Week 8: Oh Florida.

Oh Florida, Oh Florida,

The constant heat prolongs.

The days are full of summer sun,

The clouds don't stay for long.

Oh Florida, Oh Florida,

The nights grow warmer still.

Quite possibly they're cooling down,

But perhaps they never will.

Oh Florida, Oh Florida,

You are my home for now.

But still I grow the thought of faith,

That maybe it could snow somehow?

As you can tell, I'm not a poet. I just think that I took for granted how fortunate I was to be able to experience all four seasons back in Utah. 😂 Please don't get me wrong, Florida's just awesome. I think sometimes we want what we don't have. 

Oh my beautiful family and friends. I hope you all had the best week. I also hope that you can all look back on it and find at least one moment where you could see God's hand in your lives. If you have one of those moments and want to share, please shoot me an email, even if it's the littlest thing! I love those types of emails! They make my day!

First of all, last P-Day, you didn't receive an email from me because I was rushing to write one and I had it all written, but it got deleted at 5:58 p.m., and P-Day ends at 6:00. So that was a little bit frustrating, but I wrote it all down the way I remember writing it and you should receive that one as well as this one. Also, P-Day this week is Tuesday because it was Veteran's Day yesterday (a good day to proselyte).

Oh my goodness this week was just so interesting. It seems like last Monday was forever ago! 

Zone Conference was pretty good! I loved it because I got to sing! 

Not a ton of things happened this week, but I learned some powerful lessons! I don't know everything. I actually know nothing compared to some of these missionaries. But I love that we're all in this state of learning together.

I just wanted to let you all know that whatever our trials, whatever our struggles; our Savior Jesus Christ has been through it all. He cares that we change. He knows that we need to grow. That was Heavenly Father's purpose when he put us down here. He knows what we need in the long run, and even though life can be difficult sometimes, I think it pays to be grateful for those stumbling blocks that he does put in our path. It isn't like he gives us this big mountain to climb, or this life on Earth, and just abandons us! He knows each of us perfectly and LOVES US ENOUGH to put trials in our path. After all, in the premortal life, we knew what we were going to go through and we were rejoicing. I was probably ecstatic when He told me that I was going to be serving a mission! What a great honor it is to put on my cute little name tag every morning. I love it. My mission has been so hard thus far, and it will continue to be. That's life. But I know that with our Savior, anything is possible. And really, it is all worth it.

I'm so sorry I don't have the time to write more! You all know that I'm a perfectionist and that if I could, I would go on writing for days.

I LOVE YOU ALL.

Much love,

Sister Gibbons

Here's an excerpt from a fantastic talk titled, "The First Great Commandment" by Elder Holland:

"After a joyful reunion with the resurrected Jesus, Peter had an exchange with the Savior that I consider the crucial turning point of the apostolic ministry generally and certainly for Peter personally, moving this great rock of a man to a majestic life of devoted service and leadership. Looking at their battered little boats, their frayed nets, and a stunning pile of 153 fish, Jesus said to His senior Apostle, "Peter, do you love me more than you love all this?" Peter said, "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee."

The Savior responds to that reply but continues to look into the eyes of His disciple and says again, "Peter, do you love me?" Undoubtedly confused a bit by the repetition of the question, the great fisherman answers a second time, "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee."

The Savior again gives a brief response, but with relentless scrutiny He asks for the third time, "Peter, do you love me?" By now surely Peter is feeling truly uncomfortable. Perhaps there is in his heart the memory of only a few days earlier when he had been asked another question three times and he had answered equally emphatically—but in the negative. Or perhaps he began to wonder if he misunderstood the Master Teacher's question. Or perhaps he was searching his heart, seeking honest confirmation of the answer he had given so readily, almost automatically. Whatever his feelings, Peter said for the third time, "Lord, … thou knowest that I love thee."

To which Jesus responded (and here again I acknowledge my nonscriptural elaboration), perhaps saying something like: "Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn't it obvious then and isn't it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me."

Then, turning to all the Apostles, He might well have said something like: "Were you as foolhardy as the scribes and Pharisees? As Herod and Pilate? Did you, like they, think that this work could be killed simply by killing me? Did you, like they, think the cross and the nails and the tomb were the end of it all and each could blissfully go back to being whatever you were before? Children, did not my life and my love touch your hearts more deeply than this?"

My beloved brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: "Did you love me?" I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all—"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind." And if at such a moment we can stammer out, "Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee," then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty."

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Sent from the Sunshine State