Argentina - Santa Elena pics #23

"P-day" (=preparation day)

Companions: Hermanas Garcia y Gibbons

"I love my companion and my spanish has just shot through the roof with her. I still have a lot to learn, but I can teach a little clearer and I love that I can share my experiences with more clarity now!"

"Best P-day ever!...mountain biking in La Paz, it was so beautiful and way fun to ride..."

Argentina - Santa Elena Letter #23

From: Amanda Gibbons
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 8:32 AM
Subject: Goodies!

Hey Family,
Ok so I have to tell you the most Amazing experience. So we have been talking with Jorge fariás, he is the Only one in his family of 8 that was not baptized. I think he doesn’t understand how to feel the spirit or exactly when he receives an answer. We asked him if he would Fast with us to receive an answer. He agreed and wrote his purpose for fasting on a piece of paper. We went to his house Saturday to start the Fast off with a prayer together and he agreed to come to church as well. A blessing! he came, because his humble father was called to be 2nd counselor in the ward! Wow, what a perfect calling for him. Then we went to his house to break the Fast and eat lunch. We asked him after how he felt, still he was a little doubtful, like 'I felt good', nothing more. I had no idea what to say, but my heart began to pound so hard and I knew that the spirit was telling me to open my mouth. So I did, and words and thoughts came. I asked him if he trusted his father (they are a really, really close family). Then I said “do you believe that your father has the authority that he says he has, or is your father a liar?” He was a little dumbfounded and said, great question. He thought for a second and said, yes I believe that he has this authority.
I then began to explain that this means that Joseph Smith received this authority, therefore, was a prophet, and this church is the true and only church of Jesus Christ. That we have the authority to baptize which is a commandment you know you need to follow. Right now, you are rejecting Christ, your savior and redeemer. Wow, ya those definitely were not my words! It was so awesome, we pulled out an invitation for his own baptism and he wrote down his fecha(date), 31 de Julio!
I have no doubt that through the power of the spirit our Brothers and sisters can come to know the gospel. I am so grateful that the Lord is using me as an instrument in his hands. I know that only through him I am able to speak to these people boldly and with power. Read D & C 88 :81 and then think about this. You would warn your neighbor of a Fire or if you knew something bad was going to happen. Then why do we have fear to warn them about the salvation of their soul. The life after this life is SO much longer then this life. Do you really want your neighbors and friends to suffer when you Could have saved them?
I love you Brothers and sisters and I hope you are all reading and praying and remembering what truly is important in this life (Alma 37:36) . Thank you for your prayers and for your examples in my life! I love you all.
Love,
Hermana Gibbons

Uncle Marc- I wanted to thank you for your service in the Navy. I was reading in Alma 43:26,30,45-47 and i couldn't help but think of you! Thank you for doing what you can to protect our rights and our religious freedom. I feel so proud to have you as my uncle. Not only did you serve a mission, in my same mission, fighting against Satan, but you are now out fighting against those that would try to destroy our freedom. I love you so much and I hope you are doing so well. I would love to hear how you are doing and I am praying for you!

Tanner-love you and its good to her you are working so hard! I receive dear elder way faster than anything else!

Steph- I miss you and I hope your baby is still doing ok. I pray for you a lot, you have been on my mind. Know that I love you and I'm asking for angels to watch over you!

Mandy's Testimony in Espanol

Argentina - Santa Elena Letter #22

From: Amanda Gibbons
Sent: Monday, July 05, 2010 7:34 AM
To: Bonnie Gibbons
Subject: Argentine Goodies!

Hola!
So I love being a missionary. I don’t know why the lord decided to bless me with this opportunity to see miracles, but here I am! I’ve been a little down this past week. I think it’s because of the change of pace with the work, or just working with a different companion all together. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my new comp. Hermana Garcia is an example of charity and service. I have never seen someone so interested in the lives of those around her. She listens and follows the spirit on what they need to be taught. I just felt like I wasn’t doing everything I could, but I didn’t know what to change. I decided instead of trying to figure it out for myself, I should get on my knees and ask the one who knows everything. One thing I have definitely learned on my mission is to rely on him. How easily we forget to do that!
Ok so this is what happened. We have been teaching this group of 5 boys for like 3 weeks and everytime we teach them they listen and there is this desire in their eyes to learn more. But when they are all together it’s hard to see who is ready and who is progressing. So we decided to get individual appts. The first was with Maxi, we have been working the longest with him. He is reading but refuses to pray. I was strongly prompted by the spirit to drop him, which I had no desire to do. But there was no way I could deny that impression. We dropped him and guess what, the Lord blesses us when we follow his guidance. The next day, we had a meeting with his friend Nico. He told us he loves talking with us about Christ and wants to go to church! He is the one who is ready to be taught. Also, we were reacquainted with one of our old investigators, Miguel Rossie! We came to his house, he said ok lets pray! Then in his pray he said he knows that this is the true church, which is amazing because his problem before was that he wanted to be both Catholic and Mormon, ha doesn’t really work that way. We now just need to help him quit smoking!
We are going to have a baptism this weekend as well. Alexi Alvarez, the son of my recent converts, Betty and Salustiano, has reaccepted another date for baptism. He is so ready. He loves to go to church and he shows us what he reads in the book of mormon with all the pictures!
What wonderful miracles we can see in this life! All we have to do is remember that we are nothing without Christ. Right now I am fasting from English! Ha, it has been interesting. My companion has woken up to me talking in my sleep in Spanish! And I am really learning a lot! I love this time here and I know as we humble ourselves we can receive guidance from the spirit, which means we make ourselves available to receive blessings! I love you all and I hope this letter helps someone this week! Thank you for your prayers and for taking care of my mommy and daddy while I am away!
Keep pushing forward!
Love Hermana Gibbons

Argentina - Santa Elena Letter #21

From: Amanda Gibbons
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2010 9:14 AM
To: Bonnie Gibbons
Subject: Hope helps you conquer discouragement

HOLA MI FAMILIA!!!
Wow so guess what! I have a new companion! She is awesome! Hermana Garcia is from Paraguay and just hit her 9 month mark in the misión! She is the sweetest thing ever! Seriously, just loves everyone no matter what! I am still in Santa Elena and so i´m kind of the leader! It´s so wierd because i am so used to just following Hna. Redfern everywhere, i never had to think about what we were going to do next, expecially if one of our citas fell through! It is definitely a learning experience and something i need to do. We are companions which implies we work together, not just tag along with one another.
So I have begun an English Fast, there is no point to talk in english since no one understands me and i know that it will help my spanish skills a ton! I am pretty excited about it and amazed at how much i have learned! I know this is only because i am trusting in my savior, cause really without him, I am nothing!
We are still working with the Familia Bazón, Maria and Roberto and their 3 kids! Maria and her daughter Romina came to church Sunday and absolutely loved it!! And just last night a miracle happened. Roberto Works in Rosario, so he is only here for the weekends and really has only recieved one lesson and some random visits from us. But he told us last night when he prayed, he recieved a feeling so strong that he Could not deny that th eBook of Mormón IS the Word of God, that it is true! They both accepted a baptisimal date for 24 of July! Oh this family is so Amazing!
I feel so truely blessed to be here and to feel so much love for these people! I didn´t know that I would want something so badly for someone else. We have another investigador, Rocio and her mom, Carolina, they both want to get baptized, but thier dad/husband refuses to allow them to do it. Please pray that his heart will be softened and he will understand the importance of this covenant. They were both crying because they know they need this in their lives. They said they are going to try to show him with their actions, praying, reading the scriptures, and going to church. My heart hurts for them and i know the only source of comfort is through pray.
I know that your prayers are heard and that you can relieve comfort from them! I love this work and i’m trying to Humble myself so that the spirit can work through me. I pray for your well being, physically and spiritually! I love you all.
Love Hermana Gibbons

Tanner: I just read that Autum got baptzed! Oh my goodness, what a blessing!! I hope the rest of your family is doing well! Tell Chelle that she is amazing! Miss you tons! I love you!

Argentina - Santa Elena Letter #20

From: Amanda Gibbons
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2010 7:53 AM
Subject: Oh ya!

Hey Everyone!
I love the work of the Lord! We have met some amazing people in this last week. When you put a little effort and talk to the person walking next to you, miracles happen! We tried to put on an activity this weekend and we wanted it to be really good! We passed out flyers and had the whole ward helping out. We wanted to show the movie Charly(so sad, but way good!), but we needed to make money to rent a projector! So we made Pasta Froula (a type of cake!) and each of the kids were supposed to have one person that was going to buy them! 1st problem, there is no gas, and all the ovens and stoves are operated by gas! Ha so at first we had no place to cook them, luckily we have the church! 2nd problem, the day we did it was a huge thing in the schools for all the kids! So no one showed up to sell them and as missionaries we can´t! ha, but the lord provides and 3 girls showed up and sold almost all of them for us. We were really scared that we wouldn´t have enough money, but we had exactly what we needed! In all seriousness, not a penny (peso) more or less! The lord always provides!
We had a baptism this Saturday, the daughter of Betty and Salustiano, Celina! She is 15 and was so excited! Her little brother Alexi was also going to be baptized, but he came that day and said he would go to church every week if we didn´t make him get baptized. We don´t know what changed because he was so so excited, but all of his family members are in the church and are strong. So with time he´ll understand the importance!
Ok, everyone should read Alma 5! It has some questions that we should all ask ourselves. Are you prepared to meet God? Will you look into his eyes in the final day with joy, or in shame will you hid your eyes? Oh, and what does it mean to have his image in your countenance? I love my savior, and everyday and everytime I testify, I realize how much I need him, how lost we would be without him. Make sure we are giving thanks to him for all he has done! I love you all!
Love Hermana Gibbons

Argentina - Santa Elena Letter #19

From: Amanda Gibbons
Sent: Monday, June 14, 2010 9:50 AM
To: Bonnie Gibbons; Vince Gibbons
Subject: more goodies!

Hey all of you back home!!
So this has been a week of highs and way lows! My poor comp. Had a really bad day. We have been traveling a lot the past 3 weeks, zone conferences and tarde del milagros (we go to another area and work there so they can encounter a ton of new peple). We have slept on the floors, in buses and woken up way early and gone to bed way late. We’re a little off and also it makes it hard to get some good work done in our area. Anyways, after all this we forgot to set the alarm and woke up at 8:45 and for all you RM’s out there, thats pretty late! So we started out frantic, got our Studies done, but Hermana Redfern was not Feeling it. She said it was the first time in a long time that she has really just wanted to be home. In was pouring outside, the World cup game (ARG vs. NIG) was going on so the streets were even more deserted, and everything just kept falling through. Needless to say, it was a rough day! BUT we went and did! We worked when all we wanted was to be in homes with our friends and family! Because of this we saw miracles.
Our branch is still trying to learn how to be more unified, and we had a really fun activity! WE played the game signs, which is like one of my favorites to play! And they loved it and just had so much fun together. Also one of our investigators, Maria, told us that she was talking with her husband, and they love when we come. They feel good and know that we are here to help them. The next day she told us she prayed and read and knows that what we are teaching is true!!! Seriously, what a wonderful thing it is to hear when someone does their homework and has a testimony that these things are true!! Also, her husband let me help to uproot their tree! Ha it was a sight to see, me in a skirt with a shovel and an ax! Ha it was so much fun!! I love doing work like that and it was Amazing he let me help, men usually won’t let women here do work like that! Ha I loved it and so did their family! They got some Pictures of it, so i’ll try to send those next time!
MOSIAH 24:11-17 Remember to always pray even if you feel you are in a place that you can’t. If you let it, the spirit can always be with you. These people were told they would be put in prison if they prayed, so they prayed in their hearts because they knew it was that important. Also remember the Lord loves us, so he gives us trials. They help us grow and become more like him. Sometimes they feel like they last forever, but with god he wil ease our burdens, so we cannot feel them, strengthen, and so many other things. We’ll still have trials, but we can be happy through them! In verse 17, these people are freed. We must endure to the end, because the end is so important!
I love you all and I love this work! Please pray for the missionaries in the World! We need them, they give us strength and soften the hearts of our brethren!
Keep the faith!
Love Hermana Gibbons

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Aunt Stacie, Jordan, and Allison!!! I love you all so much and wish you Could hear me sing in my oh so high pitched voice singing happy birthday to you!! I hope they were the best days ever!

Uncle Marc: I’m not supposed to email anyone but my parents, sisters, and grandparents, but i really would like to keep in touch. So i’m asking my president for and exception. I hope you are doing well!! Te amo mucho y Argentina es el mejor! No puedo esperar a compartir todas nuestras historias juntos!!!

Linda Wilder: I would love to have you put together a scrapbook! I’ll be sending all my Pictures to my mom soon! So maybe you two can talk and get those all together! Yo are so sweet and i hope you are still Reading the book of mormon! I promise it is what you have been missing. It will make your life even better! Love you!