Week 23 Opening a new area in Los Altos.

Hello Everyone!

Wow what a crazy eventfilling week it has been! So Hermana Hamblin and I are opening an area in Los Altos but we are still in the same zone )Xela Oeste.... Sorry if my typing is weird, this keyboard in jank. We are in a trio with my hija Hermana Rodriguez. She is from Lima, Peru and so adorable. Shes super sweet and laid back which is really nice. WE are having a lot of fun. And we are teaching her english too. We are also opening this area with two other sisters who are super cool. They had to look for a new house so for the past week so they stayed with us in our house. So we were 5 sisters, 4 beds, and 1 bathroom.... but we had a blast! This week was fun contacting a million people and trying to figure out where the heck we were!

For my birthday we partied hard, missionary style! Hermana Hamblin was super cute and woke up early to make me french toast and turned off my alarm so that she could surprse me, so I had a delicious breakfast in bed! Then we went and did some service and helped this random family fill a hole with dirt. It was quite fun! Then one of the members invited us over for lunch becasue it was ma b'day. Then when we got back to the house the other hermanas had a cake ready and lit candles and sang happy birthday! So we had a little party. Also there is a resturant here thats like the guatemalan Raising Canes and they had a huge firework show so we went to the roof to watch! Overall it was an excellent birthday!

For thanksgiving, i apologize for writing out of order, we went to the market and bought sparkling cider, tortillas, sliced turkey and a pie and celebrated! So that my friends is how you celebrate Turkey Day guatemalan style :)

Oh last thing, last monday night we went and said goodbye to people. Then when we went to the last Family Home Evening, all of the lights were off but the mom still told me to go in. and when i did the elders had lit a cake and everyone sang happy birtdhay and it was an awesome surprise!

So overall this week was super awesome and eventful. Thank you for all of the birthday wishes and I hope that everyone had a super awesome thanksgiving week!! 

Love, Hermana Gibson

P.S There are more pictures to come!

Week 22- Called to Train!

Hola!

Yet another super fast week has passed by in the mission! This week I was pretty much sick all week long so that was a bummer. Two nights in a row we had to do divisiones. I went and slept at a members house and my companion went out with one of the daughters. So at least work was still getting done here in Garibaldi! But being sick made it a little hard for us to get a lot of stuff done. 

Friday our ward had another Noche De Hermanamiento which is like a giant family home evening. We played some games and one of our investigators came so that was fun!

 Oh, good news, WE ACTUALLY HAVE INVESTIGATORS NOW! One of our miracles this week was that we found this family that had listened to the missionaries about 2 years ago and then the dad ended up chasing the missionaries out of the house... Well we went there and the dad was actually super nice and wants us to come back so thats super sweet and we are excited about that! And we also contacted this other girl who works in a icecream store (I know, smart of us right? )and she is SUPER pilas! Seriously she actually understood the Restoration and wants to learn more and go to church and read the Book of Mormon! Shes like a huge miracle, but her husband is going to be the problem.... But we are going to do a lot of praying for her. And she also gave us free frozen chocolate covered bananas, so I already love her even more :)

Another cool thing was that Mathias´s family invited us to Burger King with them because we are always over at their house helping them and teaching Mathias. So when we were there, I taught them about the tradition we have in my family when we all eat dinner together called "High-Low" Where everyone has to say the worst part of their day (if they had one) and the best part of their day. I love it because it helps us be more involved in eaach others lives. And they loved the game too! So that was pretty cool!

About 2 months ago I contacted this guy who owns a little store and he was actually pretty rude to us, told us he was a Jehova´s Wittness and that he didnt want anything. Well, this week we went into his store to buy stuff and guess what...... HE WAS WEARING A BYU SHIRT. LOL I just told his that I liked his shirt and that it was my university, and laughed so hard inside.... Good ole testigos de jehovah!

Other funny thing, I am personally inviting all of you women whoi are reading this email to the relief society activity Thursday at 3. We are going to learn and the proper way to breastfeed!!! lol #onlyinguatemala

Well thats about all that I have for this week and I apologize if none of this makes sense, my computer is super slow so Im just going for it typing wise! Well I love you all and thank you for all of the love and support! tthe church is true!

Love, Hermana Gibson 

1. We were teaching these cute little kids the other day
2. Also I got to see hermana woods and hermana tomphonson at the training meeting! It was super fun :) 

Week 21 OH no, pretty sick this week. But still a very cool week

Hola!

Yet another super fast week has passed by in the mission! This week I was pretty much sick all week long so that was a bummer. Two nights in a row we had to do divisiones. I went and slept at a members house and my companion went out with one of the daughters. So at least work was still getting done here in Garibaldi! But being sick made it a little hard for us to get a lot of stuff done. 

Friday our ward had another Noche De Hermanamiento which is like a giant family home evening. We played some games and one of our investigators came so that was fun!

 Oh, good news, WE ACTUALLY HAVE INVESTIGATORS NOW! One of our miracles this week was that we found this family that had listened to the missionaries about 2 years ago and then the dad ended up chasing the missionaries out of the house... Well we went there and the dad was actually super nice and wants us to come back so thats super sweet and we are excited about that! And we also contacted this other girl who works in a icecream store (I know, smart of us right? )and she is SUPER pilas! Seriously she actually understood the Restoration and wants to learn more and go to church and read the Book of Mormon! Shes like a huge miracle, but her husband is going to be the problem.... But we are going to do a lot of praying for her. And she also gave us free frozen chocolate covered bananas, so I already love her even more :)

Another cool thing was that Mathias´s family invited us to Burger King with them because we are always over at their house helping them and teaching Mathias. So when we were there, I taught them about the tradition we have in my family when we all eat dinner together called "High-Low" Where everyone has to say the worst part of their day (if they had one) and the best part of their day. I love it because it helps us be more involved in eaach others lives. And they loved the game too! So that was pretty cool!

About 2 months ago I contacted this guy who owns a little store and he was actually pretty rude to us, told us he was a Jehova´s Wittness and that he didnt want anything. Well, this week we went into his store to buy stuff and guess what...... HE WAS WEARING A BYU SHIRT. LOL I just told his that I liked his shirt and that it was my university, and laughed so hard inside.... Good ole testigos de jehovah!

Other funny thing, I am personally inviting all of you women whoi are reading this email to the relief society activity Thursday at 3. We are going to learn and the proper way to breastfeed!!! lol #onlyinguatemala

Well thats about all that I have for this week and I apologize if none of this makes sense, my computer is super slow so Im just going for it typing wise! Well I love you all and thank you for all of the love and support! tthe church is true!

Love, Hermana Gibson 

Buenas Tardes! Week 20

Buenas Tardes!

Another great week in the mission field has passed and wow we worked hard. We started the week with only 1 investigator because we ended up having to drop almost all of our investigators because they werent progressing at all. So we did a lot of contacting this week and got rejected a lot haha but it was all good. We had high spirits all week and ended up finding some really cool people. So we are excited to start visiting all of them some more. We even have a goal to contact about 100 people this week, but i´ll let you know how that all works out!

So remember when I said that I was super sad because my convert Brenda moved and her husband didn´t tell us where they living? Well BOOM, another miracle this week. We were walking out from a lesson and we ran into Imer (the husband) in the street and he showed us where they live. It was so cool because I had been praying all week that the missionaries would be able to find Brenda again and help her with her newborn baby girl (whom i´m trying to convince her to name her baby Katie.) I laughed a little bit on the inside because I never thought I would be the missionary to find her. But it was really cool knowing that I was in the right place at the right time. And Brenda was really happy to see us and was asking about church.

A little update on Mathias, the less active. This week he started reading the Book of Mormon again which is so awesome. In the lesson he was asking difficult questions, just to be difficult, but finally the Spirit touched him and he asked us how he can have faith so that he can know if God really does exist. Last night he called us and thanked us for helping him and that he loved the chapter and is reading it again. It was really cool, becasue we hard a long week, worked hard, and right before we returned home we were able to seem some of the blessings from our work. It was also another blessing becasue lately it has been really hard to have baptisms in our mission, so it is cool to see that we are still changing people´s lives. 

This week I have been studying a lot about chairty and what it means and how I can apply it into my life and WOW I learned a lot. Charity is such an amazing thing. I used to think that it was just about service and love but it is so much more. Like the scriptures say, without charity, we really are nothing. There are a list of scriptures in PMG ( 2 Ne 26:30, Mosiah 2:17, Mosiah 28:3, Alma 7:24, Ether 12:28, DC 88:125, 1 Tim 4:12, 1 Peter 4:8) and really teach us what charity is. I could talk all day about chairty, but I think it is better is you all study for yourselves and see what Charity really is. Read the scriptures and ask what they teach your about charity, and I promise that you will want to be a better person :) 

Thank you all for your prayers and weekly encouragement. The mission rocks! Love you all.

Hermana Gibson

Oh, and about the pictures, There are some seriously short doors here, I´m not exactly sure who fits into them. And yesterday was one of our investigator´s birthday. Her name is Dariana and her parents´work didnt pay them this month, so we bought a cake to surprise her. She´s super cute!

Week 19- Happy Halloween and Day of the Dead! 3/11/14

Wow! It´s already November! What the heck, time is seriously flying by, and another great week in the mission field has passed!

Honestly, this week went by super fast and we were super busy all week. We actually ended up doing a lot of service which was cool. One of the members ended up moving houses, which was super sad, but it was fun helping them move! 

Speaking of moving, my convert Brenda moved houses and she didn't even tell me!! I was super mad. We literally visit them on Wednesday and Friday night everything was gone! So I was pretty bummed about that, and her husband (who is a pain in the butt and he knows it) won´t tell me where they moved to, so I pray that the missionaries find her again!

Okay on a more fun note, we celebrated a Quinceñera this week! Her name is Jackie and she is a member. We helped cook and serve and decorate the place and had a BLAST! I´ll make sure to attach more pictures. 

So they don´t celebrate Halloween here, but I made cute little pumpkins to pass out to our investigators and members. They loved it :) But they do celebrate the Day of the Dead which in Nov 1. I guess everyone just goes to the cemeteries and party and eat this disgusting cold meat plate called Fiambre... But hey a fiesta is a fiesta right? We were a little nervous to be out that night because everyone was saying that kids were going to chase us down and throw eggs and paint at us..... but it was actually really calm. But that would have been a funny story to tell.

Also Julio, our investigator gave me a present. It´s a hart shaped box with a little doll inside.... and said it was a barbie just like me. haha man He´s the best! One of a kind that Julio. And before we left his mom was saying how she loves us and Jesus and the started dancing and said that we should dance for Jesus! LOL

On the more spiritual side of things, I was studying about the Spirit and I was reading in DC about gifts of the Spirit and WOW we are blessed. Honestly every talent that we have comes from the Christ and the Spirit enables us to excel at our talents. I want to say it´s in DC 46:11-33 but I´m not sure. But the scriptures say that we aren´t all going to have the same talents because we are commanded to share the talents that we have! So this week I challenge you all to read DC and your patriarcal blessings and find what your gifts are and use them to bless others this week.

Thank you for all of your love and support. Hope that this is a start to another great month! I love you all.

Love,

Hermana Gibson 

Week 18 Fun week in Garibaldi!!!

Hola Everyone!

Wow what a fast and super fun week it has been here in Garibaldi! Honestly, I can´t believe that it is already Monday again! This week I was super sick and I felt that I should ask for a blessing so I swollowed my "i´ll be fine" pride and asked for one, and WOW I am so glad that I did. I basically cried through my whole blessing (silently) because so many of my worries and fears were taken away and all of my recent prayers had been answered. It was an amazing experience. It also made me realize how much stronger my faith in Christ is now, because I was always able to feel the Spirit when I was given a blessing, but this time, I was really able to feel Christ´s love for me and in that instant, I really came to know that Christ really loves me and knows me personally and through His faithful Priesthood holders, I was able to come to know that love personally, and what turned into a strong belief became a knowledge for me.

Another thing that I realized through my blessing is how inspired parents. During the blessing, the elder said two things that my dad had recently said to me in an email. And in that instant, I became to realize that the advice and counsel that my dad gave me what the same counsel that my Heavenly Father had also. So parents, you rock, and kids, listen to the advice of your parents.... They know everything!

Yesterday we felt inspired to visit Julio and his mom, which was awesome because they were actually home. We had knocked their door everyday and they hadn´t been there, but we finally got them! Just incase you dont remember, Julio was one of our miracles last week that contacted US in the street and wants to learn more. So he wanted to know who Joseph SMith was so we taught about the Restoration and it was great! He´s praying to see if he needs to be baptized! I already loved them instantly, but especially more when they kept saying that i was cute and kept calling me Barbie. They might just be my new favorites :)

Okay so another super awesome thing that happened this week has to do with the less active amigo that we are visiting. His name is Mathias (also another miracle from last week.) So we had been visiting him a lot and finally we go the idea to write our testimonies in the Book of Mormon and highlight our favorite scriptures. Then Preach My Gospel had a section called "The Book of Mormon answers questions of the soul." so we tabbed a few of the chapters that would answer his questions, if God exsists, does he really hear our prayers, why bad things happen to good people, so on and so forth. So we gave it to him and he sent us a but text thanking us for all that we had done for me. It was really rewarding. And Sunday he couldnt come to church because we had work, but we had a ward activity and watched the Testaments and HE  CAME!!!!!! I´m pretty sure that was his first time going to church in a long time. So it was awesome!

Today for P-day we played soccer with some of the members in the morning, and then played again as a Zone later. Then we went to this store to go buy soccer jerseys becasue it is a tradition here where the Zones all buy a jersey and we get our names on the back and it says our Zone name!! So i´m super stoked for that. And tonight we might be carving pumpkins for a Family Home Evening! But I´ll let you know more about that next week!

Any I love you guys and I love the mission. I hope this week that you all can come to know that Jesus Christ knows and loves you personally. (and I do too!!)

Con amor,

Hermana Gibson

Week 17- Miracle Week 20/10/14

Buenas Tardes!

So this week I got a new companion. Her name is Hermana Hamblin and she is from Nampa, Idaho. She is super sweet and has 15 months in the mission. I´m going to "kill" her in 9 weeks, because she is leaving early to go to...... BYU!!! YAY (Go Cougars!) So I´m super excited to spend this time with her and we are really excited to work hard these last 9 weeks. 

On Wednesday we had a District Meeting and this week the Zone Leaders challenged us all to find 2 miracles this week. Challenge accepted.

Miracle #1: On Wednesday morning we contacted this lady in the street and gave her the Restoration pamphlet and she thanked us a ton and said that she was going to look for a bag to put it in because it was so beautiful haha So that was cool, but then the next day we were walking to a cita and I recognized her 30 year old son and he told us how he read the pamphlet, loved it, wanted to come to church with us, and wanted to learn more!!!! WHAT THE HECK THIS NEVER HAPPENS! AKA, Miracle #1.

Miracle #2: One of our inv. Lilian (who is the daughter of Thelma) because another miracle. We had taught her the Restoration and she was able to recite it back to us and then told us that she knows its true, we just have to get her husband to come to want to come to church and then she will.

Miracle #3: A few weeks ago we were in Lilian´s house and her friend (Matilda) was there  and told us that she wants to meet with us, but before we could ask for her number or where she lived she left. Well Sunday, while we were waiting outside Familia Gusman´s house to pick them up for church, Matilda came out with her husband and they want to have lessons with us!!

Miracle #4: Since my first week here we have been visiting this member family and their sons are all inactive but the daughters are awesome! Well they wanted us to stop by yesterday and when we did, I texted Matias (one of the inactive sons) and told him that we were at his house and he told us to wait for him cause he was coming. And then he actually shared a thought with us and usually he doesn´t want to be there. So It´s cool to see him changing and his desire to come back to the gospel grow!

So these miracles weren´t that crazy big, but I haven't really experienced things like this before so it was super cool! Also a mini-miracle: Grecia (the RM from Costa Rica) gave us lunch and we had grilled chicken, broccoli, carrots, and cheesy funeral potatoes!!!!! I felt like I was at home for a second haha

Well one thing that i learned this week is that miracles happen when we have faith in the Lord, work hard, and are humble to the Lord´s will. Man, I love this gospel!

I hope you guys all have a great week! In the pictures I attached, there are just a bunch of cows that are always on the side of the road here and people are always just walking their cows down the street haha yeah, no big deal. And today we ate a Pizza Hut and went to Walmart, and the other one we made a sign for this movie night that we are having as a ward that hopefully everyone will bring an investigator or less active to! 

I love you all and thank you all for you prayers. I hope that you can find a miracle in your life this week too.

Love,

Hermana Gibson

Week 16- Attitude of Gratitude 13/10/14

Hello Everyone!

Wow another week that went by super fast! Let´s see, Monday night was Amilcar´s Birthday so when we were at the Terminal (which is where all of the buses meet and its like a giant swap meet) we bought him a hat that says Los Angeles because he always asks if I am from there. Then we had cake to celebrate. It was really fun and he was super happy! Also last night Amilcar tried telling us that he has 10 girlfriends and they all live in Miami haha Good Ole Amilcar

On Tuesday we cooked dinner for Family Gusman (our new investigators) and taught them The Restoration. It was a really fun night and I really love them like they are my own family already. The family wasnt able to come to church yesterday because they already had other obligations, but their daughter Gaby (who is 10 and a little shy) came with us. But she is super cute and she absolutely loved church and afterwards she ran up to me and gave me a big hug. It was awesome!

Thursday the Hermana Leaders called us and we had divisions with them again and I went with Hermana Rubio to her area again. But it was cool because some of the people there remember me! That was a fun night and I really learned a lot about how I can become a better missionary. 

Friday Night our ward had a ward wide Family Home Evening. It was their first ever and it was so much fun! The Bishop gave a talk about one of the talks from COnference and then we played "Never Have I Ever..." Just incase you dont know what that is, Everyone sits in a circle and one person stands in the middle and says something that they have never done. Then everyone that has done that in their lives has to run super fast and change chairs becasue the last person standing has to say something that they have never done. So it was super funny to see the Bishop and the other people in the ward fighting over the same chair. 

Then Sunday we were asked to be a part of the Primary Presentation in another Ward and we got to sind "I love to see the temple" with the missionaries from their ward and the primary. It was super cute. I just love Primary Presentation because the Spirit is so strong when the kids bear their testimonies about the Savior.

Also, this morning we found out that Hermana Sanchez and I will be having transfers. I will be staying here in Garibaldi and I will get my new companion in the morning. I´m excited but really nervous to see who it is. Also today for our last P-day together as a Zone we had a devil piñata haha 

Well this week I have been thinking a lot about gratitude. Here are some thoughts: "Gratitude," like President Utchdorf said, "is the catalyst to all Christlike attributes." It can take away feelings of bitterness, and our life is sweeter, more joyous, and glorious when we are grateful. When we are experiencing herdships, we should express a prayer of gratitude to our Savior and our souls will be lifted. I read the story in Job chapter 1 where he loses everything, but in verse 21, after all is lost, he still offers praise and thanks to God. What an example. Also I was reading Amla 34:37-38 and was thinking that we need to be that type of saint, a saint that constantly lives in thanksgiving daily. We should always remember to count our many blessings and give thanks to our Heavenly Father for all that we have. 

I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week.

Love,

Hermana Gibson

Week 15- #LDSconfisthebest 6/10/2014

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all had an amazing week and an even more amazing general conference weekend! I would say that my week was pretty spiritually amazing. On Tuesday was got to go to the TEMPLE!!! Ahhh it was so amazing. Honestly I don't think I have ever  been more excited to go to the temple in my life. The Quetzaltenango Temple is absolutely beautiful and honestly might just be my favorite. I´ll make sure to attach i a picture. The session was amazing and I was luckily able to understand everything. But there I learned that the Holy Ghost only lets me understand the things that HE wants me to. So I was really blessed to understand the session and wow I want to go back everyday!!! The peace that is in the temple is truly a peace that can´t be found anywhere else. Sorry Disneyland but the temple is the happiest place on earth. My favorite thing about being in the temple is getting to wear a white dress, because honestly i just feel like an angel! Also, this session was so amazing for me because it made me so excited to be sealed to my family when I get home! What a blessing it is.

Speaking of families, October 1st is Day of the Child and all of the kids have a big party here..... So I think we need that holiday in the States. But to celebrate we brought ice cream ha. We are just some big kids.

This week we found Family Gusman, who was a reference from our other investigator Themla, so we are really excited to teach them. We had to drop Family Martinez for a while because they always have an excuse and won´t come to church. So that was pretty sad for me. 

Okay Well honestly I could talk about conference forever, but I´ll just stick to one talk of the many that i really liked. It was from the Saturday Morning Session from Elder Lynn G Robins. I´m pretty sure its called, "Which way do we face?" He talked a lot about courage and since I stole The Jacobs Family´s idea of choosing a "word of the year" and my word was courage, I figured this was a good one to tlak about. Elder Robins defined courage as the combination of all Christlike attributes when we reach the pressure point of life. There is no better way to describe courage than that. It´s to stand up for what if right when faced with adversity. And since we all have adversity, courage is something we must all strive to achieve. I was reminded of the scripture in Joshua 1:9 that says, "Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou ghost." What a blessing that truly is. The Lord, Jesus Christ who was the greatest example of courage, promises us to be with us always. WE just need to have courage to stand and do what is right. No matter the circumstances, if you have the courage to do the will of God, you will receive an amazing amount of blessings. So let us all press forward with Faith is Christ and great courage that when we get to the heavens, we can stand spotless for him. 

Thank you all very much for all of your prayers in my behalf. Truly I could not thank you enough for all of the love and support at home. I hope you all have an amazing week.

Week 14- Called To Serve: My Companions 22/9/2014

Hello Everyone!

This week went by super fast! But I took notes of some meaningful things that happened this week:

My spanish is getting so much better! For my language study I have been reading the Book of Mormon out loud and when I do, I feel like my spanish improves so much! I am albe to talk with more confidence and understand more. It is such a blessing! Someetimes the Book of Mormon is even easier to understand in Spanish! Soo it has been a fun experience.

My comp and I have been praying to learn the Lord´s visoin for our areea and what he expects us to do and it was really cool because we both recieved revelation that we need to work with the members and have them invite their friends to church. Because we as missionaries can´t do it all. But its really hard to have lessons with members because either they get off work here at 8:00 or they forget and cancel our lessons. So we need to do a lot of praying to have lessons with members. 

Speaking of work, Scott Jacobs asked what kind of work people have here, and I can successfully narrow it down to the Three T´s: Tienda, Tortilla, and Terminal. A tienda means a store and let me tell you, Guatemala takes convienent stores to a whole other lever! Basically there is a store every other house and people live above their stores. The second T is tortillas because almost every house vends tortillas. and the Third is the terminal where all of the buses are. People sell EVERYTHING there!

This week we tried working with our investigator Themla to get her to come to church. The always has an excuse everyweek as to why she cant come. So this week as helped her do chores around the house to prepare her for church Sunday, but sadly it didn´t work. So I think we are going to have to drop her this week. :(

So my companion has been super baggy/trunkie the whole time we have been together. She has lacked motivation to work and frankly doesnt want to be in the mission anymore. She only has 2 months left. Well, the other day she emerged from the bathroom and started calling other missionaried and was bawling. She was bawling. She told me that she doesnt have the Spirit and shouldnt be here and she scheduled a meeting with President to go home this transfer. She even told President that she was pregnant so that she could go home. Luckily the Spirit prevailed and helped President realize that wasnt true, because if she was pregnant, I would have to pack my bags, go home, and probably be disfellowshipped from the church!!! But he convinced her to stay and finish her mission. So that was some crazy stuff. But what I learned as I have been praying about what to do is that, no it is not an obligation for sisters to serve, but once you accept that mission call, it becomes an obligation. We are called to serve for 18 months and work with all diligence to do everything that we can to build the Lords kingdom. Jacob 1:19always comes to mind. That once we are set apart, we will carry the blood and sins of the people in our area. But when we serve with all diligence we will be found spotless in the last day. Daunting but motivating at the same time! So we have to work hard and fulfill our callings. 

Anyway, things are getting better here! Still rains every day haha and rainboots are a huge blessing! I hope you al have a wonderful week!

Hermana Gibson