November 18, 2019

Christ is our eternal friend

Olá!!

Animal sighting: My comp and I were walking in the street, around 11 o'clock in the morning and in the gutter we see this rat eating Cheetos......it wasn´t that huge but still, it was my first time seeing a real rat I think and it was during the day, so all in all, it was a strange and gross experience.

Monday morning I went to Sao Paulo to renew my visa for 1 year!!!!! It is strange, when I talk to my family next Thursday it will be exactly One year! Crazy..........
They don't have Thanksgiving here, but because the USA is such a big influence down here they have decorations up and some people will celebrate next week.

We met a new investigator, Cassiano, this week! He has already received the lessons about 3 years ago but lost interest, but the Sisters in the area next to us made a contact with him and sent the reference to us because he lives in our area, and we taught him about the restoration and invited him to church and he had to leave his work early to get there in the morning, so that was pretty special to see him sacrifice to come to church. He liked it and felt good there! We will teach him again this week.

With the approach of Christmas coming up, Sister Conceição had a brilliant idea to ask people that we talk to in the streets: ´´In all your life, what was the greatest gift you have received?´´ We got responses of ´´my washer machine´´, ´´my cat´´, ´´my bike´´, but one older man looked at us and with tears in his eyes said ´´my nephew´´. The power of families is real and is a blessing. We explained about the purpose of families and how we can be together forever and he looked at us again and asked if we could return and explain more. It was a really sweet experience!

We spent a few days this week visiting the Irmãs in our ward that are older and live alone, it was special talking and being a companion for them. We all need a companion to lean on and I bear my testimony that Christ is our dear companion and friend through all of our journey, from the very beginning, to the very forever.

Friday we had a lesson with our investigator Eliane and we explained to her about the 10 commandments and how they are not a blockade or barrier, but a door that really opens to greater blessings and joy. Our relief society president, Naiara shared with her and us the influence we can have on someone and the incredible feeling and gift we have to feel a love for those around us if we seek to do good.

The scripture in John 14:15 is perfect! Why do we have the commandment to love others? Why do we need to read our scriptures every single day? They may seem like little tasks or big ones that will impede our progress in the world, but as a matter of fact, they will open up the doors to greater progress and light. We will truly feel the peace of Christ and His great love more in our lives.

-Sister Giles

Shout out to Hannah and Jake celebrating 1 year!!

photo: our LD/DL joined us to interview Sabrina and Carlos

November 11, 2019

Marriage-Eternity

Another week in the mission gone and it was a good one!

Tuesday night we taught the twins João and Maria about the importance of the Sabbath day and how they can better focus on the Lord, like going to church, spending time with family, and visiting and serving others. They said they wanted to make that day a different day so they will do more activities as a family, how sweet!

We got to teach an older man named Marcio about the importance of prophets and that we have a prophet here on the earth, and we showed him a picture of President Nelson and Marcio had see him on the TV when Pres. Nelson came in September, that was neat. He also asked my companion if she was pregnant.....he is older hahaha so we both laughed and afterwards she said we really needed to start running in the mornings hahaha. 

We visited a lady in our ward who moved here from Germany when she was a baby and her house is full of pictures and trinkets from Europe, and pictures and stories of her family! Her mother, who passed away last year, lived in the time of Hitler and he had ordered every German family to do their family history work. He had different intentions, those of which were used for evil works, but for this Irmã she has information about almost all of her family so she has been able to go and take them to the temple to do their ordinances. The Spirit of family history is real and it is what connects us to so many power protections and blessings.

Thursday we visited our investigators Adelia and Eri who still need to get married, but we taught them more about temples and the unity we feel as a family through the gospel of Jesus Christ and encouraged them to put in the effort to get married so that they can enjoy all of the blessing and promises of God.

On Saturday, Sabrina and Carlos got married!!!! Whooot! They got married in the church building and the spirit was super sweet! The ward was super nice to help them out with the wedding and the bride was so nervous, she hardly smiled walking down the aisle but at the end she smiled so it was good. We are super happy for them! I felt it testify to me as she walked down the aisle and as they promised to love and serve one another, that really God wants us to make and keep promises, and that He wants to help us keep His commandments. His love is pure and the church of Jesus Christ is true! They are so cute together and can now prepare to make the covenant of baptism and prepare to be sealed for all eternity next year! Our Bishop gave the couple advice and it is the advice that President Hinckley gave, the 4 things for a successful marriage:
1) Respect for each other
2) Control your actions and serve the other always
3) Financial Honesty
4)Pray together as a couple and as a family every day

One day when we were clapping at doors, we clapped at a door and a man came out and he ended up being a member that had become less active about 5 years ago and now is going to another church, but he was open to us coming back so we went by on Thursday and read Moroni 7 with him  and his none-member wife and she really liked the Book of Mormon! They said we can come back again and meet their 2 kids! Super special!

It rained a lot this week which was nice for a break from the heat.

I know that God lives! That with our families we can be happy for all eternity if we keep true to our covenants and be worthy of the blessings of Heaven. 

Love to all!

 
-Sister Giles


Sister Conceição celebrated 1 year in the mission so we had Subway to celebrate!

November 4, 2019

Olllllllllá!!

Yup, so this week was non-stop sweating but it was a really awesome week!

I jumped over a few more cockroaches this week dead and alive and I sweated out more than I think I have since the cross country days. It is hot and humid. 

But sat morning we ran to the street market to buy fruit to make smoothies so that was fun.

Tuesday we taught the twins João and Maria who are 10 years old about the plan of happiness and they knew a lot of stuff and agreed to be baptized by the end of the year! Yay! They are so cute and the only phrase they know in English is ´´i don't care´´ .......they may or may not have asked me how to pronounce it and they started saying it to their mom, ooops.

On Friday, the youth did a master chef activity and we were in a group with our friends Daniel and Lucas. They cooked the noodles and we made the sauce and ended up winning 2nd place!! They have still been coming to seminary and love the church, we hope their parents will get married soon so that they can be baptized together as a family!

Saturday was a day very spiritually filling! We didn´t know it until night time, but that day was the holiday of the Day of Dead here in Brazil. In the morning we were passing by a park and we saw an older lady there and felt like we should talk to her. She shared with us that her husband had passed away almost 5 years ago and that she loved him very much and missed him. Then she told us about her son who died at 23, the same day he found out his new wife was pregnant with a daughter. We felt the Spirit so strong as we explained about families are for eternity and we felt the husband and son there sitting with her and wanting for her to hear the marvelous truth. We said a prayer with her and she asked for us to return another day. It was really special! 

That evening we felt like we needed to pass by a woman that we made a contact with last week, so we went over to her house and she was home. Her name is Ana and last year she visited Portugal and the Sisters there gave her a book of Mormon, she has been reading it every since and loves it! That morning she looked at the book and knew that we would pass by that day. She already knows so much about the restoration and wants for her son to hear about the gospel too.

As we ended that day, the Irmã we live with told us it was the day of the dead and that she felt a special connection to her family that day. God really wants us to learn about our families and be connected to them so that we can help and support one another. 

I love families and I know that God has a plan of happiness for each of us! I encourage you this week to read a story about one of your ancestors and pray to know how to have a better connection with them. I promise that the spirit of families is real and that you will feel an increased purpose in live and a closer connection to our Heavenly Father. 

Make this week a great one!

Happy November!! Love to all!


-Sister Giles