Argentina - Rafaela #44

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amanda Gibbons

Date: Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 11:43 AM
Subject: rapido!
To: Bonnie Gibbons


Wow, so I had so much fun writing my mom this week that I don't have much time to write a letter!  I love my new area, its way beautiful!  It’s basically like I have come to open an area, but there is a branch here and they are pretty strong!  My mission leader is a professional soccer player and is so gung-ho for the work, he was the first one to be baptized in his family and he and his wife both served missions!  My comp is awesome Hna. Mitchell and she does not speak Spanish....basically nothing, but she is awesome and we work really well together!  She is from Utah and likes the ninja turtles too! Hehe, we've got a lot in common and we can't wait to see whets going to happen here in Rafaela!  The members are awesome and just want to help us out, it’s crazy there are 4 hermanas in one branch!  Our apartment isn’t bad, back to a bucket shower, no a/c, bunk beds, kitchen, some bugs (not as bad as others)!  (I asked Mandy/Hermana Gibbons how her Spanish is coming, she replied,)  my Spanish still needs work, but man I just pray I can always understand what they are saying!  Sometimes I am worried I don't exactly get what they want to say!  So glad for the spirit!

   The other sisters are going to have a baptism on Tuesday and today we get to go visit a friend of a member!  She is coming with us!  I am really excited!  I love this gospel and I sometimes don't understand why God trusts me with some things, but we just got to get out and work!  I love you all and I hope you are helping out the missionaries in your ward!  It’s hard to be away from home and not know anyone!  I love you all!  Keep the faith!

--

Con amor,

  Hermana Gibbons

Argentina - Entre Rios #43

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amanda Gibbons

Ha-Ha!  I get it!!!  "Attention Machines at Work"!

Date: Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 7:49 AM
Subject: Transfers!
To: Bonnie Gibbons

Hey everyone!!!

   So ya, it is transfer week and surprise, surprise...I am once again packing up and moving!!!  I think I might be a little too crazy to be kept in one area for too long or something!  I am both sad and excited!  Sad because we have soooo many people here who are progressing and we have a baptism this weekend that I won't get to see!  But the most important thing is she is getting baptized!  Oh man, she is a daughter of a less active family and it was a MIRACLE that they came to church this week.  Hermana Hansen has been inviting them to come for 3 months and they finally came!!! Oh it was soooo good to see them there!  They are really an awesome family and they have big desires to serve God, they just need to get their booties back in church!!  Ha, Milagros is 9 years old and so excited for her baptism!  We had another miracle this week!  So here, when someone moves, it’s almost impossible to find them again!!  People give you directions like...They live over there next to the supermarket...or in the other neighborhood... most people don't have phones either, but Christian came back home and he is doing so good!!!!!!!  He is a miracle all in itself, he has a lot of problems with drugs and in his family, but he is working through them and going strong! So many wonderful things happened this week!  Carlos Aguirre was baptized by his younger brother.  It was so perfect, a whole family of converts, changing, growing and trying to be better!  Carlos is a very intelligent kid who knows that God exists and that God will bless him if he keeps his commandments and helps others!  He has no fear to share with others that he is a member and that he has made the greatest decision of his life!!!  

  Also, Fernando, the guy who was baptized just before Christmas, wow, can you say spiritual GIANT!!  He goes out, drinks his matè with his friends and shares scriptures, stories from the Liahona (a magazine put out by the church, like the Ensign) and introduces us, the missionaries to all of them! He knows that this gospel is what changes lives, what saves lives and for that reason, he wants all of his friends to have it as well!

  Ok so I am off to Rafaela and my comps name is Hermana Mitchell.  I will be senior companion, and I will be doing a whitewash!!!!!!  I am a little nervous, but I’ll just do what I can!  Work and trust in the Lord.  Pray for me! First that I can pack again (man I hate packing) and then that I will be an instrument in God’s hands! I love you all, keep going strong and have you read this month’s ensign???  There is a talk in there by Elder Oaks that he gave to students at Harvard! http://lds.org/ensign/2011/01/fundamental-to-our-faith?lang=eng    Way good!  You should read it...ok all my friends!  Look for ways to help others, and be open to hear the promptings of spirit, he is always trying to talk to you!  Keep the faith!

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Con amor,

  Hermana Gibbons

Argentina - Entre Rios #42

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amanda Gibbons
Date: Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 9:57 AM
Subject: Goody Goody Gumdrops
To: Bonnie Gibbons

Hey hey all you fun folks back home!

   Man I can't believe how fast this week went!  It was pretty intense!  Our investigator, Antonia, was set to be baptized on Saturday, but her older daughter wouldn't be able to come...sooooo we changed it for Wednesday night!  YA, so Monday night was when she told us, we had to have to mission leader, so we had a TON to do!  We ran around calling everyone and seeing who could do what!  It was crazy, so many things just didn't look like they were going to work out, but in the end, everything went just fine!  It was a really beautiful and a really quick baptism!  She looked so happy and man she understands exactly what this means!  Antonia is just an amazing woman and Sunday she received the gift of the Holy Ghost.  I haven't seen her look so peaceful since I met her.  In the end, her daughter didn't end up coming, it was pretty sad.  She is a mother of 8 and only one of her children came.  But it didn't seem to affect her at all, she just has faith that all will turn out just fine, that this is going to help her family!

   We have been teaching Carlos Aguirre, since my first week in Concordia, he is from a family of 8 and 3 are not members.  He has listened to missionaries for over a year now and he now finally understands that he needs to be baptized, and not only that, he is super stoked!!!!  We asked him if we could announce it in church, b/c he was still a little "iffy" and he looked at us like "duh, of course you should do that"  Ha, he is very smart and going to be a much need addition to this branch! 

   Also this Sunday, Fernando, who was baptized just before Christmas, received the Aaronic priesthood!!!!  Oh man, he was pretty nervous, and still not exactly sure what it meant, but he knows that he has the opportunity to help others with this power!  He was so cute, we came over and he said, "Sisters, I fasted yesterday, because I needed Heavenly Fathers help.  He gave me the strength I needed and it was a blessing because I came across a few of my old friends who are not very good.  I was able to be an example to them!"  We then took him with us to a less active member’s house, and he bore testimony to them that they need to come back to church!!!!  This family is awesome, but keeps putting excuses in the way.  Fernando said, if you put God first, he will bless you!  So cool to see that!  His testimony has grown so much!!!

  Well, I hope you are all doing well with your goals for the New Year!  I hope that your goals include helping out the missionaries!!!  Man, we really can't do this work without you guys!!!!!  Feed the missionaries, have your house open to have investigators for Family night, or simply make a batch of cookies for a baptism!  Thank you for all of your love and for your hard work in being examples to the rest of the world!!!  Keep the Faith!

Con amor,

  Hermana Gibbons

Oh ya, I got an Argentina passport!!! I am now Argentine and American!!! So cool! hehe

Argentina - Entre Rios #41

Hermana's Gibbons y Hansen (companions)

Baptism of Fernando Dure

Elder Kaipela from our stake

Christmas PJ's

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amanda Gibbons

Date: Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 9:32 AM
Subject: MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
To: Bonnie Gibbons

Wow Time flies!!!!!!!!!!

So Christmas was so fun! Ate some waffles, watched Disney and then talked to my wonderful family!  Man if you just need to smile or need someone to talk to, head on over to my house.  It is full of open hearts, listening ears, good times, and loud crazy fun...anything you need!  I love my family!!!  Then New Years was about the same, hung out in the church and man, played soccer for 2 hours and then BBALL for 3!!! Oh man I was sore after that!  Hey dad, I still got some game in me, so be ready to play when I come home! Hehe

We saw another one of our brothers baptized, Fernando Dure and he is doing so awesome!!!  Tomorrow he will get the Aaronic Priesthood!  We have so many amazing investigators! We are working with a 21 year old drug addict, who wants nothing more than to change.  He is still having a hard time so we pushed his date back, but he is praying and has done really well, until New Years...  Cristian is amazing and we will continue to pray that he can be free of this vice.  

We are also trying to complete a family!  This family has been baptized one after the other for the last year and now only 3 are left.  Carlos Aguirre has a date for the 14th and his little brother who wouldn't talk to us at all came out yesterday and said his goal for the year is to come to church!  He wants us to come and teach him as well!  Also one of our strongest members, their daughter got married so she could get baptized but then they changed their minds.  This was over a year ago.  We talked with her and she still wants to be baptized.  She also had Lehi's dream!!! (I, Bonnie, added the link to Lehi’s dream if you are interested  http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8?lang=eng )  She was one of the people in the great and spacious building!!! Crazy, so today we are going to explain to her that she knows the truth and her family is begging her to come taste of the fruit!   

So many miracles! I love you all and I hope you have made some awesome goals for this New Year!  Great time to start over, make new friendships, fix things with people.  Don't hold a grudge, man I have seen way to many people here losing out on the blessing of God because they were offended by something someone said.  Just forgive and forget, think of Christ.  He was treated worse than any of us could imagine, but he just loved.  Love is at the root of all he does and it should be with us as well, just like Pres. Uchtdorf said!  I love you all so much!  Keep being amazing and as always KEEP THE FAITH
--

Con amor,

  Hermana Gibbons

Argentina - Entre Rios #40

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amanda Gibbons

Date: Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 9:02 AM
Subject: Feliz Navidad!
To: Bonnie Gibbons

Look out, its going to be a hot one!!  Well at least here in Argentina it will be! ha!  Man I'm getting darker and blonder everyday.  Why don't we take family pictures when I'm tan mom? hehe By the way, did you all see my family pictures?  Wow, I'm sorry but I've got a good looking family!  I have to say I am very prideful of them!  So anyways, I once again am here to say that I LOVE being a missionary and I can't think of a better gift to give my family or my Savior than to bring someone into the waters of baptism! So Thursday the 23rd Fernando Dure is getting all dressed up in white and will become clean of all his past sins.  (who said I couldn't have a white Christmas in Argentina?)  he is amazing, Fernando has had a really hard a draining life, he turned to drinking to make himself feel better or feel that he could get away for a while from his problems.  He has cleaned up and he LOVES the Book of Mormon.  He always teaches me something new!

   He had me reading in 1 Nephi 11, when Nephi sees the vision his father had!  I never noticed before, but it talks all about Christ and his birth!  Part of the Christmas story in right in this chapter!  I love how the angel explains what the tree means by telling the story of the saviors birth.  Tells of Mary, a virgin pure and lovely how she was waiting for her child to come.  then the angel asks.... 

    “Knowest thou the condescension of God?   And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.”

   then the angels shows Christ being born unto the earth, later asking

         “And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!  Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?

                             And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.”   Like it says in John 3:15, the love of God is demonstrated in the birth of Jesus Christ.  He sent his perfect son to this crazy earth, to suffer and die so we can be saved.  I hope that you realize how important you are to God.  Don't get lost in the things of the world, remember Christ always and that you have a place waiting for you in Gods mansion! 

  Keep  the faith, keep working hard and loving your family!  Never turn away from the church or from God.  That is where you will find peace, joy, comfort...and everything else you are looking for.  I love you all and I hope you have the happiest Christmas ever!

--

Con amor,

  Hermana Gibbons

Argentina - Entre Rios #39

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amanda Gibbons

Date: Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 8:23 AM
Subject: BACK TO WORK!!!!
To: Bonnie Gibbons

Hello my wonderful amazing family and friends!

  Wow can I just tell you how amazing this last week has been!  SO GOOD!  I love working!  Man every night this week I have come home exhausted and so ready to sleep and I absolutely love it!  My companion is Hermana Hansen and she is from Lehi, UT (ya basically across the highway from my aunt Stacie and uncle Todd).  She is so awesome, she only has a little bit of time left, but she is anxious to serve the Lord!  We have so much fun together and she likes to run!  Woo hoo!  We have started to go out every morning; we are excited to lose some of the “love” we have received from the members - aka food turned into chubs :)  Wow i can't even begin to tell you have happy I am right now!  I can't believe how much joy i have received from working!!!!!!!   Everyday we get out and we are obediently doing the work of the Lord!  Mom, my comp is so amazing.  She has 12 weeks left, but she is determined to work hard to the end, even though she is way excited to see her boyfriend soon!  She is from Ut, and is a mix between Georgie and steph, seriously, so extremely sweet and full of charity and also goofy and sometimes idk, like steph!  I feel so blessed to be with her!  So i am back in Entre Rios, but on the other side.  i am right by the River Uruguay and actually right on the border of Uruguay!  Pretty darn cool!  its a pretty big city, with both a centro and campo (fields)  Its perfect, i love it already.  We get up a run together and we laugh, we pray, we talk, we are trying to be better!  I love it!!!

(This is shared from mom’s letter.)  “Wow I can't even begin to tell you have happy I am right now!  I can't believe how much joy I have received from working!!!!!!!   Every day we get out and we are obediently doing the work of the Lord!  Mom, my comp is so amazing.  She has 12 weeks left, but she is determined to work hard to the end, even though she is way excited to see her boyfriend soon!  She is from UT, and is a mix between Georgie and Steph, seriously, so extremely sweet and full of charity and also goofy and sometimes idk (I don't know), like Steph!  I feel so blessed to be with her!  So I am back in Entre Rios, but on the other side.  I am right by the River Uruguay and actually right on the border of Uruguay!  Pretty darn cool!  It’s a pretty big city, with both a Centro and campo (fields) Its perfect, I love it already.  We get up a run together and we laugh, we pray, we talk; we are trying to be better!  I love it!!!”

  Anyways, we are teaching Fernando right now, he is a 35 year old man, whose greatest desire is to be baptized, he just needs to stop drinking.  He also has a fear that God won't accept his baptism b/c he hasn't been faithful all of his life.  He picked his date for 23 of December and he is so excited.  He LOVES reading the book of Mormon and its funny he'll say, hey we already read that, but I love it haha!  Pray that he will receive strength to stop drinking.  He is such a good guy!

  Then there is Luz (10) and her mom Elena, they are family of a recent convert, Frederico!  Can I just tell you this guy is amazing!  He was really hard into drugs and one time yelled at the sisters and told them never to come back.  Today, he is a different person and for that his family of 7 are all interested as well as some of his friends, which he is happily introducing us to!  Wow, 2 weeks as a member and he is already doing way more than I have ever done!  We talked about our baptismal covenants Sunday, after we have found the truth, our job or our privilege to share it with others!

   I love seeing the light of Christ work in everyone and I am so grateful that God gave everyone that gift.  This is how everyone can feel the spirit, can feel that their Heavenly Father loves them, can feel hope that they can change and be better, and receive the strength to do it!  My comp and I have took it upon ourselves to be better, we started another Purification, to change little things we do to be more in tune with the spirit, to teach with more power and authority, to be shaper instruments in the hands of the lord.  I don't want to be that hammer that has sat in my garage for years, only being used every once in a while.  I want to be in his hands and all times, I want to be molded and changed.  This takes time and effort and many times it can hurt, but the end result is always a reward of something 100 times better than what we put in!  I am so grateful for my Savior, that he has given us all a chance to be better.  What are you doing with your life to try and pay Him back for all He has done?  Helaman 5:35 (humility, put your whole heart in his care)

 I am so incredibly happy!  I love to work! I love my comp!  I love the people I have met and we are teaching and I love the tender mercies of the lord!  I love you all so much! Thank you for your support and love! I hope you are all singing Christmas carols, because no one does that here!  I love Christmas and family!!!   Keep the faith!

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Con amor,

  Hermana Gibbons

Argentina - Rosario #39

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amanda Gibbons

Date: Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 9:20 AM
Subject:
To: Bonnie Gibbons

Hey everyone,

   Wow, we are teaching the most amazing family!  Claudia, Favio, Diego, and Martin.  They just have such love in their family I can't believe they aren't members!  Favio told me yesterday that he knows we are good people and wants to be a member of our church.  He says he has known many members throughout his life and for that reason he let us come in.  You never know what your example may be for someone.

Man I am learning a ton; I have so much to do and so much to change.  My comp has a virus in her back which makes her have a ton of pain, and we can't work very much.  We already are in the house a lot because she has to come home after lunch to drink an herbal tea because she has something wrong with her liver.  … I just want to work… I want to tell more people about the gospel, I want them to be happy.  I wish I could do so much more… 

I have to go, but keep reading your scriptures and study the words of the prophet!  Keep the faith!

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Con amor,

  Hermana Gibbons