April 29, 2019

Be Still My Soul

Olá!!!!

This week was a good one! Sister Silva and I met some really awesome people clapping at doors and we are very excited to get to know them better and share with them the joys of the restored gospel!

We had a few members come help with lessons and contacts on the streets which was fun! We had Zone Conference this last week in Jardim Paulista and we talked about the importance of the Plan of Salvation, and the central point to the plan is Jesus Christ, or the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He is our Advocate with the Father and our example. He suffered every single ounce and drop of pain we feel, so that we can be cleansed and receive renewed joy during our lives here on the Earth, and to be pure and worthy to live in the presence of our Heavenly Father after this journey. It all depends on our faith and hope in this marvelous gift of the Atonement!

I was reading in Mark 4 where Christ and His disciples and others were out at sea and Christ was asleep, then the waves started to toss and they grew scared and cried for the Lord to awake. The scripture says,

´´39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? ´´

How many times do we stay calm until the waves begin to toss and we cry out to the Savior? I like how this story depicts that the Savior is always there, always. We have to trust in Him and show our faith by reading the scriptures, praying daily individually and as families, and attend church to share with others our testimonies and partake of the Sacrament to remember Him. He sends us the peace we need because He has experienced the heartache too, He tells our souls to be still and trust in Him because He knows what we need. I am so grateful for our Savior! I love every day putting on His name and sharing with others this immense happiness of His divinity and of His gospel!


Thank you for all your love and support!

Love, Sister Giles

1) a pretty view of the sunset


2)some really great investigators


3) and the young adult members that came along with us for some lessons

April 22, 2019

Pascoa!

Wow Easter! 

It is such a wonderful time to really reflect on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and what He experienced so that total humanity can receive a remission of sins and live with Him and our Heavenly Father again. His love for each of us is beyond our capacity to comprehend, yet we still comprehend and feel of this Divine love, and it is marvelous! 

Sister Silva and I had a great week! Our investigators our progressing, especially Anglo and Vinícius. It is such a wonderful experience to help people understand the importance they have in the eyes of God and what a potential each of us have to return and live with Him again.

Sister Silva likes cooking food at night when we return to our house so we have been having some good times. It is starting to cool off at night and in the mornings, but more rain is supposed to come this week, yay! Rain.

Basically our whole area left for vacation this weekend for Easter, so we mostly did contacts and visited the less actives and members. We had a very nice Sunday with a baby blessing in our ward and the primary sang which was really cute. We had lunch with Irmã Marita and her family and it was very good! Her daughter wanted to do a little Easter egg hunt with us so we did one around the house, it was fun!! I did not find any with snails in it (dad) haha but chocolate is always better. Then at night we were able to video call our families and it was awesome talking with my Mom, Dad, and Claybe!

There was a futebal game yesterday and there were so many fireworks shot off during the day haha it was for the team Corinthians, they are big here, so that was cool. 

I really enjoy reading the scriptures in Portuguese everyday and feasting on the words of Christ. We also studied Come, Follow Me with the family we had lunch with yesterday and it was so good to have them discuss the story of the good Samaritan and the example Christ lead, to love and serve your neighbor. 

 
I read my favorite talk of all time this week, it is called ´´Behold the Man!´´ by Elder Uchtdorf last 2018 April general conference. Wow. It is incredible! I encourage you all to read it because Elder Uchtdorf speaks simply and powerfully about the purpose of the Atonement and how it is the greatest act in history. Also, Sister Silva and I shared the passage in 3 Nephi 11 when Christ appeared to the people in the Americas after His crucifixion and resurrection. Ah, beyond incredible! The Spirit testifies so profoundly that He Lives! I too testify that He Lives! That death is conquered, that we can have peace in this Life and have the opportunity to Live with Him and our families forever in joy after this earth experience, all we need to do is Let Him in and Follow Him. 

I love my Savior! I love being able to wear His name everyday. 

I hope you all have a fantastic week, spring is coming! Well here, fall is coming!

love, Sister Giles


photos: 1) a gigantic tree
2) the members are so sweet and gave us a lot of chocolate haha
3) Matius came along with us to a lesson with some of our youth investigators
4) we made hot dogs Brazilian version
5)for p-day today we made pizza and cake as a district and it was fun

April 15, 2019

Olà family and friends!!

What a week! It rained a lot, but has begin cooling off so it has been nice to sleep without the fan blowing directly on me at high speed. hahaha

Our shower broke one night so a guy from the mission had to come fix it, then our lights kept going out so we had to keep going to the circuit board to turn them back on, but the kitchen one doesn't work so last night we made food in the semi-dark. Tudo bem! They do a lot of bbq-ing down here and they always cook sausage and it is seriously so delicious

This week was a good one folks! It has been so fun getting to know my companion Sister Silva better and our investigators are progressing which is really awesome! I feel definitely an improvement in my Portuguese and am more confident to talk to people, because my companion is shy too so it pushes me to speak up more and trust in the Lord. I have to help teach Sister Silva English so she has begun to memorize the first article of faith in English! Whoo! It has been fun because sometimes I don't know the word so we do this guessing game with hand motions until we can finally find the word in my mini dictionary they gave us in the CTM hahaha. She is very patient and we laugh a lot.

Two of our investigators Vinicius and Anglo gave us a ride to church yesterday and they really enjoyed it and the members told us they participated a ton in class!! They are so awesome! They read the Book of Mormon everyday and they are very fun to have lessons with because they have lots of questions and have good insights into the chapters they are reading. Ah, the gospel is so marvelous!

This week we did a lot walking and contacts in the streets and clapping at houses, but almost all did not want to hear more of our message. We were a little down and sad that no one we came in contact with wanted to know more about the true restored church on the earth. We continued to pray and ask the Lord for His help, and yesterday, Sunday, we arrived at church and had 5 different members come up to us with people they want us to visit (aka references) and it is just another reminder of the goodness of God and His timing for His children in the Gathering of Israel. We are all involved and here to help our fellow man receive the saving ordinances to live with God and our families for eternity because of the ultimate sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ!

This Easter season is such an incredible time to really reflect on His Sacrifice and to remember that He Conquered All for every single one of us. He Lives! I love having this opportunity to bear witness of Him and of His Eternal Divinity. Have a fantastic Easter everyone!! Here are a few pictures from this week :)

fotos: -I had açai with nutella for the first time and my life will never be the same. So. fantastically. delicious.
-There is river in our area and a little more full because of the rain.
-a cool view of our area, Vila Ema
-and a park that has a sign ´´to keep the green´´

Our members are so awesome too! Ah, mission life. I did not spot any cockroaches this week outside our house so that was good! People automatically say ´´you are not from around here, are you?´´ because my accent is super American and have blonde hair hahaha

-Sister Giles

April 8, 2019

Why hello there!

Conference was super awesome! Listening in Portuguese was neat! It was kind of sad not hearing the voices of cute Elder Eyring and Uchtdorf, or the firm voice of Elder Holland, or our dear, sweet Prophet Nelson, but all the messages were really fantastic and spiritually evoking! (Not to mention the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square brought in the Spirit strongly when they sang ´´Dearest Children..´´ and ´´I am a Child of God´´, was golden!) Well, at least what I understood the speakers were saying hahaha But I really liked Elder Uchtdorf talking about the Gathering of Israel in these latter days and preparing for the Second Coming of Christ! I really feel that as a missionary, preparing the people here in Vila Ema to meet with grace and love the Savior of the World when He comes to Reign again on the Earth. Super awesome! It was in Portuguese, and Elder Christofferson voiced over his talk in Portuguese so that was really neat to hear! And Elder Anderson gave a very insightful thought into ´´The Eye of Faith´´. We need to have our eye, mind, and heart, spiritually in tune and work together with our material eye to journey through this life.


I really felt one of the main messages of the conference was Becoming like Christ and Come unto Him, for He is nigh at hand to Reign on the Earth when He comes again! How marvelous!!

After the Saturday night session (because it finished at 7) Sister Silva and I went with the Elders to get pizza and it was really fun! The pizza was okay, but it was a nice way to finish off a great day of uplifting talks.

First week training Sister Silva went really well! We have an investigator marked for baptism the first week of May because he wants more time to prepare, so we are helping him get excited! Training is not the easiest but I have enjoyed getting out of my comfort zone and really trying to talk to people! Sister Silva is shy like me too so I have definitely talked a lot more haha and our lessons have been going really great!


The Lord seriously sent miracles our way to meet some really awesome people to teach and we caught all of the buses correctly for our meetings, only one time we accidentally took one the wrong way haha. It has been fun getting to know her and learn more about Northern Brazil. A lot of our investigators struggle with finding time to read the Book of Mormon, so we read with them and I can see the change in their lives, the Book of Mormon really brings a sweet spirit into a home and into a person that no other book can bring. No wonder it was made for the Gathering of Israel in these Latter days! I love the Book of Mormon, and I love our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Have a wonderful April week everyone! 

-Sister Giles

April 3, 2019

Olá!!!

Yesterday my new companion arrived, Sister Silva! She is from Pará, Brasil which is way north, close to the Amazons! Super cool! She is really sweet and quiet, hahaa and is ready to share the gospel and help the people here in Vila Ema! yay! I am excited to work with her and the wonderful people here.

As General Conference is this weekend a scripture has stuck out to me recently, it is in 

Mosiah 4:9 ´´ Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.´´ 

God has all the knowledge for us on how we can return to Him, and it is through the words of His Holy Prophets! Both ancient (the scriptures and Jesus Christ) and in today, President Nelson and the 12 Apostles. When we faithfully listen and act on the teachings of the Prophets, we are demonstrating to God our desire to follow Him and return to Him. I am so grateful for this marvelous opportunity to hear the Leaders of the restored Church of Jesus Christ on the earth and to continue to read and hear through the weeks and months their Holy teachings. Now, make some delicious food (cinnamon rolls and orange rolls?) and have your journals ready to receive Divinely inspired words!


Have a great rest of your week!!

April 1, 2019

Training a new Sister!!       What a week!!

This week was a little crazy but good!! Tuesday night Presidente called and asked me to be a trainer.......................oh no. (I wish this was an April fools joke) haha I am actually really excited and know the Lord has good plans for the two of us! (my broken Portuguese and her trying to understand me haha) Give me all your missionary wisdom dadio because I am so unprepared. But I really feel that the Lord is with me and will help me through these next 12 weeks of training, a Brazilian!


So we went down to São Paulo Wednesday and had a training meeting. But cool insight for the week was sister Ashcraft and I were reading the Book of Mormon with our investigator, Beatrice, and we both got a very strong prompting to ask her to be baptized! Beatrice responded a little hesitantly because she was already baptized in another church and she felt right about that. Then we explained to her the proper authority needed is through the real Authority of Jesus Christ, which the Church of Jesus Christ has! So marvelous!! She seemed to understand a little better and asked where she would be baptized, a river? Hahah we responded if she wanted to but we have a font in the church building, but she is more inclined to the river, so who knows what might happen, maybe a river! hahaha!

It is a blessing to belong to the true church and have been baptized by you my dadio with proper authority, the authority of Christ! I am so beyond thankful!! I think of my baptism a lot here on the mission and have this joy that I love sharing with people here in Vila Ema!


We have some really awesome investigators that are progressing and reading the Book of Mormon. The key stone for the gathering of Israel in these latter days! We invited 2 more of our investigators to baptism and are helping them prepare for their dates!


This week we went to a family home evening at a members house and she had invited some of the youth there too! One of our investigators came, Luticia and we helped share about the Plan of Salvation then watched a video by the Church about how it really is a Plan of Happiness. What a marvelous plan God has designed for us to become like our Savior and return and live with Him and our families for eternity in complete happiness! The youth were really fun and we ate food after and played a fun game called ´´Stoppy`` We asked our investigator, Luticia if she has a desire to be baptized and she responded with an enthusiastic `yes!`´´ I am excited to continue to teach and prepare her for baptism with my new companion, but I will miss Sister Ashcraft! We made a lot of cookies together and had some really great times.


I love the mission and my Savior! A good scripture I read this week was D&C 121.


I love this gospel! I am excited to help another Sister join in this great work, with my broken Portuguese haha but it will be great!!


-Sister Giles