Bagong area at kasama!

My new companion, Sister Aquino!

Hello again family and friends!!  

All is well here in Tayabas! I love this area. It is sooo pretty and reminds me a lot of Pakil. And my companion, Sister Aquino, is the sweetest. She goes home the end of May so we are going to keep her fire burning and finish STRONG! She's the best and I love her so much already. 

Beautiful Tayabas!

And no worries about my health, I am feeling back to 100% and like I was never sick! The hospital was an awesome experience. It made me realize how adjusted I am to life here haha I am finally starting to feel like a more seasoned and mature missionary. Not just a greenie anymore! But with that said, I still have soooo much to learn. Especially Tagalog ah I wish I could snap my fingers and be fluent already. But I am staying patient and it really has come a longggg way. I didn't really get to say a proper goodbye to Pakil because of the hospital stuff but I miss it! It will always have a special place in my heart. 

I just want to share some thoughts that I've been having about obedience this week. Something I've really learned on my mission is that the commandments and standards God has given us are for our happiness!! I think one of the reasons I am so happy on a mission is because I am striving to be exactly obedient and please my Heavenly Father. And He has seriously blessed me!! Even though I am far from perfect and I have had a lot of challenges and confusing and hard times, when I am being obedient and pushing forward with faith, I feel my Heavenly Father's love and see so many tender mercies. My companion shared with me some really cool insights this week and said that Satan is sooo real. He is always there trying to make us take a step away from our Heavenly Father and move closer to him. We have to constantly be on guard! We have to decide every day, every hour, to choose God! Choose obedience and happiness not disobedience and confusion. Shoutout to all the future missionaries- decide NOW to be an exactly obedient missionary! I love you all so so much and I love being a missionary!! 

Have a happy week!!

Love,
Sister Giles

With the Sister Training Leaders 

Goodbye Pakil and Hello Tayabas!

Hello friends and family!! So first I want to say THANK YOU for all of your love this past week as I've been sick. I was admitted to the hospital on Saturday until Tuesday so we are emailing today but all is well now! I feel so much better. The doctor thinks it was food poisoning so I was admitted for that and dehydration. No worries, it was clean and I was well taken care of (but still a cold bucket shower). We made friends with the doctors and nurses and of course, gave them all pass along cards and invited them to church :) My doctor was Filipino but spoke really good English and I was able to understand the nurses in Tagalog!

My energy is back and I'm ready to work! (Don't worry mom, I'll take it easy for a couple days). I'll be honest, my stomach hurt really bad in the hospital, but now I feel good. It was so good to eat normal food today because all I've been eating for over a week is bread, bananas and crackers. I lost a lot of weight so maybe that's a plus? haha Also shoutout to my companion, Sister Raneses, for being such a trooper the past couple days. She stayed at the hospital with me for four days. I love that crazy sister. Friends forever!!

Sadly, I have to say goodbye to Pakil tomorrow morning :( But I am excited for a new area and new experiences! My new area is Tayabas and my companion is Sister Aquino. Another Filipina- yay! I will really miss Pakil, it feels like my second home. But I know I'll be back someday!

I'll email again on Monday but I just want to share a quick testimony of the power of prayer. I have been praying a lot in the hospital and I know my family and friends have been praying too and I have definitely felt strength from those prayers. I KNOW Heavenly Father is there and he hears and answers prayers. I know that even when we feel alone and scared, we always have Him watching over us. I love you all so, so much! Keep praying and stay healthy and happy! 

Love, 

Sister Giles 

Mainit pero masaya!!

Hello friends and family! 

Things are good here in the 'ppines! First, shoutout to my cousin Tanner for being called to the San Pablo Philippines mission!! I am so so excited for him to join me here in the PSPM, best mission in the world :) 

Unfortunately, I was only able to watch Saturday morning session of General Conference because I got sick with some kind of stomach virus. But wow- Saturday morning was great!! I'll eventually get caught up and watch or read all the talks. And no worries, I feel better now. But I wish to never throw up in a dirty bathroom, in the summer, in the Philippines again haha.

I loved Elder Hallstrom's talk. He asked us if we really know that we are children of God in our hearts, minds and souls. "I am a child of God" is a phrase we sing and say so often but do we realize what an important phrase it is? We literally have a loving, all-powerful Father in Heaven who knows us and loves us so individually. That is the first principle we teach as missionaries and it is my absolute favorite to teach. Maybe partly because I have the Tagalog down really good and can teach it easily haha but mostly because it is such a beautiful, simple doctrine! Elder Hallstrom also quoted Elder Holland and said, "You can have what you want, or you can have something better." God has something better for us! He has a great plan for all of His children. For example, the first couple weeks of my mission what I wanted was to pack my things and get on the first plane home. But since I knew that wasn't God's plan for me, I stayed and now I see that it is SO much better than what I first wanted. I know with an absolute knowledge that God gives us trials and disappointments to bless us and help us grow. 

Little C, I love her. She is like my niece here.

I love you all so so much and wish everybody a happy week!! Thank you for your support and love. Oh and shoutout to R who is still doing awesome. He got a white shirt and tie from a member and attended conference in his new Sunday best :) 

Love, 

Sister Giles

Fresh watermelon during a big Turumba festival in Pakil. Masarap!

Binyag ni R!!

Hello family and friends! 

Wow, what a great week! First- R got baptized! Yay!! I experienced just pure joy watching him come out of the water and hearing him bear his simple, pure testimony. This is why I'm here!! Moments like R's baptism make all the hard times, rejection, sweating, bug bites, EVERYTHING so worth it! I still remember when Sister Cornaby and I saw his teaching record from a few years ago in the area book and had a feeling we should go find him. We were asking around if anybody knew him and we asked a man and it was R himself hahaha! Then after lots of lessons, prayers, challenges and laughs- he made it!! Yesterday at church after he was confirmed, I just saw this new, bright light about him. One of the best days of my life. His girlfriend came to his baptism and agreed to let us teach her next week. Yay! I have a secret life plan for them that includes missions and temple marriage :) 

I am so excited to watch conference this weekend!! I read some good teasers from my family. How blessed are we to have a prophet and apostles who receive revelation from a loving Heavenly Father for us right now? I know we have a living prophet. I love testifying of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ almost every, single day. I know Joseph Smith restored the true church of Jesus Christ. I know we have a prophet, Thomas S. Monson, today who leads and guides the same church established by Jesus Christ. Everybody watch and re-watch and read and re-read the talks from General Conference!

I love you all so much and hope everybody is having a happy, happy April. It's a great month. A great month to share the gospel and baptize more people!! 

Love, Sister Giles 

This huge spider with tonnns of babies in our apartment. It was funny trying to catch it, Sister Raneses loves spiders and kept it as a pet!

Hallelujah

Hello friends and family!! 

I hope everybody had a great Easter remembering Tagapagligtas natin (the Savior). Alam ko na nabubuhay si Jesucristo! Ang Pagbabayad-sala and pagkabuhay na mag-uli ay totoo. (I know that Jesus Christ lives! The Atonement and Resurrection are true.) 

With Elder Richards a fellow Arizonan and friend from the MTC

It was such a great experience to be here in Pakil this Easter. There were sooo many parades and bands and floats and people! I am lucky my companion is really knowledgeable about the Catholic religion because she answered a lot of my questions about their Holy Week. Really cool to be around a totally different culture and belief. I am also feeling extra thankful to have a knowledge about the fully restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I feel so much peace and happiness because I know Jesus Christ died for our sins and sorrows and that He loves us and has outstretched hands to all of us! We just need to come unto Him and be healed.

View from our apartment window of one of the many parades 

The Holy Week is celebrated all week long

These men are carrying whips with fake blood and masked like the men who whipped Jesus

We had district conference this weekend and then interviews with President Mangum today so it has been a great couple of days. In conference, President Mangum quoted a talk by President Uchtdorf and taught that our Heavenly Father is constantly pouring down blessings on all of His children. But the reason we don't receive all of our blessings is because we put up "umbrellas" of fear, doubt or sin. Our Heavenly Father loves us sooo much. He wants us to receive all of our blessings!! So I encourage all of you to close your umbrellas! Stand in the rain and let God pour down blessings! 

He talked specifically about not keeping the commandments of keeping the Sabbath day holy and the law of tithing. In the Siniloan District there are 2858 members but only 488 attend church regularly. And only 4% pay a full tithe. It makes me soooo sad because I know that there are members here who are not receiving blessings because they have umbrellas up. I am feeling more motivated to help the members put down their umbrellas. And I am throwing away all of mine! I want to stand in the pouring rain and I want the members of Pakil to stand with me!  My challenge to all of you is to get rid of your umbrellas. Let Heavenly Father bless you! Trust Him! 

I love you all so so much. Have a happy week!

Love, 

Sister Giles 

Laundry Day!

Blue Pepsi-sooo good!

Happy Spring!

A picture of a cutout of one of our pamphlets that a guy put in his tricycle. He said he doesn't want us to teach him but he loves our pamphlets and the pictures of Jesus Christ haha sweet guy. I have hope someday he will read the pamphlets too :) 

Hello friends and family! Happy Easter week!! I love this time of year. I hope all you in AZ are soaking up the spring break weather. It's the start of Holy Week here in Pakil so there are lots of bands and decorations and all kinds of commotion! I know this will be an Easter I'll never forget. I feel so blessed to be a full-time representative of Jesus Christ and to have the chance to testify that He lives!! I love being surrounded by people who love Jesus Christ and are happy to talk about Him. 

It was a fun week this week!! We had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders and I learned so much from Sister Sianava. She is from New Zealand and is half Tongan/Samoan. She's crazy and so much fun. Polynesians are the best.

I am officially the branch choir pianist! I had to brush up on my piano skills but I managed to get Nearer My God to Thee down pretty good. We have District Conference this Sunday and The Pakil Branch Choir will make its first debut. Also, those of you who know me well know that my singing abilities are close to zero and my confidence is singing is zero haha.  Brother Dino, the choir director, had me teach the alto and tenor parts of Nearer My God to Thee to the choir anddddd yeah it was rough but I managed to do it. I'm sure my family and the wardies are laughing picturing me doing that hahaha but we all had a good time. I am thankful my mother kept me in piano lessons for all those years and the wardies forced me to sing with them in sacrament meeting. Shoutout to the future missionaries: stay in piano lessons!! And listen to your mom and practice (Jack). 

Some Philippines Favorites: buko (coconut) salad and buko juice soooo masarap and the KIDS! I love the crazy bata of Pakil. We are known for giving stickers so whenever they see us they yell "Sisters!! Star!!" and follow us until I give them a sticker. They are wild but really lift my spirits. Tomorrow marks my official 1 year left! Crazy. Mabalis, talaga. 

Also, R is doing great! Thank you sooo much for the prayers. He was at church and we had some great lessons with him. He is so awesome and will make a great leader in the church here in the Philippines someday. 

I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great Easter. I am so thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the perfect life He lived and the perfect example we have to follow. I'm thankful that He suffered for our sins and sorrows and completed everything the Father asked Him to do. I know the Atonement is real. I know we can be cleansed and strengthened everyday. I know He rose again on that beautiful Easter morning and we all will live again!! I am thankful to be sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ here in the Philippines! Remember Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you all so, so much. Have a great Easter week! 

Love, 

Sister Giles

At a 1st birthday party for baby Gailee. Filipinos know how to party! 

pag-ibig sa kapwa

Hello friends and family!! Another great week here in the San Pablo mission. This week was full of about 200 Tagalog mistakes, 4 people grabbing my arm and touching my skin because I'm white, and 1 albino Filipino who I thought was American. I started speaking English to but then he looked so scared and said "Filipino ako! Filipino ako!" Haha but then we started speaking Tagalog and all was well. I love being a missionary here in the land of the Philippines!

So sadly, R wasn't at church this week so his baptism is pushed back again. Because there are so many less actives in our mission, we are really focusing on making sure our investigators are super strong in their church attendance before we baptism them. So sweet R will have to wait until he is really ready. But I know that with some more time and some more teaching, R will become the strong latter-day saint he is meant to be! But please, please pray for him. 

The struggle of Pakil is definitely our church attendance. We have some great investigators but none of them are coming to church. What I've come to realize is that they just don't understand the importance of church or they are very, very Catholic. It's a little discouraging when we pass by the Catholic church on our way to church it's hopping with people (sometimes we see our investigators and in-actives) haha but I'm not giving up on them!! I have faith that someday the little Pakil chapel will be hopping with people too. Small and simple means. 

This week we had an amazing zone conference all about pag-ibig sa kapwa tao at Ang Pagbabayad-sala ni Jesucristo or charity and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am feeling so spiritually strengthened!! I love, love, love President and Sister Mangum and I learned so much from them. Something I've really realized here on my mission is that without charity, we really are nothing! It is the 1st and 2nd great commandments to love God and to love one another. I know that the way we show love to our Heavenly Father and Savior is through obedience to the commandments. The commandments are there to bless us and save us!! Follow them! I encourage all of you to read John chapter 14 and ask yourself how you can better love God and your fellow men. I have learned many ways that I can improve and I am feeling more determined to love and serve the people around me. Also everybody go check out the new Easter video on mormon.org!! I love you all so so much. Have a great week!! 

Love, 

Sister Giles 

With President and Sister Mangum and former roommates at zone conference.