Elder Joseph Gibbons Mission: 11/10/13

Hello everyone!

This week has been one of those that feels like a month because SOOO much was packed up in it. We got to visit some monuments and temples on Monday, and a good district meeting on Desperation on Tuesday. I called Elder Davies [a friend of his from High School who entered the MTC on the same day] - who I don't know if you know or not that he is one of our assistants with Elder Creer, my first companion in the MTC - and he gave me permission to show a sick-awesome movie that's almost as inspirational as Mike Schlappi called "How bad do you want it?" about an ancient Greek philosopher re-told by one of my brothas in da hood, man. Here's the link if you're interested: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV0Ia-9zewg>.

Elder Worthington was our guest speaker as [I] had us all read his letter about doing what it takes to be desperately reliant on the Lord. English class was booming that night as well.

Wednesday we got rejected pretty hard from a member's referral but taught some of our peeps and homeys on the phone which made up of it. Tuk and Nuch are two younger ladies (I mean like 25-30 year olds) we're teaching and they are hilarious. I feel really weird turning my attention to seek out and invite pretty girls to learn, but we're really trying to boost up our YSA [Young Single Adult] population so that Borther Nong, who's like one of the coolest members here, can find a nice young lady. It's working as we're also trying to find nice stable young men for our other single sisters.

Thursday we took the 40-45 kilometer trip out of our Province of Ayutthaya to Ang Thong and saw our other dater, Sister Nube, who's a 60 year old woman who fights with her husband who used to be Buddhist then Christian and then Buddhist again... So we're glad to help them out. But who REALLY helps us our is Brother Jam-nong. He's this crazy short man with a few teeth missing who is one of the strongest members I've met in my life. Also one of the funniest. He gets to church on a three-wheeled cart that's hard to describe. There are two wheels in front that hang under a flat bed. He then sits on a long motorcycle seat in the back; he steers by grabbing the long bar in the back of the flat bed which gives the image of what would happen if you smashed together a horse and buggy and a pod racer [from "Star Wars"].

Friday we weekly planned after I got off the phone with Elder Wilamas, who helped me a lot. I'm glad he's so close in Lopburi.

We're also teaching Mote and Poon still, but on Sunday I wasn't compassionate enough with Sister Mote and her husband, who is a great LDS man from England, gave me a talkin' to. I needed it, but it still shook me a bit, but we're just going to kind of let her come to US now instead of making appointments.

Sister Bah is doing great except her mom wouldn't let her go to church for the full 3 hours. She's a great lady but she needs a lot of TLC (tender loving care)... Please pray that faith in Christ with fill her soul so that little Bah will be able to be baptized next week. Excited for that, but needs FAITH - next District Meeting's topic for sure.

I encourage you all to pray to have your faith increased too as we are coming into the last days sooner than expected. I heard that a huge typhoon hit the Philippines. Is Elder Zach Johnson OK over there?? And Elder Nick Alvarez? Storms prowling over the seas is but a small part of the things we are to face in the near, I dare say, very near future. The scriptures don't say "if" but "when." Helaman councils his sons to "remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall" (Helaman 5:12, a favorite verse of my mother's). In my studies of the Doctrine and Covanants, I learn that prayer builds that faith to withstand the trials that await us. The Lord counseled Joseph Smith to "Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work....Behold, they have sought to destroy you; yea, even the man in whom you have trusted has sought to destroy you" (D&C 10:5-6).

But when we put our trust in the God that gave us life, then do the "hope for a better world" (Ether 12:4) flood into our lives and into our souls. May we all pray always and not faint under the pressures of this world is my prayer this week, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

P.S. From another quick email he sent me... HIS 100DAY CHALLENGE:

Mom,

I sent this to max, but I thinks I would like you to add it to the blog as a celebration for the last 100 days of My Best Two Years. I especially want McCrae and Mitch and Anna and Gramin to do this challenge with the family. Of course, I'd LOVE for you to do this with me as it will be the last activity we could do together on my mission.

Today, I have 100 days left. CRAZY!!! It's also Sister Madsen's birthday (she was of my best my "district leaders" in Kalasin), and my Dad's 34th anniversary of getting shot. A lot has happened today. But I'm going to go out with a last sha-bang - with my list of 500 things I'm grateful for. My mission President's wife was talking to one of her sons on Skype once for Christmas here and he was sad or complaining about something. Then he asked if they wanted any Christmas presents. She thought and then responded: "I want a list of 500 things you're grateful for." Surprised, he agreed. The next time they talked he had nothing but great things to say as he showed her the list in its completion. I challenge you to do it as well. If you start TODAY you'll have to get 5 a day, which is actually pretty hard for me, as ungrateful as I am. But I think it'll be something fun and worthwhile.