Flour Bluff is Heaven!!

February 11, 2013

So I just told Dad in my email to him that Flour Bluff is HEAVEN! Up here we just call it "the bluff" and it is CRAZY! I wish I could explain it to you but everyone here is just a little bit off, which makes me appreciate it even more! The people are seriously just CRAZY! For example, we got a referral for a guy named Tarzan and a little black girl asked me where my weave was. I feel like I have arrived! The Bluff is the gem of the mission that no one knows about. The Lord is blessing me so much by sending me up here for the end of my mission. Especially with Sister Dudding. She is like the hippy version of me. HYSTERICAL! I have had the hiccups for a week straight.

The bluff missionaries have lived in a little house on a member’s property for years now and because they are doing some stuff to their house, we moved into a smaller apartment they have just behind it. These members are LEGIT and are seriously the best neighbors in the WORLD! So our new apartment is SUPER tiny, but it has a washer and dryer AND an AMAZING shower! But what I love the most is that they have 3 cats and they have stories like a British drama as my companion puts it. It is so funny. Anywho, we have been moving stuff all week and the Elders came today to help us out with the last bit. I think it's good now.

The missionaries up here in Corpus I think are like the unique ones of the mission or something because they are all AWESOME! These are what make them so awesome:

Phrases I have heard in Corpus: (All relate to the work)

You gotta pay the cost to be the boss

Scared money don't make no money

O my swagga stupid

Give it to 'em chunky

And so many more....

We have FUN doing the work up here! And the members are very involved so it helps us out a lot. We are currently helping 7 people come to the waters of baptism! All of whom are LEGIT! One has even purchased tickets for her son to fly down here from Washington to baptize her. I have never been in a place where the people have been SO prepared. I mean, we just had 2 people yesterday show up out of nowhere to church and now want to get baptized. Bring on the miracles! Whoever said the North doesn't baptize is CRAZY!

Another part of the amazingness that is the Bluff; we have North Padre Island in our area. (Mom, look up Hawthorn by Wyndam. I saw it on the island on Saturday) What that means is that half our area is on the beach! People have canals as backyards that they can just take their boats out to the ocean. So we have the bluff, then the bridge, then the island. So where we live on the bluff is a block away from the laguna madre, the body of water between the bluff and the island. It is amazing. In a 5 minute walk, we can see the water. WOW! Anywho, on Saturday we took our bikes to the island and rode them around and went with a member to the beach to help her find some seashells. It was GREAT! I was in awe the whole time that I am literally serving on an island of prepared people. WOW! In the next 3 months, we are getting 15 new sisters, so the rumor is that they are going to split our area and put sisters on the island. I don't know exactly when, but if it’s this transfer, Sister Dudding and I will get split and each work one of the areas. O man. I love everything about this area.

Also, yesterday we had to speak in the YSA ward. We both spoke about becoming and how we can become the people Christ wants and needs us to become. It was great! What was really interesting though is that Sister Dudding and I were singing the sacrament hymn and we were harmonizing and it sounded amazing so I started laughing (naturally) because of how funny it was. I was just thinking like hmmm, I am in the best area with the best people with an awesome companion that can sing, what else is there! HAHA! GOD IS GOOD!

I wish I could more fully put into words how good God is. I am literally SO HAPPY serving up here! The people, the members, the area, my companion, the outrageously small apartment, EVERYTHING seems like it was just made for me. The bluff and its quirkiness is just, perfect. I will send you home some pictures after I figure out how one does that up here. :) We have the best leaders, and the best missionaries. I am just so proud to be a part of the mission and especially a part of the Corpus Zone. We have a leadership training next week in Laredo, so I will get to see Laredo (yay!) but I can't wait to see what crazy things the CC Zone will do. One of our zone leaders came out with me and he is from Miami and has Miami pride, like crazy! So everything is always about Miami. I LOVE IT!

O man, I guess I have to go now. Sister Dudding is going to dye my hair today and then we’re going to go back to work! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Sister Giles

(Mom-my address is 3917 Sweet Bay Corpus Christi. I don't know the zip. Also, google North Padre Island and Flour Bluff and you can see pictures of my area. And I really do live like a block from the water. It's heaven!)