"Conquers through Him that loved us."

Wow, what a ride:) I can't believe it's almost over! There aren't words for any emotion I am feeling right now except for AAHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Good thing He's promised to be with us always, even if we are in an air plane!

This week was absolutely fabulous. Wetumpka was a party as well as the temple! LaRhonda is so sweet!!!! My Goodness it is so fun to meet great Christians here in the South. I've learned so much from them! LaRhonda took us out to lunch and we left her with a Book of Mormon that I have been marking up. She loved it and said she would read it! We talked some Restoration with her but the Book Mormon will do the trick. We met her sister as well and they all said, "You look just like Brad!!" Thanks for my good looks dad:)  

Oh my Goodness the temple was so good. It was so good to see Stacey again!!!!!!! Oh how I love her! Everything went perfectly. The spirit that filled the Celestial room was stronger than any spirit I had felt. Wow. Just Wow. I also saw Miss Decia Brown and Peggy Lynch from Decatur:) Oh how I love them! Sister Teel drove us to the temple and spent it there with us. Wow, what a champion she is! She's a member in Talladega and she has 7 kids! We put my bike in her short bus and dropped her off at the mission storage unit. It was hard to say goodbye to Wanda. We've been through so much together. For real though dogs, cars, squirrels you name it.

Luke 24:32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

I know that Jesus Christ is alive. He has truly walked with me every step of my mission.

A few days ago I felt pretty awful. I had a headache and I think the mission tired is finally catching up to me. So I got my blanket and my pillow and fell asleep in the closet while my sweet companions weekly planned. I remember praying to Heavenly Father to take away the pain and I realized something that had changed in me over these 18 months. Since I have put into action the principle of the Lord's grace I have truly been able to feel the Saviors healing powers. Whether the healing has been through physical, emotional, or spiritual means I have felt his love.

So how do we access his Grace?

We have to do all we can. In my case, I had done all that I could to feel better. I had taken meds as well as tried to sleep in a dark place and now was the time for Him to help. "For we know that it is by Grace we are saved, after all we can do." 2 Nephi 25:23 After my prayer I fell asleep and the pain was gone, but even more comforting is I felt the Savior near me. In the Bible Dictionary we read that there are 2 comforters of course the first is the Holy Ghost but the second is the Savior Jesus Christ Himself. I do know that he is with us. 

Do we know Him? Can we recognize his presence?

How does Grace apply to spiritual healing?

Have we done all we can to come to Him?

I know that it is through the Savior that we can feel true joy.

I love y'all! I am so very grateful for the support and prayers! We have felt them! Thank you for cheering me on and keeping me going! I love you!

See you soon!

Forever Steadfast in our Savior Jesus Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

Stacey's Endowment!!

Goodbye Wanda!!!

It snowed in Oxford, AL!!!!!!!

Hey Fam,

I'm telling you everyone goes to Walmart and stocks up on their bread, milk, and eggs the minutes someone says snow. It didn't stay for long but it was fun! One of our investigators Angela called us and said, "I'm jus callin ta leht ya knowa thaat it's snowin outsihde!" Forgive me my Southern is very weak. Hahahah. She's so funny!

We had a missionary broadcast this week. It was pretty neat! It wasn't anything we hadn't heard before but it was by Apostles so it made it all the more powerful. After Pres. Hanks asks, "Why do they teach us things that we already know?" There's a lot of answers but what stood out to me was President testifying of this church being led by Jesus Christ himself and that the Holy Ghost is the real teacher. No matter the message if the spirit is there we will be inspired to change in our own specific way.

This week we taught Rita and her Mom! We found her in the mall during the last 20 minutes of the day! I was thinking well it's about time to go. Let's walk back to the car but Sister Rodriquez says, "Look! Our last two to get our goal!" We talked to them set up an appointment and they kept it!!!!!! What would we do without Sister Rodriquez? We had a great Book of Mormon lesson and answered her question of why bad things happen to good people as well as how to know if God is there. The spirit was so strong in her purple bedroom. We were all sitting on the floor because her grandparents were in the other room. We also taught the Restoration and they loved it.

So guess what? We got a text on Sunday that said they basically got antied. Great. Well that won't stop us. The Gospel is true and she is strong enough to find out!!!!!! GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

We also taught Mary this week. Mary is so elect. My goodness. I don't know if I told you but we found them as they were rushing to church a few weeks ago. Mary the mom of the family was flustered trying to get everyone in the car and basically brushed us off. Later, her daughter told her what she did and the next time we saw Mary she let us in and fed us breakfast! She loves the Book of Mormon and is asking if this really is the truth. She told us as we taught the Plan of Salvation that we have a little more Grace than other churches, meaning that we have restored truths! It's true! What a blessing it is. Pray for Mary. She's almost there:)

Yesterday, we got to pray a demon out of a home! Did you know that you don't have to hold the priesthood to bless a home? We didn't see any signs of the demon but it definitely brought peace to the people in the home. Heavenly Father is always good.

Anyways, Faith, pride, and roll tide everyone. Time is flyin. AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Forever Steadfast in Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

Here is part of an email Abby sent to me today…

Elise sounds wonderful. I can't wait to see her. That's sad about Phil. Happy that they are together.

I get really nervous when I pack, say goodbye to people, and notice that the expiration dates at Walmart are past Feb 3... I know it's going to be fine but there's nothing like mission life. I feel so encouraged and guided here. I don't have a mission President to train me every so often on what I can do to be happier or how I can succeed at home. I like the structure here and everybody has to like everybody. It's safe. I'll take Elise's advice and trust God. He already told me it's going to be fine but you know still scared. Anyways, I'll have tons of people helping me. The Gospel is the same everywhere.

I'm excited to see you!!!!!!!!!

We have crazy plans for this week. Hopefully we are seeing dad's referral in Wetumpka on Tuesday and Stacey is going through the temple on Saturday!!! I'm her escort... I've forgotten a lot of the prep I did for the temple. Anything I need to know? I forgot the scriptures I read to prepare. Do you have those?

I would love to eat at Cafe Rio:) I'm sure ideas will come when I'm there.

Love you! Thanks for the letters and everything.
Sister Gibbs

Cute Sister Rodriquez at our Relief Society Book of Mormon activity! 

The Members are going to give the copies out! Woot Woot! Along with 

Sister Copeland from the Philippines.

This is Oxford lake! This is where we chased down the Walkers.

Sister Rodriquez, Sister Bradford and Sister Gibbs

We finally got one in the air!  Sister Rodriquez, Sister Bradford and Sister Gibbs

Hello Hello!!!

Family! Wahoo! We aren't orphans after all. 

Happy Robert E. Lee day yesterday...or Martin Luther King Day. It all depends on how you look at it. Mary Lou a good friend of a member who drove with all of us to get Sister Rodriquez is all for Robert E. Lee. :)

This week we did a 70 hour week and guess what our reward is (drum role............) Sister Rodriquez! We are in a trio! We picked her up yesterday! Her companion went home so we get happy Sister Rodriquez:) We are having a blast! It's like a sleep over every night! Oh wow we love being missionaries:) Sister Rodriquez is from California and she has already served in Talladega! She knows the area better than we do! What a blessing.

Anyways, we've met a ton of elect people this transfer. They are all at about the same level. So we are teaching a lot of Book of Mormon and Plan of Salvation lessons. I'm telling you Talladega is on Fire! Now we are hoping that they keep their commitments. 

Here's how we found Jacob this week. Jacob the elect is a senior in high school that we found at Jacks. We weren't even planning on meeting our other investigator Tim there, but Jacks is where Heavenly Father stopped his car, by the bed almost falling off, for a special purpose. As we are teaching Tim about prophets, we asked Tim if he could pull up a video on his phone. It turns out that he couldn't. Bummer. Then Sister Bradford turns to me and says, "You ain't down to ask that kid if we can borrow his phone..." Of course I'm down! Jacob had already heard us talking about it and let us borrow it anyways. So we showed both of them the video and taught the Restoration. Jacob loved it and said he would get baptized when he knew it was true!!!!! 

We are meeting with him again this week. We don't have any baptism dates yet but I think they are coming soon. 

Anyways, this week there is a world wide missionary conference from Salt Lake! Woot Woot! We also have interviews. Time is flying fast y'all. Not going to lie. I'm a little exhausted but definitely not as exhausted as the Elders. Did you know they serve for 2 YEARS!!!!! It's the roughest, funnest time you'll have in your life. 

This week Sister Bradford and I gave a training in District Meeting on how Christ-like attributes help you become a better missionary. The day before, we tracted basically all day. We met a lot of nice Baptists and some not so nice ones, but our personal experience we used for our training was based on that wonderful day. In the wise words of Sister Bradford, "Even though we were diligently tracting in the cold all day long we know the people noticed we were still smiling." Even if we were basically hysterical, the people know in their hearts who we represent. 

I love you. Can't wait to see you soon!!! AAAHHHHH!

Well love y'all! Make it a great week!

Steadfast in Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

PS Guess what! Stacey Woods is going through the temple on Jan. 30th!!!!! I'm probably going to get to go!!!! 

Lunch with a member (grilled cheese and macaroni for Abby!) 

Our first picture together! We got noses from Chick-fil-a. 

Pilipino Food!!!

The Elders thought it would be funny to write all over our car! 

John 13:35 "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

Dear Family and Friends,

What a fabulous week we had! I absolutely love Sister Bradford. I love her so much I titled this email with the scripture that she reminds me of. She is such a disciple and people can tell by how she loves everyone she meets! It's a gift and a talent that I am learning from her. All disciples sincerely love.

"Alma 26:31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us."

I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to earth by a prophet of God.

This past Sunday Sister Bradford and I went to a Non-Denominational church. I learned a lot. Even though the church had a coffee bar, a rock concert, and preaching I absolutely knew something was missing... As we were surrounded by people yelling their praises to God I felt the still small voice bring to my remembrance a scripture that I had read earlier in the week,

"Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (1 Peter 5:8-9)

The music was great and matched the favors of the world, the preaching was entertaining and mostly convincing, but was it of God?

-the philosophies of men mingled with scripture

-the elect will hear my voice

I felt in that moment, as I stood next to wonderful people who were all so very confused, a great and powerful gratitude for our ancestors who walked across the country so we could have the Restored Gospel.

I have some questions for us to ponder.

Who is God?

Who is Jesus Christ?

How does the spirit speak and teach us?

How can we be steadfast so the devil will resist us?

Can we be partly in the world?

Can we be mostly obedient?

These people believed they were worshipping God with all that they had, but who were they worshipping? Who are we worshipping?

Sister Bradford and I sang "We Thank the Oh God for a Prophet" as we ran from that place.

I know that we can learn the true nature of God as we ask him himself. What a blessing it is to have that knowledge.

We are teaching some fabulous people. 3 of them are working on the word of wisdom and are rocking it. One of our investigators came to church this week. The Sisters have been teaching him for a long time now so it was great to see him at church!

Have a fabulous week.

Forever Steadfast in Jesus Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

Did you know that Sister Anderl, Nielsen, and Bradford were in the same 

MTC group!:) All three have been my companion:) wahoo!

A sample of our rock concert! 

Happy New Year!!!!

IT WAS THE BEST NEW YEAR EVER!!!!!!

The Elders have been teaching a part member family for a while now and he wanted to be baptized on New Year's Eve so he did! He came out of the water at 11:55. Wow what a great start to a New Year eh? We have a new Elder from Canada here and his "eh's" must be rubbing off on me. Anyways, It was so cool. The best part was to see the whole family together and knowing that they all were on the right track. It's too fun to see a Dad get baptized:)

Yes, we got permission to go from President. Wow I haven't stayed up that late in forever! We were so tired. All missionaries had to be in by 6:00 that night so Sister Bradford and I played a card game and as our eyes were closing we decided to take a nap before the baptism. We jumped in our beds and laughed for 10 minutes screaming,

"Who are we! We are so old! Wow we've definitely changed on the mission! We can't even stay up till mid-night!" So funny. 

The nap was definitely worth it because the next day was rough but we did it. 

Here's another funny from Saturday. As Sister Bradford and I are praying in the car before we went to contact a referral, I see someone waving at us by my window. (Yes I have struggles closing my eyes while praying) I screamed and jumped out of the car to find a 14 year old boy named Tanner. He's a member of a couple of years and the best missionary in the world. He tracts his neighborhood and hands out all of the media. What a rock star. Anyways, I didn't know who he was and he said,

 "Wow sisters, you would have thought that this was the Oxford approach instead of the Saratov approach up in here!" 

He went tracting with us and kept us laughing the whole time. Wahoo! He was actually baptized in Gadsden so we talked about the members there too. He hasn't been going to church but now he will soon:)

Sister Bradford and I are doing great. Oh my goodness I love being a missionary.:D I'm so very grateful for the opportunity and for the many people who contributed to it. Heavenly Father is so good to us. Here's to another year striving to be Forever Steadfast in Christ! :)

Love y'all! Happy New Year! 

Striving to be Steadfast Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Love, Sister Gibbs and Sister Bradford

The Baptism of Brandon 

Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!!  The tree my mom sent with Christmas quote 

on the ornaments to read everyday.

They let us ride these for free!

What A Merry Christmas We Had :)

Hey Friends,

Sorry for the absence of an email last week but I'm writing one now! Yes I'm in Talladega, AL where there is a Nascar race track! Wahoo! I'm also serving in a branch!!!! Wahoo! we are hoping to be a ward by the end of 2016 and we are planning on it. I've lead the music in sacrament meeting both Sundays I've been here. We are having fun and doing a lot of work. 

We had a very special Christmas this year with all the crazy weather and talking to y'all! Let me tell you, opening presents with your companion is too fun! Thanks for all the gifts! Holy cow we are the most loved missionaries in the world! So I told the fam on skype but we found the exact same jump ropes that we used in elementary school at the dollar store!! We are planning on jumping rope on p-days:) We bought four! 2 for us and 2 for the elders! Yay for Christmas! We spent it with the Cote's. They are so fun. We felt a part of the family. 

The name of the game this week has been store contacting. Our favorite approach was, "Have you ever wondered if more than the people near Bethlehem saw the star that signified Christ's birth?" Oh man it was a hit! It's so easy to jump into a lesson with it. Everyone says "Yeah! I'm sure they did!" It's all too fun. I love contacting at Christmas time. We think we will keep using the approach even if it isn't Christmas. 

Of course Christmas was especially special because our sweet grandma made it home for Christmas. Wow, what an incredible woman she was. She was always a hard worker and firmly rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She worked in her Garden till she absolutely couldn't do it any longer. Wow talk about enduring to the end. 

I gave Stephanie another memory of grandma for Jessica's talk. 

One of my favorite memories of Grandma is having breakfast at her house. I can remember Natalie and I sitting at the table and asking, "Grandma, why do you make the pancakes so big?" Grandma began to tell us how we would eat that same amount in 3 little pancakes so it is more efficient to make one giant one. What was even better is she would always use food coloring to die the pancakes the coordinating color for the upcoming holiday. She always knew how to make life fun through the eternal every day. She knew that joy dwells in the ordinary.

Ok, I thought of another one. Sometimes when we would go to grandmas grandpa would play the chicken dance song and all of us would dance to it. That was the best. 

What a Merry Christmas it was to celebrate victory over death this Christmas. I do know we will all live again through our Savior Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us. I do know that there is peace in this life and it isn't far away. There truly are truths restored to the earth specifically for these very experiences. We can truly know what lies ahead if we ask in Faith. He promised "Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth and he that receiveth findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

Do we know it's true?

When was the last time we asked?

I know our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ keep their promises. 

Steadfast in Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

Tenacity GRRRRRRR!!! 

This was the day of transfers after you talked about the plow horse!

Sister Nielsen, Sister Griffin, Sister Gibbs, Sister Bradford.

Transfers!!

"O Little town of Bethlehem"

Merry Christmas!

This week was amazing:) I absolutely love my mission. I'm so very grateful for President and Sister Hanks. I'm grateful for the ABM family and I'm grateful for the Gadsden ward family. I'm being transferred on Wednesday. Good thing I have till April... Running to the finish line. Yeah, everyone says it's harder to go home than leave and they were right. Yippee Skippee. Good thing we have the Lord on our side. "And if we die before our journey is through happy day all is well." hahahahah.

Anyways this week was absolutely wonderful. We were in 2 parades advertising our missionary open house, pulled off the missionary open house, and had our ABM family Christmas party equipped with a devotional, movie and talent show. Big hero 6 is awesome!!!!!!!:) Thank you President Hanks!

So y'all are probably wondering what we did for the talent show... The Gadsden district did synchronized swimming! Sister Nielsen and I choreographed it and the Elders performed. The song was "Give said the Little Stream" by the Mormon Tab. Buhahahah so funny. For those of you who are not familiar with this activity, two people hold a blue tarp in front of the swimmers and it looks like they are diving into water! Fabulous. The Elders did a great job.

Sister Nielsen and I also sang with Elder Allred, Elder Honeycutt, Elder Tessa, and Elder Jessen. It was so fun. Nothing like getting missionaries together and having a good time. There were some neat talents. My favorite was a revised version of "Take me Home, country roads" by John Denver Alabama style:)

Our Christmas Devotional was so neat! We watched the video from last Christmas with the huge nativity and David Archuleta singing. AAAAAAAHhhhhhh! Love it. We all stood with the angels and sang with them. I'll never forget the sound of missionaries singing:) #powerandauthority

"One Night in Bethlehem" was the name of the missionary open house and it was fabulous! There was 119 people total that came both nights and 34 non-members. I think the greatest success was all of the part-members who came.

The open house included a tour around the church hearing the testimony of the 12 witnesses of Christ ending with the video of David Archuleta and the Piano Guys we watched at our Christmas party. After the video, Sister Nielsen and I bore our testimonies of the Savior. The spirit was so strong! So much stronger than testifying on their doorstep. It was the perfect way to introduce people to the church. What a miracle!

Our investigators are still keeping along. Everyone gets really busy at Christmas so it's hard to meet with them. The Nepali family is doing great. We were hoping they would come to One Night in Bethlehem but they didn't... We are hoping to do the Nativity with them next week. I guess Sister Nielsen will do it. :) I absolutely love Sister Nielsen!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness gracious. Did you know she makes me meals all the time! She's going to be a great wife.. haha. Most of all I have learned so much about charity from her. She always is looking for someone to serve, lift, build, and inspire. Man Oh man. I love her. I can't wait for y'all to meet her.:)

Anyways! Have a great week! The weather is absolutely beautiful here so travel will be awesome:) I love you and am so grateful for you. Thanks to everyone who sent packages! The cute Beehives sent me one:) Tell them thanks!

Steadfast in Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

"One Night in Bethlehem"

Sister McVicar and her mustang:) She's the coolest grandma.

My fortune cookie!!