And so, it ends. Not with a bang, but with a whisper.

Well my dear friends. The time has come to say goodbye. All was going well this week, until Friday night I received a phone call from the Assistants...Call president Sunday at 2:25...So I called President and sure enough, I am being transferred to Black Forest/Northgate area in Colorado Springs as a District Leader. Well that was pretty sad news and it's been a rough couple days. Maybe I sound like a baby, but I was doing alright when we were copying some records at the church, telling people about it, but then we were walking home and our Ward Mission Leader called and I just about lost it. It's been sad. That's pretty much all I can say. 7 months here, in a town of 800 people with 600 members and I know everyone, where they live, what their dogs name is, and how they are related to anyone in town. Test me. Haha no but I have grown to truly love this place and the thought of leaving fills me with great sadness. Never again will I serve in the capacity of a missionary in Sanford Colorado. I'll definitely come back some day, but not for a while at least. So I suppose that's it then. I wanted to share something though. President Pfile, when he sent me here said, and you may remember this "you'll baptize like you've never baptized before". I thought a lot about that. I had 5 total baptisms in Sanford. Well 6 if you count the fact that we gave Steve a date last night for December 31. But with aprox. 200 non members in town (2 wards that are really big and should be 3 wards rounds up to about 600 people) then 5 people getting baptized out of 200 is 5/200=1/40. So the ratio of baptisms was 1 baptism for ever 40 non-members in 7 months. That'd be like 25,000 people getting baptized in a city of 1,000,000 people in 7 months. A true modern day miracle is all I can say, and yes, I have never baptized like that before. So that's the story and miracle of Sanford. Probably one of the greatest miracles of my mission. I made a list of "things I'm going to miss about Sanford"

-Best water in the world (deep deep wells with no chemicals AT ALL in them)
-Waving at every car that drives by
-Fighting the cold every night because of all the cracks in the wall and foundation
-Going to sporting events because it's the most effective thing to do at that time
-We learned the "Hallelujah" Chorus for ward choir and I don't get to perform it
-Steve's baptism
-Elder Park
-People skinning animals in broad daylight
-Walking past the school, and all the elementary school kids running to the fence to shout "Hi Elders!!!"
-The town mayor who happens to be the only Democrat in town
-Community Events
-People that get married that both have the same last name
-There is no traffic light within 17 miles
-People hanging their garments out to dry (ok...that one isn't so good I guess)
-The town/school not scheduling stuff on Monday night

Anywho, I truly loved this place and it's sad to leave. And I don't get the District Leader thing, that's freaking me out too. Oh well.

We had an amazing and sacred lesson with Steve last night. Partly because the spirit told us too, and partly because it was my last "kick at the can", we really wanted to give him a baptismal date. It went so good, sharing experiences and scriptures and testifying. It went so smoothly and perfectly. And after we set the date we prayed about it, and without going into detail was probably one of the most powerful and sacred moments of my mission. Words can't describe. But I feel like I've done good here, it's always good to move on, and I'm kind of glad I'm leaving now because how much worse would it be next transfer. It does kind of stink to get moved before Christmas, and I'm replacing a missionary who's been in that area 10.5 months so it's always hard with that to take their place. To get people to switch loyalties in a way. I'm excited. Talking to Elders who served there they say a lot of Mormon Dentists and crazy Vietnam vets with PTSD, and angry dogs. I'm excited. It'll be good.

Well, time to get going. Love you all so much, and the next time I see you I'll be coming at you from Springs!

Elder Gibb