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 :)

August 26, 2019

Feed My Sheep

Oi Family and Friends!

Sorry this will be a quick letter. This Sunday the prophet will come to São Paulo and we will have the grand opportunity to hear his words and teachings to us in Brasil. I am very excited and Presidente has invited us to really prepare this week by finishing the Book of Mormon, praying daily, and fast to really be prepared to see the servant and representative of Christ.

What a great blessing it is to have a living prophet! I love the call to serve and to ´´feed Christ´s sheep´´. True joy comes from serving as the Savior served. Loving all those around us.

Be kind. Help those who need to be helped. Follow the example of Christ and your life will be blessed with more joy and blessings.

Have a great week!


love, Sister Giles

August 19, 2019

Oi fam and friends!

The mission is going great! I love my area and ward, the members are awesome! I received a new companion this week, Sister Costa! We laugh a lot and already have some good inside jokes. She has some really great ideas and inspiration on how to help our investigators progress and everything is moving along. :)


I liked reading about the parable in Matthew 13 about the sower whose wheat grew with the thorns or tares hidden among them. It is a description of us here on earth, because in the Second Coming of the Savior, He will separate the righteous from the wicked. How are we being righteous Saints? Are we obeying the commandments? Are we repenting daily? Are we learning about and developing Christ-like attributes? We need to show that we are Saints of the Lord to Him and want to help those around us, lift up those who are sad or low in spirits, serve someone in need. He is pleased when we do what is right. God will bless His righteous and destroy the wicked. Be righteous and be worthy!


love, Sister Giles

August 12, 2019

Zion: one heart and one mind

Oi!

You guys, Manoela is incredible! It has been one week since her baptism and she said that this week was the absolute best. She has been reading a ton of General Conference talks from April, wants to serve a mission, and participated a lot in Relief Society yesterday. We are preparing her to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead and she is super excited! 

This week we had a really neat experience about prayer and the purpose of Zion in each of our stakes and wards. We felt impressed that when we had lunch with the members this week to give them a list of names of investigators that are progressing and invite them to pray for them individually by name in their family prayers. What a blessing to see those humble and faithful prayers answered yesterday at church when every single one of the people came to church. The faith of the Saints plays a big role in helping gather Zion and I am grateful to be a part of this exciting work. We all have a key part and role in Zion.

One Irmã we visited has very few things in her house and her walls are bare, but she has a simple picture of the Salt Lake Temple that hangs by a piece of tape. As I was pondering the importance of this one photo of the SLT, the Spirit testified that that was the place where Zion would be built and be spread across to all areas of the world. The difficulties of the Pioneers to reach the Great Salt Lake Valley was a sacrifice for all the generations that would follow. We sang together with her ´´Come, Come Ye Saints´´ as it is a calling from our dear Savior, to come, follow Him and gather together in Zion, ´´as one heart and one mind.´´ 

How can we help those who have gone astray? How can we be a little nicer and caring to our Brothers and Sisters in our wards and stakes? How can we better serve like the Savior did?

 
Have a great week!

Keep praying and keep building up Zion!


1)Rebecca helped teach a lesson with us
2) two Irmãs who are very sweet and we have a good time together
3)a really cool captain America shield as a door

August 5, 2019

Receiving Answers

Oi Fam and friends!

Manoela was baptized on Saturday! She is the definition of incredible. She has been coming to church for 2 years and 3 weeks ago she received an answer for baptism. One day the question came into her mind through the Spirit, ´´Why not baptism?´´ and she could not respond. I love that! The Lord knew the timing when she was ready to make a covenant with Him and she followed the answer with determination and with faith. 

A theme in church yesterday I felt was prominent that ´´every one of us´´. Every one of us has personal revelation, a relationship with God, and a purpose her on the earth. Every single one of us has the blessing to converse with our Father in Heavenly and receive answers from Him. All we need to do is act and be patient in His timing.

I encourage all of you to pray, listen, and go and do. You will see the hand of God more in your life.


I am loving my area, the people here are incredible! We are getting ready to see and hear the words of the living prophet, Presidente Nelson in less than 4 weeks! 

The Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God here on the earth to help in the gathering of Israel.


have a great week! -Sister Giles