Sister Abby Gibbs Birmingham Alabama Mission: "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"