left then to the right. It's just pretty normal now. Unfortunately the Harry Potter store isn't open on Mondays and we don't really have time during the week so we just look in the window sometimes!
Have another great week! Love , Hannah

April 17, 2017

April 17, 2017

Lots of Kinder Chocolate!

My bleue ville is Nancy! It's on the east side of France, a few hours from Paris.

The flight here was long, I sat next to a guy from Holland! President and Sœur Babin picked us up and drove us to the mission office where we started contacting. I contacted with Sœur Bishop who has been out for 11 months, we gave out a few copies of the Book of Mormon. This is what I contributed in all our conversations combined : 3 Bonjours, and one 20 second prayer. She was a fearless missionary!!

The next day we met our trainers, mine is Sœur Warr from Santa Clarita, California! Every where I go I meet someone who knows where Camarillo is, small world. We took the bullet train to Nancy and quickly changed into normal clothes. Nancy is awesome because they have young adult activites ! The ward is here relatively big. So Wednesday night we had a sports night with a few of the members and some Amis. The next day we had a mangez-vous with a member Maité and her friend Irène. They are both old ladies and love the missionaries, we had a great time with them. Maité actually knows my teacher from the MTC Sœur Kitchen, that was a nice tender mercy!

I'm not sure why people think French people aren't very nice because almost all of them are so kind and encouraging!! I love them! On Thursday we did some finding and my goal was to start some of the conversations. The first woman I talked to, Charlotte, was so receptive and nice!
A lot of the contacts we do, we share the Easter video. It is awesome, definitely watch it soon please! Each time I watch it, I feel Christ's love for the whole world. He truly lived, died, and lives again so we can have eternal joy. Through Him we can have peace!

The bizarre event of the week was having dinner with the family Nisse. They are less actives. I don't really know how to describe them...definitely French! They fed us lamb covered in snail butter. Meals take a really long time here, we had at least 4 courses, we started at 7 and we had to rush the desert out to finish by 9. They just don't stop talking!

Church yesterday was very refreshing! The members are so fun. An elder that just finished this past Wednesday actually came with his family to visit the ward, it was nice talking to them. Actually his brother served in Taiwan with the Blickenstaffs, their last name is Long! I don't think the world could get any smaller.

I absolutely love it here. I'm so grateful for Sœur Warr, she works so hard and is very dedicated to bringing this happy message to everyone around us. She's a great example to me.
One scripture that i loved this week was Psalms 62:8. A lot of people we talk to say that God is all around us but he can actually be with us! He answers our prayers because He loves us!

Have a great week!

Sœur Giles





Gratitude Wall, at the MTC




Bus ride to the airport from the MTC

Arrived at the airport in Paris!




Breakfast at the mission home




meeting their new trainer today




dinner at the mission home




First trainer, Soeur Warr!










Consecration Hill

Seour Warr, from Santa Clarita, California - Hannah's trainer




We heart attacked Maité to thank her for lunch.

Yummy pastry!

President and Sœur Babin





























Letter to Mom:


That sounds incredible Mom!! I cant wait for the pictures! Also tell me about the dress you were wearing for the wedding?!? It's beautiful! Not the one you ordered right?

It has been quite the week, most of it is in the group email but I just wanted to tell you that I love you and I am so grateful for all your help in preparing me for this! You've always been a great example to me and I see how strong you are and how much you love the lord. Keep it up mom! Also you'd be proud of me, I'm not really that scared to go up and talk to random people! A lot of them do say I don't have time but a lot of them do talk about their beliefs. You could totally be a missionary!
The transportation system is really confusing for me and I usually have no idea where we are but I know which bus to take to get to the church and how to get to a grocery store! 

We talked to such a nice lady yesterday at the bus stop. The bus was really late so we got to talk for a long time! She was interested in life after death because her husband died 20 years ago but she says she can still feel him here. She's been prepared! Sadly she wouldn't give us her number so hopefully she will call us sometime. We gave her a Book of Mormon too! 

We haven't taught many lessons, just little thoughts for the families we visit. They had a baptism last Saturday, her name is Iman and she is the cutest Armenian lady ever to be seen!!
We get to go to the Paris temple on Thursday,part of the vip open house, the most perfect birthday present. Thanks for your package! Greatly appreciated mom :) I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Hannah

We heart attacked Maité to thank her for lunch. Picture from consecration hill. Our gratitude wall from the MTC. Bus ride to the airport. And a random building!

April 7th, 2017

10 hour flight here I come!

This week has flown by! It started off great with general conference. Those prophets have been called of God and do speak his word. I am so grateful that God loves us so much that he would provide a way for us to come to learn more about him and learn more how to have happiness in this life. Fun fact Elder Costa and Elder Palmer each came to the MTC and spoke to us the past two Tuesdays! Everyone cheered when they walked up to talk. I loved President Monson's talk about how important the Book of Mormon is. Seriously, read it every single day!!

Sunday night vocal point from BYU came and sang. It was awesome!!! Listen to Nearer My God to Thee by them as soon as you can. It is so powerful and awesome and inspiring. Please listen to it!

This week was a little crazy. On Monday we had TRC with a real person this week! His name is Adam from Bordeaux. It was super cool. He likes to ride his bike and he delivers pizza!
Tuesday and Wednesday we taught our last lessons and had some really fun times with our teachers, they told awesome stories.

Thursday was in field orientation and we did a lot of contacting. They also talked about how important the members are in helping people have a good experience at church and can help support their testimony as well.

I am super excited to get to France and spread the joy of the gospel. I may not be able to speak much but through God anything is possible.

Sœur Giles

*******************************************************************************Letter to Mom,

Mom you are awesome!!! There are so many tender mercies here. I absolutely love studying and planning lessons. Often my questions are answered when I study for my investigators.

Can't believe Lucas is getting married tomorrow, I'm glad everything is working out.
I'm so excited for Ruth!! I can't wait to see her. Soooo many people have or are or will serve in paris. The work is hastening for sure. I can't wait to get out there. I have been reading a lot of my teacher's emails from when he served, he has them all printed out in a binder . They are hilarious! The members are so kind and there are so many opportunities to teach people.

Also I love your tandem bike poem, it's such a good analogy. I miss Grandpa, he was so kind and gentle and loving, can't wait to see him again!
On Monday, we leave for the airport a little after 12, so I will probably be able to call in-between 2 and 4. Hopefully you won't be going through a bad cell phone area...

Also thank you so much for the package and thank clay for his letter, I'll send him one back!
I'll talk to you soon! Love you so much!

Sœur Hannah Giles

March 31st, 2017

The tulips are blooming!!

What a week it has been! It has flown by again. A lot of the same things, teaching and learning and more teaching. On Sunday the BYU men's chorus came and sang to us for about an hour! They are awesome!! My favorite song was called "my witness " I think... anyways it was a more soul power song, lots of snapping and swaying, super cool!! I love those kinds of songs. After that we watched a documentary on President Thomas S Monson, what a man!! God really does communícate with prophets today.

On Monday morning we had Skype TRC where we Skype a member who lives in France or Canada and teach them a lesson. Sœur Daines and I got on the computer and tried calling the women who said she would Skype us. She never answered...so we just left 3 minute videos testifying how the Book of Mormon answers our questions. It really does! Take your questions to that Book and study and learn about God's answer. Hopefully this Monday we'll actually teach a real person.

On Tuesday our Canadians left :( we became such good friends and I'm really excited to hear about their experiences and see them again in a few years. On Wednesday we received 7 new missionaries also going to Montreal Canada, so far they seem to be doing very well. An elder is from Pasadena and knows where Camarillo is! Très cool!

On Thursday we had pretend exchanges. The missionaries in my district were all assigned new companions just for teaching that day. My new companion was Sœur Mecham. She is awesome! I learned so much about preparing a lesson and being personable with an investigator.

Last night my teacher Sœur Kitchen showed us a slide show of a lot of people she taught in France! I'm am super excited to go!! France is a huge melting pot of all kinds of people and refugees. We received our travel plans today! We leave April 10!! Just 10 days away. Our teachers talk so much about how so many people have the wrong impression of the missionary work in France. God has prepared people there, I know he has, otherwise he wouldn't have called me or anyone else there. I'm so excited!!

Have a wonderful week!

Sœur Giles

Letter to Mom:

Hey Mom!

Those pictures are so cute! I was going to ask you to send me an invitation so I could see one but those are great! I'm so excited for Kailee to join our family, she's so sweet. 

Thanks for both of the packages this week! The sisters in my district had a super awesome snack night on Monday night, we enjoyed all the chips and salsa and other foods as well. The cinnamon rolls are delicious! I can't wait for general conference this weekend. I'm going to look for ways that the brethren teach the doctrine of Christ simply and try to apply it to my lessons. 

I don't not feel at all ready to leave. I love the MTC, my teachers are so awesome and inspiring. Except the food, really excited to get off the cafeteria! But they do have a tortilla wrap bar where you can put a whole bunch of things inside and also a dressing so I had the worker put olive oil and red wine vinegar on mine and right as I asked him to, an older missionary from either London or Australia or new Zealand, somewhere with a cool accent, complimented me on my refined taste! He said not many Americans would choose that but it's so good. So I said it was thanks to you because you love it on sandwiches and salads! 

Also I would like 2 more deodorants, the secret kind with the lavender scent, thank you! It does not feel like it's already April, time is zooming by. I'll send pictures in the group email!

I love you so much!! Thanks for all your support!

Love, Sœur Hannah Giles

March 24th, 2017

"A smooth sea never made a great sailor"

Another week down! I feel like so much happened this week but I cannot remember any of it! On Tuesday there was an excellent devotional. Lexi Walker was a guest singer, she's amazing. She's only 14, look her up! Elder Zwick of the seventy came and spoke about how important it is for us to be kingdom builders. His wife talked about how we are the resource not the source. The Lord's promises are always certain but not always fast. The answers will come at just the right time for us. There is a line in the song "Joseph Smith's first prayer" and it goes "but undaunted still he trusted". Things sometime don't make sense to us but by having patience and trust in God, they will all work out!
On Wednesday my zone got 12 new missionaries. Sœur Daines and I and the zone leaders welcomed them that night. I'm so excited that they are here! 8 are going to Tahiti, 2 to Barbados, and 2 to Washington DC.
Other than that we taught lessons and had class and then taught more lessons!
I love the Book of Mormon and how it applies to every single persons life. It answers our questions and gives us direction. Pray about it!

Sœur Giles


Letter to Mom:


Ma mère!

Sorry that you are sick! I had a cold the first week and now I have a petit cough but I feel so good today! This morning we went to the temple and I had a great conversation with Sœur McDonald in the celestial room just about questions we've had and I learn a ton about the plan of salvation while there. It's awesome. On Tuesday Elder Zwick from the 70 came and spoke which was awesome. Also Lexi Walker, a 14 year old professional singer came to sing with the choir. Yes I was in it, we sang savior redeemer of my soul and it was beautiful!!! I'm glad things are coming together well for the reception, it'll be wonderful.
I love the tour de famille!! French has beautiful expressions that we use all the time. The language is definitely progressing!
Tell clay to write me a letter!! I want to hear from him! Also I would greatly appreciate a real letter or something!
Right now I can't remember what happened this week but I know it was super good..
I just looked in my journal. Study Alma 34 this week. Such a great chapter about the plan of salvation. Try to find verses that talk about how important the atonement is.
Also last week was really rough because of the district changes and some people have been having a hard time adjusting but last Saturday one of our teachers, Frère Nadauld came up to sœur Daines and I and thanked us for being the glue of the district, we've been very positive and supportive and he said it's made a huge difference!
I love being a missionary!
Je t'aime beaucoup!


Hannah


Letter to Dad:

Sounds like an awesome weekend dad! Yesterday my teacher had each of us go into a classroom by ourselves and pray for about 10 minutes and just talk to God about how we were doing. Then to search the scriptures for some answers. I was looking for a chapter about the characteristics of God and read in Roman's 12. It was mostly about things we need to do but I loved reading that. Personal revelation is real!
Pretty cool you were on a panel, super smart dad! I can't wait for pictures of John, he's probably so cute!! Also Gramma seems like she's doing well.
I have so many experiences while here and every day I am so much more grateful for the atonement and the chance we get to change every day! Love ya!

Hannah

Friday, March 17th, 2017

Petit a petit


This week has gone by so fast. The weather here has been super nice. I haven't worn a jacket at all for the past few days! Feels a little bit like home.

So there are two districts here going to France, for some reason two of the Lyon missionaries were put into our district. So on Sunday the branch president of our zone talked to our two districts and said he had decided to switch the districts so that all of the Lyon missionaries were in one district and move some Paris missionaries into ours. My district lost 3 elders and gained 1 elder and 1 sister. We were all actually pretty sad because we finally were becoming really unified and working together really well. The branch president called it our first transfer..better get used to it! So it has been a week of adjusting, I'm just so glad I still have the same teachers. Brother Adams, Brother Nadauld, and Soeur Kitchen are the best!!

For the Tuesday devotional, Linda K Burton and her husband came to speak to us. Both of their talks were so good. Sister Burton talked about how important it is for the Lord to work through us. She quoted someone but I don't know who "if you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together". A great example of this principle this week was when my district was studying the Book of Mormon together. When we studied it together we were able to share experiences and insights that I would have never thought of on my own. Going to church is so important because we are able to learn from each other and help others come closer to Christ.

On Wednesday my district got to be hosts!! Over 150 bebe missionaires came in! The sister that I helped check in and find her room and class is going to Anaheim! I've only been here two weeks but it made me feel so old. Pretty fun!

Other than that everything is going well, french is coming little by little, teaching is also coming little by little. The longer I am here the greater appreciation I gain for the plan of HAPPINESS that God has provided for us. I love this gospel!

-
Soeur Giles


********************************************************************************

Letter to Mom:

Mom, I am SO SO happy you were able to study charity. I love how charity is all about who you are inside and not about what you do, even though it is often the motivation for kindness. As I've studied that principle more I've found myself being more willing to jump up and help some one or take some extra time to find out how some one is feeling. I can definitely attest to President Hinckley's quote. I can hardly speak coherent French but what I can do is pray and bear testimony in french. The spirit comes so strongly during those times. Before gym time every day we say a prayer and the guy who was in charge asked to hear someone pray in French so I volunteered! I love it! Also I really really like speaking up in class. There is so much insight gained when we discuss things together. As a district we have started reading the book of Mormon together. We are only on chapter 5, but we stop and discuss every few verses and share experiences. You and dad should do this! You don't even have to read a whole chapter but it is so so so helpful to understand the meaning of verses and ask questions you've always had but never answered!


Tell Brenda I said hello! She's awesome.


Also I want to hear how the wedding plans are going! I'm praying for you!


Love, Hannah



********************************************************************************


Letter to Dad:

This week was good. Super busy, a lot of our study time was cut short because of service and exercise time and we are now teaching 2 investigators. But it makes every day go by so fast. I love the Nephi spiritual chain. I think that the first scriptures talks about how humble he was and how that is what is essential to begin your spiritual journey. We need to ask for help and to know the truth. The rest of the chain seemed to me like examples where Nephi demonstrated his faith and trust in the Lord. His circumstances were hard but he knew to rely on the Lord. These experiences build us up. Nephi was able to have the spirit with him. The last verse shows me that Nephi had grown to the point where the Lord was giving him direction because Nephi had shown he was willing to do all the Lord commanded. He had been prepared to build a boat even though he never had.

About personal revelation, this week in class we watched a short clip of Elder Bednar talking about Spiritual promptings. He told the missionaries to "quit worrying about whether it is their own thoughts or a prompting." God is orchestrating a wonderful plan for each of us. All we need to do is be a good girl or good boy and try to follow Christ. He told a story of when he was a missionary when President Packer came to his mission in Germany. He and his companion took president Packer and his wife to the train station. Elder Bednar had a thought to give them some money for food on the train so he did. He was worried that they would be hungry. But this was when Berlin was separated into east and west . East Berlin was not accepting a certain kind of passport that sister packer had. They used the money Elder Bednar gave them to get through safely. To me this really shows that if we try our best to be kind and helpful the Lord can work wonders that we will never find out about. Elder Bednar didn't find this out till 30 years later or something like that.

Heavenly Father works through us to help others. It is so important to recieve personal inspiration and help from the Holy Ghost.


Love, Hannah

Friday, March 10th, 2017 Gospel=Good News

Bonjour!

I don't even know where to start..this week was SO GOOD. Sœur Daines and I taught our first "investigator" starting Saturday. We had to teach completely in French so it was interesting. The lessons mostly consisted of us asking him questions and him responding and us not knowing what he was saying. We tried our best though! He gave us feedback last night, thankfully in English, and said that we did a great job at making everything we said personal and meaningful. He didn't feel like we were checking topics off but that we were prayerfully preparing what he needed to hear. Every time Sœur Daines and I would go up to knock on the classroom door, we would start giggling, we'd try to stop but as soon as he opened the door he would start laughing! Anyways, he told us that that made it fun and more like a conversation with real people instead of robots. He said that we would be able to touch so many lives in France because of our individual personalities. 

Sunday was a great day as well. The highlight of the day was watching a talk by Elder Bednar given a few years ago at the MTC about the character of Christ. He talked about who Christ is as a person and how he responds to every situation. Christ was always turning outwards. There are so many examples in the scriptures of him being compassionate and selfless. Elder Bednar challenged us to find those examples, I started reading the new testament this week and found one already! It was in Matthew 14. Christ had just found out that John the Baptist was beheaded, in verse 13 it says that Christ departed to go to a desert place, I'm sure he wanted to mourn the loss of his friend. But people had learned that Christ was near so they followed him. Instead of telling them to go away so he could have time by himself, he "was moved with compassion" and healed all those who were sick. 

The highlight of my whole week was in class. My teacher, Brother Adams, taught about the doctrine of Christ. The doctrine of Christ is the simple fundamental things of the gospel, i.e. faith, repentance... he taught us about the continual cycle we are in, faith moves us to repent, we become clean by being baptized and receiving the holy ghost, and then we do our best to endure. This is the process of conversion. I can't say it near as well as he taught it but I gained so much perspective on how investigators think about those fundamental things. I am so grateful for the knowledge that we can change, we can become better, we can have peace now and joy forever. 

Each day gets better and better. I love my zone, during exercise time we always play a version of knock out, basketball, we just have so much fun! 

I've really started to understand how powerfully the Lord can answer prayers. He can guide and direct us if we believe that he can! I invite each of you to look up charity in the bible dictionary and think about what it means to you. It gave me a new meaning to what being charitable is.

 Je sais que Dieu vous aime!

Sœur Giles

MTC District

Seour Giles and Seour Daines