Normal mission- Dirt or grass stains on your skirts. Southern Missions- we get fried chicken oil!

Hey Fam!

So guess what happened this week! I went on a exchange with Sister Castagno in Amory, and we had the coolest experience. As we were tracting we met a woman and her grandchild who were mourning the loss of the grandson and Father. They were super closed to our message and in the anger stage of grief. Sister Castagno boldly testified that they would see him again, but they said they already knew that. They were about ready to show us to the door when we asked if there was anything we could do for them. They said no a couple of times and then the grandmother mumbled.... "you can fry my chicken". Fam, there are many forms of service, but this has to be my favorite. I love the South!!!

As we fried the chicken there whole countenance changed. We met more and more of the family and they began to ask questions. It was about time! I mean if two stranger 20 year old girls from Idaho and Utah showed up at my house wanting to help me increase my faith in Jesus, I would have some questions! We ended up teaching the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. It's a good thing you can never cook chicken too long according to our new friends. They totally want to know more. Heavenly Father is so cool. Sooo the best part of the whole thing is that I got oil on my trophy skirt! Some people get grass stains and dirt on their mission clothes and missionaries here in the South get oil from fryin’ chicken! Hahahahaha:)

So this week was awesome. The work in Tupelo is going great and life's good. Here's something that I learned about our Heavenly Father this week.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

He is our best friend. Love is the answer always. When we love our friends and our God everything else falls into place. I know our Savior lives and that He gives me Grace daily. I know He walks with us because He loves each and every one of us to the core.

Thanks for love y'all. I love you.

Have a good week.

Steadfast in Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

Mary Joe :) Best member in the whole world. A true Southern belle.

Our cute friends and their cute babies

 Sister Castagno and I at a Pentacostal game night. Well guess what we found! 

A Mad Gab car that said Mormon Tabernacle Choir. So funny:)

Tupelo is on Fire and Kind of Dangerous :)

There are so many elect people in Tupelo!!! Heavenly Father just drops them from Heaven. All of our investigators are either ignoring us or being baptized so that's good:)

It's true, Tupelo is on Fire and kind of dangerous. This week was very different, interesting, and crazy. To start it off my birthday was awesome! We taught so many great lessons and Gina took us out to lunch. What a blessing. Sister Crandall even decorated the house for me. She's so good to me. I love her. Here's where the story gets crazy...Naturally, we took a picture of us by the décor. Well as we all know missionaries are awesome at using self timers because there's never anyone to take a photo of you and your companion, so we set the self timer and ran to our places by the decorations. As we ran and jumped onto the kitchen counter, I ran my head into the cabinet. I hit it pretty hard. It was hilarious! We were laughing for at least 20 minutes. Later that night I felt kind of nauseated and I remember thinking that's weird. Then the next morning I was really irritable and kind of dizzy. We then called Sister Jones and described the symptoms. It turns out I had a minor concussion!!!!! Then we laughed even harder. What was really sad about the whole situation is we had to stay inside all day!!!!

As to my health, I'm fine now. I slept a lot on the day we stayed in and rested a lot. Hahahaha so funny. Then to top it all off Sister Crandall got my cold and we had to stay in for another part of the next day. The good news is it can only get better from here:) Sister Crandall still has a sore throat, but she's improving. Crazy days. And to top it all off we got to speak on Sunday and the whole ward knew about my concussion because our awesome ward mission leader told them. So I had to explain the story over the pulpit. That was pretty funny as well. HA! We are still laughing pretty hard:) by the way the talks went great. I spoke on how our testimony is strengthened when we share the Gospel and Sister Crandall spoke on the joy we receive when we share the Gospel. It was awesome!!

We still had a pretty good week as far as numbers go, thanks to Heavenly Father! We taught two amazing member present lessons with the couple from stake conference. They are so ready.
So a little bit more info on them. They lived in Utah for 6 months while the husband worked for an oil company. He is originally from Tupelo and they felt like they needed to come back. They lost a baby after only 12 minutes of her living so they had many questions about where she was. They were in Utah at the time and the Relief Society President there helped her with meals while they were recovering. They had a Mormon friend who helped them through the whole thing! They had been to a couple of sacrament meetings in Utah and now have a lot of questions:) Service does the trick you know! A big thank you to the ward where they were in Utah. There is something to learn from this. 1. There are so many opportunities to do missionary work in Utah 2. Service softens stony souls as president would say 3. There are people who need the Gospel near you:)  They are progressing well and will be baptized in 2 weeks:)


Here's a funny for the week. When I had the sore throat business while contacting, a man asked me if I was on something... haha and I said "No are you?" Patience is key I guess. Sometimes my filter goes.

Well I love y'all! Thanks for sending the video of y'all singing! That was awesome:)

Steadfast in Christ
Love, Sister Gibbs

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY!!!

 The aftermath from the concussion.

 "The Decor. My companion isn't a teen anymore!"

Birthday Lunch with Thorderson's

"Gibster and I did some water color painting, and this is 

what I came up with. haha. Southern much?"

  

 Bye bye to Elder Smith.

We are in the dictionary!

Us: "Yup we sure are in the Bible Belt" Them: "You're in the BUCKLE"

Hey family:)

It's been an amazing week! Thanks for all the birthday wishes! It's going to be a fun day of missionary work tomorrow:) I'm 20!!!!! Not a teenager anymore:) Yippee Skippy!

Sister Crandall and I are staying together in Tupelo! We are excited! Guess what! Sister Crandall will be going home! hahaha killing my 4th:)

Guess what! A family came into the recent convert meeting at stake conference who aren't members, but came from Utah and are interested in the church! They've been to two sacrament meetings there and want to know more! The investigator meeting was a good one to walk into. They were really confused so they were happy to hear that missionaries could meet with them. Crazy miracles happen every day!

So you are probably wondering what the investigator/recent convert meeting was at stake conference... First off, we had the best stake conference in the world! Elder Fred A. Parker of the area 70 came and lead all of the meetings. Elder Parker is a black, Baptist convert! He is awesome. He investigated the church for 4 years and then married the girl that introduced him to it. I bet you can imagine what our meetings were like. Everything he said, he said with passion, power, and authority :) His hands were waving in the air, he was gripping the pulpit, and most importantly testifying with passion. He is a special witness of the Savior. He had all the missionaries stand up and then thanked us for our service. President and Sister Hanks were there too. Wow it was cool. All the black members felt right at home. :) So he conducted a meeting with all the investigating and new members and encouraged them. He was real with us and told us to never get offended. He said something like, "The only being I have covenanted with in this Church is Jesus Christ and I will follow him. I will NEVER let anyone determine my Salvation except for him." So cool.

This week was full of miracles because here's another one! A member who just left on his mission gave his friend a Book of Mormon and she totally wants to be baptized when she knows it's true! She's 18 and is tired of hearing about fire and brimstone at her church. She totally felt the spirit in the lesson and notices the difference.

Speaking of the spirit and absence of the spirit. Yesterday we went to a Baptist scripture study in someone's home. It was a good experience:) It was nice to see the difference in spirit level, and now we know a little bit more about what our investigators think of when we say "church." There was a stark difference in the spirit level. Also I was a little terrified to be a "visitor" in another churches bible study. It helped me understand how the investigators feel coming to ours. Towards the end of the study in Revelations, yeah it was confusing, I felt prompted to bear my testimony. The person leading the study had been talking about the wrath of God, and the signs of the times which resulted in an unsettling feeling in the room by everyone. (lack of the spirit) We were all confused what Revelations was talking about. The spirit told me to open my mouth and I was so scared. Sister Crandall and I had been quiet the whole time, but I couldn't deny the prompting. I then testified of the love of God and that the happy ending in Revelations is when the Savior comes again. This is the source of all happiness despite the "wrath" that will be given to those who want it. I have a firm testimony that Heavenly Father will give his children every opportunity he can to save all of his children. As I testified the spirit flooded the room and Sister Crandall told me later that it hit her, as well as everyone, like a punch to the stomach.

The spirit is real, it's of God, and it can only be had in a fullness when we partake of the fullness of the Gospel.  I can physically notice a difference in a person’s demeanor if they have the Gift of the Holy Ghost or not. Whenever Sister Crandall and I leave a members home or a place where we were just with Mormons I've started to say, "I love Mormons." There's a difference and it's a blessing to have this Gospel so easily in our lives.

Love y'all so much! be safe:) and share the light with everyone. They WILL recognize it.

Steadfast in Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

ZONE CONFERENCE!!

Sister Crandall by our table preparing for zone training:) 

Zone Leaders 

Elder Turley and Smith get "Stress Staches" before zone training XD

 

Our Awesome Zone!! 

Elder Hills wanted to hold Shelton the bird at brother Hoopers house. 

He bites though, and climbed onto elder hills shoulder. Elder Hills was 

freaking out since he didn't want Shelton to bite his ear.

Making pies with the Nelsons'! 

Getting covered in Dough and Crisco! 

Relaxation time 

Finished product 

Brother Hooper is our ward mission leader and he obsessed with Start wars. 

He has a tradition where at the end of every transfer we take light saber 

pictures with all the missionaries.

Happy Easter!!!

Hey Family!

How are ya? How was Easter? Crazy thing I saw Sister Wilson yesterday. She said it was fun to meet y'all :)

This week we met a less active member who wants to come back and she is awesome. Where the funny story starts is when this sister was explaining her church experience. It went a little something like this.

"I love singin’ and praisin’ and sayin’ a hallelujah!... (While her hands are above her head and she's a swayin’ side to side) That was a scruggle to tone down."

Happy Ending to the story is we praised danced with her for a bit and showed her the blog that talks about black women in the church. She's awesome and going to come back to church. We could use a little more excitement in our lives :)

Conference was amazing! It is always an answer to my prayers. The one's that Heavenly Father needed me to know were Elder Bednar's and Elder Holland's. Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need.

Easter was amazing! The Amory Sisters stayed over and we had an Easter egg hunt in the morning :) Thanks mom for sending us eggs filled with memories of the Savior and his sacrifice. As we read the scriptures and pondered about what He truly has done for each of us, the spirit washed over us with a feeling of complete joy and love.

I know that our Savior lives and that He is Love. He gives me strength, grace and never ending hope. His true nature is not looking to point out our flaws but to erase them. What I loved in Elder Bednar's talk was how he said that as we come to know the true nature of Heavenly Father and our Savior we will not have worldly fear. This is something that is unique about us. We understand that our Heavenly Father is planning on and preparing for us to have complete joy with our families, not an eternity of burning in fire and darkness. How grateful I am to have this knowledge, and how grateful I am that I get to share it. Spread the love, because we all need it:)

Thank you for your prayers! I love you and am grateful for you :) Be Safe!

Steadfast in Christ and his loving nature :)

Love, Sister Gibbs

HAPPY EASTER!!!

 Easter with Sister Wilson Surprising us! She came to visit a member here in Tupelo.

District 

Sister Salmond and I on STL exchanges:) Super fun! She was my STL in Decatur

Russellville exchange with Sister Merriam and Ralph.

 Smoothie date for April's last day in Alabama/Mississippi....annnd Sister Scheffer.