Fuel to the fire

愛する家族　(beloved family)

  How is everyone doing? I`m doing great and working just as hard as ever! We had interviews with our Mission President this past week and it was absolutely amazing. I love President Z and his wife so much, they have truly changed my life and helped make me a better missionary and person. During the training portion of interviews President spent a lot of time stressing the urgency of this great work. It got me so fired up I was about ready to bust out of my chair, run down the stairs, and start proselyting right there. The thought that there are people who are `perishing in unbelief`, and `being kept from the truth only because they know not where to find it` drives me nuts! I want to find these people so bad! 

  I can`t believe that President Z goes home in less than two months now. He said during our interview that it feels like I just got here! I would have to agree. It`s going to be incredibly difficult to say goodbye to him for the rest of my mission. Our last interview was awesome. I couldn`t help but think that he has A LOT of expectations from me in my mission. That was a little intimidating. He talked to me a lot about not being able to do this work alone and being the best example for my companions. He really pushed me hard on my Japanese. He asked me if I`ve been studying as hard as I did when I was still in training and was very pleased when I said I`ve been studying 10x harder. He shared with me some things from his own mission to Japan some forty years ago that I loved and I want to emulate. He talked with me about how he was the one that his Mission President would send to an area to baptize a specific family and then move him. He talked about how his Japanese got really pretty good fairly quickly and how that was what made the difference when truly convincing the family that baptism was what they needed in their lives. He said that because he was really able to communicate well with them, their trust in him was so much stronger. He also said that it ticked off his companions when the family wanted President Z to baptize them. He said that he`d have to take the Dad of the family off to the side and explain that his companion really loved the family and to let him baptize them and then President Z would confirm everyone. I laughed right out loud! I want to be that type of missionary soooo bad! 

  The last thing he said to me before our interview was over was something along the lines of, `Just go, Giles 長老, and see if your companions can keep up with you. It was great. He expects a lot and I plan to fill those expectations.

 My companion and I are working hard. It`s still a struggle sometimes just getting him to talk to people but I think I`ve stressed the importance of being bold enough he`s finally starting to get it. Being afraid to speak is like fearing man more than fearing God and, well, that`s just not acceptable so we`re working on it! As long as we burst our own personal bubble of faith every day it will grow and the Lord will magnify our efforts and whatever ability we have! 

  Well thats about all I have from this week. My companion threw our frisbee onto a go-cart track while we were frisbee-proselyting at the park last week, so that was pretty unfortunate. We got a nice guy to go ask the track worker to get it for us and we were able to get it back though. Then we invited the guy and his family to our English class with his family and he said they would probably come! Last night we were walking down the street and this guy stopped us and started talking to us for a little while, he has been to the US a few times and really liked English. He took us to this little cafe and bought us some food and we talked about his family and stuff like that. He didn`t have a lot of interest in the church but he really wants me to teach him how to speak English and stuff like that! He also invited us to play tennis with him on Saturday so that should be pretty fun! It`s all about the tender mercies of the Lord, right? It was a good time!

  I love you all and I`m so grateful for all of your love and support. Preparation Day is the highlight of my week getting to hear from everyone! I love you guys!!!

Elder Jeffrey Maxwell Giles

Because of Him

My awesome family,

  I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter yesterday and you all could remember the Resurrection of the Savior at the tomb! We watched a great video during Priesthood yesterday called `Because of Him`, on YouTube and I loved it. It really is all because of the Savior that we can do anything. The miracle of resurrection makes it possible for us to receive Eternal Life and be able to live with our families forever. 

  We had a pretty good week this last week and it started with a companion exchange with me and my District Leader, Elder S. He came to Sakai and we had an awesome time! We went to the park to do some sports proselyting and taught some guys how to rip stick. It was hilarious! We saw them all standing there looking at the board all confused so we went over and tried to see if we could teach them how to do it. They were way pumped! It was way fun and we were a little bummed because none of them lived in our area. Oh well, the missionaries will find them again sooner or later, right? We were riding down by the river and I saw a guy sitting by himself playing the guitar. I stopped and told him he was way good and asked if we could sit with him for a little bit. He agreed and was really excited when I told him I play the guitar as well! We sat and played together for a little bit and talked about music. He agreed to play again sometime and I think we`ll try to get him to church to play something for sacrament meeting on fast sunday! Wouldn`t that be cool? 

  We went to a McDonalds to eat that night because we knew that was where all the high school kids would be. Sure enough, a group of about twenty of them were hanging out in there and we quickly made friends and ate with them. They were hilarious! All of them wanted pictures of us and I think some of them followed me on Twitter. Blessings of social media right? It was crazy because one of them actually knew who we were and brought up a picture from a few months ago of another set of missionaries that he ate dinner with! Apparently his brother is an investigator so he knew exactly who we were. It was awesome! 

  During dinner a little old man came up to me and asked me where I was from and things of that nature. He was a really sweet guy and he agreed to meet again so we could give him an introduction so our church. Elder Y and I met him a few days ago and he became a new investigator! He has been to a Catholic church before so he had a little bit of background and has some great beliefs. After the lesson he agreed to come to church and actually came the next day! We told him we would meet him at the train station near the church at 9:30 and walk to church from there. He was there when we got there and he said because it was Sunday the train schedule was a little different so he had been waiting there patiently since 7:30 that morning! It was crazy! I apologized for making him wait but he didn`t even seem to mind at all and stayed at church for all 3 hours. He`s a great guy and I`m really grateful for the opportunity to teach him. 

  I have my last interview with President Z this coming thursday before his mission ends and I can`t believe it`s already the last one. Time has been absolutely flying lately and I feel like the two of us just spoke not one week ago! I`m really excited for the interview though. He always has such great insights and revelation to share and I know it will help me in my mission so much. I love President Z and I know I will remember him and be grateful for him for the rest of my life!

  I have to go save some souls but I just want to say, again, how grateful I am for all of you! Each and every one of you has blessed my life so much and I`m so grateful for all of your examples. Being the oldest grandchild was never an easy responsibility and I just hope I can provide a good example to all the little ones looking up. I feel so blessed to be where I am and to be doing what I`m doing. I have the best job in the world right now! Oh, and I almost forgot, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you all!

Elder Jeffrey Maxwell Giles  

Some Osaka street graffiti

And some high school girls that really wanted a pic with us.

`Dieter, don`t even think about it.`

Helllllllllllllllllooooooooooo Family :)

  I loved General Conference this past week! It`s a little sad that I had to wait a week to watch it and enjoy it with the rest of you but it was great none the least. 

  I was so impressed with all of the talks and the simplicity that almost every speaker contained. The talks were great and it was great to hear everyone testify of the Savior and his Atonement. President Monson`s underlying theme of showing love and kindness so great as well. I don`t think I could pick a favorite talk but I really liked the one about the Olympic Athletes. I can`t remember at the moment who the speaker was but I loved the idea he shared about this being our `Four Minutes`. We prepared for a loooong time to come to this world and we have eternity after this life but this is the time that determines our success and happiness. I couldn`t help but think that if this life is like a four minutes halfpipe run then this time that I have to be a missionary must be like my `switch cab 1080` in the middle of the run. The significance of my mission as it relates to the rest of my life. I know I`ll take experience and knowledge that I`m learning RIGHT NOW and use them for the rest of my life. It`s crazy to think my life as a missionary is already 1/3 done and I`m so motivated to give it everything I possibly can for the next 2/3 in the Land of the Rising Sun. 

  A lot of what I got out of conference was how we, as individuals, need to strengthen our own testimonies of the gospel and how we can better the lives of those around us. I couldn`t help but think how scary it will be to raise children of my own in this time. Like what Neil A. Anderson said, `The world will not glide easily to the second coming of the Savior.` I have a long time before I will even think about having kids but it was just a great reminder of how we can all prepare ourselves now because the world will get a lot worse, before it gets better. 

  As I get older as a missionary (and as a man, I guess) I`m more and more motivated to put everything I possibly can into this work. I shared at District Meeting this last week something that my trainer, Elder Shinohara, said to me at the start of our second transfer together. He looked me in the eye and flat out told me, `We`re going to work until we die.` As a second transfer missionary, still in training, this was extremely terrifying. I didn`t understand how someone could work so hard or even have the motivation to work that hard. Now I understand more about what he was really saying. Although for him he probably was talking about working to the point where when you can`t walk anymore so you drag yourself with your hands along the ground, I feel like I understand what he was talking about. This work is about inviting others to come unto Christ. I want to give everything for my Savior because he gave it all for me. He suffered, bled, and died and all he asks is for me to serve him. That should be enough motivation to give your 110% out here. Don`t worry Mom, I won`t kill myself. There are Angels around us out here, remember? But I want to be like my trainer and work until I die. Elder Shinohara was a True Disciple of Jesus Christ, and I find myself more thankful for his amazing example every day. 

  I love you all and I`m so thankful for the prayers and support that come my way. I know I`m on the other side of the world right now but I can feel of your love and support so well. I love you all and words can`t begin to describe how thankful I am for everyone at home! I love you all!

Elder Jeffrey Maxwell Giles

1/3 through my mission!

こんにちわ！

  I hope you are all having a great start to your week and enjoyed General Conference these past few days. Unfortunately I have to wait another week because they have to translate it into Japanese but I can`t wait! I`ve never been more excited for General Conference in my life! It`s crazy because my first week in the mission field was the week after conference. It`s been a whole 6 months! I can`t believe how fast this is going. It only gets faster as I get older and more experienced as well. 

  This week the work was pretty slow. Not a lot was happening, nor has really anything happened since our Baptism a few weeks ago. We`re working really hard though and we know that sometimes the Lord just gives us trials like these to test our faithfulness and our patience. I was getting a little bit stressed this last week when the thought occurred to me that Jesus Christ is still the Son of God. He still saved us from sin and death. Why would we possibly need to stress about anything? Obviously there`s the good stress that comes from a desire to help these people come unto Christ but other than that, what have we to worry? We`ve already won we just need to try our best to follow the example set by our Savior. What a blessing it has been on my mission to learn that simple lesson. Trials will come and go but it doesn`t change the big picture. We literally hold the greatest happiness in our hands and have unlimited access to it whenever we want. The Atonement is truly a remarkable thing. 

  We were on the street the other day when a young man stopped us and asked if we were the missionaries. This doesn`t happen often so we were a little surprised. We were also surprised because he spoke some pretty good English. He said he stayed with a family down in St. George for three months a little while ago and they happened to be LDS. He said he loved the missionaries because they were always, `really great guys`, so we were really excited to have met him. He came to our Sports Day at the church on Saturday and we had a good time. He said he went to church when he was in Utah but I don`t think he really could understand it so I`m excited to see how well he accepts the gospel. 

  That was pretty much our week last week but we`re working hard. I love Elder Y and we`ve had a great time so far. It`s so nice to have a companion that also happens to be a really good friend. There`s no battling for higher ground we just try and do what the Lord wants us to do and we do it together. It`s been awesome! 

  I love you all and I love getting your letters and pictures. It`s awesome to see everyone every week, I still feel like I`m involved in the daily life, just from 5000 miles away. I love you all. I`m ever so grateful for the love and support that I receive on a weekly basis. I`m sorry but I forgot my camera this week so I`ll send a lot of pictures next week! I love you all!

Elder Jeffrey Maxwell Giles

New comp, new transfer, still just working here

Helloooooo friends and family!!

　　Its been a great week and I`m glad to say that the weather here in Japan is beautiful! It`s finally spring time here and the Cherry Blossoms are in full bloom! Its awesome! It feels like a whole new country now that it`s spring time. I feel like I`ve finally reached the point where I can look at every single thing as a positive. Really, everything is a blessing whether its good or bad. Heavenly Father has an individual plan for every single one of us and once we figure that out, life just starts to become beautiful. 

      I`ll start out by saying that Brother K has officially been confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we couldn`t be happier for him. He was confirmed by the Bishop and after the ordinance, I don`t think I`ve ever seen him smile so much. It was an amazing opportunity and one that I`ll cherish forever. His After Baptism lessons will be a little tough without Yamaguchi Choro because he doesn`t understand our Japanese and we really don`t understand his but we`re doing everything we can to see him 100% converted to this gospel. 

      We were street contacting in one of the shopping areas on Saturday giving out English Class fliers and stuff and we stopped this family that had a lot of interest in the class. I was standing a little ways away while my companion talked to the parents when there little son and daughter came over and talked to me. He asked how old I was and I told him to guess and he said 28! I told him I was 19 and he was like, `You`re so young!` I said, `So are you!` I asked him what his name was and he said it was `G`.  A He said he was 8 and I almost broke down right there. It was like I was talking to J.  I was asking him what kind of sports he liked he said he like baseball. I asked him if he was going to be like Ichiro and he proceeded to tell me that that isn`t possible because Ichiro bats left handed and he bats right handed. He was so cute! He asked me how many years I`ve been in Japan and he was shocked when I told him I`ve been here for just over 5 months! He was like, `Pera Pera desu ka?` (are you fluent?) and I said not even close! I want to teach his family so bad. I haven`t had the chance to teach a family yet and I want to so bad!

      The church is still true. I won`t harp on that too much this week but I just feel so privileged to be doing this work. I had one of those, `dang`, moments last week looking down at my tag and seeing the Saviors name next to mine. I have the best job in the world. I really don`t want this work to end. I never thought I would say that even a month ago but I`m finally there. I think its the beautiful weather thats got me in such a great mood today. Oh the tender mercies of the Lord. I love this stuff.

      I`m doing great but I still have a long way to go with everything. I guess thats just a part of the beauty of life, you`re never quite there. The Lord can always expect a little more out of us. 

      I hope you all have a great week. I consider you all my family and I`m so blessed to have all of your love and support! I love you all!!!!!!

Elder Jeffrey Maxwell Giles

What more witness do we need?

My amazing family,

Wow. Our God is a God of miracles. What an amazing week it has been! To start off, we had a Baptism last Saturday. We baptized our 78 year old investigator, Brother K. It was such an awesome opportunity and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to perform his baptism.

To start off last week our odds of seeing a baptism by March 23 were looking pretty bleak. Brother K was our only real shot at still seeing a baptism but just a few days earlier, we were contemplating whether or not we should keep him has an investigator. He really wasn`t progressing that quickly and we questioned his motives for meeting with us. He really likes my companion, Elder Y, so we wondered if that was the only real reason he still met with us and came to church every Sunday. Little by little, however, he was changing. When we first got here, he was happy to come to church on Sunday, but hated making appointments throughout the week. He started to become more willing to meet with us as he got more comfortable with Y Choro and I. He really started to take off when we met him on Tuesday. Instead of going with a set lesson plan we decided we were just going to talk. We covered just about every single lesson and met with him for about three or four hours. We did the same the next day and he finally agreed to be baptized. I couldn`t believe that I had just witnessed the changing of the heart a man, right in front of me! We were a little concerned about whether or not he would be able to keep the commandments, he liked to smoke and drink and we were worried if he could give it up in time for his baptism. We shared the commandments with him and he had no problem at all with keeping the word of wisdom. His health has been deteriorating over the last little while so he realized the temporal blessings that living that law would bring to his life. The only commandment he had a little trouble with was the law of tithing, he told us he didn`t think he could pay tithing because he`s retired and doesn`t ever receive any money to pay tithing on! We told him that was okay but asked him to pay tithing on any money he might receive in the future and he agreed. He passed his interview on Friday night and was baptized the next day. His daughter was a little bit of a problem because she was pretty opposed to the church. We stopped by and visited her and gave her a copy of `The Family: A Proclamation to the World` which we hope will soften her heart and help her to not change her view on her father. It was sad to see someone so opposed from the gospel after watching what it can do to change someones life.

I had full faith all along that if the Lord wanted us to see a Baptism, we would see a Baptism. I tried my hardest not to stress about the goal, and although difficult at times, I think I managed to do that pretty well. My trust in the Lord has been strengthened so much this last transfer. My testimony that this is his work is stronger than ever and I feel so blessed to wear his name on my chest every day.

Today was transfer mail day and I`ll be staying in Sakai but I get a new companion, Elder Y!, I guess I`m just a magnet for Japanese companions. Elder Y is half Japanese and from the U.S. so I won`t have the native aspect anymore. Elder Y, my most recent companion, is going down to Shikoku and I`ll miss him for sure. He`s an awesome missionary and has been a great companion for the last two transfers. We saw a lot of miracles together and it was great to build up a solid teaching pool with him after starting from 0 just two months ago! 

I can`t believe how fast time is flying by. It`s crazy to think that I got here the week after General Conference and it`s almost conference time again! I`m loving life and I can`t wait to listen to the Prophets share revelation directly from Heavenly Father!

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

Elder Giles

Happy St. Patricks Day

Hellooooo Family!

 

 

I hope you`re all having an awesome week! We`ve been working our tails off this week but it`s been awesome! Time is flying by. I don`t have a lot of time today, one of our investigators needs a ride to his doctors appointment for his messed up feet so we asked one of the members to give him a ride and we`re going to go with him! A small sacrifice we`re willing to pay on our Preparation Day. I feel bad, we didn`t have time to clean this morning because we had to get our hair cut so we made the other Elders clean the whole apartment... Oops.

 

This week has been a blast. Last monday we went to Misaki Koen, which is a big Zoo about an hour or so south of us. It was a blast! I got some great pictures that I`ll attach to this email. The Zoo was way sweet! It felt a little bit like going to Wally World because no one was there but we got right up close to everything so that was cool. It was nice to relax for a little bit and have some fun for sure!

 

On Tuesday the mission had an All-Japanese Conference in Kobe so I got to go on exchanges with another Elder from our Zone. It was way sweet. Elder K is only a transfer older than me so our Japanese level is pretty much the same. We had an awesome/completely random day. We went to the park and the first guy we stopped talked to us for an hour. I mean talked TO us in the very literal sense because neither I nor Elder K could understand a thing he was saying. We just kept nodding our heads and saying, `Hai, hai, hai` it was great. We finally got him to wrap up his shpeel about one of the other Parks in Sakai and got his number. He agreed to come to church on Sunday but he ended up not showing up. We talked to a young familly after that about our English class and they seemed way interested so I hope they end up coming. I called the Dad the other night and he said they were planning on coming so I`m excited about that. We went up to the main center of the City after that and ran into this hilarious drunk guy. He was so funny. He just kept yelling and laughing and he was speaking such strong Kansai-Japanese neither of us could understand hardly anything he was saying. He kept trying to get the ladies that advertise the restaraunts to come over and talk to us and it was everything we could to tell him we weren`t interested. He was hilarious. The looks on everyones faces walking by watching this absolutely wasted guy yelling and laughing with these two white kids was priceless. He ended up not living in our area so we just gave him a pass along card and told him we had to go. After that we found this two kids our age hanging out in a park and talked to them for a little bit. They were way cool but really didn`t have any interest in the church or the gospel but they want to go to dinner sometime so there`s still hope! Their names were T and T which I thought was pretty great. It was such a fun exchange. Elder K is the man and it was great to go out with another American for once!

 

We found a great new investigator this week that just moved to Sakai. We talked to him on the street for a little bit and he agreed to come to the church for a tour and an introduction. We called him two nights later before we planned on meeting him and he told my companion how much he wanted to change his life and he has had interest in Christianity for a long time. We gave him a tour and our introduction message and he accepted everything really well. After our lesson he stayed at the church and helped us and a few of the ward members set up for another members wedding reception. It was awesome! He wanted to come to the wedding reception the next day so we met him an hour before and taught him about God. He believes pretty much everything we told him and accepted and is now reading the Book of Mormon! He came to church yesterday for all three hours and then one of the members volunteered to help him move the last of his things from Kobe to his new apartment in Sakai! He`s really solid. We went over to his apartment last night for a little bit and talked with him and helped him unpack his things, it was way fun. We`re planning on extending the invitation to be baptized during our next lesson for sometime in May or June. We really want him to become converted to this gospel before he gets baptized but we`re really excited about him!

 

It was great to have the opportunity to attend the wedding reception of one of the members of the Sakai Ward. He returned from the Fukuoka Mission about 6 or 7 months ago and is a really solid guy. Him and his wife were married in the Fukuoka Temple a week ago last Saturday. It was awesome to see a new couple, strong in the church, just sealed eternally in marriage. It really added to my testimony that families can be together forever! His wife served in the Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission so it was fun to talk to her about home for a little bit!

 

I`m exhausted. Missionary life is crazy but its a blast. I couldn`t help but think last week as we were road race cycling from one appointment to the other that I have the best job in the world. On top of how busy we are, I blew out the back tire on my bike last thursday so we had to walk to District Meeting in another area again. Awesome. Then I had to carry my bike about a mile or two the bike shop. It was a great time. I think every single person stopped me on the street to tell me where the bike shop was, it was great to see how many nice people are in the world, granted, it must have been a little strange to see a white guy in a pretty nice suit carrying his mountain bike on his back!

 

This week has been fun but we`re nowhere near stopping. This work is progressing rapidly and it`s great to be apart of it all! I love my job. I love being a missionary. I just want to help these people accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ that I know can make them happy. That shouldn`t be too much to ask, right? I love you all! I`m praying for my family back home every day. I miss you but this is where I`m supposed to be right now. I love you guys!

Elder Jeffrey Maxwell Giles