September 30, 2019

October is here!

Well, just like that we have 3 more months left of the year......strange! My first spring during the fall, is the world flipped or something?


Our stake here in Guarulhos had Stake Conference yesterday and a member of the Temple Presidency and his wife spoke on the importance of families and the great blessing and gift that we have temples in so many places to help our ancestors make the special covenants with God. Then Sister and Presidente Miller gave awesome talks about the Book of Mormon and how we can better put the teachings of Christ into our lives by sharing the stories within to people around us, especially in 3 Nephi 11 when Christ came here to the Americas.

Saturday night, Sister Costa and I were able to do just that when we were clapping at doors and a woman named Daniella answered us and we taught her about prophets and apostles of old and modern. We shared with her the Book of Mormon and the part when Christ really visited the people here and explained His doctrine to them. I find it so incredible how He taught them 4 main principles just in that first visit. He taught about Repentance, Baptism, the authority He gives to His servants (prophets, apostles, etc) and to not have contention one with another. She was really curios and we set for Wednesday to go and teach her more, we are excited!

This weekend we have the great privilege to listen to the words of a living prophet and apostles whom receive the inspired revelation for the true church of Christ. How can we prepare to receive the counsel or answer to questions in our lives that we need? We have been taught to pray and fast. It is such a wonderful gift to be able to receive personal revelation through the words of the prophets.

To keep the family tradition going of having cinnamon and orange rolls every general conference, dad, do you want to send me some to São Paulo please? Thanks.


Thank you all for the support and love out here! I feel your prayers and am so grateful. I know that Christ is the Head of His church and that His doctrine is how we can be happy for eternity. Have a very awesome week and enjoy GC!!


love, Sister Giles


1&2) Irmã Sirlette made a more traditional Northeastern Brazil lunch of couscous and beans and meat balls, it was super good!
3&4&5) we had Dominio´s pizza for lunch one day and it was spectacular!
6&7) with Irmã Rosa who invited her neighbor, Sabrina, to an activity, and now she will be baptized after her wedding in November

September 23, 2019

God is listening!

Olá!!

This weather is so crazy because this week it rained on Wednesday and has continually gotten colder and colder. We are heading into spring so it should be getting warmer, not that I am complaining, but São Paulo, you make me confused.

Anyways, Sister Costa and I saw some of the Lord´s great miracles this week! One of them we have been praying and fasting that the heart of the mom of Rafael would be softened and she would be more open to hearing the gospel and see the great change it is making in her son´s life. We have also been praying to know how to come in contact with her. Well, Tuesday we got a call from the girl, Heloiza, that is Rafael´s friend and brought him to church, and she said Rafael´s mom was open to have us come visit her with them and Heloiza´s mom, Patricia. So we ran over and we all entered and got to talk with her and get to know her. Rafael´s mom told us that one day she looked at the book we had given Rafael (The Book of Mormon) and said to herself, ´´if this book mentions Mary, the mother of Jesus, I will accept him going to this church.´´ She opened up to 1 Nephi 11 at the part when Nephi sees the vision of Mary and felt a true sense that her son will be well taken care of in the church of Jesus Christ. I love her experience because it shows that God is aware of His children, He wants us to make good choices and He wants us to be worthy to live with Him again. We said a prayer of gratitude as He hears our pleas and I know that He is our loving, merciful Heavenly Father. Rafael was able to share and bear his first testimony to his mother and to us that God is kind and forgiving. That we can gain strong relationships with Him because He is there, He is listening. 

Thursday we were able to help our Relief Society President, Naiara, walk with her three little girls to a decoration store across town and back. It was so fun! One of the little girls, Sofia, put her little poly pocket in the pocket of my bag so that she didn't have to hold it but that it came with us haha 

Also, the first video of the Book of Mormon was released and I encourage each of you to watch it and the next one that will come out! It is super incredible!

Hahaha fun fact: the actor that plays Nephi is in my mission- Elder Vanderwirken! He was in my first zone, so funny, but he doesn't have the long hair anymore.....(In the picture, he is standing, 2nd from the left in the gray shirt)


I love being able to serve these people and our Savior. I know He lives! I know He hears us and is watching over us. Come to Him. His invitation is always open and loving. 

Have a great week!

 
love, Sister Giles


1)us with some of the youth in our ward and Rafael
2)a great family that we had lunch with yesterday
3)its cooooolllllddd

September 16, 2019

Families are forever!

Oi fam and friends!


This week was toasty here in Guarulhos! This week was hot and only one day was cold then it switched and got hot again.....SP weather is wild. Because of the heat a lot more bugs are out and about and I have been told about ´´flying cockroaches´´............I nearly cried when they told me that, the season for them is coming up. please send aid and lots of prayers.


Sister Costa and I had some really neat teaching experiences with some families this week. On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to teach Adelia and Eri (the couple that moved from Bahia, or northern Brasil, to here in SP) about the Plan of Salvation and how we can be sealed to our families for all eternity. She had heard a few things in church about temples and being sealed to our families, so she asked us how she and Eri can be sealed.......and what joy it was to tell them about the great plan of Happiness that God prepared for us to live in our families FOREVER. I felt the Spirit testify so strongly of that incredible truth as they both looked at each other with pure joy and desire to be sealed to one another forever. They are not yet married, so we are helping them plan to get married in the next few weeks and be baptized! Then in one year they can make that special covenant with God to be together not for just this earthly life, but for FOREVER! I got to share my testimony to them of how grateful I am to have temples on the earth to bless our families and to allow us to make this sacred promise, and to live faithful to that promise. (Thanks momma and pops for sealing our family together!) The temple brings peace into our hearts because of the strong connections we feel there of our families, it is a love that is different from the world because it is a Godly love. 

Then, after wards, we were walking around a park doing our English practice (we have to do 30 mins everyday) when a teenage girl in a bright yellow shirt came running up to us and said out of breath, `´are you guys Americans? my brother-in-law is American`` and I said yes and we began talking. Also, she had passed by a man walking his dog and he got scared and thought she was chasing after him and it was so funny. Her name is Vera and she told us that her brother-in-law, Nick, had moved to here from Orlando, Florida to marry her sister and had been here for a year and a half and they have been waiting for the visa for her sister to go live there. She then invited us to go and meet him because they live close to the park, so we went and met him and it has been a while since I heard a real American country accent haha! Then we gave him a Book of Mormon and after wards, Vera took us to her house to meet her dad because he teaches English. He, Abraham, had received some lessons from the Elders almost 20 years ago and remembered a few things about Joseph Smith! Nick came over and his wife Maiara and we were able to teach their whole family about the Restoration of the true church of Christ- all in ENGLISH!!! It was our first time teaching in English and it felt a bit strange haha but they all understood very well and asked a lot of questions and we had a lot of fun with them! They want us to come back this week and have dinner with them and explain more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are excited!!

I am so grateful for the blessings of the gospel and the opportunity to share these great and essential blessings with others!

Have a great week!


-Sister Giles


photos:
1)the members that we live with, the baby celebrated 2 months so they had a party, it was cute!
2&3)we love Irmã Vilma and Irmã Naiara and her sweet 3 little girls, they are awesome
4&5)we made `´Estrogonofe`´ a Brazilian food classic

September 10, 2019

Ministering

Olá!!

Well this week was great as I was able to re-read my notes from President Nelson and was really able to study more about the personal ministry of our Savior, Jesus Christ here in the Americas in 3 Nephi.

Then, last night the Relief Society had a mini devotional for our ward on how we can better minister to those around us like Christ did. One of the counselors, Irmã Vilma, spoke on the importance of really feeling a sincere, godly love for our brothers and sisters and to actually cry with them, and to rejoice and be happy with them. Being a follower of Christ is not an easy road, but it is the only road we can take to be purely happy for all eternity with our lovely families. 

I love how the apostle Paul wrote so much about love and charity in 1 Corinthians and Romans. I encourage each of you to read his counsels and words that he wrote as he personally witnessed what the Savior demonstrated as how we should love and serve our fellow man. It´s fantastic stuff :)

We do a little bit of come follow me with a family for family home evening night and there is always good stuff to learn and share with one another.

This week we were walking down the street looking for a particular address, but couldn't find it and we felt like we should just keep walking, and at one moment we stopped to look at the address again and a man and his son were at their door fixing the lock and he called out ´´hi sisters´´ and it turned out he is in the bishopric in the ward next to us and is new to the church and his son is a none member and wants to take the lessons, so we will go back to visit him and his wife and 2 little girls. It was a neat experience to feel the spirit pushing us to continue down the street and that he called out to us.

We have several close to baptism, we are very excited and know that the Lord has a plan for each of them! Sister Costa and I have been having the great opportunity to help teach these wonderful people in our area and we are so happy here! Sabrina and Carlos have a date to get married in 2 months, Adelia and Eri are working on getting married too so that they can be baptized, and Rafael has been continuing to come to seminary and building up his testimony about our Master, Christ.

On Thursday we helped our Relief Society president make a Brazilian dessert called ´´Pão de mel´´ or ´´bread of honey´´ (but really it is like a chocolate muffin filled with a honey filling, it is super tasty) for a few birthday party's she was in charge of. We had fun and ate a little too much chocolate.....hahhaha.

Keep reading the Book of Mormon! Keep being awesome!

love, Sister Giles

1) our district is super cool
2 & 3 & 4) our area is the last area of our mission before the São Paulo North mission so after lunch with a member that lives down this street, we took a picture of the other mission on the other side of the river
5)found a Brasil air force plane and that was cool

September 2, 2019

A Prophet´s voice

Olá Family and Friends!

The people of Brasil and the missionaries here had a special opportunity to see and hear the Prophet yesterday! And what a powerful and inspiring experience! On Friday, he had a broadcast with all the missionaries in Brasil with the Area President and his wife, and Elder and Sister Cook of the Twelve. The connection was a little rough on our end so we only got a few bits and pieces but President Nelson talked about using the ministry of Christ in the Americas in 3 Nephi 11 to 17 in all aspects of our missionary work, because this is the central part of the sacred book and will be how we can really invite others to Come unto our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Saturday night I could barely sleep because I was so excited, it felt like the next day my family and I would be going to Disneyland, it was that kind of joy, but on a more spiritual level. :) The devotional yesterday was held in this giant arena in São Paulo and when the Prophet entered the arena, every stood and there was a peace on the breeze, seriously! The choir sang the special song President Nelson had written specifically for this devotional and it was super sweet. The area President and his wife spoke, then Sister and Elder Cook, and then Sister Nelson spoke. She talked about how contention is the work of Satan because Jesus clearly taught to love and serve others and to forgive, sincerely forgive, so that we can have all the blessing in this life and in eternity.

President Nelson was so cute and gave her a mouth to mouth kiss in front of everyone then said at the pulpit ´´We will share a better kiss later´´.....oh my hahahha Everyone laughed and he had the biggest smile and you could really feel the dolce spirit he has and I felt the Spirit really confirm to me that he is called of God and is His servant. Pres Nelson said he had not prepared anything and really spoke through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He talked about how to raise our children to know that they are beloved by Heavenly Father, that the gospel principles and ordinances really bring joy and happiness for our families. He inquired that we put a photo of the temple in our homes, photos of family, photos of our Redeemer, Christ the Lord, and that we gather together often to inspire and serve one another. As he got up to leave, everyone stood and we sang ´´We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet´´ and the spirit was so strong and special. I began to cry, I know that we have a prophet today, here on the Earth, that our Master, Christ, speaks to him to direct His church, and us His people and sheep. I know Christ lives! I am grateful to be able to share this wonderful experience with you all!

Have a great week!

love, Sister Giles

photos of me and Sister Costa at the devotional, we had zone conference and received some cool mission stuff, and the video that Presidente Miller took bc he was up on the stand :)