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!

August 16, 2011

[Editor's Note...I am a full 4 emails behind!  Sorry everyone.  Life is crazy.  Anyway, I usually edit Chris' emails for punctuation so they are easier to read, but since I am so behind you get Chris at his totally natural email state.  Enjoy!]

What is up?

I am going to send a couple of photos of Elder Towner and I. They are pretty awesome! but they are not sending to me yet. some problem or something. Gualeguaychu is a mix of South American culture and European. there are soo many europeans here. its pretty awesome but it just reminds me so much of europe. 

so we had a pretty good week. we had another baptism. ¨Her name is Gabriela. My companion baptized her saturday. She has waited 2 years to be finally be baptized. she has read the book of mormon 3 times and has a really strong testimony. so that was really awesome. The branch is doing pretty good here.we had a combined family home evening last thursday. we played the Adams Family game with the Whole branch. lol so funny. we had a great turn out and everyone was happy and laughing heartily. we did quite a bit of work this week we taught some good lessons. we taught this man named Julio and we taught him the importance of the book of mormon. It was awesome and my testimony of the book of mormon grew quite a bit. I know that it is the word of God translated by a prophet of God. it was cool everything is going great for him and his family is doing great too. 

so I had 2 impressive lunches this week. lol I cant help but just talk of food. The first was really good! its a Argentina classic. lol well in my book it is. its thinly fried chicken called a milenesa, fried egg, tomato, and mayonnaise. all of this on french bread for a pretty good sandwich. the other was a soup or Giso of mundungo. lol I dont know why but the people here just love mundungo. its like the 6 time I have eaten it. it is the stomach of a cow. lol really chewy. the really funny part is that it has these little fibers on it and so its like eating a towel. so we had fun eating that. I had 3 plate fulls of it. we had another missionary staying with us. Elder Cortez from El Salvador. lol he hates mundungo! he was having a really difficult time putting the mundungo down. I am starting to get used to it. 

transfers are tomorrow and I am going to stay in Gualeguaychu. I am being put with an Elder Romero from Argentina. He only speaks spanish and soooooooo I will only be speaking spanish for a whole month. lol this will be great and difficult. if I dont learn spanish well with him, I will never learn spanish. I am already able to get by with my spanish and I am developing an argentine accent with my spanish. so it will be awesome. everything is going great! it was great to hear from you. thanks for the emails. The Church of Jesus Christ is the true church and we have all the doctrine to help us return to live with our families forever. We had a tough experience and was told some hurtfull things. but it definitely strengthened my testimony and I felt the Holy Ghost telling me that what we were talking about was true! no doubt! hope everything is going well. Rachel and Paul have fun going back to school! Steph, Ryan, Allison, Jon, and everyone I love you a ton and am grateful for your examples in my life. I will talk with you all later! have a great day!!!! and week.

Elder Chris Gibbs

August 8, 2011

(Editor's note:  The email subject line for this letter was "My legs are getting SOO buff!")

Hey familia,

So as I put in the subject for this email I remembered that my legs were getting super buff from all of the walking lol and running from dogs. Remember on the best two years, from all the walking and tracting my (legs) have become quite beautiful. Lol I added in the leg part and I didn't feel like actually typing what they say in the movie. I am so tired but the work is going great. 

Our new branch presidente is doing awesome stuff here in Gualeguaychú. I have definitely seen the Lord´s hand in helping with the work. A lot of the members hearts have changed and they are growing together. They used to be way ununified but now they are all working together. It is definitely a miracle that the Lord has done. As for the work we are doing pretty good. Elder Towner and I are doing a bunch of tracting and visiting members and investigators. We have quite a few investigators. One we visited this week is way awesome! His name is Julio. We taught him a few times, but he has said that since the first time he met us, his life has turned around financially. Like he was suffering and didn't have a job and his family was struggling. But now they find it much easier to live and to earn money. But the best thing is that he wants to learn about the gospel. He has been searching for the true church for a while. He attended quite a few different churches but didn't feel like he found the one. We taught him and he felt that the things we were teaching him were true. He read about Joseph Smith and loved his story. We need to visit him again but as for now things are going quite well. We have other investigators too but that was probably the most awesome thing that has happened.

Also we are going to have a baptism this Saturday. My companion will be baptizing her. So that will be way awesome too! The transfer is nearly up and so Elder Towner and I are pretty nervous to see what will happen. Either he will be leaving Gualeguaychú or I. Either way will be alright. Thanks Stephanie and Mom and Paul and Dad for the emails it was awesome to hear what was happening. Lol Sam and Austin sound so funny. And it sounds like they are growing a ton! I hope things go well for you Stephanie and Ryan. Lol and Mom I miss your cooking. Lol a nineteen and twenty year-old cannot cook. So mom if you have any real easy recipes you would like to send me that would be greatly appreciated. I am really wishing I did more cooking before the mission. As for now I am an alright chef. Lol it is really nice to go eat at the different members houses. They always feed us really well. Sometimes too well and I get a stomach cramp walking back from their houses. I always amaze Elder Towner with how much I eat. I miss homemade Cafe Rio a ton!!! The food here in Argentina is real interesting. They do not like to eat spicy foods. Lol one time a family was feeding us and the whole family was complaining about how there was too much spice and it was sooo hot. Lol Towner and I loved it. There was a perfect amount of spice. Lol last week Elder Towner and I found some cans of baked beans at the super market. So we went crazy and bought the rest of them. Which really was only like 3 cans. But it was soo good to eat something american! 

Oh and does Jon have an email Allison? Or something. I am really glad to hear about the things that have happened back at home! We are doing great in Argentina. Just getting some hard work done! Oh and last week I gave myself my first ever haircut! Lol Elder Towner had some hair clippers and I gave myself a haircut. And it was quite..........................a mess. Lol I did alright cutting the front of my hair but the back was a disaster. I clipped some bald spots onto the hair right above my ear. And on the back of my head there were giant patches of long hair with patches of short hair. For an emo haircut, it was pretty good! But for a missionary haircut it wouldn't do. Lol so Elder Towner had to work some magic and fix it. That is that last time I use different sizes of clips on the back of my head. But I might keep giving myself haircuts. They are much cheaper than having to go to a barber or what not. If I used one size of a clipper my hair would probably have turned out better. But for a first try I thought it was pretty sweet! Anyhow I hope everything is going well! I love you all! I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. God still loves His children and guides His church as He did in the Bible. Also I know that God answers our prayers. Always He answers our prayers. He has answered a ton of my prayers! I am grateful for the things God has given me in my life. My life has been so awesome and super blessed! I am grateful for my family and my friends! Love you all! Peace!

 

Elder Gibbs!

August 1, 2011

Hola familia,

So I hear things are going well in life for all of you guys. I am doing fine in Argentina. Had a pretty good week. So we started out the week by my companion having to go to a meeting or ´capacitacion´ or something in Spanish. It was held in a city called Paraná. My companion went with another missionary from a different area and so I was working with his companion. His companion had 2 weeks in the mission and so he was fairly new with the language. Lol and so I had to do most of the talking. There was no one to help me with understanding other people. So that made me really nervous. Lol I was so nervous. I prayed to Heavenly Father to be able to understand people and to bless me with the gift of tongues. It was amazing! That day my Spanish was so much better than normal! I was able to communicate with everyone. Lol don't get me wrong my Spanish was far from perfect but I didn't have much problems with communicating. In fact the other elder didn't understand what people would say to him so I would translate for him and help him out! Lol crazy! 

I know for sure that I have a Heavenly Father that loves and cares for me. He has answered so many of my prayers! I know that God exists and that he loves and cares for all of His children. This work is super important to him and I am sure that is why He blessed me with the ability to speak Spanish. So things went good that Tuesday and we were able to teach some people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was actually quite fun being the more experienced missionary. But I was still quite happy when Elder Towner, my companion, came back. It was a great experience. 

We taught our regular families in this city but nothing much happened. We were going to have a baptism this weekend but the lady wasn't able to come to church today. She is a great person and has read the Book of Mormon THREE TIMES!!!! in the last two years and she isn't even a member of the church yet. So we hope things can go well for her. 

Oh and so we were at a family's house yesterday and they pulled out this book of natural healing methods and I was like oh man! My mom would love this book!!!! Lol but I think she already knows all of this. It had some really interesting things in it and so I might try finding it. It was cool that I was able to kind of connect with them. I have an interest in being healthy. Lol even though I eat a bunch of candy and unhealthy stuff. I do like to be healthy every once in a while. So that was cool. It is so interesting all of the blessings God will give us if we take care of our bodies! That is why He gave us the word of wisdom. For me now it is so easy not to take drugs or anything. I have so many blessings from not doing it that I don't have a desire to use them. 

But ya so how is the family doing? I heard from dad some stuff! How is Allison and Jon and Steph and Ryan doing? I love all of you! Have a great time! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints is the true church. We have the fullness of the Gospel, not just parts of it. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God comparable to the Bible. Keep reading it! My life has benefited from just reading the Book of Mormon. I am going to continue working and preaching the Gospel. Lol Hopefully I will have some amazing story for you all next week! But I gotta run! Peace! Love all of yall!

Elder Gibbs

July 25, 2011

Lol So somehow I accidentally pressed a button and now I can't put any exclamation marks or question marks. It turns out like + or ª lol and I can't turn it back. But anyhowwww. This week was pretty cool. Not anything super awesome like last week.  But I had to go to Rosario with another missionary from a different city. Lol he is from El Salvador and doesn't speak English. So I had to put my Spanish/Castellano skills to the test! Which was pretty good. I get along alright in Spanish.  lol but by the end I think I drove the other missionary crazy with my bad Spanish. Lol and he was a little frustrated with my companion and his. 

We went to Rosario and I had to take care of some passport work, which all got resolved. Lol and then we went to McDonald's. Lol I have never been so happy to eat American food. And plus I had a mcflurry!!!!! It was so good. I really wanted to get a happy meal cause they had some awesome Kung Fu Panda toys. But it was whatever and I didn't buy one :( Lol they call a happy meal a cajita feliz. a happy box. Lol awesome! Anyhow that was real good. 


Then the other Elder decided he wanted to go sit on the bench by the bus station. Lol and apparently we almost got robbed! or whatever. We were sitting there and a guy came up to us. He shook our hand and asked some question or something. Then another man came trying to sell us some like valentines card for friendship day. But anyhow then these two guys came up. They were members of the church in Rosario. They helped us out and told the guys that these missionaries don't have any money. lol which was pretty much true on my part. They hung out with us for a while. 


I was out of money and so they showed us where a bank was. Luckily I had a debit card with me or I would be in a bit of trouble, but everything went fine. We went back to the mission home with the two members of the church. They were about the same age as us and were pretty cool and fun to talk to. I am so glad that God was watching out for us. He knew that we were going to need some help and he sent these two guys to help us so we didn't lose money or get hurt or in a bit of trouble. Awesome!! But ya. Pretty awesome! Lol for speaking Spanish the other missionary was a bit clueless to all that was happening. But it was whatever. We all got back safe. And now I am back in good old Gualeguaychu. 


Oh and so friendship day is a day where people give like friendship cards to their friends and celebrate how awesome their friends are. So I would like to tell all of my friends, Happy friendship day and you are all awesome! I love y'all! So I am back with my companion Elder Towner and we are doing work here in Gualeguaychu. We have some awesome investigators. 


Oh and dad! Did you used to have a Ford Falcon? Cause those cars are all over the place here. But I got to go. The place where I am typing this letter is closing down. Maybe I will be able to write later today. But if not I love all yall! Hope you have a great week! Happy friendship day! The church is true!

Peace!!!

July 18, 2011

Mi familia como esta!

My companion and I are doing well in Gualeguaychu! Lol I love saying that name! We recently had un dia de milagros! A day of miracles! Yesterday the mission president came and called a new branch president! The new president is named President Martinelli! He is a great guy and will help this area a TON! We had sacrament meeting and we had six investigators come to the church! Lol that is six more than we had for the last 2 months! We had almost all of one family come! Their name is Bulo and 4 of them came which was awesome! Then the brother of the new branch president came. He wants to learn more, but is scared of what his dad would say to him. And also another lady came that we have been teaching. She wants to be baptized and is waiting to get married in December. So that was awesome. The sacrament meeting was soo spiritual and had an awesome spirit. It was good for both members and investigators. I played the hymns for sacrament really well. Lol another miracle. And then after church we were helping the new branch president set up some stuff and I decided to go practice the piano downstairs and so I was playing some child's hymns and a group of teenagers came in. They just moved to Gualeguaychú from Companas. They were recent members of the church which will help strengthen the branch here. Also one was not a member and he told us that he had come to church a couple of times and wanted to be baptized! Soooo awesome! And also their mother wants to be baptized. So we may very well be having two baptisms in the future. It was awesome! After that I made some french toast and it turned out really good! Lol but that, the french toast, for sure was not the greatest miracle. So we believe things are going to turn around in this city and become really strong. 

It really is cool what God does for His children to help them achieve eternal life. I love reading the scriptures and seeing how God helps each of His children. I know that God loves each and everyone one of us and has provided us with the scriptures. I was reading about how the Book of Mormon can help people´s lives. God really wants us to be happy and have fun and joyful lives! This Gospel certainly can help people enjoy their lives and to be happy. 

There is a new member here and her name is Beatrice. Her life is super difficult! She lives with her children and grandchildren. They don't have much of anything but are so nice and giving. Lol my companion told them that I threw up last Monday and they were loading me up with healthy tea packets and pills and everything. So funny. I was like, "It's really all right. It was my own fault that I threw up." But still they didn't take no for an answer so I had to take it. But this lady named Beatrice you can see it in her countenance and in her eyes how much she loves the gospel and the scriptures. She loves to read the lyrics of the hymns and just feel the spirit in them. So awesome! Lol she doesn't even know the how the songs go but she loves the message in them. She let me read one and really it had an awesome message. Like it says in the scriptures, a song of the heart is a prayer unto God. I love music and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Awesome! Lol I love the word awesome too! Awesome! 

Oh and so about how I threw up. I ate a bunch of really bad food! First I ate two alfajores which are like three cookies with dulce de leche in between each and then covered in a coating of chocolate! They are soooooooo good! Paul you would definitely be in heaven. Oh and by the way Paul thanks a lot for your email! I loved it! I am so stoked that you are going to get to play the new zelda game. Lol my companion and I joke about the old game ocorina of time. And its pretty awesome! Love ya bro man! Oh and so how did you and rachel like AFY? The youth here just came back from one down here and they loved it. Such a good program. Anyhow, after the two alfajores, we made some homemade onion rings cooked in lard (ewwwwww) but I still ate it. And too much of it. Then I drank some malta which is kind of like hot chocolate, and a banana which is kind of like a banana, and then an orange and some herbal tea and then a piece of some awesome super delicious cake. And by then is was tooo much. My companion was talking on the cell phone and he looked over and I was lying on the floor wishing to die! I threw up like 3 times that night and my companion video taped!  I could send you guys the videos but I don't think you would like them. They are kind of gross! Anyhow, after I was sick we rested the next day and then went out to preach the gospel! And now I am more careful about what I eat. But we are teaching some awesome families and having a great time! I hear things are going well for all of you! I love all of you! Family and friends! The Church is true! It is the church of Jesus Christ! 

Gotta blast! Have a great week! Love yall!

Elder Chris Gibbs!!!! yay!

July 11, 2011

[Editor's note:  There are two new letters from Chris, one from this week (July 11) and one from last week (July 5).  Read them both!  Sorry I'm so late in posting them!

Como andan mi familia?

 

This week was better than the last week! Not as much sickness and more work! It was a great week! Also the food has been really good! Lol yes I do have to talk about the food! So it turns out that I am well known in the ward in Gualeguaychú for eating a TON! Lol I swear I was just eating till I got full! And they kept offering more! So what else am I supposed to do! Lol but I do love it! I think when I return I am going to weigh A LOT more than when I left for the field! Besides the food everything is going really good! Thanks for all of the emails! It was way awesome! 

We did the regular thing this week lots of work and not too much success. But we believe things are going to change in this city for the better. We have like 3 or 4 different families we are teaching. We need them to go to church though lol. They keep saying they will but they don't show up. We are going to keep working with them. Lol Spanish is still destroying me! I hope to get the hang of it soon. Lol this little kid came up to me and said something like super fast. It kind of sounded like ´´jasklejfoibnierjwoefjkabihwerigneai´´. Lol like that and I had a look like Elder Calhoun from the movie the Best Two Years! Like what in the world did you just say? Lol I am so glad I have a companion that can help me. The good thing is that I haven't mistaken too many words and stuff. On accident I do occasionally say the bad words that are written on all the graffiti. Not on purpose. I read it out loud. Innocently. And then my companion is like DON'T SAY THAT! And I am like whoops...... but I am understanding most of what is being said to me. And everything is going great! 

We taught a family last night who are way cool and they accepted to come to church next week! So hopefully things go well for them. We are going to work super hard next week! We weren't able to do all the work we wanted to last week because we had a mission conference to meet our new mission president. His name is President Giuliani and is a way cool guy. We left Gualeguaychu to go to Santa Fe! Like a 7 hour bus ride. It was alright. I slept most of the way we had the meeting and I got to meet a bunch of other awesome missionaries. Oh and we actually received the letters that were in the mission home! Lol I finally received some letters from back in June! Thanks everyone for the letters! They were great! I met some of the missionaries that I met in the MTC, but my first companion wasn't there. After the conference my comp and I got stuck in a little city called Parana. We couldn't get all the way back to our home, so we stayed with some other missionaries. Elder Towner and I got word that there was Walmart in Parana! So we went lol! And they did indeed have a Walmart. It was really awesome! 

After we got back to Gualeguaychú we worked the next day. The ward had an activity that was really good! The ward has been struggling a bit but this activity was really good for them. There has NEVER been such a good turn out to activities. They had like nearly 60 people there. The branch is getting more united and working better together. We think things are going to turn around in this city! So we are quite stoked. Unfortunately, the branch president had to move to another city, which was really sad. He was a great guy! But we do have an awesome guy who we believe will be the next president. So things will be alright. All the members here are super nice and we are having a great time! 

I am almost out of time! But just wanted to let you know that I have a testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! This is the true church and it has been restored by a prophet! Joseph Smith was a prophet of God! God called him to translate the Book of Mormon so we could understand and have more of the word of God. We have living prophet, who receives inspiration from God. I know that we are all God's Children and He loves us. He answers our prayers! And He blesses us when we follow His commandments. My life has been blessed so much by my Heavenly Father that sometimes I cannot believe it. I am so glad for this knowledge that I have and estoy muy animado a compartir este mensaje con Argentina! Love you family and friends! You are great! Thanks so much for supporting me! 

Chow,

Elder Gibbs