Week 86 - Kalasin; T13.W4

Sawatdii dear Family and Friends,  

Thanks sooo much for your love and support. I get Kaiden's and Kenna's letters (Elder Worthington and Sister Snell respectively), and it boosts my morale and keeps me going in many cases. They are such great examples to me and I'm honored to labor alongside them in this great work.

This IS a great work. Work. Such a word. It is a word that embodies how faith is used to create results - in any field - art, sports, and especially out in the field. 

But one example of work that I'd like to mention is from that of my family and their work that inspires me. The following is an excerpt from my dad's email to me this past week about the Schlappi Family Adult Retreat (S'FART):

"Wow, we had an amazing few days.  We spent the past 3 days in Fairview with all my siblings and their spouses...completely remodeling Tyler and Tilly’s house [my Aunt and Uncle]. 

This is very Gospel related so hang tight. 

"Uncle Scott took the lead and we got projects and tools and teams of workers all lined up to do dozens of major projects like repair roofs, repair floors, paint rooms, clean like crazy, and build dog sheds etc.  Well, we all showed up ready to go and really make a difference.... Fortunately, we all rallied for a great cause, got our hearts and attitudes in the right place, and went to work.  Joseph,  I have seldom seen such a miracle take place as all these people working their tails off and then pitching in wherever possible.  Your great Mom spent two days with a shovel digging around trees and building a rock wall and painting and remodeling an entire bathroom [which I must add my thanks and love her my great mother here who has ALWAYS been a great worker].  

"This was service at its finest....

"This brought us together like no beach vacation could ever attempt to do.  The fact that Tyler and Tilly allowed us to serve them was a great example of humility and willingness to allow us to show our love back to them for all they great things they have done for others.  They were so grateful as you can imagine having 4 young kids and Tilly is expecting again.... 

"I only hope that our family (with your help of course) can find ways to serve each other as the years move on.  I know that families are and need to be a great source of strength in times of need.  I know that a bit of planning and some hard work coupled with the right approach and attitude can get good people through anything.  We all felt the love of our Lord as we worked side by side."

I love this story and am sad I didn't have an opportunity to be there, but did have one here. Brother A called us one morning and asked if we could help him out - in "work clothes" so we knew it was big. His house flooded from the CRAZY rain that's been happening here lately, it being rainy season. We bailed out buckets after buckets after buckets of mucky water, killed a pair of scorpions, and really just helped him out. Super fun, as I am grateful the Lord allowed me to be in on the Schlappi service in a very small way.

As for investigators, we have been working hard and Sister Ple (Bun) came to church for the first time with her husband, X (who calls himself Pat now) whom we've been working with. Their little son, Buster, is a terror but loved church too. Raugh came and is coming next week with Gaeo his Ό (or "fan" which means crush, spouse, lover, husband, wife, boyfriend, and girlfriend), who has not yet tied the knot legally - which is keeping Raugh from getting baptized. We are in desprate need of a miracle this month for them to find the money to get married legally which takes her all over to do paperwork because she is Laotian. She is great and a new investigator. We've giving her  BoM in Lao that I stole from the office before I left... Hehe... And they live 12 kilometers away (a fun bikeride at 7:30 in the morning). That's sort of all that's happening here besides our biking 12 kilos in the opposite direction to the nearby city of Kamalasai where we found a miracle at the last door we came up to in the pouring rain. More on Dii later.

Lastly, this picture is another miracle that happened outside of Kalasin that Elder Wilamas just sent me. Here's the story...

[I think this is Beem, who was baptized, and her cousin, Sister Waan...at least that's my interpretation of the story!]

 

Sister Waan from Asoke couldn't meet with us on this one day when we usually could during my service in the Office. Weird, so I asked her why. She responded that she would be up by Chaengwattana - the same place I was going for zone conference a few months ago. So, I just asked her, "Well, could we stop by and have dinner?" She said sure and I went on a 3-man switch-off with the Pakkret Elders to introduce this family to them. We had a great dinner-lesson and I even took pictures. We left with a return appt, but shortly after that I left the office. This is Min's and his wife Beem's baptism photo, with Beem standing next to her beloved cousin. The Pakkret Elders kept going and this family has come to know the truth of their cousin's message for themselves. The Gospel is true and it is spreading to all the world - to all those ready to hear it. I just am so humbled to have been apart of it here.

Love you all as this WORK rolls on.

Elder Gibbons

Bro Gob (Investigator) racing his son Owen (RC) in a cookie-eating contest at FHE.



Elder Martin and I doing service in the countryside.

Our new hoppin' ride round Kalasin (at invesigators' Dtaan and King King's house who is now 2 RCs).



LA's house with friend, Pepsi, Fodi, and Bay. We're working with Pepsi lately.

Dtaan and King King's baptism. The Sisters played a great role in helping her get baptized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mother's Day 2013

We had a WONDERFUL night, talking to Joseph and seeing his ever-smiling face!!  He is doing fantastic and loving his area and the missionaries he is living/working with.  His companion, Elder Wilamas, is a native of Thailand and Joseph has been learning so much from him.  He is District leader over the Assistants to the President and the Zone Leaders.  They all live together in a condo.  How fun is that?!!!  :)

Here are a few photos of us "chatting" with him.  I can't believe only one more phone call at Christmas, then he will be home within weeks!  Thank you for all of your support, love and prayers!

His companion, Elder Wilamas and Joseph

Joseph, his companion, and Zone Leaders (I think!) :)

Draper Temple

Joseph was able to go through the Draper Temple for the first time last night.  (December 14th)  It was a very special day because it was his Dad (Mike's) birthday.  Mike was able to be Joseph's escort through the Temple.  We were able to have several family members join us for a wonderful session: Grandma Donna Gibbons, LeRoy Gibbons, Barry & Lucie Gibbons, Marty Holker, Michael & Rocio Holker, Collette and Troy Worthington (funny story about Troy...he didn't have white pants and he thought he could rent them at our Temple.  But they don't rent clothing, so he went to the only place he knew he could find white pants...a golf store!  They had to start the session without him, but he got to meet up with us in the Celestial room.) and me, Mom!  We missed my parents, who would have been there if it wasn't for my Dad's open heart surgery, and many other family members who had other commitments.

We sure love you Joseph and are so happy that this is one step closer to your mission in less than 6 weeks!

 

Papers are in!

As we speak (or as I type and you read!), Joseph is in the Stake President's office for his final interview before turning in his (electronic) papers for his mission!!  He had his Dr's physical last week, we took his missionary photo today before he left to meet with the Bishop, and now his interview with President Fenton is the last thing.  What a thrilling time!!  He is so ready to go!!  It's been an amazing process.  Everything fell into place as he had such a desire to turn in the paperwork by September 16th (120 days before his birthday).  He still had to wait until Sunday (the 18th) to meet with his Bishop and Stake President.  I can't wait for him to get home so I can hear all about it!  Then I will find out the details about how long we should plan on waiting before we receive the large, white envelope in the mail.  Did I tell you that he plans to open it somewhere up in the mountains all alone before "opening" it with family??  That's my Joseph!  :)

Joseph's wisdom teeth surgery

Last week was Joseph's first week at BYU!!!  I can't believe he is going to college!  ("Your mom goes to college!")  :)  We decided since he is living at home and won't be in a dorm this semester, we would paint his room so he would "feel" like he was in a new place.  Well...once we pulled out all of his furniture, we could see how bad the carpet was!!  Yikes!!  (His room, Mike's office and Anna's bedroom were the only rooms we hadn't replaced and they had the original WHITE/GRAY carpet...gray NOT being the original color).  I asked Mike if we could replace all three rooms, which he agreed to...since his office was the worst shade of gray!  So, our little project turned into a nightmare, lasting the entire weekend!!  (We started on a Tuesday.)  We ended up taking everything (with the help of our neighbor boys, Zach, Max and Tucker Johnson -thanks guys!!) out of the three rooms and putting it all in our family room and living rooms.  Its hard to believe you have that much stuff when you put it all in one place!!  But after all was said and done, Joseph has a nice "new" room to study in while he is going to college.  He chose a dark red color for one of his walls, which took four coats, but I must say it looks great and I love it...since it will be my office when he leaves on his mission!!  :)

It seems surreal that he is in college, but it has been kind of anti-climatic because we have been getting all the paperwork ready for his mission.  He has been waiting for this moment all of his life and it is finally here!!  Now everything is online, so we have been going through the forms, getting his dental and doctor visits scheduled, etc.  When he went to the dentist, he was told that his wisdom teeth were all impacted and needed to be removed.  I called the Oral Surgeon and he was booked out several weeks.  Joseph has a goal to get his paperwork in by September 16th - 120 days before his birthday, which is the first day possible for him to turn in his papers.  So, I knew he had to be booked out several weeks, but I thought we would take our chances.  And as fate would have it, they had a cancellation for the next morning (Friday, Sept. 2, Mike and I's anniversary)!  Joseph was in the office less then 24 hours later and the surgeon took like 15 minutes and they were out!!  I didn't realize it was such an ordeal...I guess I forgot what it was like 35 years ago.  He was in quite a bit of pain and couldn't hold any food down until later that evening.  He had a friend over the next day and actually sang with her at the piano, which probably set him back a few days!  I forgot to say that when we were in the office with the surgeon, right before his surgery, the doctor said he needed to lay low for three days.  Because this was such a last minute thing and it was really our only option, Joseph had several things planned for that weekend, including a date and the Brazilian festival on Saturday.  When the Dr told him to lay low for three days, Joseph said, "I WILL be going to the Brazilian festival tomorrow.  I set a goal for myself to go to the festival and order something to eat in Portuguese."  The Dr was a little shocked, I think, but Joseph was determined to go no matter what the Dr said!  Well, needless to say, he did NOT go to the festival.  Luckily, he started to keep some food down so he could take medication and the bleeding stopped pretty quickly.  His Dad gave him a blessing the night before surgery and everything went smoothly.  After five days of jello, yogurt, broth and juice, he was happy to eat again!  I think that meal of Top Ramen, even though its his favorite food, tasted better than ever!!

I am so grateful everything went well.  The next steps are his physical next week, his meeting with our Bishop, and Stake President on Sunday the 18th, then the waiting begins!!

How could I forget the most important thing that happened last week?!  Joseph was ordained an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood by his Dad.  :)  It really IS happening!!!  :)

This is a first!

I have seen many people do this and thought it was way too complicated!!  But, now that my son is getting ready for his mission, I figured it was time to attempt to create a blog!  Also, when I was at my friends house a while ago, I saw this beautiful, bound book on her coffee table.  It said Easton Family 2008...and it was ALL of her blog postings and photos for that year in an awesome book.  I immediately thought of Joseph and his mission.  What a great way to keep a journal that I can give him in a handy dandy book when he returns from his mission.  (Well, that's the goal anyway!!)