It snowed in Oxford, AL!!!!!!!

Hey Fam,

I'm telling you everyone goes to Walmart and stocks up on their bread, milk, and eggs the minutes someone says snow. It didn't stay for long but it was fun! One of our investigators Angela called us and said, "I'm jus callin ta leht ya knowa thaat it's snowin outsihde!" Forgive me my Southern is very weak. Hahahah. She's so funny!

We had a missionary broadcast this week. It was pretty neat! It wasn't anything we hadn't heard before but it was by Apostles so it made it all the more powerful. After Pres. Hanks asks, "Why do they teach us things that we already know?" There's a lot of answers but what stood out to me was President testifying of this church being led by Jesus Christ himself and that the Holy Ghost is the real teacher. No matter the message if the spirit is there we will be inspired to change in our own specific way.

This week we taught Rita and her Mom! We found her in the mall during the last 20 minutes of the day! I was thinking well it's about time to go. Let's walk back to the car but Sister Rodriquez says, "Look! Our last two to get our goal!" We talked to them set up an appointment and they kept it!!!!!! What would we do without Sister Rodriquez? We had a great Book of Mormon lesson and answered her question of why bad things happen to good people as well as how to know if God is there. The spirit was so strong in her purple bedroom. We were all sitting on the floor because her grandparents were in the other room. We also taught the Restoration and they loved it.

So guess what? We got a text on Sunday that said they basically got antied. Great. Well that won't stop us. The Gospel is true and she is strong enough to find out!!!!!! GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

We also taught Mary this week. Mary is so elect. My goodness. I don't know if I told you but we found them as they were rushing to church a few weeks ago. Mary the mom of the family was flustered trying to get everyone in the car and basically brushed us off. Later, her daughter told her what she did and the next time we saw Mary she let us in and fed us breakfast! She loves the Book of Mormon and is asking if this really is the truth. She told us as we taught the Plan of Salvation that we have a little more Grace than other churches, meaning that we have restored truths! It's true! What a blessing it is. Pray for Mary. She's almost there:)

Yesterday, we got to pray a demon out of a home! Did you know that you don't have to hold the priesthood to bless a home? We didn't see any signs of the demon but it definitely brought peace to the people in the home. Heavenly Father is always good.

Anyways, Faith, pride, and roll tide everyone. Time is flyin. AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Forever Steadfast in Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

Here is part of an email Abby sent to me today…

Elise sounds wonderful. I can't wait to see her. That's sad about Phil. Happy that they are together.

I get really nervous when I pack, say goodbye to people, and notice that the expiration dates at Walmart are past Feb 3... I know it's going to be fine but there's nothing like mission life. I feel so encouraged and guided here. I don't have a mission President to train me every so often on what I can do to be happier or how I can succeed at home. I like the structure here and everybody has to like everybody. It's safe. I'll take Elise's advice and trust God. He already told me it's going to be fine but you know still scared. Anyways, I'll have tons of people helping me. The Gospel is the same everywhere.

I'm excited to see you!!!!!!!!!

We have crazy plans for this week. Hopefully we are seeing dad's referral in Wetumpka on Tuesday and Stacey is going through the temple on Saturday!!! I'm her escort... I've forgotten a lot of the prep I did for the temple. Anything I need to know? I forgot the scriptures I read to prepare. Do you have those?

I would love to eat at Cafe Rio:) I'm sure ideas will come when I'm there.

Love you! Thanks for the letters and everything.
Sister Gibbs

Cute Sister Rodriquez at our Relief Society Book of Mormon activity! 

The Members are going to give the copies out! Woot Woot! Along with 

Sister Copeland from the Philippines.

This is Oxford lake! This is where we chased down the Walkers.

Sister Rodriquez, Sister Bradford and Sister Gibbs

We finally got one in the air!  Sister Rodriquez, Sister Bradford and Sister Gibbs

Hello Hello!!!

Family! Wahoo! We aren't orphans after all. 

Happy Robert E. Lee day yesterday...or Martin Luther King Day. It all depends on how you look at it. Mary Lou a good friend of a member who drove with all of us to get Sister Rodriquez is all for Robert E. Lee. :)

This week we did a 70 hour week and guess what our reward is (drum role............) Sister Rodriquez! We are in a trio! We picked her up yesterday! Her companion went home so we get happy Sister Rodriquez:) We are having a blast! It's like a sleep over every night! Oh wow we love being missionaries:) Sister Rodriquez is from California and she has already served in Talladega! She knows the area better than we do! What a blessing.

Anyways, we've met a ton of elect people this transfer. They are all at about the same level. So we are teaching a lot of Book of Mormon and Plan of Salvation lessons. I'm telling you Talladega is on Fire! Now we are hoping that they keep their commitments. 

Here's how we found Jacob this week. Jacob the elect is a senior in high school that we found at Jacks. We weren't even planning on meeting our other investigator Tim there, but Jacks is where Heavenly Father stopped his car, by the bed almost falling off, for a special purpose. As we are teaching Tim about prophets, we asked Tim if he could pull up a video on his phone. It turns out that he couldn't. Bummer. Then Sister Bradford turns to me and says, "You ain't down to ask that kid if we can borrow his phone..." Of course I'm down! Jacob had already heard us talking about it and let us borrow it anyways. So we showed both of them the video and taught the Restoration. Jacob loved it and said he would get baptized when he knew it was true!!!!! 

We are meeting with him again this week. We don't have any baptism dates yet but I think they are coming soon. 

Anyways, this week there is a world wide missionary conference from Salt Lake! Woot Woot! We also have interviews. Time is flying fast y'all. Not going to lie. I'm a little exhausted but definitely not as exhausted as the Elders. Did you know they serve for 2 YEARS!!!!! It's the roughest, funnest time you'll have in your life. 

This week Sister Bradford and I gave a training in District Meeting on how Christ-like attributes help you become a better missionary. The day before, we tracted basically all day. We met a lot of nice Baptists and some not so nice ones, but our personal experience we used for our training was based on that wonderful day. In the wise words of Sister Bradford, "Even though we were diligently tracting in the cold all day long we know the people noticed we were still smiling." Even if we were basically hysterical, the people know in their hearts who we represent. 

I love you. Can't wait to see you soon!!! AAAHHHHH!

Well love y'all! Make it a great week!

Steadfast in Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

PS Guess what! Stacey Woods is going through the temple on Jan. 30th!!!!! I'm probably going to get to go!!!! 

Lunch with a member (grilled cheese and macaroni for Abby!) 

Our first picture together! We got noses from Chick-fil-a. 

Pilipino Food!!!

The Elders thought it would be funny to write all over our car! 

John 13:35 "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

Dear Family and Friends,

What a fabulous week we had! I absolutely love Sister Bradford. I love her so much I titled this email with the scripture that she reminds me of. She is such a disciple and people can tell by how she loves everyone she meets! It's a gift and a talent that I am learning from her. All disciples sincerely love.

"Alma 26:31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us."

I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to earth by a prophet of God.

This past Sunday Sister Bradford and I went to a Non-Denominational church. I learned a lot. Even though the church had a coffee bar, a rock concert, and preaching I absolutely knew something was missing... As we were surrounded by people yelling their praises to God I felt the still small voice bring to my remembrance a scripture that I had read earlier in the week,

"Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (1 Peter 5:8-9)

The music was great and matched the favors of the world, the preaching was entertaining and mostly convincing, but was it of God?

-the philosophies of men mingled with scripture

-the elect will hear my voice

I felt in that moment, as I stood next to wonderful people who were all so very confused, a great and powerful gratitude for our ancestors who walked across the country so we could have the Restored Gospel.

I have some questions for us to ponder.

Who is God?

Who is Jesus Christ?

How does the spirit speak and teach us?

How can we be steadfast so the devil will resist us?

Can we be partly in the world?

Can we be mostly obedient?

These people believed they were worshipping God with all that they had, but who were they worshipping? Who are we worshipping?

Sister Bradford and I sang "We Thank the Oh God for a Prophet" as we ran from that place.

I know that we can learn the true nature of God as we ask him himself. What a blessing it is to have that knowledge.

We are teaching some fabulous people. 3 of them are working on the word of wisdom and are rocking it. One of our investigators came to church this week. The Sisters have been teaching him for a long time now so it was great to see him at church!

Have a fabulous week.

Forever Steadfast in Jesus Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

Did you know that Sister Anderl, Nielsen, and Bradford were in the same 

MTC group!:) All three have been my companion:) wahoo!

A sample of our rock concert! 

Happy New Year!!!!

IT WAS THE BEST NEW YEAR EVER!!!!!!

The Elders have been teaching a part member family for a while now and he wanted to be baptized on New Year's Eve so he did! He came out of the water at 11:55. Wow what a great start to a New Year eh? We have a new Elder from Canada here and his "eh's" must be rubbing off on me. Anyways, It was so cool. The best part was to see the whole family together and knowing that they all were on the right track. It's too fun to see a Dad get baptized:)

Yes, we got permission to go from President. Wow I haven't stayed up that late in forever! We were so tired. All missionaries had to be in by 6:00 that night so Sister Bradford and I played a card game and as our eyes were closing we decided to take a nap before the baptism. We jumped in our beds and laughed for 10 minutes screaming,

"Who are we! We are so old! Wow we've definitely changed on the mission! We can't even stay up till mid-night!" So funny. 

The nap was definitely worth it because the next day was rough but we did it. 

Here's another funny from Saturday. As Sister Bradford and I are praying in the car before we went to contact a referral, I see someone waving at us by my window. (Yes I have struggles closing my eyes while praying) I screamed and jumped out of the car to find a 14 year old boy named Tanner. He's a member of a couple of years and the best missionary in the world. He tracts his neighborhood and hands out all of the media. What a rock star. Anyways, I didn't know who he was and he said,

 "Wow sisters, you would have thought that this was the Oxford approach instead of the Saratov approach up in here!" 

He went tracting with us and kept us laughing the whole time. Wahoo! He was actually baptized in Gadsden so we talked about the members there too. He hasn't been going to church but now he will soon:)

Sister Bradford and I are doing great. Oh my goodness I love being a missionary.:D I'm so very grateful for the opportunity and for the many people who contributed to it. Heavenly Father is so good to us. Here's to another year striving to be Forever Steadfast in Christ! :)

Love y'all! Happy New Year! 

Striving to be Steadfast Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Love, Sister Gibbs and Sister Bradford

The Baptism of Brandon 

Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!!  The tree my mom sent with Christmas quote 

on the ornaments to read everyday.

They let us ride these for free!