Hey family,

               Things are going great for me. I am still in Burlington. Things are progressing here. It is an amazing little town that I love serving it. I am now with Elder Berthold from Kaysville Utah. He is a good guy. He has been out for 18 months. We are working well together.

               We are still working with a 15 year old girl to try to help her be ready for a baptism in mid may. She is doing really well and I fell like she will make it, other than that we are just spending most of our time finding. We did have a cool experience where we went to talk to a guy who was not home and my companion was attacked by the neighbor’s dog which ended in us teaching the neighbor and we have a return appointment.

               I love you all. We want to make it to the temple today so i we do not have a lot of time so I will just end by saying that I thank you all for your prayers and your faith. I hope you have a great week.

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Elder Jacob Gibson of the Iowa Des Moines mission

This week in (flooding) Iowa

This week was a good week. Most of our time was spent out in the rain. It rained a lot here the past few days and as a result of that the Mississippi is over flowing. Parks where we used to walk along the river are now under water. We have some sweet pictures that I want to show you. Burlington is built on a hill and the floods have never reached too far into town. Downtown has been flooded before but so far they don’t think it will be too bad. The have sandbagged most of down town. There are some buildings that used to be there that are now underwater or are mostly submerged but I guess this is normal for the people here. They think we are all weird because we are taking pictures of the floods and are acting like giggly little girls with how sweet it looks. I am enjoying it though.

                Well we got some news and my companion is getting transferred. He will be leaving me on Thursday. I have really enjoyed serving with this guy and I will miss him. Things are going good here in Burlington. We have been talking to a lot of different people and we will have a good number of appointments this week. Many of the people that we are working with are less-active members. There is honestly no use in doing missionary work if we can’t hold on to the fruit of that labor. And so we are trying to do as president monsoon directed and find the lost. We are still using a lot of our time trying to find new people as well though. I really love this town there are a lot of really nice people here and they are doing all they can to find peace in this hectic world. I love being a missionary and I love my savior and his great love and sacrifice. I love this work and all of the many chances I got to share my testimony. I am grateful for my parents who taught me the truth at a young age.  I love all of you and I thank you for your letters and emails. I hope to hear from all of you soon. Have a great week.

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Elder Jacob Gibson of the Iowa Des Moines mission

So this week was a good one. It went by really fast but almost all of our appointments fell through. We had a lot of really good things set up but that is ok because this week will be the best of my mission. I am really enjoying this town. I will probably finish my mission here but we will see what happens, transfer calls are this weekend. We have a baptism set for next month with a 7^th grader. Her mom was baptized a few years ago and wanted this girl to have some time to decide for herself what she wanted. She is an amazing young lady and is very close to the spirit. Other than her we are spending most of our time finding, just talking to people in their homes and on the streets. I really enjoy this part of missionary work. You have to chance to see so many different walks of life and learn so much from it. It is like we are going around offering every person we meet $100 and we are just begging them to take it but most of them don’t want it. But that is ok we will just offer it to the next person. And pray their heart will be softened one day.

                The weather here can’t make up its mind. It wanted to be hot for a few days then it decided to get cold again and now it is back to getting hot. So we will see what this next week brings. People are finally getting out of their winter shells and going out and about and that gives us the chance to talk to a lot more people. I will say though that this town is where a lot of old people come to retire and have quick access to fishing and boating on the Mississippi. I have rarely met an angry person here though, most people are very nice and friendly and usually willing to listen at least for a little bit.

                My companion is doing really well. He is a great guy and huge ball of charity. He is always willing to serve and help others. I have really enjoyed serving with him. We will see what happens on Saturday. We both have been out for the same amount of time so all things are up in the air right now. But I know whatever the decision it comes from the lord. I thank all of you for your faith and for your prayers. I pray for you and thank you for all you do have a great week.

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Elder Jacob Gibson of the Iowa Des Moines mission

So this week was a great week. I am finally getting this town down. It is amazing that by the time you finally start to figure things out they often move you. I have no idea how long I will be out here possible the rest of my mission but I will work as hard as I can none the less.

                I really enjoyed conference, some of the talks where much needed support for me.  My favorite was probably Elder Holland’s at the beginning of the Sunday afternoon session.

                Much of our time once again is finding people to teach. We did set a date with a 15 year old girl to be baptized next month so I am excited for that. She is really awesome and sincere. Other than that the work is pressing forward. It is warming up here and so people are much more out and about which makes the work much better and more productive.  I usually enjoy the cold but it makes things harder as a missionary.  I love this work. I love being a missionary. There is not much more to talk about this week. Most of our time was finding. But we are not doing the regular picking a street and knocking. We are praying and knocking the doors we feel impressed to knock and our productivity is so much better. The lord is truly hastening his work. I love this work and I love this gospel.  I hope you all have a great week.

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Elder Jacob Gibson of the Iowa Des Moines mission

This week was a good week. The weather is really warming up. It was also spring break this week so a lot of people where home. Not much has changed this week though. Much of our time was spent preparing for the baptism that happened on Saturday. It was a fun experience. The work is picking up here in Burlington Iowa. The people here are friendly but often uninterested. Like I said before many of them have been to Nauvoo so they feel like they already know what they need to know. But I am enjoying my time here. I have a great companion who really cares about the people and about the work.

                I am really enjoying being so close to Nauvoo. We will be going to help clean the temple next week. I love the Nauvoo temple. Once I find the charger to my camera I will take some pictures of it for you. You will read about a place in church history called Montrose also called Zarahemla. It is across the river from Nauvoo but because the temple is on the top of a hill, when you are driving down Main Street you are staring right at the temple. It is an amazing sight. I can’t wait for it to get green again because then you will get some really cool pictures from me.

                I love you all. I love this work and the chance that I have to be a missionary. I know this church is true. I have felt my saviors love as I have had the opportunity to testify to others of it. Thank you all for all that you do.

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Elder Jacob Gibson of the Iowa Des Moines mission