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

Halloween 👻

This week was sooo great! I have to keep it short because we have
plans up in Rutherglen..

Monday we got to hang out with the other elders which was a huge
relief because it feels like Ellsworth and I are all alone in
Ashland.. well later in the day we went up to Rutherglen and had
dinner with a family called the Millers.. their children are straight
crazy. We had a fun dinner with their family and later on we decided
that Sister Miller and The both of us are gonna sing in sacrament
meeting in a couple weeks so that will be the second time in this area
that I will have sung in sacrament meeting.. wish me luck I guess!

Okay so this week we had a bunch of crazy weird miracles that I
haven't had since Fredericksburg, I guess they only happen in places
where there is a lot of apartments. So there is this guy that works
security 🚨 at Lake Caroline that we always see and he hasn't been
very nice to the missionaries in the past. He hasn't been very warm to
us either but we were knocking a bunch of townhouses and literally the
first door we knock on was his house. So we laughed and asked if he
would want to hear our message, he paused and then said "sure why not"
so we taught him the Resto and he was actually really interested. He
was asking a bunch of questions and even told us about his neighbors
who could use the gospel. It was really weird and cool at the same
time! But that's how missionary miracles work!

Anyway we also had a bunch of service this week and it included
chopping wood and moving members out. We moved the Walkers out of
their house on Saturday as well as the Blackwells. These two families
are awesome and we will miss them greatly.. anyway we moved the
Blackwell family in like 20 minutes but then the walkers took about 6
hours😂 soo our day on Saturday was pretty full.. but we did get a
chance to attend the ward Halloween party! It was a blast! We also had
like 14 investigators there, which was crazy.. it was great for us and
it was great for them as well. There are like 3 families that are
powerhouse to the max that fellowshipped all of them. They all said
they had a blast and loved the ward. Unfortunately we only had 3 show
up to church the following day.. but it was still great! One of the
investigators told us that it was the first time they had a dry party
in like 10 years, and they said that it was more fun then all of them
combined! Ahh that was such a good feeling. It meant a lot to us.

Anyway family, we also got other great news on Saturday.. we asked
Sister Walsh if we could teach Early morning seminary on Fridays and
she said yes! We are both so pumped!

Love you all and sorry this one is short! I'll try to reply to all of
you individually if I can! Love you!

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

The anti is real

This week was just about the most normal week ever. We are losing
investigators and are having a hard time finding more. We spend most
of the week tracting, luckily we have a couple people who are getting
more interested. Out of the 40 or so people we have taught we have
return appointments with about 5.. if that gives you an idea about how
interested people are in our message. This area has a lot of anti
material going around. We ran into another proselytizing faith while
tracting and they went to all the doors after us and told everyone
that we were lying and we were a false church.. soo I'm learning a lot
about forgiveness right now..

We had a district meeting on Wednesday and we talked about how to
teach like the savior. We had a great training about humility by one
of the elders! It made me think about nephi and his humility. So I
brought it up and we got into a discussion about how nephi used his
humility. So we set a goal to strive to emulate nephi's love and
humility towards his people. It was an interesting district meeting.

This week we had a lot of service also. We went up to a members house
clear up in the middle of our area and helped her move out. While we
were doing so we started talking to her roommate about the gospel. She
hasn't really been into religion but she said she would start a bible
study with the member and possibly come to church! Later in the week
we had more service cutting trees down and turning it into firewood. I
didn't know people still had wood burning ovens, but some people out
here rely only on wood burning furnaces! So I felt good when we
finished loading up the trailer with it. We also had an Eagle Scout
project by one of the youth and it was quite the turnout! We had like
30 people there and we got it done in half the time he was expecting.
It was awesome!

Sunday was the primary program in our ward.. aww man it was straight
fire. Our ward attendance was doubled because of it and we had a
chance to meet the rest of the part member families! Anyway the
program was awesome and we know a lot of the youth in the ward so we
tried to get most of them to wave at us. We got one girl named liberty
who waved at us during her talk and she turned around to her teachers
and said "look it's the missionaries!"😂

This week was awesome and the mission gets better everyday. I've been
studying out of the doctrine and covenants lately and for some reason
I've really began to like the book. One of the most enlightening
scriptures I've found so far was in D&C 45:
"3 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading
your cause before him--
4 Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no
sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which
was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be
glorified;
5 Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name,
that they may come unto me and have everlasting life."

Jesus Christ is our loving savior. And I know that for a fact. I love
the mission because it's gives me an opportunity to strengthen my own
testimony as well as have other come into the fold. I have the unique
privilege to aid my fellow brethren to help them see the light and
walk closer to Christ.

I love you all so very much,

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

Smells like fall

Okay this week was awesome. We had a recent set of elders move in to our old apartment and I know one of them. They are pretty chill elders and I'm pumped that we won't be lonely this transfer! Anyway they moved in and we took them to dinner with us. It's a interesting situation, they don't have any ward members up here and they aren't in our ward, so we have to help them with food. Anyway my week was great!

We started Monday with a bunch of finding. We tracted most of the day with no success, but we did reunite with an old investigator. She wants to come back to church and start over with the lessons. So that day was a success! Tuesday we got a referral from church head quarters, we went over to give them a Book of Mormon and when we met them they told us their story! It's super cool, they were passing through Utah and decided to dine in slc at the Joseph smith memorial building, afterwards the sister missionaries gave them a tour of temple square, they were very interested! So when we contacted them, they said that they have been reading the Book of Mormon and were interested in more discussions. So that was the highlight of the week!

The rest of the week we had dinners and more less active contacting. On Friday we went up to rutherglen and talked to jimmy and Tina again. It was great 👍 but they are slowing down and not keeping many of our commitments.. so we are working with their fellowship family to help them keep the invitations we have given them. Sorry nothing else too exciting happened this week. We need to continue finding more investigators! 

Matthew 7:

"7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

Love you guys and hope you are having a great week! Have fun in Taiwan I guess, kinda weird and sudden but hope it will be a blast for all of you! 

~Elder Gibbons

Transfers: moving time..

Well these last six weeks have been a total blur! But I did receive news that I am staying in scotchtown! (But the subject was not misleading) The only call we got was to let us know that we are getting a new apartment. Which we already moved in and settled. Anyway! This week was slow...

We spent the first two days of the week up in ruther glen teaching a family up there. They committed to come to church, but the didn't make it, so we will be teaching them more and hopefully get a way for them to make it down to church with us! So on Tuesday we got a call to let us know that we were going to be getting a new apartment. We packed up that night and we spent the majority of the next day moving into that new apartment. It's not great, it's really cramped and our neighbors are really obnoxious.. but our last house wasn't the biggest either so we got use to it real quick. The only con is that we are lacking a washing machine.. so we have to actually go to a laundry mat to do laundry on monday! That's a first for me... 

We worked out in Montpelier the following day trying to contact less actives. It made me depressed because these people have totally turned away from the church. About half of the people we reach out to want to remove their records from the church. I guess agency is a B. Anyway we had exchanges the following day and just ended up tracting all day in Ashland town homes. It wasn't a successful day but we ran into this guy who asked if we knew Jason Pyne. At first I thought he said Jason Pond and I flipped out because who doesn't Jason know right? 😂 but no he said Jason Pyne, another less active in our ward. 

On Saturday we had interviews with President Smith. The interview itself was alright, it could've gone better, but nevertheless the advice he gave me will come in handy this next transfer.

So I forgot to tell y'all, but I had a trunky moment last week.. I ate at the only Cafe Rio in Virginia! Oh man it brought back so many memories! It was super funny because all of the members out here rave about cafe rio, and we have the luxury of having one just down the street from us! But it was awesome.

I was reading this week out of Doctrine and Covenants... one of my favorite scriptures in D&C is in section 58 verse 27: 

"Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;"

Love you all so very much! Thanks for all of your support and hope this fall will be great! It's starting to cool down over here after the hurricane rains, which were crazy btw.. 

~Elder Gibbons