I GET TO WEAR SERVICE CLOTHES AGAIN #sandwichesaremyfavoritefood

HELLO HELLO HELLO welcome to the week!!

Times I said: "Can you believe we LIVE HERE??": At least 6

Deer fed: roughly 5

Foggy mornings: 7

Incredible sandwiches eaten: 1 🥹

Mondayyy we spent the day at Deception Pass State Park!! It was SOOOO beautiful, and we explored the beach! Then we got ice cream at a little shack in the middle of nowhere haha but it was sooo good! That night we had FHE a with our YSA Ward!! It's a small group, but it was so much fun :)) I love these people!!

Tuesdayyy we had a weird day haha, Sister Jensen is still trying to figure out leading the Area but we did lots of good things! We walked around downtown Anacortes which is SO CUTE oh my days and we were about to go into a sandwich shop when we met a guy named Mark!! He said he used to be a Professor at UW and had some LDS students, and wanted to know more about what we believe and also family history!! We're gonna be meeting with him this week which is gonna be awesome!! 

Then I proceeded to eat what I can confidently say was the best sandwich I've ever had in my life. If you know me at all, you know sandwiches are my favorite thing. Gere-a-deli in Anacortes is the best of the best. Anyway, after that we contacted a BUNCH of people in our system because we're just trying to clean it up. But we ended up meeting some super awesome people and sharing lots of scriptures which was AWESOME! We had District Council which was good, and we threw a birthday party for Sister Miller because it was her birthdayyyyy! That night we had dinner with Nancy Oczkewicz which was so fun, she's the cutest old lady who lives on a ranch by herself and made us smoked salmon. I love this place. Then we visited some members and called it a day!

Wednesdayyy THE DAY OF SERVICE it was awesome. We started off the day by helping one of our Ward members take apart some bunk beds because they're moving this week so that was fun! And then after that we went and did some service for our friend Barbara! She was soooo sweet and we got to teach her the Restoration! After that, we did some service for a new friend, Debbie!! She's the funniest lady and we helped her sort through some old clothes, and she said we could take whatever we wanted...so I did hehe I got some sick sweatshirts. She's awesome though, her grandparents were members so she used to go to Church and has a Book of Mormon and everything! We're excited to keep teaching her :)) We had dinner with a cute family in our Ward, and they have 4 boys, it was so chaotic haha! Then that night we EXCHANGED with our STLs!! Sister Bayless came to Anacortes with me, and it was super fun :)

Thursdayyy we had 4 lessons set up and it was going to be awesome, and then by 11am all of them had canceled 🥲 which was a bit stressful especially since I was leading the Area and I still don't know what's going on, but it was good! We visited with some of the elderly women in our Ward which was awesome! They're so cute :)) and we did some contacting and some finding at downtown Anacortes! It was a good busy day nonetheless! That night we had dinner with the Treibers, our Ward Mission Leader, and he talked to us about his boat for like a whole hour, which was honestly super awesome. Then we went to yoga that night which felt AMAZING I love yoga. After that, Sister Jensen and I were reunited!

Fridayyy we spent the morning out in La Conner!! We went down to the Reservation and tried to have a lesson with our friend Natasha, but she wasn't home :(( so that was a bummer. But then we ended up having a visit with one of our members, Annette! And then we had a lesson with our friend Laura!! She's super cute :) 

After that, we got to walk around the Anacortes Art Festival, and it was SO FUN!!! It was HUGE and there were so many cute booths! We talked to TONS of people which was awesome, and WE SAW THE HILLGROVES! Their son was in the Silver Lake YSA Ward and they're our favorites :)) so that was super fun! 

That night we had dinner with the Guffeys in our Ward, and then that night we had a baptism for a little girl in our Ward! She had been in foster care and then her family adopted her, so she was able to be baptized! It was super sweet and the spirit was really strong :) it was an awesome day!!

Saturdayyy we went finding at the Anacortes Farmers Market which was so cute! Then we had a lesson with our friend Kathy!! It was super good, and she wants to learn about the Restoration!! So, we're super excited to work with her!! Then we went back to the Arts Festival and met TONS of cool people!! And they gave us free stuff too 🥹 we met some people in front of their house who talked about theatre with us for like 30 minutes and it was so wonderful :) that night,  we had dinner with our Ward Mission Leader in Anacortes, and he was a Psychology Professor, so we talked about that for FOREVER and it was awesome. Then, we had a BOMB weekly planning session which was awesome, and we planned at Washington Park which is SO BEAUTIFUL and gives you a gorgeous view of the sound :)) 

Sundayyy we had our regularly scheduled 6 hours of Church! It was so good though; the testimony meetings were awesome! Our friend Kathy was going to join on Zoom but couldn't figure out the link, so hopefully next week she can watch! We had break the fast with our YSA Ward which was fun! Then we had dinner with a cute family in our Ward who used to live in American Fork and they're renovating their cute mobile home which is so dreamy! That night we had a meeting as all the Islands missionaries and planned how we're going to schedule and find on the San Juans! Then we watched devotional that night :))

Today we walked around downtown La Conner with the Sisters!! It was super fun :)))

OKAY LETS GET SPIRITUAL

This week I was really studying the Restoration! It's been really good because I've gotten more comfortable with asking questions and studying them on my Mission, and so studying it in depth has been super awesome. Something that I love about the Restoration is how much Joseph Smith studied and prayed and pondered throughout the whole process. If he hadn't asked a question, the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ would look very different. But he wanted to know answers so that he knew which path would lead to God. Not which one would prove him right, not which one would lead to a successful life, but which one would save his soul. And he received a very different answer than he was planning on receiving, but it was exactly what needed to happen. Above anything else, choose the path that leads to God. It's not going to be an easy one, but it is the one that brings happiness and peace that can't be found anywhere else.

I love you all a WashingTON ❣️ 

Sister Gibb