You're daughter is AMAZING!!!!

Brother and Sister Gibbs, 

Hello! This is Sister Wittwer, your wonderful daughter's companion. How are yall doing? I just wanted to let you know how incredible Sister Gibbs is. Oh my gosh, I have prayed and prayed and PRAYED for a companion like her! She is unbelievably bold, works her bootie off, is always praying for the Lord's support, and quietly remains humble and thanks the Lord for all our blessings. 

I am just absolutely blown away by how prepared she was and is to be here helping in the Lord's work. She must have learned it from yall, because she basically has come pre-trained. Thank you for instilling in her a love of the gospel, kindness and charity for others, and dedication and duty to the Savior. She desires to do everything to the best of her ability and by the Spirit. 

Two days ago, she invited nine people to be baptized - at the same time! Yeah, she's awesome.

She's adjusting to life as a missionary splendidly, and is always so chipper and positive. I don't know if yall have seen the movie Tangled, but she reminds me of Rapunzel. She's like a little burst of sunshine! Thank you for allowing her the opportunity and sacrificing a year and a half with her so that she could come here to Alabama. 

Since she's been here, we have seen so many miracles because of her genuine love for the work and the people, and her ability to be obedient. Alabama is in desperate need of her, and people's lives are being changed by her example, testimony, and service - especially mine! (EVERY morning she makes me something for breakfast or leaves me a cute note. I can't handle that much niceness! She's so great!)

She is truly a disciple of Jesus Christ, and I am learning more from her than I could ever teach her. I know your family is going to be so blessed because of her devoted service. Thank you for your example! She loves yall so much. And I love yall too!

Hope you're having a great week! Steadfast in Christ!

Love - Sister Wittwer

Ice Cream for Eternity.....

Hello Hello:)

The beginning of the week was like eating plain vanilla ice cream, then slowly adding sprinkles, hot fudge, a dozen cookies, and then by the end an ice cream truck came and handed us all the ice cream we needed for eternity:) For real. 

It was zone conference this week and Heavenly Father really prepared us:) We had been biking a lot in the hot sun like usual, teaching like usual, but we felt exhausted. then zone conference! so many of my prayers were answered in those 8 hours than I feel like my whole life! They even had a sister come and talk about how we need to "love our neighbor AS THYSELF" basically taking care of ourselves so we can take care of others. She taught us how to cancel out negative thoughts and be nice to our hard working selves. I want to be her when I grow up:) She does this kind of stuff for a living! President Hanks is the best mission President in the WORLD.  He knows exactly how to help us and pushes us to do our best. "We gird up our loins like men" or in Pres. Hanks words "like the sisters preparing to bike." Buahahahaha I laughed so hard:) 

One of the many things that I loved at zone conference was President Hanks urging us to get over the powerful effect we can have on people. Go for it!!! Leadership is not something unattainable, we are all leaders:)

Jennifer's family!!!!!!!!!!!! The family we told you about last week wants to be Baptized!!!!!!! We had a lesson with them on Saturday and it was good. I invited them to baptism and they basically changed the subject, but they had a really humbling experience on Sunday. THANK YOU HEAVENLY FATHER:) They lost their wallet and they don't have a lot of food in the house so one of the members brought over dinner. They were so grateful! They probably wouldn't have eaten that day! They brought over canned food and all sorts of stuff! Heavenly Father knows how to prepare his children. After all of this we came to teach and they basically said they wanted to be baptized!!!!!!! I can see the gospel blessing their family so much already it's crazy! This gospel is so TRUE! The Young women in the family have so much light in them after going to Young Women’s you could put them in a dark room and they would illuminate everything with their smiles! They haven't ever been told who they truly are and how much they are worth and now they have! They are glowing!!!!

Heavenly Father is continually guiding us even when we don't see it. Good Luck with school everyone you are gonna rock!

I love you and am so grateful for all of your letters and love:)

The Church is TRUE

BE STEADFAST IN CHRIST:) 

P.S. I sent a pic of Wanda my bike:) Cosmo is Sister Whittwer's hehe 

Meet "Wanda"

Sister Gibbs and Sister Wittwer

"Grass Stains"

Bama! Ezekiel 20:29

"Then I said unto them What is the high place Whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bama! unto this day."

Hey Fam! Just having a grand old time in Bama! Thank you so much for the letters and prayers. I love y'all so much:) I'm going to send out some letters this week. I wrote some last week but we don't have a outbox close:) They are coming!

I got my bike this week!! Amazing Brother Brown put it together for me, it's purple! It's sweet! Biking in a skirt is awesome and possible, my friends:) It's starting to cool down here in Bama, my hair is loving the humidity:) Don't worry my mane isn't the biggest one in town:) Steph I saw a couple of lightning bugs! Sweet!

Last night I had my first official southern meal! My heart's still pumping don't worry. Peach Cobbler and ice cream! Country fried steak, collar greens, biscuits and gravy the works!!! So good, the members take care of us:) Did Y'all know there is such a thing as a yellow watermelon? I didn't. We volunteered at the farmers market this week and it was the bomb!

Holy Cow this week! So much has happened! The people in Decatur are so prepared for the gospel! I'm becoming a better teacher! Kisha is awesome and still being Kisha:) Who I really want to tell you about is Jennifer! Sister Whittwer and Sister Haus found an amazing family before I came to Decatur, but they moved and the sisters couldn't find them. Guess what happened this week! We found them! We were walking to our car after teaching a lesson and one of the daughters saw us and called us over! Long Story short we are teaching Jennifer (the mom) and her family! They met the Elders in Detroit 3 years ago and almost got baptized. Now they want to hear the lessons again! The best part is they have 9 kids! They are an amazing family and I know the gospel will bless their lives:) They have been through some extremely hard times and I can't wait for them to receive the blessings from Baptism. We are planning on it:) Miracles are everywhere!

I'm noticing a theme in Decatur. We teach a lot of humble broken families and most if not all don't have dads. This is a huge testimony builder of family for me. It IS the most important social unit and provides a loving home for us to grow and be like Christ. Dad thanks for being my Dad:) Thanks for working all day so that I can be on a mission and do everything else that has lead me to this point.:) Love you!

This morning I was reading in my scriptures in 3 Nephi 19:25 "And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine  upon them..." This week let Christ's countenance smile upon you so that you can have the light that the world desperately needs to see. People need Christ and you know him! Share him:) Be steadfast in Christ!

Love y'all have a blessed day:)

Sister Gibbs

P.S. if y'all need little kids to calm down (Nat) have them clap their hands and sing "Jesus is the Love, Jesus is the Love, Jesus is the Love, He loves me, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Jesus loves me."

Splits!!!

Sister Wittwer, Sister Gibbs, Sister Millard and Sister McDoogle

Bike Riding!!

Sister Whittwer and Sister Gibbs

Yellow Watermellon!!

Sister Whittwer

"WHAT CHU TALKIN BOUT SISTA GIBBS?"

Hey Fam!!!

I made it to sweet home Alabama!!! Oh my goodness it is beautiful here! So many trees! The humidity is awesome as President Hanks would say we are "swimming in our suits" everyday:)

If anyone goes to the Atlanta airport make sure to go use the restroom:) They have bathroom attendants who call you Sugar:)

President Hanks is the single most amazing mission president in the world! He really cares and believes in us.

My trainer is awesome!!! She is from Bountiful. Her name is Sister Whittwer. Holy cow amazing. She can talk to anyone for hours and hours. She is teaching me so much.

Decatur Alabama is so great. The ward here is amazing. If everyone came to church there would be about 500 people in it. We are working on it. The ward members take care of us and have the missionary fire themselves.

Elder Hamblin is here in Decatur. We see him and Elder Pasadas a lot. (I don't know how to spell his name, he is from Honduras) They are awesome.

The people:) They are awesome everyone loves Christ and has been saved. Little do they know that we have even more for them. The most popular church here is Epic you can get your face painted there:) Something that really surprised me is that a ton of people would love you to come over and talk about Jesus. I think it's weird that they would just invite strangers into their homes but missionary power is the best. The hardest part is making them realize there is so much more for them in this Gospel. You know what else is cool is that people really are in between churches. It's common for people to be searching. Love it! We are also a Walmart baptizing mission:) All of the investigators come from Walmart:) WAHOO!

Kisha! Is one of our investigators. She is the best. She loves talking about Jesus Christ but doesn't realize what we have for her. She's awesome. I was teaching her with sister Whittwer and I told her that the priesthood is the power of God and it's how Christ performed his miracles and she says "what chu talkin bout sista Gibbs?" She is helping me become a better teacher;) she makes sure I teach so my investigators can understand. Seriously teaching her has taught me so much.  I LOVE her.

On Thursday I had an amazing experience. All of the stress of new things was getting to me. I was tense and probably not taking deep breaths like I should. I also I was drinking a ton of water to help with the humidity but probably not enough. Well as we were finishing our Walmart contacting I began to loose my vision like I do when I get a migraine. I was so mad. If I was going to serve with all my heart, might, mind, and strength I was not going to be at home sick. So Sister Whittwer and I prayed and then I said a personal prayer to my heavenly Father saying,

I promised to serve you with all of my heart and I can't do that when I'm sick. If you let me finish the day, go to the rest of our appointments and work hard without a migraine, I promise to serve obediently and with all of my might for my whole mission.

After I said that prayer my vision came back as usual but I didn't feel any pain. I know that the Lord was with me and knows I will keep my promise with him. I know he trusts me and I will serve with all of my heart might and strength for him and his people. I know miracles happen every day:) I know I'm supposed to be here in Decatur Alabama and He will be with me every step of the way as our neighbor says it's not just the two of us but the three. I love being a missionary:)

I love you so much:) Thank you for all of your prayers:) Have a week Steadfast in Christ:)

Much love, Sister Gibbs

Leaving Salt Lake City Airport

Sister Hall, Uncle John  and Sister Gibbs

Tired after getting up at 2:00 am....

Saying goodbye...welcoming the new missionaries

Sister Gibbs, ?, Sister Hall

Packed up and ready for assignments!!

Elder Wright, Sister Haslam and Sister Gibbs

Sister Whittwer and Sister Gibbs

Rain, Rain, go away....

Arrived Safely!!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Alabama Birmingham Mission

Sister Gibbs has safely arrived in the Alabama Birmingham Mission!

We are impressed with your daughter and want to thank you for all that you have done in preparing this wonderful young woman for her mission.  She met her new companion and traveled to her first area.

Attached are photos of Sister Gibbs, one with President and Sister Hanks and one with her Trainer, Sister Wittwer.  She will bless this mission greatly with her enthusiasm and dedication. We love her and pledge our best efforts in directing her service here.

Sister Gibbs has accepted a call that will change her life and the lives of those with whom she is serving.  These first few months will be full of new and challenging experiences, and your support in the form of encouraging and uplifting letters will help her greatly.

Our greatest hope is that each missionary has a positive and growing experience, which will help give her a foundation for a lifetime of service to others. We appreciate the time you have spent raising your daughter to be such a responsible young woman.  We thank you for your willingness to share Sister Gibbs with us.

President and Sister Hanks

Last P-Day in the MTC!!!!!

Hello Fam!

I love you and miss you! I just want to tell you everything that has happened to me in the MTC but you know time's short. Here's the best parts. 

Again thank you thank you for all of the letters and packages it really keeps me going:) Thank you for writing Sister Hall! She loved it and feels like one of the fam:) Jenna thank you so much for all of your advice and letters:) Sister Hall and I love them and really appreciate them:)

Guess what!!! Julia is getting baptized!!!!!!! She is our Progressing Investigator. She is really shy and reserved but the holy spirit guides:) Sister Hall and I learned so much. We learned how to really ponder after praying for guidance and how to be patient. I love Julia! Even though our teacher acts like her and we teach, it feels like our teacher isn't even in the room. I love her and can't wait to teach some more!

We also teach K-ming and if we had one more lesson I know she would commit to Baptism. She's Korean:) The spirit is amazing I'm tellin ya.

Elder Hamblin is from bountiful dad so I think you know his family friend! He's doing great.

One of the best parts of the day is 6:30 in the "AM" as Sister Hall would say. Nothing like the MTC sister resident hall bathroom at 6:30 in the morning. It's like 15 billion different musicals going on at once. Everyone's either singing "Let it go" from frozen, Les Miserable, or hymns. We all should be singing hymns but you've got to keep your sanity somehow. I think the hymns are keeping me more sane than the other options lately:) Love it!!!

Friends you'll love this, Brother Ellis one of our Branch Pres counselors calls me Sister Gibby:)

Guess who spoke to us on Sunday!!!! Sheri Dew:) Holy Cow. What an amazing woman in the church. She talked with us about woman and the priesthood and wow. Truly Amazing. If I have time I will tell you more.

I gave a talk in sacrament. In the MTC everyone prepares a talk for Sunday and they tell you at the meeting who is speaking. I knew it would be me because I had received some personal revelation on Faith and well I needed to be tested. It was awesome I loved it.

We watched the Character of Christ talk by Elder Bednar and wow. It Changed my life forever. I learned that The Lord gives me my true capacity. Without him it will never be reached. My true capacity is attainable through this Gospel!

John H Groberg talked to us on Sunday he is the missionary in the Other Side Of Heaven. Not the actor, who the story is about. What an amazing man. 

I love being a missionary the sense of purpose is wonderful. This mission is something I can truly put my heart might mind and strength into and I know I can not fail with the Lord. It's extremely refreshing to have something in my life that I know I cannot fail in as long as I try my best. Dance kinda ruin that for me for a bit but my prayers are being answered about a billion times a day. I love this Gospel! It's perfect true and I can't wait to take it to the people of Bama!

I love you

Sister Gibbs

Sister Gibbs and Sister Hall

Sister Hall and Sister Gibbs

Sister Gibbs and Sister Hall

Sister Gibbs and Sister Watkins

MTC District