A Thinking Week

Dear Family and Friends!

This week has been a thinking week.  The area we have been working with has just felt like it is at a stale-mate, so Elder Wolfley and I were determined to change that.  We wanted to come up with a game plan each week, and I quite enjoyed what we came up with, so I thought I might share it with you!

Something we talk about a lot out here is being a consecrated missionary, and in most of our minds we make that out to mean that we need to be the perfect missionary.  We can't make mistakes, and we have to be exactly obedient. Unfortunately when we have that mindset we tend to become overly stressed, and then just give up. So Elder Wolfley and I came up on a solution.

If you remember in Matthew 19:16-22 a young man has kept all the commandments, and he wants to know what more he needs to do, perhaps expecting Christ to tell him his work is done. The response in verse 21 is where we focused though, because Christ told him if he wants to be perfect he must give up everything and come follow Him. Unfortunately the young man decides he would rather have his wealth. The part that stood out to me though is that if you look at the footnotes you see that for perfect, it sends you to the Topical Guide for commitment....

Long studies short, Elder Wolfley and I agreed that in this world we will all make mistakes, it's inevitable. We can't be "perfect" in the world’s eyes. However, Christ has provided the Atonement so that we don't need to stress about not being perfect to the world. Rather our perfection, for lack of a better word, would be based on our commitment. If we are willing to try each day to do something better, and we rely on the Atonement, we are made perfect each day.

Am I crazy? Probably.  But we've measured our success now by looking at each day and seeing if we've done better, and it worked. Not only were we happier in general, but everything else actually increased as well!

I loved my studies this week, I could share so much more, but I know most of you would get pretty bored!

Nothing too exciting happened this week. I love my mission though.  I love the ward and I am in love with the scriptures!

All in all it was a great week. Transfers come up here this week, but I doubt much is going to change up here, but you never know!

Love you all heaps!

Love Elder Gibb

Miracles

Dear Family and Friends!

 

This was an awesome week! We finally got an appointment with a part-member family who hasn't answered our calls (phone or door) since I got here! We met with them and the kids still really want to be baptized, but the parents keep making them wait. They are 100 % ready so Elder Wolfley and I were really hoping that it would be this week. Yet again however the mom stepped in and made the date Sept. 20th. We're going to do our best with that.  They've set dates several times before and backed out, but we are going to do our best this time to eliminate any of the parent’s excuses. So if you could keep the Desilva family in your prayers!

 

Did heaps of train and bus riding this week, and we have a few meetings coming up, but other than that not much more to report!

 

Hope you all have a great week!

Love 

-Elder Gibb

Moving West

Dear family and friends,

There is a fun Aussie slang that people use a lot around here, and that is hectic.... if I could use one word to describe last week, it would be HECTIC!

On Wednesday we got a call from Elder Han, he told us that he had lost his wallet, so he was no longer able to drive, which is a problem, when his area is in the mountains, and spans over 100Kilometres. So they were looking for an Elder who had a license to drive, wasn't training a new missionary, and didn't have any previous responsibilities, and I fit the bill just right, so I got to go up the Beautiful Blue Mountains for the week!

It was GORGEOUS, and it was also pretty cold. It's about as far Southwest that you can go in our mission, and with the change in elevation, they actually get snow up there quite often! Fortunately Elder Han's wallet was found, so I'm back down here in Penrith today, and it's good to be home!

My favorite part of  last week was going up to a little town called Lithgow. It's about an hour from where we live in Katoomba, and most of the members up there don't come to church to often because it's pretty far away. They were some of the best members I've met though, they were super kind, and they had the best stories about life. The town seemed like it was one of those where everyone knows everyone. Plus a bonus is that after driving for so much up there, I feel a lot more confident on the Left Side of the Road.  It's only kinda scary now!

I'm still getting to know the area, and because of last week it was a bit of a speed bump, but it'll get there. There were a couple miracles that happened last week whilst I was out, and hopefully they will come to full fruition this week and I can tell you all more! (bwahahah I love cliff hangers!)

Hope you all have a good week!

Love you Heaps!

-Elder Gibb

Change

August 10

 

Dear Family and Friends!

Oh I love the mission life! Every day is an opportunity to try something new, meet heaps of people, and find miracles! It’s the best!

This week was pretty fun! So on Saturday we found out that Elder Wolfley is going to be the District Leader for the Penrith District, starting Wednesday.  It’s really strange because it's like mid-transfer, so he won't get any training or preparation; rather he's just going to have to jump right into it! It's all good though because if there is anyone who could handle it, it would definitely be Elder Wolfley!

We also had interviews with our mission president this week! I can't tell you how lucky this mission is, he is the best, literally. We came up with a fun way to counteract any doubts that we have as missionaries we've decided to take President Uchtdorf's advice and "Doubt our Doubts". Anytime that we come up with something like, "I will never find an investigator",  we make a note of it, and then during studies or that night, we will look up scriptures, or just reasons on our own about why that is wrong, there-by literally doubting our doubts. It's really actually quite fun! Maybe you'd enjoy it!

Other than that not much else not of the typical missionary life happened!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love you HEAPS!

Elder Gibb

Post Brigade

August 3

Dear family and friends!

What a glorious week this has been! Can I just say how much I love Penrith?  I LOVE PENRITH! Getting adjusted to the new area has not been hard at all. My companion is great, the ward is fantastic, and the Zone is phenomenal! Basically this is going to be awesome!

 

We had our Zone conference last week and it was really good. After the training we went to a member’s home with the whole zone and we had a Hungi (not sure if spelt correctly). For those of you who don't understand, it's a massive Tongan feed, where they did a giant pit and cook HEAPS, and like I mean HEAPS, of food! I was swimming in meat and meat! IT WAS SO GOOD! They cooked our zone three pigs and there was heaps food, for the about 26 or so of us, there was enough food to feed a ward in Utah. And I ate way too much! My mouth waters just thinking about it.

My new favorite drink is __________ unknown Tongan name but it's basically coconut milk mixed with heaps of fruit! Let me just say again SO GOOD!

The ward is awesome I've only met a few members outside of church so far, but it's going to be good. We get fed like every night, and the members are really excited about missionary work! We have a few investigators who have come to church so it's good to have the work moving along!

Love you all heaps and hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Gibb

 

Once there were three little pigs...

Close enough...

Elder Wolfsley

KANGAROO!!!

 

Jul 28  

Dear family and friends!

Well this week I got transferred! I'm in a brand new area... but with a ton of familiar faces!

The new ward is called Penrith, it's only about an hour or two from the city (about the same as in Kellyville, just with a lot less traffic) It has heaps more Aussies, and I might even get to meet a Bogan (an Aussie hillbilly).

Anyhow, last night was awesome I met the first members and I know I will love it here. There are heaps of people to talk to and I reckon it will be a good transfer! One reason I feel so is because last night I saw my first real life Aussie Kangaroo! AND THERE WERE 3! Ha ha! Unfortunately the night had already fallen so I couldn't get a good picture... but I'm sure I will see some more!

My new companion is Elder Wolfley, and funny story, we were in the same MTC district and even were in the same room! He's from Star Valley Wyoming, and he's pretty legit. Not only that but I'm in the same zone as Elder Han, and Elder Watts, it's like a big old family reunion!  So life is going to be awesome!

Last week in Kellyville was pretty smashing! One of our investigators who has been coming to church for a few weeks is going to be baptized! I know he's in good hands in the ward so I'm not worried about leaving! 

So happy this week and looking forward to the new adventure!

Love you all HEAPS!

Elder Gibb

One of Them Weeks!

July 20

Dear family and friends,

We didn't have too much happen this week. Out of all of our appointments only one or two actually worked out, and they were both with members!

Still had a good week though. We found a couple new investigators this week who we were expecting to see at church, but it looks like we'll have to go and follow up to see if they can come this week!

My highlight of the week - we had 2 people at English class this week, one from Ecuador, and the other from Colombia. We were role playing introductions and how to start conversations... I just didn't realize how many ways there are to say the way Thursday.  I think there was spittle all of the room by the end of teaching them how to make the th sounds.

Well hope you all have a great week!

Transfers are next week... there is a good chance change is a comin’, but we'll see!

Love you all HEAPS!  BE HAPPY! 

Love

Elder Gibb

The Power of Primary

July 13

Hello family and Friends!!!

First of thank you, for all of your birthday wishes! I love you all so much! I had a good birthday celebration yesterday and will probably be on a sugar high for the next month or so to recover! #guesswhogotcaptincrunch

Anyhow, the rest of the week has been spectacular! So my companion has the flu, which has been totally raining on our parade, but he refuses to let it hold us back! We met with so many people this week it was crazy!

 Hmmmm... I think this would be my favorite though

This week we met with a less active man who hasn't been to church since he was twelve and only became a member a 9. As we began to get to know him he asked if we could play the piano, I said, yea some songs. We asked him if he remembered any of the songs from church, and if he had a favorite. Of course the beautiful classic of "I'm a Child of God" was his favorite.  As we played, he remembered all the words, sang with us, and the rest of the lesson went like a charm! So lessons to be learned 1) always have your primary song book with you and 2) don't be afraid to use music!

It was awesome!

Another awesome thing about this week is the whole weekend we had a youth from another stake come serve a mini mission with us. So we got to basically show him what a mission was like, and it was a blast, his name is Brother Garret, and he was pretty smashing! 

This ward and area just keeps getting better and better! 

Love you all HEAPS! 

Elder Gibb

Frost Vs Squeegee

Jul 6 

 

Dear family and friends!

 

You may have been lied to in the past because this week we discovered the temperature DOES get cold here! If you could have seen us four elders trying to remove the frost from our windshield with our Squeegee from the shower you would have laughed, and then been astonished because the squeegee prevailed!

 

This week while on tradeoffs with the Elders in the Kellyville 2nd Ward I found out one of their investigators has been reading my blog! We had a fun moment when I was introducing myself and she was like, I KNOW YOU! It was pretty much awesome! And not only that but she is the nicest person ever! I think that most of the members could learn from her about how we should be living our lives!

 

We had a great week! We were able to reconnect with some less actives that we've been out of contact with for a couple months and it was awesome!

 

I think the best part of the week though was when President did a training on our Patriarchal blessings IT was SO good! I understand it a lot more. He compared it to being like the 139 section of the Doctrine and Covenants. We also talked about what has been driving us on the mission and how to become more purpose driven! My mission president is so inspired it is incredible I love him to death!

 

I hope you all had an inspirational week!

 

Love you all HEAPS!

Elder Gibb

It's Flu Season!

Jun 29 

 

Dear family and friends -

 

Advice: if you are from a place where the temperature never gets cold, and you only have two seasons, summer and rainy, you may not want to visit Australia in the winter! My poor companion has come down with the flu! Let me tell you, when you're a missionary getting the flu can really put a kink in your week!

 

It was a slower week because Elder Escabarte needed more time to rest to get better. We still went out everyday, but it was pretty casual. That doesn't mean we didn't have any miracles though! On Tuesday night we had a returning member come out with us on splits, and he said he loved it! He's even thinking of going out on a mission now!

 

We had heaps of trainings last week, and I loved it! President Howes is one of the most inspired men I have ever met! Sometimes I have to study what he teaches us a few times before I finally get it, but once it clicks, it's like a light bulb flashes on and everything makes sense in life again! I Love it!

 

Love you Heaps!

Love Elder Gibb