Be Bold!

Dear family and Friends,

What a fantastic week this has been! We are really starting to get into the groove of things here in the Penrith area and we have seen heaps of miracle from it!

 

I think to coolest part of this week was that I learned. When the Lord knows he can trust you, he will bless you. We have really been struggling to find new investigators in this area, and I could never put my foot on the reason why.

 

As we went through the week, nothing much was going different. Then we had a lesson with a part member family, the husband isn't a member. We have been teaching them since I got here, and they had been taught for a few months before that. The biggest reason why he wasn't progressing was because he didn't realize all the lesson we were teaching were focused on him. So we decided to make it clear this week and we asked him to be baptized. He hasn't decided on his answer yet, but here is the miracle.

 

Over the next two days we found two new investigators! Moral of the story, when the Lord knows you are going to help His children and you are serious about your calling, He will provide what you need to continue to move forward!

 

Each day I am blessed to see another miracle whether in my life or in the life of others. I think too often we neglect to recognize these miracles and just pass it off! I look back through my journal and see so many miracles that I wouldn't have noticed before. I think we should do our best to recognize the Lord's hand in our life every day. Find a miracle you are grateful for each day, and write it down, create a miracle book for yourself! Some of them might be small, others huge.

 

Love you all heaps!

Elder Gibb

100 Cookies

Dear Family and Friends,

You know I have yet to find a problem that 100 cookies couldn't solve! This week Elder Cecilio  and I delivered heaps of cookies to try and get to know the ward better, and, as is usual within the church, bribe them with some sweets to help us out! My favorite part though is when one of the sisters in the ward said after asking for the recipe, "Since when did Elders learn to cook and to cook so well? We used to through their food in the trash!"

 

We had a couple huge miracles this week with the part member families we've been striving to visit. There was one family in particular where the ward said that they would "for sure" cancel their dinner appointment with us.

 

And they did....

 

BUT we were able to convince them to have us over for just a short lesson, no dinner would be needed! So that was heaps good. We'll have to see if we can get back in there again soon!

We also found a less active man (who has like 6 kids) who wasn't on our records and after inviting him to a family fun night he said, "Well I don't know. I'm really struggling with my testimony right now."  That led in pretty well to our whole missionary purpose so we are going to see him again this week!

 

I splashed gravy sauce all over myself at the stake president's home... that was good...

 

All in all a pretty good week! I hope yours was just as good!

 

Love you heaps

Elder Gibb

Fun, Fair, and Anniversaries

Dear family and friends!

What a busy week we've had! Introducing my new companion to the area, and having only been here once transfer myself, we may have gotten lost a couple times...

 

We had the big 50th anniversary of our chapel this week, and when this stake throws a party, it throws a party! There was a ball Friday night, a carnival Saturday morning and then an entertainment night that night. It ended with a combined sacrament meeting and musical fireside on Sunday. We didn't get to go to all of them but we did go to the fair on Saturday and it was a blast! There were all sorts of carnival games, a bounce house (in the form of Noah's ark) and food! We helped run the stalls, and helped eat the food, and helped play the games.

 

It was really fun to learn the history behind the chapel and it made me grateful to be serving in an area where the church has been so well established!

 

Our mission president shared a thought with us this week and I thought I would relate it 

PRO

 

P=Pray

R=Read 

O=Obey

 

Too often I think we complete the first to steps and we read our scriptures and pray, but if we truly want to become PRO's we need to obey the guidance we receive from these activities!

 

Love you all heaps

Elder Gibb 

 

 

Plot Twist

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week was the end of transfers and Elder Wolfley and I were pretty certain nothing was going to change. Then Saturday came and that went down the drain! So I got a new companion this week! His name is Elder Cecilio, he is from the Philippines! Should be a good transfer!

 

We had a crushing week last week. The family we have been working with has moved. Their home was broken into and their phones stolen so we have no way to get a hold of them and they left without telling anyone. Hopefully they'll find the church where they go next! Then another two of our investigators have moved. Basically we went from 6 investigators to 1 investigator in one week!

So what does that mean? It just means we are going to have a fresh start! This transfer will be really good, the ward is awesome, my new companion is awesome, and miracles are coming our way!

Love you all heaps!

-Elder Gibb