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! 

"Healing in His Wings"

Hey Fam!

Happy Birthday to all the many Birthdays in October and September. I feel like there's a lot! Especially between the O'Brien family and our family!

We won 1st place at the fair!!!!! We got a big blue ribbon and everyone who went to the fair looked at our booth filled with truth!:) Some people even took some book of Mormons that were there! Wahoohoo!

We had a neat lesson with Denise this week! She said she got an answer to prayer that what we were telling her was true now she is praying to know if this is where she needs to be! Wahoo! We had a church tour with her and she absolutely loved it! She felt the spirit so strong in the chapel as we sang she said she didn't want to leave!

Healing-the process of making or becoming sound or healthy again.

This morning I read in 3rd Nephi when the Savior heals His people. The amount of mercy and love that is shown is truly only possible through Christ. After all, he did come with "Healing in his wings;" (2 Nephi 25:13) He is the source of all healing. Healing the soul as well as the body. I know the Savior heals. I know He is anxious to heal all of our broken hearts if we but come to him.

I feel the Holy Ghost has placed a new definition of healing on my heart. The words that stand out to me are "process" and "becoming." I used to think of healing as a more immediate blessing but now I know that it is a "process" and we are "becoming" like our Heavenly Father one healed heart after another.

I know Jesus Christ has been healing me from the very beginning and continues to heal. I have felt his spirit and the "healing in His wings."

Love y'all! Hope you have a great week!

Steadfast in Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

 The Gadsden team - Sister Gibbs, Sister Anderl, Elder Rogers, and Elder Anderson

The District:)

  Sister Wilson! She's a sweetheart!

 Women's conference with the girls:)

 Gadsden:)

The mustang with Sister McVicar:)

BAMA!!! Yay!

Hey Family!

I'm in Gadsden AL! It's awesome. It's so great to be in Alabama again! I love it! I get to ride my bike and have a ball with Sister Anderl! We had dinner at Ethel's house and met her cute puppies. She also has a rooster that sleeps with the dogs! I love the South!!!!!! Sister Parsons, Sister Bailey, and Sister Allred all served here. It's fab.

She is fabulous! I absolutely love her! She's from Draper, UT and is fearless! As we were driving home from working we saw a snake in the road and she picked it up!!!! I have pictures. The Elders skinned it. HA! It was crazy! Sister Anderl loves all things horses and fun. I love her and am so excited! I'm follow-up training and I absolutely love it.

We had an amazing Emmaus Experience this week. I had a dream that Sister Anderl and I taught a woman who had red/orange short hair and a long face. The dream was just a short picture of us walking into her home. I thought that's weird. Then! When we went out to tract we met Cathy! Who fit the description! Her house even looked the same! She loved the restoration and told us that she was excited to read the Book of Mormon.....WOAH! I don't think I've fully grasped what just happened, but thank you Heavenly Father.

I love y'all! I'm sorry I didn't write last week! My last week in Tupelo was crazy! I sent out a lot of letters to former investigators bearing my testimony and whole soul to them. I know Christine, Shane, and Tommy all felt the spirit. Tupelo was awesome and will always be a part of my heart.

Alma 33:23

"Christ's joy"

As we let Christ bloom in our hearts our burdens will be light.

I know it's true. I've felt him and so have you.

Have a great week.

Steadfast In Christ

Love, Sister Gibbs

P.S. My hair took 45 minutes to comb out but now feels great.

PPS I will be moving to another apartment this Thursday.

Last Supper in Tupelo with the Thordersons.  

Sister Gibbs, Sister Thorderson and Sister Bailey

Brother Shelburne our ward mission leader and all the missionaries departing Tupelo.

Sister Burgett just got married! She's going to go to the temple in a year!

Addine! and the Fam! Addine was baptized right before I got to Tupelo and Laterious her grandson was baptized my first transfer. He isn't in the pic though.

Christine and JD! They are getting married soon! 

The Chapman family!

 Madelyn! Who is fabulous dancer.

Christa! She's loved the card y'all sent!

 Our District! in Tupelo!

Sister Anderl and Sister Gibbs ~ Transfers!! 

Star Wars Goodbye photo

Everlasting Kindness :)

Hey Family,

It was soooooooooooo good to talk to you yesterday! I loved it. Y'all just make me so happy. Y'all are pretty much caught up on the life here in Tupelo so I'll share my study this morning.

3 Nephi 22: 8 and 10

"In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with EVERLASTING KINDNESS will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer."

"For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my KINDNESS shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."

I prayed to feel of the Savior's true character just before I read those scriptures, and the words that stood out to me were of course, "everlasting kindness." Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are always so kind. They don't see our faults, but our strengths. They know what we can become. I've noticed that the more I know about the Saviors love for me the more I love other people. I was prompted to be more kind this morning. I also felt prompted that if I was kind that I would have greater happiness in my life. The worries can worry by themselves. Most of the fear and worries aren't even real!

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/k-richard-young_kindness-celestial-touchstone/

"A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with God-like thoughts." -K Richard Young-"Kindness: A Celestial Touchstone"

Wow. When I found this talk I was just astounded at how our Heavenly Father always answers our prayers! I have been praying a long time for that quote. As the Savior said, "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly." Thoughts lead to action.

I love you! Thank you for supporting me on this mission. I can't thank y'all enough. I love you!

Steadfast in Christ

Sister Gibbs

  We are in the Newspaper!!!

 Sister Crandall's last district meeting.

 Only in the South

 We made a gift bag for our investigator Terrica who has M.S. 

She was so excited to get it!

 Sometimes people ride horses instead of driving cars.

 Tommy!!!!!

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.

Happy Turkey Day from the Sistas in Decatur!

Guess what happened this week!!!!!!!!! So Here in Decatur these past couple of weeks we haven't had a ton of people accept our message, we've been antied a lot, our stove timer is possessed so it goes off every two hours, even while we are sleeping, and other various missionary experiences have started to weigh down on us. BUT THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL MY FRIENDS! Heavenly Father knows how to prepare us. Saturday morning we were tracting/less active hunting and so far not too many people seemed golden. THEN we knocked on the last door, 1st knock no answer, 2nd knock we waited...

"Whoo is it!"

"The missionaries"

"Whoo?!"

"The missionaries!"

A middle aged black woman opens the door, she didn't look too receptive. We went into our usual approach of,  "We are new here in Decatur and trying to get to know everyone........Do you know anyone who could use a message about eternal families?"

This lady was really confused why we were at her house. She looked at us and said no, then looked at us again and said, "Do y'all want to come in?"

Why yes we do! We pray for this everyday of our lives as a matter of fact :) So basically she's elect. She said that she was at her darkest moment this morning and was praying to God to show her an answer to all her questions. We taught her the 1^st lesson and she said that she stopped going to church because it didn't feel right, she was confused. She asked questions like, why are there so many churches, why do I feel empty, there's one faith one baptism soo.....? She asked all the right questions! She loved the lesson. We felt the spirit. She's going to get baptized! She hasn't officially said yes, but we made a baptismal calendar for her before we even met her so it's a done deal. She even had a dream about the apostasy! She knows the Gospel was lost!!!

Heavenly Father answered our prayers. Not to say that he hasn't been answering them all week, but now we see where he was going with all of this! He loves his children and places them in our path. It's a relief that we don't have to find them on our own.

I'm sooooooooo happy! I'm just smiling all the time and I'm so grateful for the experience of a mission!!!!! I can't even explain really, but y'all understand.

I love you and am sooooooo grateful for everyone one of you in my life :)

Much love and have a blessed Thanksgiving :)

Love, Sista Gibbs

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Sis Gibbs and Sis Parsons

Elder Hamblin made the district lunch! 

Sister Gibbs and Sister Parsons

"Miracles Happen Once In A While When You Believe!"

Angie and Nate were MARRIED AND BAPTIZED this week! I KNOW they received strength from Heavenly Father! I KNOW Christ bore their afflictions! I KNOW there is strength in this gospel. I KNOW the gospel is happiness. They are so happy. The ward did so much! They provided refreshments for after the wedding, came to support, welcomed them in, went wedding dress shopping, decorated, and sat by them at church the next day. This ward is AMAZING! There is a tangible difference in their home. I love them! We were busy all week as usual but this was crazy! Thank Heavens Heavenly Father is in control. Good thing I had wedding planner experience before the mish. 

We met with a member’s mom this week in Hartselle. She is a devout Baptist and promised to consider the Gospel if the Book of Mormon was mentioned in the Bible. Well isn't it her lucky day :) We are going to tell her about it tomorrow. I've been praying about how she needs to hear the message. It's going to be good. She's awesome! I'll tell you how it goes :) 

Sister Wilson is going home this week. Holy Cow how time flies! I love her so much. She has truly served with all her heart, might, mind, and strength :) What an amazing missionary. She's taught me so much about loving people and making sacrifices for them. She takes it to a whole new level! Pray for her. She's going to have an amazing week just a hard one. Elder Posadas is being transferred so a lot of changes are happening here in Decatur. Look out everyone this transfer is going to be the bomb! 

We are loving the bike riding, gospel teachin, Jesus loving mission here in Decatur :) Love y'all and have a good week :) Everything is going to be ok :)

Peace and Blessings!

Sister Gibbs :)

Baptism of Nate and Angie

Wedding of Nate and Angie

Nate, Angie, Serenity, Harmony, Sis. Wilson and Sis. Gibbs

Sis. Gibbs & Serenity

Sis. Wilson, Angie and Sis. Gibbs

Sister Wilson and Sis. Gibbs

District in Decatur