25 January 2016 - Week 13

Hey guys, so we are going up to Jasper Alabama on Monday for a baptism for someone that Elder Hyde used to teach. And hopefully we will be able to go through Tuscaloosa to get there!!  But because we are going up there Monday, I probably wont get a chance to send an email :/ Hope everyone has a great week!

Note from the Missionary's Mom: we have gotten so spoiled hearing from him every week! I don't like it when we don't. :P 

92 weeks to go... :D

19 January 2016 - Week 12 - NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!! ROLL TIDE!!!

(Pday was pushed to Tuesday this week, due to MLK Day)

So this has been a crazy couple of weeks! The Alabama football team won the national championship so that's a huge deal down here! There is roll tide stuff everywhere!

I got to play a cello yesterday! So that was super fun!

We went to a mall in Montgomery and there is a ice rink inside the mall! I was going to skate but the don't have hockey skates so it wasn't really worth breaking the rules to skate when they didn't even have hockey skates so i didn't skate.

Elder Hyde and I have been working really hard. We have found a couple of really solid and promising families. We are teaching this woman who has 9 kids, some adopted some not. One of her kids is Kavosiey Smoke. Smoke is a sophomore football running back in high school and he already has offers to Alabama, Florida State, and anywhere he wants. He's in the top 10 recruits in the nation, and were are starting to try and teach him. His mom came to church for over a year in  Pratville and was just never baptized so she shows a lot of promise.

Thanks to everyone and thanks for the prayers   -  Elder Gilbert

Some Alabama scenery for Grandma

30" rims!

Yes, it's still raining

More scenery

The kind of houses we knock on sometimes

We found a road grader :P

11 January 2016 - Week 11

Elder Gilbert says hello to everyone! He is doing well and still working hard in Alabama. The weather has been a challenge and he isn't sad that the weather alarm has not needed to warn them about a tornado lately - if it never needs to go off again, Elder Gilbert says that would be just fine with him! He continues to figure out how to stay dry and still get the work done. He says he is hungry all the time but that he has plenty of food (no care packages needed, but thank you anyway!) - he is really hoping he is in a growth spurt and plans to return from his mission at 6' tall - everyone keep a smile and happy thought for him on that wish :D He and Elder Hyde have continued with their motto "Work Hard, Play Hard" and that seems to be working well for them - they remain friends and keep studying and riding their bikes, reaching out to people - he says they ride somewhere between 12-15 miles a day. He asks that I thank you all for your happy thoughts prayers on his behalf - he loves and appreciates you all, as does his Mom - have a great week! :D

Elders Lovest, Gilbert, and Butterfield

Friends since the MTC!

4 January 2016 - Week 10

So this has been a crazy couple of weeks! Elder Hyde and I are getting along great. We are basically the same person! He is from Las Cruses New Mexico and played soccer and football. It has been raining a lot out here and riding a bike in the rain is awesome! You stay completely dry!

So there are pics out there of missionaries in these 3rd world countries like Cambodia trekking through water with there pants hiked up. So I didn't know this

but it floods in Alabama.

The food down here is so good! Alligator is awesome! Jumbalia is amazing and shrimp gumbo is good to!

We went up to Alex city and spent new years up there with the other guys in our district. I can neither confirm nor deny if we watched the Alabama game or not, but all i can say is that it was an awesome game and i cant wait for the 11th! Roll Tide!! lol sometimes it sucks that Alabama is so good because it makes all the merchandise so expensive lol.

I got to go fishing today for the first time since I've been out! Didn't catch a thing but maybe next Monday!

Thank you to everyone who sent me Christmas Cards! Thanks for all the support! -Elder Gilbert

Store Contacting at Walmart! (because there is only one store in this little town:P)

Skyping at Christmas and 28 December - Week 9

Hello to everyone!

Skyping with Elder Gilbert on Christmas day was amazing!! It was so great to see him and hear his voice. He is doing great and loving the work. He specifically asked that I thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, notes, emails and gifts - he says it's y'all that help keep him going! :) He and his new companion Elder Hyde are doing well and still getting along great - remember Elder Hyde is from Las Cruces? How awesome is that?? They have made an agreement to work hard and play hard - music to a mom's ears :D Elder Hyde is the District Leader and not much new has been happening, so they have decided to kind of start over in their area - they are going to clean up the records and go back through all the paperwork, making sure no one has fallen through the cracks. Then they are hitting the streets! Johnny says they bike ride somewhere between 10-12 miles a day - he loves his Ecco shoes!! Anyway, it was so wonderful to get to see and hear him - can't wait for Mother's Day :D

On Monday we emailed a bit, but we both were pretty low key - in case anyone reading this doesn't already know, we have moved to Tucson (!) and are almost done unpacking  boxes - hooray! Johnny says it has been raining a ton in Wetumpka and it limits the work they are able to accomplish, which they find a little frustrating. He is also getting a little tired of the weather radio going off, but is grateful for the heads up and even more grateful no actual tornadoes have come very close! Anyway, he says hello to everyone :D Oh, I asked him how we at home can help better support the missionaries in our ward. He asks that the members make every effort to go with the missionaries to help teach - they are being taught that people stay active MUCH more often when they have local ward members helping with the initial teaching. Every Member a Missionary, right??

Love to you all and Happy New Year!!!

It floods here...

We got some rain.

21 December 2015 - Week 8

So on Wednesday we drove up to Birmingham for transfer meeting and Elder Bullock is out. He is now in Ensley. It is in Birmingham and its like the scariest place in the mission.  He says he hears gunshots like every night, but he is doing what he is supposed to do so we pray he will be alright. I'm still in Wetumpka and my new comp is Elder Hyde. He is from Las Cruces. lol Yepp His family owns the dairy farms right there in cowtown. So he grew up on the farm and he is super chill. We are like the same person just 2 years apart. He only has 4 months left. He is a Texas A&M fan lol. We should get him some tech stuff! But he is really cool. We both understand that we need to work hard and play hard. He loves to fish! Just bought a pole and rod! So we will go out on the Coosa later today. We have decided to work out hard, so with my sups and his p90x we are going to hit it hard. We just bought salad stuff:/ and a pull-up bar. This transfer is really long (7 weeks) so we are hitting the grind. We already have some new investigators that we met a few days ago and they came to church yesterday! Elder Hyde is District Leader so it is cool to see first hand what that is like. We are trying getting some basketball games started. Elder Hyde is a soccer player. He was going to go play in college but broke his leg sooo that's not happening but he still plays and has his cleats out here! This transfer is going to be awesome.

From John's Mom - sorry the message is so short this week and no pictures - much of his time was spent working on skype information so I can talk to him on Christmas Day!! I can't wait!!!!! Then also they were planning on fishing right after sending a few emails... :D

Merry Christmas To All!!! 

Staying in Wetumpka!! 14 December 2015 - Week 7

So I'm staying in Wetumpka!!! And Elder Bullock is being transferred, so I will have a new companion on Wednesday. I have learned so much from Elder Bullock - I will miss him! So this week was crazy! on the 12th was '"Christmas on the Coosa" which is a huge festival thing down town, they do a huge parade! (like our Franklin homecoming one) but for Christmas! then there are lots of shops and food! like in little tents and there was a boat parade! where Santa water-skies!! with fireworks and everything! it was crazy! Grandma Theora, i thought about you the whole time! After my mission, you and i have a date to Christmas on the Coosa!

oh we had a talent show at the Christmas party and Elders Van Dyke, Posadas, Richter, Kitner and I 

sang "Country Roads" lol

Also this week I asked Elder Gilbert to give us an idea of what a typical day is like - here is his response :)

ok so on a normal missionary day (if there is such a thing) we wake up at 6:30 and work out, shower get dressed and ready for the day and breakfast, then from 8-9 is personal study, that's where i try to get my 9 pages a day read, and do my tabb things and study talks, one hour is really not enough! but then form 9-10 is companion study, that;s usually where i ask bullock all these crazy stuff like about kolob and stuff, I'm really starting to love that deep doctrine stuff but then he tells me "dude basics" you don't need to know that stuff to be a missionary, I'm like i know but it's awesome! then from 10-11 we do this "first 12 weeks" program thing that teaches me how to be a missionary, look up scriptures and watch videos n stuff. then we finally get out of the apartment and go teach people if we have set lessons (most people say,come back Thursday) so that's when we just try and see everyone. We have lunch around 1 and dinner is usually at 6 and sometimes it's with a family. then we usually go to Walmart and try to store-contact which is super awkward but whatever it/s the only place we can find people. Then were back to our app at 9 and in bed by 10:30. crazy random things happen everyday!, like we were riding our bikes and this guy is just chillin' outside smoking and he waves us over. In my head head i was like "great this guy us going to give us a hard time or yell at us or something" so we pull over and start talking to this guy. He noticed that Elder Bullock didn't have any lights on his bike (like I do). So this guy pulls out his wallet and gave elder bullock 30 bucks and tells him to go buy a light. Then he goes on to explain that he only has 9 months to live because of cancer. He just wanted to help us out and thanked us for all that we do. Crazy stuff like that happens all the time!

Bamboo in Alabama!!??