Change: it's a lesson I am learning

Hola familia,
  Well change seems to be a reoccurring thing on my mission and with change comes adapting. So I think one of the lessons I'm supposed to learn is how to adapt to change. The new announcement that was just released has been quite the change. We've only been allowed to call our families twice a year but now with the new announcement we can call every P-day. I'm not gonna lie at first I felt kinda guilty calling home not on mother's day or Christmas, but afterwards it felt right to be able to tell family about those things that were happening in the area and with the people we are teaching.
  Well to give you a short update of what happened this past week we had zone conference on Thursday. It was super good we learned about the simplicity of the gospel and how much it really means to know that God is our loving heavenly father. Because we have this knowledge we know that we don't have to be scared of some all powerful being who is ready to destroy us. But we know that he loves us and wants the best for us, he cares individually about what we like and what things we want to do. Because of that he wants to hear from us.
   As far as updates for people we are teaching, Katelan missed her baptismal interview😭 so we are trying to get back in contact with them to see what happened. Angel we haven't been able to get back In contact with because he has so much stuff to do before he finishes graduating. He is doing a tutoring program for school and trying out for a national travel soccer club also. So we will see what happens this week that comes.
  One of the hardest things in the world for us is getting people to church. We have been making plans and setting goals as much as we can to get people to church but we haven't found any luck yet. So we are gonna try something new this week and hopefully get some of the people we are teaching to church. Other than that nothing else happened it was a pretty short week because last week we had a Wednesday P-day. So keep praying for Angel and Katelan please.
  Well I love you all so much tell Hayden congrats and that I hope he gets to be companions with elder Benavides. Les quiero mucho. Sorry if the emails get a little shorter it's just a lot easier to be able to say it than to write it. Love you!!
-Elder Gibbons

Latter-day Saint Missionaries Can Now Call, Text Home Weekly, First Presidency Announces

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Friday an update to guidelines regarding communication between full-time missionaries and their families.

Effective immediately, the Church’s 65,000 missionaries are authorized to communicate with their families each week on preparation day by text messages, online messaging, phone calls, and video chats, in addition to letters and emails.

“Regular communication with their families is an important part of a missionary’s service,” said the First Presidency in a statement. “One of the major purposes of this adjustment is to encourage families to be more involved in their missionary’s efforts and experiences.”

The significant adaptations to missionary communication are the result of the “options, possibilities, and technologies now offered in some parts of the world,” said Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and chairman of the Church’s Missionary Executive Council.

Communication should occur on the missionary’s preparation day and be initiated by the missionary. Missionaries are asked to use good judgment in determining the length of phone calls and video chats and to be considerate of their companions.

With the new advances in technology, this communication should take place at little or no cost to the Church, the missionaries, or their families.

In those few locations where families or missionaries do not have access to computers or phones, missionaries are encouraged to continue using their current means of communication.

In addition to weekly communication, missionaries are also encouraged to contact family on other special occasions such as Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, parents’ birthdays, and other culturally significant holidays.
“We encourage missionaries to communicate with their families each week using whatever approved method missionaries decide,” said Elder Uchtdorf. “This may vary based on their circumstances, locations, and schedules for that week. It is not expected that all missionaries will call or video chat with their parents every week. The precise manner of communication is left up to the missionary as he or she decides what will best meet their needs.”

Elder Uchtdorf said the new guidelines offer several additional benefits, including accommodating varied family circumstances, as well as better supporting those missionaries who would benefit from increased personal contact with family at home.

“As families, we love our missionaries,” he said. “Missionaries love their families. They want to communicate with them.”

Elder Uchtdorf called this communication—made possible by technology—a wonderful thing. “We communicate with our Heavenly Father every day, and we would like to have our families communicate with the missionaries every week—maybe by letter or maybe by email, or now maybe by video chats or phone calls. This is an addition which brings more confidence, more peace.”

He rejected the philosophy that calling home more than twice a year will weaken or distract missionaries.

“Our missionaries are pretty tough,” said Elder Uchtdorf. “They receive rejection every day. They have tough weather conditions. They have to learn a lot. They have to work with new cultures, with new circumstances. But above all, they know in their hearts and minds that they are servants and representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Further, Elder Uchtdorf said new options of communication with home will be a motivating force, not a distraction. After their communication with families—in whatever form the missionaries select—they can “go out there and serve the Lord with even a brighter heart, a more joyful countenance.” They can smile at the people they meet and teach and say, “I just talked to my parents. They send their greetings and they send their love.”

Church leaders trust the missionaries, he said. “They do this very well on Christmas or whatever the occasion is. We are confident that this will be very nicely done among the missionary companionships.”

Increased communication can help to unify missionaries and their families in this “great and marvelous work,” said Elder Uchtdorf. Missionaries can share with their families “the wonderful experiences they have in the field.”

Increased communication may also help missionaries who are homesick and could benefit from the “comforting voice of their parents,” said Elder Uchtdorf.

To avoid disruption to missionary schedules, family members are asked not to initiate calls or chats but instead wait for the missionary to contact them on his or her weekly preparation day. If a missionary’s parents live in different locations, he or she may contact each parent separately.

Parents should remember that the missionaries have an important work to do. “They are called to bring the gospel message to all the world. They are called to find, teach, baptize, and help people to become disciples of Jesus Christ. They are the ones in charge of communication.”

Missionaries “initiate the call to their parents because they have a schedule they want to fulfill. Missionaries and parents can plan ahead to find a time convenient to both. On preparation day, missionaries want to prepare physically, mentally, and spiritually for the rest of the week. They know best which time would be best for them to call home.”

Elder Uchtdorf added, “The Lord loves the missionaries and their families. We are confident that the expanded ways of weekly communication between missionaries and their families by letters, emails, online messaging, video chats, or phone calls will have a positive effect on the efforts to gather Israel, both in the mission field and at home.”

Inspiration

Que tal Familia??
  Wow this week has been amazing! Before I talk about the temple I want tell you about a cool miracle that we saw just barely this morning. So as we were pulling out of the parking garage we saw a lady who turned out to be a member and her car had died. So we pulled up along side her popped both the hoods and started trying to jump this car. We tried so many different things to where we were tapping on the starter and readjusting the cables to trying to give it gas as we started it but for 30 minutes of trying and failing we were feeling pretty unlucky. So Elder Benavides said, "We haven't said a prayer yet." We invited this member who said she hadn't prayed in forever to say a prayer, so we said a prayer asking for some help to be able to start the car and then waited for like 5 minutes as we had done previously. We decided to give it one more try and then she was just gonna take an uber. So we started it and it was turning over and the dying and then turning over and then dying and then finally after about 5 seconds of trying to start it, the motor caught and it started running. We were so excited because it help build the faith of not only us but this member who hadn't prayed in a while. The power of prayer exists I know that for a fact and I hope that this miracle helped build your faith as well.
  Well we had interviews and temple day on Wednesday of this past week. And wow the temple was incredible!! I almost suffer withdrawls from the temple when we don't get to go. The adjustments made were defintely inspired of God and I would invite anyone who hasn't gone to the temple since the adjustments have been to go no matter what it takes. I testify that these adjustments have come from god and that our prophet Russel M. Nelson knows exactly what God wants us to do.
     The last thing is that we finally got Katelan to come to church. what ended up happening is that instead of us just stopping by and then leaving we stopped by and started singing karokee until they had all woken up (we both think that we killed it on the karokee in case you were wondering). So If you ever need a fun Idea to get people to church I highly recommend it. Thats about most of what our week consisted of, thanks for the emails and the talks because I've found that I absolutely love reading what the apostles and prophets have said, so I will for sure be checking out those talks. Love you all so much. Se Cuidan!!
Love you!!

Baptism and the blessings of technology

Que Tal Familia?
  El nino Christopher se bautizo en el Sabado!!! We had such a good ending to our week, we were able to have the baptism of Christopher and all of his family came including his Mom (who is divorved from Hernan) and his step dad and brother. The best part was that Miriam got baptized too, she is a person that has been taught for a long time in the other elders area (Pidcock and Cornelio). So afterwords we had to celebrate so we went to Wingstop. It was such an amazing experience to be able to see Hernan baptise his son. He was so excited but told us, "Hermanos, estoy bien nervioso, tienen que estar aqui para ayudarme si hago un error." I love hernan so much as well as his kids Christopher and Julietta, who will also be baptised this year.
  Something cool is that we got to skype in Elder Terry for the baptism as well as the Hermanas in el centro de visitantes en Mexico who sent us the referral for Hernan. Technology is such a huge blessing and something I've noticed is that before the mission I did not use technology at all like I should've I thought about it a lot and I realized that all the time back home I would post something about me or a picture about me, but what I've learned is that technology and social media is not here for you, its here to help hasten the work. So I think I can say that I have been retrained how to use technology and trust me it helps so much.
   Another exciting thing is that this week we got a Visitor Center trip with miguel and lidia. Miguel and Lidia were found through Hernan sharing the gospel with them and then bringing them to a ward party. Since then we have been over to teach them several lessons and Hernan has been an amazing help to us as a member present and member missionary. I really do hope one day you can come back and meet him because you can tell that this mans entire appearance and attitude has changed. So things are going well within the area the only thing is that we had to drop Angie due to lack of contact. Apparently being pregnant really has kinda wrecked her and she hasn't been doing very good at all. So unfortunately we haven't been able to meet with her.
  The other big thing that happened this week is that the Familia Sanchez moved to victorville, which is like 2 hours away. They are such an awesome family and I will miss them a lot. Anyways Elder Benavides and I are both doing good, unfortunately there is no word on his Visa so he will for sure be here another transfer from what we know. It sounds like its been a real lucha getting visas to Ecuador lately, so we are still waiting on that.
  But we are still working hard and will continue to do so. I love you all so much thank you for the emails I really do appreciate it. Maybe dad can teach me a move or two when I get back😂. I love you!!! Les Amo!!
-Elder Gibbons