"Elders, we've picked up a new group of signals"

Ok so this week was pretty rough on me. Actually probably the roughest week of my mission. I would say that this week was the lowest point of my mission so far. And not that is was an overall bad week or anything, but it was tough. Elder Palmer got sick on Tuesday. And he stayed sick until, well, he's still sick this morning. So it's been tough this week because not a lot is happening in this area, and we're trying to work our butts off to get things going, and then we lose a week to sickness. We did manage to get some things done though, but all you that have been on missions can attribute to how rough it is to be the companion that isn't sick. I mean, you can only take so much Teachings of the Prophets, and we ran out of Ensigns, and I tore into the Book of Mormon and the bible, but after a point you can't take it anymore. I guess he has bad tonsils that flare up every once in a while, and so we lost a week because of it. He wanted to take them out before his mission but didn't get around to it. On the plus side, I exercised my impenetrable immune system and avoided getting sick. That and a whole lot of prayer.

So on Wednesday this week, I decided I couldn't take it anymore, (after one day) and traded off with the La Jara elders for the day so I could get a chance to work. It was good, we met a lot of people in the ward, got a chance to meet 2 part member families that we had been trying to contact since we got here, and I got to WORK! OH how glorious is it to work. Man, one thing a mission has got me to love, is work. I can't just sit there and do nothing. Which is why this week has been pretty rough. But that was pretty cool, some good miracles to keep things moving.

Chris came to church on Sunday as well! It was sweet, he knew a ton of people there and we're working towards the 26th for baptism. The only problem is he works from 6am to 10pm so it's going to be hard to find some time in there. We might have to get a ride to Alamosa and teach him on his lunch break! Which would be pretty cool. We're trying to focus our investigators on Reading, Praying, and Church and Chris is focused on all those things. He's been reading and praying and now he's come to church! So that was an awesome miracle, and another investigator we've been trying to work with came to church for the first time since we got transferred here. He kind of went cold on the other Elders, but has now come to church and we're helping him to progress! So even though it was a rough week, we exercised our faith that it would get better and we had great things happen on Sunday.

I've been studying a lot this week due to some extra time, and so I've been picking up some cool things. It's tough studying for long periods of time, because what ends up happening is I'll get sidetracked by some verse and next thing I know i'm into way deep doctrine, or I'll find a verse in the bible that is pretty cool/funny and then i'll start studying bashing scriptures. I know, I know....not good. But I have been in 3 Nephi, and it's been awesome. I kind of didn't like 3 Nephi as a kid, because it was sandwhiched in between The Alma war chapters, the Helaman government take over chapters, and the 4 Nephi destruction of a civilization/Ether " ". So it was easy to breeze through to get to the "good part" But man there is some serious gold in there. One thing I've really liked is right before Jesus prays using words that cannot be written, he calls the little children to come and hear. First he gives the awesome prayer, and then he blesses the kids. So whatever was in that prayer, he wanted the kids to hear or feel. It's easy to think that kids don't understand anything, or don't pay attention, but that chapter built my testimony that they catch on to a lot more than we think, and it's important to teach young children principles that they won't forget. And to give them opportunities to feel the spirit. So ya, those are some of the things i'm studying.

In lighter news, I woke up this morning with one of my earplugs in my mouth...ya...I don't know how it got there. All I know, is my mouth tasted like ear. And it was gross. We also joined the ward choir and right now we're singing, God Bless America, Our Country 'tis of Thee, and America the Beautiful. I'm trying to find a way to sneak "Oh Canada" in there. I got one of the Tenors on board with me because he's Canadian. And so are a lot of people that live here. Either way, I feel very patriotic singing these songs. And the town police officer called us on Saturday to inform us that "The Jehovah's are here!" So we picked up our visual scanning and went to try and find them because I wanted a watchtower and also it's pretty easy to teach a lesson because you can just talk about beliefs and stuff. But alas, they were nowhere to be found.

So that was basically the week. Transfers are next week and my guess is that nothing is happening, so that probably means something is happening because I am always wrong with my transfer predictions. If I had to pick something to happen, I'd say Elder Palmer leaves. I think the smoke here from all the forest fires in Arizona is messing with his lungs a bit. Wow wasn't that a fast transfer? 5 weeks went by really really fast. But next transfer is 7 weeks, so I hope if I get a new companion, he isn't weird because that's an extra week with him. But yep, President Pfile is almost gone! Noo! But President Anderson will be awesome, although I'm guessing he won't be as...blunt...as President Pfile. You see, he was in the Navy, so sometimes he can get a bit carried away. Which is very funny. But that's all for now, next P-day is on a Tuesday, so don't worry when you don't get a letter from me on Monday. Even though the Valley has the most UFO sightings in the world and lots of weird mutilated animal stuff that goes on.

Love ya...fair enough? (Pres. Pfile quote)
Elder Gibb