Hallo!

 

 

 

 

Greuzi miteinand!

 

I love that quote that Mom sent, President Miles actually sent that in his email to us like two weeks ago. And Dad´s was great, too! I love quotes! I saw a cool quote yesterday in a calendar: "It is not what you are called, but what you answer to." -African Proverb. Goes well with responsibility and accountability.

 

This week was pretty different! Since we can't get ahold of any of our normal investigators, and because our appointment with R_____ fell out (he got stuck at work and rescheduled for this Friday), we brought our ward list with us and went by on lots of people who are less active and/or we don't know. And we find menschen unterwegs. <-- Whoa, sorry about that. We talked with a lady who was a Jehovah´s Witness, and we gave her a Book of Mormon! That is a first for me. They are great people, but many don´t give any room for conversation. She was very nice and had never heard about our message before! We found a cool pumpkin stand, totally honor code (see picture), in the same place, which was a little dorf in the middle of nowhere. And turns out most of our addresses for members there were falsch.

 

But yeah, we met with R_____ (different from above--a woman this time), the woman Elder Hansen brought to church! And a couple from the ward was there, and it was so awesome! She fed us great food, but then I had the chance to just sit back and watch as this member bore his testimony and taught. I thought, "This is incredible! This is how it is supposed to be. And this is where it starts!" So we are excited :) We had a joint teach for R_____ (the man), too, but it fell out. So we visited a less active with the joint teach instead. He is the stake president's son, an RM of a couple years, and he is cool. He was actually on school break and wanted to come help us. I want to be that member when I get home! I want my family to be the family from the "Hastening the Work" broadcast, where they just go and live missionary work, and serve! I love that clip. Anyway, we have another appointment with R_____ (the woman) on Thursday! And she came to stake conference and loved it!

 

Okay, I am going to tell you about gestern, because there were so many miracles! It was awesome! So we start the day waking up late, because the alarms on our phones did not go off. :/ We had promised to pick up a less active sister, who lived kinda out of the way. And we woke up five minutes before our bahn left the station! Great start, eh? So we still got out there, and the first miracle was that she was still there waiting for us! She had left her phone at home, and because we were late and couldn't get ahold of her, she thought we weren't coming anymore. But she decided to wait for one more bahn, and then there we were :) Thanks Heavenly Father! So we get to stake conference 15 minutes late, not too bad, and then we get a call from a referral from a member. This guy called a member, who was listed under the church´s information in the phone book, and wanted to come to church! Turns out, when they finally showed up, it was this man and his friend, both from Pakistan. One of them can speak German, the other not so much. And their English is a bit difficult. But they came! Afterwards, I left Elder Horlacher to talk with them as I went on the search for other people. I came back, and Elder Horlacher says that they wanted someone to sponsor them to go to Salt Lake City. Well, I thought, "Great, they just want money." But they talked some more with the Bensons, and we figured out that they just wanted to join the church! Because they have a friend who is a member and he said they should join the Mormon church. And they just thought they had to go to Salt Lake for that! So, no idea where they came from or why they are here, but they want to join the church! Miracle 2. We will meet with them and figure things out. After the meeting, a family invited us to lunch, and invited the less active lady we had brought with us as well! Which is great, because the lady we picked up usually leaves very quickly when she comes to sacrament meeting! But she loved talking with the members, and she was SOOOOO happy that it was such an awesome day, that we had picked her up (with our train cards we can take one person with us on weekends, that is what I mean by picking up) and that the members had invited her! AND! She wants to come do missionary work with us :) and learn English! She is so cool :) She also has a daughter who isn't a member, who came to church when she was young, but not anymore. And her husband isn't very happy about her being in the church. We are going to try and get a good relationship going with the family and just serve how we can :) Anyway, we continue the story. We drop the sister off, and she says, "Hey, just stay on this bahn, it will go to the end station and then head back this way." So we did, instead of getting off. And what do you know?! The next station further, who do we see? L_____ :) our investigator. He was so happy to see us! He gave us his home address and HE made the appointment out with us for next Saturay, at his home! We have wanted that forever! Meeting at his work is too stressful for him and for us. Miracle 3. :) So, then we go to Charlotten platz, where we have to switch bahns, and I stop to help a man from Shanghai, who needs to get to his hotel. We helped him buy a ticket and then we rode with him to where he needed to go, along with his 3 friends/family members. He was so nice, kept saying we didn't have to come with him. He then gave me his number and name and said he would show me around Shanghai the next time I am there :) I call that miracle 4, the Lord has something in mind. Maybe one day I will end up on a trip to Shanghai, and I will call him up and he will accept the restored gospel. Who knows, haha. Then, we finally get out at Bopser, heading home. There was a young Chinese woman I noticed out of the corner of my eye. I thought maybe she needed help finding something, but then our crosswalk light turned green, and she walked in the other direction. But then, at the end of the crosswalk, I noticed her behind us again. So I stopped and asked if she needed help getting somewhere. So we helped her, and gave her our number in case she needed help again, and then we started telling her what we do, that we were missionaries. We asked why she was here, and she said she was just on vacation. Then, out of nowhere, she opened up and just said that something didn't feel right in her life, and she decided to take a break, and go and find herself. Well, I know exactly why she was there! We both bore testimony about how the BoM helped us find ourselves, and we are going to give her a BoM in Chinese tonight, because she goes back home to China in like a day. But hey, however the Lord needs her to get in contact with the missionaries and get a Book of Mormon, I will be there to do it!  Miracle 5 :) And there are always lots of awesome things that happen, little miracles. Life is wonderful! I got to send a little note to Klagenfurt with the son of Bruder Trippel, from Villach :) The son lives in my stake, in Tübingen! That is a tender mercy.

 

That was yesterday, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here! And to be part of this work! You don´t have to have a namebadge to see the wonders of everyday life. Look around and open your eyes and watch how you can see the Plan of Happiness in action. People have agency, and they use it, for good or bad. People go through hard times, or are incredibly blessed, and they learn and grow. You´ve done it, too! You are still doing it. Don´t ever stop!

 

The Lord lives and speaks to us through our prophet today, Thomas S. Monson. Obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel brings blessings. "In this there is safety and peace." Renew your committment today, right now, to be obedient with exactness, like I have. When we do so, the Lord will remove the clouds of darkness from our lives and help us to see clearly. The power of the Atonement is real. Repent, let Christ in, and move forward in faith. That is the wonderful news of the Gospel, for every single person. I know it is real, and it is true. 

 

Gottes Segen auf euch für die kommende Woche! Ich hab euch alle el lieb! Lächeln! :)

 

Elder Jalen Gibbons

 

PS Deutschland is so green! Pretty!

Missionsarbeit!!! Servus!

Picture explanation: here is the "run-off crew," who ran down the gleis

as the people on trains left :) The advantage of a train station!

 

 

Schönen guten Tag miteinand! 

 

So, Dad asked if I had ever received Justin´s package, and the answer is yes. That was like 8 weeks ago, and I swear I sent an email to Justin saying thanks. If it didn´t get to him, tell him sorry for me. :/ Crazy that they only have one more month in England! How will I ever get there?...

 

Anyway, I will let you know what is going on with our investigators. We met with D_____ and L_____ again for the first time in 2 weeks, and bascially D_____ just prached to us the whole time. We agreed with what he said of course, and tried to show him something cool called the Book of Mormon, which also contains the word of God, but he just wouldn't stop talking. So we are not going to keep going, unless we can meet with L_____ alone or unless they have a big eye-opening moment and realize that the Book of Mormon teaches the same gospel as the Bible. Read 2 Nephi 3:12, people! Haha. M_____ texted us and told us she had no time this week to meet with us. Except we ran into her at a subway stop with some friends... She also didn't come to church. K_____ texted us last Monday and said he was just too overwhelmed and everyone expected him to do everything right, and so we didn't see him this week either. And he skipped out on church again. Still haven't heard anything from D_____ (not same as "D" above) for weeks. We gave quite a few people to the International ward elders, like I said. Saturday night we called basically everyone and tried to remind them about church, and no one answered. Therefore no one came. Except, Elder Hansen from International gave a card to an older lady on the Bahn who later called him, and they brought her to our ward. She was way nice, and we have an appointment on Wednesday, but then she called Elder Hansen and asked if he was going to be at the appointment, and she said if he wasn't then she was going to cancel our appointment and find out when Elder Hansen could do it. So now we have to try and figure out how to teach someone who may or may not just like a missionary who is there. Tis frustrating work. As well with all the potentials that we found last transfer, we call them pretty often and try to set things up, but no one answers their phones. Doof. 

 

BUT!!!! Let me tell you a cool story now :) Opposition in all things, ge? On Wednesday we were on an sbahn and headed somewhere, and there was a guy that sat down next to Elder Horlacher. He was reading a magazine with a guitar on the front, and I thought, "I would totally ask him about guitars." But he was too far away from me to start a "normal" conversation (or any conversation at all). Then Elder Horlacher asked the same question, do you play the guitar? And we started talking. We walked with him up some stairs and talked about what we do--and then who do we see but N_____, the nice mom who helped us out a couple weeks ago and invited us for dinner! So we stopped her, and Elder Horlacher talked to her and I continued talking to R_____ (this man) and then we made out an appointment for Friday and he said thanks, took a BoM and left. So, we went by on Friday and had a great discussion with him! He had an awesome picture depicting the battle between good and evil, with the forces of bad in the waves of a storm-tossed sea and the forces of good in the heavens. HE thinks it is awesome, and I do too. :) He knows so much truth, he is a son of God! He just needs the restored gospel! He was raised athiest, but has long been on the search because he knows there is more there. He is actually a tattoo artist on the side, and he told us some stories behind some of his tattoos, which mostly symbolized God and His allseeing eye and also his light, in the form of a lighthouse. He even told us that yeah, the body is a temple, and he knows he has partially destroyed his already. First step, recognizing :) He is so cool. At the end we said a prayer. And after the prayer, he told us, " I want you guys to know that you are a sign for me. I´ve prayed on a few different occasions in my life for guidance from God in finding the right path. I also prayed again a couple weeks ago, and now you are here!" So Elder Horlacher and I look at each other and are amazed! We talked so much about that afterward, about how that has never happened to us before. Normally we hear someone´s story about how they came to their faith, and then we know the story about how he missionaries met them or found them, and WE know that God had His hand in it, but the person doesn''t. But this time, this man was telling us that! I like it :) We are meeting again this week. Cool thing, he is married with small daughter! Familie! :) Yay. We were very happy. And even though the weather literally rained on our parade, and we got soaked all the way through, we were happy :) Being happy is fun. 

 

We said goodbye to all the departing missionaries on Thursday. It was a weird feeling, sending some of what I look at as my "flock" away. Hope to see them again. I spent the entire day on Thursday on Banhhof, sending out pick-up parties and making sure that everyone got on their trains. And the best part was, I woke up that morning with tons of phlegm in my throat. My voice got deeper and deeper as the day went on haha. So all the goldens show up at Hbf and find one of their zone leaders who sounds like a weirdo. It´s okay, they were totally out of it. Guess what? 3 of the 5 new goldens in Stuttgart zone are from Canada. That means that all of the Canadians in the mission are in Stuttgart zone. As far as I know. Pretty cool, eh? ;) But they are all awesome. 

 

So this week, we are really looking to start getting the members involved in our work. We have tried many different things in the last few weeks to try and get the work going even faster, but we can´t do it without the members. We have been pretty slow the last few weeks, and we are tired of it. So the only way to go is up! 

 

Hey, today I want to go buy a shoulder bag, just a smaller one, because they are encouraging those now more than ever with the new dress code. Elder Nelson doesn´t like the backpack look, Sister Miles has told us. We look like students, I guess, haha. But I wanted to let you know, so you know it is me. 

 

Hey, ich hab jetzt, uh, I have a request for you! Could you send me pictures of all my friends who are on missions, so I can download them onto my thumbdrive? It is so cool to see them all wearing the same badge :) Maybe one day I will make a collage out of it. Just came to my mind. 

 

Anyway, what more can I say today? The work is true. Faith is a real power. Jesus Christ is the only sure foundation. Life is wonderful, even when it isn´t always rainbows and butterflies. Can´t buy happiness. Happiness is found in living the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of that I testify. 

 

Thanks for writing me so loyally every week! :) It gives me strength and I feel your love. Mine is coming right back at you! Thanks for all you do, and forgive me when I don´t express my gratitude and feelings as well as I should/would/could. I love you all, though! Have a great week! Keep smiling :)

 

Elder "Brother of Tyson" Gibbons ;)

 

Liebe grüße!

Remember last year, when I quoted that Green Day song, "Wake me up when September ends"? How in the world has it been a year already? I got an email from Matt Webber today, and he has only been in Korea for 3 months! And then when he wrote that I have been in Germany over a year, I got weirded out. Das verstehe ich halt überhaupt nicht! Wahnsinn. Hey, but Stuttgart geht´s gut!

 

The house looks pretty darn awesome! I will stare at it more later. Now I get to look at the Stuttgart skyline. Kind of. Depending on which U bahn I am on... It is a pretty place. Weather was pretty great this morning, a bit chilly, but okay. We went to the Rittersport factory again today :) I bought a few bars this time. There are some that can only be bought there at the factory, maybe I told you last time, but I bought one which is a bourbon vanille one. I am excited. There is no alcohol, I inspected it. Then I bought a whole almond and cocao mousse, which is one of my favorites. BUT!!!! Taco Bell was closed for labor day, the members forgot. But we went to a different base instead, and went to the food court in the BX. We ate Charly´s, which was way good. And we had like two members come up to us who had just barely moved to Germany, and they just saw us elders and said hello :) Let's just say that that doesn't happen just out on the street in Germany! We took like 5 minutes just to walk through the BX, for Elder Horlacher and I to indulge our nostalgia :) It was bizarre, being around so many Americans again. Hey, Elder Horlacher and I finished our first transfer together, where we only spoke German to einander! That is pretty cool. 

 

Oh hey! Transfers! I shall let you know:  We went to Munich again last week for Mission leadership council. And Thursday morning, we all go into the living room of the mission home and President Miles announces all the transfer calls of the zone leaders and sister training leaders. We then received a paper at the end of the day with all the info about who is staying in the zone and who is training and who is whitewashing. We had a couple surprises there! Both Sisters in Pforzheim, the Sisters who are our sister training leaders, are leaving! They are whitewashing their area with elders! And they were totally rocking things up, the sisters were. That threw the sisters for a big loop, they cried even though President told us all not to. :/ pretty rough. But it will be good, they are tough haha. That is how the Lord works, His hand is in everything in the mission world. I am staying, no worries. But Elder Orchard is done being Munich zone leader and he is coming to our zone, whitewashing Heilbronn and training! :) In Munich I slept in the same room as Elder Orchard and we just talked about Klagenfurt for hours haha. I am excited to have him in the zone. He was my zone leader, now I am his. It is a really big change, all that is happening this transfer, and it will be strange. That is how change is. But we go with it and do the best we can. That we can always do. 

 

We had basically NO time this last week. Always going somewhere, and with Munich for two days, our schedule was just shot. But K_____ is finally out! We met with him last week! But then he didn't come to church :(  We are trying to meet with him today! He is doing pretty well.  Otherwise, not much happened last week, except travel and fallen out appointments. Lots of appointments that didn't go through. M_____ came to church for the 3rd time in a row, but we haven't been able to meet anytime other than that to actually discuss the things we do. Frustrating, but it happens. 

 

Hey, a story from today. We were headed back from the base in a member's Honda Odyssey (in Germany, you know they have to be Americans, the ones who drive them, and I would guess that most of the Odyssey army belongs to the International Ward haha) and we saw a beautiful Ferrari 458 Italia as we were on the highway. Afterwards we were just talking about  how beautiful the car was, and Brother Garlock says, "I am just glad I passed him up in my Honda Odyssey!" haha. I miss the nice spacious Odyssey. Mission cars are so small here. Opel Corse, look it up. And they aren't the nice new ones either. I don't have a car, but the Ehepaars do. 

 

Well, I haven´t much time (wanted to speak like a German would), but you know I love you! I am loving the work and the things I get to experience. Last week was actually a pretty rough one for me, just because of stress and not being very happy or excited, but that is done now! One of those lowest lows that they talk about. It really is our decision to be happy and excited, we choose how we see the things that happen around us. I did not choose too wisely last week. 

 

But now it is a new week :) I hope your week goes well, with no more crazy dust hail windstorms mixed with soccer games. Oh speaking of soccer games, we played again Thursday morning with everyone in Munich. We were impressively quiet this time, and Elder Horlacher and Elder Orchard had a pretty good play. It involved Elder Orchard being goalie and trying to get the ball out of the box, and then Elder Horlacher trying to use his head to get the ball in the goal. I looked back and saw Elder Orchard lying on the ground, and then blood pouring out of my companion´s broken nose. Elder Orchard is okay haha. But I will send a picture of Elder Horlacher :) if he allows it. Needless to say, we won't be doing that anymore :( We thought it was only going to be like 6 of us, but then everyone else came along too. The Sisters started playing with us too. There is a Sister from Scotland who plays really well. I guess now the Elders don´t have to get beat by her haha. 

 

Have fun at school and play and work and home and whatever it is you non-missionary people do ;) Hope the reunion went well! Tell people hello from me!

 

Keep smiling :)

 

Elder Jalen Gibbons

 

PS Kacy Carr had a birthday last week, so I have to wish verspätet happy birthday! 

Das rote Haus...

Hey everyone, our house is red! :) I like it a lot. Nice color choice, Mom, Dad, and Kate! (Sorry Nathan, heard es war dir egal). My denglish is really bad. But we still speak only German to each other, Elder Horlacher and I! That is almost a whole transfer in our mission language! We are proud of our efforts. But we still aren't pros, so don't worry about us going through the pride cycle. Moroni warned us about that. 

 

That castle was pretty cool, eh? Ludwigsburg is about 15 minutes from Stuttgart with the S-bahn. We´ll have to go back someday. It was way fun. And Sister Kleiner was the one with dark hair and no nametag in the picture. Her name is Elke, but I told her that I would probably always call her Sis. Kleiner haha. I still don't know what I am going to do at home when I see all my mission friends, the Elders and Sisters. Probably just call them Elder/Sister whatever. 

 

Wow, guess what? Transfer calls are this Friday! I have been in Stuttgart for two transfers now, almost. That means I only have two more! Crazy. We are expecting lots of success in the coming weeks, we have a new baptismal date this week! He is Victor, he comes from Nigeria, and he is so cool! His date is the 28 of September. And we still have Kai on date, but we just haven't heard anything from him, because this treatment place is so streng. We pray for him and wish the best for him. Thanks for your prayers. We have 4 new investigators this last week (gefunden--sorry, that English sentence just didn't seem to end right without a verb at the end...). Okay, I will write that one again. We found 4 new investigators last week! Now we have so many! And it is really hard to find the times we can meet with them, because everyone has a different schedule! And this week we are headed back to Munich again, so that takes away two whole days. We are trying to squeeze appointments in wherever we can. Because we want these friends of ours to make progress and learn more!

 

Hey, Logan would be proud of me, I figured out the Arabic numeral system. We have a man who speaks simple German and has an Arabic BoM, so now I can find scriptures easier. I think it is pretty cool. Never thought I would have so much experience with other languages. I love it. 

 

This week we were off and on with the weather, some days hot, the others, like yesterday, were wet and cold. I am totally not prepared for winter, I just realized. I will get my package on Wednesday in Munich, so then I will need to be talking to you about my winter shopping, ja? So, till next week on that. 

 

We got some surprise referrals from members and from a new investigator this last week! We met a woman from India who is Baptist, and we talked with her about Christ. She says it as "coming to the Christ" with an Indian accent haha. So cool. AND, she has a friend from Egypt who wants to become Christian, and she told him, on the same day we met her, that she had met two men (us!) who talk with people about Christ, and they (we) could surely help him better than she could herself. Well, that´s what we do, oder? :) Then, with Mila, the girl from Ukraine, we started a sudden English class, which was actually a member family´s idea. The members are a couple who want to go on a mission soon. And the husband is so great (well they both are), but he was the one who ordered the PMG and promised to give us some work in the future. And he gave us a referral already! Members make it SO MUCH EASIER!!! We hope to start an English class now, with the members helping it will go better than if we tried on our own. But yeah, Anwat, the less active member from Thailand, is friends with Mila, so he helps us out when he can, joint teach and stuff. What better for a less active member than coming on joint teaches? :) We hope to meet with Mila today and talk more about the BoM. 

 

I had an exchange with Elder Jerman in Heilbronn this last week. It was so awesome. I went to a place I had never been before, and was just so full of love and excited to meet people. I was way happy! Maybe because I hadn't walked the streets and had any rude contacts before, I just had a better attitude. I want to do that everyday. Elder Jerman is awesome, I want to be more like him. He is humble, ready to work, ready to learn, and a great example to me. He is a good friend of Elder Allan, since they were in elementary school! They came out in the same group. Wish someone would come with me to this mission.... haha. I´m not bitter. They can just all be jealous ;) 

 

We were invited over by the Bishop tonight! It should be way awesome. They are a great family. Our bishop is so awesome and is perfect for the ward. The Lord knows what he is doing. Every leader that you raise your hand to sustain is there for a reason, so, like Elder Holland said, don´t get all upset at people´s imperfections. "All God has to work with is imperfect human beings-us!" What good happens when we complain about how other people handle their responsibilities? Nothing good, as far as I can tell. WE are there to strengthen one another, and it is scary how easily Satan can get us to gossip and to talk about others. We are the people of God, we don´t need any of that! If these people are anything like me, then I am perfectly aware of my weaknesses, thank you very much. Don´t need more than myself and the spirit to work on that. 

 

Well, I don´t know where that all just came from, but I hope it helps a little, just to realize that we are always at war with the adversary, and that he has many many ways to sneak into cracks and break us apart from the inside. But we can´t afford that. Be better. Be more loving. Be more like the Savior, that is our goal anyway! Study PMG chapter 6. That is scripture just like the Bible and the Book of Mormon. And God will speak to us through His words! 

 

I love you all, I hope you have a good week. Enjoy school, sports, whatever you do. Be safe. Don´t breathe in too much smoke. :) Keep smiling!

 

Elder Jalen Gibbons

Sorry, a bissl spät heut....

Reunion with the Andersons, from Landshut

(with Elder Horlacher)

 

with Sister Kleiner, from Graz, Austria

 

Castle in Ludwigsburg

 

 

Fairy tale gardens--Rapunzel's tower

 

with Elder Horlacher

 

Hallo Familie! It´s a bit late, ja freilich. It was way cool and weird to see Elder Freer at the MTC with a nametag!!! Wow, he is just a little guy, right? I bet that is what his parents were thinking. He is going to do awesome. I love to see growth, to see how people change and grow in confidence and strength in the gospel. And thanks for the pictures from Tyson! Who is that family, just one he has been teaching for a while? That is totally righteous! (Elder Horlacher is a good movie quoter, so that was an attempt at the Incredibles' "That was totally wicked!" except missionary appropriate ;) ) haha. 

 

I am so sorry that this will once again be short. er. We went to the castle/palace today in Ludwigsburg, with the Ludwigsburg district! It was so fun! We didn't go in the castle, we just went to the fairy tale gardens! It was awesome! Totally worth it. I love being with other missionaries, especially the ones we don't see as often. Then we get to show them our love. I love being a missionary. I say that every week, I feel like, but that is because I still feel the same way every week :) ich bin so dankbar für das, was ich diese Woche erleben durfte. Ich erzähle dir a bissl...

 

We had so many awesome miracles this week! With Heavenly Father´s help, we found 22 potentials! That is normally how many the APs find. Positions have nothing to do with it, just showing you it was a good week. The thing was, we were just busy, and doing what we were supposed to be doing, and there were people in our path put there directly by God. Can't be any other way. 

 

On Tuesday, we wanted to find someone, and we asked a lady for help. Then a young mom came by, and offered to walk us there! So we talked the whole time we walked. And told her what we are doing, etc. After about an hour, probably, she invited us to dinner on Thursday! Potentials usually don´t invite you to eat haha. But it was way cool. We went and ate and talked about the BoM and the family. They wouldn't give a good time to come back tho, schade. We will see them again, and/or call them. Then, we found a girl from Ukraine, and she came to church with us on Sunday, and she really liked it. Said she would come back! And we are going to start meeting with her. She actually knows one of the less active members we work with! And that member had told her about the church and invited her to come! Now she did :) Then, we met with that same less active member on Saturday, and he had invited another friend of his over, a mom who has three daughters and wants to come to church and teach her children about God, the right way to live. We will be meeting with her now too. :) MIRACLES!!! All over! Missionsarbeit, servus! I live for it. Well, I live it, more accurately. 

 

We got two referrals too! One from the office, but one from a member I don´t even know! Heavenly Father is just blessing us greatly. 

 

Our problem now is just getting ahold of our investigators so we can meet with them. We found 5 new investigators last week, and one more today, so we are really planning well with time. We have to. Because, like Dad asked me about, we do tausches with the district leaders, (exchanges, I mean), but they are not always the younger missionaries. We would love to exchange with everyone if we could, but there is a small problem. Travel time. Trains. Don´t hear much about them in America. To get to the places we would really like to work, at least an hour to an hour and a half. But we are trying to visit a finding day from each district so that we can work with everyone on those days. We talk about it and pray about it every night and day. 

 

There is lots to do! One day again, I will be able to slow down and explain more about how life is going. But for now, I like it, things are rolling forward. If I keep working harder, that day may not be until I get home. So, just know that I love you and that the Lord is leading His servants in this great work. Have a good week, keep smiling. Bis nächstes mal!

 

Elder Jalen Gibbons

 

PS some pictures from today :) Rememeber Sister Kleiner, who was waiting for her VISA in Graz as I was in Klagenfurt? I saw her again today :) She had surgery on her foot, which she injured in Wisconsin. That was way cool, after almost a year, to meet again.

Schönen guten Tag!

Schönen guten Tag!

 

We are doing emails at the Young Single Adult Center today. The district wanted to come together and play some games. Right now they are playing board games and card games, but I am looking more at the ping pong and billiards....we will see. We had a good lunch today with the Ehepaar Anderson :) ja, from Landshut. They drove here this morning to see us and take us to lunch, since they know Elder Horlacher and me from Landshut. It was a lot of fun! 

 

We got to go visit Kai on Saturday, he is currently in his Entgiftung place, getting away from alcohol and hopefully cigarettes. The dumb thing is that we are only allowed to visit on Saturdays and Sundays. And we have to call the place, talk to Kai, and make sure that he tells the people to write our appointment in. It is pretty strict, but that is a good thing, to keep these people safe. But he is doing well, I believe. Hard to have contact with him, because it all has to go through the office. The other Kai we haven't seen for a few weeks, because he cancelled on us twice in a row. We are trying to see if he is ready to take things seriously. Otherwise, we have just been finding a lot of people. Dad asked how the zone was doing finding wise and such, and sadly it isn't too good. We have an awesome zone, but the thing is, it is an incredibly young zone. There are missionaries being trained by missionaries who are only 3 or 4 transfers old. It is cool, the responsibility they step up to, but they also don´t have tons of experience with different situations on the mission. We had Zone Conference this last Friday, which was really great, but we will be following up on lots of things to make sure that people are applying what they learned. Elder Horlacher and I have decided that we want to visit at least one finding day for each of our other 3 districts in the mission, so we can go and just work incredibly hard and help them find and learn how to find and to be excited and believe in and work miracles! I don´t know what else we can do. We have exchanges with district leaders, but besides that, we don't see or work with any other missionaries, except to sit in rooms for meetings. I don´t know, we will see how that goes. We need to be doing a lot more as a zone if we want to reach our goals set for the year. 

 

Dad also was interested to know what kind of goals we talk about at the leadership councils. I don´t really know what to tell you, we talk about lots of different things. President Miles´ biggest thing is really pushing less active and inactive work. His vision is no more planned tracting and finding, no more finding days. What he wants is us to fill the days with appointments, and in between them, going by on members and less active members and working with them. That is his vision for the missionary work here. And we aren´t super close to that yet haha. Lots to do. But the leadership councils are very cool. 

 

This week was spannend, we had two big zone meetings, and in between a couple austausches. We are really working and hoping to improve our work and efficiency in our companionship. We want to be a good example for the zone. 

 

Well, I have another cool miracle story for this week! We received the information of a potential investigator from the Waiblingen Elders, and we found some time to go by on him on Saturday, but it was pretty crazy trying to get out to him. We made it, though. We klingeled, but no answer :( I was writing a note to leave behind, and then he came out! He was very excited! We only had about 15 or 20 minutes till our bus came, aber we talked about the restoration briefly. Then I got his phone number and we promised to see him again soon. As we left, he told us that he had been worried that the other missionaries had just played a joke on him, telling him that other missionaries would come by on him. Wow, a reminder to take this work seriously. I got a text from him a few minutes later, thanking us for coming by, and saying next time he would make breakfast for us. I texted him and said that we were happy to be there, and knew that our message would bring him closer to God. He replied back and said that he really wanted to find his way back to God, because he isn't going the right way now, and he said that maybe God had sent us, as helping angels, to guide him there. (Just like Alma 18: 33-34). So I promised we would be there. And asked if he would come to church. We got a ride for him, and he showed up in slacks and a white shirt, and stayed te whole time! We talked about developing talents in Sunday School, and how we have benefitted from the talents of others. He raised his hand and said that he had been blessed by the talents of the church´s missionaries, because he was here at the church! The members just helped him out the whole time, too. It was awesome. One of the speakers then shared 2 Nephi 31:17-20 in Sacrament Meeting (PERFECT!!!! :) ) and this man, Daniel, only had two questions after the meetings. 1) What is the Book of Mormon compared to the Bible, and 2) what is up with baptism? Perfect questions, right? I am excited for that next appointment. 

 

Miracles happen, and this week, I am ready to call them down, as Elder Holland says. We must hasten the work! Don´t forget the part that you play in that, as members. I love Elder Holland´s quote from PMG, chapter 1, about commitments and stuff. They are the most important path they will ever travel, and YOU are the one who knows it. So be bold, and warn of the consequences of sin, and promise the blessings of happiness in this life and in the world to come. Share your testimony of the Atonement and how it has given you strength in the last few weeks. And then tell me how it went next week! That is my commitment to you. I´ll do it to.

 

We cannot just touch one single life in our efforts to bring about the Lord´s work. When you drop a stone in the water, there isn't just one ripple! The people who you touch will be inspired to go do the same with others. Don´t be afraid. Here is a good motto: if you are scared, do it. How else will you learn? Do someone a favor, and show them how to be happy, by living what you believe.

 

I know the Lord has great expectations of you all. Don´t stop short of your potential. Das dürft ihr nicht tun. Onward and upward, everything will be alright in the end. 

 

I love you all, have a great week, fun at school whenever that starts, and be good!

Keep smiling!

 

Elder Jalen Gibbons

Too lazy to think of a title, but not too lazy to write this

Hey, grüzi wohl! Hier sind wir wieder, am Anfang einer anderen Woche. 

 

Schönen guten Morgen! I was pleased to read about the cool youth conference and all the stuff you have taken part in this week! Memories, life´s greatest treasure. Hopefully you are making good ones! Bad ones are pretty easy to remember, sadly, but the good ones will bring a sense of fulfillment in life. Your choice. 

 

It´s verrückt, that the third week is already here. Last week we had lots of good times in Munich for our leadership council! The soccer for Frühsport on Freitag is always a good highlight! Was lots of fun. Then the police showed up. It was funny, they asked who was reponsible for all 30 of us here, and we all kinda thought, "Well, we all kinda are..." haha. They told us some neighbors had complained that we were too loud. Schade :( why doesn´t everyone else just wake up at 6 and do sports like us? ;) haha. 

 

But we had some great meetings, and I love seeing friends and meeting the new people. Something I learned at this meeting was a pretty crazy coincidence. I was talking to Sister Woods, who is the Sister Training Leader in Wien (along with Sister Harman, the Ogaards' niece, we talk about Kody everytime haha) and I asked where Sister Woods was from. She said Springville. I said that my grandparents live there. She said their name was familiar. Then I asked if she knew Elder Botcherby, my MTC companion. She said that he went to her high school. Then, she said that Elder Botcherby had dated her sister, and then EVERYTHING came back to me! I had talked with Elder Botcherby in the MTC about his girlfriend´s family, and then I wondered how in the world I missed that connection with Sister Woods! Now his girlfriend´s older sister is in the same zone as him haha. Pretty cool, oder? 

 

Overall, it was a great meeting, where we counseled together about how the mission can change and how we will reach our goals. The Spirit is always so strong there and inspires us as we look at the progress each of us has made. That is the gospel, improvement and progression. Thank goodness that we have such an ability, in and through the Savior Jesus Christ. 

 

I want to tell you another cool story about K_____ from yesterday, a miracle. I couldn't get ahold of him in the morning, his phone was off, and then he didn't show up to Sunday School :( so I just told Elder Horlacher that we had to pray real hard that K_____ would wake up RIGHT THEN and come to church. But I never saw him. We went through the opening song and prayer, did the Sacrament, then it was time for the testimony meeting. The young men who were at EFY last week bore their testimonies, and that was great. Then some members went, also great. Then I went after Elder Horlacher, and as I got up there, I saw K_____ sitting in the back with Elder Horlacher. MIRACLE! I bore my testimony, then sat back down. Few minutes later, K_____ walks up to the pulpit. He said, direct quote (from German to English), "This is my first time as a member of the ward, although I haven´t been baptized yet, to stand and speak to you." Wow, then he talked about meeting the missionaries and the strength he received, the love he had felt. It was Hammer! There were even more miracles than that that I saw yesterday, but that is all I have time for. 

 

I know my emails are rather short and quick compared to past emails. We are just busy! Of course I still write, because I love you :) but I know you will be okay, the Lord watches over you. But my duty is to bear my witness of the Son of God, and that I will do whether by email or on the street or at the pulpit. 

 

I know He lives, and that He has all power and understanding. Our fears are wiped away by His powerful hand, the temptations of the adversary are nothing compared to the light that He brings and the joy He freely gives. He expects so much of those who He loves so dearly, and He will do all He can to help us reach our potential, to overcome our stumbling blocks, and to return to Him with our families and with the friends we have invited to come closer to Him. All we can do is invite, and live the gospel. Do that and I promise you will be happy. The Lord promises that you will be happy. If you aren´t, then you are doing something wrong :) how simple!

 

Have a great week, and Mom, I will let you know when I get the package. And no, we haven´t had much contact with the Portuguese family, we are working on it! We have lots to do. 

 

I do love you all and wish you an uplifting week! Be good, be happy, and smile. :)

 

Elder Jalen Gibbons