[This is Joseph's mom - I'm going to wish you "good luck" as you read this one!! Either he was in a hurry, distracted, or his English is getting worse (or all of the above), but this letter is a little disoriented - I didn't edit it at all.]
Hello everyone,
So this is probably me last week with Elder Merkley. He's been so excellent and inspiring - he's taught me SOOO much about charity. But together we've learned a lot about faith. My mom sent me a piece of her studies (which if any of you want to do, do it!) about finding themes in the Book of Mormon. Lately, I've found similar themes, such as, before every blessing proceeds trials; and if there's a trial, you better be prepared for something great. Jesus talks about discerning the face of the sky (of seeing ahead of what's going to happen) and in the Book of Mormon, for example have you ever read Alma 32? The greatest sermon on faith? Well did you read about Alma's persecutions with the Zoramites before that? Or what happened after? The rest of the Zoramites got mad, mixed with the Lamanites and then started a war that lasted form Alma 35 -to the end. When you were reading in the war chapters last did you ever think that it was because of Alma and Amulek's preaching? Likewise, the blessings and challenges that we face are not coincidental. I love the quote by Elder Maxwell that illustrates this point:
"One's life...cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free...."Therefore, how can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, 'Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!'..."Real faith...is required to endure this necessary but painful development process." Ensign, May 1991
This is true as I read letters from Elder Worthington and Sister Snell in Eastern Europe fighting of drunk flirty men and incoming asteroids that blow up your zone leader's window. I know Elder Reynolds and Sister Brownell probably face similar challenges. With me personally, I've felt forsaken, sad and opposition last night; betrayal when my new convert walked out of sacrament meeting for the third time after we had a great lesson. It rained harder than Elder Merkley ever seen had before on Sunday (which typically means church attendance in down). Our street had about 11 inches of water running through it, but we saddled up our flipflops and went to go pick up our investigator, Sister Kwan (whom we met at English but never thought), who's never been to church before. But Elder Merkley and I prayed really hard, then we and the other Elders went out with our pants hiked up, water up to our shins. But as we were waiting at her house that's on our street, a car pulled up and asked if we wanted a ride to the bus station. It might as well been a white chariot sent from heaven. She came out and we all went there. While waiting at the bus stop another white chariot (or Brother O's white hatchback) pulled up and took us to church. It was only then that I realized I took of my shoes to put on flip-flops and didn't get my shoes. So I spent the rest of the day running around town in flip-flops trying to find our phone (which I lost in a neighboring city because we took a wrong bus). If this email seems scattered, it's because it is because we're about to go find our phone from the Burmese guy who found it by bringing sister Mild's mom and her little Burmese neighbor...
But this crazy mess has such a pattern as Good and bad things happen right after another. Sister Kwan accepted a baptism date and Nok (our atheist investigator) came to church with his family without us even asking him. Out of time, but I know that the Lord blesses those He loves with problems (Heb 12:6 and Ether 12:27). And He always provides a way to overcome them every time (1 Cor 10:13).
Love you all your prayers have been felt and until next time,
Elder Gibbons
