Monday, July 8, 2013

I'm leaving Gabs:(

Dumela once again!

Well like I said, the big news of the week is that I'm leaving Gaborone. I have been transfered to Francistown which is about 6 hours north east of Gabs. I think I’ll be serving in a place called Monarch but I won’t know for sure till I get there. I have very mixed feelings about it. I am so excited to start a new adventure in a new area but I absolutely love Tlokweng. I love the people, I love the area, I love Sister Anderson, I just love it all. Plus I love my ward. Broadhurst is incredible and I was just starting to feel settled in. And now I have to leave! Bearing my goodbye testimony was rough. I held it together while I was up there but on the way back to my seat I lost it a little. Lots of tears have gone into the area so a lot came out of it. I was sitting by an investigator, Tiny, for sacrament meeting and I hadn't told her I was leaving yet. When I got back to my seat she just held my hand and cried with me. She held my hand for the rest of the meeting and when I had to say goodbye to her after church we both cried again. She is incredible. She is getting baptized a week and a half after I leave. I'm so sad I’m missing it. So a lot of tears have been shed over it but I really am ok. I really am excited to go up there but I just really hate to leave.

Well the other big news of the week is that Gabayo is back!!! Ok story: Gabayo is an investigator that was being taught before I even got here. Sister Anderson and her companion before me went and saw her every single day. She was golden. She loved everything about the gospel and everything that went with it. But a week before I came out, she went to her home village. She was only supposed to be gone for a couple weeks but she got stuck out there cause she didn’t have enough money to come back. She doesn’t have a phone so we have had no way to contact her. So about once a week we have been just checking her house in hopes that she'd be there. A lot of fasting and prayer have gone into wanting her to come back. Well this week, SHE WAS BACK!!!! And she is a golden as ever. While she was home she read the entire Book of Mormon, and she’s on it for her second time. And she knows everything. We taught her this week, (well sort of. She taught us this week.) and while we were there, she started at the restoration and taught us every single missionary lesson- Restoration, Plan of Salvation, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom, and Tithes and Offerings. She taught them in detail, quoted scripture with them, and explained the eternal significance and how it applies to us. It was one of the most powerful things I have ever seen. The testimony she has after knowing about the gospel for only a few months could put mine to shame and I have been a member my whole life. We have seen her every day since and it’s always the same. She testifies of the things she knows and we sit back in awe. She is getting baptized in 2 weeks. I’m missing it which makes me sad but I am just so glad she gets to be. She is going to be such a strength to the church.

And that’s about all that happened this week. We did a lot of tracting again and a lot of people canceled on us. If I had to pick one thing that’s the hardest thing about mission, it would be people's agency. You want so much for them to just accept the gospel! You see how much it could bless their life and then you see them just not do anything about it. It’s just rough. Sometimes it would be nice if we could just make them read or make them come to church just once to let them see how great it is. Then they'll want to do it themselves! But in the end I now they have to have that change on their own or it won’t make any difference. Still though, agency and missionary work sometimes have a love/hate relationship. Good thing Heavenly Father is wise enough to see the whole picture. I just need to trust that His way is the best way.

My favorite scripture of the week is 2 Nephi 2:24. This helped me a lot when I found out I was leaving my area. It’s the Lord's work. And just like I just said, I just need to trust that His way is best.

Well I want you to know that I am still loving it here. This place is incredible and I never want it to end. Thank you for all your support and prayers. They really do help! I love you so much!


Happy Fourth of July!





Strawberry lips. I love my companion.

The fearsome four!

We are sisters. Sometimes we just have to take cheesy fence pictures.

Yay 3 months on mission!







Me with president Omer and his wife for the last time.

I was like ten feet from a baboon. And no, it was not in any sort or cage or fence.
Love, Sister Gehring

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