I chopped my hair off, moved to an island, and was immediately cyberbullied by all of Anacortes #livingontheoceanandthefarm

WOW HELLO this week was absolute insanity, let's get into it, shall we?

Times I had to vacuum the bedroom carpet in our apartment: 3

Hours spent at church: 6

Goodbyes said: so many 😭

Times I've reminded Sister Jensen that "its all gonna work out": at least 17

Island sunsets seen: SO MANY GORGEOUS ONES

Mondayyy we had our final pday in Everett, but we went to Whidby Island hehe :) some of our members live out there and they took us to lunch. Then we had Zone pday and had an insane Nerf war, it was WILD. THEN that night, one of our members, Alex, signed up to feed us, and he's also the grandson of the one and only Judd and Debi Williams SO WE HAD DINNER WITH JUDD AND DEBI AND IT WAS SO WONDERFUL I love them with my whole heart. 

After dinner, we went to FHE and said soooo many goodbyes, it was so sad. BUT there was a double rainbow that night, so Heavenly Father reminded us that it's all gonna be okay :)) 

We may or may not have sobbed in our car for about 40 minutes when we got home that night. I LOVE THE SILVER LAKE WARD.

Tuesdayyy we had the CRAZIEST DAY. We met up with one of our members, Cam, and did a comp study with her, and then brought her with us to a lesson with Daniel! 

We hadn't seen him in a while, but we had an awesome Bible study and we think the spirit is still working on him ;) then we went to lunch with Todd Aagard at Cheesecake Factory which was so fun, we love Todd! 

We had one last lesson with Hope! It was sad, but she'll be in good hands :) then we drove up to Everett and said goodbye to Stacey :((( it was soooo sad but she's doing good! I'm so proud of her, and I'm gonna miss her tons :') 

After that, we went to dinner with Jesse and Maren, and they took us to Chick Fil A because there isn't one in Anacortes 😭 that night we went for one last Dutch Bros run and said goodbye to our people there. And then FINALLY we began packing at 10pm. I'm not gonna tell you what time we finished but WE FINISHED!

Wednesdayyy TRANSFERS AHHH we got up and went and got haircuts from Sister Abplanalp and we both chopped our hair off 👀 

Anyways, then we went back to our apartment and the Russian Elders helped us load up the car, and we said goodbye to them which was sooooooooo sad :((( I love those Elders so much :((( then we had one last lunch with the Hillgroves which was so fun! After lunch, we drove to transfers!! Smithy and I definitely weren't crying as we sang "I'll go where you want me to go" 😶 then we got our new companions!! 

I'm with Sister Jensen, from Surprise Arizona! She's super cute! She's been in Anacortes for 3 transfers, and just hit her 9 months. We work well together as a team, and it's been fun getting to know each other! After saying goodbye to civilization, we drove an hour and a half to the boonies of Anacortes! 

I did not think I was going to farm country, but that's about half of our area haha! It's SO BEAUTIFUL HERE THOUGH OH MY DAYS YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE IT. We did some visits, and then had dinner with the cutest families! Then that night we unpacked, and cleaned our apartment a little haha, there were Elders living here before us, so it was pretty nasty. But we're making it cute :)) ALSO we have pet deer!! They come visit us every night and we feed them lettuce and carrots :)))

Thursdayyy, first day in Anacortes!! We had our first District Council which was SO FUN!! We have a cute Senior couple, the Miller's, in our District, so we just had it at their house and then they fed us lunch afterwards!! It felt like being with my grandma and grandpa :))) I LOVE THEM!! 

Then there's 2 sets of Elders in our District, Elder DeLoney and Elder Jackson, and Elder Robertson and Elder Alcorn! It's a great group of missionaries! 

After that, we met some cool people and did some finding! Then we went to do service for a recent convert, Marianne! She is THE COOLEST LADY!! Her house is soooo cute, she's a total hippie haha! So, we helped her in her garden and talked about the gospel with her! Big time love for Marianne :))) then we went to the Reservation! We cover the Native American Reservation out here which is super cool, and one of our friends, Natasha lives on it! We had a great lesson with her, she's the sweetest :) then we contacted a ton of people, and then had dinner with the Townsends! He's the Stake Patriarch and they were Mission President's in Arizona! They were soooo sweet, it was awesome. That night we did yoga with some of the Ward ladies, and it was so fun!! 

THEN Smithy and her companion, Sister Bayless came to visit us because they're our STLs and it was SO FUN AH I MISSED HER!!! Besties for the resties.

Fridayyy we went down to La Conner, at the bottom of our area in farmtown USA! We visited some people out there, and got a cutie lunch :) then we walked Main Street and found a super nice lady! We're going back to see her this week! La Conner is sooooo cute oh my word. Then we got permission to go to the Mount Vernon Walmart because it's the closest one to us lol, we only have Safeway and I had zero food. But then we contacted a ton of people! We set up a time to visit with one of our new friends, Rebekah! She's hilarious. We also visited with some members, which was good! That night we went to a Relief Society activity and roasted hot dogs and got to know some of the ladies! It was super fun :) 

Saturdayyy SUCH A WILD DAY haha in the morning, the Bishop's wife, Sister Arrington needed our help, so we helped her chop tomatoes, peppers, limes, lettuce, onions, and other assorted vegetables for her son's wedding reception that night! It was wild haha Sister Jensen may or may not have chopped a bit of her finger, but she was okay. Then we finally got to study that afternoon, and then we went to visit one of our friends, Kathy, but on the way, ended up having a lesson with a less active member! She was sooo cute, it was fun! Then we went to Kathy's and had a MIRACLE lesson! She's the cutest old lady who lives alone with her cats and had lived a CRAZY life. She had been stuck on the fact that the Atonement still applies after our earth life, and she asked us to show her in the Bible where it talks about the Spirit World, and she was shook when we showed her haha She's going to start reading her Bible again!! Please pray for Kathy!! Then we went to dinner with the Oczkewicz family! (I still can't pronounce their name haha) they have 3 boys and it was so fun!! That night we weekly planned and got ready to clean up our Area this week! I also got destroyed for introducing myself as a missionary in an Anacortes Community group on Facebook, it was kind of hilarious, all of our Ward members were defending us in the comments 💪

Sundayyy we got up and went to our FIRST Sacrament meeting at 9am with the Mt. Erie Ward!! They're the south half of our Area, and it was so fun to get to know everyone! Our Church building is so funky I love it :)) then they have combined 2nd hour with the Anacortes Ward, and then we had our SECOND Sacrament meeting with the Anacortes Ward, where I gave a quick introduction and testimony! They're also just the sweetest people, it was awesome. Then we had our THIRD Sacrament meeting with the Skagit YSA Ward! It's more like a Branch honestly, SUPER tiny but they're just awesome people. So, by the time we left the building, we had been there for roughly 6 1/2 hours. Sister Jensen was dying haha but I thought it was awesome!! Then we FINALLY got to do our studies, and then had dinner with the CUTEST family, the Cornelius's!! After dinner we had a lesson with one of our members, Ambar, who is super duper sweet!! It was an awesome day!!

Today we're going to hike at Deception Pass!! It'll be awesome!

OKAY LETS GET SPIRITUAL

This week I came across a really interesting scripture that I thought was SO COOL it's in 3 Nephi 26:8-9

8 And these things have I written, which are a lesser part of the things which he taught the people; and I have written them to the intent that they may be brought again unto this people, from the Gentiles, according to the words which Jesus hath spoken. 

9 And when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them.

A lot of the time we come across things or hear things or do things that test our faith. And sometimes, it feels really scary. It's not a comfortable feeling to have to really study and wrestle with something, but there are literally certain things that are designed to try our faith, in order to strengthen our faith. And why should we be worried that there's more to study? I want to invite you all this week to study a question you have! Search for it in the scriptures and the words of Prophets! Take it to your Heavenly Father in prayer! I promise if you seek through faith rather than fear, your questions will be answered! 

I love you all a WashingTON ❣️ 

Sister Gibb