Hola! I can't belive it's June already, let alone June 5!! We keep thinking all during the day how long it seems we've been in here, but every night as we go to bed we just think Wow, its already been three weeks! (Almost anyway :) ) It's crazy. And Chris comes in tomorrow! That's what I'm super excited for tomorrow. Hopefully I can see him, but I didn't see Alex until about a week after he got here. Oh well I'll make sure to be looking for him! Alex said that his zone was getting a district going to Carlsbad speaking Spanish, so me and Jalen and him all think he'll have Chris in his district! That would be good for Chris. Alex seems to be doing well here so that is good news too. Haha I can picture Chris using that reasoning with his mom, to convince her to bear her testimony. I bet she is very sad and excited for Chris, seeing as he he is the last one! I wish them all luck today as the last day together! I know ours was pretty fun :) Kelly was wearing her mionion shirt??? Good I'm glad!!! She needs to send me a picture of her wearing it because we didn't get one together before I left! Well wait, Kelly you will read this, so send me a picture in your minion shirt! :) haha.
Anyway, I was just in my classroom emailing you guys because yesterday was so busy and I didn't get much time so I didn't email. Sorry if you were worried!! But in the middle of this email the fire alarm in our building went off, so I just spent the last 5 minutes outside not knowing if it was a drill or some immature missionary who was dared to pull the fire alarm. Who knows? Guess we'll find out if the fire department shows up! Haha anyway, that was pretty exciting! It's a beautiful day.
I think that's awesome you are doing that missionary challenge! It's pretty comforting knowing my family is trying to do missionary work along with me! Although right now it's more focused on learning Spanish and teaching with the Spirit to my "investigators" and you guys can just speak English :) lucky! Count your blessings! But I am blessed to be learning Spanish as well, since I took so many years of it. I am very grateful!
Well the food isn't too bad, I haven't had any problems really, besides a constantly grumbling stomach since sometimes the food just isn't good, so I end up being hungry, especially if it's the dinner that's no buena. I am getting to bed on time everynight, but falling asleep is what takes another 30 minutes usually! So I am in bed and out of bed and in my room when I'm supposed to be (our Branch PResidency has us doing a 7-7-7 thing where we put our accomplishments of getting to bed at 1030, getting in the room at 1015, and waking up at 630, and we report it every week, hence the 7) and sorry that schedule was pretty much backwards haha :) but you get the idea. I'm 100% on that just like most of our district. I just someimtes lay there and think about everything. Literally EVERYTHING. And eventually that wears me out enough that I finally pass out. It's getting better though! I've only woken up about two times a night recently instead of many many times. So hopefuly it keeps improving! But I haven't dreamed in Spanish yet :/ Some of our Elders have slept talked in Spanish, which I think is hilarious! So it's good for them. I think in Spanish about everyting I try to say before I say it in English, but there's a lot of times I just have to switch to English. But today is All-Spanish day, so no English unless absolutely necessary! I hope we do this a lot more often. It's going to help a lot I feel.
Anyway, exciting day today! The devotional is tonight and who knows, it could be an Apostle this time! Haha but I won't get my hopes up to be disappointed. But every speaker that has come so far has been awesome. We, well at least me and Elder Johnson, love the devotionals and firesides, it's the 3 hours of class then two hours of study time (twice a day, almost every day haha) that sap us most! But we're making it through, no matter how rough! But today in gym Elder Romrell apparently broke his finger playing basketball so he's been gone for the last 3 hours, and none of us have seen him or Elder Hardy (who felt responsible for breaking it, since he smacked him or something) so they've been gone and we're starting to get a ltitle worried! Hopefully everything will be okay and we're all praying that he won't be like Elder Harmon, who stayed an extra 8 weeks when he punched a door and broke his fingers 3 days before he was supposed to leave. Haha hopefully the next 6 weeks are long enough to heal! So that was an exciting morning.
Its been a very interesting day so far. Can't wait for the next half of it! Only 12 more hours :/ haha That seems like so long saying it like that but it's really not that long! It's going to breeze by. Yes our district got the new Elders and Hermanas. They all seem to be adjusting pretty well, and they're all very nice. One of them is from Samoa so he bore his testimony in Samoan on Sunday, that was way cool! So now he gets to learn a third language. I have to respect people like that. I'm only learning a second language and it's tough enough for me! Oh and yes, I got the package from Jill and Jason and from you guys! So thank you very much!! I love seeing that blue or pink slip in the mailbox with my name on it. It means I have a package! It's a good feeling, you have no idea! Well you missionaries do, but yeah! its the best :) I have not seen the Elders that greeted us three weeks ago since. I think they might be long gone by now, but I've always looked for them! I hope they are doing well. This last week on sunday Dr. Donald Doty, head of health services for missionaries, talked along with his wife, and he talked about the life and ministry and health miracles of Jesus Christ. That was a good talk! And last Tuesday it was Elder Zwick from one of the 70's Quorums and he was really cool! I don't have my notebook with me though so I do not remember everything he talked about. But this last Sunday as well as Dr. Doty, President Brown and President McHiff spoke along with their wives, and they were very interesting talks! President Brown talked about our two names that we are representing as we go out into the mission field, Elder Gibbons and Jesus Christ (Jesucristo for me anyway:)) and he said that what we do and say and act and think all goes towards how our name is remembered by those that see us, even if we don't know if they see us. And just like President Ricks said in his testimony this last sunday, we're also being watched by people that have passed on, so that's some more support and encouragement! But President Borwn spoke about a missionary while he was a mission president that was not very obedient. One day his mom called President Brown and immediately asked " Is my son an obedient missionary?" and he didn't want to answer that so he said "he is a fine young man..." And she said "be honest, I want to know. Beacuse he has sent home pictures of him in his swimsuit, swimming, running around on the shore, not something I thought missionaries were supposed to do" and ever since that phone call, President Brown CAN NOT remember that Elder's name, because it is forever engraved in his mind as Elder Swimsuit. So he challenged us to not be an Elder Swimsuit! And I plan on being the exact opposite, beacuse if I ask for a letter of recomendation from my Mission President or somewhere else, I want them to be able to say that Elder Gibbons was hard working, dedicated, and a great addition to the mission. So I took that very personally, but I think that applies to everyone not just missionaries. It can happen to any of you as well! Make sure you're not remembered as "that" person or "this" person or Swimsuit guy or something. Give everyone who is watching a reason to remember you in the best way possible! There's my little thought for this week. I really enjoyed that talk.
I hope Abby's baptism was very fun! It is weird to think that the next major family gathering will be when Logan gets home! I can't help but think every once in a while about how awesome that is going to be to get home and have everyone there to greet us. Wishful thinking, since it's only been threee weeks! Don't worry I'm not getting super homesick or wish I was going home already :) It's only just begun, and I haven't even experienced Argentine food yet! I have to at least do that :D
Well good luck Nathan and Kate with all your many sports camps and activities! Live it all up, I only played soccer and I love that more than anything, but I do wish I had at least messed around and played other sports more, because I only have two opportunites a week to play soccer, and I have to convince my companion who has never played soccer to come with, so I end up playing basketball (like this morning, and I got elbowed in the face a couple times haha). Yeah, enjoy all the different sports! It will help you out here Nathan! You could school everyone here if you push yourself and work hard to be the best. Well I should probably get going! Hopefully you don't hate me for not sending my email yesterday! I felt terrible when I realized again last night in bed that I hadn't emailed back! So I apologize! But I love and miss all of you! Keep doing what you're doing, and remember who you are, and remember to leave good impressions, because you never know when someone is watching you!
Elder Tyson Gibbons
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