1 Year!!

Crazy how fast time flies. Well transfers were last week and the ward
lost Ellsworth. Then we got my new companion.. Elder Thalman. He also
is from Logan, but we didn't know each other before the mission. This
last week was awesome! I'll go into depth a little..

So Monday we got a chance to go play some Soccer with some Spanish
homies. It was a ton of fun and quickly made me realize how out of
shape I am... but I had a great time!

Tuesday was transfers, and it is always a nerve racking day, because
you don't know what's ahead. But after transfers is the adjusting
period. Every companionship has one and it's pretty quick.

Wednesday we had an opportunity to meet with one of our progressing
investigators named Negi and Fediya. They are from Egypt and are super
nice. We've been teaching them about the restoration, and in the past
he has had a hard time wrapping his head around it. To him, all
churches are false and everyone needs to worship on their own. It took
some more teaching, but we did help him realize the importance of a
church. It was a cool moment because you could definitely feel the
spirit there. We met with him again and it was such a good lesson! He
was way more receptive and open to the gospel! Anyway we challenged
him to come to church, but he didn't make it. Maybe next week!

Thursday was Turkey Day! It is honestly one of the best holidays of
the year. It is the best holiday to prepare everyone for Christmas. We
had an opportunity to go to a members house. We had a great time!
Afterwards we got a chance to go visit some less active members. We
were discouraged from knocking doors, but we did still teach!

Friday we drove all over the place.. it felt like we never left the
car. We were going through the area Book and finding all of the people
that were progressing at one point. We taught a couple people, and the
cool thing was we were able to set a return appointment with one of
them! They were super nice and when we met them they couldn't remember
why they stopped meeting with the missionaries.

Anyway that about wraps up our week! Today was pday and we drove down
to short pump and bowled for an hour. Then we went to the mall.. this
mall is the coolest mall I think I've ever been in. One thing Virginia
is good for is it's malls haha. But we walked around and looked at
shoes, and suits.. then we went to the Cheesecake Factory and bought a
fat slice of delicious Oreo cheesecake 😍

Sorry the email was late today! I'll get it out earlier next week.

Matthew 5:
"14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a
candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

#LIGHTtheWORLD

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

Thanksgiving 🦃

Ahh man I love the holidays! This weeks email will be a bit smaller
than normal. I didn't have a lot of time to write this up..

The beginning of the week we started by knocking doors, the first two
days we found 4 new investigators. The cool thing is that we found a
family! They are Neega and Fedyia, and four kids. They are from Egypt
and they are christian! Last time we taught them he told us his
conversion story. It was such a cool story and it was a large reason
why they actually came to America! Anyway we are looking for an Arabic
Bom for them. They read very little English but can speak it fairly
well! So pray for them and let's hope they come to church!

The middle of the week I caught a cold, I don't know if it's the same
thing that my companion had, but I was miserable for a day or two. We
continued to work though. This week was also the last week of the
transfer so we were expecting a call. Ellsworth will leaving and I'll
be staying! I'm sad that I'll be losing him. He is a great guy and
probably will be the best comp that I'll have.

Well I love ya soo much! I'll try and reply tonight but we are running
around and saying goodbye to members! So it's been a busy pday!

Alma 28:14 "And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to
labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason
of sorrow, and also of rejoicing--sorrow because of death and
destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto
life."

Love y'all! Hope all is well and I'm super pumped for the holidays!

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

Trump Nation!

Okay sorry this is a super short email, but this week was awesome! I
dodged a illness thank goodness. But the first two days of the week
Ellsworth wasn't very energized so we didn't get a lot done, but he
got better on Wednesday! We had meetings literally all day.

Anyway we finished out the week strong! Ended up keeping out
appointments the later half of the week. Btw, Trump won! I'm relieved.
Anyway this week was fun.

As far as missionary work goes, we went tracting and were able to find
6 new investigators! It was a huge blessing because we usually suck at
finding more people to teach. But while we were tracting we ran into
these neighborhood kids. We played ball with them and they told us all
the houses to go to! It was the most effective way we have ever
tracked 😂

Today we got a chance to go to Virginia state capitol building! We
took a bunch of photos so I'll share as much as I can. The video is me
in a symphony with wine glasses. We were at the Lauritzens. We got
this idea while eating dinner. It worked and it took us like 20 times
to get it right.

Sorry this was a really weak email. I'll try to email more before the
end of the night! Anyway love you all!

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

Family!

Hello! Sorry this email is going to be short, didn't really have a
great week, but I'll share as much as I can! So Monday was Halloween
and we weren't allowed to go out on Halloween so we visited people
during the day, for the rest of the day we cleaned the apartment.

Tuesday we had a great day! We met this guy named Craig who was super
mean to us when we knocked into him, then we caught his interest. We
taught him the restoration and we could tell by the type of questions
he was asking that he had been exposed to a lot of anti. But after the
lesson we asked if he would pray. And surprisingly he accepted! That
never happens! But he prayed and asked about the Book of Mormon in the
prayer and it was such a cool experience, because he paused after he
said it.. he finished the prayer and told us that he would read it. He
said he felt like he should give it a chance. So the spirit was real
in that lesson! It was so cool! The rest of the day we got to go up
and help a member rake his leaves and after we threw his kids into the
giant pile. Haha kids love me in this ward for some reason.

Anyway Wednesday was the typical missionary day with a lot of
contacting people in the area book. We gave up trying potentials and
started finding less actives in Ashland. We found a couple more of
them and honestly it wasn't a good experience. About half of the
people who do not get contacted regularly by home teachers, want their
names removed. So we have the excellent privilege to do that. We make
a note of it and send it into the bishop. It's pretty depressing and I
really don't like doing it. So we had a dinner Wednesday night with
Bro mills, and he was super sick. So we had dinner and went out to
teach this lady named Virginia. Who isn't really interested in getting
baptized. But she knows the Book of Mormon is true because she reads
it with her bible regularly.

Thursday is where the week went south. My companion woke up with an
itch in his throat, which I denied because I really did not want to
get sick. We still worked though. We went up to ruther glen and found
some more less actives. It wasn't a super productive day because we
had to weekly plan which took longer than expected.. after that though
we went over to an investigators house and I cooked for them! It was
awesome! I made chicken adobo which was shown to me by brother Allred.
They all loved it and the kids actually ate it which was a surprise to
me because they never eat anything. Anyway it was fun to share a meal
with them!

Friday we woke up super early to go teach seminary! We have to wake up
around 5:30 to make it to the church building on time. I have a new
found respect for the kids that have to get up that early to go to
seminary. Anyway we taught about Jesus and his Transfiguration. But it
was only me teaching because Ellsworth woke up to a worsening
sickness. So he didn't feel good and sat in the corner. But I was able
to test my missionary teaching skills to the youth. Sister walsh, the
Sister that usually teaches seminary, told us that we did a great job
and should take over her calling😂 but we like the extra hour of sleep
we get in the morning too much... after wards we gave the only boy in
the class a ride to school. He's going to be a stellar missionary some
day. We did do some contacting but Ellsworth was not doing well so we
had to go home early.

Saturday we had to do some service but due to the severity of my
companions cold/flu virus we weren't able to make it. We spent a lot
of time inside. While he rested I was able to start the Book of Mormon
again which I've been meaning to do for some time now!

Today was awesome because we did have an old investigator show up to
church, but he still is not willing to have the discussions with us.
He came because his friend, on of the wards recent converts, was going
to bear his testimony. So it was good anyway because he had an
opportunity to see his friends witness of Christ! Hopefully he will
have us over in the future to continue the lessons and further his
faith in Christ!

Anyway I'm really hoping I don't catch whatever my comp has. It sounds
like a total nightmare. I really don't want to wake up tomorrow with a
sore throat cause that's how it starts. Anyway I hope he gets better
and we are able to leave the apartment soon. If I get sick, hopefully
it won't be as bad and I can still do something. Being stuck inside is
making me crazy.. I love you all so much and found this amazing verse
in 2nd nephi 30 while reading today:

"5 And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them;
wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers,
and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had among their
fathers.

6 And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a
blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness
shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not
pass away among them, save they shall be a pure and a delightsome
people."

That is one of my newest favorites from the Book of Mormon. Anyway
love you all and hope you have a great week! I'lol have plenty of time
today to reply to emails so send plenty😁

~Elder Caleb Gibbons