Justin at the Clinton Marina which is about a mile from his apartment (see his new address in side bar)
Things are off to a booming start for Elder Gibson and I here in Madison. We're doing well, and we're super stoked to be serving in this part of the Lord's vineyard! Ever since we got here, we've been making phone calls to all of the ward members, trying to set up brief appointments for us to get to know everyone as quickly as possible.
Transfer meeting was awesome, and so was trying to fit 10 missionaries (and the current earthly belongings of 7 of them) into 3 cars. 3 areas in our zone here got "shotgunned" (meaning both missionaries were taken out and 2 new ones were put in), and the other two areas don't have a car. We had to leave some things behind, but we finally managed to stuff everyone and everything else in. And then came the 3-hour drive down to New Haven, CT...fun times.
Yesterday, we got to go to the temple - which is one of the reasons why this email didn't come until today. This included getting up at 3:45 AM and meeting our ride at 4:30, so we could drive and make it to the temple by 7:00...and then we had to wait in line for about 2 hours to get into a session! There were so many people there, missionaries and regular members alike. Prior to our session, I had the opportunity to be baptized and confirmed for an ancestor of mine that I found a couple of weeks ago as I was doing some family history work to practice using the website. We left the temple at 1:15 PM, and didn't get home until 5:30!
On Sunday, we got a VERY warm welcome from the ward! Our dinner calendar for the month of September filled up almost entirely, and the Elders Quorum president and our ward mission leader have been discussing setting up exchanges on a regular basis for us. Many fathers expressed their gratitude to have us in the ward as an example for their sons. The Bishop is excited to have us as well, and gave us the names of several part-member families where the husband is not a member as well as the names of quite a few prospective elders to work with. As I was praying to close our correlation meeting with our ward mission leader after church, I felt something very powerful that I will never forget. I know that the Lord is pouring out His Spirit upon this area, preparing it for the temple in Hartford. Big things are about to happen, and He needs us to give Him everything we've got! That's just what we'll do. =]
**Just a side note from Mom, he was also made district leader.**
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