Happy New Year

Que Tal Familia?
   Things are going good here in Panorama City, Elder Benavides and I have been working really hard with Angie but unfortunately the cysts in her daughters eyeballs have kinda been holding her back from coming to church and allowing us to meet with her. We had to drop her baptismal date but will continue teaching her and helping her to progress in the gospel. Sounds like Christmas was pretty good for you guys. We had a pretty good Christmas as well, we got to video call you guys but we also got to spend time with some of our favorite families in the ward who are less active or inactive. We had Panes con Pollo and Pork Ribs for Dinner and then we visited a lot of the other families who are less active. Hermano Manrique is the coolest he is the one that you said Hi to. Dang it thats a bummer that buddy was sick on  his birthday and on Christmas. Tell him that he better start feeling better soon 😁. I wrote buddy a card and also sent a package with gifts for the sissies and then for buddy (His stuff is in the black bag) and then Mom and Dad I got something for you to share. Its an instrument from Peru and I can't remember what the name of it is.
   The coolest thing happened this week. Hernan brought his kids to church with him and he told us that he wants us to come by and start teaching him. And then when I told him that he could baptize his son he was so happy. So coming soon in our area Hernan will baptize his son and we have as well another Family Silvia Perez who has a 9 year old daughter and she will be put on date soon as well. Other than that for our area theres not to many updates.
  Since today is New Years Eve we have to be in our apartment at 6pm so we bought some stuff to make empenada's for dinner and tacos as well (we kinda feel hispanic😂). You'll see in the pictures I send that we had a zone breakfast on Christmas and then also theres a video of us doing the gift unwrapping challenge at the Manriques and then I ate a spoonful of Tapatio with one of the Mejia kids and that same night I ate a habanero, so I was feeling fairly crappy that day.😂 Anyways we had a pretty fun time and I'm so grateful that I get to serve the Lord. I love you all so much Feliz Ano Nuevo!!! (pretend like that N has an accent over it because I can't figure out how to do it on this computer). If not though it'd be kinda like saying happy new butt hahaha😂😂. Les Amo espero que tengan un ano prospero. Se Cuidan!!
Elder Gibbons

Feliz Navidad

Hola Familia
OK so I have to explain myself and why an email didn't come from me last week. So I had typed out a very long Email about how everything went the first week and then I added photos to the email and pushed send and I think that the email was to big so it didn't send the email but sent the pictures instead. So now I have to retype everything from the past two weeks. So I'll do my best to remember.
  OK so I'll have to start from Tuesday morning. We had Elder Neale and Elder Yorgenson come over the night before to check to make sure elder Terry was ready to go. We'll right before they were about to leave elder Neale pulled out his guitar and sang God be with you till we meet again and everyone was crying. Anyways that next morning we said goodbye to Elder Terry and then he was gone. Hernan Ramirez our recent convert gave him a ride to the airport.
 So while Terry was getting ready to salir we were headed up to the temple for the new trainer training. When we got there they gave us a 30 minute training and then the new missionaries came into the room and they announced who would be their trainer. So it got announced that Elder Benavides would be trained by elder Gibbons. So they let us get to know each other for about 5 minutes. And then after that they let us know what we should do to find success within a companionship and then we got his bedding supplies and suitcases and then we were off to the area. Elder Benavides is from Arizona and is one of the funniest jolliest guys you'll ever meet. I'm super excited to be able to train him and be his companion. So when we got back to the apartment I made sure we went right to work. I decided to give him the classic first day experience so we knocked a lot of doors and we contacted a lot of people. We basically did a mini KO😄😄. Well as it turns out we met some of the crazies from Panorama City. We met one guy who stared directly in the sun for like 2 minutes to show us that he could do it. He also told me that I'm more of a business man and told Elder Benavides that he is a true follower of God (I was kinda like what the heck?) and then he turned to me again and told me that I would be in hard drugs and alcohol in 5 years. So I'm not sure what I did but for some reason he didn't like me very much🤣🤣.
   Since we've been together we have a done a lot of role plays and a lot of practicing to help him learn Spanish and the lessons pretty well. The cool thing is that before the mission he went door to door selling pestacides so he is a naturally born pounder. (that's what they call missionaries who like to knock😀). He's an amazing teacher as well. Training is a super fun experience and we have a great time.
  So something that I'm trying to do within my district kinda like an initiative is I'm focusing a lot on finding. On Friday of this week we were able to do a creative finding activity in Balboa Park where we went around asking people to come to the booth that we set up, where the people could watch the light the world videos. We then would talk to them afterwords and try and set up a return appointment. Then on Saturday we were able to serve at the Northridge Fashion place mall by helping them wrap gifts. However we also were asked to carol because they had to many people there helping. So in the middle of this huge mall a couple of us started singing Christmas hymns. And then  by far my favorite activity I have done is we went actual caroling door to door last night. We helped so many people and were actually able to get a return out appointment out of it. I was able to bring my ukulele around and was able to play as we sang😀.
  I have a strong testimony of music and the power and spirituality it has. I have seen hearts be softened by the affects of the hymns and the power that music holds. It's one of the many ways that the spirit speaks to us and thus answers our prayers. I love the Hymns!!
  So I was able to get all the packages from you, the Belnaps, and from grandma and grandpa Gibbons. Thank you so much I really appreciate it. A lot of the gifts that are sent to me I give to others we are teaching or families in our ward who don't have very much because I feel that they need it more than I do however I do still enjoy the many things that you send the cards and letters always bring a smile to my face.
  So the plan for tomorrow is that we will call around 5 or 6 (I can Google hangouts you tomorrow to see what time will work best for you so we won't be completely In the dark just make sure that your phone is on and stuff during that time that way I can chat you. I'm so excited to be able to see you guys again and I can't wait to talk to you.😀
  Something I read recently was the story of Samuel the Lamanite and his story of preaching to the wicked. He tells them and warns them of the saviors coming but they don't listen. In fact they start to try and kill him. However we know that the savior did come and that the wicked feared that terrible fate that they had in store. I though a lot about it and we all as members and missionaries are like our own Samuel the Lamanite and we are trying to prepare others for the saviors second coming. I would invite you all to remember the importance of the savior in your lives and realize that we are here because of him. I know that this church is True and that the savior has established his true church on the earth again. I know that the book of Mormon is true and that in we can find truth and light. I know that the light of Christ is real and that we can share that light with others. Sigan fieles y feliz Navidad de la ciudad sin nieve🤣 ( here it's going to be 72 degrees). Les amo.

-Elder Gibbons

Trainer/District Leader Assignment

Dear Brother and Sister Gibbons,

Elder Andrew Timothy Gibbons has been appointed as a District Leader in the California Los Angeles Mission. This assignment comes to him because he exhibits high qualities of leadership, demonstrates excellent teaching skills, and earns and retains the trust of his fellow missionaries. In this leadership position, he will be an example of conduct, appearance, and performance to his fellow missionaries.

As a District Leader Elder Andrew Timothy Gibbons will supervise the activities of between 4 to 8 Missionaries in his district.  His responsibilities will include demonstrating and teaching missionary skills and attributes to each member of his district.  One of his most important responsibilities will be to interview candidates for baptism to determine their worthiness for this most significant ordinance.

Elder Andrew Timothy Gibbons has also been appointed as a trainer in the California Los Angeles Mission. No more important position exists than that of training a new missionary.  New missionaries need to be properly taught immediately upon entering the mission field.  Initial experiences truly influence the remainder of one’s mission.

Sister Haynie joins me in extending to you our sincere appreciation for your fine son.  We realize that your example, training and love have contributed in large measure to his success as a missionary.


Sincerely yours,

Robert M. Haynie
President
California Los Angeles Mission

Training and the Blessings of the Temple!

Hola familia,
  Transfers are going to happen tomorrow and we got our calls last night. So the result is I will be staying here another transfer (six and counting), and Elder Terry is going home 😭. I'm really gonna miss him but I'm excited for him too. Anyways someone will have to replace him and it turns out that I will be training this transfer!! I'm super excited to finally have un hijo😄😄. So I will pick him up tomorrow.
Really big news Bernadinos wife accepted a baptismal date for the 29th of December she'll be baptized this month she said that she is ready to accept baptism and all blessings that come with it!! Other big news for this week is that Hernan finally went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead and he was so excited. So the story goes like this... We walk into the door to do baptisms and elder Terry and I scan our recommends and then Hernan goes to scan it and it doesn't work. The hermano who was scanning our recommend had to call a person from the presidency to come fix the problem. And the hermano that came with us to do baptisms had an expired license. So after everything got sorted out the Hermano had to wait outside and Hernan was finally able to go in to do baptisms. He said that he had never felt so peaceful in his entire life and that he was ready to go again.
  Also we had a Visitors Center trip on  Sunday night the night of transfer calls. It was the one and only VC event they were doing in Spanish for the devocional navideño. So as you can imagine it was packed! there were so many people  there that we had to wait outside for the whole event. Hernan said that he enjoyed the event and stayed after to watch videos about Jesus christ.
  Well I'm really excited this transfer to bring a new greenie into the CLAM and I can't wait to tell you all about him next week. Hope that the girls and buddy all play hard and that they have fun. Remember hit hard hit first no mercy served. Les quiero mucho!
-Elder Gibbons

Mission busy

Hola familia,
 I have zero time this p-Day because we had a practice at 10:30 this morning and then elder Terry was meeting up with someone his last P-day so we went to the LA auto show and we just barely got back. Well Hernan wasn't able to go this week to the temple but we are going next week. He bore his testimony at a baptism and it was super spiritual and powerful he's changed a lot. We've been doing a lot of things to prepare for Elder terrys departure so we are still going 100 miles per hour. Bernardino and his wife were able to come to church today this week!! We've been trying so hard to get them to come to the Visitors Center but they haven't ever been able to make it. P
Missionary work in the LA mission is a lot different then what we would do in San Fernando. Now we work a lot with members in fact if you go down town and try and OYM to everyone it would be impossible because there's so many people. I have learned how to be more efficient and how to adapt to different areas and missions. Love you all I know that the gospel is true.
Elder Gibbons