Keeping our Eyes Single to the Glory of GOD!

Hey Fam!

It was so good to see everyone on Christmas! It was nice to see that home is still home and it will be there when I get back. It was really good for me to talk to everyone. Nat, the necklace works! I've been wearing it the rest of the week thanks so much! Steph, I wear the scarf everywhere too! It's all to fun. Alyssa, we have yet to eat the Ice cream. Thanks everyone for the love and support. I love you guys!

Not gonna lie my mind has started to slip into the bad habit again of finding the negative instead of the positive, but Heavenly Father showed his love to me again this week.  I read in pmg it says that no effort is wasted and that Disciples of Jesus Christ don't fall into discouragement. Yes it happened, but that doesn't mean there's not more people waiting to be baptized and waiting for my testimony. God is good.

Yesterday we biked in the cold, but not Utah cold and found a ton of people to teach.  We decided to fast and so many blessing poured on us. My love for the work increased and Sister Layton and I felt good! The Gospel makes us feel good when we follow the promptings to talk to someone and show sincere concern, we don't have that guilt of what might have been! That's for everyone in this world not just full time missionaries, our sorrow in life from not following these promptings builds until we feel a weight that we've forgotten where it came from. Follow the promptings to visit one of your friends or offer sincere help to a family member or a stranger and the sorrow of life will disappear. We have to push Satan out of our heads who tells us to think of only ourselves. I know this Gospel brings happiness my friends :) I love you! 

Steadfast in Christ.

Love,

Sister Gibbs

Sis. Layton and Sis. Gibbs

Christmas Devotional and Talent Show

 

Special song from the Missionary Christmas Devotionals, lyrics written by Sister Hanks

A special moment captured at each of the devotionals: Missionaries singing a song Sister Hanks wrote upon the birth of the Hanks' first child.  

May you all have a beautiful and Christ filled Christmas!

One Little Angel

(Liz Hanks, for Emily 1985)

One little angel, polishing the stars

Up in the heavens, working very hard
This little angel has a very special job
She will polish all the stars for God

All heaven waited for a special birth

Our Brother Jesus was coming here to earth
Each angel hoped to send a gift – it must be from the heart
Of this the little angel wished a part

All day she polished a great enormous star

Light from one of this size is sure to travel far
She held it over Bethlehem for all the world to see
This is where the new Christ child will be

Shining over Bethlehem for all the world to see

This, dear Jesus, is your gift from me

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!! We love Jesus :)

What a great week! We taught some amazing peeps and Christmas is in the air, Christ is in the air :)

The other day, as we are doing our usual Walmart contacting, we met a man who asked us great questions and then started to bash with us. Oh the South :) I find it strange that when some people see us they have the urge to approach us and look at us as if we aren't people and say we don't worship the same Jesus. His eyes were popping out of his head! I couldn't answer all of his questions, but there were angels by my side. The people of Walmart had yet another unexpected adventure. We were teaching in the middle of the cereal aisle.

There is nothing that gets me more than when people say I don't know Jesus Christ, but the testimony that follows is always full of the spirit. Sister Layton was awesome and fearless. She boldly told the man, "We save up our whole lives to come and share this message to people who are ready and it seems that you aren't willing to listen, but thank you for your concern." Something along the lines of that. Isn't she great? She knows her purpose and doesn't let anyone get in the way of it! She's doing amazingly. 

Afterwards, I was a little angry. After bearing my testimony of the Savior and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the Bible, he wouldn't even shake my hand. I wish I was like Mary when she found out that she was going to give birth to the Savior and bounce right back to work, but I guess that's why I have a companion. Sister Layton started inviting everyone to watch the He is the Gift video as we left Walmart. What a great missionary.  

I am truly grateful for the Savior and the personal relationship he is willing to have with each of us. I know He lives! I know He is right by my side. I know He loves me. I know his Grace is what saves me. What a fantastic season of service we are in. I love Alabama! It's not every day you find people preparing their Christmas meal of Chitlins! :)

Merry Christmas! I love y'all and I'm so extremely grateful for my family and the examples they are to me. I'm the most spoiled missionary in the world. Thank you so much for all the Christmas Gifts! :)

Love you and talk to you soon :) at 2:00 on CHRISTMAS!!!

Love,

Sister Gibbs

“Bountiful Missionaries and Sis Gibbs from Kaysville”

(Picture from Elder Hamblin)

Merry Christmas to Y'all and to Y'all a Good Night!

Sister Layton is amazing! What a cute missionary! I absolutely love her :) She's from Ohio and has 13 kids in her family! Sister Layton is such an inspiration to me! It's so fun to be around an excited new missionary! She is ready to go! Training is too fun! We get to hand out her first Book of Mormon together and knock on her first door! Oh man, look out Decatur here we come!

Thank you so much everyone for thinking of me! It means so much to me and Sister Layton :) Thanks so much for the 12 days of Christmas! Tell thanks to Steph for the presents! and Grandma! :) 

The Mission Christmas Party is tomorrow! We are going to have a talent show and devotional which I'm singing in! Don't worry it's a quartet but here in the mission they think I'm pro so I have to fake it till I make it. Oh well their choice haha. This isn't the first time! We know how to party like missionaries. :)

Christmas in the South is a dream! Wow! So many friendly people, so many acts of kindness and everyone feels the spirit of Christmas and service aka the HOLY GHOST! Christ is everywhere if you are searching. The “He is the Gift” video is a dream! People love it here because they love Christ! We are going to see a cute family tomorrow who we showed the video to in Walmart. 

I am truly grateful for the experience I have to serve here in the South where so many people love the Savior. They act on this knowledge with all kinds of enthusiasm that I hadn't experienced before my mission. Although the excitement and enthusiasm is fun, there is a time where we MUST find a quiet place to pray, ponder, and remember our Savior. This is key to feeling the Spirit wash over us. This quiet time is often forgotten. You can sing and praise all day long, but until you find a quiet moment to be with the Savior your testimony isn't complete. This Christmas strengthen your testimony of the Savior and act on it with all the enthusiasm in the world and the peace He brings :) I know my Savior lives. I know he walks with me. I know He trusts me and I know he is enabling me in everything I do. I love y'all! Take care and be safe!

Here is a poem from Sister Brunner:

'Twas the month of December, and all through the mission,

Elders and Sisters were baptism wishin'.

Investigators were taught the gospel with care,

In hopes that on Sunday they all would be there.

The missionaries were obedient, they loved all they taught,

They studied and prayed, the spirit they sought.

Their President's council was given with love,

They followed his lead to bring blessings from above.

The gift of the gospel was all they could give,

To the Alabama people, a better way to live.

The missionaries exclaimed as they worked morn til night,

"We love the Lord, we'll serve with our might!"

Love,

Sister Gibbs

P.S. I sent a picture of the Multi Stake Christmas Festival. Ivy came! Jasmine wouldn't leave our side the whole time. This is something more to add to our love of the Savior my friends :)

Here is part of one of Abby’s previous emails about Ivy and Jasmine to help you remember who they are….

“I don't think I've told you about Ivy. Ivy was a member referral from Dianna:) She is the most happy, amazing, and charitable person I've ever met. Her personality reminds me a lot of Lisa Tuttle :) This is one of those people that you know you've met in the pre-existence. She met her husband on a bowling team! She also is an amazing quilter. She is a grandma of the sweetest girls in the whole world. One of them is mute and requires a little more attention from Ivy and her mom. Whenever Jasmine see's the sister missionaries she does the sign language sign for sisters and asks when we are coming back. Every day she gets off the bus and asks "Sisters?" She is the most precious spirit I've ever met! Ivy watches her reaction to the sisters and says there's a certain glow about us and because of Jasmine’s reaction we must be special. I swear she is already a member. She also said she knows us from somewhere and asked Dianna if it was possible that we knew each other before we came here!!!!!! Ivy is amazing! She is so prepared!

We told Ivy about our Book of Mormon challenge and she committed to do it with us!!! We wrote our testimonies in the front cover. She said but I can't promise I'll join the church!!!! Funny Lady haha. She gave Sis. Wittwer and I those quilts in the pic. She gives quilts away to charity and was showing us all the ones she had made and then without hesitation she said and these are for you! She is the most godly person I've ever met. There is so much potential it's insane! I'll definitely keep you updated.”

 Merry Christmas! Your Decatur AL friends...Ivy and Harold, 

Lisa, Maggie and Jasmine with Uncle Jeremy

Sis. Gibbs and Sis. Layton

Sis. Gibbs, Ivy, Sis. Wittwer (Sept. post)

Sis. Layton and Sis. Gibbs

Guess What Friends!

I'm training!!!! I have no idea what's ahead of me.  I'm basically in denial.  Wahooo!!!! This Sista is going to be the most loved missionary in the world.  I'm happy to be staying in Decatur for Christmas!

We went to the Temple this week!! Guess what, I went twice! Sister Parsons helped Bobby get baptized a year ago and she just received her endowments! What a blessing to be able to go to that! The temple was awesome!!! Oh man I love that place. It is so neat to stand in the Celestial room and think, yup, it's true. :) Heavenly Father really does have more and more opportunities for us to be more peaceful, happy, and joyful people if we have faith and do what he has told us to do so many times, live the Doctrine of Christ! Heavenly Father answered some lifelong prayers that day. God is so good!

This week, in Decatur, there was a ward Christmas party. It was awesome! I told you in a letter way back that we have been doing a chain reaction missionary tool in the ward. Chain reaction is where the members do missionary experiences and then make a paper chain with all the experiences they've done! The Christmas party is where we connected the chain. It's so long! I'm really proud of the ward, they are amazing missionaries. It's fun to see the progress we are making. 

Sister Parsons is doing great. She will be in Provo this January so you will have to contact her. Home life isn't going to know what hit em! She is going to be the best member missionary in the world!

I got your Thanksgiving letter today and Decia got my package! That's really neat about Emilie and all the fam in the temple! I missed you on Thanksgiving too. I'm so happy you got to talk to Sister Wilson! Tell the Bovee's and the Lincoln's that I love them! Tell the Starks I love them too.

This week I had the most amazing experience with the sacrament. I love studying about the atonement and applying it more fully in my life. I'm able to have peace daily because of my Savior. Keep remembering to #sharethegift! 

Love y'all,

Sista Gibbs!

Temple Trip!!!

President Hanks with all the beautiful Sistas

 

Sis. Gibbs, Pres. Hanks and Sis. Parsons

  

   

Elder ???, Elder McKay, Sis. Gibbs, Sis. Haslam

This is Sandra. She's awesome. Also this is our chain reaction chain! It is so long! 

Thanks to our Decatur ward!!!! Yay for missionary work!

#sharethegift

Hey Fam!

Thanksgiving was awesome! We ate a ton of food! We ate at our friend Patsy's house and ate with her family. She's not a member so that was fun! We got to talk about us Mormons a lot! Then we went to a member's home and had more dinner. I'm telling you it was a blast!

We are teaching a lot of people but it's hard for the gospel to stick on some of them you know! It's sad when we have a bomb.com lesson with people and then they drop us. Hey the church is still true!

This week I decided to ask Heavenly Father if Jesus Christ is my Savior and I had some really peaceful experiences. Lately I've been praying and asking specific questions about doctrine to put solid walls around my testimony. I now feel these truths truly placed on my heart. 

This whole week as I have prayed about the Savior I have felt his love. Sometimes the feelings of the spirit will wash over me randomly when I hadn't even realized I was pondering about the Savior. Also Sister Parsons has found me saying randomly "I just love Jesus" all week long. I just want to tell everyone about him. Plus it was Thanksgiving so counting all my blessings only adds to this sweet spirit! My testimony is growing with a firm foundation. I love this gospel! IT’S TRUE!

So has everyone seen their December Ensign?! There's a present inside....pass a long cards for He is the Gift initiative! Everyone needs to watch the short clip and post it on FB, Twitter, you know all the good stuff and then had out cards to friends! Or mail them to non-member friends outside of Utah :) SHARE THE GIFT! Jesus Christ and his infinite atonement! Share it!

Love Y'all so much! I'm so very grateful for my family and all my many blessings. Thank you Fam for everything! I'm the most spoiled person in the world. So much love!

Love, Sista Gibbs :)

Sister Smith:) What a great ward mama :) 

We helped her decorate the ward Christmas Tree!

 Zone Conference

 Sister Butterfield!!!!! We had a zone activity before zone 

conference so we had a missionary sleep over!

 

Happy Turkey Day from the Sistas in Decatur!

Guess what happened this week!!!!!!!!! So Here in Decatur these past couple of weeks we haven't had a ton of people accept our message, we've been antied a lot, our stove timer is possessed so it goes off every two hours, even while we are sleeping, and other various missionary experiences have started to weigh down on us. BUT THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL MY FRIENDS! Heavenly Father knows how to prepare us. Saturday morning we were tracting/less active hunting and so far not too many people seemed golden. THEN we knocked on the last door, 1st knock no answer, 2nd knock we waited...

"Whoo is it!"

"The missionaries"

"Whoo?!"

"The missionaries!"

A middle aged black woman opens the door, she didn't look too receptive. We went into our usual approach of,  "We are new here in Decatur and trying to get to know everyone........Do you know anyone who could use a message about eternal families?"

This lady was really confused why we were at her house. She looked at us and said no, then looked at us again and said, "Do y'all want to come in?"

Why yes we do! We pray for this everyday of our lives as a matter of fact :) So basically she's elect. She said that she was at her darkest moment this morning and was praying to God to show her an answer to all her questions. We taught her the 1^st lesson and she said that she stopped going to church because it didn't feel right, she was confused. She asked questions like, why are there so many churches, why do I feel empty, there's one faith one baptism soo.....? She asked all the right questions! She loved the lesson. We felt the spirit. She's going to get baptized! She hasn't officially said yes, but we made a baptismal calendar for her before we even met her so it's a done deal. She even had a dream about the apostasy! She knows the Gospel was lost!!!

Heavenly Father answered our prayers. Not to say that he hasn't been answering them all week, but now we see where he was going with all of this! He loves his children and places them in our path. It's a relief that we don't have to find them on our own.

I'm sooooooooo happy! I'm just smiling all the time and I'm so grateful for the experience of a mission!!!!! I can't even explain really, but y'all understand.

I love you and am sooooooo grateful for everyone one of you in my life :)

Much love and have a blessed Thanksgiving :)

Love, Sista Gibbs

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Sis Gibbs and Sis Parsons

Elder Hamblin made the district lunch! 

Sister Gibbs and Sister Parsons

God is Stronger than Satan!

So this week as been awesome as usual. We've been doing a lot of finding. It's been sweet! Decatur has so much potential and Satan knows it, so we have been fightin real hard:) There's lots of junk on the internet that gets to our friends like Nate and Angie...it's been hard. I've grown a lot. It's really strengthening to bear your testimony to people's objections. I even raised my voice. I think I'm becoming more and more Baptist preacher like every day. Guess what?! God is always stronger than Satan! We are proof!

Today in Aldi (the best grocery store here in Decatur) We talked to a woman who said, "Are y'all women of God?" "Why yes we are!" "I knew y'all were! There's light there! Y'all are just angels, Praise God, Praise God."

We get that a lot. So all these people that see a light in us are proving that the BOM is true cause that's where we get our light;)  We gave her a Mormon.org card but she's a minister for her church so yeah sweet! Always fun to meet a fellow Sista of God.

Sister Parsons and I had another Emmaus experience this week with all the objections. We did a pitch swing in the BOM and landed on Alma 38: 8-15. 

"8...I was three days and three nights in the most bitter pain and anguish of soul; and never, until I did cry out (always pray when doubt creeps in) unto the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy, did I receive a remission of my sins. But behold, I did cry unto him and I did find peace to my soul.

9 ...I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, (not what the world is saying about Joseph Smith but what God is saying) that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness.

10...as ye have begun to teach the word (here in Decatur) even so I would that ye should continue to teach;..

11 DO NOT BOAST IN YOUR OWN WISDOM

14... acknowledge your unworthiness before God at all times.

15 And may the Lord bless your soul, and receive you at the last day into his kingdom, to sit down in peace. Now go, my son (daughters), and teach the word unto this people. Be sober. My son (daughters), farewell."

We were humbled. Heavenly Father told us directly, trust me, go teach. God is more powerful than Satan. NO DOUBTS.

I love y'all!

Have a blessed week!


Love, Sista Gibbs

Yes, We Talk to Everyone

Hey Fam!

This week has been awesome! Sister Parsons is amazing and Decatur is still on Fire! You saw Sister Wilson!!!!!!!!!! Isn't she is amazing. That was awesome to see that pic of y'all :) Thank you for the package mom and Avei family and all the cards grandma and grandpa and Matt and Bridget! I love y'all so much. I promise I'm going to catch up on my letter writing.

OK so the best part of the whole week was meeting Michael Jackson!!!!! Apparently he is back from the dead and dancing out of his grave, hehe. No really we were on our bikes contacting as usual and we saw him dancing away in a gas station parking lot. We as missionaries are always searching for the elect souls who are seeking Jesus, so we danced our merry way over to him :) Picture this :) Sister Parsons dancing her way over to MJ, doing the classic sprinkler motion with her arm, while yelling over the song "Bad"...

"Hey! (arm in motion) Do you know anyone (arm is beginning the long distance spray cycle) who could use a message (It's now spraying figurative water with all its force) ABOUT JESUS?!" Meanwhile I'm moon walking by her side. It was awesome!!!! We danced and talked about Jesus for a good 10 minutes and he agreed to hear the message :) What a good guy!

Yes we talk to everyone :)

Everyone, invite everyone to hear the message. Give everyone the opportunity! Of course everyone has their agency but let's give them the chance. 

I love you!

Sister Gibbs :)

Dancin' with "MJ"

Matthew 16:25 :) Literally Loosing Ourselves in the Work! #grace :)

Hey Fam!

This week we prayed to know where to be in order to find someone who needed to know about their Savior's love, and we found her! We saw some leaves that were just beautiful and needed to be raked so we knocked on her door. Her husband is in the hospital and she was just at the house to grab some things for him. We almost missed her, good thing God is good. We told her we were representatives of Jesus Christ and we wanted to rake her leaves:) SHE FELT HER SAVIOR'S LOVE:) She explained her story and said God sent you! Follow the promptings fam! So we got lost in the work and jumped in the leaves:) Probably the happiest day of my life:)

Sister Parsons is amazing! What a solid missionary. She loves the work so much! I'm grateful I get to be her companion:) She is from Texas!!!! She's an amazing piano player also. Love her! 3 for 3 as far as companions go:)

I've had some Emmaus experiences (experiences where Christ walks with us Luke 24:32) in my studies this week. I've been studying Grace and it has really hit my heart. The Holy Ghost witnessed to me how our Savior's Grace is sufficient for me. I've known this, heard this, but with the Holy Ghost testifying this principle to me I now feel my Savior's love and Grace with all it's strength:) The spirit strengthens us. I know this to be true. 

I know that we receive a witness, "after the trial of our Faith " Ether 12:6. Therefore I know that if we have faith our Savior's Grace, or help and guidance (knowing where to be to find the one, or knowing what to say to a person who needs to hear our Heavenly Father's voice) will be shown in our lives, and we will see it after our test of our Faith (after we get out the door at 10:00, or after we open our mouths). 

"And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God." -Ether 12:18. 

I know my Savior lives. 

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my GRACE is sufficient for ALL men that HUMBLE themselves before me; for if they HUMBLE themselves before me, and have FAITH in me, then will I make weak things become STRONG unto them." Ether 12:27

I have found strength in my Savior. Grace is sufficient and eternal. Grace miracles happen after our faith! Grace does cover it all! Grace is consistent. His Grace does envelope and enable us! I know this to be true through the witness of the Holy Ghost.

I love y'all thanks for all the letters:) I pray for you every day:) I love being a missionary:) Have the best week ever!

Love, Sister Gibbs

This looks like more fun than service but hey, this is the best kind of service!

Transfers

Sis. Gibbs and Sister Parsons

Sis. Gibbs and Elder Berg (Roommate Sandy's Cousin)

"Just some of the Kaysville Homies in the Bama mission :)"

Sis. Brown's Family
They had the missionaries over for dinner before Sis. Wilson went home

Awesome Ward Families!

                       Elder Hamblin and Elder Posadas

Out to lunch with the Dolbeer Family