Week 26

Hey, I don't have a lot of time - this morning has been crazy with Elder Osborne's being sick and I gotta run to a rehearsal in รังสิต...Been a CRAZY [week] and I feel like "I cannot write but an hundredth part" of the things that have taken place. But what I have written in my president's letter sufficeth me:

Dear President,
This week has been pretty hard, I'm not going to lie. We had more investigators cancel, not come to church or keep commitments, or just drop themselves from our teaching pool than ever before. Our electricity shut off on us, and we had to run to another Elder's  house - that turned out to not have water. Yesterday evening Elder Osborne came down with a fever and we just barely left our house to shot a quick email then go back. I've never seen such a retard in the work since Songkrang. Last night during our dinner, Elder Oakeson slammed down his ice cream-covered spoon:
"Ok," he said.
"WHO has been praying for 'patience' this week?"
I couldn't hold it too long until I threw back my head and just started to laugh. I threw him my planner; the attribute I have been working on for the transfer written on the cover. It read: 'ความอดทน' [I'm guessing this word spells "patience"]
"Oh my gosh!" he exclaimed.
Oh! it's been an interesting week.

I have definitely been working on that heavenly virtue of patience lately. But like Nephi, "I know in whom I have trusted." It was really hard on Sunday. I was absolutely LIVID at Elder Osborne. Sometimes we're just different and I find it hard to get along with him from time to time. I tried to study, but instead, I stumbled upon Elder Christoffersen's talk about "Who the Lord Loveth, He Chasteneth." In that talk, I felt as if the Spirit was addressing me personally in the warm, loving tone of a parent and helping me understand that I didn't understand everything yet, nor would I be alone to figure it out all by myself. After reading half of that personalized sermon, I dropped on my knees and just prayed my guts out to change into the companion I would want for myself. I asked for forgiveness, blessings, and understanding. Eventually, I felt the peace of Christ "which passeth all understanding" start to lift the burden of hate and despair from my breast. I had fully experienced a small portion of the Atonement of Christ working within me which physically changed my state of being. I really was lost in hate and darkness with no hope of escape. But because "the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people," I was able to escape. I now have this experience as proof that God loves His children and is watching out for them, and I have a new vision of who I want to become for the rest of my life. And I know through Christ, I can accomplish the near-impossible goal to put off my natural man by becoming a saint one prayer at a time.

Thanks for letting me share this experience with you, President. I'm hangin' in there, Elder Osborne has medicine and is doing better, and I'm excited to see you again this week!

With love,
Elder Gibbons

I love you all, I feel your prayers, I'm so happy for Kaiden to get out in the field - he's helped me a lot this week and last (I've received two of his letters) and O M GOSH DANIELLE BROWNELLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Our great family friend who received her mission call to serve in Mesa, AZ]  I LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH AND I'M SOOOOOO EXCITED FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We'll definitely talk more about your opportunity of a life time. We're actually working on getting a Temple here so that we'll be doing the work that you'll be helping with. OH holy crap I'm so happy for you!!!!!!!

But really, thanks so much, I love you all. Don't ever forget to read your Book of Mormon. Mom - I love you so much- we're home teacher's for Sister Oy - (like "Ahoy! without the A-h- part), our Relief Society president. The same work is going on here, and her testimony reminded me of you! Love you more that I can say.

Thanks! Sorry this email has been crazy - welcome to Thailand!

With Love,
Elder Gibbons

Week 25

Hey everyone!

I just want you to know I love all of you and I'm so grateful for all the thought and prayers; I feel your love and support and if you were here with me.

It's an exciting period of change here in the Thailand Bangkok Mission. President Senior is all settled in and the real work is beginning; he's focusing much more on establishing the church and "retaining the fruits of our labors," as President Hinkley put it. I also got to sing in a barbershop quartet to "Brightly Beams" in Thai, get crazy Baptist ladies to church who thought they we're getting baptized if they came, and have many more experiences that I wish I could talk about. Haha, Sister โอ๋ even asked in English if we had a "big pool" for her baptism. "I like big POOL!" she laughed in her thick accent.  OK tangent... "Every religion teaches people to be good," Buddhists say to me every day. Funny thing is, that it's a "FA-C-T!" Great, now from here you can ask, "So why is it important to be good?" Most Buddhist haven't thought of that one, so they talk to you about it or just start saying things that don't make sense, and you know they're not ready. Christians, on the other hand, are a little more difficult... They most often say: "So you believe in Christ? Oh, cool so we're the same."  NO!  I can't count how many times I've said "ไม่เหมือนกัน!" to this lady... "Not the same!" doesn't seem to stick until they start reading from revealed truth. For example, "Your church have Bible?" she asked us for the 13th time. "Yes, see?  We are same."  "Sister. Your church have Book of Mormon?"   "No."   "ไม่เหมือนกัน..."  Oh, it's fun here working with Christians here for sure, but Bible bashing isn't as fun as I thought it was going to be. Sister แดง, or "Dang" as in "Dang it, Richey!" is one of those cases. She is divorced, has a child but lives alone. She is very sad. But she has all these crazy ideas about religion and God, and we want to help her find true happiness that comes only through the message of the restored gospel. Our last lesson with her I watched as a member of the District Presidency and a sister from our branch just OWN her in a doctrine battle. Although it looked like we won the battle, everyone lost because the Spirit of the Lord left near the end of the lesson.  I'd like to ask all who read this to pray for her to have a positive spiritual experience with reading the Book of Mormon (which she won't read on her own as of yet). I want her to read - and everyone else I know - so that she will feel the love of God through "being filled with great joy because of the resurrection of the dead, according to the will and power and deliverance of Jesus Christ from the bands of death." (Alma 4:14)

But this week, I wanted to share my feelings about families and the joy that comes from Christ's overcoming death through my letter from my great, new mission president.  So on note, here is my letter:

"Dear President...First I want to apologize that this email might be a bit longer than usual. There was a recent event in my life that occurred, so I've started to focus a lot more this week on the importance of families in my own life. "What is it about the family that it so important?" "Why do families love each other?" and many more questions like this have been floating around in my mind because one of my friends' Mom died while we were both serving our missions.  It was a tragedy indeed, and he came home from his mission to support his little brother and sister and his dad who have been our ward friends for many years. I'm ok, but it's made me really think and rethink about what's going on in my own family and why I love them.  I've come to a few conclusions, but it's still hard to completely grasp or analyze. At church, I watched a baby laugh with his mom while his older sister was smiling on her father's lap. Seeing that, I kind of realized that we all need unconditional love from somebody as soon as we step into this world.  "Sometimes it's hard when you feel like sometimes your companion or someone else you love doesn't love you as much as you want them to show you they do at times. I'm sure marriage really teaches you how to overcome that challenge, but a mission sure gives an accurate test run. A moment of tenderness watching the children coupled with the experience of "wadding through much tribulation and anguish of soul" as other missionaries have who have once felt loneliness (Alma 8:14) helped me realize that we really all do need unconditional love and support from something. Some find solace in material things or friends, but I realized that the best (not the "perfect," because we're all not perfect) medium we can find unconditional love is found within a family. We're all brothers and sisters, yes, but families are God's children specifically organized on Earth, which creates a special bond that cannot be calculated or measured like I've been trying to do lately. My friend's mom isn't on this Earth right now, but that doesn’t mean that that unconditional love still exists. I know they love each other very much still, and their family gives me hope that families really are forever and that there's a good reason they are - because the vital love that God intended us to feel in this life can be everlasting.... - Elder Gibbons"

I haven't really been following up on the memorizing, but this week I extent the commitment to everyone who reads this to read the Book of Mormon and think for a few minutes of all the reasons why you can love your family - the sons and daughters of the Being who rules the heavens and the earth who have been selected in the grand councils in heaven to reside with you and affect your life. I would like to thank my family for giving me way more support and care than I ever could measure. To the family who was affected with the death of your beloved mother, there is hope because we can know that God loves us and has the perfect plan for us and that we too may be "filled with great joy." In Christ's name I affirm these things are true. Amen.

Until next time,
Elder Gibbons

Week 24

Hey mom! Thanks so much for all your prayers and everything. But hey, I'm going to try to go on with what I was going to say, but it's going to be hard with the event that occurred on Friday. [I had to tell Joseph that his friend’s mother took her life on Friday.] I literally can't say anything. She was such a good friend to ME and I'm feeling super weird right now. I did write dad before I read your letter, so I'd ask you to use excerpts from that as well.

Wow. I really can't believe that. What do I write Tyson? I'd like to write Tom. Do I write Kirstie? Do I just send everyone a letter but her? Oh my gosh, that' so terrible, I can hardly stand it. It’s gonna take me a while to get back on my feet. Gosh. Why, you wonder. I really am speechless; no room for words.

Well, I hope YOU are OK! I know that you knew her well too. I just remember talking to her all those times, trying to schedule a Cutco appointment with her in the evenings because she worked in the afternoons. I often would ask about her family including Tyson's work and Kirstie's Alta experience. But I'm glad that Anna can see the importance of loving your family. [After Anna heard the news about my friend’s death, she came up to me before she went to bed and gave me a big hug and said, “Children don’t tell their parents they love them enough."] The greatest missionary work you can do, takes place within the walls of our homes. I really hope we're having Family Home Evening at home - that makes or breaks the difference between someone becoming inactive here in Thailand. Having Family Home Evening is one of the things we actually look at in the "Commitments" column on investigator's teaching records. In fact, I have been thing a lot about families and how important they are for our progression in the eternities. I still have a lot to learn why they are so important, but we are all brothers and sisters of our Father in Heaven. I've learned that in order to learn to love, we need to experience certain things in our families. Families are more than just a group of people - this group of people help form each others personalities and shape each others lives. I realize that we need each other to function and grow. I feel like I should apologize for my lack of understanding concerning this principle, as I have been a less-than-stellar example of love toward family. I have been way more preoccupied on friends, experiences, music, girls, and other worldly things. I'd like to ask you to please pray for me to just "get it" as to why the family is so important exactly. I feel a great desire to know, but perhaps I'm afraid of something, I don't know. I love you and everyone in our family, maybe that's enough? Maybe another good thing is to pray for me to not think way too hard about everything - which is a disease that I do have faith in could be gone if I plead for the Lord's help. Well, I've got to go, but I know that you love me and thank you for everything. I am getting the packages, and I got to play [his viola] in Sacrament meeting yesterday (President Senior just happened to be there too!) Thanks for everything. Love you forever :)

[Joseph’s letter to Mike…] 

Haha! Thanks for the special consideration on our beautiful nation's 236th birthday. Sister Roper, our branch president and I sang our national anthem and we all ate pizza at his house to celebrate – he even bought a little flag which made me think of you and miss you a bit more than usual. Oh how I do miss all of you and especially your stupid little puns that only we find funny and make Megan embarrassed! Anyway, there's this guy here that kinda reminds me of you, haha... He's this little Thai man who I think fixes cars, has an iPad with a pink case, is chill and always in a good mood. Like there was this one time time that I heard there was this one sister who came to church. "Oh shoot, I don't know her," to which Bro. ยุทธ (Yoot - means battle) responded: "Oh shoot, I forgot to look at her!" Well, that might not be funny, but it was way funny in the Thai context. So, that means I'm getting a little more comfortable, I guess. For instance, Elder Osborne was sick and I had to translate for Elder Tabor (the new senior couple in our branch) during priesthood. Not that cool, but I was able to do it through the power of God. I'm convinced it's his power because the next day, Elder Osborne was better, and I went back to not understanding anything. That was a few weeks ago and know I can translate roughly for anyone (it's not the $5 job, but it serves its purpose. I'm almost done with 1st Nephi, and I can understand the gist of most verses. So yeah it's getting better and better after freakin begging on my knees multiple times a day. So it's going well And yes, we do sleep with a mattress on the ground, but Elder Oakeson sleeps on a few pads which are quite nice, he says. Thanks for the stories, the news, the love. Know that you're being loved out here too. Love, Joj

Week 23

Notice: NEW MISSION ADDRESS

Hello from ประเทศไทย! That says Thailand, I think...

Anyway, this week was awesome! There's a lot of stuff and cool experiences, so again, buckle up.

Well remember Sister Ton? Well, the Laksii sisters had her baptism this Saturday (our area was split with the Sisters, and Ton went with them)!  We began teaching her, but she was very difficult because she wouldn't ever listen - instead she would talk at speeds I literally couldn't imitate in English.  Now, at her baptism, I got to watch my first convert named Oom-iim (who happened to be the first investigator I ever met) say the opening prayer for Sister Ton, who happens to be my first investigator I found and started teaching from the beginning...

[MTL (Mini Thai Lesson): These situations are called พอดี ("paaw-dii"), when things just work out like this!]

... Anyway, her whole countenance has completely changed.  She is calm.  She is peaceable.  She talks NORMAL!  If anyone says that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't change people's lives for the better, they are confused, or extremely deceived.  I know that this gospel brings people through the darkness of confusion into greater light.  Sometimes it takes a long time to GET THROUGH that dark shadow, but that's what faith and repentance are when used together - the act of walking on the path from darkness to light.  I've experienced this, I've seen it work, and for those who don't know where to go, I encourage you to start walking.  "God guides walking feet" someone told me once, and I know if you start walking toward Christ, the only true path will appear (see 2 Ne 31).

Speaking of truth and new paths, we had the pleasure to welcome President and Sister Senior on Saturday.  In fact, Elder Engle, Elder Kramer and I (we all were in the same entering group) had the privilege to provide a musical number of "I Am a Child of God" with a violin, viola, piano trio.  His wife spoke just before, which really helped me feel that with God, nothing is impossible - even though it might be for you. It really helped me.  We played; then President Senior said, "Let's be sure to them in the same Zone," as we went back to our seats.  Wouldn't mind that one bit - I love those two Elder's so much.  But really, wow.  This man truly is a man called and inspired from God.  I'll try to convey some of my thoughts/feelings relating to his remarks.

His whole talk centered in that "eye hath not seen nor ear heard the things with Jesus spake" or something like that.  He began by explaining the crazy story of his call: He want thought the long process of becoming a Mission President. Got a call to North Carolina.  Happy!  Then, got a phone call... Switch! But he didn't know what the Lord had in store for them and for the people of Thailand.  Then he told us that the best camera in the world was made by this company that's awesome; best quality is about 14. something pixels.  The human eye (Grandpa would like this) is 576.  What a change!  But the Nephites said that eye has not seen things greater than the things Jesus did. That's what this mission is totally about - submitting to the Lord's will and trusting that His ways are higher than ours.  That's kinda been the center of my thoughts these couple days - that the Lord's ways are higher than ours and He loves us more than we can possibly imagine.  I know this to be true. I know this man is called of God.  It also helped that he related the entire story of Beethoven's 9th to illustrate the point that even the deaf can hear things greater than we could ever imagine.  He's awesome.  The work's awesome, and so is his Thai!  Funny that he has a Japanese accent (he served there), but it's awesome.

Thanks for the support. I feel your prayers all the time.

Till next time,

Love, Elder Gibbons

PS: Mom! Thank you for your message. [I wrote Joseph cuz I wasn't really happy with his letter last week.]  I appreciate your love for me and everyone whose reading!  I would only just like to mention - and I think Dad did mention it to you - that I love uplifting people.  That's why I love music, people, etc.  I also believe that telling some of the funny things that happen WILL uplift and inspire people too.  Like my companion said, "We write a lot of emails; it's hard to make every one the best."  Sometimes it kinda distresses me to just talk like a normal person - yeah, I KNOW I'm a missionary, but I'm still Elder GIBBONS and I love to uplift in my own ways.  It's selfish, but sometimes telling the funny stuff helps me when I'm dealing with a problem, difficulty with Comp, etc.  Speaking of which, I love Elder Osborne.  He's amazing.  Once I swallowed my pride (which took me a while cuz I have A LOT of it!!) everything started going well, and I could then start LEARNING from him, instead of just feeling "O woe is me!" about everything.  This lil' princess is growing up, thanks to your prayers and your faith in me.  Thanks for loving me, and know that I always love you too ;)

Week 22

June 25, 2012

Hello everyone! So this week's been crazy! So I'll try to re-cap as short as possible so I'll even break the 11th commandment and not speak in correct grammar.

MONDAY
Bought Viola.  Super expensive in บาท (Baht).  A-string snapped.  No more play viola.  Ate this disgusting looking fish ป. ทวิช's (Pres. Tuwit's) house.  Loved it.

TUESDAY
Taught my English class with Elder Goodmansen, our awesome AP who's leaving tomorrow :(  Lord helped turn way boring class into fun class.

WEDNESDAY
Went inviting in this really mean, weird neighbor in "THE NORTH" (the place we don't usually go) where we had dogs barking at us, one lady almost threw up on us...Short: the absence of the Spirit there felt super sketch.  So invited an apartment complex instead.  We saw a lady painting in her apartment and asked if we could see it.  Showed us with a big smile, invited in, but no male, so couldn't go in.  Got info, left.  Down stairs.  Met old guy with 14 yr old girl.  Talked to him.  Turns out, he's the lady's dad!  Went up and taught, then husband came home (his face seeing two ฝลั่งs -'"falongs," or white people in his house was SOOO funny!).  Taught powerful, short lesson. Awesome!

FRIDAY
Taught "Oh?" (yep, that's how you say her name), a crazy Baptist lady and husband.  Came to door, husband naked.  "Ees ok, no? You man, he man. You see, ees ok!"  She said. Lucky: he was still it in boxers, just like the last lesson too.  For three lessons, we came in and he'd so grab his pants hanging on the wall so we could teach him.  Never seen him wear a shirt.  Well, I guess that's ok cuz we taught this guy named Gnat who was standing with his pants half down, just staring out the window when we knocked on door. Scrambled to put on pants, welcome us in and get to the door.  Funny thing was, after we smelled alcohol on breath and left, he never managed to get his pants on!  555! Next lesson, pants on, shirt elsewhere.  Never seen either of those investigators fully clothed.  Welcome to Thailand!

Week 21

Hello friends, Romans, country-men, lend me your ears...Oh wait, wrong play... Hello Friends, Family, and all significant others.

Happy Father's Day! Dad, I love you so much and you emails always make me laugh and they totally recharge my week. You've been such an example of humble strength to me, and I want to thank you.

This week has been awesome. A lot of plan switching plans and running around everywhere... My President's letter pretty much sums it up:

"Dear President,
Not much has happened this week that's worthy of any particular mention, but I got to see the hand of the Lord by trusting in his timing and his Will.  This week, I had the wonderful experience of singing in the Family Values Award - which really opened my eyes to just how grand of a scale the Church works on. However, practices took up time, and we also help our branch president pack and send all the Liahona's to members living in the country of Thailand (ha ha... Elder Osborne slapped the address sticker on yours, so it should be coming soon if not already there). So our goals took a hit, but I learned this week that the work of the Lord is the work of the Lord no matter what shape it was in. ประธาน ทวิช needed that help, and we were glad to give it to him. Also, ซ. อุ๋มฮิ๋ม [I think that is Oom Iim] was confirmed this week - which put the cap on my first convert's successful entering into the Church! That's always good.

Well, we're sure going to miss you and your lovely wife, President.  But, you're going to have to endure at least one more of these, but just want you to know.

Thanks again, until next week,
Elder Gibbons"

So this week, I learned a lot about service. Packing Liahona's as far as the eye can see was fun, but I think I should mention the Family-Values Award event that I had the opportunity to sing in a small Missionary choir in (we sang Rak thii Baan, or Love at Home).  Family-Values Award events take place in the community and recognize certain people for their exceptional service toward preserving values.  Among the 50-or-so VIPs for this event were well-renowned doctors, very high-reigning generals, and even someone from the Royal Family (a great-grand daughter of His Majesty); she happens to live in my Trainer's first area and is married to Thailand's Former Ambassador to the United States. Like I mean, this was a SUPER sweet event seeing generals and royalty in a country were Princes and Princesses exist and have great respect. But the evening wasn't about them. It was about the amazing things they have done in conjunction with the Church. For example, one of the recipients bore powerful testimony on the power of families and how he couldn't know how to thank the "10 million people who give their lunch money every month" so he can have over $70,000 of dolls and equipment to train people to save newborn baby's lives. One practice doll was "twice my salary," he noted. And know, more babies will be saved with his work and my "lunch money." My mom has always taught me to pay a generous fast offering - I know know why. But I encourage all of you this Father's Day weekend to remember our Heavenly Father and remember to be gracious and generous with our love for each other - in more than just in monetary amounts.

I will definitely strive to do the same. Speaking of striving, don't forget 2 Ne 28:7-9 (I'm excited for the one after this too, but not sinning is good too)! Thank you for all your support and love! Until next Week!

Elder Gibbons

Week 20

Hello everyone again! So it's the beginning of the third week in my second transfer, and we're just chillin' in a internet place... Again...only this morning, I looked at the date, and it has been exactly two months since I have officially set foot in the field.

So, if I can go off on a small tangent: Fact: If you live in Europe or the western hemisphere, you know nothing about what the heck goes on in Asia. Think you do? Sorry. You're wrong. Still think you do? Then you could qualify to be listed under the one exception: You have lived here - and I mean resided in a place without taken a trip back to anywhere else - for a period of time no less that two months. Business here? Nope. Frequent visits? Closer. Study abroad? Very Close. But living with, eating with, drinking with, breathing with, laughing with, arguing with, shopping with, bartering with, singing with, and, most importantly, sharing spiritual experiences with these people for a period of time that is longer that naturally comfortable is the only way a Westerner and come close to KNOWING what goes on here. And what the heck - I still don't know what's going on most of the time. But it is such a different way of living, eating, thinking that NOT NOBODY NOT NO HOW really knows what's up if they talk about Asia. I've grown to hate things about my own culture - even things about my own life that I want to purge. I've grown to discover small jewels of wisdom I didn't know I had but had to use that I love now... Going off on another tangent within a tangent to explain my tangent (this is like Inception!), for example I couldn't stop helping myself to the ปลาทับทิมทอด (blaa tub-tim tod : fish-ruby-fried) at dinner: I eat parts of the chicken that I wouldn't have touched before. I know how to eat fruits that would almost make you gasp! But really, look up a เงาะ (ngaah) and you'll see what I mean. I even gave little treats and water to people who drop stuff or come to pick us up for a lesson because I feel awkward if I don't. I hate flirtatious girls...Or maybe I'm just scared of them. Even my English is sounding weird sometimes because English words come out in Thai grammar. It's so cool to see the Lord shape me to make me an instrument to shape the lives of others...

Ok that was a long tangent about some of the fun worldly things that I have unavoidably enjoyed. But besides all this stuff, I have remained very focused on my purpose as a missionary through diligent study and reverent prayer. So on that note, we had some cool things happen this last week, but I'm going to talk about the spiritual highlight of this week where the hand of the Lord was definitely  present. The following is a very special excerpt that I usually wouldn't share openly and blatantly, so I hope you receive it knowing my intent is not to blare it out there, but to share a glimpse of a very special day from my journal describing the baptism of อุ๋มอิ๋ม ("Oom iim") - my first investigator I met in Thailand, dated Saturday, 9 June 2012:

"As I sat pondering about today, I thought about how appropriate it was we ate at KFC again with อุ๋มอิ๋ม. The first time was the first time I met her; 2nd time was right after we gave her a baptismal date for 9 June; and today - the 9th - we were able to eat with อุ๋มอิ๋ม again, but this time as an official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her baptism will be a memory I will always cherish.

"One cool experience was going to fill up the font. As we turned on the water as I was standing in the empty basin, I thought about the antiquity of this ordinance for the first time. 'Peter and Paul witnessed the same thing I am doing - and probably watched water fill similar fonts,' I thought. PMG [Preach My Gospel] says: 'The Spirit is manifest strongly as the sacred ordinances [of the church] are performed.' I truly felt the Holy Ghost manifest the sacredness of the experience as I prepared a baptismal font as they did in ancient times.

"Another sacred memory was actually watching the baptism be performed by ป. วิสาล. With the sacred ordinances of the church, the Thai people don't use normal words. Instead they use a lot of ราชศัพท์, or the high language of the kings, which adds another level of sacredness to the baptism performance. This ordinance, performed today was very sacred and this language helped me humbly feel of the importance of it. I'm super blessed have the opportunity to see God's hand in His ordinances!"

Besides eating funky fruit and things like unto it, I'm receiving blessing by the truckload. Thank you for your prayers and support.  Don't forget it's 2 Ne 9: 29-29 this week! (Confession - I didn't do so well on the last one. But repentance is beautiful, and I'm just going to move on and get it this week!) Love y'all! Same time next week...

Elder Gibbons