Elder Giles

Elder Giles
Mission Photos

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Tudo bem?

Hi Mom! Oh, Happy Fathers Day, Dad!

 This week was freaking awesome. I`m sure I sound like a broken
record after starting out every single one of my weekly emails for the
last two years with something about how awesome the last week was. Oh
well, I`ll be home soon anyway! We really did have an awesome week
though. Being a full purpose missionary that does just about
everything is a blast and we`re seeing miracles in Matsue for sure! I
have great news, by the way! Our two Chinese investigators (Chen and
Yo), passed their baptismal interviews last Saturday so we`ll be
baptizing them this Sunday before church! I`m so excited for them! We
were teaching Chen yesterday with one of the members that speaks
English, we were talking about the temple and the Priesthood and stuff
like that and the member voluteered to take Chen down to Fukuoka after
he gets the Priesthood to do baptisms before he goes back to mainland
China! We`re seriously seeing some major success with the Chinese
right now. They are amazing people. On top of that, my companion and
Elder W from our District were on a companionship exchange and
they got invited into a Chinese guys house who was really interested
in learning about the Gospel. These people are pure! It`s been
awesome. Fe cheng hao!
 That brings me to my companionship exchange with Elder S over
in Izumo last week. They have a very large population of Brazilians
over in Izumo because there`s a factory that hires them out of Brazil
and pays them better than what they would be receiving if they were in
Brazil. Anyway they have somewhere around 25 Brazilian investigators
right now, and almost all of them happen to live in this one apartment
complex. We decided to go over there and see if we could get any
lessons in with any of them and see how they were doing. Mind you, we
don`t speak Portuguese, and they speak little to no English or
Japanese. The Spirit is amazing. We tried a few of them, but found
out that most of them were at work or out doing something on their day
off. We noticed a guy pull into the parking lot riding a BMX bike with
Beats by Dre headphones on with an Oakley hat (not common here). We
met him on the stairs of the apartment complex and tried to talk with
him. From being with Elder DS for close to 5 months I was able
to get across to him that we were missionaries from The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I`m pretty sure he just understood
"Igreja" haha! We were trying to figure out how we were going to teach
this guy because he really seemed like he wanted to know what we were
doing (wouldn`t you if two white boys stopped you on the stairs of you
apartment?). Elder S remembered that he had wifi at one of his
other investigators apartments, so we asked the guy if he would come
with us. We stood outside of the investigators (who wasn`t home)
apartment and managed to get a little bit of a signal. We used google
translate to tell him who we are and stuff like that and he got really
happy. I called around the mission to find a Brazilian Elder who could
translate for us because Elder DS was busy in Kobe, and
managed to find one! We called him and he translated for us over the
phone! It was hilarious. Here we are, two white Americans standing
outside of a Brazilians apartment using Google translate and an Elder
on the phone on the other side of the mission to teach a guy that just
moved here from Brazil the Gospel. Long story short, they`re meeting
him on Friday, and he`s a new investigator! Don`t worry it gets
better. After that we went and taught one of the Brazilian families
they have and Elder DS translated for us! It was awesome.
After that we met the same guy that we taught before, but he was with
his younger brother. We talked with them for a little bit and the
little brother ended up coming to church the next day, skyping with
another one of the Brazilian Elders in the mission, and he`s now a new
investigator too! (takes a gasping breath) Pretty cool right?
 Everyone, this is the work of the Lord. I`ve seen things and been in
situations where I can honestly say the hand of the Lord was present.
He is ever at the head of this church. I love being a missionary and I
love the chance to be here in Matsue. It`s a great place and will hold
a special place in my heart forever. I love the gospel and I know it
has changed me for the better. I love you all so much and I hope you
have a great Father`s Day. I love you, Dad! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Giles

My new Brazilian friends in Izumo. 

This guy can`t hear a single thing, we taught him by writing on a piece of paper in Japanese. He has all sorts of crazy Japanese history things in his house.



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