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

Midway through transfers!

Wow this week has flown. I don't know where to begin so I'll start with Monday? Nah Tuesday. On Tuesday we went tracting and had no success. Halfway through tracting in palm leaf, a guy came up to us and said, "y'all Jahovahs witness?" We replied no it's a common mistake, and when he found out we were Mormon he got super angry? He started telling us that we converted his wife and that was when they got divorced. He started yelling random anti material and then we got uncomfortable and left. So later that evening we came back to an appointment and we were met by the leasing people. They told us we couldn't knock anymore. So that was fun. 

Wednesday we went up to the Millers house to have a lunch. Halfway through the lunch, Tina, one of their friends, came by and decided to stay since there was food. So we taught her and she told us she was interested in us coming back! We taught her on Saturday.. I'll get to that later. 

Thursday was non-stop. We had to move a member out of her old trailer into a retirement home. So we spent like 4 hours doing that and got super exhausted. It's surprising to me how much she had in that trailer! So we moved her until dinner, then we had an appointment with the Walkers. This was the first time I met them, so they didn't really associate with me much. We taught them and had ice cream cake at their house. When we were leaving we caught Sis Walker smoking! So we talked to her about it and apparently she's been smoking for a long time. She was just hiding it from the missionaries. So we told her we would help her quit, and along with that we gave her a date to be smoke free. Hopefully she will quit by then..

Friday was weird also. We did service in the morning for a older member in a wheel chair. Afterwards, he decided he would share some of his theories with us. After about an hour of listening to him I asked if we could share a spiritual thought. I shared a scripture about agency and we then talked about the Adam-god theory for another half hour. After that long service, we went over to see Jaclyn. We told her to read the scripture we gave her and watch the video we gave her. She said she was going to Maryland so she would have plenty of time in the car. We haven't heard back from her yet but she said that when she gets her new car, she will be coming back to church.

Saturday was probably the biggest headache for us. We mowed our neighbors lawns and our own. Then we got a text from brother Rhodes demanding that we find his son a ride to Richmond. Confused, we called him and he thought we promised to help get his son into an addiction recovery program.. so we told him we would. We searched and finally found a ride for him, but it was going to be later than he wanted. So we called him and told him what was up and he got super angry at us for not keeping our word. I don't even.. ugh so we come to find out that Justin (his son) had already found a ride down and we didn't even need to look for one. So we called brother Rhodes and he got even more upset that we allowed that to happen? So we went over and talked to him about everything and settle him down. We finally got him calmed down and told him that he needed to chill. We told him how a successful father-son relationship should be and he surprisingly took the advice. 

After that, we went to dinner with the millers to teach Tina and her husband. We had a very interesting discussion with him about god. He considers himself atheist, but seems very agnostic. We talked to him about bible stories, and faith. The entire lesson was so dense with the spirit we asked him to pray. He said he didn't know how and hasn't said a prayer in 15 years. So we told him how it was done and he prayed! So the lesson was a success in our eyes and hopefully he will continue to have spiritual experiences to feel Gods love for him. 

We had a crazy week here in ashland. But it's pretty normal stuff here... thanks for all your letter and support! Love you guys like crazy!

~Elder Gibbons

Email fail

So I had a great email written out but I had to update my iPad and I lost it. Sooo I'm not really in the mood to rewrite it so I'm going to give you the jist of it. 

Sunday Caleb Givens got baptized that was cool. Jaclyn dropped us for some reason. Talked to her about Christ. I still hate cigarettes. Stake fair on Saturday was a huge success for us. We had a lot of investigators there. Saw a bunch of other missionaries serving in the stake. We had a great time. 

Alma 31:

34 "O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ."

35 "Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee."

Oh and I shaved my leg with a super sharp knife.

Love y'all, sorry for the weak email...

~Elder Gibbons

Scotchtown smokes

Oh this week was nuts! I don't even know where to begin haha. Oh and
why does Scotchtown smoke? Because literally every one of our
investigators smoke.

So let me give you a little bit of background. We are in a ward that
loves sisters, but doesn't really like elders, because of a past elder
in the area. Two transfers ago the elders replaced the sisters and I
can definitely tell that the ward is still pretty bitter about it. So
our job is not only to be a missionary, but also to befriend the ward.
But this week was crazy! So I'll go day to day.

Monday we didn't do much until the evening. We had dinner with a
member in the evening, then after that we went to an investigators
house and they were just watching the end of Gods not dead 2. So we
caught the last 10 minutes, I know we weren't suppose to, but we were
able to transition it into our lesson afterwards.

Tuesday we got a call from one of our investigators named Jaclyn. She
wanted us to come over and when we pulled up she was smoking. Which
was a bad sign because she had quit a month ago.. We asked what was
wrong and she told us that her car blew up and her rent check didn't
clear and her ex-husband was harassing her for more money. She told us
that her life had started going downhill and she was at an all time
low since she has been meeting with us. So after a short talk with her
about adversity she told us that she wished she never had met the
missionaries. It was awkward for a second, but I told her that we
would look at her car and see if it was fixable or not. That was
pretty much the highlight of Tuesday.

Wednesday we had a Zone conference with a seventy there. His name was
Elder Kapishke and he taught us about unifying our mission. It was
cool because we were able to suck in a lot of info from him all about
missionary work. I need to like forget the last 9 month of the mission
haha. But it was a great conference. It took the majority of the day
so afterwards we ran over and taught one of our investigators called
Derek. He had limited time so we shared a scripture with him and told
him to continue reading the Book of Mormon. But just out of my own
curiosity, I asked about what he thought about baptism. We talked for
a while and he said that he would get baptized the day after he quit
smoking. That was such a cool lesson because his son was there and he
said that if his dad got baptized he would also get baptized! So it
was a great way to end the day.

Thursday we called Jaclyn and she sounded happier? So we asked if we
could meet her at the auto shop and check out her car. So after
looking at it doing some tests, we concluded that her head had cracked
and the engine needed to be replaced. So we made some phone calls for
her and within an hour we had like 3 buyers who wanted it. She was
pumped! So we towed it back to her place. She said she was in a better
mood, because for some reason her tuition check came a month early so
she was able to pay her rent and look for a car. Later on in the day
we went over to another investigators house. Their names are Micheal
and Christina. We taught them the restoration again and the
conversation got a little heated after we started talking about the
law of Moses. We talked about church history and I proved all of them
right with scripture references, but she was still so hard headed. She
pulled out this book called the lost books of the bible. So.. Then it
turned into an argument about how that book is not scripture and it is
not called the bible for a reason. So if you ever read it just keep
that in mind..

Friday we went up north and visited a bunch of potentials and members.
It was a busy day and I was really tired for some reason, but we kept
at it. We went to the Millers house and visited that family and he
told us that they were going to dinner with the rest of the Elders
quorum. So we asked if we could join and he didn't see a problem with
it so we tagged along. When we got to the Walsh's the hamburgers
weren't even on the grill yet so we ended up just playing around with
all the kids. Then he whooped out his dirtbikes and I died I wanted to
ride it so bad. But he wouldn't let us so I asked if we could at least
get a picture on them.

Saturday we were able to sell Jaclyns car! She was so pumped and felt
super indebted to us. We went over afterwards and talked to her about
the Book of Mormon. She was more open to it and told us her deeper
issues with our religion. So after talking about some of her issues I
found out that she doesn't believe in Jesus Christ to be the son of
God. Sooooo I told her that, faith is the first and only way to get to
an answer about the Book of Mormon. We decided that we would give her
a week to read out of the four gospels and pray hard about Jesus
Christ. We promised her that she would be able to recognize that Jesus
is her savior if she prayed and truly desired an answer. So that
update is coming next week!

It sounds like you guys had a great time at lake Powell and am jealous
that you got to go. It's a super fun place to be. I have much more
about the week but can't write it all because I'm lazy.. But I'll give
you a scripture for y'all:

D&C 137:
9: For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works,
according to the desire of their hearts.

Love you a lot and hope all is well! Remember God is good!

~Elder Gibbons