MALIGAYANG PASKO!!

Merry, Merry Christmas everybody! 

Well last weekend was surely the weekend of all weekends! Congrats to Shaye and Court!! The most beautiful brides ever! And welcome home to sweet Ash, Panda and Heath. 3 amazing sisters who have totally returned with honor!! Shoutout to allll of my amazing friends and their examples. 

But to be honest....I think I had the best weekend of everyone because Brother J was baptized :) Yay!! It was a beautiful baptism. And yesterday Sister Uba, Sister Candy and I were able to speak about Christmas and missionary work in church! My 2 favorite things. I read a little bit from Luke 2 and shared how my Grandpa would always read this to our family on Christmas Eve. I encouraged the ward to "Fear not!" (v 10) because we have the good tidings of great joy again on the earth!! Fear not to do missionary work! Fear not if you are faced with trials and hardships! Jesus Christ lives and He has overcome the world! I love the beautiful message of the birth, ministry and Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful to have another Christmas here in the beautiful land of the Philippines. Remember the reason for the season! Be thankful for all the gifts our Savior has given us, turn out and share your love and testimony with others! 

I have been reflecting on this past year a little bit and I am just so full of gratitude. Last Christmas I was crying like a baby because I missed my family so much and I was just starting to feel the true enabling power of the Atonement in my mission life. I also didn't really understand the Christmas Devotional in Tagalog, ha ha. But this year I understood it all! But more importantly, I can now testify that I know my Savior. I know with my whole heart and soul that He lives and His redeeming and enabling power are real. I LOVE being a missionary and sharing the light of Jesus Christ with others. All is well, all is well. Have a merry, merry Christmas!! Talk to you soon fam :) Mahal ko kayo!!

Love, 

Sister Giles 

Sweet Sister Candy bought us a cake in honor of my mom's birthday!

 

Love all your fellowmen. Saint or Sinner!!

Happy Birthday shoutout to my dear mother on Wednesday!!! Everybody spoil her and bring her chocolate and give her hugs for me. Everybody knows Dawn Giles is the best so I don't even need to brag about her. 

All is well here in Lipa! Sister C is the best recent convert ever. She is already giving us referrals and brought her friend to church! He is this sweet Tatay she always buys coconut juice from. Also we have some good news...Brother J is getting baptized on Saturday!!! :) :D :-)) He has been having some doubts but he attended Sister C's baptism last week, felt the Spirit so strong and then told us his next lesson he wants to be baptized ASAP. I feel so blessed to have been here to be a part of J's conversion process. He has overcome so many doubts and a cigarette addiction and he is just such a powerhouse now. He will be a great future stake president, mark my words. I love these people so much!! 

My dad asked about our golden family and they are still doing great. Came to church again yesterday and loved it :) Keep Sister A in your prayers also, she is ready for baptism but feeling a little hesitant. 

Yesterday our Relief Society lesson was on charity and the sisters were kind of complaining about how sometimes neighbors are hard to love. This little 4 foot something Nanay in her 80's with orange hair in our ward just walked to the chalkboard during the lesson and wrote, "We cannot say we love God if we do not love all our fellowmen. Saint or sinner." Everybody got quiet and she said "love all men" and sat down hahahah it was awesome. She also gave a Book of Mormon to all her neighbors. She is our best member missionary and she is in her 80's and doesn't hear anything unless you are yelling in her ear. What's your excuse for not sharing the gospel? 

Mahal ko kayooooo!!

Sister Giles

The District

Pagpapakumbaba

The subject of my email means humility in Tagalog. No special reason it's just one of my favorite words and I thought you all might like it! 

Well, another great week!! Sister Uba and I have been really finding with faith this week and we saw miracles every single day. Like sweet sister E! We were tracting and she was sitting outside her house so we talked to her. She let us in and said she was so happy because her dad was baptized in the LDS church and always went to church but he had died and she had so many questions about "Mormons!" She has recently moved and has been reading the Bible and looking for an honest, Christian church close to her house. We answered her questions, taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she accepted a BGD!! (Baptismal Goal Date)

Sister Uba and I were feeling brave so we "tao po'ed" (knocked) at this hugeeee house and like 50 dogs started barking at us but we didn't back down! The sweetest lady came out who has also been wondering for a long time which church was true and she also accepted a BGD! 

Also do you remember that super sweet sister G we found a couple weeks ago? We had a chance to teach her and her husband and 2 daughters together and they have been also looking for a church to worship together as a family and they all accepted BGD's!! 

God is a God of miracles. As my companion and I have been striving to be exactly obedient, applying diligence all day and praying specifically and with faith- God is giving us amazing people to teach. They are all so prepared!! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! 

I had an "I'm a Filipina" moment this morning when I was washing my clothes by hand, my companion was cleaning the fresh fish we just bought from a lady on the side of the road and we were speaking Tagalog hahaha! I never want to leave.

 

Also one more thing, I hope all of you back home are attending the temple regularly!! I miss the temple so much. You are all soooo blessed to have a temple so close. My sweet companion and her family were all converted in 2006, saved up money for a year and then in 2007 traveled from the very bottom of the Philippines to the Manila temple to be sealed forever as a family. I am truly inspired by these faithful Filipinos. Sister Uba told me that her family and a couple others traveling to be sealed prepared the Sacrament on Sunday, had FHE and sang hymns on the boat. Even though they don't have much money, they are so happy because they know they are an eternal family!! I hope all of us still have that same reverence and commitment to temple covenants even if the temple is 10 minutes away. Have a great week!! Mahal na mahal ko kayo!!

Love, 

Sister Giles 

Maging Ilaw sa Sanglibutan!

Hello po everybody!!  

I hope everybody had a Happy Thanksgiving. I made a little Thanksgiving dinner for my comp and kabahay, definitely

not my mom's mashed potatoes but hey, they liked it. It was a Thanksgiving I'll never forget!! I feel extremely blessed everyday as I live and serve around these humble people and share the amazing gospel of Jesus Christ!! 

I am also so happy the new Christmas video is out. Go watch Light the World! Or Maging Ilaw sa Sanglibutan!! We have cute new pass along cards, I love the Christmas season. The best season for missionary work!! Especially here in the land of the 'ppines where everybody loves their Savior :)

Good news...Sister Candy's baptism is all set for this Saturday!! Woohoo!! She is so excited. It has been such a privilege and blessing teaching her and watching the Gospel change her life. She has a new light in her life and is such a converted person. 

Also yesterday our miracle family that I told you about last week came to church!! The whole completed family :) They are very wealthy but very humble and we can see them as great leaders here in Lipa someday. We were teaching the Plan of Salvation to them this week and it was such a sweet moment teaching a completed family all sitting together and participating and watching the Spirit teach them and soften their hearts. They have a goal to be sealed in the temple and become an eternal family :)

Sorry not a lot of time because I spent a while looking at the cute pics of the family my dad sent me haha. I am so thankful we are an eternal family!!! I love this Gospel. I love being Sister Giles. I love my Savior so much and I hope you all share His light this week!! Maging Ilaw! Mahal ko kayo!

Love, 

Sister Giles 

Sister Candy is the best and bought us Burger King. We used the self timer and Sister Uba didn't make it, haha love her soo much!

Binyag ni Sister Candy!! :)

Hello po! 

It was such a great, busy week. Sister Candy is baptized!!!! :) It was a beautiful day. She looked beautiful in white and had such a glow. We are amazed by her spiritual maturity. Her testimony is so pure and powerful. After her baptism when she bore her testimony, she quoted Amazing Grace and said "My chains are gone, I've been set free. My Lord, my Savior has ransomed me." We all just started crying because the Spirit testified to everyone who attended that the Atonement is so real. Sister Candy has truly been set free and she now has a chance to return back to her Heavenly Father because of her obedience in following Jesus Christ. I love this Gospel so much. I love being a missionary and instrument in God's hands. Nothing brings me so much joy!! I know with my whole heart and soul that through Jesus Christ we can all be set free. All trials and sin can be made light through the Atonement. Sister Candy will be a great leader and light to Lipa Ward 1 :) 

We also had the chance to attend MLC and have exchanges with Sister Santizo and Sister Moore!! I worked with Sister Santizo in her area. She has been my friend in the mission for a while now and is from Utah so we had a great time!! There are very few "white" girls here in the San Pablo Mission haha so we love when we get to spend some time together. We also saw a cactus!! Yeah I have no idea why there is a cactus in the Philippines but I think AZ was just trying to give me some love :) 

MLC was also sooo inspirational. GREAT things are happening in PSPM! President focused on the word BELIEVE. We need to believe more that we can overcome any false limitations we have for ourselves. I love setting goals and my companion and I are feeling so motivated to set higher goals and believe and work hard to achieve them! I don't want to go home! Maybe I'll just stay another year so I can witness more miracles and be a part of the BEST thing in the whole world- the work of salvation!

I hope everybody is getting into the spirit of Christmas and serving others!! mormon.org We are having so much fun with 25 ways in 25 days- come be a part of it! Mahal na mahal ko kayoooo! :)

Love, 

Sister Giles 

The Nature of Happiness

So good news, I am staying in Lipa with Sister Uba!! Yay! People like to call us big and small haha but we like to call ourselves the power team! We are having fun and seeing sooo many miracles. 

Me and Sister Uba

We found our investigator reading the Book of Mormon like this!

Another great week...zone training meeting, found some more families who accepted baptismal goal dates, a SUPER full Sunday School class on Sunday with our great investigators. We are moving into a bigger room next week! I love being an instrument in the hands of God. Oh and we have a small family of cats living in our roof hahaha. We are working on finding a solution, no worries. 

I love the Lipa Zone!!

Something I really liked in my personal study this week was in Alma 41:10-11. The phrase "wickedness never was happiness" is a common one to us but I learned a lot as I studied it more in depth this week. I love verse 11 when it says when people are wicked, "...they are without God in the world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness." I love that phrase. "nature of happiness." God is a happy God!! He is loving and merciful and His only desire is that we find joy and eternal life. When we are disobedient we are choosing to be alone. We are choosing to take ourselves far from the Holy Ghost. But when we are trying to change our natures and do what is right, we WILL be happy!! It reminds me of Mosiah 3:19. Latter Day Saints should be happy people because we are working to develop a "nature of God" and a "nature of happiness." Filipinos are happy people because they are so giving and loving and humble. Let's strive to develop more Christlike attributes so we can live in a nature of happiness!!

Mahal ko kayooooo!

Sister Giles 

I asked Abby if she had heard about the election in America and this is what she said in her personal email to me which I thought was interesting:

The Philippines is taking the election hard. All the news reporters are freaking out saying nobody can get visas now. It is actually scary for separated families in America and the Philippines. I feel lucky to be far away from it. It has strengthened my testimony that the Gospel is the only way we can find true joy and peace in a changing and scary world. And it is a good wake up call that these are the last days and we have a preordained responsibility as members of the church to speak up and spread light. God is with us no need to fear!

Pinakamakapangyarihan Aklat!

Helloooo to my dear family and friends!! 

I loved this week! Pretty normal week but we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) on Friday and it was amazing as usual. One huge thing I learned was about the power of the Book of Mormon. Our great AP's gave a workshop about using the Book of Mormon more powerfully in our work and wow, I learned so much. We focused on using it to address the concerns of our investigators. I am sooo thankful for the Book of Mormon. It really is the pinakamakapangyarihan aklat sa buong mundo!! (most powerful book on the whole earth). I love reading and studying it every day. I have come to realize that there is a lesson to be learned in every single verse. It answers the questions of the soul and it is how we can receive answers to our prayers!! If you are not reading the scriptures every day I invite you to change and enjoy the power that just flowssss through daily scripture study!! 

Philippines San Pablo Mission Leadership

At Mission Leadership Council

 

We had a fun zone pday today!! We had a "boodle fight" where you cut down banana leaves, lay down rice and meat and eat with your hands!! Haha so fun. I love this Filipino culture. Life is good, my companion is my bff and being a missionary is the BEST!! 

I know the Book of Mormon in another testament of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that through the Book of Mormon we can come to truly know our Savior. I know He loves us and THIS is His church once again established on the earth!! This is the most beautiful message we have for the whole world!! Families CAN be eternal, God LIVES and LOVES all of us individually, the heavens are open and we can receive personal revelation and revelation through living prophets and apostles. I love you all!! Have a great week! Eat with your hands this week, it's fun. 

Love, 

Sister Giles 

Happy Halloween!

Another week, come and gone. Always too fast and always full of miracles!! I love mission life. We had a busy week with 2 exchanges, interviews with President Mangum, and workshop training with the Lipa Zone sisters. My companion is still the best missionary ever and Lipa is still a land full of miracles!! Really though, I am so happy. 

Pioneers in Lipa!! This couple were literally first members here in 1974. The Brother was the Patriarch for years. I love this ward!

Treats from the corner store with Sister Moore

We found some superrrrr great new investigators this week. On Thursday during personal study I had a really strong impression to go visit the L family, a family we found through tracting a couple weeks back. I was kind of confused because every time we try to teach them they are always gone, but we decided to follow the Spirit. So later that day we went and... nobody was home haha. But there was a sister on the balcony of the upstairs apartment complex who saw us and was so excited to talk to an American. She started asking us tons of questions and wanted to take a picture. My comp and I call that my "foreigner power" hahaha! Anyway she ended up telling us to convert her, invited us into her home and asked like 10 questions of the soul. It was amazing!! Sister Uba and I were like um what, is this really happening. She also has a family member in Manila who is a member and wants us to come back and teach her husband and daughters too. :)

We also found another family of 9 kids that is sooo receptive to the gospel!! I felt like I was walking on clouds when we walked up to teach them. Literally 9 kids ages 8 and above and the husband and wife have the most loving relationship. They come from very hard circumstances and have close to nothing materially but they all had the biggest smiles and are so excited to come to church next week. I don't think I stopped smiling all day after we taught them. God is performing so many miracles here and I love being His instrument. I feel blessed everyday to be surrounded by these Filipinos. 

Friendly Filipinos!

This couple lives in Pakil, my first area, and it was really fun to see them when they came to visit family in an area where I was doing an exchange. We were very close when I lived in Pakil.

I have never been more tired but also never been more happy! I thought BYU swim team was the hardest thing I have ever done but a mission in the Philippines takes the cake! There is nowhere else I'd rather be. I know our Savior lives. I feel the strengthening and cleansing power of the Atonement every single day as I strive to improve my weaknesses and be the most diligent missionary I can be. Have a great week and remember how much God loves you!

Love, 

Sister Giles 

Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in Lipa!

Huwag Manghusga!

Hello po!! 

Another great, busy week! Heavenly Father is blessing this area so much with great investigators! We have 11 progressing investigators and we are nearly running to every appointment and getting them ready for binyag! (baptism) I still love this ward, area, and companion. Even more than last week :) 

On Friday we traveled to St. Tomas and worked with the sisters in that area. It was such a great day full of miracles. They are reopening so it has been a little tough but we found so many less-active members. I worked with Sister Hanipale from Tonga. Polynesians just make me so happy! We were walking and this pregnant sister stops us and says, "Jesus Christ? Mormons?" she seemed so shocked.  Turns out she was baptized 2 years ago in a different area in the Philippines but when she moved, she lost contact with the church. She has been praying to be lead to the church again. Right time, right place, doing the right thing! The Lord really does prepare our path as missionaries!! 

Sister Hanipale and I teaching together

On Saturday we set some time aside to find some less-active members in one of our areas and we were faced with so much rejection #missionlife but we still saw miracles. We were looking for a family and nobody seemed to know them (there are no real addresses you just ask around).  We were walking this street and got to this house and my companion and I both walked toward it and said "tao po!" (knock, knock) and it was the family we were looking for! It was honestly so cool. Let the Holy Spirit guide!

I just want to share with you all a little about one of our MIRACLE investigators Sister C. She is a single interior designer in her 30's, and is the most prepared person ever. She used to live with a member family and has a friend on a mission so she has been familiar with the church for a while. She got the missionaries number a while ago but wasn't interested until a couple weeks ago. She is so excited for her baptism on December 3, reading the Book of Mormon every night (she is in Alma), and is making friends and enjoying church. We have seen the gospel of Jesus Christ bring her so much peace and happiness. She struggles sometimes with feelings of loneliness but as she has learned to turn to her Savior, the Book of Mormon, lds.org and prayer, she has a new light about her!! She has taught me so much. One of the biggest lessons is we can never rush conversion. She has been reading and investigating on her own for a couple years but never felt ready. But NOW she is ready to make and KEEP baptismal covenants. Sometimes it's hard to trust the Lord's timing but I know He is in control and He is always performing miracles and preparing souls for the missionaries to teach. I love being an instrument in His hands!! 

Also I loved my personal study the other day in Mosiah 29. Verse 12 says, "Now it is better that a man should be judged of God than of man, for the judgments of God are always just, but the judgments of man are not always just." Huwag Manghusga! Judge not! We don't know people's hearts. I have been trying to apply this more in my life and seeing people with clear, non-judgmental eyes. I promise it makes you happier. 

Well that's all for the week friends. Wish I had more time but you will all just have to hear lots and lots of missionary stories when I'm home in 5 months!! Have a great week xoxoxo mahal na mahal ko kayo!!

Love, 

Sister Giles

My Wall

 

Miracles in the Midst of a Typhoon!

Helloooo everybody! 

What a great, miraculous week in the land of the Philippines. This country still amazes me every week, I just love it here so much. I am a Filipina now for sure. I am a rice eater, flood walker, clothes hand washer and Tagalog speaker!

Sister Beason cleaning our fish for lunch

Tilapia, my favorite!

"Typhoon Karen" hit Lipa the past couple days but everybody is safe and we were still able to work, no problems. The typhoon was really hard at night but we were able to work fine during the days. After district p-day today we had to walk through hugeee floods and crazy rain and we were all soaked. I wish I got a pic but it was all just too wet. Making fun memories! But please keep these people in your prayers because we have a super typhoon coming this week and a lot of these houses will have a hard time taking the wind and rain. I know a lot of the families who are so close to my heart are cold and without a lot of necessary supplies so please pray for the Filipinos. 

District P-day

I love, love my new companion Sister Uba, we are having so much fun and working hard!  Honestly, exact obedience and hard work just showers miracles. Our mission set a goal last year for baptisms in the year of 2016 and we are a little behind that goal so we are doing all we can to get our progressing investigators ready for baptism. PSPM is the best mission and I know we can all do it!! 

Lunch after District Meeting

We had a miracle with Tatay Leonardo, a great investigator. His wife (well girlfriend) has been really closed off to the gospel but this past week she has started to come to church and she has agreed to be taught! They are also making plans for marriage so Tay can be baptized :) Also after a lot of prayers, a recent convert's husband has been also coming to church and finally agreed to be taught!! As we pray to be led to families God is truly answering our prayers!! 

Mahal na mahal ko kayo!! 

Love, 

Sister Giles