Week 44- Prayers are answered! (out of order)

Hola Amigos!

Well just to bring you up to date, last monday when i complained about the heat was beacue that whole week before, Huehue hit record highs! But the lord in merciful to those who call his name and it rained all week long. I testifty that prayers are answered :)

Well another week has passed by here in Las Flores,

 but this week passed by a little slower. On Wednesday we had our interviews with President Smith and I was super nervous. I didnt need to be but I was afraid that with our low dats and he would be disappointed in me. But I loved every second of my interview with president and he assured me that he knows that I am working as hard as I can and

that the blessings will come. 

President´s words were of such comfort to me becasue this area is very difficult. The next day after interviews, we woke up really pumped to go out and bring the whole world unto Christ, but it didnt exactly turn out that way.... While we were contacting, we could tell that this guy really wasnt interested, so we just gave him a pamphlet and were ready to leave when he kindly asked me if i spoke spanish, after saying yes, he started attacking for 10 minutes telling us that we were messangers from Satan and were going to burn in hell. (How kind right?) Then finally I realized that I didnt need to keep trying to be nice and respectful, so without another word, I grabbed my companion and we left him in mid sentence. Truthfully, I had to fight so hard not to break down in tears. This isnt the first time that something like that has happened either. We have put up with it for about a month now and its exhausting. 

In Janurary, President asked us all to read the Book Of Mormon in 3 months. I completed the assignment and in my interview he asked me what reading the BOM has done for me in the mission. I sat quietly for a second and then realized and then the tears came as I realized how strong reading the BOM has made me. Reading it daily has given me the strength and the knowledge of Christ and while others have been trying to destroy the testimony that I have, I could never doubt the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I realized how true the scripture Heleman 5:12 is, that as we build our foundation upon Christ, the attacks of Satan will NEVER be able to shake us. I can truly testify that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that is can help us come to know our Savior on such a personal level. Even tho this area is a giant pain, I am truly grateful for the experiences I have here becasue I come to know my savior more.

I hope you all have a fantastic week! Thank you for all of the love, suport, and prayers that you send my way.

Hermana Gibson

heres a cute bridge we found!

Week 43- another week down (out of order)

Hola Amigos,

Truthfully, I dont have much to say today. The week was a lot like last week except hotter!! Im considering moving the mattress on the roof. Sometimes i feel like huehue is like vegas, just without the strip and airconditioning. :)

one thing that I learneed this week is that the members are CRUCIAL to missionary work. If we dont have the support of the members we cant do anything. One thing that I realized is that the lord really preparing people and the people that he is preparing to recieve the restored góspel and the people that we knnow.  So share the góspel with your Friends. 

honestly, i dont really have much to share this week. sorry for such a boring email. but i love this work.  I feel like I am learning what I means to endure to the end. We are working so hard and ssometimes we dont feel like we are seeign the fruits that are coming from our wrok, but we keep working becasue we know that there is someone here waiting for us. and we will do everything that we can to find that person!

Thanks for all of the love and support. Heres a picture with one of my favorite families here :)

love

hermana gibson

Week 42 (out of order)

Hola Amigos!

Hmm let me think about what happened this week... Well Tuesday night the lights went out in all of Huehue so we had to go home early, but the good news is that neighbors are members so we got to hang out with them for the night. 

To be honest, this week was super hard work wise, we went from having a ton of investigators to only having 2. So we apent a lot of time contacting this week and only one person was nice enough to let us return with them. It was hard for us to stay animated this week but we smoehow made it through the week. :) 

However our 2 investigators that we have WOW they are so prepared!!!! Her name is Regina and her daughter`s name is Jasmin. The dad is also really receptive but hes never home to teaach. But this week we went back with Regina on wednesday and she said that she only read a few verses out of the BOM so we read with her. And she told us that she realizes now that reading this book if her salvation! WOW right? SçThe next time we went back we explained a little about the Plan of Salvation and she told us that she wanted to go to church but said that she could go by herself and that we didnt have to walk to get her. (Usually when that is said it means that they arent going to come...) but she came!!! and she loved it and told us that she had read a bunch out of the Book of Mormon and told us that she will be baptized the 16 of may!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a miracle but i am so excited for her and i love them so much!

The good this is that even if a day or a week is terribly hard, we can always see miracles and the hand of the lord in our lives as along as we keep pressing on with faith.

I`ll have more exciting stories next week! 

1. some weird fruit that tastes better than it looks...

2. Washing the dishes after lunch

Week 49- hola amigos

Hello Hello Hello!

Well this week was absolutely wonderful!!

Tuesday Hermana Soto and I got to go to the temple. It really was one of the most beautiful experiences. The temple truly is the house of the Lord and when we bring our worries and questions to the temple, seeking the lords help, He wil always bless us with the things that we need. 

Thursday we had an activity called the Iron Rod. Basically they stringed a small rope all through out the chapel and the participants were blind folded and had to "hold to the rod." But they were led through rooms full of temptations, food, music, dancing, soccer, etc. and we had to try to convince them to let go of the rod because there was a "funner" way or "easier" way.  It was such a great experience. I was in charge of getting the people to eat the pizza (thouh it was a temtaion for myself haha) But what a learning experience it was. How many times do we look for happiness or comfort in such wordly things? the rule is simple, we just have to hold on the the iron rod (the word of God) forever and that it how we will reach eternal happiness.

Familia Gusman is doing SO great! I love them so much (just in case i havent said it every email thus far) They are so excited about their wedding and baptism. They are a true testimony of how the Spirit changes people. I remember when we first met Enrique (the boyfriend) he was well..... selfish. He didnt let Regina ggo to church becasue he needed her to be home to make his lunch every Sunday. But now, as we have really talked to them about their significance as children of God and the importance of the Family, he has felt the Spirit and now is inviting everyone to his wedding7baptism, never wants to miss church, and treats his wife with so much respect. They are a true example to me of how Angels and the Holy Ghost help ´prepare and change the hearts of Gods children. Please pray they they will be baptized the 20th of June :)

Here is a pic of the collest kids on the block that always greet us in english. :)

Well I love you all so much and hope that you are all safe and happy. Thanks for the love, support

loveyou,

hermana gibson

Week 48- Feliz Junio

Hello and Happy June!

This week was pretty good. On tuesday we had our district meeting and then we did divisions with the Hermana Leaders. Hermana Bullough came here with me and it was great! We had a lot of fun and I learned a lot from her. 

Saturday was the best day of the week. There was a baptism in Barrio Centro (barrio = ward)  WE were able to take Familia Gusman to the Baptism and it was the most beautiful experience ever! I had the opportunity to sit in the row behind them and seeing them there as a family, i knew that they would soon become a family sealed for all of time and all of eternity. It is such a beautiful thing! They loved the baptism and we now have a set date for the 20th of June. Thats when they will be married and baptized as a family :) I´ll attach a picture of them Then on Sunday Enrique had to go out of town so only Regina and her daughters came to church, but we had a lesson about tithing and Regina wanted to start paying her tithing right then and there. Honestly i just love her so much becasue her desires to follow our heavenly father are so strong!!

Also WE have these little kids who live next to us and every time they see us they yell gringas and come runing out to say "hello" and "goodbye" in english. and shakeour hands. haha they are 2 4 and 6 years old and i just love them so much. And they always help us carry in the groceries, although the bags are bigger than they are haha 

I love you all so much and thank you for all of your prayers! I hope you all have a really good week!

Love,

Hermana Gibson or Dilpso as I have been called this week.

Week 47- another week in hue hue

hola muchachos,

well this week went by extremely slow! but it was still good! Well tuesday my comp was sick and she wanted to keep working, but it started pouring outside so we stayed in. This week it rained alot so that was great!

On Thursday... our house is normally clean.... but i swear that something was dying in our trash so we took the trash ou but the smell still stayed. The  we basically decided to clean the house becasue the smell was so terrible. so now we have a really clean house haha oh and if you werent sure about how we dispose of the trash here in guatemala, we simply find the community dump spot and then when the pile is sufficient enough, someone just lights it all of fire. So yeah, thats cool i guess.

We are working hard to keep finding new investigators. Family Gusman is progressing well. We read then the proclamation to the world and they just loved it. This week we are going to try to put a baptismal date and a marriage date with them. Please keep them in our prayers!!

Our spiritual experience this week: WE have this investigator names Alejandra. Shes married with 3 kids. She has told us how her and her husband always have problems. Well our last visit we invited her to read the BOM and gave her a card about how the BOm answers questions of the soul. She told us that during the week she was just super mad and instead of lashing out she decided to read the book of mormon. she shose to read questions about how to help your marriage and kids. While she was reading she felt such a peace and then when we visited her she told us that she knows that the book of mormon was the wod of God. It was such a cool experience. I KNOW with all of my heart that when we have problems, the book or mormon will ALWAYS help us and give us the direction needed.

We are excited for another good week here. 

con much amor,

Mari Gibson (everyone thinks my name is mary here......)

i really dont have many pics this week sorry, but this is my braid that i did and a pic of the sisters in pray today

Week 46

Ishcamik Amigos,

Thats Good afternon friends in a dialect called Quiche just incase you didnt know ;) 

Well This week went by pretty fast and was great! But due to time restraints, this letter may be a little short.

Well Familia Gusman (Regins, Enrique, and Jasmin) are so incredibly extremely absolutely super positive!! This week we taught them about the Law of Chastity and helped them realize that they needed to get married or seperate. and Regis loked and her husband and told him she wanted to marry him and he had a big smile on his face! I hope your heart just melted like mine did! So they are going to think about a dat to get married. And they all, for the first time together, came to church. In Relief Society, Regins shared her testimony about the Book of Mormon and said that she knows its the word of God and that it brings her so much happiness! I almost cried :) So we will be having a wedding and a few baptisms pretty soon!! :)

We also have found so many positive people that we are excited about! 

Here is a picture of our recent convert pablo. And also this river for once looked somewhat decent. but normally there are like 4 dead dogs floating in it..... and it smells terrible. 

This week was the Week of the Family and everynight there was an activity in the church. We unknowlingly had to give a presentation abuot the 72 hour backpack for emergencies. I guess we pulled it off well, but we had no idea what to do haha. 

Well, just that i think. I love you all and hope you are all safe and happy. Thanks for all of the love and support siempre!

Hermana GIbson

Week 45- Feliz Dia de La Mama :)

Well this week was absolutely amazing!! For the last month, we have been seeing some really hard times. But everyday we kept enduring with faith that we would see the blessings from our diligence and obedience. So we kept going but nothing was really workingout for us. But this week we recieved the blessings!

Sunday we had ward council and the Bishop told us that he wanted to help the missionary work in every way possible. (Miracle numero 1) Then in church everyone greeted out investigator!!!!!! THAT NEVER HAPPENS! (Miracle number 2) and then.....

Miracle Number 3: We have this investigator that we have been teaching named Regina. We have been teaching her for 2 months and the last two weeks have been hard to find her and she stopped reading the Book of Mormon. So when we met with her, miraclously her husband was there and we taught them the Restoration again, but this time, the Spirit was SO strong. Finally we ended and the Husband, Enrique, said the prayer and asked God if what we taught him was the truth. After, Regina told us that she felt something so strongly in her chest and was almost in tears. It was such a special moment. Then Saturday night we went to a mothers day activity with her and I asked if she read the book of mormon. Then she said the greatest thing of all....... prepare yourselves....... Hermana, I know that these things are true. I talked to my "husband"  and we want to get married. We want to establish ourselves in  the church that Christ built, then we want to get married. I dont care about buying the best food in the market Sunday, I dont want to miss out on the blessings that christ has for me. ANd i will fight so hard to be in the true church!!!!!!   W.O.W right?!?! I had the biggest smile on my face. I couldnt even contain the joy that was in my heart and that was maybe one of the happiest moments of my life!!! 

SO many of our prayers were answered and I feel so much the Love of my Heavenly Father. Even tho my are is a little tough, I LOVE it becasue i am learning so much what it means to depend on Christ every minute of my life and to really give this work my all so that I can do His will. One thing that I love about the mission is that i have such a joy in my heart and i am always happy! I love every minute of this work. 

I hope that all of the mothers had the best mothers day ever! I am so grateful for all of the many strong and faithful women in my life who have been such an example to me. I love you all so much. 

Oh and they announced changes last night and im going to be the first Sister assistent to the President...... just kidding. Hermana Soto and I will be staying here in Las Flores for one more change :)

Lots of love,

Hermana Gibson

1. A pic with famlia  Molina. My favorite family here :)

2. Our not so great mothers day pic.

Week 41- 10 Months!

HOLA!

This week was absolutely amazing and so busy!

Tuesday was actually a heartbreaking day but spiritually uplifting. This week was one of the hardest but most amazing weeks in the mission. We had an invesitgator that had a baptismal date (Pricila) and we were really excited about her progression. She loved conference but the next time that we saw her she told us that he didnt want anything and the spirit confirmed to us that we needed to leave her for a little while. It was heart breaking to have to leave her becasue she struggles with depression and admitted to us that the only time she was happy was when she was reading the book of mormon or talking to us. There was one moment when I felt like I had lost the battle, but then I realize that I only won becasue I came to know the atonement of Jesus Christ on a very personal level. I realized that His heart breaks when we dont complete with the commandments just like ours does when our invesgitators dont do their part. And I also realized that our hand is always extended to our inv and she just has to call on us the way that Christ´s hand is always extended and he is waiting for us to call on him. Even though it was heart breaking to leave her, I am grateful for the experience to come to know my savior more. 

Thursday we went to Xela for the "half way through training meeting" with Hermana Soto and it was SO fun. We learned alot and Hermana Soto and I are both extremely grateful to have eachoter as companions.

Friday we had a Zone meeting and that was the best! We did an activity about how to follow the spirit in a world where there are so many noises and voices telling us what to do. They blindfolded us and individually led us through a obstacle course but the trick was that there were two voices telling us what to do. When we followed the wrong voice, the spirit withdrew and we were lost, just like what happens when we dont obey the commandments. And finally the other voice started pushing me into the "room of darkness" but that was when I realized that Christ would never push us to do anything. He only will invite us to follow him and we are the ones to make the choice to follow him. The hard part was that both of the voices promised me happiness but only one was eternal happiness. But finally I had to make a choice and when I thought hard about it, I was able to distinguish the right voice and it led me to "heaven" where hymns were playing aand the Sacrament was laid out with picture of Christ. It was such a spiritual experience!

Saturday we had a baptism of Pablo who had been listening to the sisters for quite some time now but his mom finally gave us permission to baptize him. It was a beautiful service! Then Saturday night we had a 2 ward wide activity called the Plan of Salvation where we decprated every room according to every part of the plan of salvation. It was great and we had a great turn out!

Well this week was great and we are excited for another great week!

My camera died, so expect a lot of pictures next week!

Love Hermana Gibson

Week 40- Feliz Semana Santa

Hola!

I hope you all had the most amazing and spiritually uplifting Easter and Gerenal Conference Weekend! Honestly it was one of the best weekends in the misison for me because I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!! 

Well here the catholic/guatemalan tradition is to celebrate all week the death and resurection of Jesus Christ. This week everything was shut down and there was NOBODY in the street (or home for that matter.) But we somehow always had something to do. 

The most accomplishing thing this week was a lesson that we had with out investigator Pricila. Shes a joven of 16 years and we have been teaching her for 2 months now. Well she has had a really hard childhood and the memories have scarred her relationship with God. But we have finally been able to see her progress and she now knows that she has a Heavenly Father who loves her and a few weeks ago she told us that she wanted to be baptized but she doesnt have permission from her mom. So we have been praying super hard that her mom would give her permission. Side note, Pricilla`s mom lives in a small town hours outside of Huehue. So last time we talked to Pricila, she said that her mom told her that if she wants to be baptized, she can!!!! IM STOKED because we have been working SO hard with Pricila. So please keep her in your prayers. 

Conference was AMAZING! Sadly we couldnt watch it in english and the translators were having a rough time, so it wasnt the same but it was still absolutely amazing!!!! I loved a talk by Dale G Renlund that talks about how we are only "Latter-Day SAINTS" when we apply the atonement in our lives. He encouraged us to always look for ways to repent daily. I used to think repenting only meant to ask forgiveness what we made a big mistake, but isnt all that it means! Repenting is really the best thing ever because it allows us to become more like Jesus Christ daily. It allows is to be happier than we were yesterday and become more perfected in Christ. Repenting is the best because we are allowing ourselves to be even more blessed by Jesus Christ!!!!! Isnt that the best? And I loved that Elder Redlund said that we allow ourselves to become perfected in Him through the Sacrament and if we dont we just are "Latter Day sinners." (That was a little but of a machete but it was also great!) So i invite you all to look for what the sacrament means to you and find a passion for it like i have recently found!

Well i hope Conference made you guys as pumped as it made me! Life is just the best and i LOVE the gospel!!!

Also this week my comp took out a little girls tooth for 1 quetzal, ill send a pic! And also our fance new rubber rain boots! Going hipster over here in Huehue

Week 39- Happy Easter

Hola Amigos,

This week has been absolutely FANTASTIC!!! Seriously, I cant believe that it is already Monday! Let me highlight a few things that went down.

1. Huehue almost sets fire to the rain- I should be a weather predictor when I get home because I so called that it was going to rain early this year and we are currently going strong with our third day of rain! It´s like a 60% chance that its already raining outside... Also another fun thing about Huehue is that there is a mountain in our area that was up in flames Thursday morning becasue it was so hot and then it POURED rain in the afternoon!

2. House Inspections-  This week a misisonary couple came to inspect our house and we got...... drumroll please..... a 9 out of 10! The mission really does change people :)

3. Divisions aka Gringa Time- On Friday we did divisions and it was the best! I went with Hermana Marcheschi who is from Utah and also goes to BYU: Fun fact, we lived in the same dorms together fall semester at BYU. But divisions were SO much fun. I learner so much from her and how I can be a better missionary. We are super excited to start our eternal friendship haha

4. Baleadas- Last night we went to a members house and made a classic dish from Honduras which my comp taught us how. It was so fun and the members were happy. Becasue half of the people that we have met here want us to make them for them. So We crossed off a few people from the beginning of the list and only have 3983498364 people to go... Should be easy right?

5. Teaching with Power and Authority- This week we had an AMAZING lesson. We were teaching our inv Jacqulin (who is from the Dominican Republic) and her husband was there. Well we was just being stubborn and was asking us a million questions. It was so amazing becasue finally when we gave us time to answer, we were truely given what we needed to say in that moment. We were speaking with such power and authority that after the lesson, I just wanted to do a happy dance becasue it was the most amazing feeling! And he finally gave up questioning us becasue the spirit sonfirmed that what we were saying was the truth. AMAZING!!!!

6. The atonement- So this week I had also been praying thatg I would be able to come to know the atonement better, and prayers are ALWAYS answered my friends. We got a call Thursday night that we were going to be given a talk in Sacrament about the Atonement. So I had been studying super hard the atonement and praying that i would be able to draw closer to Christ through the opportunity that I  had to talk about him, and i did! Sunday Morning I finalized my talk and literally wanted to run to the capilla to share with everyone the Spirit that I felt as I studied and How I know that Christ really lives.

I dont have time to share everything that I shared at church, but I do want you guys to know that Christ lives and he loves everyone of us. It doesnt matter who we have been, where we are, or have we have done, His atonement is infinite and eternal. He lives and we weill never been alone. Our elder brother is always here to help us if we jsut call on him. I invite all of you to watch this short clip that the church has released. helives.mormon.org   Watch it, think about what Christ has done for you, and then share it with EVERYONE! Christ lives and I know it! Happy Easter.

Love you all,

Hermana Gibson

1. My little sisters here in Huehue

2. Baleadas

Week 38

Hola Amigos!

This week has been great. To start it off, Monday we had a last minute baptism of a "Child of Record" Which means that his parents are 8 and that he needed to be baptized. It was a beautiful service. A few members in our ward and my comp wanted to sing a hymn in english so we sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" and even though no one understood, the Spirit did the talking. It was great!

Then Wednesday we had a lesson with an inv called Noemi. She is super positive and has a baptism date. Well this lesson we were teaching about the Book of Mormon and her dad decided to "talk" with us too. Well her dad is also a pastor of his own church and basically his "talk" turned into 30 min attack on us and our church. So that was fun.... I had so many scriptures to prove him wrong, but I just sat there quietly and honestly a little heart broken that someone would say so many terrible things about the church. But we didnt fight back, and when we finally finished, we just thanked him for the comments and returned to the lesson with Noemi. The good news is that the lesson with her went well!

On Friday we had a Multi Zone Conference and it was AMAZING!! I really learned a lot about how to better my teaching and contactings. One thing that is hard here is that everyone seems to agree with our message, which basically means is that they dont understand. Becasue when we teach about the Book of Mormon, they easily accept it was the word of God becasue it wtalks about him.... Which even though it sounds like a blessing, its actually really hard becasue they dont understand really what it is. So we learnedd how we can help people recognize that our message is different from what their church believes. It was so great! ANd we also got to see a little bit of the movie "Meet the Mormons!" It was amazing!!!!

Today for pday we got to have out fun pday and we played volleyball and barbaqued as a zone. it was so fun!

Love you guys and have a great week!

Also Shoutout to Andrew Miller for getting his mission call to Tokyo and for having personal messangers here in Huehue! Good luck dude, you will be awesome!

Love, Hermana Gibson

Week 37- Halfway there!

Hola Hola Hola!

This week has by so fast I can barely believe it!! 

Well to start off, I have officially hit halfway in the mission. This week we were taking to some members and they told me that I was now on the countdown but I dont believe that one bit! I honestly feel like I am still starting the mission and that I have SO much more to learn and become. Time is really flying by which makes me a little sad becasue I love the mission.

Okay, something cool that happened this week.... The hermanas before had an investigator se llama Pablo. He is 12 years old and has been coming to church alone for the last 4 months and wants to be baptized but didnt have permission from his mom. He used to live in our area but 3 months ago they moved, but still asists in our ward. So we can only visit him Sundays. But this Sunday he didnt show up but we felt really strongly that we needed to visit him. The problem is that he doesnt live in our area nor does he have a cell phone to call. But the Spirit was strong when telling us that we needed to visit him so we asked for permission and it was granted unto us. So we left the house with a lot of faith becasue we didnt know if he would even be home! We went with our Ward Mission Leader, Dany, and basically ran to Pablos house. When we got there we recognized that to get to his house its one small door and then there are like 50 houses behind the door. So we stood there knocking for 10 minutes and no one answered. But we didnt lose hope. Finally a man that lived there was returning home and he let us in. So then we had to find wich house was Pablos. But luckily we found that pretty quickly. Finally when we arrived Pablo wasnt there but his mom let us in. So we talked to her about the church and what Pablo is learning and she was super cool. One thing to know is that for the last two weeks we had been praying that Pablos mom would notice the change that the gospel had brought him and give him permission to be baptized. So at the end of our lesson with his mom we asked if she thinks Pablo is ready to be baptized and she said, "Honeslty I have really seen a great change in him and I think that he is ready." (but in spanish...) CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! our prayers we answered!! So now we just have to talk to Pablo to but the date of his baptism!

It was honestly a really cool experience so literally walk and continue forward with faith. We didnt know why we needed to visit Pablo nor did we know if he would be home, but the Spirit guided us knowing that His mothers heart was softened to allow his to be baptized! It was amazing. I really am learning a lot about what it means to walk in faith and follow the spirit. It was hard to cancel the rest of our cits becasue it was a possibilty that nothing was going to come from walking super far to Pablos house, and we feared that we were going to lose the sacred time that we were given, but we did it in faith and we saw a miracle! 

That was definitely the coolest thing that happened this week! I love the mission and it really is a huge trial of our faith. But when we press forward in faith, we will see miracles! This week I was reading in the book of Mormon chapter 9:19-21 Where Moroni talks about how God has never ceased to be a God of miracles, it is just according to our faith that we see them. 

Be faithful in all that you do, and you will see many miracles.

I love you all and thank you for all of the love and support. I hope you all have a MIRACULOUS week :)

Love,

Hermana Gibson

Week 36

Hey Everyone!

This week has been super eventful, I dont even know where to begin. 

Thursday we went to the temple!!! And WOW i absolutely love the temple. We woke up at 5 to get to Xela at 9 and we had some spare time so we took a ton of pictures! (Prepare yourselves, all of the pictures are coming your way!) But the temple experience was so amazing. I had been studying DC 109 for the last two weeks to prepare myself to enter the Santo Templo and also went with the desire to know how we can have success in our area, becasue it is a hard one! And I fully have a testimony that when we prepare ourselves spiritually to enter the temple and enter with a humble heart, we WILL ALWAYS recieve the answers to our prayers. So the temple was amazing, and then on a more temporal amazing note, we all went to Pizza Hut after as a Zone. It was a Blast!

Saturday night we got a call saying that we needed to got to Guate to to the papers of my companion. We had to leave church after sacrament meeting Sunday to catch a bus going to Xela. Well our bus driver, who might just be the next lead actor in Fast and the Furious, cut our 2 and a half hour bus ride into 1 hour. And is was a blessing that the lady next to me only threw up once.... Needless to say my face was plastered to the window trying to get some fresh air so that I didnt join her in the vomiting games. But the great part was that we had a little spare time in Xela. SO we went to go visit Cristhian Garcia in Los Altos. IT WAS THE GREATEST THING EVER!!!!!!!! We sat as talked for about 1 hour and he talked about how much he loved the church and how happy and complete he feels now that he has the priesthood. (Sidenote, his wife and baby live in Nebraska and his date to go to the states in is march) So we were talking about what he is going to do when he gets to the states and he told me, with a HUGE smile on his face how he was looking online at pictures of the Nebraska temple and how he cant wat to go! Even though I want to , I really cannot explain how full my heart was as I heard him say that! He truly is converted to the gospel and is the most amazing example to me!

Well after hanging out with Cristhian, we caught the 4 hour bus ride from Xela to Guate (Guatemala City) which was just about the most nauseating thing ever! But luckily no one threw up on the bus this time. But Monday morning we got up and met with other missionaries from Coban and Reu and everyone that had to do their papers went to immigration and those of us who didnt just hung out and played UNO. Then we had to catch a bus back to Xela and then Huehue. We left at noon and didnt get back until 8:30 last night, hench why I am writing today!

I also just want to share a tender mercy from the Lord that was given to me. The area that we are in is pretty hard. Usually people are open to our visits and its easier to find new investigators but here they literally yell at us and freak out when they find out we are mormons hahaha its quite entertaining actually. But after a long week of lessons falling through, I recieved the package from the youth of the  Cheyenne Ridge Ward and THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!! Your letters and chocolate were exactly what I need. So thank you guys for the letters of encouragement and I want you all to know that the mission, though extremely hard, is the BEST THING EVER!!! And to answer your questions, the worst things that I have eaten have been cow stomach and cow foot.... yeah, I wasnt a fan of those. 

Thank you all for all of the love and support from home. I hope everything is going well for you guys. Also be prepared for all of the pictures that you are about to recieve! Have a fantastic week. 

Con much amor,

Hermana Gibson

1. Package from the Cheyenne Ridge Ward

2. Temple Day

Week 34- Welcome To Huehuetenango!

Hola Hola Hola!

Well amigos, I have offically left Quetzaltenango and am now in the city of HueHue or to help you pronouce it, Way Way :) I am in the area called Las Flores and I am in the Zone Huehue Centro. and guess what........ I AM ONLY 1 HOUR AWAY FROM MEXICO!!! I think that is one of the coolest parts, but it also means that its super hot here. I am also in the same area where both of my trainers served, and now i have my "daughter" here so it´s apparrently the best place to raise a family. 

Speaking of my daughter, she is ABSOLUTELY the best! Her name is Hermana Soto and she is from Tegucigalpa. Honduras. She is absolutely adorable and we are having so much fun opening the area together! (which is good becasue opening and area and training can be a little stressful at times.) But she rocks and I think we are going to have a really gret time together!

Well, let me give you a little relay of our trip here. So Tuesday morning they told me that I would be going to open an area in Huehue....... I know nothing about huehue. So that made me a little nervous. I can easily get my way around Xela, but huehue is a different story! Well anyway, I dropped Hermana Rodriguez off in the terminal and she found her new comp and I had to find another sister that was training and we were comps for the day. Then we went to Wendy´s to eat and then the capilla to wait for our children. Then the best part is that we were sitting in the meeting and my phone went off, but i didnt know that it was mine becasue they just gave me the phone when I was in the terminal. So all of us trainers were sitting there like... wow these new kids brought their own phones..... we are going to have problems with them. hahaha Then I realized that it was my phone. But the funniest part is that President has just finished reading a scripture about how Christ is calling us.... #literally

So then we left the meeting anf hopped on a giant crazy painted school bus and headed to huehue which is 2 hours out of Xela. Then we arrived in Huehue at 7:30 at night and the lights in all of huehue went out!!! Also it was Dia de Carnival (which i guess is a catholic holiday) and to celebrate they throw eggs full of flour, or confetti, or just straight up eggs. So when we arrived and got off the bus, we were jsut standing there on the bridge without light, two girls who dont know eachother let alone Huehue, and fearing that we were going to get egged. But luckily nothing happened, the lights came back, and members came to rescue us haha It was quite an adventure to say the least.

Well something cool about Huehue is there is a little suburb of the city called Las Vegas...... so basically im home. And I see my mom´s car everywhere here! The good thing is that if we dont have lunch, I can just hop right over to the house and mom can make us food :)

This week we found a new investigator named Pricila and we invited her to be baptized and she accepted! She also came to church (which really is the bigger miracle!) So we are excited to work with her for her baptism in March.

Oh last fun fact, we got here and our toilet was clogged....... So that was a whole other adventure in itself.

Well I love Huehue and Im excited to be here!

Until next week my friends,

Hermana Gibson

Week 33- Mission Accomplished: Los Altos

Holaaaaaaaaaa!

Wow what a great week it has been. Tuesday we had our first Noche de Hermanamiento which is a ward Family Home Evening. We shared a small message called "Who am I?" and then played some games. We had a great turn out of investigators, recent converts, less actives and active members! The whole niught was a huge success and so much fun!

Wednesday I completed 8 months in the mission! WOW time has gone by so fast. But wednesday I also got a call that I will be training again. So that made me super nervous becasue that meant that possible i would be having changes..... (We will get to that in a second.)

Saturday (Valentines Day) was the best day ever becasue....... CRISTHIAN GARCIA GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the most beautiful thing that I have possible ever seen in my entire life! At his baptism, he bore his testimony about how he used to be super hard hearted when it came to all things religious. But He shared that as he read the Book of Mormon, he felt his heart change, And he concluded his testimony saying that being baptized was the best decision of his life! I almost cried! Seriously, to see him change his life to follow the Lord has been one of the biggest blessings that I have seen in my life. He not only got baptized, but he is truly converted to the gospel! Wow, the best Valentines EVER!

Well for other news, last night we got "the call" and both Hermana Rodriguez and I have changes. So tomorrow we will have to go to the terminal to find the new comp of hna Rodriguez and then Im gong to have to find someone to be my comp for a ocuple of hours while I wait for my hija to come! I´m super nervous becasue I will be going to open a new area again, but maybe this time it will be a little easier. But I am super sad to leave Los Altos becasuse I LOVE the people here with all of my heart. There have been people here that have taught me so much and I will never forget them. The mission is bittersweet in that sense, you grow to love the people and then they take you out haha but thats okay, the Lord needs me somewhere else. 

But one thing that this area has helped me recognize is who I really am. Before my baptism, I knew that I had a purpose but I never really understood exaclty what it was. But thanks to the blessings of the Restored Gospel, I know my purpose. I am a daughter of God. I am here to grow and learn so that one day I can return to his presence. I know why we have trials and I know that Christ gave an infinite Atonement and becasue of that we can always have hope. I know who I am and why I am here, and this knowledge brings me a lot of joy and peace. 

I am sad to leave Los Altos because some of the most precious moments and people to me are here. But I have finished the mission that the Lord needed me to complete here. 

Well, I love you all and thank you for all of the love and support.

Signing out from Los Altos for the last time,

Hermana Gibson

1.  Silver and Christian Andres Garcia... 2 kidz dat r way 2 kool 4 skool

2. Me attempting to pack......

Week 32- Temple Square Mission

Hello Hello Hello!!

This week passed by crazy fast! This week we was super exciting. We were called to work at the temple! The temple is SUPER close to our area, so once a week we are going to to up to the temple and work there. Next to the temple is an annex building where visitors can come and stay the night. Its like a mini hotel and visitors center. So we walk around the temple grounds and inside the annex and talk to everyone hoping that investigators will come. Apparently huge groups from other churches come and visit so that is why we are there. It was a really neat experience. Only ended up talking to two non members, but it was cool to be so close to the temple all day. 

Then on Saturday we had a baptism! Her name is Dulce Jasmin Xicara and she is 8 years old. Her mom is a recent convert but soon became less active. We had been visiting her for almost 2 months now and the has started to become completely reactivated. It has been great to see her growth. But on Saturday we baptized her daughter and it was a wonderful experience and we even have some investigators come!! ( a miracle) 

Then another miracle is that yesterday we had a few non members just randomly show up to church, so we are super excited to start teaching them! 

Today for Pday we got permission to do something togehter as a Zone, so we went to Parque Central where they vend a ton of souviners and then we all went to eat at a resturant that over looks the entire city. It was pretty cool and a fun day! 

sorry for the short email. I was super sick all week so nothing too exciting happened. butLove you all and thanks for all of the support back home! Have a wonderful week

Hermana Gibson 

Week 31- Hola, Me Llamo Moroni

Buenas Tardes Mis Amigos,

Wow, what a great and fast week it has been here in Los Altos. Let me think of all the crazy things that have happened here! 

Monday was the birthday of Jasmin Xicara.(She-Car-Ah) So we bought her a little cake and threw her a surprise birthday party. The mom was so happy because they barely even had money to buy food, let alone a delicious cake. And we are preparing her for her baptism this Sunday! We are super excited about that! The mom is also less active, but she is making some serious progress and there is a member of the ward that is sick and she volunteered to help, which is seriously unlike her. So it is really cool to see her becoming reactivated!

Thursday, we went and helped paint a room in a members house and that was a fun experience, then they gave us a delicous lunch after! After that we went to visit some recent converts but they have geese and they attacked me!! Good thing I have learned quickly to defend myself with my backpack whenever animals are near so they ended us biting my backpack, but we were screaming like crazy and the nerighbors left their house to see what was going on hahaha it was quite the sight! Then later that night i almost got bit by a dog!!! Thursday, was not my day with the animals!

However about a month ago we found these brand new puppies in a ditch and when we walked by they were so irresistable so we played with them for a little biit but then never saw them again..... until wednesday! we were walking in the same area and they all came running over to us and wanted to play and it was sooooo adorable! and they almost followed us all the way to our next cita. Dont worry, ill send pics :)

Well another funny thing that happened is that we were in a lesson with other recent converts and they are 2 brothers that are 50 years old, unmarried and live together. Well awhile ago we asked them why they go to church and they said its becasue the elders promised them that they would find girlfriends haha well we were explaining the sabbath day and the other sister were explaining that they can watch movies, but that are of the church, go to activities, of the church, read books, of the church.....etc. and said "and look at girls....... of the church!" LAWLS! I hope it was as funny for you as it was for me, because he said it in all seriousness hahaha 

Also this week we had to drop some of our investigators becasue they werent progressing. One of them, we went to their house becasue we had a cita with them. Well, we knocked the door and they forgot but they told us to hold on and that they would come to the door in a second. Well 15 minutes passed and we knocked again. This time a differend chica came to the door and we asked if our inv was coming and she said yeah, hold on........ well 20 minutes later, we decided that they actually werent coming and then we left. So yeah, that happened! 

Also, like always we found a drunk in the streets, but this one was a less active that we had visited. Well i asked if he remembered who we were and he said "Yeah, you are Moroni!"............ yeah, something like that.

Well, today we went to Walmart, Subway, and I got my haircut. Felt a little bit like i was in the States.

Anyway, hope you all are loving life and things are well back at home. Thank you for all of your love, support, and prayers!

Love,

Hermana Moroni