We Left our Nets

29 September 2014

Dear Family,

We had a terrific week at the MTC!!

Monday, a young elder sang, "Oh, That I Were an Angel."  THAT is my favorite missionary song because of Mom, Julie and Vickie performing it in the mission in Santiago.  It was SO beautiful! Then the MTC President's wife, Sister Nally read Matt 4:20 ..."they straightway left their nets, and followed Him." She said, "Don't worry about your home or your families.  They will be taken care of.  I can just stand here and promise you that.  Just reach out.  You are missionaries.  You put on your badge today.  It is your privilege and responsibility to represent Jesus Christ."  

And yesterday after being picked up by the Bishops and attending the Sacrament Meeting program with Tessa, Bree and Drew singing and speaking so amazingly well, we knew we were blessed.  All of you are terrific kids and we love you.  We also received the "Pictures in a Box" book made by Patty and Vance.  We love it!! So very perfect!!!  Thanks.  And by the way, Vance - have a great birthday on the 4th!  Thanks for you being a great Dad and Husband!!  Dear Sadie, we will reach Santiago, Chile, the morning of your birthday.  Have a great one!!  Way to go learning espanol!!  Your Mom was a great help to me in my understanding of verb conjugations.

Because the MTC has so many young elders and sisters, all Senior Missionary training was held at the Stadium Avenue Chapel.  Every morning they had to re-set up all their tables, chairs and computers, so the chapel could function as a ward building at night.  The chapel is at the top of the picture with 2M (Jacob Hamblin) just below the chapel which is where we sleep.  1M is the big building where we eat with all the young elders and sisters and our devotionals on Tuesday and Sunday are held at the big building 19M (Lorenzo Snow Bldg) at the bottom.

We had a great district of 4 couples and wonderful young trainers:  AM Sis Brown and Bro Hawkes and PM was Bros Gubler and Taylor.  Brother Taylor left on Thursday night to drive to California to get engaged.  He is on the right.

The best part of Tuesday was the Devotional.  Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke.  We found Hermana Stringfellow and her companion singing in the choir.  They sang the most beautiful version of "Oh, How Lovely Was the Morning" according to Elder Ballard!  It WAS beautiful and it was so great to see Kimmie having a great experience.  Can you find her in the picture below?

We've had Gospel Library App training, Word and Excel Training as well as Preach My Gospel.  The spirit is here and we are so happy to be serving our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Love you all so much,
Elder and Hermana Gibson

Gentle Reminders

We enjoyed a visit from Mom and Dad this week. 

It was so fun to have them here. Happy Birthday Chrissie and thank you for bringing them part way. 

I promised Mom that I would share these links to quotes that I had posted in our hallway. 

You girls may have already come across these, but they are good reminders to me and might speak to you too.

http://www.thisisnick.com/2012/04/typography-fun-lds-general-conference.html

http://www.threelittlemonkeysstudio.com/?s=laundry

Helpful

Some "helpful" memories

Moms are always serving

It has been my privilege to serve the Heflin family for a time (with Dad & Vince of course).  But I noticed that it was mostly the Mom (me as a sub for Chris) that washed the clothes, fixed the dinner and reminded...  And it occurred to me that you girls are all spending your days serving - it is "your time to serve".  I would like to invite you to contribute to this blog with parenting ideas that are now meaningful to you.  Angie, after listening to a speaker at her RS meeting, came home inspired "to be a coach - not a ref."  And you girls all know that you grew up in a home probably with the parenting style of a "ref" many times.  What does a ref do - find faults and point them out and what does a coach do - he teaches you.  We tried to do our best and we tried "to not slam the door" too much - but to love and teach BUT...

Please use this blog to share with your sisters in your most important time right now.  I was "teaching" Preston, Wyatt, Brenna and Bryant to always be respectful, responsible, helpful and happy.  It was neat to me that the traits began with an "R" or an "H" and we were working on it so that by the time Riley and Chris came home, the quality would be mastered.

I invite you to share a sentence - a picture - a quote or a thought.  Sure love you all. 

Family

Our children love each other enough to get together in May and June.  We are especially thinking of you all as the birth of the Bishop baby is near.   The three baby goslings in our complex were hatched in May and the father has been protecting and the mother nurturing.  They even had a family reunion a few weeks later....

 Here are those babies in July....

Elder Gibson's Birthday

The end of May we participated in a 5 hour 20 minute Fast and Testimony Meeting in Sumter, South Carolina, with 3 zones.

 President and Sister McConkie kept an amazing pace around the mission finishing Zone Conferences, Firesides and other assignments.  At their last Zone Conference which was held in Columbia, they were presented with appreciations including a quilt made by the sisters in the Mission Office with quilt blocks made by missionary couple sisters in the mission.

Sister McConkie has a mission tradition of "cutting the ties" as each elder leaves the mission.  Current

missionaries donated their ties en mass at the last Zone Conferences of the McConkie reign.   

Returning home, we celebrated Elder Gibson's birthday.

The "cake" was cherry vanilla ice cream with a cookie sent by Patty.  Dad still added milk!!!

His birthday and Father's Day were great days having heard from family and feeling loved. 

Miracles

We are so grateful for the opportunity to share the message of the restored gospel.  The single sailors are coming in groups of twelve now and they are bringing friends.  One will baptized on the 14th and he is a wonderful young man.  There are people prepared and He is putting them in our path.  In asking permission to take a picture of a blossom on his tree, Larry was happy for us to do so and presented Sister Gibson with a beautiful magnolia blossom.  They have a subtle scent and are so amazing to see.