Miracle on Joyner and Clayton Street

This week was grand. We taught so many people on Joyner and also Clayton Street. #tracting fun.

This cute Catholic old couple let us in and they were so nice to us, the South. They would make the best Mormons. They told us that we were the first missionaries they let in the door. They shared their beliefs and we shared ours. Then Sister Crandall boldly asked them if they would like to know even more about the Mormons. They took a book of Mormon and the old man told us that we are a great credit to God. Success!

The next miracle was a couple on Joyner street. Yesterday we taught them and their friends, they are both devout baptist, but wanted to know what Mormons believe from the Mormons themselves. We appreciated that. We were nervous. They said they were going to bring a friend and we were worried it was their preacher, it wasn't.

Sister Crandall and I handled it well. All of the questions about the trinity, Book of Mormon, and us becoming Gods... were handled so well, by the Grace of God.:) Even though we were nervous the spirit guided us and reassured us that we knew everything we needed to know. In the end the only thing that converts people is the spirit not the facts. President Hanks likes to say, "God doesn't need to answer academic questions." Both of us felt like we represented the church well. The spirit was there and we pointed it out!!!!! It was awesome. They totally felt the spirit. They weren't even rude, but they still believe that because we "add more to the bible/gospel" that we believe in a different Jesus. Grrrrrrr. My eyes squinted when he told us that. I know the Savior walks with me daily and he is the same yesterday today and forever.

Another Miracle on Clayton street is Tommy. We had an awesome member present lesson with him. How we found him was one Sunday we called the Corinth Sisters and got them pumped for Sunday tracting and miracles happened! We had the Sisters create a vision for us to find and we found him! A single father of two daughters who has dark hair. His name is Tommy. Faith is real! He's progressing well. He's reading the Book of Mormon and agreed to be baptized when he knows it's true. WAHOO! Heavenly Father is so good. Brother Shelburn the member who came with us is a star. He basically taught half the lesson and told Tommy that he would be right by his side through his journey. What a good guy.

Well I'm super excited for Conference and Easter. How grateful I am for the Savior. He walks with me even when I don't deserve it. His Grace and Mercy help me every day. This week I'm going to study the life of the Savior more fully and try to walk as He walked. He was the happiest of all because He loved everyone and Sacrificed everything for them. May we try to develop that love in our own lives.:) Share His love.

I love you :)

Have a good week!

Sister Gibbs

 Crazy dog who came back to life... yes, it's true.

Lowry Family

"Miracles Happen Once in a While When You Believe"

Hey Family!

How are ya? Sounds like everyone is busy and doing well.

Joshua was confirmed!!!!!!!!! It was a miracle yet again! It turns out that his coworker got fired and they had to drive him to Tupelo :) The Lord works in mysterious ways. His confirmation was amazing!

This week was good. We saw a lot of miracles. Yesterday was especially good. We prayed for a miracle and it happened! We were tracting in the rain and we needed 7 lessons to meet our goal. We were determined to get them and the Lord made it possible. We even tracted into a referral that was given to us. During transfers the information about this woman got lost and we were super embarrassed about the whole thing. We asked for the information again, but he gave us the wrong info. No need to fear, we just tracted into her!!!!! Heavenly Father is so aware of our needs. This strengthened my testimony that there's nothing we can do to hinder the work. There's no mistake that we can make that God can't fix. It was a miracle!!! We are going to teach her on Thursday.

We also saw another miracle this week. On Tuesday we went to Russellville, Alabama's district meeting. They are 2 hours away from us and we ended up arriving early. Sister Crandall and I have been trying to drink more water lately so by the time we got there we had to go to the bathroom super bad. The church wasn't open so of course we prayed and asked God to lead us to someone who would let us use their bathroom. We started tracting and the first person to open their door let us in! Miracles are everywhere!

Thank you for all of your prayers and emails. I love you. Have the best week in the world :)

Steadfast in Christ

Sister Gibbs

P.S. Tell Sheila I'm praying for her. I will write her a letter soon. It's really sunny here in Tupelo today!

Temple Trip!!!

Sis. Gibbs, Sis. Crandall, Sis. Mason, Sis. Castagno...

"President Hanks, and us three steps up so we can pretend like we are tall!"

Sis. Crandall and Sis. Gibbs

Happy St. Patty's day!

Rainy day tracting!

Tom and sweet little Sister Smith

Sis. Merriam and Sis. Crandall and a chocolate Jesus fish. Only in the South.

Coolest tie ever!!

Sis. Crandall and Becky

Our phone screen. Our mission picture is a plow horse signifying 

being on our toes all the time.

Man with Crystal teeth.

How are you Greg? "Hangin’ on like a bent tooth"

Dear Family and Friends,

The above quote is from our friend at Kroger who got us some nice green bananas. It's a funny quote and it pretty much accurately describes the week.

Tuesday was MLC (Missionary Leadership Training) It was awesome. I've never felt the power and authority of missionary work stronger than when I'm at missionary meetings with President Hanks. It lasted all day. We woke up at 5:00 to drive and then got home at 9:30. It was crazy. So much spirit, driving, and thinking. We were exhausted.

Next we went to Florence, Alabama for an exchange with those cute sisters:) They are 2 hours away. We saw so many miracles that day in Tupelo! There is a higher energy when we are on exchanges and the Lord always blesses us with people to talk to.

Then on Thursday we prepared for zone training. Oh man it was nuts! We took President's 8 hour trainings and condensed them to a 3 hour training for the zone. It was crazy!!!! I've never felt so mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted in my life! Crazy. We got a lot done and zone training was awesome. It was all because of the Grace of God and the spirit that fills the room when missionaries meet that saved us. Really though one of those trust in God moments. It was awesome.

Then we went on exchanges again after zone training with the Corinth sisters. They are amazing! I was in Tupelo with Sister Egan and guess what!!! We got stuck in the mud. Gotta love Alabama wet weather. It was pretty hilarious actually. A member came and pulled us out. What a blessed soul:)

Also Joshua still hasn't been confirmed! We finally got a hold of him and he's planning on this weekend, but he just needs a ride to Tupelo from Pocahontas, Arkansas, where he's working. So it's been kinda hectic, but the Lord was with us the whole time.

This week we are going to the TEMPLE!!!! AAAAHHH! So excited! This will be my 2nd time at the AL Temple.:)

Too blessed to be stressed:)

Love you!

 Our car stuck with Sister Egan!

 Zone training! In the High counsel room because of a wedding in the gym:) 

28 companionships in the high counsel room! We can do anything!

Sis. Gibbs and Sis. Hubbard

The Savior is here for us :)

A new transfer!

Happy birthday Steph!!! Thanks for being the best example to me. :) Along with all y'all:) That is too cool that you went to Sister Allred's farewell and Sister Wittwer's:) AAAHHHH! I love them. I have so many qualities that I've picked up from them. So you basically saw me when you saw them:)

Sister Crandall is my new companion! She's amazing! Holy Cow she's steadfast. She's from Mt. Vernon, Washington! She is hilarious. I love her. We work so well together. She danced in high school, has a beautiful singing voice, and expects miracles like nobody's business. Can you believe it's been almost a year since I got my call!!!!!!! What is this? Time is going so fast.

The work here in Tupelo is going great! We are expecting some baptisms and also some people returning to church. We are so excited!

Yesterday we tracted in the warm rain and it was awesome! We met the nicest people. That doesn't always happen friends. We met an amazing woman who has a giant rooster sculpture in her yard! We totally have a return appointment! I'll send you the pic:) She told us that the colors represent God's love for us! We meet the coolest people.

You know what heals fear? The Savior. Of course, we hear that Jesus Christ is the answer to all of our prayers all the time, but we don't apply this principle until we are humble enough to let Him in or truly seek Him. We have our ups and downs. I go through pride cycles just like the Book of Mormon. It happens all the time all throughout history. We are doing good and then we need help so then we ask God. I guess its part of being human I guess.

What helps me not fear and be confident the most is when I am right with God and use Jesus Christ's Atonement. As one of our fellow friends in the ward says,

"You gots to pray, listen, and wait, and if you dun right with him He gon do right witchoo." :)

It's all true. If we do our part and repent daily we are doing all we can and don't need to worry. I know that the Saviors Grace helps us along the way. We do our best and He does the rest. I know it!

The church has been restored! Tell the world :) Love you so much :)

Love, Sister Gibbs

Steadfast in Christ

 Transfers!!!

 How many Sistas does it take to pack up a bike!!!  

Apparently, three... and one supervisor...

Sis. Gibbs, Sis. Castagno, ?, Sis. Mason, Sis. Crandall, ?

Sis. Gibbs, Sis. Mason, Sis. Robison and Sis Allred

Goodbye to Sister Allred!!!

"We met an amazing woman who has a giant rooster 

sculpture in her yard! We totally have a return appointment!"

Sis. Crandall and Sis. Gibbs

It's finna snow in Mississippi :)

Dear Fam,

Sophie's birthday looks like it was a blast. It's crazy that y'all don't have any snow. All of ours is melted now, but wow it was fun :)

Well it snowed this week here in Mississippi and gave everyone something to smile about. The native Mississippians were jumping up and down as if they had just been told that they could eat all the fried food in the world, and feel healthy afterwards. We were at a recent converts house when it started and the mom of 4 young girls jumped and screamed, "IT'S SNOWING" in mid sprint to the door. It was intense. All 4 girls followed while Sister Allred and I had the pleasure of watching the magical moment.

The snow was fun, but it also meant that we couldn't drive our car. We live in the middle of nowhere so we walked a good 6 miles into Tupelo from Belden, and then we were able to contact some people. President, we are so out of shape! We were extremely sore the next day.  It felt nice to be outside and walking, I just wish were closer to people.  Don't worry we didn't give up spreading the word! We spelled Mormons Love Jesus in the snow for all the cars to see as they walked past. It was pretty awesome.

Joshua was baptized this week!!!!!!!! It was a Miracle a great big MIRACLE! Joshua is working in Pocahontas, Arkansas and was planning on driving back to Tupelo the Saturday of his baptism. Well the snow storm that we had in Tupelo was in Arkansas and he doesn't drive in the snow. We were heart broken. We knew that Joshua needed to be baptized this Saturday and Sister Allred is fixin to get on a plane so this just wouldn't do!!!! We sent a text out to the whole mission praying for the snow to stop and for Joshua to feel confident driving. We prayed a lot! This mission prayed a lot. The New Albany Elders told us later that they stopped in the middle of a lesson and asked the investigator if they could all pray for Joshua. They prayed and acts of faith similar to this one were happening all over the place!!!!! It had to happen! He needed this baptism!!!!! Well after all of the prayers Joshua sends us a text that says I'm on my way. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I've never been more happy in my entire life! I just stood there in shock after reading the text and then thought of course it would happen. I expect miracles to happen every day and Heavenly Father was gracious enough to send us another one. God is so good.

I'm excited for next transfer. I'm sad to see Sister Allred leave. She is a stalwart and steadfast missionary. She's taught me so much. She knows her stuff! Give her a hug for me when you see her :)

Love y'all!

Sister Gibbs

 Joshua's Baptism!!!

Sister Gibbs, Sister Allred, Joshua! Elder Posadas, Elder Smith

Sis. Allred, Sis. Gibbs and Sis. Thorderson

Snow in Tupelo, MS!!!

We are the Force!!!

Sis. Allred & Sis. Gibbs having dinner at Sis. Sims' home

Helping Sis. Sims' paint a Welcome Home banner 

for her son who is coming home this week