Week 4: #Lighttheworld

Hi Everyone!! 

Light the World- Video

This week has been a week full of work and joy! (you know I've started off every email with this and I really need to find a new way to start my emails) But seriously, I've met so many cool people this week. We had 12 lessons this week and six of those have been non-members! Each lesson that we do I'm amazed by how much the Spirit works on both the teacher and the student to help them understand it more. We had a lesson with a woman named Lety. She had recently lost her mother a year ago, so we taught her about the Plan of Salvation. When we got to the Spirit World she started to tear up and said she was thinking about her mother. It was a cool experience. We left her with the task to read the two pamphlets we left her and we get to go back this Thursday! 

We also had our very first rain here in Santa Rosa. That has been great! (How do you write sarcasm?? Italics? oDd leTeRing? 🤷‍♀️) We're on bikes so the rain affects us a bit differently than most people here in Santa Rosa. We get soaked skirts and damp gloves while the rest of the missionaries get cars with warm heaters. I can honestly say I've been blessed because of it. We get to spend more time with members, what with us needing rides most everywhere. (Our area is about seven and a half miles to the edge of our area one way and a lot of members live out there.) Another great thing about it is that I get exercise and also to talk to more people and uplift them even if it's only for thirty seconds. We've been told by a lot of people that we'll get more blessings being out doing missionary work in the rain. I believe them and continue to pray for those blessings every day. 

This last Friday I probably had the best experience so far on my mission. We put up a booth in the square downtown for the Christmas tree lighting and gave out 200 cups of hot chocolate, 60 copies of the Book of Mormon, 500 mini candy canes with Light the World cards attached to them. We had over 1000 people come and write things they were grateful for or things that they could do to serve someone this Christmas on strips of paper that we made into a paper chain. It was huge! When we took it down we had to use two boxes to carry it all. But the best part about it was talking to everyone and sharing with everyone one way that they could light someone else's world for a day. People were so receptive as well. My Mission President shared this quote from President Packer with us that talks about why people are so receptive to hearing about Christ and His gospel during this time. He says, “There is a special spirit that envelopes the earth at this time that, although it may not differ from the spirit that is available at any time of the year, at this time of the year, it seems to be prevalent and present in an intensity not known at other times of the year and it becomes so forceful as to have a real tangible, noticeable effect on people who otherwise seem to avoid or at least disregard the spirit of the Lord.” 

I have seen this. After Thanksgiving ended and December was upon us I could feel a difference in the people that I met and in how they acted. That lesson that we had with that non-member woman I told you about? That was a day after Thanksgiving. 

I don't know what that means or how it works, but I know that somehow people can feel the Spirit more. And that means for us missionaries, and even you all, that when we share the gospel, speak truth (eternal truths), and invite the spirit, it will be there ten-fold to what your used to. I can't tell you how grateful I am to be out here during Christmas and that I get to celebrate Christ's birth by talking about Him everyday all day for the entire month. I love what I am doing and know that what I am doing can change lives. Not just mine, but so many other peoples as well. 

Well, I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Sister Gibb

P.s. I may not be able to respond to them until prep-day, but I realized how much I love getting emails, so feel free to email me at any time.