Another amazing week in Calgary! We are picking up some speed with finding new people to teach through ESL and contacting. We picked up 5 total new potential's that are all super nice! Stacy, Iris, Philip, Scott, and Scott's wife. I love the names these people choose!
Last pday I got to go golfing!! I was smiling the entire time. It was just a mini little 9 hole par 3 course, they gave us little rental sets with 5 clubs. They weren't as nice as my clubs at home but I could still stripe them! I was so glad that I got to go, and Elder Ruan chipped in for birdie on his 8th hole ever. Wowow
Thursday night at ESL we had a full room full of people from all over the world. They all love coming and have such good attitudes about learning English. After class we share a spiritual message and this time is was so great! We showed them a short video about Christ then sang Nearer My God to Thee. They all joined in the second time around and everyone was crying! People from all over the world feeling the spirit in a church building! Super awesome. Also the Tagalog elders moved in with us!
The curse of Friday the 13th is real. I got at least 20 doors shut in my face! The quest for Chinese houses/neighborhoods is real. That night we met with Tina and Kevin and their family. We talked about the temple a little bit more and asked Tina some baptismal questions in preparation for next month!
Saturday morning was the Calgary wide food drive. We went to help out with one of the drop off stations and they gave us a route to pickup food! So from 9am-2pm we were gathering food and moving then unto boxes. We filled 3 semis and the back of another truck. Some of the other missionaries did 6 buses! Crazy to see how much people are willing to help. Later that day we got fresh haircuts from a Philippino member down south
Super awesome regular Sunday. Church meetings, studies, contacting, dinner, and ESL. The tagalog elders put 4 on baptismal date! Seeing them do so well brings hope to us mandarin speakers!
Monday was district council meetings. We talk about how we can improve and get some trainings. I trained on the local laws and customs. So pretty much just how we should follow the laws and respect the culture. Then we went to T&T's, basically just a Chinese Smith's. I ordered my food in Chinese and all the workers came over to hear me talk hahaha. It was crazy, I ended up asking them about their families and inviting them to church! They all laughed and at that time I thought they would actually come but I haven't heard from them yet.
Tuesday we drove up to the city, parked our car at the chapel and rode our bikes everywhere. We went to the maple leaf academy to invite people to the Mid Autumn festival. We rode to all 4 corners of the city hanging up ESL signs! We would also stop and talk to anyone that looked Chinese at all haha. We went to a Chinese mall for dinner and we left our bikes by the door (horrible idea) and then dinner took a lot longer than we thought, and when we got back our bikes were gone... super super sad. After doing that all day we had a long hike back to crescent view chapel:(
This week has been awesome! The mandarin program hasn't had a baptism in over a year and at this point is was wondering if we ever were going to get one. In the MTC they teach us to not worry about the numbers but we have to report all the numbers to our district leader everyday. I was definitely a little bit discouraged this week. But I know the tagalog elders moving in with us was inspired. Seeing them and how much they have worked to bring their district up from the ground. I know that it's possible, that's exactly what Elder Vincent and I are here to do. Maybe we won't be able to speak perfect Chinese, but that's what our native companions are for! We just bring the hard work and dedication.
I know that through putting in all of the effort we have to offer, and turning the rest over to the Lord. He will take over, he will make miracles happen. I have seen the Lords hand in my life more in these past three weeks than ever before. I know that as each of you dive into the Book of Mormon and sincerely pray, The Lord will bless you in whatever you are doing through. He will lift up what you cannot. Just make sure to put in all your effort and turn to him:) love you all!
Elder Giles
吉长老
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