Written November 15, 2010. Sent November 24, 2010. Received December 27, 2010

Nikki,
How art thou? On this fine day I would like to stop writting like that because it takes forever! OK, answering the highlites (right?) of your letters: I'm glad that you like your job! And that you're doing little missionariness! If all members just lived their mormon lives and didn't hide it at all, (Not saying, "LOOK I'M MORMON!" or anything like that, but just living a righteous life and not caring if people notice or not (because they do)) Missionary work would be a lot easier. (You have no idea! ;) ) Thanks a ton for the package!! I just made the cake today because we actually don't have an oven. . . So we used a member's. It came out wonderful! I'll send a picture through my email soon. So it should be on my blog soonish. (If I get all my memory sticks devirused) Sorry my hand writing is so bad. . . I'm using this horridly wretched pen, and I have to push hard and it's a huge pen, so I'm going to change pens! Oh, yes we got a BOSCH dishwasher. Ha ha! Actually my mom won it during the "Grand Opening" of the BOSCH store. It was the "Grand Prize". ;) Don't worry, I'm jealous to. . . ;)
Oh, your package actually took about a month to get here, but I think that that was just because it was stuck in customs forever. . . and then Mexican mail is slow. . . yeah, but I got it! and it didn't look like anyone looked through it at all. Elder Shelly says that he wants to marry you just because you put the "party-popper-confetti-shooter-thing" in the package. He didn't need any more convicing after that. ¡Ha ha! ;)
So I got a letter from you that talked about my cousin (Mike) right after I sent a letter asking about him. . . So yeah, thanks for trying! Hopefully he'll write me sometime! ;) You're going to run the marathon?! That's ¡¡AWESOME!! I kind of want to run one too, but some time in the future. . . Sometime. ;) ¡Independence Day! (in Mexico) They do celebrate a lot like us. . . Well, with the fireworks. They also have what's called the "grita" (or "shout") I wrote about it in one of my emails. There's more detail there.
That's awesome that you buy the missionaries food for them! That happened to me all the time in the Utah SLC South mission and I loved it! :D But that doesn't happen here. . . :'( Ha ha! But that's ok! The St. George mission was just made in July or something like that, right? That's cool! I didn't even know what mission St. George was in before my mission. Do you buy food for the same missionaries or is it different companionships every time?
So do you have your wisdom teeth out yet? ;) I remember that well. . . I actually don't. . . They just gave me pain pills that knocked me out. So yeah. . . I really don't remember much afterwards. I think my little sister Michele is getting hers out soon.
You're getting a MacBook?! You luck duck!. . . I want one. ;) And you're going to call it Louie too. . . Louie two. . . Louie II. ;) Well, I'm glad to see that you've decided to honor the kings of France's past. ;)
Thank you again for the package! I'm eating the ¡Mini OREO Bite Size Go-Pak! right now, and it's really, REALLY good! I keep finding myself wanting more. . . ;)
So I've been wondering, did you get my letter with all the pictures in it and a letter for your mom too? It's just that you haven't mentioned recieving it and it's been a little while since I sent it. . .
Well I think that's all for now. We've got a bunch of good investigators right now. Hopefully they all progress to baptism! That would be ¡SWEET! xD Better than anything else ever!
That's all for now folk! (singular for folks)

P.S I just got two letters from you. One is super long and the other is kind of shorter. So some of the questions are already answered. . . Oh and thanks for keeping me posted about Cory. I think about him every once in a while, and wonder how he's doing. Thank you! Thank you!! THANK YOU!!!

P.P.S. Tell Kevin I still want those pictures!

Merry Christmas from a Thousand Miles Away

I sent off Jeff's Christmas package about two weeks ago. This is what was inside!

Mint Truffle Kiss. I admit that this was ripped into before I realized I should be taking pictures.
But you get the delicious idea.

These are solid chocolate Christmas characters. Seemed appropriate.

Chocolate covered caramel bells.

So much milk chocolate, time for some dark!

Chocolate crisp on a stick. Catchy!

Of course these most likely will be in pieces, but it was worth the try. Shoving them in between everything until they're so snug they don't move an inch might've helped.

The best Christmas candy ever, peppermint puffs.

Oreos! An inside joke. I've been sending him them from every holiday.

What is Christmas without Santa? Okay, I tried to stay away from the commercial, but this one slipped in somehow. It's cute! Come on! And undoubtedly part of our culture.

Two words: musical ties. An amazing find! I gave one to him last year, now there's one for his companion also.

Elf hats, one for him and his companion.

Stockings to be filled!

Filled with: the candy, the ties, and the elf hats.

I know what you're thinking! This is just going to be ruined when it's put into a box and shipped across the boarder to Mexico, but you must know me.
I absolutely love to wrap presents.
I'm a little weird that way and i wouldn't pass up this one.
So, bows and all, these presents are wrapped for the two Elders receiving them.

Packing material of choice this time is red and green tinsel.
And it's ready to ship.
Here's hoping Elder Gibson gets his package safe and on time. . . Mostly hoping for safe.
Merry Christmas!

Let's Get One Thing Straight. . .

Girls like me get put into two stereotypes.
The first is that I'm the evil girl distracting Elder Gibson from his mission and therefore interrupting the work.
The second is that I'm the romantically sad girlfriend whose life is waiting for my Jeffrey to come home and save me from crying into my pillow every night.
I can tell which one a person puts me in right when I tell them I'm waiting for a missionary.
The look on their face, and the things they say can be annoying and sometimes hurtful.
Let me assure you I do not fit in with these stereotypes, and the reasons are. . .
For the first stereotype:
1. I understand the importance of a mission in a man's life.
2. Elder Gibson meets real people who really need to hear the Gospel, why in the world would I distract him from that.
3. I don't want to be that girl, it's not who I am.
4. It would ruin our relationship, even as friends.
5. His potential to grow on his mission would be hindered.
For the second:
1. I am a working college student with a life.
2. I am not completely dependent upon Jeff for being happy with my life.
3. It's not fair for Jeff to have that much responsibility for me.
4. I also don't want to be this girl.

Yes, I do miss Jeff.
Yes, I do have my bad days,
but I have great friends who understand me
and a family that's always here for me.
Elder Gibson doesn't even know about this blog, or that I'm waiting for him
and I'm not going to be the one to tell him.
Our letters are something you'd expect from a friend and that's how they're going to be until he is off his mission and released.
There will be no dating stories posted on this blog.
The point being I do not wish to humiliate anyone on my blog with a bad dating story,
but I do date.
Jeff and I agreed that I would date while he was gone.
When you read my blog, I urge you to read it with an open-mind.

No Thanksgiving in Mexico?!

I know it's sort of a duh moment,
but I never really thought of life without Thanksgiving.
I've never know anything different.
My favorite part of the year is when the leaves change color and I get to curl up a cozy blanket and drink some hot cocoa.
For Elder Gibson, in Mexico this time of year is it just like it was when he arrived in July.
He recently wrote how much he misses the leaves changing and the cold.
Missing cold isn't like Elder Gibson,
he loves the heat.
It's a classic "don't know what ya got 'til it's gone" scenario.
So, I'm sending his a Thanksgiving package filled with. . .

Maple Leaf Creme Cookies. Fits the occasion!

Creamy peanut butter. I heard it's pretty pricey down there.

What would a missionary package be without candy?

I know it seems weird to send hot drinks while he doesn't get to see cold weather, but it's all about the memory they create. Whenever I smell hot apple cider it's like a cue that winter is coming.

Sugar cookies!

A honey comb turkey to hang up in his apartment.

And finally, what's a Thanksgiving without the big Thanksgiving dinner? This missionary gets all the imperishable goodness of instant mashed potatoes, instant stuffing mix, instant turkey gravy, and even real turkey! Well, turkey jerky, but that's the best it's going to get.

All packed up and almost ready to go. . .

Well you know, since Elder Gibson is missing the turning of the leaves I decided my packing material of choice would have to be a bunch of silk fall leaves.
I picked some up at Tai Pan for only $2.00 a branch. Each branch had about ten leaves on them,
so I bought four.

It must be a little strange going through the fall and winter seasons without the
cooler weather,
fall leaves,
and warm cozy sweaters.
I guess you could say that Elder Gibson is learning to be grateful for those things
and maybe we should too.

Letter! With Pictures!

"Me and the Metal Mariachi in the Parian. (Google Parian in Tlaquepaque, it's a big tourist place, so I'm sure it'll come up.) It's an awesome place! (you may even be able to Google Maps it.)" - Elder Gibson
I absolutely love this picture!

"¡Baldness! ¡Oh NO! Just look at that receiding (however you spell that word) hairline! ¡Noooooo!" - Elder Gibson
Don't ask. I have no clue what he's talking about, his hairline looks fine to me.

"A modern-day horse and buggy. . ." - Elder Gibson

"This is my compañero and I eating lunch. It's called pozole for a better view, please see the next picture. ;) I think I was looking at his camera instead of mine when we took this picture. . . ¡Eww! I have a mullet in this picture! Don't worry I've cut my hair since this picture." - Elder Gibson

"This is pozole. It's a soup with these huge corn kernels, meat, lettuce, onion, radishes (I didn't use those), lemon (which is really lime, but everyone calls it lemon [limón]), and then salsa on top. Then you eat it with the tostadas! It was delicious! I'm just not going to tell you how it's made! ;)" - Elder Gibson

"¡¡6 Meses!! My six month party! I celebrated with chocolate bread ('cake'. . . It's complicated) cookies 'n cream ice cream, and pineapple! SO good!" - Elder Gibson

"Me next to a short little door (the bathroom). And check out those tan lines! ;)" - Elder Gibson

"Mexican pizza -- very different from American pizza, and the toppings are VERY different. Everyone here thinks that Americans' favorite foods are: pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs. And they think that we eat a ton of each. (the stake president asked me if they were my favorite foods. I told him no. ;) )" - Elder Gibson

"A typical light fixture in Mexico" - Elder Gibson
Let's all pray Elder Gibson's house doesn't burn down. :/

"This is my father dying. He had a random transfer a week before he left. So I wasn't the one to kill him (send him home)." - Elder Gibson

"My father, Elder Ashton. 1st Cousin twice removed of Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the twelve. (That's my claim to fame. . . ;) ) (He really isn't orange in real life. . . )" - Elder Gibson

"My father and I. This was on my 2nd day in Mexico (can you tell by how pasty white I am? ;) ) And he told me that we had to be posed like this. ;)" - Elder Gibson

Letter

November 1, 2010

It take about two weeks for me to recieve a DearElder. But it's possible that it came sooner, and it just wasn't picked up until that time. At the present I would like to discuss the matter of "ringing someone up">. I believe that is in no way appropriate. You should never do that, especially alone. And at work?! What kind of a job is this?! "Ringing [people] up" right and left no doubt! You're using a cash register to do it as well, that above all is. . . Just. . . Absolutely. . . Ok, I guess. . . ;) You know, one day I'm going to write your whole letter all formal-like. . . One day. I just can't go for more than half a page with out running out of things to say in a formal manner. . . Ahhh! ;) Ha ha! :) Well, ¡felicidades! on getting your job! I wish that missionaries could progress as fast as that! ;) (oh, sidenote:. . . Not even a sidenote . . . random note: I think the DearElders get here in about on week, not two. . . the end) You'll be a trainer before you know it! :D :) Spencer's home?! That was fast. Ha ha! So did Cory stay at his house longer than scheduled? I'm guessing he was released then, until he goes back out. Well, he'll probably have been out for a while by the time you get this. ;) :) I got Kristin's letter a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, I realized that she was a senior too. ¡Crazy! So I wrote her back and told her that I hadn't had a chicken enchilada yet. I have now though. If you see her, tell her that they're ¡ridiculously delicious! Ha ha! :) Your niece Kylie sounds cute. Ha ha! With the "[going] to the church into the water to pray." Ha ha! Little girls are so cute! That reminded me a lot of my niece actually. . . Ha ha! Maybe all nieces are alike! Ha ha! ;) :) ¡Awesome! that you're going to the firesides! I wish I could go! Ha ha! We have. . . Meetings. . . That we go to. . . does that count? ;) Ha ha! They're always awesome though! We have a Zone Conference this Thursday! And President is going to talk to us! He's so awesome! I love learning how to be better! :) I heard about the peach orchard thing. My family went and got some. There was a limit though I think. . . X lbs. per family or something like that. That's something I miss: church peaches. . . ;) Ha ha! (can you tell I'm going down your letter and responding? ;) ) About the package (which will probably be sent by the time you get this. . .) just normal UPS should be fine. Oh and the more official-looking the box is, the less likely it is to be tampered with on it's way here. But yeah, just normal UPS or something like that to the Mission Office will work just fine. I think sending it to my uncle would take longer. :) I'm sending Elder Rough's Birthday Card/Letter (late) :l to him this week it has all the pictures that I'm sending you. He's asked for fotos, so I'm sending them for his (late) birthday. What kind of "football" is he playing? Is it "football" or "futbol"? Well it's good that he's got a good winter coat now. . . Ha ha! I laughed when I read that just because I can totally see him being all excited about that, ha ha! I'm going to miss that, I think. . . Wearing coats, I mean. It's mid-October and it feels like it did when I got here the beginning of July. Ha ha! What is coming out of this pen!? I hated the cold! Maybe I'm learning to appreciate it because I don't have it here. I'm missing the changing colors of the trees too. Everything's just as green as when I got here. You lucky! You and Mike can be happy and cozy in your lovely winter coats! ;) You were excited to wear normal clothes!? Ha ha! That sounds like me! ;) I just want to wear jeans! :( Ha ha, I do sometimes, ;) but most of the time it's church clothes, pajamas, church clothes, pajamas. . . Your telling everyone about me! :O Ha ha, JK LOL! ;) I'm glad that you like your job! Getting my paycheck was always my favorite part of working. ;) I'm glad to hear that your relationships with your family are awesome. I loved it when everyone come home. So much fun! Apparently that's what happened about a month ago (with the exception of me, of course. ;) My mom told me I was excused ;) ) :) You and you're dreams! Ha ha! I'm not going to lie, I kind of laughed a lot when I read that part of your letter. Ha ha! Especially the part about them being converted, letting us go, and turning themselves in. Ha ha! My trainer had a funny dream. (He was almost home at this time.) He said he was in a club at home after he had gone home, and he got scared because he knew that he shouldn't be there. So. he grabbed the first person and said, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by one who has the proper authority?" Ha ha! Such a typical missionary dream. Ha ha! I love dreams! ¡Ha ha! :) B) My hand is starting to hurt. . . This is the longest letter that I've written to anyone EVER! So I hope you feel special. ;) I am responding to two letters, though. So that's probably why. :) Oh! You're talking about St. George autumn weather again! (in your letter) I love it! I miss it! Ha ha! :) Thank you for all of your letters! I'm always excited when I see the DearElders coming around because I know that one of them is probably mine. Ha ha! Well if you didn't notice, there's a bunch of pictures for you to enjoy. Elder Shelley and I just started a pineapple. I told him about mine at home and he got all excited so we went and bought a little one for $10MXN and I got the fruit and he got the top. It's sitting on his desk right now. I'm not sure what he's going to do with it though. Oh well, it's cool for now! ;) :) Well this is now going on eight pages and I don't even know how I'm still writing. . . ha ha! But yeah, I can't think of anything else than that I'm doing great! Sometimes I imagine that I'm in the states and then I realized that I'm going to miss Mexico and I'm glad I have just over a year left. Ahhh! That made it sound short! Ahhh! It is! Oh well, I love it here!

Tu Amigo Misionero,

Elder Gibson

¡Viva Mexico!

I Know, I've Slacked

It seems like every blog has a post about how they have slacked for a while. Let's all face it, sometimes there isn't enough time in the schedule to fit in sitting at the computer blogging.

My excuse is pretty lame.

I haven't posted Elder Jeff Gibson's birthday.

I didn't post, because the only picture I got of the "festivities" my sister-in-law has on her camera.

I sent him this awesome package with
cake mix,
frosting,
oreos,
streamers,
blow horns,
butterfingers (his favorite),
and lots and lots of candy.
All were individually wrapped in birthday wrapping paper and tied with yellow ribbon.

Okay, it was a little obsessive, but it was Elder Gibson's first birthday in the mission field, first birthday as an Elder, and IT WAS HIS BIRTHDAY.
Along with his birthday was Elder Roughs, so I had two packages to send.

I will post the picture whenever I can get it from my sister-in-law.

One Mile at a Time

I've decided to train for next years St. George marathon. I would like to do something life changing before Jeff comes home.
Also, ever since I was 14 running has been my way of dealing with stress.
Today I was a cry baby.
As I was running I found that I've been trying to rid myself of the stress that comes with waiting for a missionary.
I've run so hard the last couple of days that I've hurt my ankle and gotten shin splits in both of my shins.
Still, the stress was there and I couldn't quite run fast enough to make it go away.
Finally, after pushing myself to the complete edge
after running a steep dirt hill I broke down and cried on a bench at the Santa Clara Cemetery.
Immediately I got the impression to pray.
I looked around and found a small corner were there were three benches surrounded by tall trees. I walked over, knelt down, and prayed about my concerns and asked my Heavenly Father for comfort.
I thought of all my family who have been with me through this.
I have my church.
Thank goodness for my church were I have friends and good, wholesome times to remember.
My wonderful friends, who will sit there and listen to me blubber.

I'm not alone.

I've recently started reading the book Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. It makes me realize how lucky I am that Jeff is on a mission.
This could be a lot worse.
He could be in the military, were I wouldn't know day to day whether he was even alive.
I know Jeff's protected.
I know what Jeff is doing.
I know where he is.
I know that he is happy and doing the right thing for him and his family.
I'm thankful for all these things and thankful that I could kneel and pray in that random time of need.