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

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