What A Merry Christmas We Had :)

Hey Friends,

Sorry for the absence of an email last week but I'm writing one now! Yes I'm in Talladega, AL where there is a Nascar race track! Wahoo! I'm also serving in a branch!!!! Wahoo! we are hoping to be a ward by the end of 2016 and we are planning on it. I've lead the music in sacrament meeting both Sundays I've been here. We are having fun and doing a lot of work. 

We had a very special Christmas this year with all the crazy weather and talking to y'all! Let me tell you, opening presents with your companion is too fun! Thanks for all the gifts! Holy cow we are the most loved missionaries in the world! So I told the fam on skype but we found the exact same jump ropes that we used in elementary school at the dollar store!! We are planning on jumping rope on p-days:) We bought four! 2 for us and 2 for the elders! Yay for Christmas! We spent it with the Cote's. They are so fun. We felt a part of the family. 

The name of the game this week has been store contacting. Our favorite approach was, "Have you ever wondered if more than the people near Bethlehem saw the star that signified Christ's birth?" Oh man it was a hit! It's so easy to jump into a lesson with it. Everyone says "Yeah! I'm sure they did!" It's all too fun. I love contacting at Christmas time. We think we will keep using the approach even if it isn't Christmas. 

Of course Christmas was especially special because our sweet grandma made it home for Christmas. Wow, what an incredible woman she was. She was always a hard worker and firmly rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She worked in her Garden till she absolutely couldn't do it any longer. Wow talk about enduring to the end. 

I gave Stephanie another memory of grandma for Jessica's talk. 

One of my favorite memories of Grandma is having breakfast at her house. I can remember Natalie and I sitting at the table and asking, "Grandma, why do you make the pancakes so big?" Grandma began to tell us how we would eat that same amount in 3 little pancakes so it is more efficient to make one giant one. What was even better is she would always use food coloring to die the pancakes the coordinating color for the upcoming holiday. She always knew how to make life fun through the eternal every day. She knew that joy dwells in the ordinary.

Ok, I thought of another one. Sometimes when we would go to grandmas grandpa would play the chicken dance song and all of us would dance to it. That was the best. 

What a Merry Christmas it was to celebrate victory over death this Christmas. I do know we will all live again through our Savior Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us. I do know that there is peace in this life and it isn't far away. There truly are truths restored to the earth specifically for these very experiences. We can truly know what lies ahead if we ask in Faith. He promised "Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth and he that receiveth findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

Do we know it's true?

When was the last time we asked?

I know our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ keep their promises. 

Steadfast in Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

Tenacity GRRRRRRR!!! 

This was the day of transfers after you talked about the plow horse!

Sister Nielsen, Sister Griffin, Sister Gibbs, Sister Bradford.

Transfers!!