Not transferred!

This is our investigator, he's dope!. And the biggest fish he caught.

Man this week flew. We started it off with a fishing trip with one of
our investigators. The rest of the week we taught pretty much even me
in our area book, it was insane. But we had a cool experience with
someone in our neighborhood. He is a Methodist and told us to go away.
When we initially came up to him he said he was rebuilding a house and
getting ready to flip it. Immediately I related to him and started
talked to him about flipping houses. I told him I was involved a
little bit with flipping homes. We started talking and he invited us
back! It was epic.

The rest of the week we taught like crazy. Saturday came and I thought
I was going to get a call... But I didn't. So I'm staying in Rivanna
for another 6 weeks! I Love the ward here. They are pretty much
family.

Sorry I don't have much more. The yard looks really good! And Happy
Birthday Sariah! Time flies out here! I hope you have a great rest of
the summer!

Love you guys like crazy. Hope all it well!

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

Last week of the transfer.

This week was very interesting. We had a lot of cool stuff happen!
First of all we are house sitting for the Allreds so we come over and
feed their animals and water their plant. So the first day everything
was all cool and it was going well. So I turned the a/c off and left
for the night. The next day when we came by we opened the door and it
was 90° easy inside the house. I could hardly breathe it was so hot.
So we turned the ac back on and set it to 78°. The day after that we
went over and the house was right at 65°. The lowest setting on the
thermostat. It was so cool that the humidity had condensed on all of
the Windows haha. So i guess that something I learned on my mission
was how to use a thermostat..

We had an opportunity to go into Charlottesville on Monday for a
little Independence Day celebration. Man it was scary. Everyone that I
saw on the street was holding a bud light in one hand and 12-pack in
the other. I probably saw 2-3 drunk drivers (that yes we did report).
It was crazy how many people use this holiday to get drunk hah. So the
parade got rained out so all of the elders in the area went and played
sports in the church.

The following week we had a couple of really interesting lessons. Well
I should say very unique:

Elizabeth - We went over to a members house for dinner and there was a
non member there. Of course we are going to teach her! So the entire
dinner we talked about the gospel and the Book of Mormon. She was
interested in what we had to say about the Book of Mormon but she kept
quoting scriptures trying to disprove it. The most annoying thing was
that she was reading out of the new English version of the bible.
Every verse of scripture that she quoted I have never heard. She knew
the bible well enough to quote some of the scripture but almost
everything she quoted to us she didn't know the ending so she always
said "-you can in no wise inherit the kingdom of my father". So we
did some clearing up with her about the bible translations and we also
talked about how the Book of Mormon doesn't conflict with anything the
bible says. At the end of the conversation we had kind of told her
that she should read from the Book of Mormon and study the bible with
it. There was a lot more about that whole lesson that was really
strange. (Twelve tribes of Israel are supposed to be twelve separate
churches? I don't think so...)

John - I love this dude because he is so smart! I feel bad for my
companion at times because both John and I get carried away in deep
doctrinal topics and sometimes my companion gets lost. He is a
Catholic. He has an interesting take of the Catholic Church though. He
hates the pope, he believes that most branches of the church are
corrupt, and he only believes in one doctrine taught by the Catholic
Church to be correct. Transubstantiation, or the Eucharist. She
believes, in simplicity, that you are what you eat. So when you take
the bread and wine you are literally consuming Christ. It is kind of a
strange thing to hear at first but it makes sense why so many people
would buy into it. We talked more about it and why it is such a big
deal to him. But near the end of the conversation he said "I would've
been baptized by the Mormon church a long time ago if I didn't believe
in the Eucharist." So we are still working on him!

We had a zone conference on Thursday and got to know president Smith
better. He is a great guy and I already love him. He is really wanting
what is best for us as missionaries and I love that mind set. I am
looking forward to working closely with him in the next 17 months to
come!

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. But I love you all and hope
that all is well! The yard looks amazing and I wish I could see it
first hand! But stay safe and happy!

~Love Elder Gibbons

New mission pres!

I got handcuffed by a legal FBI agent

This last week nothing totally spectacular happened.. But we did get a new mission president! I'll save that little bit of info for the last part of the email. 

On Tuesday we were able to do some service for an investigator we have who's name is Curtis. He is a super funny guy but isn't really receptive to the gospel. we went over and helped him insulate the under-belly of his home. After we did all that I asked him if we could share a message with him. He said he wasn't really interested but he really appreciated our help. Fast forward to Saturday.... We went over to see how he is doing. He was so pumped to see us. "Elders, my house is not hot anymore!" 

We talked for a little bit but we had an appointment creeping up on us. I came straight out and said, "Curtis, we love you man but we are messengers sent from Christ and we need to teach the gospel. Would you be okay if we started sharing messages about the Book of Mormon and Christ's gospel with you?" 

He was taken aback for a minute because we were talking about fishing spots close by.. He thought about it and promptly agreed!

So that is sort of a miracle? He is a super sweet dude and would live the gospel to a tee if he put his whole heart into it!

We had an exchange on Friday into Saturday. We went down to an area with a lot of less actives. During the exchange we visited a guy named Daniel, who is living in a nursing home because of mental problems. He loves the missionaries though. He talks us up to all of his friends in the home and when we were going to visit him almost everyone in the halls who saw us knew us by name. It was hilarious! Everyone asked if we could run up to the corner market and buy them all cokes. We said we had things to do, but maybe next time when we weren't so busy. After a short visit with Daniel, he asked us if we could take some money and go buy him cokes at the corner store. I kept thinking What is with everyone wanting us to get them cokes? He explained that the machines get filled every Saturday and they usually run out by Thursday. So on the way back out we found all of the people who wanted us to get them coke and made a run to the convenience store to get them. We almost emptied the shelf at the store! So that was a very neat experience and I was glad we were able to do that. 

Anyway, on Saturday we met the mission president. He is such a nice guy. I can already tell that I will be able to work closely with him and he will do wonders for the mission!

I hope all is well and the yard looks fantastic btw! To bad I can't enjoy it first person! Love you all very much!

~Elder Caleb Gibbons

Book of Norman

This week was full of service. We started it off with a zone
conference where we said goodbye to our mission president. We get
president smith on July 1. I'm looking forward to the changes that he
will bring to the mission and I'm also looking forward to getting to
know him personally. The rest of the week was full of service. We
moved people in and out, worked on Ed Creasy's farm with the horses.
We hit our mileage in the car so we started walking everywhere. It
sucks because it takes us about an hour to get to a place that is 3
miles away... We get our miles renewed at the beginning of the month.
(Seven month mark this week..)

We went up to Carters mountain to get some peaches. And talk about the view!!

A funny experience was that we had a member take us down to
Scottsville, VA. Down there it is a totally different place from the
rest of fluvana. We worked in that area for about 5 hours and got no
results.. The people are baptist and set in their ways I guess. It
also doesn't help that we are taller than everyone we meet. Sometimes
I think we scare everyone.

We were sharing a message with one recent convert in the ward, Edna.
She is a funny little lady and has a super thick drawl. Anyway. She
kept talking about how she started to read the Book of Norman again.
My companion isn't use to the drawl so he kept lookin at the member we
brought with us funny. I noticed it so I decided I would mess with him
a little. I started talking in a slight drawl and started talking
about the Book of Norman as another testament of Jesus Christ. Edna
didn't notice but the member did. He chuckled but my companion didn't
really know what was going on. Then I turned to my companion to try
and include him a little and I said "Elder what's your thoughts on
this Book of Norman?"
He replied. "Well I think you're talking about the Book of Mormon but
you keep saying it weird."
We all got a good laugh but he didn't think it was funny.

Anyway that was our week. As missionary work goes, there is always an
interesting experience around the bend. Hope everyone is all well! And
I hope you liked your father day gift!

Love you all~

- Elder Caleb Gibbons

I'm training today?

This week was full of funny experiences here and there. The first one
was we were able to teach one of our potential investigators we've
been trying to get in touch with. And we didn't have any more Book of
Mormons... So we were stressing out for a while and he said oh that's
okay I'll just order one.. Well if you know the church system, when
somebody orders a Book of Mormon they order a pair of missionaries as
well. Haha so the next day we get a referral and it was him! It was a
funny thing that happened. But we were able to take a Book of Mormon
back to him and share more about it.

The next day we had a district meeting that both Elder Nielsen and I
forgot about. So we bust into Charlottesville at the last minute and
barely made it. The best part about that was that I was supposed to
give a training? So I questioned that logic for a while but I did end
up training. It was the weirdest, shortest, most under spoken training
I've ever given. I had literally no time to prepare hahahaha.

The last part of the week were slammed full of service. For Thursday
to Saturday we barely got into pross clothes. But it was good back
breaking work! The first service was with Eddie Creasy, and we go to
his house and help him with his horses. They are the most beautiful
horses you'll ever see. But he has back problems so we help him with
the more stressing work. After that we went to an investigators house
to do more service. We helped him clean out rocks from his flag pole.
He was super grateful and took us out for some bbq! So it was worth
it!

On Friday we exchanged with the district leader and I worked in the
Spanish area. I always enjoy going to that area because it gives me a
totally different perspective on missionary work. I can hardly
understand what is being said but the message is still the same. We
taught a couple people and went tracting for the rest of the time. One
thing I do like about being an English missionary is that I can do
door approaches better than Spanish elders. Haha just kidding, but I
have been getting better at door approaches. Ummm then we went to play
soccer with some of their investigators and that was a blast! Super
fun.

So then we exchanged back on Saturday. Saturday morning we helped an
investigator move into the area. Haha without having us 4 missionaries
and Brother Allred there, they would've been unloading that truck for
hours.. It took us 30 minutes! So that was pretty cool and we got a
new investigator!

We had stake conference as well this week. It was a neat experience to
have a general authority there to talk and give discussions. Can't
remember his name but he gave some really neat talks.

Anyway! Love all of y'all and hope that it isn't too weird having
another kid gone.

- Elder Caleb Gibbons

Pics

- Elder Caleb Gibbons

Chicken tacos and chicken adobo

Hey family. This week was pretty sporadic. We started the week off
with saying goodbye to Elder Galloway. This week was transfers so I
did get a new companion. His name is Elder Nielsen. He's a good guy
and is new to the rural area of Rivanna. Hopefully he likes it. We
taught an awesome lesson this week with a potential investigator named
Rich. He was a super cool dude and loves the missionaries. Later in
the week we went to a luau with the ward and it was super fun. I
honestly don't have much to talk about this week? But I had a good
week transitioning to a new elder.

Read Matthew 5:44-45. Coolest thing ever.

Anyway let me know what's new!

Love ya

- Elder Caleb Gibbons