I Can't Believe That My Brother is an Elder!!

December 17, 2012

Well, almost. :) TOMORROW! SO NUTS! We have transfers tomorrow and I just keep thinking of the Elders coming in and thinking holy crap! That will be my brother super soon! HOW CRAZY! But I am so excited for him! Seriously! (P.S. I decided to call Dave today so I won't take time out of working time. So Davie, TALK TO YOU SOON!)

That is so cool to hear all went well with the farewell. If I remember correctly, we overplanned food as well. Gotta love planning for an unknown number.

I would include sentimental things here for Dave, but I will just tell him today. HAHAHA! THAT IS SO COOL!

Speaking of transfers, I will be beginning another fun journey tomorrow as I begin yet another transfer in Resaca Pointe. :) You thought I was getting transferred there for a sec didn't ya? :) Nope, I get to stay!!!!! Which is really fun! So this will be my 4th transfer here. I have been here for almost 4 months now so after this transfer it will be around 6. I think I am just destined to stay in my areas for a very long time. But it works. Now I can't even imagine how people get things done in one transfer in an area. But it's cool.

We are teaching some really fun people! I love the people here! We have the biker, I don't remember what nickname I gave him but it's probably something along those lines. He was supposed to get baptized yesterday but had some minor hiccups so I think he will be getting baptized on the 30th. This year for sure! He knows this is what he wants, he just has to get up the will power to give up some stuff. Which he can. (P.S. I took his rubiks cube and Elder Cullen is going to teach me today how to do it.)

We also have a few families that we are trying to help commit to be baptized. They are all WONDERFUL people and I can already picture them as awesome members.

The Christmas Conference was awesome. The song went AWESOME and Elder Browning recorded it so I will have to show it to you in 4 months. :) He is going home with me. I had my recorder but didn't think about it until after because I was just making sure I didn't sing the wrong words. :) But everyone liked it so that is good. There were some awesome harmony parts and because Sister Dudding and I are both altos, there were parts where the Elders had to sing the higher part which made it SUPER COOL! And we all wore black and white and gray so we looked just classy! After that little Christmas program, we had a fun pinata and gift exchange. I seriously love the Trayners and all that they do. They are just the most amazing people ever! Then we watched this year’s DVD and it was great! This year was cool because I actually knew the people. I will be sending that home shortly with my Christmas card from the Trayners. On the card is the picture of the whole mission. We're all pretty small, but it is cool to have!

Other than those highlights, this week was probably the hardest week of my mission so far but I am so grateful for the opportunities that I had to learn and grow. I am so grateful that I learned how to truly lean on the Savior for support because there are times on your mission when He is all you have. I think so often that I can do it by myself but there are times where I just can't. I can't do it on my own and I need to lean on Him and he will succor me in my afflictions. I think that is probably the greatest lesson I was able to learn this week that will help me throughout the rest of my life.

Well, today Sister Ramirez and I are going to go to Cavenders to smell the cowboy boots. I thought I would make up a story about something crazy fun that we were going to do today but I realized that smelling the amazing genuine leather of a cowboy boot is probably as fun as it gets. :) Oh man, I am such a Texan....

O yes, Sister Ramirez is staying too. :)

I love you all so much and I hope that next week I will have more awesome things to tell you. I think that as time goes on, my letters just get shorter and shorter because I get so use to all these things that happen. I promise that I will be better though! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

K    

Harlingen is not Brownsville

December 10, 2012

Harlingen is not Brownsville. Through the theory of deductive reasoning you can put two and two together that I am not currently in Brownsville but am in Harlingen. No, I didn't get transferred. :) I opened my larger-than-life mouth and volunteered to do a musical number at the Christmas Conference. But I volunteered some other missionaries too, all of who are in the Harlingen zone so President let us come up here today to practice. The four of us (me, Sister Dudding, and Elders Browning and Davis) will be singing this crazy version of “Mary Did You Know”. It is BEAUTIFUL! When we first tried to sing it, it did NOT go well. hahaha. But after awhile it was AWESOME! We still have a lot of bumps to iron out, but it should be really good. I am really excited to sing it and I hope someone records it. But you will want to see it. AND because we are all going to match. Classy black, white, and gray. It will be good. Sister Dudding and I are going to go find black jewelry now to match the Elders’ black ties. Ya....we're cool. I'll let you know about it.

As far as investigators go, we have an AWESOME new friend named “The Biker”. He used to ride professionally in Mexico and is CRAZY! He is doing great and knows this is the right path for him but is starting to really feel the weight of all the changes he is making in his life. He has literally had to give up EVERYTHING. Being in a biking kind of a lifestyle is completely different so it will be hard for him to change. BUT HE CAN DO IT! He knows everything and actually gave me a ninja throwing star the other day because I told him that my secret desire is to be a ninja. He also promised us one of his bikes if he doesn't get baptized. So...ya. :)

Christmas will be fun! No, we don't have plans for Christmas yet because it is still too far away to think about. :) Plus we have transfers on the 18th so everyone is kind of holding off on planning until after that. Should be fun though! I am SUPER excited for Christmas Conference though! I remember how fun it was last year and really I am just excited to see all the pictures and fun people! I am excited that we will be having it with the whole valley. It should be LEGIT! 

I have been learning a lot lately and I know that I have a lot of change in my life. But all good things! I love you a lot family and I will talk to David next week! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Kate 

A Testimony of Christ

December 7, 2012

(This is Kate's mom. I just found this testimony that Kate posted on easter.imamormon.org last April 6th. I thought you all would enjoy it, especially during this holiday season).

It is difficult to explain how much Jesus Christ has done for each one of us. He performed the greatest act of love that anyone could perform. I can't even comprehend the love he feels for all of us. Serving as a missionary for The Church o

f Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Texas has helped me to see, even minutely, the love God has for His children every time someone decides to change their life to follow Him. I know how much the Atonement has been applied in my life, so to help others apply it in their life as well is truly the reason why I am serving as a missionary. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve Him, even though it is no where near enough to repay Him for the things He has done. I know that as we build our lives on the foundation of Jesus Christ, nothing can make us fall. (Helaman 5:12)

Jesus Christ - He is Risen!
easter.imamormon.org
Why is Jesus Christ important to you? Join the conversation. www.mormon.org/easter

What a Great Mission Conference!!

December 3, 2012

Come on family! I still have tons of time left! I have NO idea what y'all are talking about! But to answer your question about the call, I can call and talk to Dave the day before he goes to the MTC, which is December 18th ya? That will be fun because it is transfer day! So I might just be in route for the call or something. Or I could still be in good old Resaca Pointe. I would be cool with either one. After the first change, changes just become part of life. :) But as far as a time goes, I have NO idea what time yet because that is too far for my brain to think about. But I got y'all a day, so we're making progress.

So this week was great! Elder Schwitzer did a devotional on Thursday night in McAllen before the Conference on Friday that we could go to if we had someone going so we scrambled all week because I knew that I needed to go. I didn't know why, but I just knew that I needed to be there. Maybe McAllen was just calling to me. Who knows. Anywho, we got someone to take us and we were totally late but made it just in time for Elder Schwitzer’s talk about using your home to teach your family. It was AWESOME! I was looking around and got to see a lot of people from my old area which was GREAT! I saw Bishop B____ but he left early so I didn't get to talk to him but even cooler than that is that as I was looking around, I saw D____. Now D____ is a member of "the crew" that I used to talk about. The group that we were just trying super hard to get to come back to church and when I left, they had been coming for about 2 weeks. ANYWHO, after the devotional I went up to say hi so I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around and was SHOCKED! He was like "SISTER GILES!!! What are you doing here!" Then we chatted for a few minutes and I said C____, I have been hearing rumors about you through the missionary grape vine, do you have something to tell me? He got all bashful and said umm, I'm going on a mission. :) I FLIPPED OUT! I had heard that he wanted to but I had to hear it straight from him. I was beaming for the rest of the night! How great right! I think I needed to go to the devotional so I could see for myself that their family is doing great! He got ordained to be a Priest on Sunday, or was supposed to, then he'll become an Elder in March and start his papers. I am SO PROUD of him! If everything turns out right, he should have his farewell after I get released so I would be able to go! In case you haven't noticed, I think I have A LOT of things that are going to bring me back down here. :) Anywho, I was super happy to see him and he is doing great! He told me that he wanted me and Sister V to come back though. Apparently we’re pretty cool. :)

The conference the next day was really cool. It was a bit weird though because ALL the missionaries were there so we had a full house. We took a huge picture with everyone so hopefully you get to see that on the blog. We also took a picture of the MTC district! It totally didn't turn out on my camera because my camera is having difficulties, but you'll see it one day on Facebook. But the big picture was cool because I had Sister H____ behind me, then my two daughters in front, then my step daughter in front of them. If Sister R____ had been by us too, it would have been a cute little family tree!  

We learned some AWESOME things at the conference. Elder Schwitzer talked to us about what Lehi was willing to do for the plates and how we need to do anything for the Book of Mormon. Very neat. I love these conferences, and I learn so much, but explaining it after is just something I am not the best at. I will try harder.

O in other news, all of the missionaries got new phones after the conference. They are touch screen phones. I want to throw it at the wall. Actually, it isn't that bad anymore. I am getting more used to it now but you know how it is hard to get used to new phones. Now imagine 174 frustrated missionaries trying to figure out their new phones. It was actually SUPER funny. But it just shows how sheltered we are because we just can't figure it out. O well. Life is still great!

I love you all and Dave-your present is still coming. I'm really working on finishing it! LOVE YOU ALL!

Kate

My Black Tongue

November 26, 2012

I would like to tell you all a story of when I woke up Thanksgiving with a black tongue. Yes, that is not a typo. It was black. And I was confused. Did I go to bed with a black sucker in my mouth? Last time I checked, the answer to that question was a resounding no. I showed the sisters and their confusion, along with mine, just made a really big confusing mess. Now let me back up a little.

Wednesday night we had a great night with a very hospitable member that lovingly made us dinner. Long story short, where my heart was full of gratitude, my stomach was full of too much dinner. That night I decided to, for the first time EVER in the life of Sister Giles, take a nice little chewable pill called Pepto-Bismol. Fast-forward.

I tried to brush my tongue but to no avail, I still had a very black tongue. I decided I would just talk very little during the day. (Insert laugh here.) No one really noticed my tongue all day though which was nice. So when we went to dinner number two out of five, I asked our member, who is a doctor in Mexico, why I had the phenomenon known as a black tongue. She laughed and had no clue but while she was examining my tongue, the Elders showed up and Elder Cullen kindly informed me (p.s. he is sitting right next to me and says that this is a pointless story to tell my parents, I will let you be the judges of that one) that taking a chewable Pepto-Bismol tablet at night makes your tongue black. Who would have thought - right? They should definitely put that on the box. But don't worry people of Utah, Sister Giles has a normal tongue again. All is right with the world.

This week was a good week overall. I am eternally grateful to my Heavenly Father that I only have one Thanksgiving in the field. I can only handle so many Thanksgiving Dinners in one day. And I reached my limit this year. :) But it was a great day filled with love and gratitude and we had a very nice time with everyone.

I can't believe Dave is so close to going! That is nuts! But new rule, if you tell me one of David's friends is going on a mission, you have to tell me where! And Dave-we are having a mission conference this week so I will ask President when I can call you and give you all of my nuggets of wisdom. (Nugget is a GREAT word) But it will probably be the first week of December. I promise, it will go down. AND I still have your present I am working on. I will get it to you soon. AND when you go, you better email me! I want to hear EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING!

Fannie-I have your Christmas present. It is sitting under my desk. In a pile of my shoes. :)

Mother-yes I did get my Ensign and it was SO FUNNY because I got it on Saturday and I was literally as excited as when I would get new Harry Potter books. Then I made a joke about it and said that you know you have been a missionary for a while when you start freaking out about the new Ensign. SO, I took my fancy new Ensign to church so I could read it and the other missionaries reacted the same way! We don't have the new issue yet so they all treated it like the newest craze. It was so funny! SO many times I heard, "Sister Giles! Is that the new Ensign? Let me see it!" O man, I love being a missionary.

The week has gone by really good. We are really learning how to convey the urgency we feel to our investigators. We are working with some good people right now and hopefully they will make the necessary changes in their lives! Very cool!

Mom-which pictures did you put up on my blog? You have to tell me these things because after people tell me they like my pictures, I have ZERO idea to what they are referring. :)

Heather-Thanks for the email but it did not have the necessary details I desired. Except for the part about you and Kell at Chick-Fil-A. I found that pleasing.

This week we have mission conference and I am SUPER excited. The whole mission is getting together on Friday and we are learning from Elder Gregory Schwitzer. I am excited to be inspired by his words and apply those things in my life.

I love you all but I have to go now. Gotta get things ready for this week! LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLL!

K    

Thanks Kate for David's Birthday Present

This cockroach was included for David's Birthday in the last package.

Thanks Kate! However, she did say that his real birthday present was still to come.

More Fun Pictures

Sister Pena and Kate. Sister Pena was Kate's 1st companion in Brownsville

Kate and Sister Pena

Kate and Sister Ramirez. Sister Ramirez is Kate's 2nd companion in Brownsville.

Kate and Sister Ramirez at the border??

I think this is the wall, or the border in Brownsville.

A few of the Sister Missionaries along with President Traynor.

Kate has made so many friends on her mission

More Sisters

Kate and Sister VanDyke

When Kate and Sister VanDyke were serving in McAllen, they organized an event at the park where members would come and draw something about the gospel on the sidewalks with chalk. Then if passersby had questions, they could answer them. These are a few pictures of that event.

 Notice the Temple. What an artist.

I'm not sure what kind of food this is, but Kate looks happy to eat it.

A few bug bites, The hazards of living in South Texas.

Thanks for all the well wishes, packages, and letters. Kate loves mail!!

(Very clever packaging Jennifer and Michelle)

Some Awesome Friends!!

These are just some of the friends Kate has been blessed to have.

They have taken good care of her in Texas.

These are friends from McAllen and Brownsville.

I wish I had pictures of everyone who has influenced Kate's life on her

mission in such a powerful way.

Where is My new Ensign??

November 19, 2012

Hey Mom! I found something for Christmas a member showed me. It is an owl necklace from deseretbook.com that has a CTR thing and on the back it has "o be wise, what can I say more." There ya go, now you can get me something for Christmas.

That is wonderful that you are all studying about Isaiah. That is one of the subjects I will study when I get home. We have study time here but when we are trying to keep our investigators in mind, it is hard to find time to get into Isaiah. You'll have to tell me all about it later.

AND I can't believe David is leaving in like 3 weeks! I think the time just keeps flying by so I never think of him as actually leaving soon. But I am so proud of him! I tell EVERYONE about him and yesterday I had a birthday party for him. I was the only one in attendance, but it's okay. President said I just need to find a member that can Skype and I can talk to him. He didn't say a date so I will ask him next week. I think he doesn't really care. But do you know how to do Skype? Get on my computer to do it. If you can't figure it out, call one of my friends and they will help you. :) Or anyone who knows anything about technology. :) That call will be super David centered. :) YAY FOR MISSIONARIES! Then we can all chat on Christmas. And mother, May was not THAT long ago. You'll be fine waiting another month. :) But it will be cool because transfers are on the 18th of December (they cut it to 5 weeks because of Christmas) so if I get transferred, me and Dave will both be starting a new area at the same time!

Anywho-Mom, I saw a new Ensign last night. Will I be blessed with my high maintenance copy anytime soon? I know I seem like a brat but I just don't want to trash it like all my other ones. I may or may not be an Ensign addict. We saw the new one last night at a member’s house and both of us said, "Oh my gosh is that the new Ensign!" Just like if it had been the new edition of something cool. They laughed at us and we said, "You know you’re a missionary when you freak out for the new Ensign."

The pictures from Leadership and Sister Training are already on the blog? Wow! That was fast! I am afraid to say that when everyone else gets their cameras out, I say, Oh, I'll just get that off Facebook later. I'm sorry that my lack of pictures have resulted from being paparatzied. (We can't figure out how to spell that. This would be a great opportunity to look it up on Google. Oh wait.....) But in my defense I just spent like $1,000,000 on making 6 CDs of pictures for you guys so....You can get your missionary pictures from the blog. :) You probably see more of my pictures from the blog than I do! I can't wait to see them all in our mission DVD that we hopefully will be getting soon! I love the DVDs! You still have mine from last year right? I can't wait to watch it when I get back because when I watched it the first time, I was 2 days in the field and didn't know anyone, and now I know everyone!

Yes, I can talk to Fannie when Christmas rolls around. Por supuesto! And Mother, yes I did get my capitan en Jefe! (Starts with a J because it’s Spanish Mom!) That means that at our mission conference, I get a pin and a certificate. Then eventually, President is taking me to dinner and will work with me for 4 hours. Yup. Terrifyingly awesome right?!?!

Well, now for my awesome spiritual insight of the letter. Brace yourselves because it is AWESOME! I was reading in the Ensign from July 2011 and there is an article about choosing happiness and it tells the story of the last supper and how Christ (John 16:33) says that there will be tribulation in the world, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Christ was about to suffer in Gethsemane, be betrayed, crucified, spit upon, suffer a trial in which Barrabus would be let go. What was there to be happy about? But he was happy because he knew that at this point, with imminent doom lingering towards Him, he had won. The plan for our redemption was just around the corner. He wasn't thinking about all the bad things, he was thinking that in a few short days, He would be resurrected and save us all. He knew that Satan had been defeated. How amazing right! I think that we usually think Christ might have been scared and nervous about what was coming for Him, and I am sure he probably was, but His predominant emotion was joy because He knew the end result! He also reminds us that we will have tribulations. Christ didn't come to save us from tribulation but to wipe away our tears when we have them. Anywho, AMAZING article!

Well, the time has come again to bid thee adieu. (How do you spell that?) My back hurts from sitting. Weird right? Anywho! Love you all! Going to go make felt flowers now!

KG  

Chills

November 13, 2012

I loved seeing the pictures of the crazy snow! I have been a baby the past two days in our 60 degree weather. Haha! I am currently wearing a turtleneck shirt. Yup. I did that.

So today is transfer day. Because yesterday was the Veteran's holiday or something like that, the libraries were closed. But it was okay because then we had more time to do other stuff. Like get birthday presents! Mom and Dad, yours are in the mail. Dave, yours is yet to come. Also, I sent back ALL my pictures (6 discs) and the recorder. Yes, I did it all. Just don't judge me when you look at my bank account. Shipping can get crazy sometimes!

So this week was AWESOME! We had leadership training for three days in McAllen where we just learned EVERYTHING. I feel so lifted after those meetings. All the sisters went and we had a sisters’ meeting after. It was AWESOME. I wish I could explain more about it but it was just great. We talked about the Priesthood and how important sisters are in the role of the Priesthood. We also got a huge pep talk to prepare us for the flood of sisters we are about to get. Our mission will only go up about 10 sisters though because we already have a million missionaries for how small of a mission ours is. Oh, and I had to role play in front of everyone. I had to show how to get a referral from someone using the Book of Mormon in 2 minutes. It was really fun! President just picked a few of us right on the spot so it was funny to just go with it. Oh, AND one of the best surprises EVER! I was washing my hands for lunch on the first day and SIster Bocanegra says Sister Giles, I have a surprise for you. I was like umm, alright. What? Then she said you know how much the S_____ family love you...IMMEDIATELY I knew they were in the gym! So I walked quite rapidly to the gym and saw M____ and not only M____, I____ and A____ were there too! I____ heard we were coming and he got off work! Then I saw Sister B____ too! Basically, I didn't eat much during that lunch because I had to talk to everyone. They are so great! Sister B____ said you know we all volunteered because we knew you were coming. I felt so loved. It was a great opportunity to get my fill of the Mission 1st ward before I see them again in a few months. And we have a fireside next week too before the mission conference that we can go to if we bring recent converts. Hopefully, we can get to go! 

Next week we have our mission conference which will be AWESOME! I can't wait to have everyone together! Last week we had just under half the mission and it was a ton of people. Imagine when we have everyone! AH! SO EXCITING!

So, I have come to realize that I am actually getting old. In the mission, that is. I was talking to a Sister who is going home in December to start school who just came out 2 transfers before me and I was talking to her like she is way older than me and she says, Sister Giles, you are old too. Now I feel old. I can't really accept it. I like to think that I am in the middle of my mission and I will always think of it like that. Middle Middle Middle.

As far as Christmas goes, I have no idea what I want or need for Christmas. I don't really need anything else. I have a lot of stuff and I don't really want to cart more stuff around. :) But if I think of anything, I will let you know. Maybe you should just save your money for all the stuff I'll supposedly "need" when I get home. Who knows what that will be. Moral of the story, I'm just happy as a clam here.

Well, everything here is going well. WE are working hard and praying for MILAGROS in our area. We know that when we work with faith and align our will with God's will, we can see miracles beyond our wildest dreams. :) I love you all!

Kate

Leadership Training Meeting in Nov, 2012

Kate is third from the end on the right on the row with all the sisters - 3rd row from the front.
(If you click on the picture, it will show on the screen larger so you can see it better.)

It's hard to tell, but Kate is on the front row, 5th in from the right in a black top with an orange paisley skirt. Of course, she is looking the other way at President Traynor doing the teaching.

Miracles DO happen!

November 5, 2012

I would like to tell you about my day on Tuesday. First, we went to McAllen for another fun little jaunt of ours which is actually not bad. I have fun driving. Then we came back to have District Meeting where I had to do the role-play. We were talking more about role-plays. Elder Cullen (District Leader) kept getting phone calls during it and he would leave to answer it. (Rude right?) So afterwards, we were talking with the RS President in the Spanish ward about visiting teaching and we get a phone call. Permigator. I answer it, "Hello, This is Sister Giles." (Now this part is a direct quote): Sister Giles, are you going to be busy tonight? Me: Well, kind of, why. Him: Cancel all your plans tonight and meet me at the church at 7. Me: Allllright.....(said in a confused voice) then...LIGHTBULB! Me: Permigator, are you getting baptized tonight? Him:Yup. Me: WHAT! Don't lie to me! Him: Seriously! Me: (turn to Elder Cullen, and in hushed tones) Elder, Permigator wants to get baptized tonight. Elder (also in hushed tones) I know. He was the one calling me this morning. (Look of confusion on Sister Giles face.) Soooooo, moral of the story is that Permigator is GREAT and got baptized on Tuesday! It was super small and last minute but was awesome! He was freaking out the whole time but everyone was awesome. His member friends, the Elders, everyone helped so much to pull this off! Now the permigator has become the CONVERT! He is great and is now talking about when he gets to serve a mission next year. :) We gave him a Preach My Gospel book and he is EATING it up. He and his friend are teaching US on Tuesday. Such a cool thing! I love missions! (P.S. Mom, can you send me a Preach My Gospel in English? One big and one small. I have a big mouth and promise people stuff. :)  Basically, coolest thing ever and people still don't believe us when we tell them that he got baptized.

The rest of the week was interesting. We went home early on Halloween and studied Spanish. I am SUPER close to getting my Capitan en Jefe! Meaning the highest Spanish award! I just have to do 3 chapters in a book, one testimony, and 6 scriptures. I CAN DO IT!

Well, I have to go! I used most of my time sending pictures to Sister Trayner. Sorry. She is making a DVD for us for Christmas. LOVE YOU!!!

Kate  

I Finally Went to the Wall

October 29, 2012

After like 15,000 requests, I finally went down to Downtown and got myself a picture with the wall. Even the other missionaries are jealous of how cool it is. I promise that it will be coming soon. If I wasn't such a technologically deficient missionary, I would have already figured out how to send it home, but alas, I have not. I sincerely apologize and I promise it will be there shortly! Along with another fun surprise! But I will explain that story after you get it. :)

So, this week was a good week I would say. We have been working REALLY hard. We have come to the mentality that we must do crazy things to expect crazy miracles. So bring on the crazy, right?

So we had a breakthrough with my favorite little permigator last night. He is having a refresher interview tonight and then will be getting baptized later on this week. We are taking him to the font tonight too so hopefully he can envision it more. We are excited. Things are looking good.

Apparently, I am also "the most elderly-like sister" that some of the elders have ever met. Yes, that is a direct quotation. I asked them why and they said it is because I am SUPER bold and can take a jacking. I don't know if getting jacked is a missionary thing because everyone says it down here. It means when you get in trouble basically. I guess. Not entirely sure. But moral of the story, apparently I am a pretty tough missionary. Who would have thought?

I can't believe it has already snowed there! This weekend it got down to the 60s and I was wearing my coat. HA! Everyone said Sister Giles, Aren't you from Utah? I HAVE BEEN OUT OF UTAH FOR A YEAR PEOPLE! THIS IS COLD FOR TEXAS! But today it was back up to a wonderful 75 or 80 and then after today, back up to 90s! woo.....hoo..... :) You know you are in Texas when you are contacting someone and you can feel sweat drip down your back. Mind you, this is on October 24th and at 8:30 at night. I LOVE TEXAS!

Being in the mission is really awesome right now. I love being out in the field and being able to work with the people. I think that when I get home, I might run away and live with the sisters in WX before I get released. :) Sound like a plan? I think so. But really, I have learned so much! I love knowing my scriptures. I love listening to people's problems and knowing exactly where their answer is in the scriptures. Who am I to give them my opinion when the scriptures, the word of GOD, can say it much better. Wow. How powerful a tool we have! Anyone who hasn't read their scriptures lately, DO IT!

The seminary teacher for the Spanish ward is in our area and we have been talking about the New Testament a bit as she asks us questions for her lessons and I am just amazed with the life of Jesus Christ and what he did. Things make much more sense out here on the mission and I think it is because our minds aren't clouded with worldly things that don't matter. Sure there are still things about home and I think about them from time to time, but the things that don't matter, are just that: they don't matter. What a wonderful concept to think of. I love being able to apply everything I am learning to my life too. Wow. SO neat!

Well, I have to go again. It is a late email I know. You wanted the picture so you get a late email. :) I love you all and I promise you that if you will align your lives with the will of the Lord, he will take you places you would never imagine. Coming from a sister missionary in BROWNSVILLE, Texas, that should mean something. LOVE YOU!

Hermana Giles

Back in McAllen For the Day!!

October 22, 2012

Yes mother, I have found the local Chick-Fil-A. :) It's not hard to find because it is in our area. AND unlike Utah, we have Chick-Fil-A’s all over the place down here. It makes us happy.

This week was a good week. We had to take care of some stuff so we are actually in McAllen right now. It is interesting being in my old area, but awesome at the same time. I am happy to say though that I am being very obedient and not even considering stopping by people's houses. :)

Happy to hear Dave is having fun with his airplanes. Get it in while you can Dave! It is interesting how coming out on a mission, you don't miss that stuff initially, then you hit awhile in your mission and you start to remember that one time you actually stayed up past 10:30 and you actually used to just sit. It is odd to think that there was ever a time where those things occurred! Who does that?

I don't think President has a set time for me to call Dave, but it will probably be sometime in December. We'll see. It will be different though than the Christmas call. My call to Dave will be about 10 minutes to just say bye and good luck. Then Christmas we can actually talk. Well, as much talking as one can do in 30-40 minutes.

Yes mother, I am being safe with my bicycle.

We have to take in our car to get fixed today too. Our car was an Elders’ car about a month ago and during transfers, they broke the speakers so now when we listen to music, our car sounds as if it is underwater. It was funny for 5.8 seconds, then it wasn't. So we have to take it into the dealership on our way back. Should be fun! Good thing it is still under warranty!

Nice job Annie! Way to be! I wish I could be cool like you! P.S. I decided a few days ago that when I get back, I will help you with your lawns. I still have forever away so who knows, I could still come to my senses and change my mind. :)

But family, you are all lovely! I recorded some of us missionaries playing Nerts last p-day. It was HYSTERICAL because we kept forgetting the recorder was on. It's a good hour long. :) I hope you can all understand it. And so you know, we really do love each other, even though it sounds like we are fighting the whole time. :)  Basically, we are like a big family that just yells over the top of the other people.

Notes for people:

Katie: I can't look at your blog so I need pictures! Lots and lots of pictures! And yes, I enjoy spicy foods now!

Audrey, Sami, Heather: WRITE ME! What does a girl gotta do to hear from you!

All others: You are still wonderful and should write me too.

I love you all and I will talk to you all next week!

Kate

P.S. Yes I got my Spanish mini Preach My Gospel. It is amazing! I have 6 now! :) And thanks for checking my computer!

P.P.S. Send me pictures of snow so I can pretend like it is actually the holiday season!

Call the Fire Department

October 15, 2012

Okay-here are enough photos to satisfy your desires. I will work on sending you the rest. I think I will buy a flash drive and just put them all on the flash drive or something. I don't know. But Sister Greenman has this cool thing where you can put your memory card into this little USB thing and it is just neat. SO I'm going to look for one of those. Then I can send you pictures every week. Look for one too for Dave. Makes things WAY easier!

Yes I got the recorder. At interviews too! :) Sister Trayner was happy that I was getting fruit from home. :) We just recorded on the way here and will probably record at zone activity today. Look forward to fun!

Sometimes it is hard to think of what to write because the weeks just come and go so fast. I feel like I just wrote ya'll yesterday. So let me try and think of what has happened in the last week. :)

That was a long space to represent me thinking. We have just been working really hard this week. We have found some really neat potentials and we plan on baptizing all of them. I set a personal goal of how many people I am going to help on the road to baptism this year this morning and I plan on reaching it. I had a few experiences yesterday that have kind of gotten a little fire of faith started that will soon turn into a bonfire which in due course will light up Texas. Dad, call the fire department. SEND DOWN THE AIRPLANES WITH THE NEAT RED STUFF! :) You know how I get when I put my mind to something. That, added to people telling me I can't do something and o man! I am getting riled (and the consensus of the missionaries here is the above.) up just thinking about it! When we trust in the Lord and put our minds to it, doing EVERYTHING we can, NOTHING can stop us. Just like President Monson said in his opening talk of the conference in May, Nothing can stop the hand of the Lord. So my faults, mistakes, and errors will not stop the work. NO MATTER WHAT! How reassuring no? :)

Now that I am done ranting....

This week we found another member family. Not in our area because we weren't working in our area, but we just found them as a referral from a door contact. She had just had a really cool missionary experience so it was really cool! It shows that God puts us where He needs us, even when that isn't exactly in our area. :) But to be fair, we thought it was our area. :) Jury's still out on that one.

Well...I love you all. I'm sorry this email stinks.

Kate

P.S. My pictures I am experimenting with are me and SIster V, me and the Bradshaws, me and the Wilson's, and me and Sister Ramirez at the zoo. Hope you get them!

And yay for BYU and WX.

Super Bowl

October 8, 2012

So I remember hearing from missionaries that General Conference is like the Super Bowl for missionaries, and I totally get it now. I LOVE CONFERENCE! Every single talk really just was the best thing ever! Elder Holland's talk was my favorite and I just loved everything about it. I stopped taking notes because I just wanted to listen. SO powerful! I wish I could watch it again but alas, I will just have to wait until next month to get it in an Ensign. Speaking of Ensign, can you send it to me when it comes out? We get one per companionship and that will just not work because I will be MARKING IT UP! And to be even more demanding...can you take it to Kinko’s and put a clear plastic cover on the front and back and spiral bind it? HAHA. I know I know I am so high maintenance. I am going to do it to my other ones today because I use them so much that the pages are starting to fall out. :) Oops. I just love them!

The weather dropped down here this week too. I am actually wearing a jacket today, which is WONDERFUL! It made me feel right at home again! I can't wait for that to be a regular occurrence. But now I am in the library with Texans who don't understand cold so they are BLASTING the heater. Ah well, it's just cozy.

We have interviews with President this week so I will ask him about when I can talk to David. That will be fun. I can't believe that my little brother is going on a mission so soon!

That announcement about missionaries was probably funnier here than it was there. We were watching it at the chapel and no one goes to the Saturday morning session so it was all 26 missionaries and then a few other random members but we all just went into shock about the announcement. It was actually quite funny. Everyone just kept saying no....no way.... Oh man. I think this will be interesting. I think it will make a huge influx of Elders soon but then it might die down because most of them would have been going anyways. I think this will make the number of Sisters going go WAY up. Very cool! We went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch as a district between sessions so I missed the Elder Holland press conference, but I heard he answered a bunch of questions about it. We were talking and decided it is interesting because in our lifetimes, we haven't ever seen something like this: a major change in the church. Very cool to be on a mission when that was announced. The thing that gets me now is that David's friends that are girls can go out now too!

This week, the work has been going well! We have just been working, working, working! I wish I had more to say but when we just work, work, work all the time, our stories become the same. :) O new one yesterday: found a dead cat. Totally had just gotten hit by a car and its eye popped out. SUPER gross! That is pretty much it. :)

Well, I love you all! We have to go to the store now to buy jalapenos. A member is teaching us how to make something yummy. P.S. In case you were wondering, yes, como comida picosa!

LOVE YOU!

Kate    

Pictures from the latest Zone Conference

This is the Brownsville Zone at Zone Conference

September, 2012

Kate's companion is Sister Ramirez

Can you believe a shorter missionary than Kate?

They are working hard and well together!

Kate and Sister Traynor

Sister Traynor typed in the newsletter:

"We didn't plan this... but I think she has great taste!"

Teamwork!

October 1, 2012

Yes mother, I did get to see the Relief Society broadcast! Amazing right! We missed the first talk though because we were at a lesson, then the satellite at the church wasn't working so like 12 of us huddled around an iPad. I took a picture because it was really funny. But then the men fixed it so we watched from there in the chapel. Talk about amazing! I LOVED President Eyring's talk about teamwork. It is so cool to remember that the church is set up in teams so that when people get frustrated or tired, other people can help. I loved that he said that and I think that every woman in the church needed to hear that we don't need to run faster than we can. Very cool!

We got to see this principle in action yesterday as we had a wonderful baptism! We had plans for 4 people. One was our investigator of 4 years, then the boy, then 2 sisters that were taught by the Elders. The morning started off and our permigator came to church but then left and said the baptism was off. Then we were getting ready and one of the sisters said she still had doubts. So then we were helping the sister, other Elders were helping our investigator get ready, then we switched off the sisters to their elders and we finished prepping and it was just awesome to see that all the missionaries really worked together to get the job done. I really appreciated all the help that everyone gave and it is amazing to see that every investigator is part of a network of 26 missionaries that will do basically anything to help them out. :) All in all, our zone exceeded our goal this month by 2 baptisms so I would deem it a success. :)

Sister R has been out in the field for 12 weeks tomorrow! I'm officially out of training mode again! Yay! She started in Los Encinos which was the other sisters area in Mission who lived with us. She is SUPER short so we have fun. She's great.

Yes mom, I am using bug spray with DEET. Sister Trayner sends out reminders frequently to tell us to use it. I'm actually buying more today. :) So no, I will not be coming home with West Nile, although it would be neat.

No, we are not going to the lighthouse today. I wish! But I am staying here another transfer, so I WILL go again. I also plan on going and buying a Mexican dress. AND taking a picture for you of "the wall." Today we are knocking off another bucket list item by going to the zoo! I'm pretty excited! I am currently wearing my safari outfit which makes everything more festive! I will be sure to take tons of pictures. Speaking of pictures, I literally wake up every Monday thinking, "today, I will send home pictures," but then we get going and then we always have a zone activity, so I never have time. But I am happier because we play soccer and volleyball or go somewhere so my mood elevates which really is just better for everyone right? I promise though, a box will be coming soon! 

One of our members is coming up to Utah for conference. I gave her all your numbers so hopefully she will call you. She and her Mom have never been up to Utah before and basically have no plans. She gets there on Friday afternoon. I told her that everyone there is nice and she will be fine. :) Help her out okay? I can trust ya! 

Well I have to go now. We have to go get everything done so we can go to THE ZOO!!!!!

Also mom, do we still have that Mormon mad gab type game. Can I have it? :)

Your favorite Sister de la frontera

Hermana G

A Long But Great Week!

September 24, 2012

CONGRATS ZACH!!! So cool about the mission! I will have to start sending him advice too. It seems like writing letters gets harder and harder but when I get to talk about mission advice, it is a cinch!

I will be completely honest. I have never been trunky on my mission until I read your e-mail mom! Gosh! Why do you have to get me all excited about the people you talk to! Gol! I hope you got their info though because I will absolutely be talking to them when I get home! ;) (Kate’s Mom – “Sorry Kate”. I talked with some of Kate’s work associates who asked what Kate’s plans are when she returns home.)

Good news: my trunkiness is now gone.

This week was a great week. Also, probably the most draining week of my whole mission. Yesterday we went over to visit a family and their 16-year old was like “Sister Giles are you okay? You look like you have been crying.” So I went to the mirror to fix my mascara. Funny part of this story, it wasn't mascara, I just had circles that dark under my eyes. HA! Long week!

Another reason why yesterday was long was because we have a permigator in our area that up and decided to get baptzed yesterday, but he was terrified so we spent 4 hours of church talking him through it. In the end, he didn't go through with it because he decided he wanted his family there. So...he will be getting baptized next week along with our other fun friend! Should prove to be an exciting week! Then we visited the little guy and he is having a rough time. He didn't come to church yesterday. He kind of wants to run away, AND he currently dislikes his family. Fun stuff right! So then we talked to him for a good hour and a half. O man. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

But really though, I love being a missionary so much! Even though the water stinks and I have about 764 mosquito bites on my legs, I love every single second of being a missionary! We had zone conferences this week where we talked more about the Book of Mormon and how great it is. We had a mock trial of the three witnesses and it was SO POWERFUL! I just love President Trayner and the way he teaches! So great! And next time when we have zone conference, we are actually having a visiting general authority for a mission tour so we are all going to McAllen. The whole mission has never been together at the same time since the Trayners have been here so that should be exciting! I'm thinking it is going to be a cool experience. Sister Trayner is hiring a photographer so that she can get a picture with everyone. Also, I told Sister Trayner you look at the blog so she said she would put more pictures of me. She said she always puts more pictures of the missionaries that she knows their parents look at it. haha.

Anyway, we have to go now. Gotta go to the store. I guess I need to eat or something like that. :)

Kate 

P.S. Mom-you should just tell them I will work for them when I get back. :)