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