Week 38 - Sisaket T5; W3

Hello family!

So exciting with talk of missions, conference and with everything!  AND TO JACK [Vawdrey]: "Eu adoro a lingua de Brasil!  Boa Sorte, amigo!!  (especially cuz it's the 2nd best foreign language out there)  Where are you going exactly?  Have you been to Rodizios or Braza Grill?  Get ready for a whole lot of Samba and rice!"

Thank you for your letters.  This week, I'd like to share some experiences from some letters I wrote for my Mission President and my dad:

"Dear President,
"This week has been spectacular; Elder Terry is nothing but spectacular as he had the opportunity to exercise his "commission" of Jesus Christ, as Elder Holland so zealously described in conference, by baptizing Somsak Utamagoon and his two daughters Biw and Ribbon.  It was a very special time and a very special service.  We also felt what it was like to receive direct revelation from the Lord concerning an investigator.  We didn't want to do what we felt like we needed to do, but we followed the spirit, and truly our faith has been increased as we strive to follow the Spirit in all that we do.  We're not perfect, there's much room for improvement, but we've especially been edified this special weekend."  Note: I got to play "I love to look for Rainbows" on my viola for the service too :)

In answer to some of dad's questions.  Thanks dad.  I love you so much:

"I live in a neighborhood with a huge front yard on a secluded back-road.  Ma Supit's house is ติดกับ (stuck) to our house - so she occasionally shouts at us from her kitchen and gives us treats.  Elder Terry is probably one of, if not my favorite companion. He's 20yrs old from Brigham City - yep excited with the temple - who was pretty inactive until he had a feeling to just go to church again. After that he decided to go on a mission which got his girlfriend and his older Brother activated (who followed his example and is speaking the 2nd best foreign language in Portugal right now too).  He's super easy to get along with - our companion studies are a riot (spiritually) and every day is a blast. He's also a great singer and sometimes we just sing at each other about things in opera, Broadway, hymns, or just whatever.  Funny thing is, he was super into weight lifting (I mean he counted calories), and really not much like me but we're so similar and get along well. The only struggles is he's been in his area for 3 transfers now and I'm his first new comp so he's getting used to a new comp's way of life (as everyone does).  But even this isn't a problem too much (just when planning isn't as good) - which is my fault as I'm the Phii - or Senior Comp [So, that word meant “Senior Companion”, NOT Trainer!  Sorry about that].  But we just had three baptisms and was so awesome as he DID stand in a baptismal font and said "Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ..." just one day before "The Jeffery"'s sermon (I refuse to call that a talk, and my trainer had a comp who refused to call Elder Holland anything but THE JEFFERY because its like THE JERICHO missile in Iron Man.  So if the church ever needs to just DESTROY something, they send in "THE JEFFERY") so the whole time we were just dumbfounded.  We Tim Tam slammed to our investigators who got baptized and we saved one wafer and slammed (an honor equivalent to a toasting here in the Thailand Bangkok Mission) to "Jeffery" as well.  Trees and leaves?  Did I mention that I encounter a new fruit about every transfer?  We pass a large spirit tree on our way to church every day with large but faded banners and little statues and sanctuaries.  I once ate an entire meal on nothing but banana leaves - you have no idea what they do, eat, and worship around foliage around here.  But it's super fun."

PS: I get letters from Elder Worthington and Sister Snell and it's the best. [These are two of his cousins serving missions.]  I love imagining Bates [Elder Worthington, serving in Siberia] out talking to people in a funky language with a funky alphabet probably wearing a funky hat in the snow while I'm out here talking to people in a funky language with a funky alphabet being a funky white guy wearing a white shirt and pants way too long for the October heat. McKenna's [Sister Snell] experiences at the MTC bring me great memories and I would love to send her Thor's hammer or a machete for those alarm clocks... Missionaries like these and others I serve with are great examples of where this Church is heading.  I support all that has been said in General Conference as I just barely watched it out here in a little clerk’s office at the church.  Elder Nielson is right.  If there is anything you need, "Talk to the Missionaries – They can help you."  Go talk with your missionaries. Find out who you could go teach with them.  BRING them to someone you can teach or introduce.  So many of God's children are starving from burdens of guilt of sorrow that can only be relieved by the atonement of Christ.  At the very least, do yourself a favor and go serve with the missionaries somehow so that your friends and family who haven't tasted this gospel can at last quench their thirst and the Well of Living Water, even our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Well? What are you waiting for? Stop reading this computer, and put what you feel like you need to do on your to-do list TODAY! Take President Monson's and Uchtdorf's advice and follow the spirit - no regrets.

Love you all dearly and deeply,

Elder Gibbons

These are the Tim Tam cookies he "slams" when he's happy!  :)

Week 37 - Sisaket T5; W2

Hello Family and friends!

Everything is สบาย สบาย except we're expecting 3 baptisms this week!  More about that later...

For Dad: Language is about a 6/10 on average. Some days it's way ahead somedays I feel like it's my first day again. I'm almost done with 2^nd Nephi in Thai and in Ether in English. BY THE WAY -  Mom, ask grandpa who's older: the Brother of Jared or Jared? then ask him how he knows.  We'll even take a poll!  Haha... I'll tell you how I know next time...

Mitt Romney news is awesome; miss western culture, but I love this Thai culture too. I'm even saying things weird things like "eat water," "hungry for water", or meeting words in the dictionary.  But I'm also loving more people more often. I'm starting to develop a love for these people that's very strong Especially with our investigators...

Somsak, and two of his three daughters: Biw and Ribbon.  The middle girl is 11 days my senior and Ribbon is 2 months ahead of Anna - and she's SO funny like Anna but in the most hilarious-Asian way!  Somsak owns a cashew farm and does taxes.  Their house is in the wilderness and it's SOOO gorgeous.  However, his wife, Dtan, has had some commitment issues and her reading has been less than awesome.  Elder Chamberlain and Elder Terry have been teaching this family the whole time Elder Terry was here, and was about to drop them this last transfer, because he was ready but his wife wasn't and he wanted to wait.  But Biw came back from Bangkok and everything changed.  Including companions (Enter me into Sisaket W).  So basically we taught Biw all the lessons over is two weeks!  They are so ready!  Somsak even called us one night to ask where the 10 Commandments were in the Book of Mormon so he could teach them to Biw before we teach them tonight!  Sunday we talked about the baptism, and they asked if Elder Terry would perform the baptism.  So powerful!

Speaking of powerful, I wrote to my Mission president about the news we heard from Conference (which we'll watch this week): "I'm SO stoked about the great news. We were all celebrating last night - complete with Tim-Tam Slammin"  [Tim-Tam's are awesome chocolate cookies!!]

This is addressed to all the female friends:

DON'T FEEL OBLIGATED TO GO.  It's not a commandment, so don't you dare feel pressured.  But, if you have ever had an inkling of a desire, if you've ever thought about what it would be like, I would encourage you to get down on your knees, put aside a few meals, and find our if it is right (see Alma 5:46-47).  If it is, "come join the ranks" with me because this is the greatest thing you'll ever do.  There's not a day I will ever regret this, and there's no greater joy.

For my male friends - "O be wise, what can I say more?"  Don't know how to start?  3-2-1
3 pages a day (Book of Mormon)
2 prayers a day
1 church a week.

The world's changing.  We gotta get caught up or get behind because this gospel will be preached to every nation kindred tongue and people because the only way to salvation IS through Jesus Christ. Come with me and share the good news ;)

Elder Gibbons

Week 36 - Sisaket (Round 2) T5: W1

Hellow everyone!

Happy b-day Siah [Holker]! We actually had this investigator (Boo) who has a little one who looks, runs walks, screams shivers up your spine, has huge brown eyes, won't talk, is a little stick, and is the cutest little one year old just like Siah was when we was at that age, but to see him grown up when I get back will be fun :)  Love Orchestra analogy - it's totally happening here through overflowing amounts of great faith.  [This is the "orchestra analogy" I shared with him in my letter: Today at church, the missionaries got up to bear their testimonies and one of the elders said something that I LOVED!!  He bore his testimony that God is orchestrating everything around us and that we need to trust Him.  He gave an example of something that happened to them last week.  They were leaving an appointment and instead of going the normal way to get to their car, they went down another path.  He said he thought to himself how stupid it was that they were going that way because it was much longer.  Then they saw a couple standing on the path ahead of them.  They actually got another appointment because they stopped and talked to them and they also knew that God was orchestrating them meeting on that path.  But the funny thing was, as they approached this couple on the path, he thought to himself, “It’s after 9:00 and we can’t stop and chat because it will make us late getting home”.  But the spirit said to him, “Don’t you dare walk by this couple!”  And he said it sounded a lot like his mom!!!  That part totally cracked me up!!!]

This transfer ended rather well as everything we predicted: I MOVED!!! ......... downstairs with Elder Terry from Sisaket E to Sisaket W area - so I moved areas but stayed in the same house. Elder Fronberg (our new missionary here in Sisaket) is doing well with my old comp Elder Petersen (it was kinda funny and cute that I had to help him bear his testimony from the front row when he forgot a word...he he) Also, Elder Mondragon (my first district leader who was a second father to me) joped or finished along with our AP [Assistant to the Mission President] Elder Bender who was my zone leader. Now Elder Warren who was my ZL [Zone Leader] is now AP. Its a great time of change. Almost everyone in my group is going พี่ (Phii) [Trainer] - INCLUDING ME AHHHHHHHHHHH! Even Elder Davies is training! But this week I have seen the heavens shake for my good as I've had to take the reigns of one of the most fruitful areas of my mission that I've seen.  The Lord helped translate for these 4 African investigators that we have.  Eseme was from a rich family in Cameroon until his father died and his life and family fell into poverty. The only thing he had was his Bible and teaching him in my native language through the spirit was a heaven-shaker experience indeed. Shelter, his friend, said probably the most intense spirit-filled, spirit-led prayers I've ever heard. He prays with the power and gift of faith. Something I'm going to ask all who read to do as well after you read a letter our Mission President sent out for us. If this man's not called of God, I don't know WHO is; 

"Dear Missionaries of the Thailand Bangkok Mission [TBM],

As we begin this last quarter of 2012, I am pleased to report that the condition of the Thailand Bangkok Mission is excellent.  We are seeing the blessings of the Lord upon Thailand and are witnessing the fulfillment of an increase in faith.  We have seen an increase in Sacrament Meeting attendance among the Stake and 5 Districts. We are seeing an increase in new membership with many more coming to Christ through the waters of baptism.  We are seeing many more rescued,  returning again to the community of Saints and enjoying the fellowship of the Church.  I know that this significant  accomplishment does not happen except by the great efforts of Leaders, Members and our Missionaries.  No Mission President could be more proud of his missionaries than I am of you.  Each of you has increased in faith and "labored without ceasing"1 and worked along side the Lord, gathering in His vineyard. President Hinckley said: "We have become as a great army. We are now a people of consequence.  Our voice is heard when we speak up."  Our voice is the voice of Christ and it is being heard in Thailand as He gives Apostles and Prophets and Missionaries for the edification and coming in unity of faith unto a perfect man.  Each great work will be met with opposition.  The TBM is not without adversity and we will see an increase in opposition as we get the attention of the adversary in the great work being performed. To illustrate, Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that describe the relationship between the forces acting on a body and its motion due to those forces....As members of this "army" described by President Hinckley, may we consider the following:

Sharpen the swords of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  The whetstone of our swords will be our acts of obedience.   Through obedience, dull blades will become sharp.  Perfect obedience will give power to use the word of God in a manner that can call upon Heaven for help and bring about miracles.  I encourage a continuation of our faith and pace of the work.  Let us adopt the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith which can find applicability in our cause: "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause?  Go forward and not backward.  Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!  Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad."     

Sister Senior and I want you to know of our love for each of you.  There is not a prayer that goes by that you are not mentioned.  I have complete confidence in you as a disciple and representative of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  May His most choice blessings be upon you. 

Sincerely,
President and Sister Senior"

HE"S SO AWESOME!!!!  Please don't forget to fast this Sunday for something that you need. We also fasted for our investigator : "Patty" whom I describe as Mulan - she's a young, beautiful woman who has found truth and is fighting for it. She's in Alma already and is on fire. Only problem is [she has] school on Sunday.  If she could not come this week, she couldn't get baptized on the 13th.  So we fasted with her all Saturday.  That night I called her and she said she did all the things we asked her to do and she wasn't even hungry. That Sunday was amazing to see her among the many investigators at church this week.  As my awesome new Comp said, "Fasting Works."  So I will encourage everyone to engage the powers of heaven yourselves for yourself through this sacred commandment.

I love you all and I will always,
Keep the Faith,
Elder Gibbons

                                            

Week 35 - Sisaket T4: W6

Hello Family and Beloved Friends,

Last week of the transfer! It's actually gone by slower than my last two. NEVER a bad thing as I realize that the time FLIES BY in hind sight. Please send G-Gma Schlappi [I think he meant Gr-Gr Palmer??] my love and happy birthday! Congrats on Milkshake madness!!! I kinda had a feeling one of you would win! I'll totally take that offer to have one when I get home (maybe I'll share some secrets about the shakes they make HERE! (ie: great choice on the coconut milk mom - if that was the secret, delete this comment! But they put that in EVERYTHING here and it's SO GOOD! Speaking of so good, I ate your flamin hot Cheetoes that I was saving. But ants ATE through the bag! I didn't care at first - I just kept eating until I eventually realized what I was doing. Then I ate some more and threw it away ;) Gross, huh?)  Wheel of judgment - Mom, could you explain what that is when you post this for everyone? Anna, that's brilliant. I love you so much and I can definitely incorporate that in my life too!  [As per Joseph's request...an explanation of The Wheel of Judgement: Mike and I had a talk with Anna during Family Home Evening recently about some people at her school that were mean and why they acted that way.  She was "venting" some of her frustrations and telling us of the different situations that happened to her.  We explained that we don't always know the reasons why people act the way they do, but most people are good people, and they wouldn't be mean on purpose.  So, a few days later right before going to bed, Anna said to me: "Mom, can we make a 'Wheel of Judgement'?"  I asked her what that was and she said, "It's something for me to use when someone is mean to me and I can't think of a reason why they are acting that way."  She said, "If we make up scenarios (like they got in a fight with their parents, or they didn't get any sleep that night, or they don't have a very good self-image of themselves, etc.), then I can just put their name on the wheel and spin it to one of these scenarios and it will help me to understand where they might be coming from.  Even if its not true, I can be more understanding."  I hope that made sense!]

One thing to clarify: I'm actually not senior companion - just for a day, but [if] the weather predicts I'll just move downstairs and really be senior comp with Elder Terry next week. I can't believe the transfers already over! Another thing is about Muslims - which is getting pretty heated, I guess. To that I answer - pray for our saints in the Middle east. They're there and they need it more than here. We've got a mosque kinda by our Branch President's house and got an announcement from our leaders, but Thai people are peaceful and we've had no problems whatsoever.

I want to share some of my president's letter to illustrate our service to sister cat. That day I also drank Coke from a plastic bag for the first time too! ;)

"Dear President,
Thanks for your encouragement, as always. I'm sure the Lord is helping us in our finding as we had taught 4 new investigators obtained this week from that method, saw 2 at church, and 2 more are coming to FHE [Family Home Evening] tonight with us.  This week on a switch-off this last week Elder Chamberlain and I actually tried out another technique that my Grandpa Holker's friend did in England: He would stand at a street corner and play hymns on his violin as his companion would stand on a box and just preach and talk to people. SO... I started playing hymns on my viola while Elder Chamberlain preached the word to the people at the market. He was a bit nervous to preach and didn't feel super ready, but we went for it anyway. Please let me know (as you've served in Japan) if it's more of a western thing than an Asian thing to stop and listen to sermons and music on the side of the street, because not many people stopped. He wasn't very confident in his preparation, so it could've been that.  But fact is, we went for it, learned, and keep progressing forward in the work here in Sisaket. It was fun, and worth the try!  That's pretty much the highlight of the week besides giving service.  "Laying concrete" (gosh is there a verb for that?) isn't the easiest, but is was good for Sister Cat. She kept calling it a miracle because we came and I stumbled upon and learned the word for "construction site" that very day. Haha, well it was pretty cool."

So that's it! I hope you're helping someone else this week went well.  I encourage you to pray for Charity whenever anything bad, negative, ugly, or anything else comes in your path or in your mind this week.  Something I've been trying to do this week and it's been a cool experience! Let me know!

With love, Elder Gibbons

Week 34 - Sisagate - T4: W5

First of all,

Love you too mom - like a lot - I think of you every day and I couldn't do this without you! I think of you, dad, Kenz, Megs, Matt and Shae, and "If Ain't got You" is playing right this moment (as is was –phaw dii - last week just before we left the net cafe) which makes me think of my little Bevis [Anna] and Taylor and the rest of the family.  OH and I got Kaiden's first letter in country!  I circled it all up so I can write to him all the similar and different things I've seen too! Do you have his  address?  I'm glad Brayden's getting  better  - I've never met such a stick who is also a tank!  And even the Thai press was covering the DNC [Democratic National Convention for those not politically-minded!] - I couldn't understand anybody, but there was our President (who I'm not the fondest of, but was so excited to see because right now, he represents our beautiful nation).  Keep the faith and know our government's in the Lord's hands ;) I even met a German guy who when I said we're "Mormon" he automatically said "Oh, Mitt Rom ney, right?" So if a nice, drunk, German guy living in Thailand knows who we are, I'm sure many more people do.  Keep up the faith.  Keep holding up that ensign to the world!

So there was a lot that happened this week.  I invited this guy playing a guitar by asking to play with him (I played and sang "Blackbird") and got a return appointment. When we returned, so did 5 of his friends - 6 new investigators in one lesson... fun!  I also led my area as senior comp Friday with Elder Terry!  We've also been finding a lot more people to teach through a really cool method (mom please send this to Bates! Give him some good ideas).  I explained it to my Mission President:

"Just a few things to report.  One, I guess I report on my switch-off this week Elder Terry (maybe that's only for Sisters?) and it was super good even if it was my first time being "Phee" or senior comp.  We're on a low for investigators lately, so we studied well and then went out to find the Lord's prepared. We did a couple of inviting tactics. One, we had some fun by choosing each other's targets and gave each other the topic to invite them. We yielded some good results as one man said he had been "looking for Christ for many years now" (if I understood right). The next tactic was one Elder Chamberlain introduced to us in a district mtg. He said in the past, he didn't feel as effective inviting a neighborhood for 4 hours and almost got in one door, but lately he's tried another way …

How it works is one Elder stands on the corner or off to the side of a busy walkway and lifts up his voice using as PMG [Preach My Gospel] calls "Short, Powerful Statements" - or he asks short statements that provoke one to "exquisite wonder" such as:
"If the true church of God was on the earth, would you like to be a member?"
"Would you like to know the purpose of this life?"
"Have you ever thought about where we're from or were we go after death?" 

just to name a few examples...

Practicing these statements out loud before hand is ESSENTIAL.  My first time wasn't so good because of that.  But through this way, Elders Chamberlain and Terry now have three new investigators - one of which with a baptismal date - all within a week.  We found many potentials too. But the interesting part Elder Chamberlain said is you never seem to find those who are prepared - they find YOU. That's exactly what happened to me too.

That's a lot of info, sorry, but faith is increasing in the earth through this method and I wanted to let you know.  I've always wanted to be a missionary like Dan Jones - lifting up my voice to the people with my power and authority - and I'm getting closer to the faith he had for sure.  There were many instances where the Spirit would guide me to say things, even brief sermons, if you will, and led me to do the Lord's will here in His power.

Also saw a spider about 5" diameter 6" from my face in the shower - thought that would be fun for you to know."

OK honestly, he probably gets bored in that office of his when he's not in Laos or something. Actually, I'll take that back - he's one of the hardest working, inspiring men I've met. This last month of August we had 77 baptisms (including 5 in Lao and 1 in Burma) - which is A LOT!!  But he wants 100 this month.  Please pray of sister Boo our investigator who has a son who's Siah's long-lost twin.  In everything.  Crazy.  But she needs help for sure.

Thank you for all your prayers too. I Love you all and would encourage you to look for those that are prepared too - those who are prepared to receive your love. Contact a friend you haven't in a while, help a old lady across the street, write a missionary ;) or show some charity this week. Report through my mom - I love to hear your stories!

Love,
Elder Gibbons