A White Christmas

Merry Christmas! Tudobem (all is well in Portuguese)!

 

We had a baptism on Sunday and it was AWESOME! Eleanor has been the most incredible investigator and I have loved teaching her.  Seeing how happy she was after her husband, Rowell baptized her was SO COOL!  When I gave the little talk on the Holy Ghost she was in tears because she is so exited to have that comfort and companionship. Let's talk about a golden investigator!

 

 

Library is closing early today since it is Christmas Eve so I'll tell my family more stuff tomorrow and they can post it.

 

Love you all! Hope you have an awesome holiday season!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Elder Gibby(y)

 

 

Online Proselyting

Dear family and friends -

 

I LOVED THIS WEEK! I know..... I know..... I say that every week, but don't judge! Well Eleanor is set to be baptized this Sunday by her husband! She has been so fun to teach and she basically learns all the lessons before we come. Then she just bombards us with questions making it so much easier to teach her! Let me tell you, if there is one thing I have loved out here it is finding the answers to questions! For example, a few weeks ago we had a bible basher come up and he gave us a bunch of crap because of the whole Sabbath not being on Saturday thing.  I honestly didn't know why it isn't still at the end of the week. (I know I learned it in seminary at some point, but I also was very good at studying the back of my eyelids as well!) But I found it this week - it's because after the ascension of Christ we kept holy the first day as a remembrance of His resurrection!

 

We have an awesome opportunity out here right now! We are one of thirty missions who are going to be able to start online proselyting, AKA, Facebook, Skype, email, and blogging! Can I friend people back home? Yes. Can I talk to you a ton? No, but this is going to be super cool!  I'm not sure on all the rules and regulations just yet, but I know I will be starting a new account. What happens to my old account though.... unknown.

 

Anyway they just changed our p-day to Tuesday and because of this shift I don't have much time today to write so love you all!

 

Elder Gibb

 

P.S. I got a package from the Wright’s today from the whole ward.   Please express my love for them and let them know it meant the world to me, especially the Book of Mormon that had Sister Pututau's testimony in it. I can't wait to use it to grab an investigator’s attention!

I Actually Had to Wear a Jacket!

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Holy Hannah Montana! When Dec 6th hit and I realized it had been a month I almost laughed out loud! I feel like I've been gone maybe a week, max! I still am loving it out here!

 

Well the weather was pretty bad this week, I think I actually had to wear a jacket at one point! Life is still pretty much the bomb dot com. I'm still loving it too much for my own good. We had 5 investigators at church this week, it was so cool! It's really fun to sit next to them because they bring up questions that make you realize parts of our meetings that wouldn't normally stand out. A really fun experience is having a member come with us to a lesson, I highly recommend hooking up with your missionaries to do that. It's not only nice for us to have a fresh outlook on each topic, but the investigators love having someone there so when they come to church they can sit with them and feel welcome!

 

Love you all,

Elder Gibb

Leftovers in the fridge......it's paradise!

Dear Family and Friends!!!

 

Thanksgiving week was super fun! I had three different Thanksgivings, which means three cases of leftovers in the fridge, it's paradise! I'm starting to get more familiar with the area, and I'm trying to remember all the people that I meet, where they live, and what their needs are. But I think I'm starting to get it... kinda.

 

We found another new investigator this week, her name is Kate, she's a friend of one of the members (Ben Burns) and comes from a kinda broken home. She is full of questions, and trusts our answers because the Burns' have been so kind to her while they've been neighbors. Eleinor, who walked into church on Sunday asking to be baptized, is set up to be ready by the 28th of December. We found out that her husband is actually a member of the church, but fell away when he moved from the Philippines to America. She is super kind and really fun to teach.

 

So a dad of one of our ward families works for Disney Imaginary. He helps design the parks!!!!! It was fun to talk to him. He helps design our parks here but has also gone out to Hong Kong to help with their designs. He designed the Avengers monorail and now they are starting to create a Disney comic book with them, and he designed the cover. It sounds like it's just the best job ever.

 

I'm loving it out here, don't know what else to write... soooo

 

Love Ya'll

Elder Gibb

It Might Be The Weed

Dear Family and Friends

 

I am loving it out here in Anaheim! The weather is superb and even though it rained a couple days, we were still rockin the short sleeve shirts! It feels so good to go out biking in the sun everyday, and my new favorite thing is driving past orange trees! They smell SO GOOD!

 

My apartment is kind of a downer. They just started to move the missionaries around this year and we are the last ones on the list to move. There is a smoker below us so it tends to reach into our apartment, and the lady next to us has offered the missionaries weed before! But before my mom freaks out, its a really nice complex, the people are pretty kind, and most of them are really chill about everything (might be the weed I guess).

 

I'm in a trio for this transfer because two of us are waiting for Visas. The other one, Elder Peterson, is waiting to go to Brazil, and has been waiting for 7 months... NO thank you. Our senior companion is Elder Pacheco (Pa-SHAKE-o) That only took me three days to say correctly... I still just refer to him as pistachio most of the time. The other two have been together before so I'm kinda coming in third wheel a little bit. But seeing as we're missionaries that isn't to much of a problem!

 

The members down here are just IN-CRED-I-BLE! They are so humble and love having missionaries around, I have been fed every night this past week, and this week is entirely full of meals. Basically I'm getting STUFFED for Thanksgiving. I have met a person who works at Disneyland  :0! and the best part, she is in charge of the technical crew :D! Needless to say we had a lovely conversation about gobos and lighting.

 

I have already taught a few investigators.  My favorite so far is Amanda. She is a 28-29 year old women with a single child who is majoring in anthropology. Discussions with her are just fun, she is totally open to the ideas we have and as we discuss it's almost like we are clarifying for ourselves what we believe. She asks some tough questions but it's interesting because I have discussed her questions before with my Trek Pa (Coincidence... I THINK NOT)!

 

I'm a little under the weather today, I was puking last night but I think it was just some bad food. I'm still a little queasy, but I'm sure it will be fine by tonight!

 

Wish I could better express how much fun I'm having down here... over here... up here... well here! It's really fun and just in the past week I feel like I've learned so much more than I ever learned in a month back home! Really quick note, one of the biggest challenges we face out here is that people don't want to go to church, the reason... they feel like they will be judged. Please don't make that the same situation wherever you are. We all make mistakes, some are just more visible than others.  Don't forget that you've felt lonely before too. Why should someone else feel the same way?

 

I love you all sooooo much!!!

 

All is Well!

Elder Gibb(y)

I Made It. . . .to California!

Well I made it!  Here's the mission home address:

 

2500 North Bristol Street

Santa Ana California, 92706-1409

 

Love you!

 

Here I Come Anaheim!

Hello family and friends,

 

So it sounds like most of you have heard that I'm not going to the land down under yet, instead I get to go and serve another mission in Anaheim, California!!  I haven't been given any information on addresses or anything like that, so email will probably be best at least till I'm settled in (does that even happen?)

This week was very cool, yet sad. I didn't think I would get so attached to my zone here but I already feel like I know them as well as all of you! It's funny how we've all come to love and admire each other. Everyone is so supportive and helpful and always greets you with a smile, I love it!

I'm so ready to get out into the field. I know I didn't spend very much time here, but I feel like I can't progress anymore until I really try it out and can actually see what I need to work on. I leave the MTC tomorrow at 2:30 in the morning. I can already tell you it's gonna be awesome!

I continue to have the reputation to be constantly humming, or singing, or kinda dancing, or snapping, or shaking my head... needless to say, I'm very lucky my companion does the same!!!! I've been told several times I look like a Hyrum, and I smile too much... not sure what that means... but it puts a smile on my face to think about it!

Last night's devotional was pretty much the best comedy act I've ever heard over a pulpit. The speaker was Mary Ellen Edmunds and I was in tears by the first line. She was so funny! A couple of my favorite statements were "if the church wasn't true the nineteen and eighteen year olds would have ruined it by now," and "I'll do my best, because that's all I can do, and if I do my best, Heavenly Father will carry me the rest of the way!" I loved that statement.  I can definitely utilize that because I find myself wondering if I'll be good enough sometimes, but there is no reason to doubt because if I just keep trying, nothing can stand in our way, I "have help from both sides of the veil" and "Mr. Nobody face" can't do anything about it!

I love you all! Keep sending me letters - I love hearing from you!

Elder Gibb(y)

A New Drug Dealer in Town

Family and friends,

The time is flying by here at the MTC right now, the days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like days. I've been called out as Gibby twice now as I've run into a couple elders and sisters from Woods Cross.  So far I've been nominated as best laugh and the kid who is way too happy!

I'm loving it here so much right now, the teachers are great, food is pretty kinda good, and the people are awesome! We actually got to teach our first real investigator last night, well real as in we don't know if she is a convert, or an actual investigator... they don't really tell us anything about them other than their names. Her name is Kya, she is super kind and really fun to talk to! She is from Russia and just moved to Utah with an old host family from her exchange in High school. She didn't seem very interested in the Church, but she wanted to learn more about the concept of prayer and that our Heavenly Father actually listens to us as we speak to Him.
I've noticed that's a recurring point here, people seem to believe in some sort of God, but if they do they don't think that He would love them like a father, instead they think He looks at it from more of an artist's point of view, He loves us as his creation, not as people. I can't wait to let people see that is not the case at all. Not only does our Heavenly Father love us but loves hearing from us as we pray and hearing all about our lives!

My companion and the other Elders in our room/district are way fun to work with, we have gotten along really well! A few of them are a little bummed because we just found out our Visas haven't come yet so we get reassigned on Thursday to a new interim mission! (Hopefully not to cold because most of us packed for Australian weather...)

Hope everything is as good back home as it is here!

Love you all!

Elder Gibb

 

P.S. Got the fantastic cookie bars today and everyone loved them. I have now been labeled as the "drug dealer" of our residency... figures.

I Finally Got A Badge!

Dear Family and Friends,

I finally got a badge!!!  It's only the second day, but I feel like I've been here a month!  There is so much to learn and do each day - it seems impossible - and yet we manage to do it AND sleep!  My companion, Elder Litster, is from Kansas City, Missouri and he looks just like Neil Patrick Harris!  Ergo every morning he has to say SUIT UP before we'll get ready!  My district is really fun to work with.  I'm the only one here from Utah so it's fun to hear about the differences across the country.  The food is definitely not Mom worthy, but they do have a milk/chocolate milk dispenser so I'm pretty much in heaven here!  Our residence is very diverse.  We have us drama nerds and jocks doing pull ups as we speak!  (Yea, I'm just going to avoid that bar like the Devil!)

It's incredible to feel the spirit here, literally as soon as you start to doubt yourself or what you're doing another person bears testimony or you read another thought and you don't see how you could have had those thoughts.  I don't know how long my mother expects this letter to be, but I'm gonna end for day two.

I love all of you and hope all is going well!

Sincerely and Happily,

ELDER!!!! Gibb

Oh, also the first day about 40 of us worked together to help an investigator who came in and we held a discussion.  It was extremely helpful and showed us just how much we know and what else we have to learn!!!

Elder Mitchell Gibb
NOV19 AST-SYDN
2009 North 900 East
Unit 115
Provo, Utah 84602

Elder Mitchell Gibb
Australia Sydney North Mission
756 Pennant Hills Road
Carlingford NSW 2118
Australia

mgibb@myldsmail.net