Back in Tlokweng!

Dumela Ya'll!

Welp. I'm not in South Africa. Not yet at least. I'll explain.

The reason I am being transferred to South Africa is because that is where the Lord wants me to be. I have gotten that confirmation over and over this week. I'll talk about that in a bit. But the way the Lord made the way for me to go there is that I was denied residency in Botswana. As of right now, once I leave Botswana, I can't come back. And my extension lasts till Wednesday. So they are having me and the two other sisters who are leaving stay as long as we can. So they had me go back to Tlokweng for the week because I already knew the area. But tomorrow morning I will be leaving for South Africa and possibly never coming back. But I have no doubt that this is the right thing for me to be doing right now so as sad as I am, I'm ok.

This week has been pretty incredible actually. Lots of great things have happened. I'll try to write about it all. My companion for the week has been Sister George. She was trained by Sister Anderson when I left for Francistown. We have gotten along really well. She is so sweet. I'm kind of sad I only got to be with her for a week.

I guess there are 3 main things that made this week incredible. So I'll list them.

1. Boitshepo. Do you remember her? She is the 14 year old girl that Sister Anderson and I tracted into when I first came on mission. When we knocked on her door she was home alone crying. For a long time she wouldn't talk to us and even when she did it was only a few words here and there. If we hadn't gone by the spirit we might have just looked over her as a lost cause and moved on. But we didn't. Both of us knew that for some reason Boitshepo needed the gospel. We could tell that she was in pain and nothing but Christ's church could heal her. So we kept working with her. She didn't progress quickly. Sometimes she didn't progress at all. But we kept working with her. Slowly but surely she started to open up to us. Right as you could see the gospel start to change her life, I was transferred to Monarch. Well when I came back to Tlokweng the first person we went to see was Boitshepo. She'd gotten baptized!!!! Like 2 weeks ago!!!!! Honestly I almost didn't even recognize her! She was glowing! I had never seen her so happy. She didn't even look like herself! It was incredible! I can't even describe it. I wish there were words to use but there just aren't. She was talking, She taught us about her reading in the Book of Mormon, she sings in the ward and stake choir, she shares the gospel with her friends. Its just incredible! The gospel of Jesus Christ is TRUE!! 

2. Lapo's mom. Lapo is another member of the Broadhurst ward. She came teaching with Sister Anderson and I a lot. Well she left for a mission to Ghana last week. She is the only member in her family so her mom doesn't completely understand what a mission is. She supports Lapo but its a lot harder for her because she isn't a member. So this week Sister George and I asked her if we could teach her more about missionary work. She said ok. So we shared with her more about the technical side of missionary work. Just to help her have a better idea of what her daughter will be doing every day. It really helped her. you could just tell. But the coolest thing was that we were able to go with her to an internet cafe and help her set up an email account so that she could communicate with Lapo. She had never touched a computer in her life so mostly me and Sister George just did everything for her. But then we let her take over and type a message all by herself. She typed with one finger and I think it took 15 minutes for her to type 3 lines but the look on her face was priceless. It was subtle but it was joy. She just had a faint smile but you could tell that for even just those few minutes, she felt connected with her daughter again. She just kept saying "Ke a e tomela" which means "I am happy". It was so cool to be able to help her feel close to her daughter again. 

3. Spiritual confirmations. When I first found out that I was denied residency and that I was being transferred to South Africa I was really sad. I didn't understand why this would all be happening. It just didn't make sense to me. But President Wilson told me to pray about it to know for myself that it is the Lord's will. So I did. The answer didn't come right away and it didn't come in a huge way. But it has come in little doses all week long. I won't go into detail about them all. But I just want you all to know that they did come. Mafikeng is the place where the Lord needs me right now. I have also gotten the feeling that I probably will not ever be serving in Botswana again. A few months ago that would have really upset me. But now I just feel peace about it all. I have never had a stronger testimony that the Lord truly is in charge of this work than I do right now. He is in control. I know he is. The reason I lost residency is not because of the government or anything like that. Its because the Lord needs me to go to South Africa and that is the way he made it possible. I don't know what is going to happen to me for the year I have left of mission. but I know without even a hint of doubt that whatever happens is the Lord's will.

I love you all so so much! I am so grateful for your prayers and your support. I love this work more than anything else in the world. (other than my family of course) I am so happy to be here. I can't even express how happy I am actually. I love you I love you!!! I hope everyone has a fabulous week! Next week I'll be talking to you from South Africa!!

Lots of love, 

Sister Gehring

I bought this traditional Botswana dress on the street today. In case I don't come back to Botswana. 

My companion for the week! Sister George. We are matching because we participated in the stake choir. The dress code was red and black.

This is sister Gillis. She is one of the sisters going to Mafikeng with me. One of her investigators gave her a fish. So we cooked it for dinner.

Kabo Prince Khumotseile. He just reported to the Ghana MTC on Thursday. He will be serving in the Sierra Leon Freetown mission. He is the first person in his family to ever serve a mission. He's from Monarch

The group presidency of Monarch. President Billy Mabote is in the middle. On the left is Brother Burman Ncenga (don't even try to pronounce that. "Nc" is a click) and next to me is Brother Olifile.

Saying bye to Gaseitsiwe. Or just Gasei for short. 

Me and Sister Scott working on the measles campaign last week.

Monarch group! This is about how many people we had on a typical Sunday. We are sitting outside of the house where we meet for church.

Saying bye to Gosego :(