Happy Birthday Logan and Brett

7 March 2015

Happy Baptism Birthday Logan,

Thinking of you today and wish we could be there to see you baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We are so so excited for you!!  You will be our eleventh grandchild to be baptized.  Here are your examples:  Riley, Preston, Wyatt, Eve, Brenna, Brady, Anna, Tessa, Gavin, and Bryant .  Our advice to you is to be like the stripling Ammonites – “…true at all times in whatsoever thing [you] are entrusted” (Alma 53:20).  Please send us an email of your special day.  Your birthday cake looked terrific!

Brady, Gavin, Tessa are three of our 10 who have been baptized.  Bree is next year!

And a happy birthday to your birthday buddy as well.  Brett, you are our favorite son –

our Napoli 31-year old.  We love you!!   Que le vaya bonito… (thought you would enjoy noticing I got the agreement down for el dia!)

Our Napoli Son

 Logan, we hope you are keeping up your ‘column a day’ in the scriptures and giving ‘standing quotes’ to your family.  Grandma remembers the last standing quote she heard you give:  “We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healings, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.  (7^th Article of Faith).  You stood tall and straight right up by the fireplace in our family room and gave it without a hitch.  Then she asked you, “Now tell us what that means.”  The look on your eyes was, “What ! I need to know what it means too?!!”  We love your sincere, willing eyes.  Have a great year in all your activities.

Love, Grandma and Grandpa Gibson

And now we are on our mission seeking for that gift and interpretation of tongues.  Paige’s faithfulness and Rock’s example to study daily the Liahona to keep his Spanish accurate is on our minds. 

Vickie and Rock Finlinson are the greatest!

Also, Hermana Stringfellow emails help us as she keeps the mission rules to

             - Estudiar el idioma de la misión todos los días  (study your mission language every day)              -  Ser obediente con exactitud  (obey with exactness)

First lesson with Kris; and Hermana Stringfellow with her Mission President and wife

A special thanks to Kris for her giving me my first lesson on verb conjugations just before we entered the MTC and gave me 501 Spanish Verbs.  Her and Vickie’s encouraging words have strengthened me: Kris:  “Carol, just had to say that you are gonna be amazing with Spanish.  Don’t stress.  It will suddenly click – might take a few months but with your hard work, undoubtedly you will come back fluent….  Sí, lo harás!”

and  appreciate Vickie’s farewell to us:  “Vaya con Diós.  Be sure to send us lots of great reports paisanos….We’ll pray for your open/clear minds to learn all your new duties and especially that the language will come to you Carol.  You can do this Carol.  Love, Vickie”

We trust the Lord will provide a way as we labor, struggle, trust and have faith.

So every day, I am practicing constructing sentences and bettering my pronunciation and vocabulary.  Maybe by the time I’m ready to come home, I will be better….Alma 29:4  “…he granteth unto men according to their desire.”  Alma 61:13  “…we should put our trust (nuestra confianza) in Him and He will deliver us.”

Brett, thanks for Barron’s 1001 Pitfalls in Spanish.  The note with the book said, “My fav book I bought in MTC and carried it around w/me everywhere.  Every chance I got, I read a little bit and tried to solidify the concepts.  I prob read 10x and it was a great help.  Read so much the pages fell out of the binding!  Brett.”  The key to accomplishing anything was evident in that note:  “EVERY CHANCE I GOT, I read a little bit and TRIED to solidify the concepts….  Diligencia todos los dias!!  I’ll keep working on it and look for that day when it “clicks.”

“Let’s get down to business” as they say in the movie Mulan