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.

Way Back When: Letter #2

March 10, 2010

Hey there, Nikki!

Yeah so guess what I noticed. . . my comp. looks just like Cory *Cory is an old friend of ours. He's actually the boyfriend I had in high school. I admit I broke Cory's heart by finally choosing Jeff who was his best friend. We had a big falling out, but Jeff remained consistent about making amends* from the back! Ha ha! (same head shape and hair cut and color) anyway. . . ha ha!

You probably shouldn't get kicked in the throat. . . *by my, then, five year old nephew Tanner while we were playing* hazardous to your health you know. . .

Oh just look at me! The ungrateful little welp that I am! Thank you so much for the package! My roomates loved it too! Especially the mangoes! *Jeff's favorite thing is dried mangoes so I sent him a huge bag along with dollar store easter toys and a package of Oreos, which was his code name in high school with my girlfriends and I in middle school. Back then I had a crush on him.* ¡Esta (they were) muy (very) bueno (good)! Thank you again! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! y otra vez, ¡Gracious!

I wrote a letter to Elder Rough today. Thanks for the pictures! *Elder Rough sent me some pictures which I copied and sent to Elder Gibson* It's good to see how he's doing!

We're learning lots! One of my teachers has my same sense of humor. . . we kind of. . . she quotes movies when they fit in with what she's saying. *Jeff is famous for doing exactly that* I think the second day we were here, she quoted Aladin "Rule number 1!! I started laughing pretty hard. . . and I was the only one. . . then she said, "Oh, sorry maybe I shouldn'. . . were you the only one who got that!?" Yeah, she's pretty funny. ;D - Ha!

My other teacher's pretty awesome too, I have never seen him not smiling, ever! and he's got this huge smile with lots of teeth. anyway, he's really cool and a good teacher!

Yeah, so 'DearElder' is way bigger than I though it was, that's like, most of the letters that come. Ok maybe not most, but a good chunk of the letters are 'DearElder's *www.dearelder.com is a website to write missionaries and send them packages*

Well, I gotsta go! ¡La Iglesia es verdad!

-Elder Gibson

P.S. Did Elder Perkins even come to this MTC? I'm not seen him anyplace. . .

The First

I figured I should put Jeff's letters on here. Notes from me to explain things are in *these*. All typos are really from his letters. This is the very first letter ever received.

March 3, 2010

Hey Nikki!

Ha ha! The MTC is great! Ha ha yeah. . . I was wondering how you got my address. . . *I got his address from his missionary blog and wrote him before he even wrote me* but I don't know how it got on my blog. But oh well, doesn't matter, more letters for me! :D

I haven't seen Elder Perkins *a friend from high school* anywhere, which is weird because I see tons of Elders that I know, and a couple of sisters too. Elder Mangum *a guy we knew in high school* lives a couple of doors down from me. They call him "Elder Ito" (it's an ending you put a word to make it mean smaller ie. gato=cat gatito=kitten) but yeah, he's in my branch.

Oh, if you could send me Elder Rough's *our best friend. Elder Mike Rough and I joke about being brother and sister because we're so close we might as well be. Mike is serving in Little Rock Arkansas* address that would be dandy!! Hopefully he'll write soon. I'm sure he's really busy, I know I am!

Oh (again) my P-days are wednesdays, so that's when I'll be writing letters.

I ran a mile the first day in Gym. . . and i got shin splints. . . so I've just stuck to 4-square ever since. ;) It really is way fun though!

Ha ha! maybe you should just get a new car. . . Ha ha! JK, LOL! but really, try not to run out of gas and get stranded.

Ha ha! Maybe you should test new lotions on an inconspicuous spot on your face before you begin to slather ;) (oh that's goofy. . .) *he drew an arrow to his interesting looking winking smiley*

My companion and roomates are AWESOME! They're so funny! E' Molsee is mi compañero. He's from a farm in Idaho. . . ok not really, but he worked on one last summer. Then there's E's Beecher y Ames. They are so funny when they're together (which is always because they're comps.)

E'Ames is from Washington state, and E' Beecher is from Hurricane! They're both quite witty. ;) E' B. knows Bro. Pettus *a seminary teacher at our old seminary building* and all my 2nd cousins out there.

Well I gotsta go get doing ma laundry. . . so I guess I'll write to you soon.

-Elder Jeff Gibson

Today it Rains. . .

Jeff would love the lightening. He loves anything beautiful and powerful. I could imagine him driving around and getting wet just so he could take a picture of the beautiful rainbow that fames our town. Jeff is amazing with a camera.

(his pictures)

However, he's partial to sunny days, the hotter the better. I guess it's good that he lives in a desert then. That's one way we are completely different. I love snow, rain, and cold weather. Jeff would delay turning on the A/C in his car until he picked me up because he loves the heat. I would literally have to bug him into turning on the A/C. On cold days he would give me his jacket, because I sometimes thought I could tough it without one. I find myself missing that jacket. It smelled like him and was too big and I loved it. Hopefully when he comes home he'll still fit into it so I can steal it from him again.

First of Many

This is my first of many posts. I am a girl waiting for a missionary. This blog is based on the experiences, good and bad, I have while my Elder is gone.

Elder Gibson is serving in the Mexico Guadalajara East mission. He left February 24, 2010. I realized I was in love with him on a senior sluff trip to Lagoon. Elder Jeff Gibson and I have been best friends since our Junior year in high school. Jeff liked me all through high school, but I had a boyfriend and didn't give Jeff a thought until the end of our senior year.




I know, I'm so horrible. The important thing I realized is that Jeff and I ended up together before his mission as crazy as that sounds. I didn't realize I was in love with him until my mom told me one day, "you know someday you won't even remember Jeff." Horror struck me as I realized I've never wanted a life without Jeff in it. Eternity suddenly didn't sound as great without my best friend.

Jeff and I dated from July of 2009 and never really broke up before he left, never making any promises to him besides I would stay safe, have a ton of adventures, and make a ton of friends. We decided to be less intimate with each other around November 2009 because the idea of marriage and kids would start coming up in regular conversation. We understood the importance of his mission and the leap of faith we would need to take in order to get the promised blessings to us and our possible future children and grandchildren. I know that this leap will help us to be a whole lot stronger by the time he comes home. Elder Jeff Gibson is serving well and is a very steadfast Elder. He's the kind of man who wouldn't get distracted from his mission by anything.