Elder Giles at Brazil CTM (Portuguese) in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Cool Tag!! 

Elder Giles at the Sao Paulo Temple in Sao Paulo, Brazil 

SILLY!! Two sister missionaries and Elder Giles 

Elders, Sisters and Elder Giles 

Elder Giles and his new companion, Elder Damasceno in Brazlandia, Brazil

(I hope it s the right companion)

Monday, 19 December, 2016 

We will skype around 4 or 5 local time here. I'm in Brazlândia which is like 2 hours by bus from Brasilia I think. My first week is over with and it was really hard. People here speak Portuguese really fast and it's hard to understand but we have a few baptismal dates so that's cool. I will speak with you more on Christmas day (dia de Natal). We will call around 4 or 5 local time (here in Brazlandia). I think it will be around 1 or 12:00 in the afternoon for you. Anyways, Will be seeing you soon over Skype. 

Love, 
Elder Giles

Wednesday, 7 December, 2016 

Thank you Mom! I heard from lots of friends and stuff that it has been snowing in Utah. Very cool! When I get to Brasilia, I think I want you to send those tan pants I have, and maybe, another pair. My friend has some. I will email you what kind they are very cool. Maybe I buy and you send to me. This is my last P Day. I am excited to leave MTC. Ha ha. My Portuguese is getting better. I can pretty much say anything I want to. I'll email you how it goes when I get to my mission. Right now Everything is fine. Byeeeee 

 Love Elder Giles

Wednesday, November 23, 2016 

I will be able to skype for Christmas I think. so I'll make sure my mission president knows when I arrive. I won't be able to skype here in the MTC though. I don't have time to email this week. I will next week though. 

Love 

Elder Giles 

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Wednesday, November 30, 2016 

I really like to hear about home, so keep emailing me about what is going on and stuff! Very cool you got to visit Zach and his family. Also very happy for Joseph that he will be getting married so quick. Everything is going well here. 30 days has passed very quickly, And I know a lot of Portuguese so that's exciting. I don't really have much to say until I get to my mission because Everyday is the same here in the MTC. And they won't let me send pictures until I get the the field which will still be December 13th. I only have one more P Day until I leave so that's exciting. I'll talk to you again soon! And is luke okay? Any health issues? 

Love 

Elder Giles

Wednesday, November 16, 2016 

Today is P Day again!. One of my good friends went home yesterday. It was very sad for everyone. It is very different here. I heard gunshots a few times last week, and again like 10 minutes ago. People are really nice though. I’m getting better at Portuguese. I will go to the field on Dec 13 but time is going so fast here, it’s crazy. I met that girl, who knows sign language the other day. I think I’ll be able to send pictures from the computer in a few weeks instead of having to mail you sim card. I have a lot of cool pictures of stuff here. MTC (CTM) here is really hard and we are busy from 6 am to 10:30 pm every day. I made some friends and stuff so I guess it’s not too bad here. The food is really different too. Sao Paulo is the biggest city in the world. From the airplane I could see how big it was. People drive like crazy here, and there are a lot of poor houses. Like there are entire city blocks of just crumbling buildings. I’m hearing a lot of stories about how poor the areas outside of Brasilia are. Someone told me that there are people with machetes (swords) and the scrape them against stuff when you get near them. Then they say " oi gringo give me your money" Ha Ha. That sounds really scary I hope I don’t get robbed too many times. Tell Joseph to make sure, he puts my email on my Facebook so I can talk to my friends. Portuguese sounds a lot like a Spanish Italian. I hope next week when I get on, my friends emailed me. Also is it snowing in Utah yet? 

 Love, Elder Giles

November 9, 2016

Today, we went to the Temple really early in the morning, and just got back, its almost 4 now.  It takes a long time to drive there because traffic is so bad here. Even though it’s really close.  I see so many favelas (really poor houses and areas) I’ve been taking a lot of pictures so in a few weeks, I’ll send the SD card to you.  You should send me pictures of you guys and things through email though.  I like being on a mission.   Thank you, mommy for helping me go on a mission. It was very nice of you to do all that work. All my clothes fit well so there are no issues with that. It’s really hard to learn Portuguese here. They just start talking and hope you catch on. It took me like 3 days before I understood anyone which was really  hard. My head hurts all the time because we have to learn gospel and language.  This is a very poor place. There is garbage everywhere, there is a big river that goes through the city (Sao Paulo is the biggest city in the world) and it is just filled with trash and floating stuff.  

Hey mom,  MTC (CTM in Portuguese) life is pretty good. I’m so surprised that I’m able to understand Portuguese pretty well. The gift of tongues is real!  I’ve made a few good friends one of them is in the Army. Ha Ha but it’s my companion, he gets really home sick and never focus on lessons so I have to do almost all the teaching when we talk to investigators. In DEC 13, I will fly to Brasilia.  No one here speaks English which is probably why I can speak so much Portuguese now. I can almost say anything. Very cool.  I wanted to go home at first because it was very hard but now I feel better. It’s harder than the military I think. I will try to get the email to you today or next week.  I write in my journal a lot so I’ll have lots of stories. I don’t have much time because they keep us so busy here. And they have rice and beans for every meal here. Ha Ha.       

Love,

Elder Giles

Date: November 2, 2016

In the front left: Elder Giles at Brazil MTC

Nov 2, 2016 

 We make it safe, it was a long flight but I met a friend right away and everyone I've met is pretty cool. My companion is Elder Rast from Texas. I see a lot of people I met in High School here so that is cool too. On the airplane flight I saw a big storm in the middle of the ocean it was cool. When we landed here in Sao Paulo I saw how big city was from the air and its seems like a really poor place. There is lots of favelas or ghetto areas. I'm not really sure what else to say its only been a day so I'm not nervous or anything yet I guess. It kinda feels like when I first got to Boot Camp but not as hard. Ha Ha. I'll be writing again. It is also very hot and super humid I had to change my clothes because they are wet. Ha Ha. and I am also very hungry. Hope to eat soon, well hope all is well at home. Will be seeing you late.

 Love, Elder Giles