26 March 2018 WEEK 92

Elser Gibbons and Elder Fua were emergency transferred last Monday night from Savannah La Mar to Kingston - Another Elder was hurt badly and Stone was assigned to be with him while he recuperates and Elder Fua has been assigned to the hurt elders companion.  So with transfers coming up next week we will see where he ends up or if he'll stay in Kingston for his duration.  

From Stone: 

So crazy things happened this last week that I am very excited to share with all of you!

Me and my companion, Elder Fua, were emergency transferred from Savanna La Mar, to the big city of Kingston. This took both of us by huge suprise. It was like trying to hit a curveball. 

So we have been spending this last week with the Kingston Zone leaders and meeting with their investigators. We still haven't had the opportunity to meet with Bishop Singh and figure out our area so that is on the list of to do items! 

But as well this last week we were able to attend Zone Conference and that was awesome as usual:) I was really able to find the ways that Christ has impacted  my life. My testimony of the Gospel was strengthened and I have found a pure love for the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and the First Vision! I always love seeing the other missionaries, it is even more cool to see how they look to me as an example as I am getting close to finishing my mission.  

I have been asked how to be bold yet loving when correcting someone. This is such a good question, I thought I would share my thoughts on this with all of you. We are all familiar with D&C 121: 43 Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy. The key here is when moved upon by the Holy Ghost. If you are angry, shouting, feeling hate, are trying to harm the other person with your words or actions, or don’t even care what impact your words could have on the other person, then you are not being moved upon by the Holy Ghost. On the other hand, if your reproof hurts you as much as it hurts the other person, if your reproof is followed by an increase of love (not the silent treatment), and if you feel peace after the reproof, you are probably being moved upon by the Holy Ghost. If your desire is for the welfare and well-being of the other person, you are probably on the right track.

As we approach Easter, take some time to remember. Remember that you are a child of God, and so is everybody else. Remember that your Elder Brother is Jesus Christ. Remember that He created this earth for you, suffered, died, and was resurrected for you, giving you a way back to your heavenly family. Remember that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you represent him, you do what He would do if He were here. Remember that Jesus loves every one of His siblings dearly, and so should we. 

-- 

-Elder Gibbons-

Keep Trying. Keep Pushing. Keep Believing. Keep Growing. Heaven is Cheering You on Today, Tomorrow, and Forever.

19 March 2018 WEEK 91

    As I was paging through the parts of PMG that are assigned for this transfer, the quote from President Boyd K. Packer in the box at the top of page 19 caught my eye. “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.” 

Why do you think the Brethren included this quote, and even put it inside its very own box? Well, because it is probably very important to missionary work! Why is it important? Do we ever encourage our investigators to change a behavior? That’s about all we do or should be doing! Another word for this change in behavior that we seek is repentance. Preaching repentance is the first half of our purpose. When you are trying to get your investigators to church, to change their behavior, to repent, what is your strategy? According to President Packer, it should be to help them understand true doctrine. 

You may now be asking: Doctrine? Doctrine? What true doctrine? Once more, the Brethren have made it easy for us. At the beginning of each of the first three lessons in Chapter 3 of PMG, inside the “Your Purpose” box, are the baptismal interview questions. Here they are, the answers to these 5 questions are everything your investigator should understand to qualify for baptism: 

Do you believe that God is our eternal Father?

Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of the world?

Do you believe that the Church and the gospel of Jesus Christ have been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith?

Do you believe that Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of God? What does this mean to you?

    Are you willing to keep the Sabbath Day holy, including partaking of the sacrament weekly and rendering service to fellow members?

    As you work with your investigators that are struggling to keep a commitment, ask yourself, which of the above questions do they not understand, that is keeping them from keeping the commitment? The answers to these questions are our doctrine. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, our doctrine is designed to get God’s children to know how to come unto Christ and be saved. This is what we teach. It is simple. We should strive to keep it simple by focusing on the doctrine of Christ, and nothing else. Jesus made this point clearly and powerfully when speaking to the Nephites: And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock" (3 Ne. 11:40).

-- 

-Elder Gibbons-

Keep Trying. Keep Pushing. Keep Believing. Keep Growing. Heaven is Cheering You on Today, Tomorrow, and Forever.

12 March 2018 WEEK 90

​​The gospel plan is simple. It is perfect. It is infinite in its’ reach. Despite its’ simplicity, one can spend a lifetime learning and living it better and better. As full-time missionaries, our mission is very focused: Preach repentance and baptize converts. Even though our purpose and focus can be summarized in five words, we have been taught and learned many lessons on how to be as good as we can be at preaching repentance and baptizing converts. 

Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles.

We cannot teach without the Spirit and without unity.

We can boldly challenge 10 people a day to baptism, using the BOM.

We want to move from a “wishy-hopey” faith to a “knowy” faith. 

Teach investigators using the BOM and inspired questions; let them feel the Spirit and receive their own personal revelation.

The best finding is done while teaching; so, teach as much as you can.

Part member families are a rich source of new investigators and baptisms. Most families in the Church in Jamaica are part member families. 

Read the Missionary Handbook every day.

Read PMG every day; it is inspired. Apply what you read.

Strive to be passionate about your calling. Go for that A+, and find ways to get “extra credit” every day.

Your Area Book is like the “Brass Plates” for your area. Treasure it. Maintain it. Use it!

Sing hymns in your studies, in your teaching, and in your finding. It will invite the Spirit. 

We have seen many miracles in our work this week! Elder Fua and I continue to work hard everyday. I have gained with the strongest conviction that the Book of Mormon is true and it is the most correct of any book on Earth. My challenge is for all of you to Reflect on the blessing that the book of mormon has given you and then ask yourself the questions from President Nelson, What would I not have without the book of mormon, what would my life be like without the book of mormon? 

There was a really funny fight that happened this last week at church... A couple of the children began to fight each other in the bathroom, so me and another missionary had to stop it. I was laughing so hard afterwards. But we made sure they knew where they were and why! 

-- 

-Elder Gibbons-

Keep Trying. Keep Pushing. Keep Believing. Keep Growing. Heaven is Cheering You on Today, Tomorrow, and Forever.

5 March 2018 WEEK 89

​​     Here’s a few things from Preach My Gospel that have stood out to me this past week. From Chapter 2, Effective Study:

“Effective daily study must always begin with prayer.” “Getting good results from your study depends on having a strong desire to learn, studying with real intent, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and searching for answers to your investigator’s questions and concerns.” “Like Enos, as you hunger to know the words of eternal life and as you allow these words to sink deep into your heart, the Holy Ghost will open your mind and heart to greater light and understanding.” And finally, under Studying and Preparing to Teach Lessons, the first bullet point reads – Focus on commitments and baptismal interview questions. So, when we are teaching lessons 1-3, are these baptismal interview questions and the accompanying commitments what we are focusing on?

     This has been a really good week. We have been working really hard with Tavill, Ramel, and Taeshawn. All of them are progressing really well and are super solid. All of them even came to church. 

Other than that this week is going to be really good, we have a FHE set up for every night and will be celebrating a birthday for one of them on wednesday. 

Love you all! Remember to keep safe and be happy:)

-- 

-Elder Gibbons-

Keep Trying. Keep Pushing. Keep Believing. Keep Growing. Heaven is Cheering You on Today, Tomorrow, and Forever.

28 February 2018 WEEK 88

Pictures Only this Week!

19 February 2018 WEEK 87

From page 7 of Preach My Gospel, “The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is convincing evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. It is the keystone of our religion, the most powerful resource for teaching this message.” 

In Alma 32, the prophet Alma teaches us about faith, and how if we would experiment upon his words (he mentions experimenting 3 times), that we would find his words to be good. When I connect this sermon on faith with Moroni’s challenge in Moroni 10: 3-5, I think that Moroni is asking us to “experiment” upon his word. Now, most of you know that I have a scientific background and thus have done lots of experiments. The basis of any experiment is to have carefully controlled conditions. Then if you follow the procedure, you will obtain a certain result and it will be the same result every time!

Alma says to, “exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than to desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.”

Moroni tells us to, “Ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

When we challenge an investigator to experiment upon the word, if they come up with any other result except that the BOM is true, and is the word of God, they did the experiment wrong! Let’s help them learn to listen to the Spirit, and to exercise a particle of faith. Let’s help them to pray, not just to pray as they always have, but with a sincere heart and with real intent, meaning that they intend to change according to the answer they receive. Certainly, only they can open their heart and sincerely yearn for truth. So, if they did not obtain the correct result in their experiment, they did not control the conditions of the experiment as set forth by Alma and Moroni. 

This week we received our transfer calls and Elder Fua and I will be staying together for another transfer! Crazy to think that I only have three left. I hope that Everyone was able to have a great Valentines day as we as missionaries were able to. We had the privilege to be waitors at our valentines party at the branch here in Sav. We spent the night serving others and just being goofy haha. 

A  next thing that happened this week was we had 3 baptisms!!! Most stressful planning of my life so far haha. Because one of the parents backed out of letting her son be baptized but we were able to set some goals with her and she gave him permission so we took him haha. Dante was baptized and it was so awesome:)

We also had Zone Conference this week and it was so nice to be able to see some good friends. I love being able to interact with previous companions or even missionaries that I have served around. It fills you with so much joy. 

-- 

-Elder Gibbons-

Keep Trying. Keep Pushing. Keep Believing. Keep Growing. Heaven is Cheering You on Today, Tomorrow, and Forever

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12 February 2018 WEEK 86 600- Days!

So this week we have been working really hard to get Dante prepared for baptism. He will be interviewed this week, so lets pray for him. 

Also we had the opportunity to have district conference on Sunday. We took the long travel of 4 hours on a bus, knee to knee. It was so awesome though, I had a whole lot of fun. It was so good to be able to see all the missionaries from my last couple areas and get to see them. I got to see Elder Miller again which was awesome as usual. The main teaching was focused on having a Book of Mormon on  you at all times to hasten sharing the gospel with others. I leave you with the same invitation to carry a soft copy of the Book of Mormon with you at all times and in all things, and in all places.

In Jamaica, we are in the "gathering the low hanging fruit" phase of preaching repentance and baptizing converts. There may be beautiful and delicious fruits high up in the tree, but you must climb and exert great time and effort to harvest them. There are fruits lower down on the tree that would take less effort to pick and gather. But, here in Jamaica, the ground under the tree is covered with fruit that is fully ripe. We don't need to reach up into the tree at all. All we need do is get down on our knees on the ground under the tree with our basket, and gather the fully ripe fruit. This is a fast process; you can fill your bucket in a couple minutes. Then you turn your harvested fruit over to another (your ward or branch leaders and members) for processing. You want to be on your knees under the tree, filling your basket up as fast as you can, over and over. 

This Gospel is true. Jesus lives! We have tons of help on the other side of the veil waiting and eager to help us with this work. 

-- 

-Elder Gibbons-

Keep Trying. Keep Pushing. Keep Believing. Keep Growing. Heaven is Cheering You on Today, Tomorrow, and Forever.