Out with the old, and in with the new! Goodbye 2010, hello 2011! Apparently, 2011 is my "black year" because it's the year where I don't see my family at all. I saw them in 2010, I'll see them in 2012, but I will not see them in 2011. So that's pretty crazy if I do say so myself. Also, how did "Mark Zuckerberg" become Time magazine's man of the year? That's pretty lame.
So this week we worked on Monday because we moved our P-day to new years day. The one thing about Alamosa, is that something crazy/interesting happens everyday, which I do like. On Monday, these thuggish guys were pushing an Eclipse down the road, and called out "Hey Mormons!" while we were riding our bikes. So we went and helped them push their car 2 blocks to the repair shop. But we didn't want to put our bikes down on the ground, because we were right next to the homeless shelter, so I was using one hand to push the car, and the other hand to hold my bike steady. It was kind of an awkward position, but I still managed to do well. I almost wanted to start singing "Put Your Shoulder To The Wheel", but decided against it.
We also decided to bike waaaaaaayyyy out into the country this week, because we haven't really done that since last transfer. We went out to go see a former investigator, and 2 part member families. Well, the nice thing was, that after biking for about an hour, we did manage to catch someone home at each house, except the formers. So that was definitely a plus. Another plus was that it wasn't windy. When it gets windy, biking becomes unbearable.
Speaking of unbearable, lets talk about the temperatures this week. Now, I know that all you folks up in "Americas hat" have been dying of cold weather, and that's all fine and good. But this week, things started to get cold. Especially Sunday morning as we biked to church at 8:30. My companion had his scarf over his nose (I can't do that because it fogs up my glasses), and as he would breathe out, the water vapor would condense on his eyelashes, and by the time we got to the church he had icicles all over his face. He couldn't blink because his eyes would fuse together. So I laughed at him. But ya, we have been paying for all the beautiful weather we've had these past couple weeks.
So good news: The family we have been trying to teach is still solid, just been really busy. They have seen trial after trial, and it's obvious that Satan is doing everything he can to stop this family from being baptized. The dad had kidney stones, which are really big, they are trying to move to another house (still inside our area), and someone killed their little puppy by poisoning it. But we got a chance to just go over and get to know them better, and really build a relationship with them. So things are going well in that front.
And had a couple cool teaching experiences this week. We were teaching a less active lady, and one thing I've really been focusing on lately is really praying for my companion while he is talking. Well during this lesson, I was looking at him, praying really hard for him, and then he looked at me. I guess I forgot that I was a part of things as well, and not just "prayer support" (haha get it? "prayer support?" it's like "air support") Well I looked at the lady and just started talking. I was talking, but I wasn't talking. I was literally detached from my mouth, it was off doing its own thing, and it was doing good things. So I let it be. So i've been able to come up with a better balance of thinking and praying at the same time. But the Holy Ghost really helped me out in that instance.
As well, we taught one of our part member families. We really got the investigator to open up, and he really asked a lot of good questions. The spirit was super strong during that lesson, which is always good. We invited him to stay for all of church (he usually only stays for the first hour) and he accepted. And on Sunday, he really did come to gospel principles, where we talked about the importance of the scriptures, which was truly the perfect topic. He even participated more than anyone else! And a less active guy came to class as well, and brought his non-member girlfriend so we will be looking to start teaching her as well.
We street contacted a dude named Dean this week. He was outside the bar and very drunk. He said he had a couple of questions for us, and they were mostly just kind of weird, but the one that I liked the most was, "What do they call that period of time between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D.?" I ventured "the meridian of time" but was told that there is no name for that period of time. He also asked about armageddon. But the funny thing was, I didn't know he was drunk. In my shelteredness, my companion is constantly telling me "That guy was high. that guy was drunk". Maybe one of the life skills i'll pick up from my mission is to be able to learn the smell of marijuana/alcohol.
And New Years Eve was largely uneventful. We had to be in by 5, and tried to find a copy of Risk, but to no avail. So we played some games, and drank some sparkling apple cider. Elder Terry was trying to get the bottle top off, and he took a chunk out of his finger. That was exciting.
And on New Years Day, we found out that we ARE allowed to play sports again! Yay!!!! I'm SO EXCITED! I LOVE BASKETBALL! We just have to stick to the missionary handbook to the letter. And if someone gets injured or something, then it will be taken away again. So on New Years Day, we went to the church with the Zone Leaders and played some ball. Well, they did, I just jammed out on the piano. I'm working on taking the hymns, and making different arrangements of them so they sound more beautiful.
And that's all for the week. Next week is transfers (GASP). It's weird because whether I get transferred or not, I'll be happy. Because there are several people that we will likely baptize this next transfer, and so I would like to be there for that, but its always nice to switch areas. And next transfer is Elder Terry's last transfer in the mission before he goes home. So it'll be interesting to see if I kill him off, or if he goes somewhere else. And that will be an interesting transfer if we stay together.
Also, my companion and one of the Zone Leaders are going up to Salida to do an exchange with some of the elders in the district, and so I'll be with the other Zone Leader tomorrow. We have 3 appointments tomorrow where we planned to really throw down and possibly make things awkward. But now I'm basically going to be on my own, because I'm the one that really knows these people. And the whole time i'm going to be scrutinized by my Zone Leader. So hopefully that goes well.
That's all I have to say about that.
Elder Gibb
We also decided to bike waaaaaaayyyy out into the country this week, because we haven't really done that since last transfer. We went out to go see a former investigator, and 2 part member families. Well, the nice thing was, that after biking for about an hour, we did manage to catch someone home at each house, except the formers. So that was definitely a plus. Another plus was that it wasn't windy. When it gets windy, biking becomes unbearable.
Speaking of unbearable, lets talk about the temperatures this week. Now, I know that all you folks up in "Americas hat" have been dying of cold weather, and that's all fine and good. But this week, things started to get cold. Especially Sunday morning as we biked to church at 8:30. My companion had his scarf over his nose (I can't do that because it fogs up my glasses), and as he would breathe out, the water vapor would condense on his eyelashes, and by the time we got to the church he had icicles all over his face. He couldn't blink because his eyes would fuse together. So I laughed at him. But ya, we have been paying for all the beautiful weather we've had these past couple weeks.
So good news: The family we have been trying to teach is still solid, just been really busy. They have seen trial after trial, and it's obvious that Satan is doing everything he can to stop this family from being baptized. The dad had kidney stones, which are really big, they are trying to move to another house (still inside our area), and someone killed their little puppy by poisoning it. But we got a chance to just go over and get to know them better, and really build a relationship with them. So things are going well in that front.
And had a couple cool teaching experiences this week. We were teaching a less active lady, and one thing I've really been focusing on lately is really praying for my companion while he is talking. Well during this lesson, I was looking at him, praying really hard for him, and then he looked at me. I guess I forgot that I was a part of things as well, and not just "prayer support" (haha get it? "prayer support?" it's like "air support") Well I looked at the lady and just started talking. I was talking, but I wasn't talking. I was literally detached from my mouth, it was off doing its own thing, and it was doing good things. So I let it be. So i've been able to come up with a better balance of thinking and praying at the same time. But the Holy Ghost really helped me out in that instance.
As well, we taught one of our part member families. We really got the investigator to open up, and he really asked a lot of good questions. The spirit was super strong during that lesson, which is always good. We invited him to stay for all of church (he usually only stays for the first hour) and he accepted. And on Sunday, he really did come to gospel principles, where we talked about the importance of the scriptures, which was truly the perfect topic. He even participated more than anyone else! And a less active guy came to class as well, and brought his non-member girlfriend so we will be looking to start teaching her as well.
We street contacted a dude named Dean this week. He was outside the bar and very drunk. He said he had a couple of questions for us, and they were mostly just kind of weird, but the one that I liked the most was, "What do they call that period of time between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D.?" I ventured "the meridian of time" but was told that there is no name for that period of time. He also asked about armageddon. But the funny thing was, I didn't know he was drunk. In my shelteredness, my companion is constantly telling me "That guy was high. that guy was drunk". Maybe one of the life skills i'll pick up from my mission is to be able to learn the smell of marijuana/alcohol.
And New Years Eve was largely uneventful. We had to be in by 5, and tried to find a copy of Risk, but to no avail. So we played some games, and drank some sparkling apple cider. Elder Terry was trying to get the bottle top off, and he took a chunk out of his finger. That was exciting.
And on New Years Day, we found out that we ARE allowed to play sports again! Yay!!!! I'm SO EXCITED! I LOVE BASKETBALL! We just have to stick to the missionary handbook to the letter. And if someone gets injured or something, then it will be taken away again. So on New Years Day, we went to the church with the Zone Leaders and played some ball. Well, they did, I just jammed out on the piano. I'm working on taking the hymns, and making different arrangements of them so they sound more beautiful.
And that's all for the week. Next week is transfers (GASP). It's weird because whether I get transferred or not, I'll be happy. Because there are several people that we will likely baptize this next transfer, and so I would like to be there for that, but its always nice to switch areas. And next transfer is Elder Terry's last transfer in the mission before he goes home. So it'll be interesting to see if I kill him off, or if he goes somewhere else. And that will be an interesting transfer if we stay together.
Also, my companion and one of the Zone Leaders are going up to Salida to do an exchange with some of the elders in the district, and so I'll be with the other Zone Leader tomorrow. We have 3 appointments tomorrow where we planned to really throw down and possibly make things awkward. But now I'm basically going to be on my own, because I'm the one that really knows these people. And the whole time i'm going to be scrutinized by my Zone Leader. So hopefully that goes well.
That's all I have to say about that.
Elder Gibb
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