hey everyone! the weeks are zooming by so fast i can hardly believe it! it seems like every week there is some kind of big news from home! popsy, i'm so excited you get to go to ukraine again! you wouldn't believe the huge ukrainian population in this area. they have these big ukrainian churches with thousands of members. in fact, the other day, we discovered a whole neighborhood of ukrainians! they all bought their lots and built their houses together. it's hard with a population like that because they want church in their language and we don't have a ukrainian branch. although if we could just get a few to listen, we'd have enough for one! also (sorry random mission news haha!) our zone leaders baptized a marshallese family and now their teaching all of their friends. 10 committed to baptism on sunday! it's so cool to see the diversity in the church here. i love it. (oh random comment...josh, that's so cool elder B is in your chem class! he's hilarious. he was my zone leader and then an assistant to the president. tell him hi for me! you should ask him about the time i tripped in front of the whole zone conference and he wouldn't stop laughing. good times) (oh ps...dude, so cool that you're going to go on your mission sooner! i think that's AWESOME. i can't wait til you get your call. we should have companion study together over christmas break to get you ready haha!)
well as for our week, it's been awesome!! lots of success. C is still on track. she's down to 2 cigarettes a day (she was smoking 12 a day a little over a week ago!) we're going to have a big party saturday night (with cupcakes) because that's when she's going to be completely off! it's so fun to see her family grow. keep her in your prayers...she works full time (more than 40 hrs), is pregnant, and is a single mom taking care of 4 kids. i don't know how she does it! it's so cool though, she had spiritual experiences, couldn't deny it, wanted that spirit with her always, made up her mind to get baptized, and isn't turning back. i feel like we're just moral support...she always makes up her mind before we even ask!
I also got to do 2 exchanges...the first was with sister G in maple valley! it was so weird to be back. just walking into the apartment brought back so many memories! and driving down maple valley highway brought back 10 1/2 months of memories...essentially my whole mission flashed before me. we were able to have a sweet lesson with the S’s. i walked in the door and burst into tears very unexpectedly! D had come home early from work because he heard i was coming. mama S was sitting in her pj's on the couch, recovering from cancer surgery. i think that's what brought the tears initially. oh how i love these people...the S’s and hundreds of others. i've already planned like 4 roadtrips back to see various temple ordinances, etc. i hope some of you will get to come with me and see this beautiful place. in fact, this morning i was reading in mosiah 18, about the waters of mormon and how beautiful they were in the eyes of those who came to know their Savior there. and i think that's the reason this land is so beautiful to me. ah shoot, now i'm starting to cry in the library and i'm getting some funny looks. in an hour we're heading off to the Seattle Temple for my last time as a missionary! another beautiful place to me. i've decided that in my future home i will have pictures of mt rainier and the seattle temple, to remember what i've learned here. anyway...
i also had an exchange with the puyallup sisters. (speaking of puyallup...have i told you that the puyallup native americans used to own my whole area and now parts of it are a reservation? we have the puyallup tribal housing complex and that's were we found some of the investigators we're teaching now! they are sweet people) anyway, i was in bonney lake with sisters L and F yesterday. it was very sweet to be with sister L again and sister F (japanese) is always a joy . . .
i should start bringing my journal (ps, i haven't missed a day yet! grandpa gibbons would be proud...although i do have to write the next morning sometimes, but at least i have every day recorded) to the library to remember the awesome experiences we have. when i'm here typing i can't always remember. well i'm going to send this off and type my president’s letter. if any ideas come i'll write again in a minute.
i love you all so much!!
sister gibbons
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