More Photos....

Scroll down through the entries thru Christmas. At the bottom of this page, click "older posts."

I added photos that he sent this week to entries going back to Christmas time.....

that way when I have it printed into a book, the photos will be in the right spots.

My guess is this is Maria the lady they are teaching.... I am not sure what they are measuring, ice maybe?

Looks like a game of pickup to me.....

happy valentines day!

Valentines Card Shop

"You make my heart race like a red Monte Carlo"

Sweet Romance

Dang! It's Cold!

Life is good! We set a new record with most cold I have ever felt in my life. Six inches of Snow fell in about 3 hours... And we were biking at the time. It was just funny how hard it was snowing. BUT!!! it has been warming up and was just downright pleasant yesterday so things are looking more hopeful. Yesterday we did not even need to wear overcoats! Soooo GOOD stuff.

Sooo We had a pretty good week. We have officially tracted every street in our area sooo we are now kinda out of luck when it comes to tracting. we retracted the same 3 streets (where ALL of the Hispanics are) 3 times last week. But good stuff is going on too! Maria (the mother-in-law of Mario) is doing great. We had planned to teach her something last week then right before we left in the morning it felt like we should teach her tithing. We taught her tithing and she said "you know I talked about tithing with my boss the other day and it is wierd that you would talk to me about it today. I think it is the Lord telling me I should pay it so I can be get those blessings!" She then asked if we could get her envelopes so she can pay her tithing and mail it to the branch president... WOW! Soo much faith I love it! I just about fell out of my seat. This lady is really struggling financially... Owes money to bad bad people in Mexico but has faith that if she pays her tithing the lord will take care of her... Impressive stuff!

We also found a family Agusto and Rosa. They were a reference from our family that we have in our area (the Sarmientos). We have taught them 3 times since last Monday and they are pretty cool. The are open with their concerns and doubts which is a very good thing because The Book of Mormon can answer every concern or doubt that someone can have!

oh yeah, you asked about my balance of fun and work... I would say I am pretty good. My companion said he has never had a companion that works this hard. And we laugh... You don’t have to be anoying to be a good, obedient missionary!

I have also determined after getting this last package that if everyone is going to be in Texas when we are all grownups... that is where I wanna live too! That was just my random (trunky) thoughts lately. I am not trunky at all but when your companion is going home it makes you think about home more! HATE THAT! Love my companion, but I am ready for someone who isn’t leaving in 2 weeks!

OK so in other news....

So we went to pay at Paisanos after district meeting(the Mexican restaurant the we frequently eat at) and there was this man behind us who had a kinda WILD EYE'd sort of look. He asked one of the Mexican elders in my district where he was from. He explained that he was from Mexico. and he went into a tyrant about how they need to lock down the borders (take into consideration that this is in a "Mexican Mexican" restaurant and noone crossed the border legally)... He then went to explain how terrorists could be crossing the borders now. He then explained how could find where Bin Laden was and that he could catch him. he said "I fought in Vietnam! I was in the Jungle... There was all sorts of animals! Elephants, tigers, snakes, panthers, pythons. It would be easy to walk through the desert!" He then said " the reward is 50 million for catching him. All I need is a Flight to Afghanistan, a horse, a fifty caliber and my dog. And I already have my dog, so all I need is a flight, a fifty caliber, and a horse. So how about that?! You want to fund me?! We will split the 50 Million 50/50!! I held my cool and did not jump at this "Sure Deal" Business venture that he was offering me... I asked him for his name (which was Koontz) and told him I would be contacting him if I had further interest (no really I did tell him that). We held it till we got outside of the restaurant and all of us had a good laugh! haha ...Gotta Love Hamilton!

So anyways, life is good!

I love you all and thanks for everything!
Love Elder Stiles

mi corazon es tuyo!

Life is good! We had a pretty good week with the exception of lots and lots of biking through the snow.... Yes people do bike in the snow... and when I say people I mean me and my companion. And yes you do fall, and yes you do laugh at your companion when he falls! So this week was pretty terrible weather but hey... it’s part of the experience right?! so it was a good week.

We had 3 amazing lessons with Laura and Louis and their family... They are the ones who are headed out to LA actually they are on their way right now! Soooo they will call us when they have an address and we will send the missionaries to see them there. I have never met people who just "understand" what we teach them like they do. They are such good people; I was bummed to see them leave.

In other news, a lady (Beverly Heath) who we found while on the bus and taught like 7 months ago (my first day with Calzadillas) is getting baptized! That is an exciting thing because I just had a feeling she was ready when we first met her! She is a great African American lady and her dad was a Methodist preacher. They missionaries finally met with her dad (something we had been trying to do) and taught him and he said she had his blessing in getting baptized... COOL HUH?! She has almost read the whole Book of Mormon.

We also had interviews this week. They went pretty good. President is a working on how to make us more effective teachers and tweaking things to make us explain things more clearly.

Soooo funny story of the week; we were have been teaching this guy named Miguel. He is from the Dominican Republic and came here to Ohio a couple months ago from the Bronx NY where he had lived for 8 years. Because he is Dominican he talks SUPER fast and does not pronounce his words very clearly. When my companion teaches Dominicans he tries to mimic their accent just for fun. It kinda makes me uncomfortable and at times I have to hold back laughter. Well, we had a reasonable lesson with Miguel and so I go to say the prayer. I ask that his family in the DR will have the chance to come here to the states because he told us how badly he wants them to be here. When I said that he shouted "Trabajo" (work). I had to fight back laughter to close the prayer and get out of there as quickly as I could... Me and my companion laughed way hard after we left....

Now for the best story of the day!!!! So Janeese and Brent so kindly sent me a package (thanks for that guys) and in the package were some little valentines treats. Included was a card that Janeese selected without the help of Brent. In the card She told me how she had no idea what it said but hoped it said something nice.... This is what the card said... Remember, this is from my sister-in-law Janeese "mi corazon es tuyo... y el resto de mi tambien! Feliz Dia Del Amor" ok, now here is the translation... "My heart is yours... and the rest of me also! Happy Day of Love" HAHAHAAHAH I laughed soo hard! That just made my week. She even one upped Kelly's Spanish greeting card that she sent me saying "Congratulations on your first communion. (She crossed out communion and wrote mission) You have worked so hard to memorize the prayers" or something to that effect! But anyways! Life is great! Working hard and having fun... Hopefully the weather will be better this week! I love you all!
Elder Scott Stiles

Coyotes!!

Life is really good! We have alot of great things happening and a couple kinda bummer things have happened this week. Sooo bad news first, Mario's family is not doing that good actually... We are not able to figure out if mario has a testimony or not... sooo kinda frustrating! Its a bummer cause His wife and kids are way cool and have interest, but are only going to follow him to church. And he works on Sunday and does not have much interest in changing anything! But we are actuall teaching several other families that look more promising.

Maria is doing Incredible though! this week she kinda opened up to us and told us her real concern. Its pretty simple, she has about $2000 in debts to coyotes from crossing the border and is afraid that if she doesnt pay them how she needs to they will mess with her elderly parents in Mexico... So that is tough, she is a way good lady, and she has felt the gospel touch her. She said she will be done paying her debts by the 1st of March and says she will be in church that first week in March, so, thats really tough, but at the same time it was good to know that she is working towards her goal of coming to church and ultimately getting baptized (she has received her answers to her prayers and wants it bad).

We also have Laura, and her husband Louis. They are incredible but they are going back to California next week. He left his job as a Leather worker for some designer in LA to come here and do sheet rock... Well he was hoping he would have a better life, but there is no work here so he is returning to LA. Sad stuff... People keep getting bad info that there is work here! Sooo he still has his Job in LA, he even had a letter of recomendation from the designer saying that he was always welcome to come back to work at "Marco Callo" design. But so yeah, that was way sad, he left his job that he loved, spent thousands to get here, and are returning back with nothing to show for it 4 mths later! But we had an incredible lesson on The Plan of happiness on Friday and they loved it! They like us and had us to their daughters birthday party on Wednesday. It was fun! We are going to forward their info to the LA mission because I think the reason they came here to Hamilton was to hear the Gospel! So overall it was a good week!

I do not really have any funny stories or anything, just a good solid week of work! I love you all and thanks for everything! ohh yeah, PS spanish is coming along pretty well! I do not even have to think to as much when I am talk now... Kinda nice!
Take Care I love you all,

Elder Stiles

CiCi's Pizza

Elder Stiles

Elder Sputje

Artistic Ice

Frozen Feet

View from our front porch

Cool story for the week!

Ok, so like 3 Mondays ago my companion and I went to Cici's Pizza (no big deal right)… There was a lady who worked there who was Hispanic. So we talked to her for a little bit, gave her a pass-along card with the church on it and asked her where she lived to see if we could come visit her sometime at her home. She seemed excited to see us so we were excited at the opportunity of teaching her. Through a thick accent she told us she lived on "Waldow" Street. We left lunch and we both had this feeling that we needed to talk to her! So we got back home and we looked for this Waldow Street. It was nowhere on the map and there was nothing that really sounded like it that was in the general vicinity that she described… But she told us she might come to church, so we hung onto hope that she would show up so we could get in contact with her. She did not show to church and we were a little disappointed. Then we realized there was no reason to be disappointed, it just meant we HAD to go to Cici's again! So we went back and talked to her again. She still did not remember her house number but she described her neighborhood and we had her spell out her street name. It turns out it was Walnut street. We knew exactly where the street was. She told us we could stop by on Sunday because that was when she was home, but could not fix an appointment because we still did not know if we could find the house. So last night we made it our goal to find The Cici's lady "Elida". We got out of our appointment at about 7 and realized we had about an hour to find her, and teach her. So we went to Walnut and kinda "speed tracted", then we got to a door and we saw a Large El Salvadorian flag in there. We were like "Jackpot" (she told us she was from El Salvador and there is VERY few people here who are from El Salvador). We knocked the door and a guy came to the door. He kinda blew us off but my companion just kept on fighting to keep on talking to the guy (a little extra loud so that if she was in the house she would hear). We knew this is where she lived so we wanted to give her the chance to come to the door. Finally after we had been denied in several attempts with the guy who answered the door, she came to the door. She immediately invited us in. We came in and taught her a little bit about the Book of Mormon. Turns out, she had a baptismal date in El Salvador. She even remembered the date she was supposed to be baptized ( November 28th more then 5 years ago). We made a return appointment for Tuesday. WOW!

Not gonna lie, the cold made this week tough, not many people wanted to talk to us. BUT, it is those little moments when you realize your REALLY a tool in the lords hands that make it all worth it. We are doing great and working our tails off. I love this work. Its work, but its amazing. We are currently teaching 4 Families who REALLY have baptismal potential in this transfer or maybe next transfer. WOW!

I love my life,
Elder Scott Stiles

Looking for People to Teach in This Happy New Year!

OK, Not the most eventful week ever!
We are kinda outta area for finding Hispanics and since I am on a Spanish speaking mission, we are looking for people who speak spanish... So now we are going through middle class neighborhoods looking for houses that could possibly be Hispanics...(double pronged satellites, cars that have fake air intake "upgrades" that you buy at Wal-Mart, Virgin Guadalupe’s, anything that looks Hispanic) it has not been wildly successful or fun but you gotta do what you gotta do!

BUT we also found a couple new families this week who are really interested in learning more about the gospel and so that is good! Also, Mario the recent convert told us that this Wednesday his family is ready to talk to us, so we are planning on having a lesson with him, his wife, and their 6 kids! Pretty good stuff! New Years was not the most thrilling day of the year... It mostly just meant that everyone was hung over the morning after so no one answered the door the next day! haha But we also had some funny things happen this week!

So... before I tell you this story I need to describe someone... So there is a guy in our Branch named Pascual Diaz... He is Guatemalan, and does not really speak Spanish. He speaks more of a Dialect called Mum and basically no one speaks it except for in some VERY Rural areas of Guatemala. He is like 65 or 70 and EVERY single fast Sunday he gets up and says something slightly odd (wearing HUGE cowboy boots complete with Spurs). He ALWAYS talks about how he was in the Army, and how he was a Bishop in Guatamala. BUT anyways, this week for fast Sunday, during testimony meeting, he said how happy he is to be Pascual Diaz... Then he said how lucky his grandchildren are to have come from him.... Then he talked about how he hopes that one day EVERYONE can be a Diaz! hahah his ending quote was "For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Pascual Diaz, and if I leave, Pascual Diaz will not be here anymore, but you will have known Pascual Diaz..." hahaha The entire congregation was trying to keep from laughing! I was biting my tongue so hard. But I learned a valuable lesson, do not sit right in the center front rows on Fast Sunday when Pascual Diaz is in the house! haha

So, Overall things here are going GREAT Working hard, feeling The Spirit, and Having Fun! What more could you ask for! I love missionary work! Not anywhere in the world where I would rather be!

Love you all,
Take Care

Happy New Year!

Had a good week! Not much to report on... Christmas is not the most exciting thing ever to happen on the mission... The phone call home just kinda makes you homesick!!! Next time we should do it conference style and plan it out better so the WHOLE family can kinda be together!!!! haha Things here are great! We found some new people last week that are very nice and seem very interested... Not the most eventful week...

But I will tell you all about my christmas. OK for Christmas Eve we went to an investigators house of the other missionaries in our ward for Christmas Eve Dinner. (are area is lower income and people cannot really afford to feed us). So we get there and we sit down on the couch... I have been battling sickness for a while so I took medicine that made me tired... We are sitting there on the couch and I fall asleep aparently... And so about a half hour I wake up with an old lady asking me "Oiga Tiene Sueno?" (translated to "Listen do you have dreams/are you tired?) haha I was so confused... I was in some house I had never been before with some old lady I had never met before waking me up... The other missionaries laughed pretty hard at that.

So on Christmas day we went to the Maya's house and did phone calls. They are a family in our ward who have the cutest kids ever. They came here and have REALLY worked hard and have succeeded and are basically the example of the American Dream. (they live in the other missionaries area as well). Well anyways did the phone call and the told us how this year they were not giving presents to there kids, but instead their kids were picking out toys and giving them to people in the ward who would not get anything for christmas... Apparently the Maya's Gave Christmas to 11 families!!! Including Wal-Mart gift cards for the parents. SOOO COOOL!!!

So did the phone call and it was a pretty depressing day haha then we went back to the Maya's for dinner... Nothing was really that exceptional until at like 8 PM the littlist Maya girl (about 6 years old) sang to us "on the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me" we finnished the second part of that song and went on to sing christmas carrols to all the little Kids for like 45 Minutes with all of them singing along with us... (the Maya's extended family was there so there were like 7 or 8 kids...) It was so fun, and really saved Christmas...

Sometimes the little things are the things that we appreciate the most! Sooo after that it was a GREAT Christmas and everything was GRAND!!! So it was good to talk to you guys on the phone, thanks everyone who sent Christmas Cards and presents! It was all GREATLY appreciated! I love you all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Love Elder Stiles
PS I AM SOOOO HAPPY THE CALENDER IS GETTING DONE!!! CANT WAIT TO GET IT!

Seriously Now...

Seriously Now…
How’s it going everyone? Things are going well here! Mostly just working hard and having fun. Ok, this letter might be a little different than most... It kind of has a different tone.

I got a new companion about 2 weeks ago his name is Elder Spjute. I think it is safe to say Elder Spjute has had the hardest mission of anyone I have ever met or ever will meet. He left on his mission Feb 07 and so is almost done with his mission. Elder Spjute is known in the mission as being super obedient, and super hard working but pretty quiet until you break his shell.

Well, in May of last year he had something terrible happen. His older sister who was serving a mission in England was on a morning jog and went into cardiac arrest. She passed away almost immediately. The mission president delivered the news to him a few hours later in a personal visit. He was given the option to go home at this point in time, to be with his family. When president asked him about that he said "No" without even considering going home. He called and talked to his parents and they were supportive of his decision. He recovered from this pretty well; he basically lost himself in the work and kept on moving forward (with lots of prayer).

Everything was going pretty well until about 4 weeks ago. He received a phone call from his Dad. His Dad explained that his Mom has terminal Cancer. He once again talked with the mission president and was given the choice to go home to be with his family for the Holidays. His Dad's only council was to not make a decision based on emotions. So he prayed and he decided to stay. The sacrifice that he is making is amazing. I do not think I have ever met a stronger more faithful person. He signed up to serve the Lord with all of his heart and that is what he is doing. It is a SACRIFICE, but it is something he knows is right.

I think it is kind of an interesting story at this time of the year. We always associate Christmas with family time, presents and good dinners. BUT there is actually something much much larger than those at this time of the year. Sacrifice, Jesus, made the sacrifice for us, if we remember that the wise men brought Jesus gifts, it was not that this little baby Jesus wanted any presents or could do anything with them, but it was a display of the sacrifice they were making for Christ.

So my invitation to all of you is to sacrifice something this Christmas. Do something you wouldn’t usually do for someone else... Give of yourself. Do something Hard! And you will find there is a different holiday spirit. I would also ask that everybody say a little Prayer for the Spjute family. They need all of the prayers they can get at this time. I love you all and I am proud to be a servant of The Lord.
Love,
Elder Stiles

Merry Christmas to All!

Christmas Card Photos

Getting ready for the retelling of the Thanksgiving story!


Tin Foil Dinosaurs (I am guessing after Halloween and the chipotle
promotion-wrap yourself as a a burrito and get a free burrito) How to entertain yourself with leftover foil...

"Jockos World Famous Fried Chicken"

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! It is almost Christmas... actually, I believe it is winter solstice today if I am not mistaken... So exciting huh! Who needs to celebrate Christmas when you can celebrate winter solstice? Just playing....

So life here in Hamilton Ohio is just dandy! Had a good pre-Christmas week! We have been talking a lot with our investigators about trying to figure out what they want... If they want to progress in the gospel, or if they just want. Had a good lesson with Maria in which my companion really just asked her what she wanted and how she was going to go about achieving that. She is a way good lady, just has trouble with taking another step of faith to go to church (she works on Sunday and doesn’t think she can find another job). So we are working with her to resolve those concerns...
My Spanish is coming along nicely... My companion corrects my pronunciation ruthlessly so I am actually learning how to say the words! It’s a good feeling; I have gotten several complements lately with my accent which makes me happy!

In fact I spoke in church yesterday; it was like 40X better then my last talk in the Branch. I spoke for 10 minutes about Samuel the Laminate and how he foretold the the Saviors Birth to the people here in the American continent before Christ was born in Bethlehem(3rd Nephi 1). I figured everyone has heard the story of Christ's birth in Luke, so I might focus on a little different perspective. So I spoke about Christmas and only used the accounts of his birth from the Book of Mormon. It is all there. Prophets foretold Christ would come to save the people from their sins. A sign was given- Samuel said that, there would be a day and a night and a day of light, and that is what happened. The Book of Mormon really is another testament of Christ. President Robbins (our mission president) came to our sacrament meeting because my companion was singing. He did a solo of The First Noel. He did way good! The kid can sing! It was overall a success!

Also, we had our Branch Christmas party on Saturday with tons of people there (130+). It was really good! But... Something very annoying... The party should have started at 5 o'clock. But it started at 6:50. Yes almost two hours late!!! So I did a little equation... I figured out that Spanish speaking branches are probably the most non-punctual groups of people in the world... This is my equation:

Hispanic Time- 60 Min. Late

Mormon Time - 30 Min.

Late Lack of Organization- +20 Min. Late

Time when we start - = 1 Hour and 50 Min.

That is the perfect storm of lateness!!!

Ok... To another topic. I must first start out by saying this to my dear sister Emily King... You were right, and I was wrong! Before I got here to Cincinnati some people had told me it would not be cold... So I believed them. My sister Emily told me that it was going to be crazy cold... So here on this Blog (I am assuming my mom will post this on there) I will admit before the whole world that my sister was right, and I was absolutely wrong... I realized she was right when my overcoat was literally frozen!!! FROZEN!!! There was no condensation of any kind but my Jacket turned into a large black piece of ice... It was a learning experience because I did not know that solid, in adamant objects could freeze again! Also... It was windy yesterday and we were riding against a really strong wind and my eyes started to water.... Then the tear on my cheek began to FREEZE!!!! I had to clear it off before it could!
Also... when I don’t breathe out of my nose I can feel my nostrils freezing ... NO JOKE!
Also... My scarf, I kind of put it over my mouth and nose like some Arabian Horseman (Mormon missionary on a bike version) but the moisture began to freeze so I just had my face frozen in my own saliva ice...

Also... My pen ink froze... No Joke I had to open it up and rub it between my hands to get it to functioning temperature. It was like 17 degrees yesterday but apparently with humidity and wind-chill they were saying it was below zer0 (it is what I heard it has not been verified as truth)! It’s cold, but it’s actually not that that bad (I just like to think of the Russian missionaries who are way colder!). It mostly just makes me laugh and kinda yelp when the wind hits us... Listening to my yelps is one of my Companions favorite things... I am pretty well set for the cold... Just lots and lots of layers and a good attitude and it is not bad! Just making mission memories!
Sooo basically everything is grrand! Loving life, getting ready for the Christmas Call!
Good Stuff!
Well I love Mission Life! Everything is good!
Merry Christmas everyone and I love you!!!
Love Elder Stiles

20!?

20?! huh? wait... I am a missionary? It feels like I should be about nine... maybe ten?! Crazy huh? So anyways, life is good!

I got this new companion Elder Spjute (the J is silent). He is way cool, he works his tail off! I am actually really enjoying it, he is known for being one of the hardest workers, He only has 2 transfers left (goes home in Febuary). He is way good at spanish and we speak it all day every day! I can really communicate and teach, I just dont know all of the words, but that comes with speaking the language. Its overall good stuff.

So this week the snow started.... No Bueno. It is kinda fun to ride bikes on it and everything, It just is not as fun to have it cold... We did not have any super crazy stories this week. I really like teaching with Elder Spjute. He is more serious then Elder Draper when we are teaching but it is nice cause he has no problem being straight forward with people.... I love it.

I also received a christmas card from Bill Price this week "That is Neat" (said in the voice from the Dean of Admissions in the movie Orange County). He signed it saying "to My son, from Bill Price President of the United States of America". then dated it (all of Bill Price's Writings are dated to be archived for his Library that will be in his name for being President). moms note: Bill Price is the crazy guy who lives near the elders and they are friendly towards him.

We also found service this week we think. We are probably going to do it at the Prison! Sweet! translating and being part of a programm where they get church people to help out convicts. It will be sweet! I am not going to lie it will be fun if we can do it!

Love you all,

Mom thanks for having me!
Elder Stiles

The Birthday Boy!

Happy Birthday Elder Stiles!
20 years old!

"Life Flies!"

Woah,

Life flies! This is my last letter as a teenager! I am staying in Hamilton!!!! I am 95% happy with this decision and the only reason I am not 100% is because it is winter... But I am acclimating nicely.

I got a new companion today. His Name is Elder Spjute, from Bountiful Utah. Cool guy, Way good in Spanish so he should teach me. Me and Elder Draper got along too well at times and spoke too much English. But I hear that Spjute is pretty insistent on speaking Spanish so he will force me to learn it! Good Stuff!! Spanish is coming along, I can communicate I just have problems at times. This week was not super eventful...

Thanksgiving was Swell! Pretty funny actually! Hispanics do not really celebrate it but we have a party at the branch... sooo on Monday night the Branch President asked (only the white Elders) to do a special presentation to explain how Thanksgiving came to be.... SOOOO my first thought was "wait... Didn’t I do this in 1st grade in Miss Richie's class?" The answer to that question was yes! I remembered that the Indians (Native Americans for those of you who are politically correct) used brown paper bags as chest plates for their clothing... And the Pilgrims made paper hats and wore them to the feast! Soooooo there are three of us who are white in our branch (the other three are Hispanic) so we had one pilgrim and one Indian, But what could the third person be??? My companion and I made him a beak and a gobbler and he was a turkey... (Hispanics call it El Dia de Pavo/Turkey so we needed to associate the turkey somehow).

So The turkey told the story as we acted it out in our costumes.... Now, I assumed this would be funny and the branch members would think it was kinda fun... The time came to do it and we all faced the realization that they were NOT going to laugh and it would probably be incredibly awkward.... We proceeded with the presentation and only the sweet branch president’s wife laughed (and the kids). They all kinda gave us a baffled confused look! The few people who were American or had more familiarization with the holiday laughed but overall it was a disaster! The Grand Finale was my companion (Elder Draper) singing a solo of "Count Your Many Blessings" on the Table as we pretended to eat him (he being the turkey). WOW!!!! HAHAHA!!

In other news everything is going very good, Maria is doing amazing! We taught her the Word of Wisdom on Friday and explained everything. She smokes and drinks tons of coffee so we were a little bit concerned. When we asked her how she felt about it she responded that she loved it and said that it makes sense that we should take care of our bodies. She said she always thought that there was more things that she should and shouldn’t be doing then she had learned before and said (translated) "It says that the past is straight and narrow so she was happy to learn more." She is incredible!!! Maricella has started to ignore us a little bit which is not good but she will come back around!

In other news I actually finished a full journal! Have not missed a day since June! Not bad huh? I figure it will be good to have to remember my whole mission in later years! SOOOO overall things are doing well!! I love you all and am excited to talk to you on Christmas!

Love Elder Stiles

Scott Has The Same Address!

Scott Did not get Transferred, so he has the same address as previously listed!
He will be here at least 'till after the New Year.

Elder Scott Stiles
312 N 2nd St Apt A
Hamilton, Oh 45011

Bubbles

Elder Stiles and Elder Draper Entertaining Themselves with Bubbles

Scotts Address May Change Dec 2

Hey everyone, Scotts Address may change next Tuesday December 2 as it is transfers. My expectation is that he will stay in the same place though. So if you are sending him a birthday card or letter, please wait till Tuesday December 2 when I get his new address and just use his new address. Thanks!

Another Great Week!

ANOTHER GREAT WEEK!!! You know what? This is what it is all about! I mentioned in my prior email that we had a former investigator ask to talk to us named Maricela. She is a teenager (16) and has read the whole Book of Mormon cover to cover. In our first lesson back with her we asked her about baptism and she shot straight from the hip and told us what was up… So we talked her through her concerns (mostly that it would make her different from her friends and that they would make fun of her) using the Book of Mormon. So I just straight asked her "Do you know that baptism is the right thing to do?". Her response was "yes". I followed up with "When are you going to do it?" She kinda started to delay the response so I said "how about December 27th?" She responded that that was too far away and we settle on Dec. 13th. She called us the next day and told us how the 13th wouldn’t work but the 6th would! She is ready! She loves church, and she is living pretty much all of the commandments. We have permission from the mother to baptize her so everything is a go. She was way sick yesterday (like many) so she did not make it to church, but we are going to have a good talk about the importance of Sunday attendance.

Another one of our investigators Maria (the mother-in-law of a recent convert) is doing well and loves reading but works on Sundays… Its only 18 hours per week/$140 so we are confident that the lord will bless us and she will have another job by the end of the week! She is incredible. She also told us that she wants us to start talking to her daughter (the wife of Mario the recent convert) and Mario told us that she is basically ready for baptism as well and he wants us to start talking to his teenage kids!!!! WOW!!! It’s a whole family tree!!!

Oh yeah, we also found some new people this week, one is Jorge, he is 14 and the friend of a member. We stopped by the members house (they are unenthusiastically active and there is no hometeaching program so we do the home teaching more or less.) so we stopped by and Jorge was there. My companion had talked to him before and said the he had been way way cool before and told us to stop by when his mom was home. So we came into the members house (I think that he is dating the 13 year old girl) and there was Jorge he seemed surprisingly excited to see us! We talked with him and taught a short lesson and right before the lesson, the Grandmother of his girlfriend started rubbing his buzzed head... The women proceeded to pet the kids head throughout the whole 15 minute lesson... I was fighting back laughter pretty much the whole time for this poor poor kid who might have had received two of the most awkward things ever 1. Talking to Mormon missionaries 2. Having your girl friends grandmother pet you like a dog! HAHA! But the kid told us he wanted to go to church and learn more about god. The grandmother called his mom and got permission and he went to church and really enjoyed it! (14 year old that likes church...weird?!) so we are going to be talking to his mother on Wednesday! Sweet Huh?! I figure any kid who can endure his girl friend’s grandmother petting him while the Mormon missionaries talk to him would have definitely endured just about anything the pioneers went through!

Soooo Basically life is incredible! I am Loving life!
P.S. the guy next to me in the computer lab here at the library is on WWE.com.... I love Ohio... Haha!!!

Love you all, Elder Stiles

Jocko's World Famous Chicken

Dear Nana,

How’s it going Nana? My life is going quite well! Mostly working and sleeping and laughing. My companion and I am currently in a bike area that is basically the picture of Ohio. The city is called Hamilton and it has a very cool little downtown area with big restored buildings and statues that overlook the Miami River.

My companions name is Elder Draper and we are two peas in a pod. He loves sports and is really funny too so we don’t ever have a dull moment. His was actually attending the good ole Utah State and is a huge Utah State fan so he appreciated that my grandfather, Poppy, played basketball there. Anyways the downtown area is cool and the other parts are kind of rougher but I like it like that because we get to meet more interesting people!

Another great thing about Hamilton is that they have something famous here. It is Jocko’s World Famous Chicken! I am sure you have heard of it before because it is WORLD FAMOUS!! Well anyways, I attended this venue of finer dining and I do not fully comprehend why it is sooo famous considering that it is not nearly as good as the slightly more World Famous KFC! But I had to a least try it once, right?

Anyways, life is good! I love what I do. I feel like Spanish is starting to soak in, so that is good! Thanks for the little e-mail right after Brent’s wedding it made me happy to hear.

I love you Nana, and hope everything is going well! Keep me updated.

Love, Elder Scott Stiles

I love misionary work!

I am LOVING Life!!! We are seeing Miracles… We are expecting them and working for them and they are coming to pass!

We went to a recent converts house and talked to his mother-in-law at the door, we were aware she had been interested in the church but Mario the recent convert had kind of said "she will call you". So she answered the door and we asked for Mario(the recent convert) and then I just asked her "when can we meet with you" she started crying at the door. It was way cool! We went back 2 days later and taught her, she opened up to us, told us about her concerns in life, we intended to teach the 1st lesson but on the spot my companion changed to the 3rd. We taught a powerful lesson guided by the scriptures… We all shed a few tears in that spirit filled lesson. She asked "what’s the next step? I just want to start fresh!". That is when my companion offered her a baptismal date of December 20th. She accepted… She said she felt like the burden she had been carrying was lifted from her shoulders. It was the coolest experience of my mission. That is why I am a missionary! She told us she wanted to meet with us this morning (p-day) and we agreed so we have an appointment in a little while.

ALSO: We had former investigator (Maricella) ask to talk to us again. She is 16 and has read the whole Book of Mormon. She is the sister of Belen who is slightly less interested. Maricella was comfortable talking about baptism and went to church and loved it!!! We plan on setting a baptismal date with her this week. That will mean we will have set 4 baptismal dates in 3 weeks. The gospel is true! I love missionary work. Miracles happen! This week we also had to give up two of our favorite investigators, Debbie who has a baptismal date for the 20th of December, and the Famous Jeff! But do not worry because we took the pleasure of singing Karaoke with Jeff before we gave him to the English Elders. Jeff was sad to see us go and even told my companion he was sorry for making fun of him so much. He said the closing prayer and said how grateful he was for us and what we had done for him. He is a really good hearted person and really funny... Terrible singer... But good person. Apparently at the Karaoke bar that he goes to "its a country bar" when he goes on stage they play the OOMPa Loompa song from Willy Wonka.... I was dying trying to hold back laughter... I will take a picture with him soon and send it to you guys.

We also randomly ran into another former investigator that had a baptismal date in the past. Her name is Paola and she seemed interested in talking to us again. So overall this week was sweet! Not quite as funny as other weeks but way good and way spiritual!

Oh yeah, we also taught a lady that we might have saved her life... We were in this apt complex a couple weeks back when this guy told us "I don’t want to talk to you I am not interested" (without us saying anything). He did not appear to be the most intelligent person and so we said ok and kept on walking. 15 minutes later when we were leaving he asked us for help. He told us he "thinks something is wrong with his neighbor". We went in to look at her and she fell flat on her head from her knees. HE asked "you think I should call the paramedics?" I answered "yes" and we went over and kinda pinned her down because she kept on trying to stand up and falling on her head. She was unresponsive to anything. The paramedics came and we left. We came back last week and she said she had had a seizure and how grateful she was that we were there. It was a way, way powerful first lesson and she is going to read and we will meet with her again this Friday (she had tons of appointments to figure out why she seizured). She explained that she felt like we had saved her life and how grateful she was for that. And judging by the overall competency of her neighbor, I would not have been surprised if he wouldn’t have called the paramedics... SOO LIFE IS SWEET!

I love you all, Take care,

Love Elder Stiles

7'2 4 toed man

Howdy! life is good! We saw some GREAT progress this week with two investigators! We actually set a baptismal date with Louis for the 13th of Dec. Now we just need to get him and Heather to live separate or get married. He is such a good guy and so enthusiastic about the gospel I love it. We also saw great progress with Debbie, she is the cousin of Gina(whose sister was murdered a couple weeks back). And the death really caused her to think. Debbie's mom also passed away about a year back and she was very Baptist, and Debbie said she just never believed what they were teaching was right, so we taught her the Plan of Happiness and she loved it and taught her the third lesson (the teachings of Jesus Christ) and I just asked her what she needed to do to live his teachings. We set a date for the 20th of December because she wants to learn more. We have only taught her a few times but she is way smart and really likes what we teach!

I also had the pleasure of attending a 15eria for someone in the Spanish branch (it was at the church and the Branch President wants the missionaries at all the activities in the church to regulate more or less)... Probably the most awkward thing that I have attended in my life. It consisted of two 20 minute dance routines with lots of technical difficulties and non stake dance approved dance moves and music. I suppose my favorite part of it was when the song "your beautiful" by James Blunt was singing and the 3 guys that she was doing her dance with had a dance move where they would point at her and then move there hands so they were not pointing at her anymore... It was like there was a force field of womanhood around her and it could not be pierced by the pointing fingers... Funny stuff. But way awkward because it was in the church and the music was unedited... I still cannot figure out why 15 is such a big age... I was thinking we should start them in the US of A and make them for like 20 or 22, make it an age that I have not passed so I can celebrate one too... Maybe 22 because I really want to choreograph a sweet dance for everyone to awkwardly watch...

OK... I have heard of lots of missionaries teaching loony people but I think I take the cake! This week I taught a man Allen Lee he is 7'2'' with 4 toes... Total(on both feet)!!! I was trying to think of the percentage of the world population that fits into this type of category (7'2'' with 4 toes) but I have determined that it has to be extremely low... Overall I have never taught a lesson to anyone with less interest so we made it short and didn’t waste our time but in our short conversation he said some pretty funny things. We started the lesson with him telling us how his daughter was a seer because she could see ghosts. Then he explained "I tricked her because I put dream catchers on all the windows of the house and told her that that would catch the spirits as well. She did not even know that dream catchers only protect us from bad dreams and have nothing to do with the spirits (in a very proud voice). I was thinking the whole time, Good JOB AL!!! Tricked your 9 year old, how about that?! Near the end we were polite and asked if he wanted to hear more and his response was "Oh sure, you guys are nice, I think you could come back in about a month. I just cant stand those people on the bikes..." A month? ! haha I could not hold back laughter my companion explained that we were the ones on the bikes and he said he liked us it was the others on the bikes that he did not like! haha Overall just uncomfortable!


So basically It was a REALLY good week! Had interviews with President Robbins too and they went well. It is starting to get Bitter cold... Like it is 40 but it feels like it is 10.... Humidity is not my favorite thing. I love missionary work! Elder Draper and I are having a blast and working our tails off and the Blessings are coming! I love it!

Love you all,
Elder Scott Stiles