Miracles wrought by the hand of faith‏

Dear Family,

 

I can`t believe I`m almost to my 6 month mark. Wow, time absolutely flies out here. I know that my mission will only start to go by faster and faster as time goes on and I get more and more used to this life and this incredibly difficult language.

 

I don`t really know what happened this week but I feel as if my language ability has exploded. I can now understand almost everything people say, it changes from person to person, but for the most part, I`m finally getting it. I`ve noticed as well that as my understanding starts to increase more I`m able to notice how to use words that I`ve been hearing but haven`t known how to use them. Its crazy! I still have a long way to go. This week, however, was the first time I`ve been able to teach part of the doctrines of the lesson without having things written out. Its been incredible to see the growth and the progress I`ve made from August 7, 2013 to now. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to learn this language. I don`t know how yet, but I know the Lord has more uses for my Japanese than just my mission.

 

This week was the first time on my mission that my companion and I have hit ALL of our weekly goals. It`s been incredible the success we`ve been able to see. We taught a man this week about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We found this guy two weeks ago outside of a convienee eating a bag of cookies. He`s deaf in his right ear and we`re pretty sure he has a social dissorder but he agreed to give us his number and then came to church last week! We met with him again on Saturday and he was able to open up a little bit more too us about his life. This man works in a factory where the conditions are very poor. I almost cry every time I see this man`s hands. They`re almost rubbed raw from all the abuse they take. He`s really quiet but he told us how he likes games and spending most of his free time in the arcade. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was the first time I took the lead in a lesson. I really had to simplify words like `Atonement` and `sin` but with the help of my native companion, he got the idea. We explained the importance of Baptism and how by receiving Baptism we can be free of our sins and able to return to the presence of God. After we taught we talked more about Baptism and asked him if he would like to be baptized. In our preparation before the lesson, when we were praying about his Baptism date, we both felt strongly that he could be baptized pretty soon because of his pure heart. When we asked him to be baptized I felt one of the strongest feelings of love and peace that I`ve ever felt in my life and I swear the veil was lifted from my eyes because I saw how much Heavenly Father loves this man. It was so beautiful. He will be baptized on March 16, 2014.

 

We taught another one of our investigators later that day. This investigator has been meeting with the missionaries for about four years now and because of severe depression, hasn`t really progressed and hasn`t committed to be baptized. His depression is so bad that his hands shake uncontrollably and he can`t make a lot of our lessons because he has to stay home. It`s absolutely heartwrenching what this man has to go through. We started the lesson just by talking. We talked a little bit about his family and I told him about my family too. I showed him my family picture and he couldn`t believe how much Dad and I looked alike. We talked for about an hour and a half about his interests and hobbies and just about everything else there is to talk about. When we started the lesson we taught him about prayer. The lesson was going really well but he still had a lot of doubts about our church and about God. We got to the point in the lesson where we demostrate how to pray and then asked him to pray. My companion and I both offered simple prayers and asked him how he felt. He said he felt good but it wasn`t really anything special. We asked him to pray and gave him a little card with the steps of prayer on it. I`ve never heard a more personal prayer. He even started to tear up and cry during it. I couldn`t help but think that this was probably the first time this man has talked to Heavenly Father since coming to this world thirty six years ago. The feeling was amazing. The love of God is so powerful. We`re taking this really slow with him so he won`t be getting baptized anytime soon but I know he has now felt the love of Heavenly Father.

 

This week has been awesome. I`m learning so much on how to rely on the Lord and really applying what I learn in personal study into the rest of my day. My growth has been amazing to see and I really feel like I`m getting closer to the missionary Heavenly Father wants me to be. This week has been really funny too! We`ve asked everyone on the street that we contact where they think I`m from and almost everyone says Italy, France, or England. Its hilarious! I even had a guy tell me he thought I was from Canada. Canada? Are you serious?? It was awesome! The people here are awesome. I love Osaka. The people are a lot more friendly than they were in Akashi. I`m loving it!

I hope you all have a great week. I love you all!

 

Elder Jeffrey M. Giles

Some additional pics from Ninja City promised last week.

Tired, Tired, TIRED but still smiling

Fam,

 

Hello family! I hope you`ve all had a great week! Mine has been absolutely crazy!

 

We packed our bags and shipped them off last Preparation Day and went up to the Ninja City before heading back down to Osaka Sakai. The Ninja museum and stuff was way cool but everything was super expensive! We got to see the Ueno Castle too which was really cool. I`ll send some really cool pictures in a little bit!

 

Back to the everything-was-expensive-in-Ninja-City part, my companion and I blew through all the money we had and we had about a three hour train ride to Osaka that we didn`t know how we were going to pay for. We had a few dollars for the short trip back to Nabari but that was about it. One of the other missionaries gave us about $10 before we left so that got us that far. On the train we were wondering how in the world we were going to get to Osaka after the train switch in Nabari. I said a little prayer on the train and just asked Heavenly Father if there was any way he could help us get to Osaka. After I prayed I remembered that I packed my coin pouch in my carry on bag that I had with me and I felt like I should check it again even though I KNEW I only had a few cents in there. I got the pouch out and opened it up and low and behold, a 500 yen coin was right there in plain sight. I don`t know how it got there. I really don`t. All I know is angels watch over missionaries and we were able to get to Osaka by the hair on our chins.

 

It was really crazy having to start from zero again in a new area. Because we left Nabari so fast we had to leave our bikes there too and we couldn`t bring them with us so this week we`ve just been on foot. Its been pretty tough because the only place to find people, the Sakai Higashi Eki, is the only place to find people and it`s about an hour walk or so from our apartment. After making this walk several times this week my body was just about ready to quit. I was sore, tired, and complaining. I was praying one night and I just told Heavenly Father, `Look, I`m doing everything I can, I can barely keep myself up on my knees right now, but I know you can make me strong, I don`t want to be tired and sore anymore and I don`t EVER want to complain again. Please help me.` My mind was immediately drawn back to my first day in the field, on the train heading to Akashi with S 長老. The train was crowded and during one of the stops a lady pushed her father onto the train in a wheelchair. I couldn`t help but look at the man`s eyes and see despair. This man couldn`t walk but I saw hope. I felt so much compassion and love towards this man and I was drawn to recall my own circumstances and how blessed I really am to have what I have. I remembered thinking of what a blessing it was that I could just walk. The Lord has blessed me with the strength to stand on my own. As I remembered this experience during my prayer I apologized for my pethetic complaining. I am so blessed in my life. No matter how tired, sore, or hungry I get I will never complain again because I have been blessed so much. The Lord really does send angels to protect and watch over his missionaries.

 

Sakai has been really great. Its nice to get back to the city where we always have a lot of people to talk to. The city itself is pretty dirty but its alright because the people are what matter. We`ve been doing nothing but finding this past week and the Lord blessed us with three new investigators! Two of which came to stake conference yesterday! The Sakai Church is the Stake Center of the Osaka Sakai Stake so it`s almost a Utah sized building which has been awesome! Its quite the contrast from our last area where we were on the fourth floor of an office building with about 15 members. Now we have fifty and they are all awesome! I`m really excited about the opportunity to serve in this area!

 

So I have a cool experience from last night. I was wasn`t really feeling that great and I was a little sick to my stomach as we went to bed. I couldn`t sleep so I kept just getting up and walking around or just going through some of my pictures. I finally tried to get some sleep but something was keeping me awake. I decided I would go grab a drink of water and see if I couldn`t go to sleep after that. I walked in the kitchen and noticed a flickering blueish light coming from the corner of the room. I really couldn`t tell what it was but as I got closer I saw that it was the stove still turned on under a pot that had been left from earlier in the evening. If that would have stayed on we would have burned our apartment to the ground. I was so glad that the spirit kept me awake and prompted me to see what was wrong. I know that the Spirit can guide us if we just listen and now I have an experience to back that up.

 

I`m doing great. I love life and I can`t believe I`m almost 1/4 done with my mission. Its crazy how fast time flies in the mission field. I love you all and I hope you`re having a great week! I read Mosiah chapters 2 and 3 this morning and I absolutely loved it. I`d recommend reading there if you all have time this week! Godspeed!

 

Love,

 

Elder Giles

 

P.S. GO SEAHAWKS

Big News from Mie Ken- Nabari!

Fam,

Well it`s been a great run here in Nabari for a whole 11 days but I`m sad to say that I`ve been fast tracked back to the big city. My companion and I got a call from the Assistants to the President last night around 8:30 saying that we would transfer today. Our apartment right now is way to small and we were pretty much living on top of each other. They decided that our living situation would be to stressful for the next few weeks and they couldn`t find a new apartment so my companion and I are leaving today! Crazy right? My new area is called Sakai and it`s back closer to Osaka so I`ll be going back to the city! I`m really excited!

Nabari was a great place and I`ll be really sad to leave. It reminded me a lot of Heber actually! The ward here was great, even if it was only 10 people and on the fourth floor of an office building. I was really excited about maybe having the opportunity to retire another sheep number in Nabari. There is currently three more elect waiting in Nabari but I guess the Lord needs other missionaries to find, teach, and baptize them! Even though I was only here for 11 days I really have grown to love the country side of Japan. Its way different but I like it a lot. The people are more relaxed and you don`t really feel pressured all the time like you do in the city. I`m looking forward to going back to the fast life in Sakai though! 

We had I really cool experience last night when we were housing this neighborhood. The night before I felt like we should go house this one part of our area that was up a really steep hill. I didn`t know why but I just felt like we needed to go. After church we rode up the mountain to this area. When we got there neither of us really knew where we were supposed to go and we both know very well that housing in Japan is a waste of time unless you have a specific revelation for where to go. My companion and I prayed for guidance and still didn`t really know where to go so we just started to ride. Went to the very corner of this area and just started knocking on doors. We weren`t having any success at all. I lot of slammed doors and no`s but we just kept going. After an hour and a half or so we felt like we should ride again. We started riding but up the hill through this neighborhood when I saw a man and his son outside working on their gate. Like I usually do I just gave them a nice `Konnichiwa!` The guy looked up at me and in almost perfect english said, `Hello!` I was way surprised and I asked him if he actually spoke english. He said that he did a little bit but he wasn`t that great at it. I started to ride again when he said, `Hey, you`re mormon missionaries right?` I responded that we were and he said, `Can you help me?` I almost fell over right there in the road because that kind of thing NEVER happens. He said that his daughter had an english test coming up and she really needed some help so she could pass and asked if I could take a little bit of time and help her out. I said that of course I could and he took us into their house. The daughter was really shy but she had pretty decent english. I told her that I speak Japanese which really seemed to calm her down and I was able to help her out a little bit! The family was really excited about our Free Family English Program that we do and they plan on coming to our free english class this week! The Dad said that the family went to the mormon church a couple of times but they stopped going because they got busy. It just goes to show that the Lord really does direct this work and he really does guide his servants where they need to be. I`m so grateful to be lead by the Spirit on my mission. I don`t know what I would do without it.

We had an awesome New Years conference last week in Ibaraki. I can`t stress enough how much I love my mission president. He`s the man. We got a new training plan for the mission called `It`s about you... Relying on Him`. It`s all about putting all of our trust in the Lord. It`s exactly what I need right now in my mission for sure and I`m really excited about it! I had the opportunity to share my own personal conversion story in Japanese in front of the conference which was really cool! I was super nervous but I was able to give it pretty well and actually got a little choked up during it. I just feel so blessed to be a member of this church. I`ve been so blessed in my life and I`m so grateful to have been raised in the gospel. We sang our mission theme song at the end of the conference, its `To Bring the World His Truth` translated into Japanese. I couldn`t contain my emotions and I just started to cry as we sang the song. I love this mission. Kobe is a special place. I know I was chosen to come here before this life, I know that there are people here that need the gospel and they need to hear it from me. This is God's work and without him I know I am nothing! We have two special goals set up with this new training plan; 1) We will see 400 investigators at church on Febuary 2 and 2) Every single companionship in the Japan Kobe Mission will see a baptism by March 23! Crazy right! I`m so excited!

I love you all!

Elder Jeffrey M. Giles

New area, new companion, totally different experience!

Hello family

Greetings from Nabari! My new area is awesome! The change was like going from downtown Salt Lake to Heber! Its crazy how different it is here. I`m loving the country though! 

My new companion is pretty great. He`s a lot more easy going than My trainer was so it`s a nice change.

We`re opening up this area, there where two Elders here before and they just made it a four Elder area so we`re pretty much starting from scratch! It`s been pretty crazy because really all we can do is go out finding because we have absolutely 0 investigators! It`s alright though, the elect number in Nabari is 3 and we have a goal to find and baptize all 3 this transfer!

The area itself is very pretty. Its nice to be up in the mountains but its wayyy cold! Our apartment situation is pretty crazy right now. The apartment is fairly new but it was definitely built for two people! Right now I eat, sleep, and study in the kitchen! It`s hilarious! The church is on the fourth floor of an office building and I think I can count on two hands the amount of members that came to church yesterday. Its way different than Akashi, we don`t get food from the members very much but they are still awesome and I`m so grateful for how strong they are! The first day we got here one of the members had us over for lunch at his house with him and his wife. It was nice of them and the husband even spoke a little bit of english! Our second day another couple from the ward had us over for dinner to introduce themselves to us. It was fantastic. I love Nabari!

I can`t believe what a change it has been from being trained to just being a regular missionary right now. I feel like my entire mindset has changed. I`m a lot more excited about the work and a lot more motivated to find the elect in this area! We`ve been biking all over this area like crazy the last few days. It was tough to say goodbye to Juliet... oh well. She`ll be a great story for another poor new missionary I guess!

I wish I had some cool crazy experience to share this week but it`s pretty much just been a ton of housing and streeting! I can`t believe how much my confidence has gone up with my Japanese. I`m really starting to improve a lot, I can almost understand everything people say but my speaking is still pretty rough. I just keep reminding myself that the Lord will provide a way for what he has commanded us to do. I love Japanese. It`s the most beautiful language in the world and I feel so blessed for the opportunity to learn it. I can`t help but think that the Lord wants me to be quite fluent or he wouldn`t have put me with two Japanese companions in a row. I`ve talked to a lot of older missionaries who never even had a native companion on their mission, how crazy is that? I`m being blessed so much! My new companion's style is very similar to mine so I believe we can be quite effective this transfer! Its funny, we`re both Tokai (city) Missionaries who got exiled out to the far reaches of Osaka. It`s awesome!

I think the most difficult thing I`ve done so far was saying goodbye to the man I baptized two transfers ago. On my last day in Akashi, S Choro and I went to visit him to tell him that I was being transferred. We had a great last lesson and I shared with him the scripture from the Book of Mormon Mosiah 2:21-22 and told him how much I want him to stay faithful so we can meet again someday. He actually teared up when we had to say goodbye and so did I. I know that I`ll see him again someday. It might not be in this life, but what a blessing to be a part of his eternal progression. Ah, I love this church! I can`t believe how much we take it for granted sometimes. We are so blessed to be a part of Gods church on the earth today.

My Zone Leaders called me yesterday and gave me an assignment to share my conversion story in Japanese at Zone Conference this week! I`m way nervous and I`ve been praying a lot that I just won`t sound like an idiot up there but I`m excited for the opportunity.

I hope you all had a great new years! I just went to bed at the normal time so I didn`t see the new year but its great to finally be in 2014. I`ll be 20 this year! I`m getting old... Can you believe I`ve been out for 5 months already? Its crazy! I love you fam! Have a great week! Godspeed!

Elder Giles

Taking My Talents To Nabari!

Hello Fam!

How is everyone doing?? It was so great to talk to you at Christmas. Ryan and Jack sound soooo different! Ryan`s going to be an absolute monster when I get home! I loved hearing your voices, I actually kind of forgot I had a fam back home to be honest it was way weird! It was super fun though. Only four more months till mothers day! 

So this week we got transfer emails, and, like the subject says, I will be taking my talents to Nabari! I can`t wait to get over there! They just opened up the area so my new companion, Elder Yamaguchi and I will be starting off from scratch! I`m way excited! 

It`s been a crazy week this week with Christmas and everything. On Christmas Day I was blessed with the gift of food poisoning along with three other missionaries in Akashi. It was way hard! On the bright side though I got to sleep pretty much all day so that was pretty nice! 

The Akashi Ward treated us like Kings this Christmas. They showered us with so much food and other things, it was truly humbling. My time here in Akashi will always be viewed as a highlight in my life! 

This week was a great week of my mission. I really feel like I`m coming into my own as a missionary and that was evident this week as we worked extremely hard. `Mission Shape` is a lot different than anything I`ve ever experienced. I don`t think anyone could have prepared me for the beating that my body has taken over the last three months. Its crazy! I feel like I`m doing product endorsement for some sort of work out supplement but I`m here to tell you that this stuff is awesome! Missionary work is so fun. Sometimes when it isn`t fun I picture myself in college right now stressing over finals and other things and then I realize the mission is really pretty nice! 

This week we were taken to dinner by an investigator and his wife. When he came to pick us up he said he was also bringing his brother-in-law along and that he has lived in California for the last 30 years and speaks fluent english. I was so excited! They took us to this way nice Hotel that looked out over the bridge for a nice buffet of Japanese food. It was actually way nice! I got to talk to the Brother for pretty much the entire dinner, it was so nice to be able to speak english for a little while! He actually works for an insurance company in California so I was glad we had some common ground. We had an extremely nice conversation about Japan and the U.S., the culture, sports, food, and even some religion. He was very impressed with our diligent service and devotion to give up two years of our lives to be missionaries. He wasn`t a religious person but he expressed his desire for the people of Japan to gain some sort of belief. I was able to share a little bit about what we believe about God and he seemed to enjoy it a lot. He was absolutely shocked when I told him at the end of dinner that I was only 19. He thought I was at least a senior in college and was blown away when I told him I graduated High School just 7 months ago. It was an awesome time.

I have to tell you about the experience I had when you all called. About halfway through the phone call the call cut out and you could no longer hear me from my end but I could hear you. I can`t even explain what it was like to be there helplessly trying to tell you I was still there. Dad kept saying stuff like `Hello? Jeff, are you there? Hello` and I just kept responding, `Yes! Dad I`m right here! I`m here Dad, I can hear you!` It was so unsettling and I couldn`t help but think thats how Heavenly Father feels about us. He`s so close to us and he loves us so much, it must be agonizing not being able to be with us. I know that that was probably a dumb example but that was something I`ve thought about a lot this week!

I hope everyone has an awesome New Years! 2013 is coming to a close and I can hardly believe it. I can`t imagine how fast 2014 will go by. I love you all! がんばてください！愛しています！

Giles 長老

A 180 Degree Week

My loving family!

こんにちわみなさん！！How is everyone doing. I loved the pictures from Primary Children`s. That`s got to be one of the best traditions ever. We got to carol these last two Sundays at old folks homes and its been absolutely awesome. I started to cry because of the tears in these peoples eyes after we sang `Silent Night`. They`re so lonely but I could see the life and the spirit in all of them as we sang. It was an awesome experience! 

This last week started off pretty rough with the devastating news about our beloved Bailee. After emailing I told myself that I would be fine. We went out that night and saw a little bit of success. While we were housing this big apartment building all I could see was Bailee running down the halls towards me. It was a tough night. We got home and were calling our investigator and contacts when I finally broke down and lost it. I was so sad. Elder S took me on a walk around the apartment and we talked everything out. He helped so much. The guy can make anyone laugh. After that we came back and I told my companion about what happened. He had the same experience in his second transfer. His dog that he`d had since he was five passed away and he remembered exactly how it felt. Even though I was sad I was able to work to my full ability. 

On Wednesday we went to Okayama for Trainer Trainee Training Meeting and I got to see Elder B!!! It was so awesome! You should have seen us when we first saw each other. We were like a couple of kids! It was so great to see him. He seems to be doing just fine and he has a great companion. We were talking about all the candy and sweets Japan has and how he thinks he`s getting fat. I told him I bike WAY to fast to put on any weight out here. He`s still in that early state of missionary life.  Eventually things start to get easier and the mission becomes fun! The training meeting was awesome. 

We have an article that Z Kaicho wrote about a year and a half ago called `Red Door Blue Door`, the meeting was based off of this article. What this is, is the power of the Atonement. The Red Door is the cleansing, or purifying power of the Atonement that we access through repentance and taking the sacrement. Most members of the church believe that this is where the power ends, however, there is a blue door. The Blue Door is the enabling, or strengthening power of the Atonement and can only be accessed by first going through the Red Door. When the Blue Door is accessed, we are able to access the power of God and perform miracles. We talked a lot about this and I finally realized how amazingly simple all of this is. The Atonement is a special, special thing and we are so privileged to be blessed by its power. I challenge everyone this Christmas to access the Blue Door! Repent and forsake your sins and then ask Heavenly Father to bless you with his power. Its amazing what he can do with such weak beings!  I love this church. 

Our teaching pool has almost doubled within the last three days or so. We had a ward Christmas party on Saturday and one of our recent converts brought two of his non-member friends along and we were able to teach both of them! One of them is a higher up in his company and had a really interesting outlook for how he wanted to use the teachings of Jesus Christ. He said because he was in charge of a lot of people he wanted to know how he could use Jesus Christ as an example in his conduct with his employees, what an awesome mindset right? I was blown away. 

Yesterday before church we were studying and the church phone rang. It was a man asking if he could come to sacrement after he looked up our church online. We invited him to come and asked him if he could come a little bit early so we could give him a church tour and a short lesson before the meetings started. He said he`d come right away! The guy was awesome. He`s 31, married, and has three kids under five right now. He works for Kawasaki but his working environment is really tough and it makes him have depression. I guess he`s been taking the last month or so off work because his depression became so serious and he needed to spend time with his kids. He has never really had any beliefs as far as religion goes but he was curious one day so he started researching Christianity and stumbled upon the Mormon church. He loved how warm and friendly the members were and he said he felt really peaceful in sacrement meeting. I wonder why? He accepted a commitment to be baptized and we are planning to baptize him on January 17! How awesome is that?? 

I`m going to be sad if I get transferred out of Akashi next week. I love it here. This is my home! I don`t want to leave but I know if the Lord calls me another way he has someone else that needs the gospel and he needs me to give it to them. I have been so humbled while I`ve been out here in the field. I`ve never had to rely on someone like I`ve had to rely on Christ for the last 11 weeks. My faith has been strengthened and all I`m trying to do is change someones life. It`s truly amazing how much a mission can change you. I`ve realized how spoiled I`ve been my whole life growing up in a home where the gospel is a part of everyone`s lives and living in an area where most people have the same religious beliefs as me. Japan is so different. The faith of the members here is inspiring. I love my mission and I love this church! Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Elder Jeffrey Maxwell Giles 

Elder B and me from Okayama, Japan!

Elder `Santa` Giles. Nice tie right?

Elder S and I got sushi making headbands from the Ward... we don`t
know how to make sushi...

真の弟子ー人と皆

家族、

こんにちわ日本から！皆さん元気ですか？Ok sorry, Japanese is fun. Ah its been a rough hour or so with the news about Bailee. I was absolutely crushed but I know that she`s in a better place.

I`m sorry I`m not emailing at my usual time, we had lunch today with one of our investigators. He`s a twenty two year old college student studying english right now. He`s way awesome! We`ve been trying to get a lesson with him for the last little while but his interest seems to only be in english right now. He`ll come around eventually. We taught him a couple weeks ago and extended the baptismal invitation but he declined. He really isn`t sure why people would need a God and he wonders why there are so many different religions. Today he took us to this place to get some Yakiniku, which is pretty much just strips of meat that you cook yourself on a stove in front of you. It was seriously so good! I`m pretty sure if it wasn`t Kobe beef, it was at least the next step down. It was way solid! 

I get to see Elder B this week!!! I`m so excited! He emailed me this week and told me he`s been hearing all these stories about how my companion is absolutely nuts. Its hilarious. My companion is the man! I have the best trainer in the mission, hands down. We have to go to Okayama this week for Trainer Trainee Training meeting and I`m way excited! We have to take the train from Akashi at like 5:30 AM so it might be a rough morning but I`m just excited to see J.  

This week we got a new investigator! He`s a 17 year old high school kid and he`s awesome! He`s thinking about going into medicine so he`s way smart. We gave him his first lesson last night along with a church tour and it was awesome! The kid seriously didn`t stop smiling the entire time, and he thought the baptismal font was way cool! I`m excited to FINALLY have another investigator.

We`re so busy this week. We have a lesson everday and I`m way excited! My companion got his travel plans this last week so he`s been having a little bit of a rough time. The poor guy goes straight to college in Sendai instead of going to his home in Shizoka first. He`s an animal. 

So this week I got to do some Kyudo, Japanese archery! I was on a split with the other 2nd transfer missionary from our apartment, and we went up to these colleges. We went over to where they practice Kyudo and the guy invited us in and let us give it a try! It was so freaking fun! I took a sweet video that you`ll be able to watch when I send my SD card home and I took some sweet pictures as well! The best part of it though was that we got two potential investigators out of it! I was way excited. I think the guy might be looking me up on Facebook so if I get a friend request from a bunch of Japanese characters, just go ahead and hit accept! Haha it`s been a fun week. 

On Saturday we went up to one of the other Areas in the Zone, Ako, to help them out with their work because the city of Ako has a big festival every year to commemorate the ancient 47 Ronin Samurai. It was way cool. We just walked around telling everyone about the church open house and enjoyed the festival. Life is great right now. Elder S (in our apartment) is hilarious. He`s the best Zone Leader ever, except for My companion. 

We got some fresh squid last Preparation Day and made the best calamari I think I`ve ever had. We just heated up some oil and went to town, it was awesome! 

I have some funny pictures from biking this week. The assistants came again to train Elder S and My companion and they needed my bike so I got to ride this tiny old white bike. It wouldn`t have been so bad if I hadn`t had to bike 10 miles uphill but hey, everythings a blessing right? It was hilarious. You should have seen the peoples faces seeing a big foreigner on a tiny little white bike. Priceless. 

The work here is progressing slowly but it`s going great. I`m excepting everything that happens, good or bad, as a blessing. 

I got my Christmas package in the mail two days ago, you were right Mom, I couldn`t wait until Christmas to open it. My favorite part was the family letters. That was so awesome! I can`t tell you how thankful I am to have such an awesome support system back home. I love you all! I can`t wait to send you pictures of Elder B and I next week. I think next Preparation Day we will try to do something fun for Christmas. I`m doing great and I`m working harder than I`ve ever worked before! I love you fam! I hope you all have an awesome week!

Love,

Giles 長老

This is what we ate today. 

Parade in Ako.

My little white lightning.

Just getting a little facial peel in for the night. no big deal..