I made it!

Hola mi familia! 

 Well, I made it to Mexico!! Guadalajara reminds me a lot of southern California, and the food is great so far! Well, that's all for now, I'll write you a real letter next week! 

 con amor, 

Élder Gibson 

 ---------------------------------- 

 Jeff finally made it to Mexico. He flew out yesterday morning. Here are his new addresses: 

MISSION HOME: 

ELDER JEFFREY C. GIBSON 

Mexico Guadalajara East Mission 

Calle Aguamarina #3292 

Colonia Residencial Victoria 

45089 Zapopan, Jalisco 

MEXICO


POUCH: 

ELDER JEFFREY C. GIBSON 

Mexico Guadalajara East Mission 

PO Box 30150 

Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150 

USA

Pouch regulations require that you use only a single sheet of paper, folded into thirds. Tape the flap so it stays together. Use the outside of the folded paper as if it were the envelope. Write the address on the folded letter and mail with a 1st Class US Mail stamp ($.44).

Yo voy a Mexico en la manana!!

Well hey there my family!

It's kind of weird to think that I'll be in Mexico tomorrow... afternoon? I think...? but yeah, some time tomorrow. It's been fun to see a mission that I'm not going to finish my mission in, I've learned a bunch!! My companions are awesome. We're in a quad right now... it's a little different but awesome! We split everyday so we can get more done.

Oh, could you thank the Stewarts for me? They paid for our Pizza Hut, then they left, and I didn't get a chance to thank them. 

I met the lady from the news at church yesterday (Channel 5?) [Dee-nee] Kirk. It was really weird... I thought to myself: "I know your face"... You're from the TV!! She says she goes to Ivins a bunch. Anyway my companions are probably going to eat at her house tomorrow for dinner... and I'll be eating some beans in Mexico... :) (the words in "quotes" are for Scott)

It's soooooo awesome here in Park City!! (and the weather is great here). Did you know that it's only about 15% LDS? I'm pretty sure that's the lowest in the state, although I could be wrong. I've found that the Hispanics are a lot nicer then other people... So that's a plus for leaving for Mexico. We've got a few baptisms scheduled for soon. I won't be here for them, but that's ok. We've found a bunch of new investigators who seem promising too.

Well, we've got to go I guess, so I'll be writing you next week. From Mexico!!

Con amor, 

Elder Gibson

Querido Familia,

So, I'm here in Park City and it's awesome!! I think that it was kind of funny that the send me to one of the few places in the mission that I've never been to. Ha ha! Seven other elders came out with me and they're all visa waiters too. Apparently this mission gets a bunch of visa waiters. I'm actually in another trio. Elder Bennett is my dad (from Alberta, Canada), and Elder Wagner (from Chico, California; grew up in Mexico, in a Mormon Colony) is my older/younger brother (he has more field experience but I've been out about four times as long as he has; he only spent three weeks in the MTC because he speaks Spanish). He's two weeks older than me in the field. They're both so awesome! We're getting another brother tomorrow too (another visa waiter).  So we'll be a quad... weird.  But we're going to be splitting everyday so we can get more done.

I'm actually going to the Consulate tomorrow to get my visa stuff done and I may be leaving for Mexico this Friday. I almost want to stay here for a little while though... which is kind of funny, because I never thought I'd want to be serving in Utah. It really doesn't matter where you are though, there are people everywhere that don't have the gospel.

Elder Fordham (the elder in my zone in the MTC from Georgia) is in Aunt Lorilee's area. I saw him at Zone Conference and told him that, but he said that he only eats/teaches/talks with Hispanics.

I've seen some of the richest and some of the poorest... well actually not really. The rich just make the average seem poor. They're all amazing though!! You should have gotten a picture of my companions and I eating at a member’s house, he's pretty well off.

Our investigators are amazing!!  Jill (we teach her in English) is what you might call "golden". She's amazing though. She accepts what we teach her and her only questions are clarifying questions so that she can understand completely. I think the Lord has been working with her for a while.  Another girl is Natalia. She's nine years old and is so excited about the gospel. They started out teaching all the kids and I think their mom too, but she's the most excited to go to church. And she knows so much too!! We went to their house last night to teach her (in English and Espanol (the kids speak both)) and she was explaining things back to us perfectly! She is so ready! We're going to talk to her mom at seven today, about a baptismal date, because we don't think her mom understands completely. Hopefully it goes well!!

That's all for this week. I may be emailing from Mexico next week!

Con amor,

Elder Gibson

Jeff called us yesterday to let us know that he's being temporarily assigned to the Utah Salt Lake City South Mission.
His MTC Branch had Elders assigned to this mission; so he may see a familiar face or two while he's serving there.

He boarded a bus this morning and was taken to the mission home in Sandy. His mission president is G. Steven Laney (Dale says he's probably a distant relative). A new president will come on board July 1st. 

I think he's been assigned so close so it will be easy to get him to the airport when his visa does finally come through.

For now, we have been given the mission address for Jeff's mail. I'll let you know if it changes.

Mailing Address:

Elder Jeffrey Gibson

Utah Salt Lake City South Mission

8060 South 615 East

Sandy, Utah 84070

Hey there familia!

So it turns out that they´re not going to be splitting us up into different districts either, however they did give us more things to do to keep us busy. We can go to the temple two extra times during the week, and then they gave us some ideas of things to do to help us be more prepared in the field. Although we may(and only may) all be joining another district together, but we don´t know yet.

I´ve heard 5 out of 12 apostles now! Robert D Hales came last Tuesday. Their talks are always amazing! We had a fireside on Sunday where Crawford Gates(who wrote ´Our Savior´s Love´), Robert Cundrick, and Vanya Watkins. (they wrote things too, but I don´t remember what) It was awesome! Then we went to the Sunday night movies. We went and watched the Restoration (the one with Dustin, ja ja!)

That´s funny that Élder Ray had a dream about going to Guadalajara... I didn´t even know where in México it was! Ja ja!

So there´s an Élder Greco here who aparently knows Brian. He said I looked familiar then asked if Brian was my brother. So I guess we look alike, Bro. ;)

I heard another rumor about the consulate. They were getting a new computer system and all the old applicants (me) haven´t all been transferred over yet. So if we´re going to be here for a long time, we´re supposedly being sent to a Utah mission for a little while. But these were all out of state élderes, so I don´t know about me yet. What ever happens, you´ll know pretty soon... probably... if it happens soon... which it probably will. :)

Con amor,

Élder Gibson

Querido Familia, 

 Thanks for the package, mom. My compañeros and I are feeling better, and this week has been awesome. 

 So I´m probably not going to end up in the advanced Spanish class, because I haven´t heard anything about it. However, our Branch President, President Nelson, asked us if we wanted to be split up and go into different districts in our zone. We´re probably going to end up doing that, so we´ll have teachers again and a set schedule. We´d also be able to help the other élderes in the other districts more. 

That´s so crazy that we´re getting a new stake presidency! I don´t remember any other stake presidency than the one there is now!  

 So actually I got to host today. They put papers in our mailbox asking if we would because we´ve been here for a long time and there were a lot of new missionaries coming in today and they needed help. I helped two sisters(which is easy, you and another elder drop them off at their residence hall and the sisters take it from there) and then two international elders who spoke spanish very fast, but I got to practice a little.  

 Did Jared Radmall come in today? I heard his farewell was 2 Sundays ago... That´s crazy that Eric Gubler is leaving already... well in September, but still! And only six months til Kevin can start his! ¡Es loco! 

 Yeah, I´m pretty sure that most of my German has left me... but yep I can still sign letters... Deine bruder!

Oh, so this crossed my mind. Are my plants outside? because they can be if they´re not. And if my bonsai is still living, tell Eric that he can keep it for me. 

 So I´ve decided if you want to learn about yourself and who you are, go on a mission! I think that I´ve learned more about myself here then at any other time in my life and it´s pretty cool! The devotional yesterday was all about that too! It´s just great here! 

 Oh, and Josh, I´m doing great! ¿Como estas? President Nelson thinks that we´re going to get our visas soon. Oh, and I met an Elder Rindlisbaucher (or however you spell it) but he´s from Washington state, so I don´t think that he´s related... (Mom's Note: Mrs. Rindlisbacher was Josh's Kindergarten teacher this past year.) 

Well, until next week, 

 Élder Gibson