Elder Mckibben: Guadalajara Mexico South Mission

Last Letter Home!!!

2009-11-13T01:58:00.000-08:00

This is Jesse's last letter home! He will be flying into the Redmond Airport on Monday, November 23rd at 9:00pm. Any and everyone is welcome to join us at the airport as Jesse arrives home! We will all be in Oregon for Thanksgiving week. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Hello family!

Well I do not really know what is going on in the life of all of my friends but I did get your letter from Elder Rau and I got a good laugh out of it when he says that being a zone leader cuts his time out haha. I am really glad to hear that he is learning so much and having so many experiences. So I have now been on the mission more than two years and I still love it so much. There have been so many stories that I would love to tell but there is just never enough time. I was going to send you the pictures of the last four or five baptisms that we have had (we just baptized Daniel and Lourda this last Saturday) BUT i FORGOT THE CORD TO MY Camera. Oh and you would never belive the story behind that. So we travel a ton these last weeks and we never sleep more than 6 hours a night. So anyways while we were traveling I left my backpack in a taxi ahhhhh. It had my triple in spanish and my camera ahhhhh and as you can suppose things like that are always lost forever. But I had some pictures that are really important on my camera and I prayed and told that lord that I really wanted the memories from the camara and my triple. Then I went to the bus station and put in a lost claim aaaannnnnndddddd BOOOMMM!!!! two days later it was turned in hmmmmm need we more evidence that God listens. Speaking of that I had another experience the other day when I was in a baptismal intereview and the man told me that he had smoked the morning before. Normally I never pass anyone that has done something like that but really felt different with him so I want into the bathroom and prayed. The Lord helped me out a lot. It was a great experience and he got baptized later that day. There have been so many experiences that just help me out so much. But I would like to share the greatest of all of the experiences. Sunday I was in Aceuducto which is in Morelia and was my area about 3 months ago. So I got to go to church. As I was there I saw a ton of converts cone to church. As they walked in I can not even begin to tell you the great feeling of joy that filled my heart. Well as I said I cant even begin to tell you but I will let Alma explain it... Well I love the gospel and I know that I will miss this work like nothing else. I had a dream the other night that I was home and crying because I wanted to go back to the mission. I do know know exactly what to feel but I just have to keep really focused on the work. well I love you all a ton and will see you all really soon.

letters home

2009-10-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

September 14th, 2009

Hello Family,
What a crazy world this is. Sometimes I have such spiritual experiences and am so grateful for these times and the fullness of the gospel here and then other times I leave the house and see the wickedness in the world and just ask myself how long the Lord will tolerate it. These are really troubled times. I see so much work to do and so few workers. The Lord really is calling all able hands it is sometimes discouraging to see how few people respond to the call of the lord. I have been reflecting a lot lotely on the miracles that I have seen on my mission. I really have learbned a lot and I know that the best is yet to come. I do not really know how to feel with the change of presidents. I love the gospel. There is nothing more important. Nothing. To answer your question......Mexico and central america
Love you all a ton.

letters home

2009-10-16T23:15:00.000-07:00

September 21st, 2009

Hey everyone!
Well it has been one of the craziest if not the craziest week of my entire mission. It has been a really hard week to complete and there have been so many mixed emotions and so many head aches and now I am a little sick so it is all just throwing me through a loop. It all started off when President Davidson left. I was trying to write this experience in my Journal but it is impossible to explain. There were so many mixed feelings but when I saw him leave I could not stand it. He has been my best friend here in the mission and I feel like I owe him so much. The new President is President Jespersen. He is very different because he has a family and is a lot younger. He is very energetic and loves missionary work. I think the mission will do just great with him. Such crazy things are going on right now in the mission and it has been very hard to keep up with everything. But I know that everything is working out this way with a great purpose. I love you all a lot and tell everyone that I love them a ton and will see them very soon. By the way if you could please post on the internet that pouch is no longer in service so in order to write me they have to do it through mail and that is really hard so if everyone wants they can just wait until I’m home

August 27th, 2009

2009-09-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

Hello Family,

Well that sounds like a crazy house and just think there are people here that do not even have houses and that do not have food to eat. What a crazy week. So last week I spent almost the whole week on divisions and was working with elder Paleta. We baptized one but I did not have anything to do with it haha. So now my new companion is elder Sosa but he will be leaving in two days so I will have another companion. President Davidson is still here. I am really glad that he has not gone yet because I know that we will feel the difference. Well Tuesday we went to the Temple and it was really good. So I am now extended. It is oficial. I wll be getting home the 23 of november so only two weeks later. Its not much but it will be great. I love the Gospel and love the mission. It is hard and sometimes I feel like overwhelmed but I know that God is always guiding us. So Have a really great week. Oh and ya I am in the office again. I will be here until I go home. There is a senor couple that are secretaries so I am trying to help them out a little.

love,
Elder Mckibben

Letters home !

2009-08-15T02:45:00.000-07:00

I know I have been slacking when it comes to Jesse's blog. However there are times when Jesse write home and says "I don't have time to write now love you" and that is it! So forgive me if I don't post those emails. Here are his most recent emails however that have been a little more meaningful and informal! Enjoy!!!!

Megan

June 29th, 2009

Ok well I need to write in about 10 minutes or less so this is going to be really short but some cool stories to put on the Blog. Ok the Sunday the ward is going to divide. It was Insurgents and now coming to a house near you will be the Ward Acueducto. We are going to be in this ward. It will be really cool. So right now we have a few really good people we are teaching. The Castro family (Elena, Mago, Alejandro, and Gabby.) We also have Edgar, Rosario, and Marta. They are all really good. So now we have another two missionaries in our house. They were in another place but a drunk tried braking into their house with a knife, told them that he was going to kill them and later punched one of the Elders. So they had to leave that area. The President is still here and mentioned the other day that this crazy man that tried to kill them is racist. President said that he would send me there to take their place but that I look pretty white too. I told him that I could paint myself and ya everything would be fine. He got a good laugh out of that.
So one of our investigators named Roberto told us a really cool story of one time when he got into a fight with 20 guys and the beat him up and stuck his head in a barrel of water. It was funny because he said that they pulled him out of the water after a while and he was so beat up that he could not talk or move. Then he heard them say ¨I think we killed him¨ He then said that he thought ¨whooo I am dead¨ haha then they carried him a long ways and threw him into a big canal that they call here Black waters. You can imagine why. Then he woke up in the canal and some how was holding on to a few plants with his hands. It was crazy his story. Well it was cool to see pictures of all the youth or young women. It is crazy how much they have all changed.Well I love you all a lot.

August 3rd, 2009

Hello Family,

So another week has gone by and it was a lot harder then the other last few weeks. I was on divisions all week long and did not get to spend much time with my companion Elder Martinez. I was actually with an new Elder called Smith. It was a good experience but I am happy to be back with my comp. However once again we are going to do more divisions and I will be in another place for a week. Well I thought that I had told you this but by the letter I got from you all I suppose that I never mentioned it. Our new mission president had health problems and will not be coming for at least another week or two, so President Davidson is still here. I talked to him about what you wanted and he said that I can just get it off the inter net so I think that I will do that.Well I got a lot of pictures that I will send you later. Everything has been really crazy lately and I have never had time. It really is crazy how all the days just start passing by so fast. Still not sure about extending but who knows. I do not know how this is all going to work out with school. When would I be starting?? because it would be nice to do a one week trip down here to Mexico.hmmmm who knows. Well I love you all a lot.

August 10th, 2009

Hello family,

Well the mission has been really hard these last few weeks. I have been out of my area and doing divisions all week long. It has been really hard and I really needed to rest today. which I still have not done. It has been really hard lately because sometimes I just want every one to do things my way and obviously my way is not always the best or right way. So I have just been trying to get everything going well in the Zone here. I know that the Lord will help us out if we just put our part in. I am sure that you have heard about Morelia on news. It seems to be getting pretty bad here with the drug families. Well I do not really understand all of this with the school work and stuff but I am sure that it will all work out good. Something really good happened this week. Our converts got callings. wooohoooo about time. So we are working really hard this week so that we can have at least one more baptism here in Morelia before this change ends. Lets see what else is there.....well I think that I have said everything really note worthy. Ok so I love you all a lot and hope you can find work soon. Oh and one thing more. Some of the members just got back and told me that they went to Oregon and even to Bend. I cant believe that they did not let me know that they were going to go. ahhhhhh

Letter's Home

2009-06-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

~May 2009~

Hey Family,

What a crazy week. I was so glad to hear about what is up with all of these people in Bend. I was also glad to hear that Gabe is doing good. I have also been wondering about Kimberly Lund. I hope everything is well with her.
That is so crazy that the economy is in the pitts. It is crazy to think that in 4 months I will have to be worrying about that type stuff but I know that if I pay a full tithe and keep the commandments there will never be need to fear anything.
Well that is a bummer that you could not see Joyce Taylor. I will be really glad to see her again. I sometimes am just so grateful to have been able to know so many great people through out the course of my life. I am what I am because of them.
So this last week there were changes in the mission and my good friend elder Jasso left. So two other elders came in. My companions are elder Martinez and elder Villalobos. They are really cool. We also just got done with moving from our old house and we have a new one now. It is a really cool house.
So Norma is a complete powerhouse I do not know if you all remember her but she was the first one that we baptized here in Insurgentes. She is so powerful and this last Sunday for the first time ever her Husband came to the church.
I have been really worried about the Tovar family because the Dad salomon drank again and now is not coming to church. Well the world just seems to get a better hold on us every day but we just have to keep on the job and work hard.
The truth is there is so much revelation in the church. There are so many things that we can learn every day. I was just reading in Corinthians the other day Chapter 1, verse 17 I think. Paul says that Christ did not send him to baptize but to preach the gospel. What a great lesson. So like always there are hundreds of stories from the mission and not enough time to tell all of them.
I love you all a ton and would love it if you could start looking into BYU Idaho. I have really been thinking about what I would like to do but every time I start to think about it I tried to remember that it is not over yet and that I have to keep on keeping on.

Love you all and say hello to everyone.
Elder McKibben

Letter's Home

2009-06-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

~ May 11th, 2009~

Hey Family,

So I have a Boston Accent. That is cool. I have been working on trying to say things good in spanish but sometimes it is really hard to pronounce things right. But I am a ton better than I was before. It is really cool becauseright now I am living with a few elders and one of them is Elder Toone. He has about a year in the mission and I help him out a little bit with spanish. It is crazy to see how much I have learned in 18 months. What is even more amazing is how fast I can pick up on things. I remember before it would takes days to learn one word and I would have to say it again and again. But the Lord has really blessed me and not I can memorize things almost in seconds. It is so carzy to see the blessings of God. Even when we do not have a lot of faith or as Alma says even when we only have the hope to beleive. That is good enough and the Lord will do the rest. So I am going to send you some cool pictures of Scorpions that we have been finding in the house. This is the 5th one we have found. They move really quickly, climb wall, and are dealy if you do not treat yourself quickly. haha actually I think it is pretty funny how much freak out about them. They are called alacranes here in mexico. So other than that nothing else has happened oh but also right down the street from us three people got killed about two days ago. It is really intresting because as a missionary I just always fell like I have a protection if I am doing what I should be doing. Sometimes I think that it must be really scary for those that have asked for there names to be removen from the church rolls. I imagen that one must really feel alone when they do not have spirit as a companion. Well I ove the Gospel so much. I love seeing converts become so strong. I love seeing people that come to know the truth of the gospel. What great blessings.Ok well I love you all. Here are some pictures of Salomon in his baptism and all some other pictures.

Elder McKibben

Letter's Home

2009-05-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

April 27th, 2009

Hey Family,
What a great week. It has been going really well. This week we Have the Family Tovar that will be getting baptized I try not to say things like that because I have learned that whats written on Dad´s Bow box is true. Don't jump up and down until the guts are on the ground haha ok so maybe that is not the best way to say it but I have learned that it is better to give thanks for the blessings after you´ve received them haha jk. So the funny story of this week happened yesterday. So we were knocking on doors and I knocked on a door and somebody yelled out ¨who?¨ I responded and then they did not say anything more. I was almost leaning again the door when it opened . Out stepped a man of 24 years more or less and pulling out his right hand which was hidden behind his back I saw that he had a black gun. I thought that he was going to kill me because he pulled it out really quickly and towards me. Well my boxing skills paid off and instead of staying still I jumped back five feet and yelled (I am not sure what I said but I am sure it was all really reasonable for what was going on lol). However he almost looked more surprised than me I then quickly realized that what he had pulled out was actually a black TV control hahaha well it was weird to have to explain to Him why I jump back like a chicken haha but in the same moment I am glad I did not try to disarm him because it would have been more difficult to explain it to the police hahaha. Ok so once again this week has gone by super fast. Tuesday we all went to Guadalajaras temple and it was great.

So it sounds like a ton of things are going on there. Oh ya and now for the super experience that we had. Well the Mom in the Tovar family told me that she had some time the other day in the afternoon and decided to read a little bit of the Book of Mormon. After reading for a little bit she prayed again to know if it was true. She then had a dream and started to explain things she felt and that God answered her. However this was not good enough I guess haha because afterwards she told the Lord if he would just bring her son back she would get baptized (this can also be known as tempting God lol haha no but really she asked the Lord to help her with the one things. And just a little bit later her son knocked on the door and asked to live in the house with his family again. hahaha what a great experience. Oh and also we had another experience the other day we were tracking when I passed by a a little phone office. I saw a lady sitting down inside. We do not always contact stores usually just houses. But I felt like I should do it. So I turned around and went back to the window that I sw her through. Once again I thought maybe I should not do it because it would kind of be weird to contact here through a window of some business so I turned around and started walking away when I felt the like I should do it again. So I returned and began talking to her, afterwards we started teaching her and while I was teaching she Said what church are you from. I told her where it was at and she said that she thought we were from tha church because a few months ago she was feeling kind of bad about life and a missionary from that church passed by and prayed with her and she felt better. She then told us that she had felt the same way all day until my companion and I started talking to her. Her name is Lucy. She is reading everything and has already prayed now and received an answer. Ok well I love you all a ton. Tell Lauren RINGO mixed wit Guardemann equals GRINGO hahaha so it looks like we will all be family hahahaha (in case you did get it we are all Gringos in Mexico hahaha.

Elder McKibben

Letter's Home

2009-05-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

April 20th, 2009

Hello family,

Dont worry about the short letter because sometimes I also have to send very short letters. That is cool the Jordan is going on a mission. Kind of cool because I was just thinking about him today and I thougth he is porbably going to go on mission and then I read what you guys sent me haha.That is sweet that Lauren is going to get married and all that good stuff. I am sure she will make some man really happy. Elder Grow (a member of the area presidency here) told us that what has gotten him where he is at has had so much to do with the wife he chose. That is kind of crazy that when I get back a bunch of my friends are going to be gone and married and doing all sorts of stuff. Ya I got the box you sent my however a couple of the eggs busted open and melted all over everything, but its all good. It is still edible haha Wel I am pretty sure we are going to be baptizing Norma`s nephew so that should be pretty cool. Ya so I do not know when I will know if I am going to extend or not. We`ll find out soon. Ok well I love you all a lot and dont ever forget that I am so grateful for all the prayers that you all have offered in my behalf. I know that this work is imposible with out the hep of the lord.

Elder McKibben

Letter's Home

2009-05-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

April 13th, 2009

Hey Family,

What a week. I think by far this has been one of the hardest weeks in the mission. We worked so hard and the blessing were great but we still did not do all we wanted to do. In the beginning of this week we thought that were going to have 13 people get baptized between Sat and Frid and we worked so hard to complete it. Satuday we lost one family of 4. and later that night we lost another family of 5. We are still working with them and trying to help them but it has been really hard. I could not sleep very well Saturday night because I just felt like all was lost. However We worked hard and we were still able to baptize 3. Graciela (I do not know if I ever mentioned her to you guys) just go baptized and then the 2 daughters of the Chavez family got baptized which means they are all members. I hope in one year they all go to the temple. I`ll send you pictures. It is starting to get really really hot here. I actually do not know how much longer I can stand it. lol. Changes happened last night but my companion and I are still here. Ya I did get the letter from logan and he told me in it that he heard I got a gut haha well I weigh the same as when I left but who knows haha. I cant believe that Pres. Davidson is going to be leaving in just two more months. Time sure does va volando. Well I love you all a lot. The work is hard but i will never end haha so I might as well get used to it. I know that this is the great work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what an honor to be a part of it. I love you all.

Elder McKibben

Some fun pictures!

2009-03-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

The Garcìa family gets baptized....

2009-03-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

March 16th, 2009

Hello Everyone,

Well I do not know why but I did not get any letters from Dad and Mom today so that means that you are going to get a really long letter. Ok so there are a lot of things that are going on right now. It is pretty crazy we now have a zone of 10 companionship's which makes us the second biggest zone in our mission. This last week we were able to travel to Guadalajara to go to the temple. It was awesome and a great experience, however by far the coolest experience should be this Saturday when the Garcìa family gets baptized. Actually the sad part is that not all of the family is going to get baptized right now. The Dad is going to have to wait a little bit longer because he has not been able to go to church very much. I am so happy and hope everything goes well for them. So what else is going on over there? Oh and you should ask Bro. Layton what that word was he told me when I was set apart as a full time missionary. I do not remember the word but he told me it was a Spanish word and that one day I would learn it on the mission but I do not remember what is was and I probably know it now. That is a real blessing. Learning another language. It is funny because even though I doubted the Lord still blessed me and I have been able to learn Spanish. Actually the other day I found a mna that speaks really good English so I started to speak to him in English and after messing up a couple times He started laughing and told me that I need to learn English better. Uh oh, that means that I got to learn another language after Spanish haha ENGLISH. no but Actually I think that I want to learn french or Italian afterwards.
Well I love you all a ton.
Elder McKibben

Never enough time for the work

2009-03-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

March 2nd. 2009

Hello Family,
Another week has come and gone. Well we have found some really good people and we had 7 go to church which is really good. This week we have a goal of 16 in the church which will be hard but I have faith that it will happen. We have been working really hard and I love it. It is funny how tired I get some times. Elder Rojas and I once were talking about how it is funny because we can always sleep. There is never a time when we can say "well I feel rested". Nope there is always this feeling of tiredness and I really can sleep in just about any place. Lol. Well one of the families that we are working for have una maca matrimonial. Or in English a Hamic for couples. They make them in a state here in Mexico and the truth is they are so comfortable. I am thinking I am going to buy one but they cost a pretty penny however its worth it because they make them super good. Hand made and all. So today was changes and they just added two more companionship's two the zone so now Morelia 1 has 9 companionship's. There were a lot of changes in the Zone but I am still here with Elder Jasso and I am really glad to be here. I feel like the Lord is blessing us a lot. This week we are hoping to have one baptism. So I have a bunch of little stories this week but I just share one. Well we were teaching and a lady came over and started cussing at me and then started cussing at my companion. But the funniest part was when she stared kicking him haha. What great experiences lol. So we are still really focused on the division of the stake. After this week we know if we are going to be a stake or no. Ok well we are working hard please keep praying so that we can have more success. By the way my Camar, well who knows. I am going to go get a cord today so we will see what happens. You know what I can really see how the Lord prepares us for future events. Being here and also being a Secretary Ihave a learned so many little things. Especially about the inner working of the church like programs MLS and how big of a difference it makes when you have one secretary in a ward that does not magnify his calling, well here I am juggling once again haha

Love you all.
Elder McKibben

The Lord's hand is in the work...

2009-03-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

March 9th, 2009

Hola Family,

Well there are so many things to say and so little time. So I will get right to the point. We had a really great experience this last week and saw miracles. One of the families that we are teaching, the Garcìa family, are awesome. I can not even tell you what crazy spiritual experiences we had this last week with them. They all look really good and I just cant help but think about how the Lord guided us to them. The other day the Mom (Norma) told us that she was ready to leave her family before we came. She had had enough and could not handle the problems. Now she says when she has problems she jsut reads the Book of Mormon and finds answers. They all have fechas but we have to help the Dad a little bit more. Another family that we found that is part member is another story where we were lead to the right place at the right time. They told us just a few days ago that they really felt the need to talk to missionaries again and BAM. We arrived. God is over this work and anyone that says otherwise does not know the work. I love the Gospel and look forward to seeing alll of you in a short time. This week I wil be going to the Temple again. What a blessing. I Love you all and please keep praying for all these peope and I will kepp praying for all of you. And together all will be edified.

Love,
Elder Mckibben

Gotta love Chilis and the peoples...

2009-03-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

Looks like a bunch of Elders on display at the zoo...

Eiher Elder Mckibben bit off more then he can

chew or he can't take the heat...both are very possible :)

Elder Mckibben being silly...nothing new here

Kristina's Babtism

2009-03-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

Elder Mckibben, Elder Lewis and their sister they babtised, Kristina.

Elder Mckibben with Kristina

Real men don't use shaving cream...

2009-02-23T10:08:00.000-08:00

February 16th, 2009

Hey Family,

How is everything going? I guess not to well for Kaleb but it does not seem that you are all too worried so I guess it is not really serious huh? Poor little guy. I hope he gets better soon. So I am writing so late because we just got back from Guadalajara. It just seems like I cant stay away from the office haha. No but this time it was a little bit different. I went for a conference with Elder C. Scott Grow. He came down and spoke to us. It was sweet and now I have seen and met everyone of the presidency of those over Mexico. Or the 70s. It was awesome and he shared some experiences so powerful and sweet. I liked it a lot. I guess I will also share a quick story with you all. Yo can post it on the blog if you want.

I went up to Guadalajara for this conference with Elder Grow and I forgot my Shaving cream. Well thanks to the fact that we have to shave every day on the mission I have now got a pretty fast growing 5 o clock shadow. Well the first day it was noticeable but the next day it was even worse. So I was in the conference and everybody was telling me that I needed to shave. I had my shaver but did not have any shaving cream. So then pres. Davidson told us all to come up and greet Elder Grow. I knew that I had to be very clever on how I did it because first you shake Sister Davidson`s hand then President`s and then Elder Grow`s. So I knew it would be hard to shake all three without one of them catching on. Well luckily for the McKibbens nothing is impossible. I made sure to keep really close to the other missionaries and just kept the bottom half of my face hid behind the shoulder of the AP. So ya that went well but I knew it was not over. I needed to fix the problem before the end of the conference. So I found some body that could lend me shaving cream and when we had our first Break I went to the bathroom when nobody was there and began to shave. Just when I thougth I had been saved when suddenly the door opened behind me. I turned around with my face covered with shaving cream to see Elder Grow and Pres. Davidson. In that precise moment I thought of only a few excuses. One was to pretend like I was dressing up like Santa or to say that I just forgot my shaving cream. I chose number two owed to the fact that it is still not near the Natividad. hahaha. Well they both laughed a little bit and said almost together. "That`s a good elder. Where glad you follow the rules." Then president told me that real men do not use shaving cream. haha I love the mission.

Love you all
Elder McKibben

Out of the office

2009-02-23T10:06:00.000-08:00

January 20, 2009

Hey Guys,

Well I am now out of the offices and in Morelia which is in Michoacán. Its about 3 hour from Guadalajara. My new companion is Elder Rojas. It is pretty cool because we are in the same generation and he is from Canada. So far I do not really miss the offices but then again it is only the first day. I cant believe how fast the time is going by. I feel like a little bit pressured because I realize that the time is moving so fast. So the family we had is doing great however there was one little problem and that was that the mom Rosy smoked a little bit Friday night so she needed a little more time however the Assistants are now working with her ans I think she will be getting baptized the next Sunday. I love the family a lot and hope the best for them. However Cristina still got baptized Sunday so that was good. I think she will stay pretty firm in the church. You what it is interesting because although one should not think to much about leaving the mission I can already tell that I am going to miss it a lot. What else well the President has put a few more tasks over me and I feel really overwhelmed with the assignments that he has given me. It is kind of eating away at me inside. I just got to confide more in that the Lord will do his part if I do mine. So I did get you letters from everyone one however I still think that there are a lot of letters that are not making it to me but such is the life we live lol. So Morleia is pretty cool and it has got an excellent view from the top of our house. I really like it. Today I showed elder Rojas the work out that we can do every morning. Yeah it was tiring haha. So I am going to send you some more photos of the baptism and a bunch of really cool people. Well I love you all a lot and hope that everything goes really well.

With love,
Elder McKibben

Letter's Home

2009-01-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

I just want to apologies that Elder Mckibben's letters haven't been being posted recently. I have just been a real blogy slacker. I promise to do better!

~Megan

January 15, 2009

Hola Familia,

Well another week has gone by and I cant believe it. I feel so blessed. It looks like we are going to have a few baptisms this week. What a blessing. I do not know if I even ever told you all but when our replacements came in the president told us to move into another room and made elder Lewis and I companions. All of our investigators went over to the other missionaries and we had nothing. We then decided that we wanted to pull a miracle and find somebody and baptize them within three weeks. Well the first week we didn't do that but the second week we were blessed and now the week right before leaving we should be baptizing them. Her name is Rosy and she has a wonderful family. Right now she is in the process of divorcement but we have met her husband and maybe one day he can take the step to. I have enclosed a pictures of there family. I also have a bunch of other pictures of members and other things. The other person that we are working with right now is Cristina. She is 13 years old and has a desire to learn. Her mom is a less active but is trying to get active again.Ok so the Monday I will leave to the field and be back out which means I will have p-day Monday and will be able to write you again if there is time. If not I just write you all in a couple of weeks. So I think time is just going by too fast. It is kind of scary. I hope all goes well with Jared and Krista. Oh and I also have a picture of how I want the name tag but you will have to change the name and makes the tags white.(please hurry)

Love you all.Elder McKibben.

Oh and I think either nobody is writing me or they are not getting here.

Letter's Home

2009-01-19T15:19:00.000-08:00

Hello Family,

Well I am still in the office and I will be for another two weeks. Right now I am training a new secretary. His name is Elder Reichert and one of the pictures I am sending is of him and another one is of Elder Starliper, Me, and Elder Riechert (three generations of secretaries ejecutivos) so that is kind of cool. So it appears some miracles are about to happen. We have very little time but I think that we are going to see some baptisms before we leave. One is Cristina she has 13 years, and the other is Rosy that we just found last week. Well I really want the normal name tags for the shirt but if that is not posible well then the others are fine. I love you all.

Elder Mckibben

Letter's home

2009-01-19T15:15:00.000-08:00

January 1, 2009

Hey Family,

Ok so this week somebody came in that will be taking my spot as the presidents secretary. His name is Elder Reichert. He is a really great missionary and will do a good job. As soon as I can train him I will get out of here and be back in the field. I have felt like I am not doing to good of a job as a missionary. I have not had many baptisms and with more time it is only harder to have faith. I also just do not feel like I feel the spirit as much as I should. But I know that I can change that. I choose the way I want to react to everything. So I will just have to get better and do everything I should. If that is my true desire the lord will confirm it and grant it to me.

I love you all a lot.
Elder McKibben

Letter's Home

2009-01-19T15:06:00.000-08:00

December 22, 2008

Hello Family,

They told all of us to send our e-mails today because we are going to talk to all of you in a couple days. So everything is okay. It has been a little bit hard lately. There have been a lot of baptisms that have fallen through and also here in México everyone leaves town during Christmas so all of our investigators have left town and we are left. I think I only have about 4 weeks left in the offices. So if I want to have some success in these last weeks I really need some miracles. Good thing we believe in miracles huh. So right now everything is going pretty slow with work in the offices. I am just doing all the little things. This week I have to send letters to the parents of every missionary and that could take a little bit of time but that’s how it goes. I am thinking that I am going to miss the offices a lot. It is a mixed feeling because there are some things that I am not going to miss like some of the pressure but I am going to miss the hot showers everyday lol. But it is okay because I am ready to go back to full time mission work. I am really grateful for the experience I have had here in the office. It has taught me a lot. I know that you already sent me a Christmas present but I need one more thing haha. Actually I do not need it, but rather want it. I think that I already told you once that it would be sweet if some how you could get John Lewandoski to make a few name tags for the white shirt, or in other words not for the suit jacket but for the pocket of the white shirt. I would like a few different ones like gold and cool stuff but more than anything a couple that are white with black letters.

ELDER MCKIBBEN LA IGLESIA DE JESUCRISTO DE LOS SANTOS DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS.

Well I do not know what else I can say. I hope you all have a really great Christmas. Oh and there is one funny story for the blog. So we had a Christmas fireside in the church this last week with the entire ward. Well we are in Mexico and that means pinatas (I have no idea how you spell that). So we had one and we let the blindfolded Elder loose with a broom stick handle. Well he did ok but could have done better. Ok so then the funny part. Next they gave it to a young kid but not to young. He began swinging very hard and soon had no idea where he was going and started smacking towards the crowd of people. Everyone was screaming at him but he just kept going. So you have to use you imagination. One kid blindfolded with a huge broom handles running around in a crowed of people screaming trying to hit what ever he can, with 4 missionaries trying to get close enough to jump him. hahaha.

Love,
Elder Mckibben

Picture Overload

2009-01-19T10:02:00.000-08:00

Elder May and Elder Mckibben

Elder Padilla, Elder Mckibben and Elder Lewis

Elder Mckibben in silly wrestling mask

Elder Mckibben being stylish...

Elder Mckibben's new friend...

Letters Home

2008-12-11T19:56:00.000-08:00

Well another week has gone by. I cant belive how fast time moves. I was super happy to get your box of {xmas}stuff. Thanks a lot and I loved the pictures and letters. It was great to read about all of my friends and what they are doing. What great missionaries. I can feel their testimonies so strong and especially when Elder Rau mentioned that God offers forgivness to all. I read a talk not too long ago that was pretty profound. It was about the Atonment (possibly the most profound of all things). It was talking about how every organism or in other words intelgence, no matter its size or age, has characteristics and well....it is a really long talk but in shorter words it made me think a lot about that grand sacrifice. It talks about how when he died all the world and universe moaned for the death of its creator. It was really interesting. Anyways well Carman did not feel ready for her baptism quite yet so we are waiting another two weeks but she is pregressing great. As for chrismas well I am going to go over to the presidents for dinner. Now for the interesting stuff.....haha no not real interesting but something like that. Well I think at the end of the change ( six more weeks) I will be leaving the offices. President mentioned it to some other elders and I think that it is coming. After all I have been here for longer than just about any other secretary and feel that I have done a good job. However like always it will never be enough. Ok well I love you all and hope all goes well. Make sure to say high to everyone for me.

Love,
Elder Mckibben

Pictures

2008-11-19T19:44:00.000-08:00

Letters Home

2008-11-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

November 14, 2008

So this last week I got called out Friday to go to Zamora, Morelia, and Uruapan. An all day drive. It was crazy. The offices are making me old really fast. We returned saturday at about 10:00 at night. On the way back there was a really bad wreck a little ways ahead of us and one of the cars was on fire. Great stories of the road. I also found dunken donuts on the way.
Also like I wrote to Megan. I translated for an hour this last week at a meeting from Spanish to English. That was hard but now I have found something that I think would be fun to do. If you want the whole story ask Megan because I sent it to her.
Now for my favorite part. This last Sunday Lourdes got baptized and now has the goal to be sealed with her husband in year. That would be so cool if she moved up there with him and then I could go see their sealing in Washington afterwards. Anyways that made my week and now we are working with her kids. In my other letter I will send you pictures. and also a X-am list hmmmm haha. I love you all a ton and Ill see you in no time

Elder McKibben

Letters Home

2008-11-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

November 13, 2008

Letter to Megan:

Ok you know what my great story was for today? Ok well there are actually two. I will save the best for last. So the first is that this last week there was an important meeting and Elder Carlos ( a 70) was there. President was up front with him and there were a ton of bishops and leaders in the seats. Well a couple of those leader are from Aijijic, which is a place here in Jalisco where there are a ton of Americans and a large percent of them do not speak Spanish (don’t know why they want to be here but ya) So I got to sit next to one of them for an hour and translate. Possibly one of the hardest things I have done. I can understand everything they say in Spanish but to translate it and listen at the same time is really hard. I think I lied a lot haha. Actually afterwards the other missionary that was translating told me that he had to make a lot of stuff up haha so that made me feel a little better. But I now want to better my capability to do it. The other great news is we had a baptism. Lourdes got baptized this last week. It was awesome. We are now working with her kids. I was so happy. The Lord really blessed us.Ok well that’s all.
Love You!

Elder Mckibben

How to get letters to Jesse

2008-10-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

I apologies to everyone that today I posted Jesse's letter for the previous 3 weeks. I'm quite a slacker I know...

Since so many people have been having problems with the pouch service my mom has a new idea. If you want you can send all letters for Jesse to my parents house. My mom will then send a envelope each month with letters from everyone. This way they will get to Elder Mckibben and you don't have to worry about folding the letter the right way and all of that.

Please send all letters for Jesse to :

Elder Mckibben
ICO The Mckibben Family
400 W. Sheridan Circle
Nibbley, UT 84321

Letters Home

2008-10-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

October 30, 2008

Hey family,

Well I am kind of busy and do not have a lot of time right now (like always). Actually we have a district meeting today and afterwards I get to do a baptismal interview. That is one of my favorite things to do because you can really see the changes that people have taken. Right now I have two families that are progressing or parts of the families are progressing. We have a few baptismal dates. I think if we exercise a lot of faith we could have about 5 baptisms or more in this month. Our goal is to have 15 baptisms by the end of the month.You know what? I am starting to get old. The mission sometimes just takes it out of you. Everyone one has been telling me that I have a bunch of wrinkles and bags under my eyes and I never really sleep well anymore. I feel fine just always tired, however I know that the Lord gives us strength when we are in the right cause and we ask for it. So I read a testimony that Pres. Packer gave in a testimony meeting. I am not sure if it is true or not, but it sounded like a warning call. He said that hard times were coming and that the youth will be forced to learn to live without all the things they have been so used to using. He said that we are seeing a financial crisis that we have not seen since the great depression. Actually that is what I am hearing from everyone right now. So my next question would be how is everything going over there? I do not know how it works out but actually the American dollar has more value here almost everyday. It has stayed at about 10 to 11 pesos per dollar for just about ever and in the last 2 months has jumped to 15. So now every dollar is worth 15 pesos basically. Pretty cool huh. So you all got another Dog. That is cool however I am not a fan of the big dogs but maybe he´ll grow on my when I get back. Hey you know what. My trainer is going to be going home this change. Crazy huh. His name is elder Bradshaw. I can not believe how time flies.

Ok now a couple stories. Well the other day my companion elder Padilla and I were walking and we passed one of the giant blow up air castles that kids jump around in. They are really popular here. Anyways everyone was jumping around in it and we heard a pop. The outside corner had blew out. However nobody noticed so we just kept walking by while watching it. Sure enough it started to deflate and everyone started getting pushed down. It was so funny however I think that maybe it is funnier to see than to hear about.

The other day we were driving to an appointment in a bus and as Sean now knows the bus drivers are crazy yet extremely skilled and can come within inches of things at high speeds. Well this time the bus driver was even more crazy and driving extremely fast and hit the side of a car. We were fine but a girl that was standing flew really far. It was actually also really funny.

This last week I did another Road trip to Colima. It was fun but we got a lost a lot this time. I did not get to sleep until one in the morning. What a crazy experience. I have now visited just about every place in the mission. There is only one zone that I have yet to visit, that being Ácambaro. I do not know when we will go there. I have to say however that Colima is my favorite drive, Very beautiful. Well I think I am now ready to drive in any place in the world. I have basically mastered México traffic. Ok well that is all.

Elder Mckibben~

also Elder Mckibben wanted me to post this on his blog:

¨Por fin me he dado cuenta que todos se han cansado de escribirme por que yo nunca puedo responder sin embargo voy a intentarlo más.

Pictures

2008-10-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

Letters Home

2008-10-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

October 23, 2008

Buenos días,

Well another week has gone by. It seems like time just keeps going faster and faster. I cant belive it. Time is going by so so fast. Sometimes I think it should slow down a little. At this rate I will be home next week. However there is still so much that I have to do. I kind of feel bad because we have not baptized in a really long time. I do not understand. We have worked really hard but we just do not see the blessings yet. Sometimes I think the Lord is trying our faith. Well I am not sure how much longer I will be in the offices, I think about 2 more months or maybe less. To be honest I am ready to leave the offices I think. They are great and I like them and everything but I just want to work more in the field. Well I love the Gospel and know that it is true. I love all of you and will see you in no time at all.

Elder Mckibben

Letters Home

2008-10-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

October 16th, 2008

Hello Family,

Well another week has gone by. I cant belive it. It just all seems to junk together and is one quick time. I actually am starting to think that one day I am just going to wake up and be 80. Well the work goes on. We have a few baptisimal dates for some people but we need to exercise more faith and work even harder.I feel like there is always so much more that we can do. I remember thinking not to long ago that no matter how much we do it will never be enough. There will always be more. So you are thinking about getting another dog. That I think would be pretty good. I miss sparky and his style. Well I think I always have funny stories but some times I just do not have time to write them. I also do not have very many knew pictures. So I will work a bit harder so that this next time I will have more to tell you all. But for now I love you all so so so much.

Elder McKibben

Letters Home

2008-10-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

October 9, 2008

Hello Family,

Well I did get my[birthday] box that you sent me. Thanks so much. I loved it however I must admit that hardly any of the Black liquorish made it into my mouth. One of the assistants (Bárcenas) and I discovered that when you throw them at some one they really really sting. Ya so that basically turned into a morning exercise one day haha. However I really enjoyed everything. Especially all the letters from my friends. It is so funny to read how much alike some of the places are to here where I am. As for pouch I wondered why all of the sudden people stopped writing me. Well pouch still exists and everything maybe they are just getting more picky about what can cross and what not. Ya I can not believe I am 20 years old. I have now left the teens. and I almost have 1 year in the mission. Well I just thought I would tell you a little bit about what happened today. Today I got up because all of my companions were singing happy birth day. Then the AP´s gave my a present. I opened it and it had a sticky not that told me to go look under the bed in the other room. So I went and looked and there was another sticky note. Well one by one I went through the whole house until it led me out to a patio that we have. It is a little hard to explain but this patio is room that has four walls but no top. Or in other words it is a room in the house that's walls extend up three floors and then there is no ceiling. Well the hunt ended in this room. What I did not realize was that all the other elders left and only Barcenas and one other were with me. While I was reading the card out there they shut the door and locked me out. Then all the other elders which had gone up top poured 5 buckets of water on me. Actually it was really funny.

Well I love you all and the work goes on,
Elder McKibben

Happy Birthday!

2008-10-09T10:55:00.000-07:00

Today is Elder Mckibben's 20th birthday! Wow this is the first time Elder Mckibben has beenout of the country for his birthday. It's hard to believe he is no longer a teenager. He will come back a grown man and I'm not sure if I am ready for that :\ It's a good thing we have another year! ~Jesse and Megan a quite a few years ago~

~A complete goof~

~Elder Mckibben with his older brother Jared at the Portland Temple. This is the day he took out his endowments~

Elder Mckibben's last Christmas home

In Elder Mckibben's recent years it become very difficult to capture a serious picture of him....but then again he was always good for a laugh!

~Elder Mckibben with his good friends Elder Grow (also taken at the Temple) ~

Letters Home

2008-10-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

Septmber 25th, 2008

Hey family
Well it sounds like life is hard for a lot of people. However I know that it goes on. This week was a very hard week. Comparable to the first weeks that I was in the field. A lot of things happened. I cannot explain all of them but it was a very long hard week. I am tired in a lot of ways. I have seen a lot of things that bug me. So many missionaries that just have so many problems. We all do. Some one once said that if you want proof that the church is true just look at the missionaries. If the church was not true they would have destroyed it by now haha. In a lot of ways that is true. You will meet some of the best missionaries in the world. People that are inspired and follow impressions. Then you will find others that are struggling so much. I am sorry to hear that some of the people in Bend are struggling. I hear that the USA is having a lot of problems. Well I should not focus myself on things like that too much. I hope all those people do better. I know that God is watching over us. I know that he is are great father. That he knows everyone one of us so well. That he loves us enough to send his only begotten son of whom I bear testimony that he is the Great Jehovah. God of the old testament and the Jesus Christ of the new. I testify that there is only one organization upon the earth that has the keys to fulfill saving ordinances. Give my love to every one in Bend. Tell all the C5 that the language comes. Sometimes it is difficult but study it. Speak it. Love it. And dominate it.

Pictures

2008-09-11T20:08:00.000-07:00

~Sorry Elder Mckibben doesn't always send an explanation of his pictures!~

Letters Home

2008-09-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

September 11, 2008

Hey family,

Well at this rate I think I will be home tomorrow or at least that's what it seems like. Life goes by so fast, and even faster here in las oficinas.Right now I am a little tired because my body did not get to sleep a lot last night do to the fact that we have 12 Americans coming in today, which means lots of work. Well I also went on another road trip to Zamora. It was a good road trip. I am starting to like driving in Mexico because if you want to do something you just do it and everyone makes room. For your sake I wont give anymore details haha. So we have a couple people that are progressing right now. One is Billy Conner. He´s from the USA and speaks perfect English and Spanish. He is a really good Man and wants to learn more. I have been thinking a lot about the adventures that I had with the YM in are ward. When I think about such things I get an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. What great people I have known. Well that is it for now. Oh and I do not know if I told you about my new companion. His name is Elder Padilla. He is a chilango haha and we always make jokes about it. He has about 7 months in the mission. Ok well I love all of you a lot. Ok well tell everyone that I love them and miss them but the time moves to fast.

Elder McKibben.

Pictures

2008-09-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

~Elder Mckibben said this is a "big fish" his companion and him caught.~

~Elder Mckibben on the coast~

~The Garcia Family~

Letters Home

2008-09-09T12:49:00.000-07:00

September 5th, 2008

Hey Family,

This last week I did not have time to write you guys. We went to the temple and had to do a lot of things. It was my fault. Anyways that is cool that you went hunting with Jared Dad. I hope you really had a good time. Well I have good news and bad news. First the bad news. Our family the Garcia's are falling and I think that we are going to have to drop them. I cant not explain the pain that it is going to cause but I can feel it coming. They are not keeping their commitments. Please pray for us and them. However on a positive note. Right now we have a little problem in the offices. Only one person is certified to drive in the crazy traffic here. That's right, your son. That however is not the good news. The good news is that I get to go on some cool trips. Today I went to Colima, and a part of it called Manzanillo. It is really really hot there. However we got to go to the ocean. And it was our P day so we got to spend a little bit of time there.I love you all a ton. Here are the pictures.

Elder McKibben

Letters Home

2008-08-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

Hello Family,

Well another week has almost gone by. Funny thing happened today. I received a list of all the Elder waiting in the MTC. And behold there was Sean haha. From knowing, what I know about are missionaries that are waiting I am guessing Sean could have another couple weeks in the Utah mission. But he will get to Peru sooner or later. What a great guy. Well I had a couple funny experiences this last week. First off I was walking and contacting and contacted this old man that was walking.I said buenas Tardes and he then yelled grabbed my hand and began to shake with great force then he hugged me and began to scream, buenas tardes ¿cómo está? after about 10 seconds of this I was a little shook up and tried to restart the conversation but when I said again, I am elder mck....and he screamed again and started the whole thing over again however this time I had learned his tactic. So when he began to scream and tried to hug me, I hugged back with all my strength and yelled too. At this point my companion was on the other side watching us thinking that we were crazy hahah. But it was funny because after this time I yelled ¡Again! but he had had enough and did not want to do it hahaha. My other story was that we were walking along the street and in this one yard I quite possibly looked upon one of the ugliest dogs on the planet. I am going to send it to you but be careful because I do not know if you want to see something so nasty. Ok, what else? So we are still working with the Garcia family and I hope everything goes through with them. It looks like they will not be being baptized this week but it is still possible, so we are going to fast and see. They are really cool. Such a great family. I am meaning to send a picture of them but I got to get around to it. I hope the Grows are doing ok. Sometimes the Lord really allows some tests of faith to come along.But we just have to keep the gloves on and keep the good fight. Hey speaking of the fight, I got my mitts for boxing. Thanks a lot. Everyone here is surprised how fast I hit. But I got to work on my power. Well I think that is about it from LAS OFICINAS. Oh also. Dad I do not know if you remember but in the church there is a program they use to do just about everything. When ever you were counting money there was always a program on the computer in the church I do not know what it is called in English, but in Spanish is called MLS and now we are using it a lot and I am becoming quite the expert with it. How about that.Anyways I love you all a ton.
Elder McKibben

Pictures

2008-08-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

~The Ugly Dog~ ~ Elder Torres~

~Elder Mckibben~

Letters Home

2008-08-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

Elder Mckibben wrote me (Megan) today so I thought I would go ahead and share some of his letter with everyone.

----------------------

Hey Guys,

Well I got some really cool pictures for you today. And some good stories but I do not have a lot of time. One picture that I would send you but it turned out bad is a pictures of nest of a humming birds. They are so sweet. It is funny that you should mention that everyone is noticing that I don't write, because today I made the effort and wrote about five people, including brother Layton haha. Anyways I am glad you got a cool blog so that I do not have to write every single person however I think that people have had enough with me not writing back because now I never get letters hmmmm well...I will work on that. {this is a guilt trip for all your readers, i repeat big fat guilt trip :) }

Hey that is so cool that you threw out a bunch of movies. Those thing are worthless just about always. Better to grab a book, and yet even better...grab a book (maybe a blue one) and go preach the gospel with it.Ok well enough is enough. Right now I am in Guadalajara again and we are teaching a family of six. They are the Garcias. What a sweet family. We are also working hard in the offices. The other day I had to wait in a polacio (?) federal for two hours to register an American. 2 hours for one American and now we have a group of 13 Americans coming in. I do not even want to think about how much time I will spend in that place when I get to do there paper work hahaha just kidding.

Hey I wanted to send you a picture when I solved the Rubik's Cube. Sometimes in the offices my eyes get tired of looking at a monitor so I started using a Rubik's cube to focus on something else. It took days but finally I solved it and now I can do it in about 3 min.

Pictures

2008-08-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

Letters Home

2008-08-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

August 7, 2008

Hey family,

Today was a good day. It was my first day that I went to Federal Polacio with some other elders to do some visa stuff. Everything is going pretty good. Actually I am very excited, because we have a family that has been progressing really good. I can't even explain how good I feel when I am around them. There are 6 in the family. The dad and mom are Fernando, and Marialena, and the kids are Cristian, Luis, Maria, and Fatima. Fatima is the yougest and is 8 years old. It was so cool because we were praying the other day and the father Fernando gave the last prayer and we all could feel the spirit so so strong. Please prayer for us. I love you all so much and will talk to you all in a week.

Love ya all Elder McKibblles and Bitts

Testimony

2008-07-31T08:33:00.000-07:00

El evanjelio de Jesucristo me ha bendecido en una manera que uno no puede explicar con estas cosas pequeñas que llamamos palabras.
Yo testifico que realmente hay un Dios. El Padre de todo el mundo, que nos ama más que lo que podemos comprender en esta vida. Por este amor, Él nos ha dado a su hijo amado en la carne Jesus el Cristo, para salvarnos de nosotros mismos. Él es el Cristo, fue el Cristo, y será para siempre, a esta verdad eterna he dedicado mi vida.
Sé por los sentimientos que he sentido, que Dios ha llamado a otro profeta en nuestros días. Y que el senor empezó esta dipensación llamando al profeta José Smith. Testifico de estas con confianza y lo hago en el nombre del hijo Jescristo amen

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I went ahead and translated Elder Mckibben's testimony through google translater and for the most part I think it makes sense. Anyways enjoy....
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The Gospel of Jesus Christ has blessed me in a way that one can not explain these things we call small words. I testified that really there is a God. Father of the whole world that loves us more than we can understand in this life. For this love, he has given us his beloved son in the flesh Jesus Christ to save us from ourselves. He is the Christ, was the Christ, and will be forever, to this eternal truth I have devoted my life. I know from the feelings that I felt that God has called another prophet today. And that he began this dispensation by calling the prophet Joseph Smith. I witness these things with confidence and I do so in the name of his beloved son Jesus Christ amen

Letters Home

2008-07-31T08:24:00.000-07:00

July 31, 2008

Ok so what’s new.....well right now we have a family of four, two and three, that we are teaching, and one other guy. I hope all goes well with this family. They have an 8 girl that I think could be baptized in a second she is so smart for her age. Well I like my position right now because I get to see and talk with the president more then just about anyone in the mission except the AP´s. President and I were going over his schedule the other day and I cannot believe how busy he is. Imagine this for example, he is always traveling, always talking on the phone while he is traveling, and reading papers while he is talking. So at the least he is triple tasking, he just needs a piece of gum and he could be quadruple (who knows how you spell that) tasking. hahaha. But really he does so much and never has a break. This week that is coming up he will be at a zone conference almost every day and about 10 hours of interviews everyday and that’s if every interview is only 15 minutes. What a guy I know. Think about how many people complain about church calling that require getting up early or taking time out of the week. Sometimes president doesn’t sleep at night. Anyways I am learning a lot, I just have to work really hard to keep on track because it is really easy to become a frito in the offices. Anyways I love you. Hey I am going to give you my testimony in Spanish so Megan can put it on this blog. Thanks and love you all a ton.

Addresses for Writing

2008-07-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

Here are the addresses for Elder Mckibben:

Elder Mckibben's Adrress:

Mexico Guadalajara South Mission
Calle Aguamanna #3292
Colonia Reciencial Victoria
Zapopan, Jalisco 45089

The puch service address:

Elder Mckibben
Mexico Guadalajara South Mission
POB 3150
Salt Lake City, Ut 84138-0150
U.S.A

Note on the pouch service only post cards or single sheet letter folded twice, tape on end, write address on back this is so they can make sure it is only a letter, if you do it any other way it will be returned to you.

Pictures

2008-07-26T13:03:00.001-07:00

Letters Home

2008-07-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

July 24, 2007

Hey Family,

Well today is my p-day and no I have not received my box. I am still waiting and am a little worried that it not going to show up. I hope it does. I really want to start working out in the morning. Well ya, I am the secretary to the president. I take care of all the arrivals and departures for the missionaries. That includes visas, passports, and a bunch of paper work. I also change the changes or in other words I move all the missionaries around on the big board. I also do a lot of the affairs for the president like send him important e-mails and even check his e-mail sometimes. But the funnest thing of all is I get to call all the parents of the missionaries and the stake presidents so I get to have a lot of fun with that. My companion is Elder Clark. He is the financial secretary one of the hardest jobs. Or in other words one of the jobs that requires more work. One night we were up till three o clock in the morning. In the offices will still have rules but we can change a lot of them in accordance with needs. The president really trusts us a lot. We still go a and knock on doors but it is really hard to do it because we are so busy. I have 13 Americans leaving this month and 13 coming in so I have a ton of computer work. Its hard. But of all the missionaries I am one of the ones that talk with president most so I get to learn a lot of how he works.What else......well ya we get to go to the temple I am not sure if I told you in the last email that we went. It is a really neat temple. We also went to outback steak house with the president. SHHHWWEEEEETTTT¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡! That's cool everything is going well for Elder Simpson. I got a letter the other day from brother Layton. I feel bad because I never write back. I have not written a letter in almost 7 months, actually I have written a bunch but I never put them in the mail.Ok well give everyone my love. I love you guys and will see you in no time.

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In reference to working out and a package Elder Mckibben has been waiting for his mom to send his boxing gear so him and his companion can "work out". My mom did send it the other day ($140 shipping) and it came back! Apparently my dad had sent Elder Mckibben some beef jerky. Well just for your information you cannot mail meat across the border to Mexico. Needless to say the package got returned to my mom. I don't think she will be spending any more money trying to send it down to Mexico. But if anyone is heading that way let us know haha.

MTC

2008-07-26T12:34:00.001-07:00

Elder Mckibben entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on November 7, 2007. His first night there one of his roommates disappeared in the middle of the night. Apparently the Elder wasn't quite ready for his mission. How's that for reassurance? Elder Mckibben felt that he struggled with the language while in the MTC but now that he is in the field he is doing much better with his Spanish. Just a couple of weeks after Elder Mckibben got to Mexico he became very ill. Apparently he ate some food from one of the street vendors. Had he known it was actually a mission no no he wouldn't have touched the food. His eating food from a street vendor resulted in his hospitalization and an IV. He just got some sort of a stomach virus but he recovered in just a couple of days and will think twice next time before eating off the streets.

What it's about...

2008-07-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start this web page so that friends and family across the lands can follow Elder Mckibben (Jesse) on his mission. I am not promising anything fancy. I also can't promise Elder Mckibben will write too much for me to post. I am lucky to get an email with 3 or 4 lines every couple of weeks. However I will do my best to help everyone keep posted on the missionary experiences and such. I would encourage all family and friends to feel free to leave your comments. We are also happy to pass along any comments to Elder Mckibben. We also encourage writing him all the letters you wish. Enjoy!