Knocking and more knocking

This week was quick. We spent most of it knocking.. which is not a bad
thing it's just tiring.. and this email is gonna be short also!

So near the beginning of the week we started reaching out to the less
actives in the ward, which turned out to be pretty successful! We are
starting a bible study class this week so we are trying to get all the
part members to the class as we can! So we contacted pretty much all
the less actives in the area and gave them an invite. The class starts
this week! Which I'm pumped about. We already have 2 investigators
that want to come, and the Sisters have a couple that are coming also!
But the cool thing is to see how thrilled the ward is to have a bible
study. We ate at a couple families homes, and every family told us how
excited they are for it! So I'm really hoping it will be a success for
the ward.

We spent the entirety of the last week knocking doors. We probably
knocked for 6 hours a day, and probably only had one return
appointment. So that was discouraging, but we have to keep it up to
get those new investigators!

In the middle of the week we had a worldwide mission conference and
the council that we got from that was awesome. We also were given a
new schedule! So now I can get a full nights rest. Anyway there was a
ton in the broadcast that was awesome.

Sorry again this email is short, and sorry I failed to wish Samantha a
happy birthday.. anyway I love y'all! Talk to ya soon!

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

Fwd: 🏂❄️

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Caleb Gibbons <cgibbons@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Jan 23, 2017 at 1:26 PM
Subject: 🏂❄️
To: Dad <gibbons.paul@gmail.com>, Arla Gibbons <gibbons.arla@gmail.com>


So here's something cool that happened this week. We had interviews
with the mission president and he said in his interview, that every
missionary can bring their own spice to the area. So that stuck with
me because I thought that the only kind of missionary work here was
tracting. So I was thinking about it all day Wednesday and then
Thursday we got a chance to weekly plan. And I flipped open preach my
gospel to see if it suggests any other ways to find new investigators.
Then I don't know what it was but all the sudden I felt like we needed
to start a bible study. The more I thought about it the more it made
sense. So I talked to my comp about it and he loved it. The following
night we went to the ward mission leader and presented our idea to
him. He suggested some small tweaks but he was so excited about it.
The next day we decided to involve the rest of the district, because
all the wards are pretty close to each other. We held an informal
district meeting and the entire district was super pumped about it! So
that same night, he bishop was cleaning the church. We stopped and
quickly pitched it to him. He also loved it! So Saturday we pretty
much finalized everything for the Bible study class, and the Brother
that came out on exchanges with us was apart of public affairs. So we
went over to his house and now he is going to write an article about
it in the paper. He said it was perfect timing, because the stake
needed something to put in the paper. Sunday rolled around and we had
ward council. We presented our plan to them and sure enough, everyone
loved it. So we go through church and the stake president comes up to
us because he wants to know what we are doing. At first we thought he
wanted to shut it down, but he was hyped. We told us that he felt like
this is inspired. They were actually having a stake correlation
meeting after church, and he wanted to know what it was so he could
council with the other bishops and ward mission leaders.

So I'm trying to be humble about this entire situation, but I really
feel like this is what the work here needs. I'm hoping and praying
that this will actually work. If it doesn't, I'll find something else.
If it does, then I know God threw that idea into my head. It's weird
how just a small little seed of an idea, can eventually turn into a
stake wide activity. It is still just boggling my mind the involvement
and excitement from everyone. After church we had a couple people come
up to us and give us advice. We also had the teachers tell us the best
way to teach non-members. Anyway, that was my week.

Love ya.

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

Tropical January🌤🌦

This week was so cool. I don't know where to begin and I don't think
this letter will be all that long. So I'll start from the beginning:
District meeting. Our district is awesome and we had a sweet district
meeting. That was on Tuesday. Wednesday I had an opportunity to go
finding with Elder Jensen. It was different cause I was in his area,
and because I'm so use to the work in G-ville it threw me off. So we
went contacting and found a couple people. The last person we found
was a Muslim.. and a combative one. He started asking questions about
Christianity in general. So we did get a little heated with that one.
That's the first real antagonistic person I've met up here..

The rest of the week was awesome. We didn't teach as much as I
would've liked to.. But we did find two investigators that seem pretty
solid. Hopefully we can start teaching them. The work is pretty much
all finding in G-ville. So we've been coming up with new methods of
finding that hopefully will help the work. One thing in particular we
are both pretty excited about. We are going to be starting a bible
study class! So that will be fun to see how that works out.

Sorry this one is short! We didn't really have much going on!
Yesterday there was a shooting nearby, that was exciting! We were
trying to get to an appointment and there were so many cops around.
They wouldn't let us into the complex. So that was cool.

This scripture in Alma 36 stuck out to me this last week:
"25 Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth give me exceedingly
great joy in the fruit of my labors;

26 For because of the word which he has imparted unto me, behold, many
have been born of God, and have tasted as I have tasted, and have seen
eye to eye as I have seen; therefore they do know of these things of
which I have spoken, as I do know; and the knowledge which I have is
of God."

I love you all! Have a great week!

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

Fwd: Elder Gibbons

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Arla Gibbons <gibbons.arla@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Jan 22, 2017 at 5:57 PM
Subject: Fwd: Elder Gibbons
To: Paul Gibbons <gibbons.paul@gmail.com>, gibbons.paul.letters2caleb@blogger.com

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kenneth Traveller <kdtraveller@gmail.com>
Date: January 13, 2017 at 10:09:34 PM MST
To: Arla Gibbons <gibbons.arla@gmail.com>
Subject: Elder Gibbons

Elder Gibbons had a Zone Conference in Fredericksburg today.  I was able to visit with him after the Conference.   He looks great and had a special glow about him.  He seemed very content and happy, and is excited about planned baptism.   He is about 15 miles north of us but is in a different Stake.  It was sure good to see him.

Ken Traveller 

Re: Chante got dunked!

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

> On Jan 16, 2017, at 10:46 AM, Caleb Gibbons <cgibbons@myldsmail.net> wrote:
>
> This week was awesome.. we had.. a Baptism!
>
> Okay well before I get to that I'll share a part of my week with you.
> The beginning of the week we were working very close with Chante to
> get her ready for her baptism. We taught her everyday leading up to
> it, and in just this week you could see that she was getting more
> converted everyday. In one lesson I asked her to share her testimony
> about the Book of Mormon. It was alright, but it sounded like a wrote
> one that all the kids bore in fast and testimony meeting. So after
> that lesson we asked her to read a couple chapters though out the Book
> of Mormon. She read and we met with her the day before her baptism.
> When she was getting her clothing you could see just how happy and how
> ready she was to get baptized. We were leaving the church and I asked
> her to share her testimony to us and a member that we were with,
> almost instantly she started getting teary eyed and told us that she
> was in the best, happiest place she had ever been in her entire life.
> She told us that the Book of Mormon gave that to her. So we read a
> couple more scripture and waited for the following day!
>
> So Finally Saturday rolled around and we had to go to the church early
> to fill the font and make preparations for the baptism. While the font
> was getting filled up we had a quick correlation meeting with our ward
> mission leader. We were nearing the baptism and we were worried that
> no one would show up. Mormon standard time was real. No one got to the
> baptism until 10 minutes before it. Chante showed up and we took a
> quick picture but then we had to run in and start the service. It was
> such a good baptismal service. The entire program was youth in the
> ward. It was really special for her. Just before the baptism, all the
> young women went up and sung "When I am Baptized". The spirit was so
> thick in the air you could reach out and touch it. And there wasn't
> one dry eye in the audience.
>
> I think this was a very special day for her. She was telling us about
> how she was ready to get baptized and how she had her doubts. But when
> she was dunked she came out of the water with a giant smile on her
> face!
>
> Anyway, it was a great week for us here in garrisonville. We caught a
> break and had another day that was 75° so that was a huge blessing!
> But I love it here and I know that I'm suppose to be serving here.
>
> I love you all and hope you week was awesome! Talk to you soon!
>
> ~Elder Caleb Gibbons
> <noname.txt>
> <image1.JPG>
> <image2.JPG>

Chante got dunked!

This week was awesome.. we had.. a Baptism!

Okay well before I get to that I'll share a part of my week with you.
The beginning of the week we were working very close with Chante to
get her ready for her baptism. We taught her everyday leading up to
it, and in just this week you could see that she was getting more
converted everyday. In one lesson I asked her to share her testimony
about the Book of Mormon. It was alright, but it sounded like a wrote
one that all the kids bore in fast and testimony meeting. So after
that lesson we asked her to read a couple chapters though out the Book
of Mormon. She read and we met with her the day before her baptism.
When she was getting her clothing you could see just how happy and how
ready she was to get baptized. We were leaving the church and I asked
her to share her testimony to us and a member that we were with,
almost instantly she started getting teary eyed and told us that she
was in the best, happiest place she had ever been in her entire life.
She told us that the Book of Mormon gave that to her. So we read a
couple more scripture and waited for the following day!

So Finally Saturday rolled around and we had to go to the church early
to fill the font and make preparations for the baptism. While the font
was getting filled up we had a quick correlation meeting with our ward
mission leader. We were nearing the baptism and we were worried that
no one would show up. Mormon standard time was real. No one got to the
baptism until 10 minutes before it. Chante showed up and we took a
quick picture but then we had to run in and start the service. It was
such a good baptismal service. The entire program was youth in the
ward. It was really special for her. Just before the baptism, all the
young women went up and sung "When I am Baptized". The spirit was so
thick in the air you could reach out and touch it. And there wasn't
one dry eye in the audience.

I think this was a very special day for her. She was telling us about
how she was ready to get baptized and how she had her doubts. But when
she was dunked she came out of the water with a giant smile on her
face!

Anyway, it was a great week for us here in garrisonville. We caught a
break and had another day that was 75° so that was a huge blessing!
But I love it here and I know that I'm suppose to be serving here.

I love you all and hope you week was awesome! Talk to you soon!

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

Pictures

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

2017 Already?

Can you believe it's January? What a trip.. Anyway this letter is
gonna be short.. sorry in advance!

This last week with the holidays and everything was crazy! We had to
drive everywhere.. so our mileage was shot but we did a lot of
teaching. The first half of the week we were working mainly up north
in Ruther Glen. We taught a bunch of less actives and investigators.
One lesson in particular was very odd for us, we had a less active
invite us over and we taught her and her kids about the restoration.
We invited her to church and she accepted and told us pretty much
everything that she needed to confess to the bishop. That's always
awkward, but we set an appointment up with her and the bishop to talk.

We were suppose to have like 8 investigators come to church but only 2
showed up.. we had rides set up for all of them and we were so pumped!
Then most of them told us that they weren't coming.. so that was a
huge bummer, but it was alright because I was saying goodbye to a lot
of the members in the ward.. oh yeah btw I got a call on Saturday
telling me I'm being transferred! So I'm pumped for that and the new
area!

Jacob 4:6 "Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many
revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses
we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we
truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or
the mountains, or the waves of the sea."

Sorry again this is a short email! If you email me I'll try to respond
but we'll be doing a lot today!

Love y'all!

~Elder Caleb Gibbons