May 29, 2018

So yeah this week we didn't have hot water and the gas stove didn't work for a few days but now it's all fixed! The cold shower made me wonder how we ever swam in the ocean when it was freezing!! Other than that everything is going well. It poured so hard last evening and soeur Morrison looked at me and so wanted to go out and run around a little bit. So we did! 

No I didn't have Mr. Spiker in middle school. I had Mr. Robbins for 2 years instead. But I've heard about him!

This week we went to see a couple in the ward and it was so cool hearing about all their experiences. One of the husband's ancestors was in the revolutionary war and the wife remembers leaving Versailles as a little girl because of world war two. Soeur Morrison really loved hearing about all the history! They also shared some experiences that they had in the temple. The wife remembers doing the ordinances for one woman who was an orphan, or a child that was found on the street. She felt a really strong connection to her and started researching things about her then went to the hall of records. All that they had about her was a torn piece of paper which said that when the little girl was found all she had was a stuffed rabbit and 3 little handkerchiefs. It was really sad but sister fortineau said she felt at peace knowing that the temple work was performed. 

We went to Rennes again for a stake relief society activity. They had a few workshops to go to and it was great seeing Sophie, a recent convert interact with more woman. She really really loved it!! Plus the dessert that they had was really good. 

Recently we have been trying to help a member share the gospel with her friends. She really wants to! She tried talking to one friend but that didn't work out . Sunday afternoon the member calls us and wonders if we are free that afternoon, we are and we go to see a family that she is friends with. The mom is from Peru but that dad is french. They have two kids, 12 and 8. The mom actually remembers seeing missionaries knock on her grandma's door in Peru and wanted to let them in but her grandma didn't want to. She has been missing this spiritual part in her life and really wants to come to church where her children feel comfortable as well. It was so good to testify of the truths that we know about Jesus Christ and the plan of happiness that Heavenly Father has for us, she was tearing up! We see them again on Thursday. Afterwards the member was so humble and said she was just an instrument in God's hand to help spread his gospel. 

Last night we went to see the family Giraud!! The family that we passed by the other week and then they called us asking us to come over and teach their son. And it was so awesome!! The son is so smart and really wants to learn everything. He loved the Book of Mormon that we gave him and said a really sweet prayer. The mom really wants to change jobs so they have more time to put into coming to church and participating.

This week we saw many times how much just a little bit of faith in action brings about miracles. They were many times when we had studied and prepared something which was exactly what was needed and the Spirit was able to testify of truths . I love this gospel!

Love,
Sœur Giles




Few highlights of the week:
Went to le jardin des plantes and held baby goats!
An investigator took us to a little village that has a castle and then to visit a friend whose is in a rest home.
Brought flowers to an older member who lives all by herself.
We had an awesome lesson with Julie about faith!
And we taught a new family the restoration. While we were talking the 12 year old asked us if God answers us if we pray to him in our thoughts. We said yes and he said that that has happened to him already! It's incredible how much Heavenly Father loves us and wants to help us!

Have a great week!
Soeur Giles

May 21, 2018

This week was super good! 

We had an awesome miracle on Friday! It all started in the morning when soeur Morrison's skirt broke after she had put it on. The zipper got all stuck and she couldn't get out of it for almost an hour. So she changed outfits and decided to put on tights. She thought it was going to be chilly. Then we started to plan and decided to go visit a less active family. Except they live super far away, about 20 km and the buses that go there are not frequent. We decided to go in the afternoon. So we went and it's a tiny tiny town, super cute! We started walking to the house and after about 15 minutes I look at the map and we had been walking down a road parallel to the one we were supposed to be walking on. That added about 10 minutes to our walk. Finally we get to the house and a neighbor is out side and says that they aren't home yet but we ring the door bell anyways. He was right! But it was super hot outside and soeur Morrison really wanted to take off her tights, she was going to do it right there but I saw a brown fence for trash cans right across the street so we went there quickly. Right as she finished we heard little voices and we are pretty sure it's the family!! We try to look without being creepy but couldn't really tell. Then we walked around for 5 minutes then went back. We were right and they answer! We had no idea who they were so we assumed the woman who answered the door was the mom, wrong! It was their nanny so we left a note with our phone number for the parents. Then we go on our way. Of course we buy a patisserie in town and some really good bread with olives in it. We get back home and at about 8 the mom calls! She was so surprised that we went all the way out there to talk to them and she said her 9 year old son has expressed the desire to be baptized after he went to his best friends baptism last year. So she invited us over for family home evening next next week to start teaching the boy!! It was so cool!! 

Other than that we had an awesome lesson with Vanessa! We met her on the tram a few weeks ago and finally met with her. It was probably the sweetest lesson I've ever had! All she wants is healing in her life and happiness in her family! 

Julie is progressing well. Even though she said she didn't want to live the word of wisdom she cut down smoking and pretty much eliminated caffeine after our lesson last week. She rolled her ankle and wasn't able to make it to church but we met with her yesterday afternoon and talked about all the good things she has in her life now, she teared up! It was so sweet. And we took cute pictures with our copies of the book of Mormon :)

The gospel is so good!

Love,
Sœur Giles

May 14, 2018

It was awesome talking to you yesterday too!! You are great examples to me.
The rest of the week went really well. There were some days that we were outside the whole day, so busy going to lessons or meetings. It was so great!! 

We had a really cool experience as well. There is a member of about 10 years who came from Peru 3 years ago to live in France. She has been struggling the past little while and feels pretty lonely. One morning she texted us and asked what we were doing that day, she wanted to have a picnic haha but that afternoon we had scheduled to meet with a recent convert to talk about the temple and continue with her genealogy. In addition another member called us and asked if we needed her help that day. So we invited the member from Peru and the other one to our lesson with the recent convert. Fast forward to 16th and everyone is there except the recent convert. We called and it turns out there were no buses that day! But we were able to talk to the other 2 members about the temple and the one from Peru cried when she realized the blessings that her family could have. She said that that is what she wants in her life! And the member there was just perfect for her. They talked about her future and how she can accomplish what she wants in her life. It was so awesome that it didn't go at all as planned but was exactly what needed to happen!!

Later in the week we did end up going to see the recent convert and talk about the temple. We are trying to get them all to the temple within 3 months of their baptism but we are about a 3 hour drive from the temple and the ward has never really planned a temple trip before. It's been a little bit challenging! We have the best ward missionary ever though, the mom of my piano teacher from byu! She served a mission when she was younger and she is just willing to take charge and get things moving. She helps our ward mission leader who is in his 20s figure how to be effective as well. It's great!

Missionary life is a good life! Sometimes it does feel like a burden, people depend on us for eternal salvation!! But there is nothing better than seeing a person take a bite of the sweet sweet fruit of the gospel, and just love it!

Have a wonderful week :)
Love,
Sœur Giles

May 7, 2018

This week we went to Paris again! The day Sister Morrison came in was a little weird so she didn't get to go to the mission home for dinner and to the temole the next day, so we did that this week! We left Tuesday afternoon and arrived in Paris with just enough time to stroll past Notre dame. Then we went to the mission home and had a really delicious dinner of lasagna and crêpes by a real french chef! Then we slept at a hotel in saint German en laye!! And it was the nicest bed and pillow that I've had in a long long time. It was great! The breakfast was so nice as well, baguette and cheese and salami. Pain au chocolate and some Madeleines. 

 Then we had a conference in Versailles with all the other trainers and new missionaries about rules and welcome to the mission. Walked to the temple and had a little presentation by the temple director about using the temple and it was really nice! It felt so funny to be back where I used to serve. The metros still smell the same and the people who play instruments are still there. Well it's only been a few weeks so basically nothing has changed haha we didn't get home till late on Wednesday. 

The rest of the days we spent searching for less actives and part member families and talking to people on the way there and back. It was actually super awesome!! We talked to a lot of cool people. One of the them is Papis, we talked to him on the tram. He noticed our plaques and asked where the church is. He had to get off in 2 stops so we quickly explained the book of Mormon, gave him one and are seeing him tonight! 

Another old investigator we called, she wanted a book of Mormon right then! So we hurried out of the apartment and walked down the street where she lives and gave it to her. We will pass by later this week to see how her reading is going.

Another miracle, a less active member came to church on Sunday with her nonmember son. They just decided that they needed to come back, they have had some hard times recently and felt a need to come back. It was stake conference and it was perfect! The stake president spoke about president Nelson's talk about revelation and it was so powerful. All the ward members were so welcoming and the mom invited us to come over this week! 

Everything is going really well over here! We are loving It!
Love,
Sœur Giles

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Every day it gets warmer and warmer and it's awesome!
One of the best moments was a member named Emmanuel. He just moved to France from Nigeria and found a card for the missionaires in Paris. So he calls them and then the missionaries there give us his number. So we call him and he is so so so happy to talk to us. We met with him on Saturday to show him where the church is. While we were on the bus he said that he has been praying so hard to find the church. Then he starts singing the chorus of I am a child of God and said that God has been leading him. Turns out he really really likes singing and then started to sing how gentle God's commands in the bus as well. It was awesome.

We also were able to see a member that is hopefully going to visit the Paris temple for the first time this weekend! She is so excited! We went to the park right next to her house and saw some really pretty flowers.

 
We also went to Paris again, it was a great day!
Sœur Giles

April 30, 2018

So this week was really cool! For district meeting we went to Saint Nazaire, a little beach town not too far away. Right after that we went to Rennes to have exchanges with the sister training leaders there! Except we missed our train by 2 minutes and had to wait around for another 2 hours haha got some good language study in!

Rennes is a cool university city so there are tons of young people to talk to. We met this guy who came from Iraq and is studying to be able to help the refugees that are coming into France. He gave us a really good perspective on what they go through because he was one of them but was lucky enough to get help from someone else. He wants to do the same for others! Anyways he was really happy to have talked to us, he said thank you multiple times!! 

We also taught a university student in a cafe, she was so nice and said she would read the book of Mormon!

The rest of the week was spent out finding and teaching a little bit. We met with an old investigator(she was a former investigator and she is in her 70s...) she made us crêpes and really liked reading about Lehi' s dream in the book of Mormon. We read the verse about the fruit being more delicious than any other fruit and she said "yes it must have been very sugary". When we told her it represented the love of God she said she got goosebumps! 

We live in the region le pays de la loire.We also took a boat across la Loire river and went to the island with a member. We got ice cream and then started talking about the temple and she really felt like that was the next step in her life. There is a trip on the 12th of may so hopefully she will be able to do baptisms.

After church a single old lady came up to us and started telling us a story how she felt lonely and prayed to know what to do and she felt to go to a certain park so she went and met another old lady who was lonely. Now they are friends! It was cute :)

Today our ward mission leader took us to see Saint Malo and Mont Saint Michel. It was so cool!! Here are some pictures. And some flower ones for you Mom :) the waves were super strong and they came over the edge of the wall and I got splashed because I wasn't looking haha it was cold!!

Yeah I can for sure make the group on Google hangouts, how early do you want to do it? It's in the afternoon for me so whatever time works for you is good for me...

Other than that the week was super good, lots of rain and lots of smiles :) tell clay I say hello!
Love,
Sœur Giles

April 23, 2018

Welcome to Nantes!

This week I was transferred to Nantes in the West of France with Soeur Morrison, she is brand new and has a ton of excitement to be a missionary!

The biggest miracle of the week was Julie!!! She had met the missionaries on the tram a few months ago but was never contacted so we called her but she was at work so she told us to stop by the next day so we go to her restaurant that she owns!!! She's 21 and has her own restaurant, Korean barbeque, she's so cool! So we teach her about the restoration and she really liked it. Right away she said she would read and pray to know if it was true. We invited her to church the next day and she came!!! Everyone was so friendly and nice to all of us! We will see her again this week and we are so excited!

We spent most of today exploring the city and here are a few pictures!
Have a great week!
Sœur Giles


We survived!!! Whoever thought two sisters going from Paris to Nantes with 6 suitcases all by themselves. That was not a good idea haha! So many stairs through the metros. But lots of people stopped to help us, which was very needed! All of our wheels are still good. One of the ladies was actually interested in talking about the church more so we exchanged numbers and have been talking a little bit! We got into our apartment at about 9 pm on Tuesday.

Sœur Morrison is super cool! Her family moved to the Philippines when she was 8 and has lived there ever since so that's where she calls home! She speaks French really well already but it's always hard to understand right when you get here.

The weather for the past few days has been super nice, really hot so there are tons of people out. It's probably going to rain some this week though. We live right next to a soccer field so we are going to out there a few days of the week for exercise, that'll be fun!

There were sisters here before us, there are a few recent converts that they were working with, but other than that the work was pretty slow. But its been super good so far! The ward is so nice and there are tons of young families.

Nantes is known for the many many protest marches during the summer...there was one on Thursday but we were not really aware haha so the buses only half worked and at one point we got stuck waiting for a bus to go home for almost an hour. It will work out though. We live a 5 minute walk from the church which is awesome!!
Here is our address

Les Missionnaires
21 Rue de la Haute Mitrie
44300 Nantes France

Today we went and walked through the chateau in the middle of town. Apparently the duchess Anne and the Dukes of bretagne lived there at some point. It was super pretty, still has a mote around it!

My birthday was fun! We got a chocolate eclair and made a pizza but we didnt have any tomato sauce so we made a salsa type thing for the base sauce and it turned out ok haha!

Being with Soeur Morrison is super fun! We are pretty similar so that makes making decisions super easy.

It's been a really good week about learning how to follow the Spirit and to know where to go and what to do. And I've spent a lot of time learning about faith and the miracles that come because of the faith we have! And I can say Heavenly Father definitely provided for us! And I'm so grateful!!

I also finished the book to Mormon yesterday! One of the biggest things I've learned is that the Lord doesn't forget about us, He knows who we are and exactly what we need. Thanks for your emails!

Love you tons!
Sœur Giles

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