first p-day, first email

We just received Liz's first email! She is loving the MTC! I hope you enjoy reading these excerpts (actually most of her email--it was all so good I couldn't leave anything out!):

"it's my first p-day and it's glorious to get a day to kind of wind down and get things done! but i am LOVING it here! it's very busy and i get kind of tired by the end of the day, but i've had no trouble getting up in the mornings! for those of you who have never been to the MTC, here's a run down. our district is made up of 8 of us (i think i told you a little bit about them) . . . 4 elders and 4 sisters. all 4 elders will be going to seattle with me so that will be fun! the district is pretty much my family here. we are together most of the day, usually in class with one of our 2 teachers: bro lovejoy and sis higginson. they are both awesome! i'm learning a ton here. a lot about the gospel and the scriptures, but mostly how missionary work is all about forgetting yourself to serve the Lord. it's ALL about learning to get the Spirit, understand how it speaks to you, and follow it. I've realized that no matter what our backgrounds are, all of us missionaries are trying to learn to depend on the Spirit. It's been pretty humbling, and i have a long way to go, but i'm enjoying every minute of it!

"so yeah, other than class, we have personal and companion study time (companion study with sis ireland is pretty much amazing. we love it), MDT (missionary directed time where we practice teaching, go to workshops, and study), meals (oh so AWESOME: there are these caesar wraps in the cougar eat that i love, and they have a wrap bar here so that's what i get every day for lunch. yesterday one of the servers said, oh you're the caesar girl!), get ready for the day (i'm now the master of having 1/2 hr to get ready and actually looking cute at the end of it hehe), have gym time (i pretty much just play 4 square with this group of elders every day, it's probably my favorite sport. the elders went easy on me at first, then they discovered i could whoop them haha), and devotionals (every tuesday is a general authority . . . pretty sweet).

"So exciting things that have happened, Sheri Dew was our Relief Society speaker on Sunday!! in person! we sisters get the royal treatment here. she talked about how we can affect people in the mission field without even teaching them. just through our purity, they will know we are different from women of the world. we also got to watch the joseph smith: prophet of the restoration movie on sunday night! loved it once again!

"I am the coordinating sister for our branch, so i get to go to branch council meeting and represent the sisters. our branch presidency is awesome and it's fun to get to hug their wives. we don't get to hug many people seeing as how we are the minority. it's fun to be here though and see all these fabulous elders. they are all going to be fabulous missionaries. i love being able to see the training ground that has produced all the wonderful men i know in the church. . . . it's definitely hard work, but it's the most important work there is! i didn't expect to be so caught in the bubble. it almost seems like i didn't have a life before this."

first letter home . . .

We were so excited to get Liz's first letter home today!! She sounds so happy . . . I thought we should share some highlights with you:

"Well I said goodbye to you all about 6 hrs ago, and I am just having the best time! I am very happy and excited! Turns out being one of the 1st missionaries to say goodbye and exit the orientation room has its perks . . . I didn’t have to wait at all to get all my packets, etc & had tons of time to unpack! Everyone is SUPER friendly. I’ve never been greeted in so many different languages! An elder even invited me to be baptized in Spanish to practice (I said yes of course :)). I was so grateful to run into 2 sisters just as I went back for my luggage. They got one of my suitcases and showed me where the ELEVATOR was! Anyway, tender mercies . . . the luggage was NO problem . . . so far . . . hehe. So my companion, AWESOME. Sister Ireland. 28. Only member in her family. From Canada. She was baptized 3 years ago today! She is a sweetheart . . . a kindred spirit I might say :). We’ve already had two, no maybe three “tender moments.” She is a hard worker and a MORNING person she says. I told her she’ll have to make me get up and she was excited. Her goal for our 1st couple of days is to stop losing everything . . . name badge, key, etc. My goals are to remember not to wander off (I’m getting used to the companion thing. When I forget, Sister Ireland chases me and we laugh) and call everyone elders & sisters instead of “guys” hehe."

"Well we just got locked out of our room and had to trek over to the front desk in our pajamas. Won’t do that again! So random story, earlier today we went to a big meeting with all the new missionaries and when we got there, there was an usher in the aisle. All the elders were sitting in the middle and all the sisters were on the side section. I asked if we had to sit on the side, and he said no, that’s just where the sisters sat. So, Sis Ireland and I mixed it up and sat amidst the elders (other sisters after us joined so we weren’t the only ones though!)."

Can't you just see Liz sitting down "amidst the elders" and mixing things up! Haha!

"missionaries to the right, families to the left"

It's official! Liz is a missionary, name tag and all! The whole family took Liz to the MTC at noon today in the middle of a spring snowstorm! We took some pictures and then went into the chapel for the orientation meeting. Little James was not too happy to be in the meeting and kept saying "Go, go go!" When it came time for that "missionaries to the right, families to the left" moment, we realized that we were right by the missionary exit, so Liz was the first missionary through the door. It was hard to say goodbye and we all shed some tears, but we know that Liz will be such an awesome missionary! We are so excited to get her emails and hear about all the good things she is doing! Her address at the MTC is:

SISTER ELIZABETH GIBBONS

MTC Mailbox#171

WA-SEA 0505

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo, UT 84604-1793

She will be at the MTC until May 5. I know she would love to hear from you!

well I'm off!!

Well, I get set apart as a missionary in about 3 hours! CRAZY! I'm so excited :) Now I just need to pack . . .

We had such a wonderful day on Sunday! So many people showed up to hear me speak, and I'm so glad I got to tell them all goodbye. I'm so grateful for my wonderful family (immediate and extended). I'm going to miss you all!!! Also I'm so thankful for all the wonderful friends I've made throughout my life. I hope I can find you all when I come home :)

My mom's going to keep this updated with what I'm up to, so feel free to check back! I'm off!!

*SEVEN days to go!*

well the countdown is coming to an end! i can almost count on one hand :) i moved back to my parents' house today to spend my last week with the fam! i'm really excited to be with them! i'll be honest, it was kind of weird to leave provo . . . 4 years of memories! secret confession: i shed a few tears! good thing i'm coming back so it's not SO bad. it is a little sad realizing how many of my friends will be graduated and moved off to timbuktoo. plus i just have a hard time with goodbyes and big change anyway. my mom and i realized that this was my TENTH time moving since i came to BYU. haha we're pretty good at it by now. good practice for the mission. anyway i tried to live it up these past few weeks, doing all my favorite things for the "last" time! here's a taste of my partyings -

lab girls night: bowling!

our strike celebrations (yeah we're that good!):

last BYU sports game. . . men's volleyball with jane, kenny, and the gang!

janelle's bridal shower! (sorry it's blurry . . .)

festival of colors at the hare krishna temple in spanish fork!

(i got lots of compliments on my ninja turtle-ness)

last lab party! good times at the bells'

here's a big one: last night country dancing!!
. . . and the black eye that resulted . . . hahaha

last girls night with jane! complete with . . .
MUDDY BUDDIES
and YOU'VE GOT MAIL!
("you are so lucky . . . you could . . be . . . dead")

traditional gibbons kids life-size board games the friday before conference!

that's all the pictures i've got, but i WISH i had pics of my last poker night, my last ice cream run with ky and anne marie, my last hot tub sesh with the guys, and my last days in the lab.

OH MY GOSH! I JUST REMEMBERED I DIDN'T SAY GOODBYE TO THEO (my goldfish) :( maybe we'll have to stop in on the way to the MTC . . . i'm a horrible pet owner.

anyway, SEVEN DAYS :)

2 weeks from TODAY! :)

well folks it's finally here! (well almost) i enter the MTC 2 weeks from today! i'll be serving a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Seattle, WA for the next 18 months! i'm getting REALLY excited and pretty antsy. i'm having a hard time focusing on tying up the loose ends of my thesis project because i'm so ready to get out there! to give you an idea of how long i've been waiting for this, here is a pic of me and my daddy the day i got my mission call (the date on the picture is wrong by the way), and then one a couple months ago around the time i finalized the mission plans for April 15th! he has worked so hard and now is in WAY better shape than i am. i can't even tell you how proud i am of what he has accomplished . . . i can't even find the words. i love him so much and i'm going to miss my datty like crazy :)

so as you can see, a lot has changed since that day i got my mission call!! all good things! i get to head out to seattle with my masters thesis project done, tons of adventures/new friends/memories i would've missed out on if i had left back in august, and feeling SO prepared, ready, and excited. i wouldn't trade this crazy ride for anything. i just think life is so great :) 14 days to go!!

my michelley is married!

My cousin/friend (or shall i say frousin?) michelle got married a little over a week ago! we grew up together: being the bawl babies, wearing matching dresses even though i was in utah and she was in hawaii, gluing/tying ourselves together so she couldn't go back to hawaii and leave me again, going to school together starting in 3rd grade, sharing the "psycho-crazy cousin vibe," meeting up after school in elementary and getting out monopoly jr every time without even speaking first, calling each other every day after school in jr high (even though we'd just been together all day) to tell each other stories from the day (michelle what did we call the stories? it was a fruit wasn't it?), belting out disney songs in my kitchen, spending many weekends just sitting at the piano . . . me playing as she sang, having the same bed spread in college even though we were 3 hours away, and just having a lot of good times with ourselves, family, and friends. now she's all grown up and getting married!! i'm so grateful that everything worked out so that i was not only in utah for her wedding, but endowed and so able to attend her temple ceremony. i think some things are just meant to be :) her new husband taylor seems like a great guy and i think they are both the luckiest people alive. here are some pics from the occasion. I LOVE YOU MICHELLE!

(i didn't have a man to dance with, so i grabbed the cardboard cutout of andrew :) we missionaries have to stick together!)

random thoughts . . .

so you know the N64 game zelda: ocarina of time? well i do. it's the one where you ride the horse and go fishing . . . i think there was a summer way back in the day where i watched my little brother and my dad beat the whole game. i really think i watched the whole time. it was entertaining. anyway. you know the sound when link opened doors in that game? the kind of whoosh noise? anyway. today i was reminded that if you're all alone in my lab and it's really quiet, you can hear that whoosh noise every minute or so. kinda spooky.

i would have liked to post about more exciting things, but my camera has gone missing! i last remember seeing it in the lab, and i THOUGHT it was in my purse, but then it wasn't. maybe it's somewhere at home? i hope i find it soon so i can post about st patrick's day bubble blowing and michelle's wedding!

so on tuesday my cough was a lot better so i thought it was going away! but yesterday it was back and now it's even worse maybe! i hate coughs. i'm congested too. i hate being congested. of course, it could be worse! i could be paralyzed right? so good thing i only have a cold. life is good.

one last thing. so our ward is having an oscar's night this week where we show videos that we all made in FHE, and last night i got to see the almost finished product of my group's video. it is so great!! maybe i'm biased, but i think it's hilarious. it's basically modeled after "the office," complete with the music, interviews, awkward pauses, etc. just about how our FHE group functions. i love it! my fhe bro tyler has edited it and he's just awesome. i'm excited cuz we all get copies and maybe i can post it . . . it will be fun to have too! it will help me remember this fhe group and what a fun time we've had!

so yeah, award for most pointless and boring post ever. hopefully i find my camera soon :)

BOSTON!

so i've discovered that i love traveling and i love big cities! i don't think i'd want to live RIGHT in one for a long period of time, but i think i'd like to live NEAR one, because i just think they're so fun. last week i got to visit BOSTON for the biophysical society conference with my lab! i presented a poster of my thesis project and it went really well! lots of people stopped by and we had some really helpful discussions. it really was so fun to be able to tell people about my research and realized that i really know what i am talking about :) i also got to sit in on a bunch of talks about other people's research and get a taste of some of the exciting stuff being done! some were definitely more exciting than others, but overall i enjoyed it a lot! i actually have very few pics, but once some of the other girls share theirs with me i can post some more exciting ones.

katalyn and i at the airport waiting for the adventure to start!

layover in phoenix with cel and ashley. 4 HOUR layover :)

MY POSTER! (sadly after we laminated it, you couldn't see the skull and crossbones watermark that i used . . . but i knew it was there, and that's all that matters)

me and my team!

me and my poster! hmmm looking slightly contorted. oh well.

katalyn and i looking lovely after the fire alarm went off in the hotel at 2 am. turns out we didn't have to evacuate, but we took a picture anyway.

ashley and i showing off our matching hair. she, katalyn, and i were roommates at the hotel. good times.

matching argyle! cute outfits from our shopping spree at H&M where i got lots of cute mission clothes!


TOP TEN (or maybe more) MEMORIES FROM THE TRIP (in no particular order):

** "oh yeah, used to be a member!" (after I told the skycap at the airport that we were part of the biophysical society. you cannot truly appreciate how awesome this was without my amazing boston accent)

**our steak dinner at Morton's . . . this high class steakhouse with a verbal presentation of the menu, our awesome waiter (levi), the free creme brulee (ashley had a creme brulee every day of the trip i think), and my chocolate cake that OOZED.

**our friend christoff from germany (katalyn was very friendly)

**going to the biophysical society dance and LITERALLY starting the dance party with a good ol' west coast swing (with my buddy rustin), bonding with a lab from columbia and dancing with them for about 2 hrs, and having the time of our lives WITHOUT the free alcoholic beverages :)

**becoming masters of the boston subway. one favorite ride included a sweet street band playing "sweet home alabama" while we waited to transfer to the red line. we danced and threw them money across the train tracks. when we got on the train they said "hey! good dancing!"

**dr. bell becoming a texting fiend on the phone we gave him for christmas

**hughbert (my dad's old laptop) and how he helped me work on my thesis while i was there and how he's holding it hostage now until i go buy an ethernet cable to connect to the internet and email it to myself

**the pillow library at the seaport hotel, and how we tried every pillow they had

**how the hotel said "how can we help you ms. gibbons?" whenever our room called the front desk

**staying up til 3 am watching "titanic" on tv and finding out the next morning that the other girls' room did the same thing!

**the hotel delivering a microwave to one of our hotel rooms

**the intense toilets and how we could hear them flushing and how awesome it was

**how cold it was (ok NOT a favorite)

**the freedom trail! so fun to see the cool historical sites

**the hole in the wall italian restaurant we went to

**room service dessert (especially while we watched high school musical 3 one night with rustin)

**ashley's obsession with asking the consierge

**dr. bell's celebration in the lobby when he thought he'd figured something out about my thesis and how i proved him wrong. guess you had to be there. good times

**the ballet excursion

**presenting my poster!

**one of the girls (who shall remain unnamed) coming out of the bathroom in a towel holding up her arm looking very distressed saying, "guys, i cut my armpit!" and there was a trail of blood trickling down. haha hilarious.

RASCAL FLATTS!!

ok, secret confession. i am addicted to country music concerts. it all started when heidi tuttle invited me to keith urban back in high school. i didn't know a ton of country then, but now country music is just part of my heart and soul :) that AMAZING concert was probably a good reason i started to love it. so far i've seen these favs in concert:

Keith Urban

with heidi, mandy, kenzie, vanessa, dani, and other high school girl friends too . . . i just can't remember who for sure!

Rascal Flatts
with abby, angie, ka, mitch, willie, heidi, kathryn, and dan! freshmen year of college. only downer was we were on practically the back row, but SO fun

Kenny Chesney
with michelle and angie. michelle was cute enough to share her birthday present with me!

Dierks Bentley
opened for kenny

Carrie Underwood
i saw her open for both kenny chesney and brad paisley.

Brad Paisley
last minute excursion with angie and our friend michelle from upstairs in wyview! we got to sit in a box for free!

Diamond Rio
date with my friend jake at the fair! small concert and so fun

Tim McGraw
went with janelle! it was going to be my last concert before the mish, but because i'm still here and leaving in april, i HAD to catch another one! hence . . .

RASCAL FLATTS AGAIN!
2 weeks ago with abby and annie! SO much more fun to see them up closer. ah it was so fun! here are some pics!
waiting for them to come out!!

rascal flatts!

Here they are singing "my wish" (we videoed it for you mom! love you!)

(note to self: don't ever sing at a concert while videoing because you're louder than the actual performers)


hmmm i was going to upload another video, but it's just taking too long . . . BORING. maybe another day. anyway i love that i got to go to my last country concert for 18 months with abby and annie! GOOD TIMES! ah yay for life and yay for being a secret cowgirl :)