Sister Chelsea Gehring: Mermaids and slashing

Muli bwanji!

I spent a lot of my time sending pictures so I'll have to keep this relatively short. But the week was pretty good around here. Sad news though- Sister Hirwa was transferred! She was moved to the copperbelt of Zambia which is about 5 hours north of Lusaka. We got the call Tuesday night and she had to leave Wednesday morning! I only got 2 weeks with her! So unfair. But its nice to be back to just me and Sister Vea again. Training is awesome and so was Sister Hirwa. But being with someone who has been out for a long time too makes things move a lot faster because you dont have to stop and explain everything.

The work was ok this week. We are slowly starting to see progress in the area. Michelo and George are atill doing great. Michelo especially. She has been reading the Book of Mormon on her own a lot and she is understanding SO well. She looks for the lesson to be learned in everyting and then she applies it to her life. Its incredible! George is coming along too. He is starting to see that the gospel really can bless him. He stays for more of the lessons now and he asks great questions. They didn't make it to church this week because George had to go to South Africa again. But They are still progressing well. We went over to their house and did slashing this week. We brought the whole district and we were able to get a lot done. Their front ditch had grass that was knee high or longer and we cut it all and trimmed all the bushes. I wish I would have taken a before and after photo.

We also were able to teach another pretty awesome person this week. He is a history professor. He has spent the last 40 years traveling the world, teaching in different universities. Its pretty amazing! Right now he is working on writing 2 books. One is about the history of the struggle for freedom in each of the over 60 African countries. The other one is and encyclopedia about the history of Zambia. Yea. So we taught him about the Book of Mormon and he accepted it really well. He committed to read it prayerfully. We are praying that the spirit will soften his heart and that he will be able to accept the gospel.

So I'm not sure if there are just a lot more weird things that happen here in Zambia or if I just notice them more because I walk everywhere here but we saw a lot of odd things while going around this week. For example: On our way home a couple days ago a white guy (one of the only ones I have seen in Lusaka) sprinted past us like he was running from a herd of angry elephants. He was wearing women's sunglasses and the shortest shorts I have ever seen on a man. And he was holding a bright yellow duffle bag. Despite many valiant attempts we could not figure out what the heck was going on. But earlier that day while we were walking down a main road, 4 cars drove by. All of them were honking obnoxiously. And hanging out of all the windows were men holding huge guns and shouting in Nyanja. It was a little scary. We are hoping the two incidents are unrelated.

And here is another example: The sisters we live with came home the other day and told us that there was a riot at the police station in their area. I thought that maybe there was some corrupt police something or maybe a prisoner escaped or you know something else scary. But that was not the case at all! Apparently a little girl had seen a mermaid in her toilet. So her parents called the police to come check it out. But after further investigation, the mermaid wasn't found. So the little girl's parents got angry at the police because they thought that the police actually stole the mermaid and were holding it hostage at the police station. So the mom gathered all her friends and neighbors and stormed off to the station to free the captive toilet mermaid. I sincerely wish I was kidding about this. There was literally a riot over a toilet mermaid.

Well thats about it for this week. My favorite scripture was Alma 12:10-11. First of all, its just a great verse. But also do you remember the quote from Best Two Years "Its humility aint it. Humility is the key to inspiration!"? Well as soon as I read this it reminded me of that quote. And the best part is- Its True!

I love you all and I hope your week is fantastic!

Lots of Love,

Sister Gehring

9 foot python!

A member made us banana bread. It was delicious.

Another rainy day in Zambia.

There are these creepy worms here that hang from the trees in cocoon things. Gross.

TiTi and MweMwe- Michelo and George's kids.

The branch president is the manager of an orphanage called Mothers without Borders. We went there to visit a few weeks ago.This is us with him and his BYU shirt!

With the kids at Mothers without Borders.

Us with the kids at Mothers without Borders.

So the first time I passed this I thought it said "CG I love you." Turns out it didn't, but every time I pass it I feel like Heavenly Father is saying hi to me.

The mosquitos here are monster sized.

We went to an elephant orphanage a couple p-days ago. It was pretty adorable.

The smallest one kept sucking on the older ones' ears. Apparently its a way he copes with the loss of his mom. And the older ones let him do that to comfort him. Adorable huh?

You don't see signs like that everyday!

We were waiting for a member to show up so we sang hymns to pass the time.

I SAW A TEXAS LICENSE PLATE IN LUSAKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zone activity to Kalimba farms.

Kalimba farms.

Still at Kalimba farms.

Elder Majafe and I making a garden. That makes us super cool as you can see.

Even the scenery at Kalimba farms was beautiful.

I don't know why, but he just sat there for like 15 minutes with his mouth open.

I laughed.

I love my companions!

Kalimba farms.

Still at Kalimba farms with the 9 foot python.

Slashing. The most ineffective way of cutting grass ever invented. But for some reason Zambia has decided to make it the primary way of cutting grass. But its ok! If you get enough missionaries doing it at the same time, you can finish a yard in a few hours!