Week 16: Christmas in the Springs

Well, this report is going to be a half-week one, seeing how my last email was on Wednesday. Christmas was fantastic! I got to see my family and Skype with them. It made me a little trunky, but only for a second. I know where I am supposed to be, and that is in the service of the Lord.

For Christmas Eve, we got to read the Christmas Story with a family, as well as play a mean game of And It Came To Pass. On Christmas Day, we had a wonderful dinner with a Hispanic family, and we played Presidente (Scum). There was somebody there who had been baptized but had left the Church. He only spoke Spanish, and was frustrated that not all the missionaries spoke Spanish. I had to have a translation, but I understood most of what he was saying! It was hard to carry a conversation, though, and one of the other members cut it short, seeing that it was going nowhere anyway. We got to watch The Lego Movie, and let me tell you, even after the second time, everything is awesome! It was Elder H's first time seeing it.

 

I got to give a talk on Preparing for the Second Coming in Sacrament as my first Sacrament Meeting in the area. Fun, right? I loved church that day. It was just one of those Sabbath days where you wish there was more time in church. Best feeling ever on Sabbath.

We were able to talk to a member family about how to raise their children in today's world. I know, I must be an expert in that area, with my vast amount of experience, right? But despite being only a 19-year-old boy (I mean, man), I was able to provide some insight on how to live the Gospel as a family, with a large amount of help from the Holy Spirit.
 

I know that Christmas is come and gone, but that doesn't mean that we should forget about Christ now. I want you to picture this in your mind. Imagine you were Joseph, Mary's husband, and you came across this stable where the Son of Man would have to be born. Imagine your heart dropping as you look across this lowly area, with flies buzzing around, and all sorts of smells that aren't fit for a motel, let alone a mansion. Imagine thinking that you were trying to provide the best place for the Savior of Mankind to be born, and this was the best you could do. I bet Joseph's heart broke at that very instant. There was no room for the Redeemer of Mankind in the world. That is why we must make room for Him in our lives. Is your life ready to receive the Master? Is it in the best order it can be? I challenge you to remember that everyday, and to prepare yourself to receive that great Emmanuel, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

 

Until, next week, keep Christ in your heart and remember:

The Church is true, the Book is blue, and Moroni is still on the ball.

 

--

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Tibbitts

 

 

Here's me at the top of the Incline in Manitou Springs. Much much funs, after hating my companion for making me climb it.

 

 



Here are a few pictures from our Christmas Skype session :)

 

Week 15: ET, Phone Home

This title fits so perfectly! I got ET'd (emergency transferred) into a new area, and I'll be Skyping back home tomorrow!

 

Everything has been very hectic this week. After ETs happened on Sunday, we took the elder that was going home to the airport. It made Elder H, my new companion, super trunky, but we helped him get over it.

 

(Note from Mom: I checked the Church website to see where the ward is he says he is in now and it is in Colorado Springs.)

 

We are moving around a lot this week, because the member home we are usually staying at has their extended family staying over. There is a lot going on, and the whole week feels pretty hectic to me.

 

We had an 8-year-old  baptism yesterday, and after that we met with a non-member family that are neighbors to the ward mission leader. The missionaries have done a lot of service for them before, but this time the ward mission leader invited them to take the discussions. He showed them the He is the Gift video, as well as The Nativity Bible Video, and bore a really powerful testimony. He then gave them a hard-back copy of the Book of Mormon with his testimony of it inside as a Christmas Gift and invited them to take the lessons and learn more about our Church. They agreed, but they told us of a bad experience they had in Utah with the "Mormons". As we listened, we realized that it was a break-off group of the LDS Church, and we explained to them that the Church does not affiliated itself with them, and reminded them of the good experiences they've had with the LDS Church. But what a wonderful Christmas gift!

 

I am out of time, but always remember the reason for the season. Jesus Christ subjected himself to mortal flesh so that He could save us all from sin. He is the first gift of Christmas.

 

Until next week, stay strong and Mormon on!

--

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Tibbitts

 

PS: I got to go to zone conference again because of ETs. (Meaning, I got to see Santa AGAIN!)

 

Another note from Mom: Here are some pictures he sent. He gives no description of the pictures, so your guess is as good as mine :) I need to have a strongly worded talk with him about this.

 

 

 

 

 

Ho, ho, ho, Have You Been a Good Missionary?

We had my first zone conference this week. It was an incredible experience. I learned a lot about increasing my faith. All it boils down to is hard work, and remembering that you don't really deserve anything from the Lord because you are forever indebted to Him. There is no magic formula that leads to an increase of faith. It is just working your hardest always.

Santa came to the zone conference. One of the missionaries sat on his lap and asked for a dragon. He said, "Ho, ho, ho, that's stupid. Ask for something else." He then asked for a pony and he said, "Ho, ho, ho, too bad," and handed him a picture of the Denver Temple in a stand. (I always knew Santa was a member...)

 

We have been scheduling more appointments with active member families now. One of the members owns an eye care center, and some missionaries a while ago placed a Book of Mormon there in the reading rack. He saw somebody reading the introduction and told them he knew how to get them a free copy, but then they clammed up and said no. We did some role-plays with him at his house to help him next time somebody that comes in reads it while waiting.

 

We taught G again this week. I don't know why I didn't do this before, but we invited him to start reading the Book of Mormon again, and he committed. I wanted to slap myself for not inviting him before.

 

We had a baptism on Saturday. There was a girl who was being taught by the Walsenburg missionaries that got married to somebody in this ward. She decided to be baptized into this ward, so I got to witness my first convert baptism! The other elders in the ward took charge of all of that. 

 

I am now singing in the ward choir in preparation for the Christmas program next week. I love singing! I was a tenor in college, well for the two times I practiced with the YSA ward choir, but I'm a bass here. It was a lot of fun!

 

Christ's apostles once asked the Lord to increase their faith, to which he gave them the parable of the unprofitable servant. At first glance, we may think that the Lord dodged the question and changed the subject, but in reality, He gave the answer to increasing our faith. We should never stop serving the Lord. We don't deserve a rest, because we've somehow earned it. We can never repay the Lord for what He's done for us. Even if we keep all the commandments, including the one to be perfect, we still fall short of repayment. If we ever think that we should rest from our service because we've "done enough", we need to remind ourselves that we are forever in His debt, and we should always follow His example, no matter the consequences. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego proclaimed that they would never worship idols, and that the Lord their God would protect them, but if not, they would still follow the Lord. It is that kind of faith that moves mountains, literally.

 

Until next week, stay strong and serve the Lord in all things.

 

--

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Tibbitts

 

 

Zone Conference

Week 13: Mi Companero Neuvo

So my new companion is Elder M. He is a Spanish speaking missionary. I didn't even realize they placed English and Spanish missionaries together. Finally, my kindergarten level of Spanish learned from 4 years of high school and 2 years of fast food have paid off! Our area really needs a Spanish missionary.

Note from Mom: I asked him why they put them together and how it works as far as teaching people, meaning will they teach both English and Spanish and Jacob just won't talk when they're teaching Spanish? Here is his response which I loved. "We are trying to meet with some people that mostly speak Spanish, but we also have English appointments. I may contribute a little, with my limited Spanish, but he'll do most of the talking with the Spanish people. Bottom line, he is here in La Junta because the Lord sent him here. The mission president is merely the conduit in which the Lord's will is vocalized. President Rehm and Sister Rehm are already praying about next transfers in January. Spanish and English missionaries get placed together sometimes. The reasons vary, but we usually don't know what those reasons are until they are manifest."

Right after transfer meeting, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings (sponsor!) in Pueblo. Elder M decided to take the Blazin' Challenge, which is 12 wings drenched in Blazin' Sauce in 6 minutes. I decided to take it as well, as well as one of the new missionaries fresh out of the MTC. I didn't realize sauce could hurt so much. I wasn't able to complete it in 6 minutes, but Elder M went through it like it was nothing! He finished in about 5 minutes, then asked for more Blazin' wings! We asked him if he was joking, but he said it wasn't even that hot. Who is this guy?! One of the waitresses felt bad about teasing us about not finishing it, so she gave us one of the t-shirts anyways. That's nice, something to make me feel even more guilty for not finishing it. Oh well, it will be a great conversational item. "Wow, you completed the Blazin' Challenge?!" "No." These challenges always are stretched out over two days, though.

 

We now officially completed all of the missionary lessons with S, the unbaptized 8-year-old. I think she is getting more and more excited about baptism. Her mom told us something that really excited us. Her brother has had a drinking problem for a long time, and she's never given up on him. He's never been interested in the Church. A few days ago, he came to her and told her that he wanted to be baptized! We know that there are a lot of things that he needs to fix in his life before he can partake of this sacred ordinance and enter into a covenant with God, but he has a desire and a goal, and that is the first step. I am so excited to help him make the steps necessary to change his life around and follow Jesus Christ!

 

In his talk titled, "Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep", President Hinckley said to never give up on somebody if there is even the slightest desire to change. S's mother never gave up on her brother, even though it seemed hopeless, and she did it because he is her brother. Well, everyone you see around you is your brother or your sister. Never give up on them.

 

Until next week, stay strong and never lose hope.

 

--

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Tibbitts

Transfer meeting.

Jacob and his new companion, Elder M. Nice face Jacob :)

Jacob has always loved the Armor of God.

 

 

Week 12: The Death of a Trainer

So tomorrow I "kill off" my trainer, Elder S. He is leaving the field tomorrow and going home on Thursday. I have now officially completed my training. I am glad that we were able to have such a productive week for his last week in the field.

 

So we had Thanksgiving with a member family and B's family. B has been coming to church with this member family for 2 Sundays now, and he is very interested in the good values we teach. After Thanksgiving "lunch", we taught a lesson about eternal marriage and The Family: A Proclamation to the World. He was very interested, and liked the idea of being married for time and all eternity. After that, we watched Frozen for our PG movie that we get to watch on Thanksgiving. My companion and most of the people there have never seen Frozen, and so they were all very excited to see it.

 

We finished all but 2 of the missionary lessons with S, the unbaptized 8-year-old, and she should be ready for interviews with the bishop, next time she comes to church.

 

We talked with N, a prospective elder, and explained to him what the Melchizedek Priesthood really is. Until that point, he just knew that he was working toward the "higher priesthood". The Spirit was really strong there, and we have seen him make great progress toward receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood.

 

We finally got E to say yes to coming to church! Before she was very adamant in her belief that Sabbath should be on Saturday, as the Jews had it in Bible times, and no matter how much we explained why it is now on Sunday, she wouldn't listen. The Spirit was much stronger that day than usual speaking with her, and we discovered the real reason for her not coming to church. She said she will come if her daughter comes with her, who the other elders in the district are working with. Before a couple weeks ago, she hadn't really been progressing at all for the past few years, but we are seeing some major changes and progress now! We also got her to pray vocally, with only a small amount of guidance from us during the prayer. I was afraid we were going to have to drop her, but it's possible that the problem was us all along.

 

Sometimes we think that it's other people who need to change, when in reality it is us. Sometimes we are looking through "dirty windows". Before you start judging somebody, make sure that it's not actually you that is the problem.

 

Until next week, stay strong and hold on to the promises of the Lord.

--

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Tibbitts

 

I acquired many new ties this week.





Elder S's last district meeting.