:)

hey family!! including ryan now! president said i could add him to the list :) sweet, that means you're officially part of the family now, ryan. welcome :) so thanks for all your wonderful emails! it's kind of cool to get emails from ukraine! it just seems like such a wonderful time for our family doesn't it? i get to preach the gospel 24/7 in beautiful washington, dad's having amazing experiences in ukraine, annie's practically the whole work force at mantyla & mcreynolds (is that what it's called? i totally could have made that up), josh is getting standing ovations at concerto night, abby and ryan are planning a wedding, jenny and jonathan are in their own place with great jobs and new hobbies and a sweet little boy, and mama's keeping track of everyone including grandma and all the yw in the stake. i just feel like the Lord is blessing us so much right now. it's kind of random, but i'm just like tearing up in the library thinking about our blessings. we have the gospel! it reminds me of alma 26 when ammon says "i cannot say the smallest part which i feel" or something to that effect. anyway, i love you all so much! thank you for supporting me here and keeping me in your prayers. i'm having such a joyful, growing season of my life and i'm happy that you all are too.

well our week has been great! there's always so many experiences to share and i just don't have the time it seems. hehe. There just seems to be less and less time to do things...i'm still writing in my journal every day but sometimes they're really short entries and it's sad because i want to preserve all these memories!! so here are the updates:

**T is still doing awesome! we moved his date to March 20 so he has more time to talk with his dad about it. we technically don't need his permission, but of course we would love him to be supportive. T was so cute about it when he asked if we could change it: "don't worry!! NOTHING has changed! i still want to be baptized" hehe. he's a joy to teach. we taught tithing yesterday and he just has so much faith to accept whatever the Lord asks.

**D is getting so close! (I know I've said that a million times before but it's true). we had stake conference yesterday with an area authority, and they had a special meeting for new/returning members and investigators. ah it was awesome! elder brinkerhoff just had a bunch of the recent converts stand and tell their stories. it was great to have D and T both there.

(random aside...there are two older men sitting at a table to my left playing chess together and it made me think of the good old days. you know what i mean. love it)

we had a great lesson with a former investigator this week too and it seems he just got lost in the bustle of missionary work. he seems so golden and we are hoping to commit him to baptism this week!

it seems when i think back on the week to give you the update i can only ever think to tell you about the people we're teaching while i'm sure there's other fun stories to share. did i tell you about my embarrassing moment in the underground parking at the airport? i hit a curb when the assistants were driving right behind me. it wan't bad at all...just a higher curb than normal so the underside of the car got scraped a little. but of course the assistants won't let me live it down. haha good times. i'm normally a good driver i promise.

we also had a wonderful meeting on tuesday. president and the assistants instruct all the new missionaries and trainers. it was wonderful! the spirit was powerful. i had specific promptings on things i can improve to be a better companion and missionary. we also had a powerful testimony meeting together.

i've had a couple really intense doors recently with people trying to challenge my beliefs to the very core. they pretend to be kind by hinting that we have good intentions but have been brainwashed and follow blindly. they turned out to be cool experiences though because as prompted by the spirit, i was able to cut them off and boldly tell them that i am not following anyone blindly, but that i KNOW for myself that what i teach is true. i know joseph smith was not a phony, but a prophet called of God to restore the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. This church is the Lord's kingdom on the earth. Baptism and temple ordinances performed by proper priesthood authority (found only in our church) are ESSENTIAL to gaining eternal life. you know how i can be pretty stubborn, well i do not like it when people try to tell me that i've been misled or that i don't know what i'm talking about. whenever i have had a question posed to me that i didn't KNOW for myself by specific witness of the Holy Ghost, i have studied it out and taken it to the Lord in prayer. I have received personal confirmation each time. I know that this is the Lord's work. When i humble myself and realize i can't do it all by my own knowledge or talents, the Lord uses me as His instrument to teach his children.

i love you all so much! words can't really express it, but i love you so much. keep on keepin' on :)

sister gibbons

ps - i have a feeling my emails are quite random...i hope that's ok :)

ah i love this new email!

oh family...i've been living in the dark ages with myldsmail.net and now that it has upgraded, it's AMAZING! now i don't have to delete any emails cuz there's tons of storage space and you can send me all the pics you want! i almost feel too worldly now :) haha love it

popsy!! you're in ukraine and you almost died in transit! i'm glad you're there safe and sound. have good rest tonight. be careful! it's so weird because i'm always apart from you, but i feel REALLY apart from you so i miss you and hope you have a wonderful time! keep me updated on all the to-doin's and goings on. don't take pics of sacred objects in the subway like last time :) you're such a brilliant writer i love your blog entries that mom sent. remember you're my best buddy forever even in ukraine.

jukie! thanks so much for the newsy emails...i always feel in the loop :) thanks especially for keeping the tabs on josh for me since i never hear from him (hint hint...haha dooty i want to hear about the girl drama! tell me how your song went. i apologize on behalf of our gender and the drama we create. keep on keepin' on. you're a champ....GOOD LUCK ON FRIDAY!! i loved getting an announcement! you look so shnazzy. my little dude's all grown up. if you can mom, send me short clips of his performance so it'll let me open them. you're gonna be amazing dude). sounds like life is super busy as usual with fam, grandma, trek, etc. do what you can and can the rest (as elder shumway my district leader likes to say...it's my new favorite phrase). oh i also got a phrase for you mama: when life gives you scraps, make quilts! that was on sister morriss's apron yesterday and i thought of you. love you!!

annie...mom mentioned you wrote but i didn't get one from you this week, so i hope it didn't get lost somewhere. how's the new job?? i'm glad jury duty got postponed. i love you so much!! i think of you often and now wishing i'd talked with you more about your mission. i didn't really get it before i experienced it. we'll have some good chats when i get home :) love you a million x 75

jenny...your hair cut is cute, your little boy is cuter and your photography is getting so good!! you're such a great example to me...when i grow up i want to be the kind of mommy that you are. thanks for the blog pastes. i love it. jonathan! thanks for saying hey!! you're a champ with the grave shifts and all...good luck figuring out life. you'll be good at whatever you decide. it'll all work out and be amazing :) love you bosters

abby and ryan...yay for a photographer! you're going to send me lots of pics right?? and PLEASE send me an announcement :) sister hughes' little sister is getting married on saturday and she's 4'9"! CRAZY huh? one of her engagement pics, she standing on a chair kissing her fiance haha. good times. you surviving school? can you focus?? love you both!!

dooty...see mama's paragraph...i ended up lumping you in there :)

well it's been a great week!! sister hughes is awesome. everyone comments about our height, i love it. i feel right at home because she about the same size as abby and annie i think. maybe a tad taller. she's a natural at teaching! tracting's not her fave, but i'm breaking her in :) she's really easy going. it's been cool because it's made me reflect on my first few weeks as a missionary. i really did love it from the beginning, but looking back makes me realize how much i've changed! it's crazy! i've learned so much and come to LOVE this work and these people so much. have you heard that intense talk by elder holland that he gave in the MTC? he said so passionately "my mission means EVERYTHING to me" and i wondered if i would ever feel that way...cuz at the beginning you look ahead 18 months and kind of think "wow that's a LONG time...i'm trapped here" haha but now it has just zoomed by and i don't want to leave. my mission truly does mean everything to me. anyway random ramblings, but i've reflected about that this week.

kind of a bleh week because literally 5 of our investigators moved away. we sent in referrals so missionaries can pick them up on the other end, but that means we need to find more people to teach!! we're getting to teach lots of recent converts and less actives, so it's good. they're all progressing and we're improving our teaching! T is still solid and on date! he is SO great. his mom told him she'd support him and who knows, she may be interested later. he's a joy to teach and i'm learning a lot about baseball haha. he turned 18 this week and we called and i sang happy birthday in kiribati like sister eria taught me haha. good times. well that's about it, i'm going to send another email with a bunch of pics. LOVE YOU ALL!!

sister gibbons

lizzie and her new companion

Just got some pictures of Liz and her new companion, Sister Hughes, and thought I would share!!

hey family!

i don’t have much time today since it's been busy busy! i just picked up sister hughes from the mission home and she is awesome! she's 4'10" :) how fun is that? she's from st george, the oldest in her family of 3 kids, and super excited to be here. she seems really laid back and easy going. i think we're going to get along wonderfully :) it was hard to drop off sister eria at the airport...i love her dearly. sister burch is whitewashing in a new area with one of the spanish sisters (they'll teach in both languages) which will be a huge growing experience for her!

[T] is doing great, still on track for the 13th! [V] is off date...long story but i think we can get him back later. [D] is softening! i know you've heard it before but i think i will get to see him baptized. pray for him :) [J] and his family cancelled 4 lessons in a row (so frustrating) but came to church!! so we'll see what happens.

i'm doing wonderful! very happy to be a missionary. love you all dearly. take care of each other while popsy's gone. josh i want to hear all about the prom invite! and i'm way excited to hear about concerto night, wedding plans, annie's jury duty and promotion, and jenny's flourishing career as a photographer :) mom, that's so fun about katherine knowing carol bush! ah i love sister bush. i gave her our home phone number so she can come see you when she's in utah. you'll adore her. thanks for all the sweet emails and updates!! i'll give you more details and pics next week. love you all!

sister gibbons

happy valentine's day!

hello everyone! happy valentine's day!! thank you so much for the fun package! oh my goodness mom, the sugar cookies were incredible. they were the best i've ever had. still so soft. mmmm we loved them. and cute pj's! you guys are the best :) s. burch and s. eria love their cd's, so thank you so much!

this is sister eria's last week with us :( i'm so sad! i've come to love her so much. the three of us sang "god be with you til we meet again" in her language in sacrament meeting on sunday! so special! so fun. it's crazy with transfers coming up. i don't know what will happen, but sister burch has been here since i left last july so i wonder if she will leave. we will see!

well the exciting stuff here is we have 2 on date to be baptized! [T] (the one who's josh's age) is on date for March 13! he’s SO awesome. so solid. what a CHAMP. so fun to teach. and the other was a big surprise out of nowhere! [V] is 24. we knocked on his door on friday, taught him on saturday and invited him to be baptized and he said yes! he didn't come to church on sunday so i was worried that he wasn't really serious, but we just had a lesson with him this morning and he's awesome! he smokes, but we told him we will help him quit and he's excited. what a fun time to be in maple valley. also we found a family of 5! we took them on a church tour last week (except the wife)...[J] is AMAZING. such a kind, sincere man... a wonderful father that wants the best for his kids. when we invited him to be baptized, he said "i want to say yes, but i want my wife to talk with you first" we have a lesson on wednesday with a member family coming with us, and then a lesson on saturday at a different family's house. i have a good feeling about them. and it's a FAMILY!! ah i'm just so happy and loving the work.

one more cool experience... we were just teaching [T], the [D]'s neighbor (he's AWESOME too...his wife is pretty anti, so he can't really progress and it's hard) and he points at me and says "Do you remember what you said in your prayer last week??" (he's really bold and upfront about everything so i had no idea what he was going for) "uhh, not exactly" "you prayed i would find a job" (he's been unemployed since october). "so that was on tuesday. on wednesday, i got a call for an interview! my FIRST interview since i was laid off. i've applied for 62 jobs, and that was my first call for an interview. on sunday, i told my preacher that i got a call for an interview. he said he'd been praying for me...and i said, 'not as hard as the mormons!!' hahaha isn't that hilarious? i hope he gets the job! he really is the coolest guy. i hope his wife's heart is softened. he's really looking for truth.

well i gotta log off. love you all!!

sister gibbons

hey family!

i think i've had like the 24 hr stomach flu...i haven't been able to eat anything since saturday night! but yeah, i feel totally fine now, i just can't keep food down. so when i don't eat i'm fine. hopefully i'll be able to eat later today...it's gotten better. awesome i'm sure you all wanted to hear about that. btw, don't worry mom i really am fine! i was supposed to teach gospel principles sunday school yesterday but bro gustin sent me home because i looked green. then he brought me saltine crackers last night...so nice. s. eria and s. burch were good taker-care-ofs and i think they bonded while i slept. they haven't always been best friends so maybe it was all the Lord's plan to get them to bond. who knows!!

but yeah, it's been an awesome week! lots of little cool experiences! first the funny one:

**ok i think this may be a "you had to be there" thing, but seriously so funny! we were doing a member lesson with the [A]’s (cutest family!) on monday. they have 6 kids and their 6 year old was drawing us pictures. s. burch and s. eria got theirs first: hearts, etc with their names on them. finally it was my turn! anne marie was drawing furiously...then she kept coming over and staring at my name tag, then going back to her paper. she did this like 3 or 4 times. finally she presents me with my paper: "thank you for being new....greomones" hahaha i think it was supposed to be "gibbons" oh man we all laughed really hard and decided it was my hispanic alter ego. so now i have a 2nd personality: hermana greomones! ah good times. i pull out hermana greomones between doors while tracting to keep us all entertained.

so now the serious experiences. so i made a goal this week to talk to EVERYONE about the gospel. i usually talk to everyone, but if it was an awkward situation i'd chicken out after just like "hi, how are you?" etc. so i decided to change that! we've had some cool experiences come from these moments.

*so the other day we were tracting and something was hilarious (everything is funny recently) and s. eria thought she was going to "pee her skirt" (in her words) so we rushed to a different part of the neighborhood to use a member's restroom. after we left their house we were walking back to our tracting spot and sister eria was walking backwards reenacting a funny experience and we were all laughing really hard when we saw a man on his porch. 1st thought: "oh how awkward, we were just being really weird and he probably thinks we're crazy so maybe we shouldn't tell him we're missionaries" but then i remembered my goal! so i said hi and told him who we were and asked if he'd heard of our church. so anyway, long story short, it turned into this like 30 minute discussion...really cool discussion!! we got to bear our testimonies and you could tell he was really open and sincere. we're probably going to take him on a church tour this week!

*the next day, we got out of the car and i saw this kid in his late teens with earphones in, walking by. people with ear phones are the worst because it's really awkward to try and get their attention without scaring them because they can't hear you. so sometimes i just let them keep walking. but not now! so i flagged him down and started talking with him. turns out he's read the book of mormon and knows it's true! he doesn't totally understand the importance of it, but he really is prepared! we had a great discussion with him too. he wouldn't set up a return appointment, but one of his best friends is in the ward so we're going to talk to that boy about him!

anyway there were a few others, but it was just cool to see how the Lord will truly place people in our path if we're willing to open our mouths, even when it's awkward :) maybe even especially if it's awkward!

one other exciting news, we're starting to teach a member's boyfriend: [T]. he's josh's age and just an awesome kid!! he's already been reading the BofM a lot and even found the BYU channel on TV. he started watching devotionals and calling his girlfriend to say "you have a prophet??" he just eats it all up at church. we're planning on putting him on date for baptism tomorrow!

[D]’s still chugging! it seems like his lessons get better and better and the spirit stronger and stronger. he's bound to crack soon, right?

well that's about it from maple valley!! thanks so much for everything you do for me. i love hearing from you all! hope it's a wonderful week!!!

sister gibbons

sister eria teaching us to hula!

what happy news!

hey guys!! so i can't believe abby's engaged! CRAZY! i'm so so happy though. what a wonderful thing. as soon as sister morriss called me to tell me she had an email for me BEFORE monday, i was like, "oh is my sister engaged??" haha "well do you want me to tell you before you see it?" "it's ok sister morriss, i know that's what it is" "yeah she's engaged!" haha good times. cute cute pics. i need to hear a more detailed account though! sounds like ryan is a champ so i welcome him with open arms! you better keep me well updated on the planning and everything since i'm missing out :) so CONGRATULATIONS!! i was just taking some pics in the library to send abby to somehow convey my excitement. the guy next to me gave me a weird look when i took the creepy one captioned "my little sister's getting married!" haha i'm such a creepo.

i feel like my news is insignificant after that big announcement, but i'll try my best. it's been a good week. my other 2/3rds are feeling much better. i was PRETTY pleasant but not perfectly so. ;) by sunday night i was just worn out!! now i understand a little more what motherhood is all about :) sis eria had a root canal on thursday...her first experience with laughing gas...HILARIOUS. she was giggling up a storm and quoting the testaments. "you are a spector from the gods!" hygienist: "what did she say???" "jacob, don't deny me your gifts!!" hahaha i was dying. "don't mourn me for my friend, death is not the end of life" oh man. what a crack-up.

sad news of the week: [H] and [C]'s mom put a stop on the whole thing. we can't even teach them now. breaks my heart, but there's nothing we can do.

good news of the week: [D] is still chugging along! he committed to PRAY! wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles. he could be baptized at any time so pray for him!! i'm sure it's boring to hear about him because every week it's the same thing "he's coming along!" and that's it. but i really feel like he will be baptized soon.

that's about all i can think of. we had zone conference which is always amazing! i got to go to the front (along with the other jan and feb birthdays) as everyone sang the seattle birthday song for us! hilarious. i'll have to sing it for you when i get home, complete with clapping and hand motions. after almost 10 months i've finally got it down. ah the best times are on the mission. i just love everything about what i'm doing. i'm very very happy. near the beginning of my mission i was almost worried because i thought "oh when it's time to go home, i don't think it'll be that hard, i think it'll be exciting!" and now that i'm watching s. eria and s. bush on their last transfer, i realized i'm going to have a TOUGH time saying goodbye. not that i need to think about that right now of course. well i have 4 minutes before it shuts me down but i'll log back in to send a picture...LOVE YOU ALL!!

sister gibbons

the news

hey fam!! hello from beautiful maple valley, washington. yes mom, it is a gorgeous day with blue skies and sunshine!! ah i love it when the sun shines here. it's not as rare as we like to joke (it really is sunny quite a bit) but it still makes it a very happy day when it's not overcast! we just got back from issaquah to get our car's airbags fixed and it was a GORGEOUS drive. i feel so blessed to serve in such a beautiful area!

well i'm trying to think of what's happened this week. it's been a crazy week healthwise (no worries i'm fine). sis burch has had stomach problems (including throwing up right before a dinner appointment), shoulder pain, foot pain, jaw pain, etc. and sister eria has had a horrible toothache! she has a dentist appointment in a couple hours so that will be good. anyway i'm trying to be a better "taker-care-of"! i'm always wanting everyone to be healthy so we can work really hard but i'm trying to be more understanding haha. one of my personal goals this week was to be "VERY pleasant" (stealing annie's phrase) haha. hard to explain in email, but i'm learning how to be a better companion. we have lots of fun together though! quoting "the testaments" is a favorite pasttime. sis eria's kohor voice is probably one of my favorite things. "jacob, jacob, don't deny me your...GIFTS" haha i feel like we're really dorky. good times. so you probably don't remember the lines with as much clarity as we do, but remember how kohor is telling jacob to carve the stone to represent his achievements? "and the gift of your hand shall grant me immortality!" and near the end the same stone falls on him and kills him...ah the irony. ANYWAY. this one man was really rude to us at the door and sister eria said "i want to grant him immortality!" hahaha she KILLS me. so fun. ok that was super random. sorry. lame story. that's how exciting our lives are though :)

so turns out [H] and [C]'s mom may not let them get baptized (story of my life) so pray for them!!

the highlight of the week was our exchange yesterday, i got to go back to renton!! (sister bush and sister sawyer are there now) it was so so fun to see everyone. i got to teach [D] (they hadn't taught her forever, so i called her and she said to come over that afternoon! she's having a really rough time, but we had an amazing lesson. the spirit was so strong and she will be ok. so sweet though, so she said "sister gibbons, i was thinking about you this morning...i thought, maybe i could find out which ward she's in in maple valley and go to church with her tomorrow...and then you called me like an hour later! little miracles!), [L], and the [B]’s! when the [B]’s heard i was coming, they went and got my favorite pizza for me. isn't that sweet? sisters bush and sawyer were so cute... for my birthday, they gave lots of people in the ward little paper hearts to write me a note on, and then gave me all of them with a card that said "you've stayed in our hearts, renton loves you!" isn't that so sweet? it was really special to me. it was so fun to see the allans too! they were so cute "we don't have to fill up the M&M jar nearly as much since you left." ah they are sweet.

so yeah everything else is the same. we love our new apartment! we're working really hard. we teach more than 20 lessons a week, and elder perry promised us that if we did that our baptisms would double :) we've been going on a lot of splits now that we have 3 of us. we'll just get a 4th sister from one of the wards and go out 2x2 to teach twice as much! ooh i'm also cooking a lot more than i used to. i got SO sick of cereal so i make waffles almost every day hehe. also i made stew one day and porkchops and rice another! it's nice to have real food :) mom, any other recipes that would be super easy to stick in the crockpot while we're out and about?

[D] is doing awesome! we're going over there for FHE tonight and HE's giving the lesson! haha i talked him into it :) he's doing his reading assignments now! i had to put sticky notes in every room reminding him (including one on the tv and one on his toy helicopter). good times. [J] is doing great too! he will be baptized as soon as he gets off probation. he has a year left, but there's a court date feb 22 and the judge COULD let him off early. that would be a miracle though. but we've seen lots of miracles so you never know. we had a new investigator this week that seemed REALLY interested. we had high hopes but she cancelled her church tour and we ahven't been able to get hold of her. those are the disappointments ont he mission though...happens ALL the time haha. i do love this area so much...the Lord always provides us with people to teach even though they're the most tracted out areas in the mission.

so turns out the korean sisters aren't coming until may. we're getting 4 american sisters, but we're not sure if they're speaking english or spanish so we will see. with only 4 of us left, it's possible i could train, but we'll have to see what the Lord has in mind. i'm sure gonna miss sister bush and sister eria!

well, that's about it folks :) i love you all!!! keep me updated on your fun lives! thanks for all you do for me!

lizzie

goofy pics from our exchange!