This last week was the quickest busiest craziest of my whole mission. It was incredible, so much going on each day. The thing that made it the craziest is that this as you have all have herd from the news is tornado season. Well the one here was not even close to the size of the one in Oklahoma. But I will get to that in a minute. The week started off well. We have had a lot of appointments and have been talking to a lot of people. We will be having a baptism this week for a young kid who has been coming to church and wants to be baptized. For a while I was unsure if he was ready but I am sure of it now. He is a great kid and I am excited for this chance to teach him and help him improve his life.

               So other than teaching and talking to people, there is a tornado that hit. It was not bad at all. Just picked up some trees and threw them at houses. No casualties just a lot of trees everywhere. Most houses where not even damaged. And no it wasn’t in this town that it happened. It was about 70 miles south of here in Hannibal Missouri, about an hour and a half drive. We went down Thursday, Saturday and Monday to help clean up. I enjoyed it. On Monday we were working in a monsoon. I don’t think I have ever been that wet, literally dripping constantly for about 4 hours straight. But it was a warm rain so it was not that bad. There was a point where they cut off a branch on a tree and it slammed this guy in the head and knocked him out cold but he turned out to be fine.

               So I am now finally dry from yesterday. I enjoyed working down there but I am also happy to be here and doing regular missionary work. Other than the baptism this week, we are teaching a few people and we are hoping to help them all progress to the point of working towards a baptism date.

               I love this area. Transfer calls are this Saturday so we will see what happens but whatever happens I know it is the work of the lord. I love you all and I thank you all for all that you do for me. I hope you have a great week.

This is the temple from across the river.

More tornado stuff.

i drove through Carthage like 6 times this week i finally decided to stop and take a couple quick pictures. here is one.

This is my house right now. we live in the basement

this is Burlington. i love this town.

This week was a busy busy week for us. We were running from one place to the next most of the week. This transfer cycle is going by really quickly. We are working hard and getting done all that we can. Like Eric said as missionaries you always have people asking you for money. It happens all the time. I don’t know how many people I have had come up to me and ask for money or for help. We do all we can to help but there is always little that we can do for them.

                But I love this work. I love being a missionary. I love talking to people and doing all that I can to help them in their life. This work Is true. Things are going really well for us. There are a lot of people who are willing to talk to us but few really listen. We will probably have a baptism this week. If might get pushed to next week but we will see. A kid who has been coming for about a month wants to be baptized.

                We set a baptism date with another lady as well but she will not be baptized until August there is a lot she has to overcome but she has a desire and I feel like she will reach that date. Other than that all of our work is trying to help less active members return to church. We could have 2 wards out here is everyone on our list came. Right now we have just barely enough to make a ward.

                I love you all. The weather is doing well here. We have had a few tornado scares but none of them have touched down. I think it would be awesome to see. I love you all. I am so grateful for all that you do for me. I hope your week goes well. I pray for all of you. And I thank you for your prayers. Have a great week.



--
Elder Jacob Gibson of the Iowa Des Moines mission

So I got the chance to talk to my family yesterday it was great to see them. I am glad you are all doing well and I thank you for all that you do for me. As for my week, things went well. We have a lot of people who are progressing though most of our work right now is helping less-active members come back into the fold.

               There was a 15 year old girl who we have been working with. She is ready to be baptized but Sunday morning she called her dad in Spain to ask if he would approve it and he said no. so we will keep teaching her and hope the lord softens his heart.

               We have a lot of people though with a lot of potential. The work is really picking up here. It is going to warm up again this week and we hope it stays that way. It makes our job a lot easier.

               There is nothing too big to talk about today. I talked to my family about most things yesterday, so I will end this here and just let you all know that I love you and that I miss you. The work is pressing forward and the Gospel is true. Have a great week.

-- 

Elder Jacob Gibson of the Iowa Des Moines 

p.s
 D&C 124:88
 Let my servant William go and proclaim my everlasting gospel with a loud voice, and with great joy, as he shall be moved upon by my ^aSpirit, unto the inhabitants of Warsaw, and also unto the inhabitants of Carthage, and also unto the inhabitants of Burlington(that is where i am now the exact same city as william), and also unto the inhabitants of Madison, and await patiently and diligently for further instructions at my general conference, saith the Lord.

-- 

Elder Jacob Gibson of the Iowa Des Moines mission

So this week was a busy week.  Rain, rain and more rain, but it was often warm enough for us to not have to where jackets so that was really nice. I really love this town. I am hoping that I am able to finish my mission here in the shadow of Nauvoo, but we will see what happens.

                Not too many highlights from this week. We found a lot of new people to teach and we have a really busy week planned out. I am enjoying working with Elder Berthold he is a great missionary and we are getting a lot of work done. We have been finding a lot of people and had a few cool miracles that have happened here. It is amazing that often those you think are least likely to listen and to join are often the most likely. We are teaching a lady that has told me several times over the past couple months that she will never listen to us. She is a really great lady and I am excited for the progress that she is now making.

                We have been talking to a lot of people and things have been going great for us. We had a mission wide conference with Elder Anderson of the 12 on Saturday and we received some amazing instruction. This week will be a great week. I have a really hard working companion and he is a great missionary. I love the work here and I love my savior. I love all of you and thank you for all that you do for me. Have a great week

So this week was a busy week.  Rain, rain and more rain, but it was often warm enough for us to not have to where jackets so that was really nice. I really love this town. I am hoping that I am able to finish my mission here in the shadow of Nauvoo, but we will see what happens.

                Not too many highlights from this week. We found a lot of new people to teach and we have a really busy week planned out. I am enjoying working with Elder Berthold he is a great missionary and we are getting a lot of work done. We have been finding a lot of people and had a few cool miracles that have happened here. It is amazing that often those you think are least likely to listen and to join are often the most likely. We are teaching a lady that has told me several times over the past couple months that she will never listen to us. She is a really great lady and I am excited for the progress that she is now making.

                We have been talking to a lot of people and things have been going great for us. We had a mission wide conference with Elder Anderson of the 12 on Saturday and we received some amazing instruction. This week will be a great week. I have a really hard working companion and he is a great missionary. I love the work here and I love my savior. I love all of you and thank you for all that you do for me. Have a great week