December 22, 2014 - Found the Holy Grail

Hey Family!

Congrats on having the Elders over on Christmas. Little presents for Elders is a good Idea. Subway and Chocolate would be what I would want. They might call home from your house, if you have doubt, just ask them. We have 2 P Days this week and next week. For Christmas and New Year.

To be prepared for the call? I just have the laptop to on, Skype open and the sound on, when I call you will know because Skype will make noises. I should be calling from here after 4 o clock my time.

Difference about Christmas? There are many. There are not as many Christmas lights or decorations. The whole deal of a Sleigh and reindeer is almost non existent. There Christmas music is a bit different. Everything is super commercialized here. They have black Friday here too. They Christmas trees are not as big

The 70 has a regular job and stuff, he works at a glass company, Obviously he works a little higher up then the normal lacky. But he travels a lot being a 70. His name is Elder Capalette, I think that how you spell it.

Being a Zone leader is a lot of responsibility. There is a lot of extra stuff we have to do. The zone is the entire Cuiabá stake. We have to do a Zone meeting once a transfer. We also have to divisions with all of the District leaders and the assistants do divisions with us. We have to fix any problems between people and the other Elders behavior and stuff. We have to pass all the numbers to the assistants and to the people in the office.

 

Elder Yezzi family is all members. He speaks a few words of English. He is helping me with Portuguese and I help with English.

Oh! I found a store this week that sells Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. They are 3R$ for each. I was very happy.

So, you might want to sit down, here is our Spiritual experience for this week.

Today we were walking to the Church to go play soccer when a Guy on a Motorcycle stopped in Front of us on the side walk. He pulled out a gun and demanded our phones and money. We did not know if the gun was real, but we did not want to find out, so Elder Yezzi gave the guy our Nokia Brick Phone and about 12R$ in 2R$ notes (the smallest note Brazil has, which he luckily received as change from the bus station). I started to pull out the lone 20R$ I had with me. 

After examining the phone and Yezzi's small amount of money, I think he looked at our name tags. Because he asked if we where "from around here". We told him "No". Our Gun-Wielding, Moto-Driving friend returned our Brick and Yezzi's 2R$ collection and drove away.  I think he was expecting a nice smart smart phone and something larger then a 2R$ bills.

So, don't worry mom, we are just fine and we did not lose anything. 

Até logo,

 Elder Gibb

November 11, 2014 - Drumming Right Along

Tudo bom!

That's really cool that yáll met Elder Giesler. I am glad he said nice things about me.

That is a small world kind of thing.  Elder Park lived in the apartment next door for my first 4 transfers. It was awesome. He is one of my best mission buddies.

I think of North Carolina a lot. Its basically like second home for me. I got used to being there and then had to go. I miss it. I really miss the food, oh man the North Carolina food was soooooooooooooooooooooooo good. I miss Southern style fried food and Southern style BBQ and Chinese buffets. I do like Brasil food and especially Brazilian BBQ, but there is just something special about the way they do it in North Carolina.

This week was pretty good for us. Lene, the investigator, finally quit drinking coffee so now she can be baptized. Then we have Raissa who should be baptized this Saturday. She is super elect. She actually reads the Book of Mormon.

We have a lot of people in Brazil who believe the book of Mormon is the word God. But hey have a hard time making the connection or accepting the fact that they now have to follow what they believe.

There are also a lot of people here who find them selves in the same situation as Joseph Smith. They get all confused on what church they should go to which direction they should follow.  A lot of them cant get it through their heads that they need to pray. A lot of them have fear that they won't like the answer.

This week we were doing some door clapping in our area. While we where walking I heard someone playing drums. So we went and clapped his house. After a minute the guy finally came out.

Here was the door approach

Elder Gibb: Hey How is it doing?

Micheal: Good, how are you?

E.G: Great, do you play drums?

M: Yes I do.

E.G: That's really cool. We are missionaries from the Church. My name is Elder Gibb and this is Elder Duncan. Normally as missionaries we share with people messages about Christ. But today I was wondering if I could play your drum set.

So, Micheal let us right in and let me play the drum set. They were super stoked that some random American in a white shirt and tie wanted to play drums with them. Micheal ended up taking a video of me playing and posting it on facebook.   So now almost all of the drummers in Campo Grade know who I am. They went absolutely nuts when I started to play jazz music. Jazz is not a part of Brasil's culture and so nobody knows how to play it. Micheal said that I play better then most of the other drummers.

(Don't worry it has a spiritual side too) We ended up coming back the next day and teaching the restoration to everyone who lives in the house. None where SUPER interested, but at the end of the day I played the drum set for the first time in a year and a half and three people heard of the restored gospel. That was a win-win tender mercy situation.

But, that is basically it for this week. 

Amo, Elder Nolan Gibb

Missionary Council Training with our Zone, District and Sister Leaders in the South

The Training was an All Day Training, 9-6.  We begin promptly at 9 am, we had lunch, then the afternoon begins at 2 - 7 pm.  We finish with Pizza for dinner.

 

October 13, 2014 in Camp Grande

Bom Dia,

Tell Grandma Benson  Happy Birthday for me! I miss Grandpa Purple.

Congrats for Brother Thomas.

Electrical problems, could be worse. At least you have electricity. 

The missionaries in the apartment forgot to pay the electric bill and so we were paying for it. (Figuratively and literally) For 1 week this transfer we were without energy in our house for 4 days. That was 4 days of cold showers in the morning. 4 days without cold water to drink; 4 days of sleeping without a fan; 4 days of coming home in the dark. All of the food in our refrigerator went bad, ants and cockroaches started to infest our food. 

The office Elders (who are normal missionaries ages 20ish) drag their feet when there is a problem so it took 4 days to turn back on.

And it could even be worse then that, you could be without water.

This time, the missionaries that were in the apartment before us forgot to pay the water bill, so we were paying for it. (Figuratively and literally)

For another 4 days we were without water. We had a bunch of 2-liter soda bottles in the fridge that helped. 

That was 4 days without taking a real shower, I took my "showers" with a 2-liter bottle. 4 days without flushing the toilet or washing our hands. Elder Duncan's #2 stayed in the Toilet for 3 days, in the heat; 4 days without dishes. Bugs had started to move in our sink and in our shower. It was not fun.

I finally had to call the water company and solve the problem myself because our Financial Secretary wouldn't do it. 

Electrical Problems in general happen alot here. The of the day causes the breakers to trip faster then normal, the quality of the wiring jobs and the wire them selves are not fantastic.

Good Job Uncle Scott. Kick Cancer's butt..

Campo Grande is super awesome. Its a lot cleaner and not as hot as Cuia-burn. The mission Scripture is Job 30:30.

Campo grande has mangoes growing in the street and all that cool stuff. Its got the colorful tropical birds flying around .

Here is a picture of an Owl that I upset by going to close to it's nest. At the park.

We can surf any church website. There are actually lots of things I like about Brazil. I don't really have a Favorite thing. They have lots of tasty candy. They also have a lot of fruits that the US doesn't have. The cultures is pretty cool, language is awesome. Soccer is cool. The nature here is pretty cool. People are super layed back. (which has its advantages and disadvantages)

Today we went to a park in the Center of Campo Grande, it was pretty cool. After we went to Burger King, Where I payed 20,50 for a whopper combo meal. Tasted basically identical to the whopper in the states. The restaurant basically looks the same too. Just a bit newer.

Coracões, Elder Nolan Gibb

Waiting for the Bus to Ponta Pora

Thank you Sister Dennis for the photo

Being transferred to Ponta Porã.

I have not received my package yet. Elder Watchman has been waiting for a package since I got to the area. And still has not received it. And if it does get to the mission Office I probably will not receive it until another Transfer, considering I am being transferred to Ponta Porã. It is the most southern area in the Mission. I have to take a big bus to get there. The bus ride is 18 hours. Looking on  the LDS maps my area is touching the Border of Paraguay. I leave on the bus at 8 tonight and I will arrive there at 2:30 the next day. I found out I was going to Ponta Porã last night at like 10 o clock.

My new companion will be Elder Albuquerque, a Brasilian. SO that will be good for my Portuguese.

July 14, 2014

Hola, Familia.

I miss Fish and Chips, a lot. I am going to eat a lot of those when I get home. Especially because I will probably have worms living in my stomach to help me eat them. A lot of the Elders here have them. I don't think I have contracted them yet. The other elders who have get really skinny and they say they can feel the worms move around.

I am healthy. I always work hard and my shoes and just fine.

We live on Rua 4 in the Bairro (Neighborhood) Boa Esperança for those who want to look us up on Google Maps. House Number 320.

Antiperspirant, extra strength is probably good.

I am holding about 3 whites shirts, 2 longs sleeve and 1 short.

I am soaking them in Detergent water before washing them, it helps them stay reasonably white.

I don't think any missionaries in my mission extend, I would not be surprised if others missionaries in Brazil did though, Cuiaba is not the nicest place in the world. It is a very hard mission. It is very very hot and we do A LOT of walking. I don't think I will want to extend.

This week my companion had a root canal done, he chipped a filling 6 months ago and finally decided to get it fixed. It's kind of expensive and very painful. I bet his mom is not happy.

We try to teach in some of the poor Neighborhoods called Favelas, the people there are home more often and a little bit more humble. But a lot of them already have a church and don't want to wake up at 9 to walk 40 minutes to our church, when they have "St. Whoevers" Church 2 minutes away. Not a lot of the people there have cars, or cars they are willing to drive to Church.

And EVERY body in the world has already been Catholic sprinkled, none of them believe that we need to be baptized by Immersion. We are going to have to start pulling the "Catholic Church has not Authority" card.

So for a few days this week we tried working in a neighborhood that is closer to the Church and has more money:

We taught a od widowed lady, She was SUPER Catholic. When gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read it she went on this HUGE 15 minute rant on how she not going to join any other Church because no other Church worships "Our Lord, Saint Mary, the mother of Jesus". Talk about having patience, she went on forever, and it would have been so easy to turn that situation into contention, but that would not be good.

We tracked this very, very nice house, the dad of the family invited us in. He is a judge and makes a a lot of money. His name is João (John). His son is  going to Law school and his name is also João. We taught the father and son about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they agreed to consider Baptism after coming to Church. They came to church and could only stay for the first two hours, which were Elders quorum and Gospel Principles. The topic in Elders quorum was the Teachings of the Prophets about BAPTISM! They discussed the proper way to baptize and why we need baptism, and who needs it. It was awesome. Hopefully they are willing to be baptized now, we are going top eat Lunch with them on Saturday, so we shall see them. 

The other Elders had a baptism on Saturday, but he did not show up to Church on Sunday to be confirmed.

This week was pretty good we did some good teaching and inviting. The World Cup finally ended, we ended up watching the Final game with some Brazilians, there was not any body to teach because the Final game is another where the entire Brazil, not to mention the world watches. Brazil's team got spanked by Germany. But for the Final most of the Brasilians wanted Germany to win because they still hate Argentina more.

This weeks tasty snacks where a Ferrero Rocher Milkshake and a Nutella MilkShake.

Love, Elder Gibb

July 7, 2014 Cuiaba

Brasil did win their last game, now they only have to win two more to win the cup, but their best player, Naymar is out for injury, so it will not be easy for them. The United States qualified for the finals but they were beat by Belgium, they were missing some players from their team for injury too. The star player for the US plays for the Seattle sounders. The US team also has the best Goalie in the World.

It is good Corbin is helping. Hopefully he learns to eat different kinds of foods. The strangest thing I have eaten so far is pig skins. They are really chewy and still have the hair on them.

I hope that MRHS just gets a teacher that is good as Monty or Foz.

I don't really need a ton of US stuff.  If  I needed things from the US they would probably be more deodorant and drymax socks. I am afraid that my socks will wear out, by they are holding well to far. I for sure. will run out of deodorant. Oh and for sure some peanut butter cups and peanut butter M&Ms

To do laundry we have small washing machine. It is not the most efficient in the world, but it gets the job done. To help keep my shirts white I soak them in detergent water for a day and them wash them. Then I have soap bar thing which a scrub on the collars or where ever to help too. Them we have two drying racks in our kitchen.

I'll get picture of the apartment probably after the game tomorrow, when I mop and sweep the house.

This week was pretty normal, the other Elders did not some to church this week because one had really bad diarrhea and vomiting.

Sacrament meeting ended after 50 minutes because we don't really have that many people in our ward to do testimonies.

We finally got our own copy of the ward member list, now we cant sort through all of the members in our area who are less active and start working with them.

We did not have any investigators at Church with us this week, they all say they will go, but they don't. Some things never change.

This week's snack adventure was Kinder Egg flavored milk shakes, yes it exists. Very tasty. Also they have a store here where I can buy kinder eggs for 4R$ or 2 dollars.

Our area is generally a rich area, we can teach in the rich areas, it is a little more difficult to get into the home but its still possible.  If we want to teach a lot of lessons we go to the poor areas. The poor neighborhoods are very interesting, they have dirt roads and the sewage from some home flows wherever it likes. The people in those neighborhoods are just about as open as the people in the rich neighborhoods, but they are typically more friendly and less busy. The really challenge that people in Brasil have is commitment, they say they will do something, but it usually does not happen.

To get to the poorer neighborhoods we have to walk through the College Campus. Which have  a TON of cats living on it. And in Cuiaba, I am pretty sure all of the cats are related. Typically the cats come in 4 types. black (like Toby), black and white tuxedo (like domino), Siamese (like Simone) or calico. They are deviations, but not too often.

Love, Elder Gibb

June 30, 2014 - Someone Call for an Ambulance?

An old Ambulance out side of our house. It is Cuiabá, Walking Dead Edition

It is weird not having a 4th of July, but every time Brazil Scores (in the world cup) there are fireworks.  This last game was real crazy, it was a super close game between Brazil and Chile.  They tied all the way through overtime, and then went to a penalty shoot-out, at that point entire Cuiaba was cheering and screaming, and as many firework as they had, Brazil must have ended up winning.

It had been "cold"  in Cuiaba the past few days, it feels good to have a change, something other than the burning sun.

This week  ate a Churro filled with hot fudge.

June 23 - Visitors from Hawaii

Greetings from Cuiaba.

This week was pretty good.  A lot of world cup going on. We had 1 day last week where we had to stay inside for a Brasil Game. After 4 o'clock today we will have to be inside our apartments. 

Branco and his wife from Haiti. After they came to church we taught them the restoration. That believed most of it, but Branco had a difficult time with the first vision. He has heard somewhere that the Bible says that nobody can see God. We told him to try reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. This week we see if he has.

There are a lot of less actives in this ward to want to start working with, but the ward secretary is super busy, so we are struggling to get a list.

Its's hard to get a lot of work done here. Studies takes up 8 to 11 o clock. And walking to eating and walking back from lunch takes until about 1 or 2 o clock some days. The sun goes down at 6 here and it is to sketchy so go into some neighbor hoods after dark. So we try and schedule our lessons at the end of the day and we do our finding activities during the daylight hours.

We had an american family from Hawaii with us at church, we helped them out with church and some translation. It is strange speaking English with people who are not missionaries.

This week we ate at a  Churrascaria Rodizio, AKA Brazilian style BBQ. It was super good. It was basically the same thing as the Brazilian Grills in the States. The quality was not quite as good. The salad bar is minimal, but the desserts are included. Some of the meat was a bit burnt and the cuts are not as good but they still had good flavor and were very tasty. They had the people who come around with the skewers of meat just like in the states.  Per person to eat there  is only 12 Rais. Which is about 6 US dollars. So it is good cheap.

Rais, Brazilian money, said like"Hey-eyes"

We also went to this place called the "Camêlo". They have a lot of weird imported perfumes and fake stuff from China. The Camêlo consists of a bunch of 5 by 5 food stands in a warehouse that is just packed full of the little stores, and each little story is packed pull of clothes or electronics or stuff made in china or bags or what ever. I bought myself a fake Brazil Jersey for Cheap, only 35 Rais or about 17.50 US. Which is good considering real "official shirts" for the team are like 90 up to 200+ Rais. 

  Love, Elder Nolan Gibb 

June 16 - Starting to Tan

I am starting to tan and I am using sunscreen, I have only been sunburned on my nose and the back of my legs. Because we wear long pants 6 days a week my legs are whiter than my arms.

The world cup started in Brazil. We end up watching a few games. We are not really supposed to, but it is on when we go to Church members homes for lunch, for we kind of have to.  I have watched more world cup in the last week then my entire life. For Brazil games we have to me inside our apartments. But you can tell when Brazil scores, because we can hear all of our neighbors yell "GOOOOOLLLL" and the entire city shoots off fireworks. I really hope Brazil doesn't  lose, I am afraid of would would happen, not to me, just in general. 

I promise I will send pictures next week. Brazil is just different.

I don't know our address, but we live in the Neighborhood called "Boa Esperança"

For practice shipping, some peanut butter M&M would be a good test subject. I don't really need anything at the moment. They have normal M&M but not peanut butter.

My companion is Elder Watchman, he played foot ball for University of Utah. He is from Bountiful Utah. He only waited for 2 transfers in Billings Montana. He had been out for about a year and 3 months, I think.

We finally got some investigators to church. Blanco and his woman (they are not married, but living together so they can't be baptized yet) Marie. They are from Haiti. Blanco speaks more English and Spanish then he does Portuguese, so we teach him in all 3. She only speaks French but understand some Portuguese, so we are trying to  more French reading for her.

June 9, 2014 And then there were two

Bomdia,

This week we finally are down to a normal companionsship of two Elders. Our apartment was way to small. The compainion that left was one who liked to play League of Legends on P-Day. Talk about tempation.

Now all we have is  me and Elder Watchman. 

World Cup starts this week, The first game in Cuiabá is on the 13th.  (Me thinks) and the day they are having game we have to be back into our apartment at 5:30. We are not allowed to watch any games, but who knows what the other missionaries will do.

Is sooo hot here. And we walk a lot. We do a lot of sweating. I am trying to drink as much water as I can. We have lunch with members. After walking between 20 to 45+ minutes to their house they always give us soda, and I just want water.  Speaking of soda, I am not tired of Guaraná yet, I am tired of Coca-Cola, EVERY body drinks Coke here. I like Pespi more then Coke and Guaraná more then all. Lots of people also drink juices, fresh made mango juice is just about the best thing in the world.

I did cut my hair, I borrowed some clippers from a member. The biggest number guard was 4, so that's what my hair is now. I also cut my companions hair. I messed up a bit on his hair, but not too much.

Finally, I have my own debit card. I don't have to worry about a companion mixing up money or spending my food money. I did have to register with the police. That all said and done. They gave me an identification card to carry around. I don't have to take my passport with me anywhere.

Our stake and the stake next door did a Mormon Helping Hands or  Mãos que ajudam to clean up a park in Cuiabá. Alot of missionaries went. We did not get any yellow T-shirts, but that is ok. President Reber didn´t do any work, he basically showed up and talked to people and took pictures.

I spoke in sacrament meeting for 5 min yesterday, about the importance of studing the scritpures. I did not get any "good job" comments from the members or anything. The missionaires said that my talk made sense and that it sounded good.

Love, Elder Gibb

June 2, 2014 - Coxipó is said like "Co - she - po"

I don't have any pictures right now, I am  not quite brave enough to bring my camera outside of the apartment. We are at a "lan house" right now, which is just a really nice internet cafe with lot's of video games. Don't worry, I will not play them. (Emphesis on the "I")

My portuguese is coming back just fine, it is a bit tricky to understand some of the natives, they have some heavy accents.

The members here are really great and very supportive of the missionaries. We have an Almoço (lunch) every day. They cook very well. We always have rice and beans and soda pop, usually Coca Cola or Guaraná. 

We have a ward (not a branch). We just got a new bishop this week.

I am already starting to lose weight, we do alot of walking. And also, the big meal is lunch and I can't eat as much that early in the day. The heat and exercise also act as appetite suppressant.

Right now I have two companions, Elder Watchman and Elder França. They are nice. 

Elder Watchman is from Utah and Elder França is from São Paulo.

Our apartment is way to small for 3 Elders, one of them will be leaving soon. Our apartment may be small, but it is nice. We have a microwave, fridge, and a big gas stove/oven. The shower head that makes warm water is broken, so it is only cold showers for us. That is fine, because it is always hot, and I have gotten used to the cold water. Our sink has a filter on it, so we can have good water whenever. And the people here all drink filtered water or soda. The best thing about our apartment is that we have an AIR CONDITIONING unit in our bedroom. I was very pleased to find this out. Very few mission apartments have them.

The culture of the mission here is a bit difference, most Elders don't feel the same way about working hard and being obedient as they do in the states. The missionaries here are good at teaching lessons though, so they have their strengths. 

It´s really hot there, like really, really hot. I am getting used to it, but WOW it is hot.

The senior missionaries had to wait for their VISAs at home for a few months. They are really nice. They will be a big help to the mission and the mission president. They did not go to the MTC,

Coxipó is said like "Co - she - po" 

I don;t know our address. But we kind of live by "3 Américas".

Well, I am going to get off  for now, save my internet cafe money so I can have more for next week

Love, Elder Gibb

ARRIVED CUIABA!!!

The people in the Mission Office said that I could have 10 minutes to write and say that I am alive.

I am alive and well. I don't really have a ton to say. The mission president and his wife seem very nice, they took all the new missionaries to lunch. 

The Mission President and his wife pick us from from the airport, the Cuiabá airport was not extremely big.

Coxipó is my first area, it is about 20 minutes away from the mission office and is a neighborhood in Cuiabá.

Good news! Soccer (futebol) is not outlawed in my mission. And they do have peanut butter that I can buy, but is is like 20 reais a pop, so like $9 or $10 American dollars.

The president said that we came in on a good day and it is not to9 hot. 

Here we don´t flush our toilet paper down the toilet. We put in a little trash bin next to the toilet. Basically all of Brazil is like this.

Finally here!

With President and Sister Reber

May 21 - At the Brazil MTC

Thanks for the B-Day card, that was a nice suprise.

 

Yeah, so our P-Day is today, Wednesday, but we are not going to the temple. The Area President for Brazil shut down São Paulo because the "bus system for São Pualo shut down and there is supposed to be riots" so no missionaries in whole São Pualo can´t leave the campus today. That also means no shopping, I wanted to go out and buy some tasty Brazilian candy.

 

I really have not heard much about getting to Cuiabá, I think they will be flying me in and I think I leave on Tuesday.

 

The food here is alot better then Provo, we are still allowed to eat as much as we want. Is is all "ethnic food".

Typically Breakfat or Desjejum consists of fruit, cereal, and panini grilled sandwiches. Kind of strange. And I was really liking the sandwiches, they kind of get old after eating them for 8 mornings straight. And the Brazilians call them "sandwiches", the same word in English, but with a heavy Portuguese accent.

Lunch (Almoço) and Dinner (Juntar) are more or less the same meals. We typically have some kind of protein for the main dish, like chicken or a pork chop thing, with some link of mash potato or corn starch thing. They also have a salad and fruit bar. And they always have rice and beans, always. For drinking  they have lots of different kinds of juice I had never had before. They also have Guaraná on tap.

Overall it is pretty tasty. My stomach has had to do a bit of adjusting. Not to bad. 

We like to sit with the Brasileiros (Brazilians) so we can talk to them. I can understand most of what they say if they don´t talk too fast. Some time I am able to pick up on what they are saying and give a funny comment or two.

 

My companion is Elder Sharp, he is a good missionary. He is also really funny. He also looks exactly like Incredi-Boy or Syndrome from the Incredibles.

 

We have 6 people in our room, 4 North American Elders, 1 from Capo Verde and and 1 from São Paulo. The other two elders don´t really speak English so we have to talk Portuguese to them. It is good practice.

 

This week we did "Prosilitismo", we took the São Paulo bus system to the "Theater Municipal" (google it), where we we street contacted people and tried placing books of Mormon. It was alot of fun, the people are a bit tricky to understand. We ended up giving away two book of Mormons. and having a prayer with a really drunk, really high man. São Paulo is totally nuts, like really crazy. I don´t know if they have street view for the Teatro Municipal, but worth looking at.

 

São Paulo is HUGE, like really Huge, the sky scrapers go to the horizon way bigger then any city in the US.

I am doing pretty good.

Love you all!

- Elder Gibb

May 14, 2014 - 20th Birthday.

Birthday and First day at Brazil MTC with President and Sister Swensen. 

I made it to the Sao Paulo MTC!

São Paulo is absolutely nuts. It is soooo big. It is a lot of big buildings and a lot of ghetto stuff.

There are so many cars and motorcycles. Going from the Airport to the MTC, I swear we were going to get in an accident 3 or 4 times.

The 9 hour flight was a drag. I couldn't get into a comfy position to fall asleep in, thus I am super tired today. The flight was delayed about an hour because one of the pilots did not show up.

The weather is fantastic here. All windows open, all the time. Not too hot, cold or humid. The view from our room is super cool, I´ll send a picture on Monday.

We have not had a meal here yet.

 

Love, Elder Gibb

May 12, 2014 - Pictures for mom

Making a mother's day gift on p-day

May 5. 2014 Elder Anderson

I don't need anything. Were you able to get your hands on the Lindsey Stirling Deluxe album? 

I did send Arden a Birthday Card, I did not get the picture from your phone.

I will probably have to end up Skyping on Sunday for Mother's Day, I will see if we can use some iPads or something. I will want to make a Skype, when you get it made you will want to email me your Skype name so I can find you. If all else fails I will just call and we will set up a way to video from there.

We should be getting a third missionary tomorrow, nobody is really sure. This last week had been a mess for mission leadership. The president was out of town for a while and Elder Anderson came to town. No other Elders that I know of are leaving the mission to Brazil with me. Elder Gillespie is staying in this area. Not even the zone leaders are totally sure on transfers.

I don't know when I will be heading to the airport,. If nobody tells me I probably end up calling President.

I forgot my card reader, hopefully someone has one I can borrow for a moment. I am just worried about some of my less-handsome pictures ending up on facebook.

Arden had told me much about prom and Mormon prom, I got the prom pictures. Arden looks really good.

This week was a pretty good week. On Friday everyone got a call from the Assistant's saying that Elder Pieper, Elder Matinez, Elder Parker (from the 70) and Elder Anderson (yeah, the apostle) would be coming to talk to the Missionaries on Saturday. So the Mission got scrambled together on Saturday at the Knightdale building. Get got to shake hands with and be taught by 3 70's and a Member of the Twelve. Elder Anderson shared some enlightening things on serving in the South and how they assign missionaries. He also told us to use the Book of Mormon to convert people. Nothing extremely revolutionary, but still very good. I learned a lot.

Other then Elder Anderson coming, this week was pretty normal.

Sorry about ranting about Sister Missionaries last week. I was just a little jealous because they are just better at doing missionary work.

Today for Preparation day we are planning to go to Duke Gardens and the Duke Chapel and Q-Shack. We have a part-member family feeding us fajitas for Cinco de Mayo. 

Love Elder Gibb

April 14

This week was pretty normal. We did a lot of bike riding, about 22 miles on Friday. Nobody was home. Good stuff. I have a bit of a watch tan, no sunburns. 

The "Assistants to the President" asked for our apartment address, they are the ones who take the Visa Waiters to the airport. Its coming soon!

So based on my observations, I got into this mission 1 week after the transfer from Brazil was supposed to be, so assuming nothing changes the next transfer from Brazil would be 1 week after our (NC) next transfer, which would be May 13, 1 week after May 6 ......

Elder "Sherlock Holmes" in the House?

- Elder Gibb

February 17, 2014 - Now in Chapel Hill NC

Greetings,

I was transferred to the Chapel Hill 2nd Ward/Area.

Chapel Hill is a nice area. We have part of the UNC campus in our area. We had a lot of snow on Thursday and Friday.

We have lots of different people that we teach. There is even a Brazilian Recent convert I can practice Portuguese with, his name is Allan. He is 28.  He has lived in the states since November.

We also have a lot of Burmese (people from Burma) that we teach. They don't understand too much English, so it is hard to teach them. They also have almost no Burmese reading materials. No Book of Mormon. No church website, no General Conference.

My new companion is Elder Gillespie.

Love,  Elder Gibb

Transfer Tomorrow

I am a excited and nervous. Don't know where I am going. It is fun being the "new guy" though.

We had a big snowball fight between us and the Spanish elders. It was an enjoyable time.

 

This week was pretty normal. Just starting to back so I can go to a different part of "Norf" Carolina. Hopefully I will find my visa there.   :D

Mom keeps sending me too much candy. I am starting to get fat. Oh well. It will just fall off in Brazil.

 

Snow

The things in the box are great, I like all of it. I like the applets more then the cotlets though.

I am going to ask that you limit your future boxes to small boxes. Anything more then a small box is just too stuff.

 

Yeah it snowed last week, we had almost 3 inches. I havn't been to the temple circa September.

I am glad you had a nice super bowl party.

This week was a pretty normal week. Except the snow.

Leave it to the Seahawks to win when I am not around.

Another Elder in my MTC district got his Visa. -_-

I like the photos of the kids Seahawks shirts. I kind of get to rub in win in everyones faces. Although I don't, because I am a missionary, and I don't really like football anyway.

Just waitin' for the visa to come through.