December 12, 2011

Hey Familia,

 

This week has been good and tough! lol both of these. so we have been teaching a lot of people. we were able to teach a part member family who was starting to go a little bit in active in the church. it had been like a month since any of them had come to church and they weren't reading the scriptures. and it had been like 6 months since they had all come to church as a family. so we went to visit them. we had an idea to review the Restoration with them. and so that is what we did. we taught them and the spirit filled the room. the next day All of them came to church, along with some friends they brought. it seems like their testimonies of the church were starting to fall apart a little bit. but we feel that we have been able to get them a little back on track. and it is so true that our testimonies can begin to decay if we dont nurture them with the word of God. That is why reading the scriptures is soo important. 

This week we were abe to teach this new family that we found. their names are Mariel, Virignia, and Pablo. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and how God has provided that we can live in our families forever! it is not just till death but families are eternal! I am glad that my family is eternal! cause my family is just soooo awesome! I cant imagine not being with them forever! I love you all! 

we have been teaching some other people like a guy named Oscar. He is doing well. he and his wife are reading the Book of Mormon together. I love their family so much. they are really awesome people. lol and funny. so I have been trying to live more like Jesus lately. and to develope qualities more like Him. I have been trying to be more patient. lol which for me is soooo hard! Especially as we all know how patient I am on fast sundays or when I havent eaten for a long time :D it has helped me in our companionship and with how I treat everyone. lol I am still not perfect. but I am trying to be better. 

oh and Also I was able to go to Rosario this week cause Elder Glad had to do some visa work. and that was fun. lol nothing really happened. but anyhow, I hope that you are all doing well. I am doing great. we have awesome investigators. we just need them to come to church so they can feel the Spirit more in their lives! that is our challenge! getting people to come to church. but I am doing real good. love you all. have a great week!

Elder Gibbs

December 5, 2011

This week has been a killer. we have been teaching quite a bit. and doing lots of stuff. lol I dont really know what to explain to you guys because the weeks just keep on flying by. 

but today we did have some fun. we went to Santa Fe to have a combined preparation day. we ate Chorri-pan which is just like bratwurst and we played soccer. it was a lot of fun! lol My calves hurt from all the running around. but it was fun to talk with other missionaries and to goof off with them. Not to mention I scored a couple of goals!!!! yay! I also ate like three bratwursts and felt a little sick after! yay!!!! it was just soooo good that I couldnt help myself. 

So anyhow we have been teaching this guy named Oscar Montes. he is really cool! and now he is turning into a member. lol he likes to go around telling people that they have the wrong idea of the mormons. lol He tells them they DO believe in Jesus Christ and they Do celebrate birthdays and we DONT worship Joseph Smith and stuff like that. He likes to tell everyone about their misconceptions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He is such a funny guy. He likes to drink a lot but we can change that. We are also teaching his wife. She said that when we come over the house just has a different feeling. the house becomes more peacefull. 

I have been learning so much that the whole point of the Church is about Jesus Christ. The book of Mormon and the Bible testify of Christ. We teach of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we do everything centered around Him. I am getting a stronger testimony of Him and what he has done for me! I am so thankful to have a Savior that loves me and died for me. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He atoned for our sins. 

So the lady that rents our house is selling it because she cant afford it anymore. So we have been keeping an eye out for a new house or apartment. I want a house with a pool and a big screen tv and stuff like that but Elder Glad doesnt seem like he wants any of that. lol just kidding. I dont want a pool. we cant go swimming. 

Oh and so we found out that on December 25 we will be calling home. so I will give you all an update about that! Well I loves you alls! Keep being awesome! I dont have too much time left! we are going to go meet with a 70 year old man. He´s a real nice guy. so

chao!

Elder Gibbs

November 28, 2011

These weeks have just been going by like crazy. it feels just like yesterday that I was writing you all. and also thanks for all of the letters. they were awesome. 

soo this week, lol we have been facing a lot of bible bashing. lol we are facing some adversity. like this guy invited us over to his house so he could take the veil off of our eyes that have blinded us. lol that was a funny experience. he invited his friend over to come speak with us. they were way cool. and they preached to us about how we need to believe in the same gospel that Jesus taught and stuff like that. which its true. we do need to believe in the same gospel that Jesus taught. it was cool because we were able to testify to them that the Book of Mormon doesn't change anything that it says in the bible. they work together to testify of Christ. but ya, so my testimony is still growing a ton. and we have some really awesome investigators. 

lol and we are going to eat with this family that we are teaching. they invited us over to eat pizza with them. yay for pizza! oh and so Happy Thanksgiving everyone. lol Elder Glad and I almost missed thanksgiving. lol so what we did was we went to this restaurant near our house and bought some beef milenesas neopolitano style. lol they are like chicken fried steak with tomato sauce and ham and cheese cooked on top. lol and they were huuuugggggeeee! lol it couldn't even fit on our plate. I was so tired of steak after that. 

yesterday we found a new investigator which was real awesome! it is so cool how God prepares people to listen to us. this guy never usually likes to listen to missionaries. but we were able to talk to him and find out about him and teach him. he seemed really excited to read the book of mormon. also we have become good friends with this other guy named Oscar and his wife Monica. He would have never sat down with missionaries to talk about God before we came. but we were able to talk to him and teach them. The wife said that she feels a special feeling when talking to us. which we know is the Spirit of God. so we are going to eat with Oscar tonight and we are going to talk a little about baptism with him and his family. so awesome things are happening here in Galvez. 

we reached the middle of the transfer already! I really cannot believe it. as for Galvez, its getting really hot. yesterday was really humid and hard to breath. the air gets so thick here that it often makes us real tired real quick. Also the mosquitoes are eating me to death. I hate mosquitoes. well anyhow, we are doing alright! I love you all! hope you have a great week!

Chao,

Elder Gibbs

November 21, 2011 (with Pictures!)

Well another week has flown by! lol I really cant believe that! days go by super fast its amazing! oh I am in a computer lab in the city and this guy just asked me where I was from. haha pretty cool!  but ya this has been a super awesome week! yesterday we ate an awesome asado! Asado is a Argentine barbecue! I cant believe how good they can make the meat taste. they literally don't put any spices on the meat. only salt but they make it taste sooo good! I love it!  but we have been doing a lot of work lately. 

we are teaching the father of the family that made the Asado. His name is Santiago and yesterday, we read about Faith in Alma 32. and we had a super awesome discussion. It compares a faith or a testimony to a seed. and that we need to keep feeding and strengthening the seed so it grows or it will die. just like a testimony of the truth of the gospel, if you don't feed it by reading the scriptures or praying constantly it will die. and sadly that happens a ton. so we are trying to put more emphasis on continuing to do these things after we are done teaching people. we are trying to make the way we teach more effective and to help more people. and the work seems to be going well! and I have quite enjoyed this week. its been a little tough but very rewarding. my testimony is growing a ton! 

but ya. other things that have happened. two days ago we were in the chapel and we were doing an activity and we left and then it began to rain a ton! it was pouring. lol I was so soaked! lol my shoes were so full of water that it looked like I had walked through a lake. but it was fun. we have some really sweet investigators and we were able to teach them. one of our investigators asked us what was it that we are expecting of them. and we were able to answer that we were there to invite them to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel through Faith in Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receive the gift of the holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. and that through this we can return to the presence of God. so our goal was to help people return to God. 

it is amazing how many missionary experiences we can have if we just look for them. I just had a quick discussion with the person next to me about Christ. which was pretty awesome!  anyhow, so my companion finished a year in the mission last week. lol so I got to watch him burn his tie. lol it was one of Elder Glad´s finest moments! no he has many finest moments. so yesterday, this guy was telling us that we needed to pray to God to ask him if what we were doing was right. cause he said that if it wasn't, we were leading people to hell. I was able to give my testimony to him that I had already prayed and found the truth. and then my companion did the same. we felt like Alma and Amulek talking to Zeezrom in the Book of Mormon. We have had some awesome experiences here. tough ones but great experiences. But I know the Book of Mormon is a true book! and I love this book a ton! it is written by God´s prophets! and will help us have a more happy and blessed life. and will bring any person unto God! and I am super grateful for this Gospel! well I gots to a go. but I love you all! have a great week!  we are going just keep on working as hard as we can! well love you all!

Elder Gibbs

[Editor's Note:  And now on to some pictures!!!]

November 14, 2011

Hey family,

This week has been pretty good. quite a killer week. lol by that I mean that we walk a tooooonnnnnnn! but its cool. we have some cool investigators. they just need to keep listening to the messages we have and change their lives. the problem we have is that people are super hard to find. but when we find them, we are often able to have an awesome lesson and the spirit is so strong. yesterday we found this man whose father just died. It was a great experience to be able to tell him exactly where his father is right now and what will happen to him. I have learned so much about the plan of Salvation while teaching it to people. its great! I love it. I am so happy that we have a Heavenly Father who gave us a perfect plan. in which we can return to live with him forever in our families. 

So this morning I cut my own hair again! and it didnt turn out bad. lol I remember the first time I cut my hair and I cut the back of my hair at different levels and it was just a mess! lol this time I just buzzed it all off. like an inch long. Also I tried to cut my hair into a mohawk first.....buuut that didnt work. it just looked like I left a triangle of hair on the top of my head. so I just cut it all off.  I was just going to play with my hair by making it into a mohawk. but now my hair is following mission standards. so that was my adventure today.

oh and so like five days ago we had a super strong storm. lol I woke up by hearing a super loud bang. there was just a ton of lightning that cut the power. and it rained a bit. but that was it.

but so I am fine just working a ton. I am also learning a ton too! but I hope that you all had a great week. I will see you all later!

oh and Elder Glad and I are going to buy an ice cream cake! yay!

see ya later,

Elder Gibbs

November 4, 2011

So we are yet again at another transfer. I think that Elder Glad will be leaving Galves cause he has been here like 4 and a half months and I have only been here a month and a half. but we are doing alright. we have been doing a lot of walking. like a lot a lot. and its quite hot here. I am getting so tan from all the sun and my hair is getting blonder each day lol. but ya we are doing good.

okay well so we just found out that there are no changes. so Elder Glad and I are staying companions in Galvez. lol that was easy. and I just found out that my trainer Elder Towner just left Argentina to go home after two long years. he is super awesome! but ya its crazy that he has already left. like six months seemed so much time. but it flew. but anyhow. we are doing great here. we have some progressing investigators. who should be getting ready to be baptized soon. so that is cool. lol there wasn't much that happened since the last time I wrote you guys.

oh but we did happen to lose our dogs! that was great!  there was this one dog that followed us for 3 or 4 days straight. lol we didn't feed him or anything. he just liked us. and we didn't like him. but we couldn't get him to leave. but anyhow we entered into the super market last week and he had to stay outside. and then when we left we took another exit and so we lost them. it was great! but ya so we are doing great. the mission work is tough but is going well. I hope that you are all doing good! have a great week!

Elder Gibbs

October 31, 2011

Hellos families,

So this week I saved a life! I felt real awesome for doing it. but not many people know about it. but anyhow, so we were walking from an investigators house out in the middle of nowhere. like there were only fields of wheat for like acres.and we were walking to contact this house. and we did but no one was home and so we started heading back. and I heard this yelping. and I looked to the left of the road and there was a little puppy! there was a train track that went over the river  and the puppy somehow ended up on the other side. and it was scared and like all alone. so I went over it and I happened to have a plastic bag with me and I picked up the dog with the bag cause I was not sure how many diseases it had. lol I began to think it was a mistake to have saved the puppy cause it really seemed to like us and followed us. we tried to find out whose puppy it was but couldn't find out. so we were kind of stuck with the puppy. then a man passed and I asked if it was his puppy. he said no. and so I asked him if he wanted it. and he was like sure and so he took it. therefore, I saved a life! I was quite proud. 

So we also have these dogs that follow us everywhere here! they wont leave us alone. so we ditched those dogs by going in the grocery store and leaving out the other side. it was awesome. lol unfortunately the dogs came inside the grocery store but they were quickly expulsed! or thrown out. lol expulsed works right? any how that is about all that has happened that is funny. 

we had some awesome lessons this week. we decided to go visit this one lady who had once talked to the missionaries. we taught her the plan of salvation. Apparently she has been feeling very isolated and the knowledge that she could be with her family forever after this life was really helpful for her. It was like the first lesson I have been a part of that the person we taught began to cry. it was quite awesome! and it was cool to see how the Lord works through us to help the people. we also found this 19 year old guy named Juan who was quite cool. and also we were able to teach the plan of salvation to a man named Santiago. it was an awesome lesson too. you could really tell that he wants to do what is right. and we tried to help him as much as we could. we are good friends with him and his family. we had some other great experiences this week but these were the main ones. 

Well now my first companion, Elder Towner is going home this week.  it is so weird that he is already leaving. it seemed like such a short time ago when we were companions. time is flying. we are already at the end of another transfer this week. I believe I will be staying in Galves and Elder Glad is going. but anything could happen. but anyhow it was great to hear from you all. hope you all have a good week!

Chow!

Elder Gibbs

October 24, 2011

So this week, I did something that scared me for life, I believe. we ate at an investigators house and they fed us something.... something terrible that still gives me the shivers! so we heard that this investigator makes really good canelones and so we wanted to learn how to make canelones which are basically Argentine enchiladas. she made them with a red tomato sauce that was pretty good. just what she put inside made us quiver! lol she put in the canelones ceso which is........ in spanish the cerebro.......lol or in english....the brain.......................................yucky!!! but we ate it so that we could have an awesome story to share. lol brain has a weird flavor. oh and it was cow brain not like monkey or dog or anything else. we watched her prepare the brain. the are about like the size of like two hand put together. but still it had like this dead flavorrrrrrrr. and I still feel queezy thinking about it. gugh! lol and she thinks we liked it. I hope she doesn't make anything else with ceso. but anyhow that checks off brain from my list of weird things I ate. 

As for the missionary work, it is going great! we have so many new families we are teaching. one guy we found yesterday owns a chicken farm and we were able to see 2,000 little chicks in one like green house kind of thing. lol I can't think of the word for what type of thing they were in. but ya we taught him about the first vision and Joseph Smith and gave him a book of mormon or a Libro de Mormon. it was great. lol the only thing not great was the big walk to his house cause he lives out in some fields of wheat and there were a ton of mosquitoes there. the mosquitoes here are crazy hungry for human blood. lol my arms are all deformed with mosquito bites. but we did see two owls yesterday which was pretty sweet. and lol there is these two dogs that follow us everywhere and one of the dogs followed us to the guys house and almost got attacked by the owls. lol one of the owls like swooped down and tried to attack the dog. so funny. no lol I mean so bad cause the dog would have died. and the dog belongs to one of our investigators. 

anyhow, so we were having a meeting in the chapel and this hermana or sister brought her children. one of them is named Marcos and he is two years old. and so he was playing with the curtains and we saw him twist himself up inside the curtains. and we were like oooooh so cute he is having so much fun. lol and I think he was until he got trapped in the curtain. lol then he started whimpering and crying. lol soooo funny. you could see only his feet from under the curtain and he was just crying and then his mom came to save him. and everyone in the meeting laughed at little poor Marcos. but yes so that is what is happening in Galvez that is pretty funny. also we taught this man, Esteban, and he is way cool. he says he knows what we are teaching him is true. the only problem he has is committing to come to church. he just wants to make sure that once he starts going to church that he will stay active. which is great! Argentina has a bit of a problem with their members staying active in the church. so he has a great desire to stay active. now he needs to get married and for us to teach him all of the lessons. so we have quite a bit of people close to baptism here in Galvez. 

so yesterday, there was voting in Argentina for their president, and many people were not able to come so we were quite busy in church . but it was a great experience. it was the first time I taught all of Sunday school and in Spanish. so that was pretty fun. we had a lesson on tithing. and it was pretty interesting what I learned. I learned a little bit about king Melchizedek that I had not previously knew. for instance, he lived in a pretty wicked and dangerous city and he was called to be a prophet. as his duty, he preached repentance to everyone in the city and the city was turned around from a super bad a wicked city to a righteous God worshiping city. and therefore he is known as the prince of peace. and also that Abraham paid tithing to God through this king. sometimes it is hard to give up ten percent of our income but we have received and continue to receive more from God than we give. also I have been reading in Elder Ballard's book Our Search for Happiness. it is a great book and I recommend this book to whoever will read it. it is a great book that helps us understand life and how to find more happiness in life. and I have come to know that we find more happiness in keeping the commandments of God. its that easy. 

but ya so Elder Glad and I are doing good! lol we had a pretty comical week. lol

chow!

Elder Gibbs

October 17, 2011 (Pictures)

here are some photos form elder romero and I back in Gualeguaychu. the ones with the boxing mask is with the family ortiz. one is a drawing that Elder Twoner made which is really funny. there are some of here in Galvez with some of our investigators. but ya awesome love you all!

October 17, 2011

This week has been great too. lol but really short. I cant believe how fast the weeks are going by now. lol the first few weeks were like super slow. but now we hardly have time to get everywhere before the end of the day.

So last week, I found out that putting egg in your hair was good for your hair. supposedly..... so I put raw egg in my hair lol to see if it did anything. all it really did I believe is made a mess. so I am going to try it again this preparation day. lol but ya. that is like one of the main things that has happened. it has been raining quite a lot lately so my stuff is all soaked. but its cool. its kind of refreshing. 

This Thursday we went to Santa Fe for a mission conference with Elder Arnold from the 70. he was way cool. lol and funny and we learned a lot from him. It was cool cause Elder Towner was there and also Elder Birky. so my first two comps were there which was pretty awesome. they are both doing pretty good. Elder Birky is training a new missionary. so he is having a great time. 

after that Elder Glad and I did divisions. he went to work with a missionary from our district while I went with some other missionaries to Rosario. I had some work to do on my visa. that was great and after we went to Subway and McDonald's. I ate a foot long sandwich and a mcflurry! yay! I was in heaven. 

Then we went back to doing missionary work on Saturday. we were doing some contacts and we found this lady. we taught her the restoration. and after we told her about the vision of the prophet, she said that she got the goosebumps. and we were like cool! I am quite sure that she was feeling the spirit. we are going to go back to visit her. we teach a lot of first lessons and we have quite a few investigators. we will see what happens with them. its pretty hard for us to get a return appointment cause its like everyone's schedule is always changing. and this week has been pretty crazy cause there was a big festival. we tried to go see another man named Ariel. but weren't able to teach him. we are going back tonight to visit him. we are doing well. nothing too crazy. just missionary work. I loved to hear that you are all doing well and that Sam got his m&ms and his airplane ride :D I love you all and hope the best for you!

talk to y'all later!

Elder Chris

October 10, 2011 (Galvez)

Hey family,

How are you all doing? lol I am doing fine. well mostly fine.  We had a family home evening with an investigator and I was murdered by a flock of mosquitoes. I was glad to be their dinner. 

So everything is going real great in Gálvez. my companion and I are getting along well. and the branch here is nice but really small. they have like only 20 members. so we had fast and testimony meeting yesterday and the branch president asked me to bear my testimony and introduce myself. so I did. I told them that I was elder Gibbs, I am nineteen years old and so I am young. lol I meant the young part to be a joke. and it for sure was. apparently I kind of mumbled the word joven which means young and they thought I had said feo, which means ugly. so the whole branch thinks that I think I am ugly. lol so that was pretty funny. I didn't find out till after the meeting. 

But so this week we had some real awesome experiences. we did a lot of contacting this week. lol like a ton. but we found like 3 awesome new families and people. one guy is named Ariel. and we chatted with him for a bit and then taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel. then we gave him a book of mormon. when we returned, we found out two things. one is that he has a pet pitbull and the other is that he had read all the way to 2 nephi! so we were pretty stoked! and his pitbull is quite friendly too. We talked to him a bit about what he had read and he remembered it all. but the only problem is that he works a lot and so he wasn't able to attend church yesterday. 

another person we found was a lady named Gabriela, we taught her the Restoration too. she told us that while we were teaching her, she felt a peace that she has never felt before. and we knew that she had felt the spirit of the Lord. I know that our message is true and it has the ability to bring more peace into the lives of people. and the third family is awesome. we found them while we were contacting. we felt a little impression to go to this house that was not in the direction that we were contacting but we did what we felt was right. we knocked or well clapped ( cause they do that down here we clap at doors a lot) and they let us in. it was awesome! we taught them a bit and left them with a book of mormon. we were coming back to visit them and we found one of our other investigator friends who lived by them. apparently they had talked, but the family said that while they were listening to us teach them, they felt really peaceful. lol they also told them that they thought we were angels lol. so we will see what will happen with them. we are going to teach all of the about the plan of Salvation to them all next. 

but things are going really great. I am loving it here in Galvéz. its a really pretty city. oh and so I was talking to this guy named Santiago and he was telling me about how they eat frogs here. lol yeah, I kind of want to try it. I am getting over the grossness of everything and getting more adventurous about the way I eat. my companion was getting a little nervous when I told Santiago we should eat some frog. apparently it tastes like chicken. the only difference is that frog has a stronger flavor and that its a frog lol. so maybe we might eat it. soooooo well I am running out of time! but I want to tell you all that I love you! and that I know this is God´s true church and that we do have a prophet of God. and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I know that this Church can bring a greater peace into people´s lives than anything else on this planet. I am so thankful that I could grow up with this peace and in an awesome family! love you all!

Chow Chow

Elder Gibbsy

October 3, 2011

All I can say is  wow. What a great general conference!!! I learned a lot this general conference. this time I tried to have a purpose for why i  wanted to listen. I wrote down somethings that I needed and then listened. I probably learned more from this General Conference than from the others. especially cause I didn't sleep through this one lol. well okay so I only slept through 2 talks. Talk about improvement. it was pretty cool. we got together with the other missionaries in Santa Fe and watched General Conference in the Stake Center. all the Americans and English speaking missionaries got together to watch it in English. but super awesome conference. Its amazing that we have a prophet who talks with God about how to help us HIs children. 

sooooo how is it going family? I am doing well! I hope all is well with you guys. so I got moved to another state in Argentina. I was in Entre Rios and they moved me to the state of Santa Fe in a city called Galves! Galves is really small!!! really really small. so in a way I am kind of happy! cause Gualeguaychu was really really big. and so we wont be having to walk as far. which is really good. my comnpanion´s name is Elder Glad. He is a great missionary and really obedient to the rules. also he is fairly new to the mission. He has almost a year in the mission. ooohh and also he cooks really well! lol he made a German pancake the other day! lol I was in heaven. so I am happy and I do like Galves, its really chill and calm. they have a train that runs right through the middle of the city. lol I know it was a bit random just to say that there is a train that runs through the middle of the city but I have a reason to say that cause...well no I didn't have a reason to say that. but this city reminds me a lot of Grandpa's city. cause I always hear the train going whoooowhooo. 

so the apartment I am in now isn't as nice as the other one. lol it is actually a house and so it is pretty big compared to the other apartments. the things that are bad are that we have to wash our own laundry......., and it has a bucket shower, and that the refrigerator freezes everything!!!!! lol it was a pretty interesting experience to learn how to use a bucket shower. lol there is like a faucet that pours into this bucket that has a spout. so the bucket fills up and then you plug in a cord that is hooked to this heating devise in the shower. once it is hot, you unplug the cord and open the spout and whalla you have a warm shower. lol you have to be careful and to unplug the shower or you can get shocked while showering which I have heard that it is not too fun to be shocked. and the bucket runs out of hot water so you have to be wise with how much water you use. lol such a hassle. oh and I got shocked two days ago. for some reason the fan´s electricity runs through everything metal and so if you touch any part of the fan you will get shocked. lol I got shocked twice already. lol it was fun....not. but no other wise the new apartment is really great I love it. 

lol on the way back home from the conference I was talking to this one lady in the ward. she has this daughter that is really fun. the daughter is 5 years old and I like to make ugly funny faces at her. cause when she finally sees me she freaks out and says ¨te como!¨ which means i´ll eat you! so funny, she used to say I´ll hit you. but that didn't scare me so she had to change what she said lol. but the ward is pretty good here. it is really small. they have 15 members or so and they meet in a warehouse that has been changed to be a church. but also yesterday I got to see my first companion again, elder Towner. He is doing great. he will finish his mission in like 5 weeks.crazy!! but it was fun to talk to him and to goof off. Before I left Gualeguaychu I had to say goodbye to all of my friends there. pretty sad. the family ortiz kids kept giving me little gifts, like notes and little broken toys. I am going to miss them but its cool I know I am supposed to be in Gálvez now. so is there anything new going on out there. not too much going on here. we have a couple of people getting closer to baptism. I know that God will help us help these people. its crazy how He helps us in our lives. I know that he answers our prayers. He has answered many of mine in the mission. its crazy! and like the prophet said, nothing is too small for God to help us in our lives. but ya things are going great in the mission! Love you all! peace!

Elder Gibbs

September 27, 2011

What is up fam!

This week has been pretty crazy! And especially today. Lol so many things to do on this preparation day. Tomorrow we have transfers and I am being moved to a smaller city in Santa Fe. Lol I forgot the name of the city. I am really stoked to be able to go there and teach the Gospel!!!! 

Oh and so today, I was preparing everything so I will be able to leave tomorrow. I first woke up early and got ready and then Elder Stull and I went to pick up my clothes and run some errands. We have like 5 missionaries visiting in our apartment last night. Lol I slept on the floor. Lol that was fun. So my companion stayed to guard the pench. We came back, and I had to go talk to the owner of the apartment because she was having people to come put in some fans in the apartment. There are now fans. I was so proud with myself cause I talked to her totally in Spanish! And was able to understand it. But ya and so now I am going to be going to visit the families that I will be leaving to say goodbye one last time. Lol I hope I don't cry. 

This week has been pretty good. We have been visiting a lot of the members that have not been coming to church which has been alright. We found this really odd guy. Or well some really odd people in this one neighborhood. Lol Elder Romero and I were like.....what just happened. Oh and by the way, some people here think we are spies from the CIA. But that is what we have been working on. I also made tacos for the ward. They turned out pretty good! Lol I forgot the garlic but they were good anyhow. The branch president loved it! And then I taught them all how to make their own tacos. 

So yesterday Elder Stull and I went on a division. The other elders went to another area. But we are both really new missionaries and so it was a bit scary speaking to other people and teaching them cause we both had doubts about if the other people would have a question and we wouldn't be able to answer them. But so we went out, did some contacting and we found this super cool lady and son. Lol we taught them and we were able to understand everything. We felt so pumped after teaching them. We really felt like we had helped these people and that we could feel the spirit testify to them. We won't be able to teach them any more but it was still great. I am going to give the reference to Elder Romero cause he is staying here. 

Oh and so I made a stir fry this week. Lol I am turning into quite the chef lol. Unfortunately my companion didn't like it. He didn't tell me that straight up. Lol cause he is such a good guy and didn't want to hurt my feelings. But I believe that he didn't like it cause it was a whole different type of cooking that he was not used to. I actually really liked it. I am doing pretty good! Just working. Hope everything is well in your lives. I know that God loves us and he gave us this life for us to gain experience and to learn. I know that His plan is perfect! Have a great week! See you all later!

Chow chow!

 

Elder Christopher Gibbs

September 19, 2011

This week has been pretty good. And really tiring. We were trying to find some of the members that don't come to church anymore and we ended walking for like 30 miles!!!! Sooo far. Lol oh and also, I was in the store buying our food, and guess what I found..... sauerkraut. Lol so I cooked up a hot dog and ate basically bratwurst and sauerkraut and bread. Sooooo good! Also I am turning into quite the chef. For some reason my companion doesn't want to do any cooking. So I do the cooking which is alright with me, but it makes me miss my mom a ton. I love your food mom. Oooohh and also it makes me miss living with Ryan and Stephanie. 

So we found this cool couple this week and we taught them about Joseph Smith and it made me think of what Joseph Smith was searching for. He was searching for a church to baptize himself in, because he knew that he couldn't return to live with God without being baptized and therefore he was looking for the true church. He asked everyone what was the church of God and everyone said that it was their church. I am grateful for the things Joseph Smith has done for me and for the world in Restoring the true Church of Christ. 

Yesterday we found a family that doesn't come to church anymore and we talked with them. They are super nice! The man has become an atheist or well sort of atheist. We are really not sure what he believes in. He has some atheist ideas but somewhat believes there is a God. We had a pretty interesting discussion with him yesterday. Lol he LOVES to ask questions. Lol it was driving his wife crazy! But, we were alright with his questions and happy to answer them. I think that they will be starting to come to church again which is awesome! 

Also this week I was reading in the Book of Mormon about the dream of Lehi.  It really has some profound things you can find in it. I especially love how it says that if you hold to the rod of iron, the devil will have no power over you. The rod of iron is the word of God. And so if we listen to the Prophet and read the scriptures the devil has no power over us. It makes me want to listen more attentively to General Conference this week. Or next week. Lol when ever it is. I am so confused about the time. It passes by soooooo quickly. I can't believe that I have been in the mission for 6 MONTHS. This transfer has flown by really quickly. Lol I hardly even know my companion. 

Oh and Gualeguaychu is so pretty right now. Oh man I wish you could all see it right now. Today we walked by the river and oh man its so awesome! So everything is going well here. We were pretty close to having some baptisms next week but they weren't able to come to church yesterday and so we will have to work with them some more. But I am doing great! My legs are pretty dead from all of the walking. And so is my body. We helped one of our converts destroy a wall again and then shovel all of the pieces out! That was a work out! I was so tired after but it was quite enjoyable. I love you all! Hope you all have a great week!

See yall later!

Elder Gibbs

September 12, 2011

Hey family,

Just so you know I sent some of the photos I have. [See Below.  Click on the photo to make it bigger] Hope you like them. But this week was a pretty good week. I was pretty beat! 

This week we were able to eat with one of our investigator families. We ate pizza! lol It was really good and they are progressing pretty well. Their names are Ruben and Evelin and they are super awesome! We have fun chatting with them. We were with them the other day and chatted with them. They are so funny and their little daughter is addicted to coca cola. She says coooooca which means that she wants to drink coca cola. They said they were going to attend church this week but they weren't able to make it which was a bit sad. But there is next week! 

Elder Romero and I are getting along pretty well. I am getting better at speaking everyday. lol We went to a restaurant today in Gualeguaychu. and they make sub sandwiches! Like Subway! And so we went to eat and I was ordering. It was a man and a lady working there. They asked me where i was from and I was like USA!!!!!! And they were like oh so you speak English we do too. Apparently they lived in New Zealand for 6 months or so studying English. While they were there, they loved to eat at Subway and so when they returned they had the idea of creating their own Subway in Gualeguaychu! It was soooo good! I felt really american eating a Subway sandwich and drinking Gatorade! 

Also this week we were able to help a new member of the church. She needed this wall torn down. So, we were happy to do it! I told the lady we helped that it was really fun to do this service project. I like to destroy things like walls and not get in trouble for it! Haha. Anyhow, that was fun. 

Oh and I tried to play the trumpet of one of the members we were visiting. It's so difficult to play the trumpet. I couldn't make it sound at all and when it finally did, it sounded like a dying cow. So I decided I would stick with the piano. We have some really cool investigators and hopefully they will want to be baptized soon. The ward is doing pretty good here. Every Thursday we have a family home evening that we have to do. This week we played a jeopardy game. The ward had a real fun time. We are still studying about the Atonement. It is so impressive what Jesus did for me! Well I have got to go! Love you all! I can't believe that it is almost six months into my mission. I am going to burn a tie! See ya later!

Chow!

Elder Gibbs

September 5, 2011

[Editor's note...Okay I am caught up now!  I didn't have time to edit for punctuation so, again, you get to enjoy Chris' emails in their natural state.  Enjoy!]

Hey Family what is up!!!!

This week has been good and tiring! lol I hope I dont fall asleep while typing this letter. I am going to start this email by telling you what I did today. 

so two weeks ago we had a little competition and the winner got to have a special preparation day with their whole zone. and we won and yesterday we traveled from gualeguaychu to concordia. lol we arrived pretty late and so me, Elders Romero, cortez, and castillo didnt want to wake up today. but everyone was just so stoked and excited for preparation day! yay prep day! lol and so we woke up and left to go play some soccer. we played soccer for 7 hours and then went to see an old abandoned argentine castle which was pretty cool. we returned and ate pizza and ice cream! lol soooooo goooood! and then we played some more soccer! so many missionaries are sunburnt! including me! I have been getting pretty good at soccer! lol I have been playing soccer a ton with some latinos so I should be getting better at soccer! I was one of the better yankee players ( pronounced shankee because y and ll make a sh sound). and ya they call us all yankees cause we are from america. but ya i scored some goals and showed people how we be playing soccer in the states! lol ya right! but it definatly was really fun and so worth to get sunburnt! we are going to leave soon from concordia. also the mission president came to concordia to enjoy preparation day with us. it was quite fun! 

anyhow this week has been pretty successful for the mission.  we have been teaching this awesome family. its a man and his girlfriend who have a daughter. they are pretty young. about 25ish. really funny. lol we are pretty good friends with them and we are going to eat with them tomorrow! yeayahhhhh!!! and she is making pizza!!!!!!!!!!! lol I feel like a ninja turtle the way that i love pizza! but they are doing well and are accepting a lot of the gospel. and super awesome! and the most awesome thing is that they showed up for church yesterday!!! we didnt think any of our investigators would show up. and they showed up. and further more they said they liked it! so we are going to continue teaching them. we found some more new people to teach. we taught this single mom and her family. she let us in and listened to our message and was really excepting. and the branch here is doing pretty well too. I am loving the work. 

Spanish is going really well. often I feel like I stink at speaking but then other times people tell me I speak really well. lol and so spanish has been like a roller coaster! but I am enjoying my time here. I love you all. sorry I cant write much more cause we are going to be leaving for the bus pretty soon! 

this week I studied a bit about the atonement. it is so impressive what God and Jesus have done for us. I learned that in another language atonement means to reseat yourself in the presence of God. and that is what it is. it is the Grace of Jesus that helps us reseat ourselves in the presence of God! without it we would be lost and could not return to God. I am so thankful for Jesus and what he has done for me! all we need to do is use this atonement in our lives by repenting of our sins and continually trying to live the commandments of God more closely and we will live with God again! once again i love you all! I am thankful for all you guys have done for me! see ya later!

Elder Gibbs who is red as a lobster right now!!!!!!!!

August 29, 2011

So this week has been good! lol we are working pretty hard! and playing lots of soccer. lol that is what you get when you have a latin companion. my companion, Elder Romero is way cool and way chill and is helping me a lot with my spanish and teaching too. We have been teaching quite a bit of families and they are progressing quite well. so we started out the week by going to concepcion de Uruguay. we went there for pday and spent the night there because we were leaving in the morning for Paraná. so we woke up and went to paraná and had a mission conference. everything went well. we finished with that and left to go to the bus station. lol and one of my friends was going to walmart and so I told him, if you see peanut butter, buy it for me! lol so he did and he bought it for me. Peanut butter is really hard to come by in argentina. but so now I have peanut butter! I am excited about that! 

so our investigatores are progressing real well but they didnt show up for church yesterday!!! lol they all said that they would. but they didnt. lol but we are not going to give up! cause giving up is for quiters and we are not quiters! so it was way cool my companion said okay so i am going to let you learn how to be senior comp and let you handle  everything. and I was like.........Okay! so I chose where we went and who we were going to teach. also he let me take the lead in teaching the lessons which was a little difficult but fun. I am getting more and more used to teaching which is fun and at the same time not fun. haha so I kind of have mixed feelings towards teaching. so my companion is the district leader and so we had to go to concepcion de uruguay again to do a baptismal interview which didnt happen for some reason. we had some time to kill there and so we played soccer. 

I was the only north american there. lol all latinos and they all killed me in soccer. as in they were a ton better than me and they pretty much almost killed me. I was going to kick the ball after the goalie had just blocked it and right when I was about to kick it, I got kicked in the back of the leg by the bishop of the ward. lol it wasnt on purpose and it didnt hurt to bad. it was just funny. we were on the same team. he didnt see me and went to jump kick the ball into the goal. and just happened to jump kick me in the leg. later I decided to take a little break and went to be goalie and that also turned out to be a mistake cause argentines love to kick the ball really hard into the goal. but all in all I came out alright. a couple of scrapes no more than that. but we came back to gualeguaychú and worked some more. 

we had a good church meeting yesterday but the bishop of the branch forgot to tell me the hymns to practice and so I had about 15 minutes to learn all of them. I said a quick and silent prayer and learned them. it is so cool how much the Lord helps me and answers all of our prayers. I was able to play fairly well too! I have a testimony that God really does answer our prayers and that he loves us! as a mission we have been doing a study on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. and it is so impressive to see what God and Jesus have done for us. By paying all of our sins, Christ made it possible for us to return back to the presence of God. Also, He took upon him all of our pains and sins. He knows exactly what each of us is going through. He knows what will help us in each of our lives. so when I have a tough time, I am going to look towards the Savior for His example and for His advice. God loves us so much to send His Son to die for us. I know that God again has shown His love for us by restoring the Gospel once again on the earth! Love you all! and I am glad to hear from all of you! Chow chow!

Gibbs Elder Austin Elder Gibbs Chris

August 22, 2011

This week went really well. my new companion is really cool and a great missionary. So I am happy even if he doesn't wash the dishes he uses. lol I bet I am going to get sick or something. we had a good week. lol it is really a strange feeling not being able to talk to anybody in english. lol I have passed a couple of days not hearing any english. but I am learning a lot now. and I think I am nearing fluency. not super close but closer and I can understand quite a lot now. 


but this week started out slower. Elder Towner left Gualeguaychú and so before he left he said goodbye to all of the people he cared about. which was pretty sad in a way. he was near to tears in some of the visits. I hope to develop this type of love for the people. so that is what happened from Monday to Wednesday. then my new companion, Elder Romero, came Wednesday night. and we had some hard days of working. Lately I had been a little bit discouraged about how not many people were progressing in our lessons and stuff like that. but yesterday we had an awesome day. we went to church as normal. and got back as normal. we visited our recent convert and she has been having a lot of trials lately. so we visited her. her testimony was as strong as ever, even in the face of adversity which was really awesome to see. lol they have the funniest little daughter named Patricia who is 7 years old and is just soooo funny. she laughs 24/7 which is way fun. we had a youth activity at the church this week and she came with her older sisters and she looked really sad and bored. so we played with a basketball. and I played volleyball with the other people. it was quite fun. oh and we also ate chorripan which is pretty much the same thing as eating braughtworst and bread. lol but they don't have sauerkraut and there isn't much spices in the meat which is kind of boring. but it was good anyway. I really miss spicy food. 


oh and so our awesome day. we visited the lady and went back to the apartment to eat lunch. after we left and went to visit julio. Earlier we had tried to visit him with a member named victor. victor has cerebral palsy and is at times hard to understand. But he LOVES to help us with missionary work. we invited him to come back and visit julio with us. but since we were running late we couldnt stop by. lol and Victor was there waiting at the house for us. such an awesome guy and also really intelligent. So we talked with Julio and his wife and then we taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was really cool being able to help out with the lesson and to have a member with us. it was so impressive to me how God prepares the people for us to meet. Julio has progressed a ton. we taught him and a lady that I found with another Elder while we had been doing some contacts. we stopped by and began talking with the lady. and then her boyfriend came into the room and we talked with him too. lol and then came in the aunt and began to talk as well.and then another lady also. (lol I just tried to talk to my companion in english. lol whoops). 


but anyhow we were talking and they had a ton of questions but were very accepting of everything we said. I was the only American there. lol everyone else were Argentines but the topic came up that I was american and the aunt started talking to me about how she had tried to learn english and how much she would have loved to learn it all. but she quit learning english. then she asked me out of no where why couldnt we drink coffee. lol and then I took off. lol It was so cool. i didnt notice till after the lesson that it was the gifts of tongues that was helping me speak. but I told her perfectly why we couldnt drink Alcohol and tea and coffee in spanish. and she understood all of it and it seemed to me that she accepted what I had said. 


I started out by telling her that our bodies are gifts from God and that he wants us to care for them. and also that when we care for our bodies we recieve blessings. but it was real cool to see how the Holy Ghost helps us missionarys speak. we are going to keep teaching this family. but it was just really awesome to be able to speak with her. lol I even made some spanish jokes. its just so cool to see how God performs miracles. 


I have seen quite a few miracles in my mission so far. these miracles are peoples hearts changing and turning toward God. alot of people depended on miracles to believe a church to be true. but that really kind of defeates the purpose of faith for me. so I think that the miracle of a heart changing is really big and is a miracle that will last forever! It was really good to hear from you all. sorry I dont have much time right now to write. Thanks for the emails and letters. My testimony is really growing a ton on the mission. I love you all. Spanish is awesome. paul keep learning Chinese. that is really awesome! oh and we played soccer with a bunch of latinos today which was really challengeing and I found out that I really stink at playing soccer. the church is true!


well see ya later, 
Elder Gibbs


PS oh and also I taught a bunch of missionaries arabic and I wrote their names in arabic!