Wierdo week

Dear family! 

I just want to start off by apologizing that I wasn't able to email you yesterday. As you probably already know, Nelson Mandela passed away last week. His funeral was on Sunday and then yesterday was kind of like a day of mourning. Everything was closed in respect of Mandela's passing. 

Well Like I said, it was kind of a weird week. First of all, Sister Anderson and Sister Twongeirwe came! I am now in a 3-some with Sister Clifford and Sister Anderson! I'm excited to be companions with her again. Its a little weird cause we have both grown a lot since we were last companions but its been great so far. All 5 of us sisters live in the same little flat so things are a bit crowded but we are making it work. 

Thats not what made the week weird though. What made it weird was all the random medical issues! It all started on Wednesday. We were going to pick up a member so she could go teaching with us. She has 8 dogs. I have gotten a lot better about dogs since coming on mission. I still don't particularly love them but I'm ok with them. Well these dogs were smallish but they were circling me very suspiciously the whole time we were at the member's door. All of a sudden the biggest one went crazy. It charged at me and started chewing on my leg. Then a couple of the others thought it looked like fun so they joined. My companions literally had to pull me away while the member got the dogs. By some miracle none of them broke the skin. But my leg was super swollen and scratched up and bruised. It hurt. A lot. So we had to cancel our lesson so we could go home and I could take care of my leg. That pretty much took up an entire afternoon. It was crazy. But I can officially say I have been bit by a dog on mission! I'm a real missionary now! (p.s. Im completely ok now. I still have a pretty nasty bruise wrapped around my whole leg but nothing I can't handle)

So there was that on Wednesday. Then Thursday and Friday were pretty normal days. We did some tracting, we taught some lessons. Everything was fine and dandy. But then Friday night Sister Anderson was having some  pain in her lower stomach. It got progressively worse as the night went on and by the time she went to bed it was really bad. Sister Clifford and I diagnosed her as best we could. Then Saturday morning the Elders came over and gave her a blessing. After that it got so bad we decided to take her to the emergency room. We spent a good chunk of the day there. After a few hours she was released with antibiotics and pain killers. Turns out Sister Clifford had diagnosed right! Then we stayed with her the rest of the day while she rested. Same thing happened Sunday. I got to go to church with Sister Abraham but after that we just stayed home with Sister Anderson. She's doing a TON better now. The medicine is working and we are back to work! 

So yea we didn't get to do much missionary work this week. And even the work we did do was slow. Everyone is gone out of town for Christmas already.  I wish there was more to report... Hopefully this coming week will be better. 

Yesterday was fun even though we weren't able to email. Some members took us to a dam just outside of town. We didn't actually even see the dam. It was basically just a lake. It was so much fun. It was nice to just be outside having fun with the other missionaries. I got to wear a Zulu headband, we got to skip rocks, we saw some donkeys. Nothing overly exciting but just lots of fun.

We also decorated our christmas tree this week! Its the best we could do with the circumstances and our budget but its wonderful. The elders were great and went and got it for us. Then we spent an evening stringing popcorn and paper chains. It turned out great. Its amazing how different it feels being away from home but how it can still be home here. 

My favorite scripture this week was Romans 1:16 which I know we have all read a hundred times but it really hit me this week. It made me stop and think if its true or not for me in my life. I made it a goal to be more bold in expressing my love for the gospel. 

Well I am so excited to talk to you next week! One week from tomorrow is Christmas!!!! I can't believe its almost here!!! Its nuts! Time is going way too fast. 

Have a great week! I love you all so much!

Love, Sister Gehring

Me icing my dog bite.

Sister Anderson in the hospital... poor girl.

The triumphant release!!

This guy was at the dam catching fish and cleaning them right there on the shore. I was so proud of myself! I watched and I didn't get sick!

Me and Sister Twongeirwe. Thats a traditional Zulu headband. Sadly its not mine. Its Elder Brown's 

Ready for battle!!!!!!

Everyone at the dam! 

Me and my companions.

This picture was an accident but it turned out really funny! They tried to pick me up but my weight wasnt balanced so I started falling back. Then Elder brown was pretending to punch at us and his fist turned out in the perfect spot. Fun stuff!

Me and my former companions!

Our lovely Christmas tree. I know its not much but its home.

Elaine with the present she gave me. It was a hang made bracelet wrapped in a hand decorated tin can. It was adorable!

Daphne showing us old photos (she's one of our new oumas).

My 23 new grandmas!

Dear family,

Hello!!! How goes it? I hope everything is great there and you are happy. Christmas is almost here! I'm so excited. I keep getting more and more into the Christmas spirit! Especially with one thing we did this week. 

Remember how last week I told you about going to the retirement home and how great it was? Well we go there a lot. A few times a week at least. The people there love us so much and I love them too! They have just adopted us right in to their family. Sometimes we go and just visit, sometimes we do chair yoga with them, sometimes we help serve them their afternoon tea. But this week we got to go and do a Christmas music sing-a-long! It was so much fun! A lot of them are too old to be able to sing but those who could, did. And those who couldn't just listened. Elder Butcher played the piano for us and then me and Sister Gillis and Sister Clifford took turns conducting. It was so incredible. They all loved it so much. You could tell by looking at their faces as we were singing that it really lifted their spirits. Then Elder Brown dressed up as Santa again and they all took photos with him. The whole activity is one of my favorite things I have done on mission so far. The residents there have become like my grandmas. They call us their kids and we call them grandma. I am just in love with that place!!!

Not a whole lot else really happened this week. We are mostly just still trying to find people to teach. The Elders were great and went through their area book for us and got like 30 names of people who had been contacted in the past but weren't being taught right now. So we spent a lot of the week calling them and trying to find their houses to see if they were still interested. We didn't have a whole lot of success. We found a lot of them but a lot of them weren't interested in learning more about the church. One of the names on the list had no phone number. It was just a man's name and for his address it said "Look for a big house with shiny cars on the way to the game reserve" I wish I was kidding... But by a miracle, we actually found the house! We decided to just try it out. So we headed towards the game reserve (which is in our area. How cool is that? we have a game reserve in our area!) We saw a few big houses but none that really stood out. Until we were almost there. There was a HUGE house with a HUGE gate. The garage was open and there were 2 Bentleys inside. parked outside were 3 other super nice, super shiny cars. Turns out it was the right house! The family wasn't interested anymore but it was still amazing that we were able to find the house.

That's about all that happened... Just moving the work along! Oh we also got transfer news this week! Obviously I'm not being transferred. But Sister Anderson and Sister Twongeirwe also lost their residency in Botswana so they are coming to Mafikeng! I'm excited to have them here. They are both super great missionaries but I am really sad too. I am staying with Sister Clifford but Sister Gillis is leaving our companionship. These last few weeks have just been perfect. The work has been amazing and the missionaries I have been serving with have become a family. We are so close. Elder Allred is being transferred to Bots, we are getting a brand new, fresh out of the MTC elder and 2 more sisters are coming. Our family is changing. I had a hard time with it when I found out. But I'm sure it will all be fine. Its the Lord's work! If there is one thing these past weeks have taught me its that God really is in charge of His missionaries.

Well I hope your week is great! Merry 2.5 weeks till Christmas!!!! I love you so so so much!

Love, Sister Gehring

p.s. all the awesome animal pictures are from today. This morning we went on a game drive. It was incredible. We saw a TON of animals and the weather was perfect. I wish my camera was able to capture it better. Everyone should be able to see the beauty of Africa at least once in their lives.

My district!

Merry Christmas from Africa!.... yes those are donkeys!

A package from home!

Zebras! We saw a ton but these were the closest.

Rhinos! The momma and her baby. We got super close to these too.

Giraffe family!!! The baby was adorable. It was amazing-they always stuck together.

We were so close!

More giraffe pictures. They were so cool!

This is what happens when you let the elders hold your camera... (p.s. they switched name tags. From left to right its Elder Butcher, Elder Brown and Elder Johnson)

My amazing companions! Sister Clifford and Sister Gillis.

And my amazing District! We definitely did not plan on matching. We are just that unified.

This is the view from my flat. Lovely huh?

The Holidays are Here!

Hello family!!!

Wow this week was full of celebration! It was a way fun week but it was also full of even more great missionary work! I guess I'll start off by talking about Thanksgiving. 

So all during the day Sister Gillis and Sister Clifford went out and did the teaching and tracting for the day. I stayed back and helped Sister Abraham get everything ready. I never realized how much work a Thanksgiving dinner really is! It took all day! And we even tried to simplify! Once everything was ready we all came together to eat. None of us got to celebrate Halloween so we all dressed up for Thanksgiving instead. It was a lot of fun. Very silly but it made it memorable for sure. Sister Abraham challenged us all to think of something each hour of the day that we were thankful for. Then at dinner we all went around and shared. It was a really cool assignment. It really made you stop and think all throughout the day about the little things to be thankful for. I almost always remember to be thankful for the big blessings but a lot of the times I forget to be thankful for the little things. I really enjoyed doing it.The dinner was great too and afterward we all just hung out and played games. The Elders played elbow and knee Twister. Have you ever heard of it? Well its hilarious just in case you were wondering. all around it was just a really great day.

The other celebration was the Branch Christmas party. That was a lot of fun too. And one of our investigators that we just started teaching came and LOVED it! It was so exciting! Then she came to church on Sunday!!! Anyways, yea it was really great. The Elders braaied (grilled) a lot of meat and everyone from the branch brought side dishes. I love South African food. I've been fed more in the two weeks I've been here than in all my time in Bots. Elder Brown Dressed up as Santa and mostly everyone just had fun spending time with each other, singing hymns, and eating. The members here are amazing. I already love it here.

I guess that was the only celebration we did this week. The rest of the week was great too. We volunteered at a retirement home on Friday which was awesome. I love old people. They make me so happy. They just have so many great stories! We got to help serve their tea and then we just sat and talked with them for a while. Its amazing to see how much they light up when they have visitors. 

This week we also finally started teaching more. Not as much as I am used to but still more than we did last week. I didn't realize how much I missed teaching! We are teaching a girl named Joyce. She's the one who came to the party. She is from Malawi but right now she is working for a family in the branch. She is so prepared. When we got to her house on Sunday to teach her she couldn't even wait for us to get out of the car. She ran to us and led us inside and then she ate up everything we taught her. She doesn't speak English too well which is a challenge but the language of the Spirit is universal so it was ok.  She was beaming the whole time. Then at the end of the lesson we asked her if she had any questions about what we taught and she said " No but I want you to come back all the time and teach me everything about the gospel!" Heavenly Father sure is good to us. 

I am so happy here. I miss Botswana but honestly I don't want to go back. Its been the same each time I left an area. I miss it like crazy but wherever I am at the moment becomes home. I still think Monarch is my favorite area and I would LOVE to go back and visit but Mafikeng is my home now. I'm making the most of it. We are working hard, we are being obedient, and we are seeing the blessings from that. It doesn't hurt that its been raining almost every day and we go running every morning. The little things like that help keep life happy! 

My favorite scripture of the week is Acts 5:41. For it to make sense you should read the whole story leading up to it. I've loved reading the Bible. Its so different than the Book of Mormon. I now have a testimony and an understand of why we need both books to have the fullness of the gospel.

Well I love you all so much! Keep the prayers coming! You are definitely in mine. 

Lots of love, 

Sister Gehring

Mafikeng District! Elder Allred, Elder Butcher, Elder Brown, Elder Johnson, Me, Sister Gillis, Sister Clifford

Eating a traditional South African dish... Kota. 

Close up of the Kota. It consists of a quarter of a loaf of bread cut in half and made into a sandwich. In the sandwich is chips (a.k.a. french fries), an egg, a hamburger patty, 2 hot dogs, a sausage, archar (pickled mango), lettuce, cheese, polony (like bologna but even more processed), and special kota sauce. Basically a heart attack on bread. It was surprisingly yummy. Please be impressed. I ate the whole thing

Our district leader, Elder Brown, and his companion, Elder Butcher, in the true missionary spirit.

The district at thanksgiving. Since none of us really got to celebrate Halloween, we dressed up for Thanksgiving! I was "dressing" Like turkey and dressing... Get it??

Everyone at the table!

This is probably the only time in my life that a British man will carve my thanksgiving turkey (Elder Butcher is from northern England)

Me and my companions!

Me and Sister Gillis after dancing in a rainstorm. It was hailing and everything. It made me miss Texas thunderstorms. But it was so fun... p.s. that's our purple house

Look at all that hail!

The elders Post-kota.

Branch Christmas Party! Elder Brown dressed up as Santa. It was a HUGE hit.

Elder Allred goofing around.

The Sisters with Santa!

Members helping with dishes.

Me and Resego with Elder Johnson photo bombing in the back.

Me and Lesedi. She is preparing to go on a mission!

I know its blurry but I still love this picture.

This one is better.

This is how much was left over after the party. I think we over planned...

Miracles in Mafikeng

Hey Family!

Well I'm in South Africa finally!!! Its soooooooo different here but so far I love it a lot. The people are different, the area is different, the weather is different, the work is different, but its all fantastic. Honestly I sometimes feel like I'm in a different mission all together but its ok because I know this is where I am supposed to be.

 

I guess I explain a little about what makes it different. For starters, the area we are working is different. I'm used to serving in village like places with a lot of small houses, a lot of animals roaming the streets, lots of dirt roads, things like that. Well my area now consists of HUGE houses with pools and fancy cars, big gates with electric fences, more grass than I've seen since coming to Africa and way more diversity. I used to just meet Motswana people for the most part but now I'm meeting people from all over the world! The weather is a lot cooler here. Its still summer but its not nearly as hot. The work is a lot slower mainly because we are starting from scratch so we just meet with members and tract pretty much all day long. But like I said, its fantastic. I also love my companions. I'm in a threesome with Sister Gillis and Sister Clifford. They are both so great. We get along really well and we already have been able to teach really well together. We will probably be together for quite a while so I'm glad we are together. The Elders we are serving with are incredible too. They are taking such good care of us. They are so good about making sure we are safe and we are doing ok. Last week they drove down every single street in our area and prayed about them individually to determine of they were safe for us to go on. They are just treating us so well and we really appreciate it.

The thing that has made Mafikeng so wonderful though is all the miracles we have experienced. We are opening the area which means we are pretty much going in blind. We had zero investigators and we started out knowing zero members and zero about the area. As you can imagine, its challenging. It requires you to trust the Lord completely, work hard, have a lot of faith, a lot of determination and a lot of desire to do what God wants. Luckily Sister Clifford and Sister Gillis and I all have the same goals and the same drive. So we sat down at the beginning of the week and set goals, made a plan and then prayed for the support, help, and guidance of Heavenly Father. Then we got to work. And so did Heavenly Father. We have been able to get into gates and homes that previous missionaries have previously been thrown out of. People have opened up to us and shared things with us that they have never shared with anyone else before. We have found people who have been so prepared for the gospel. The Abrahams(senior couple) have been angels to us. The Elders have been incredible. The members have been giving us referrals and being so supportive. I have been prompted to share scriptures and say things that were definitely not me, but were absolutely from the Holy Ghost. Everything has just been going so well. Its just been literally miraculous. It just goes to show that Heavenly Father really is in charge. This is his work. And he is going to help us when we work hard.

My favorite scripture this week is John 15:12-15. Especially verse 15. It showed me that I should not be doing this work out of an obligation to serve. But out of a true love for Christ because He is my friend.

I have a special request this week too. You always tell me that I am in your prayers. I appreciate that more than you can imagine. But will you also pray for a couple things too? Will you pray that my companions and I will be able to find father- led families to teach? And will you also pray for the people in Mafikeng? The members to be strengthened and the non-members to be softened and prepared? We need as much help as we can get and I know your prayers will help. Thanks so so much.

I love you!! LOTS!

Love, Sister Gehring

p.s.Funny story: We live in a bright purple cottage. Ill send pictures next week.

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 :(

Big transfers and Big news!!

Termite dirt anyone?

Dumela family!

 

Well I have huge news that it seems like you have already all found out about... So ill save it for the end!

 

Well this week was really weird. It has not consisted of as much teaching as I would have liked. To start off, there was a nation wide campaign to eradicate measles in Botswana. So for the entire day on Tuesday we went around and knocked on every door in Monarch (with the help of members) to inform everyone and tell them to take their kids to the clinics. It was fun to help out but it was super hot that day and we were soo tired when we got home. Plus it means that we didn't get to do any teaching. Also this week we spent half day on Thursday and Saturday helping missionaries move. We think the missionaries were targeted by someone because 2 missionary flats were broken into, 5 companionships got their phones stolen, and the chapel was broken into. All within like 2 weeks. Luckily I was not included in any of those. But to try and prevent further problems, our mission president had us move people around. So that took up another huge chunk of the week. Then the rest of the time, appointment after appointment fell through again this week. Me and Sister Scott aren't sure what to do. We feel like we are working our hardest but its just been rough. Hopefully with the start of this new transfer things will start to improve.

 

The lessons we did teach went really well though. Especially one with Gosego. We are going around teahing everyone (all members) about the sacrament. The lesson we had with her about it went super well. We talked with her about how the sacrament is a way to renew the promises we made at baptism. When we were talking about the promise we make to take the name of Christ upon ourselves the spirit was so strong. Anybody could have felt it. I don't know exactly what she was thinking but she got emotional about that part. I know for me it strengthened my testimony that taking the name of Christ can be taken literally. It means we do everything we possibly can to live as He did and do what He did. Its easier for me now because I am completely devoting all my time to His work. But it made me want to make sure that I continue even after I'm home.

Well because not much else happened this week... Time for the big news....

I'm being transferred to South Africa.... AHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Once upon a time, for years and years, South Africa has been strictly forbidden to sister missionaries. Its just too dangerous for us. Well my mission consists of all of Botswana, all of Namibia, and a tiny sliver of South Africa. I am being transferred to that tiny sliver. Its a place called Mafikeng. I got a call from my mission president on Friday. He told me that with transfers coming up he had a special assignment for me. Last time I got a "special assignment" I was called to be a trainer. So I thought that might be the case again. Nope. He told me that my special assignment was to open a new area. That alone made me nervous. Opening a new area means you go to a place where there currently or in the past there have not been missionaries. Then he told me what area I would be opening. Mafikeng. South Africa. I am literally re-opening an entire country to sister missionaries. As far as I know, I will be in a three- some with two other sisters and we will be the only sister missionaries in the entire country.

He told me that this is a really sacred trust from the Lord. My mission president had to approve this with The First Presidency and the 12 Apostles. They prayed specifically and approved us three sisters to open this area. Honestly, I'm terrified. I think its just the unknown. But at the same time, I am so so so excited. This is such an incredible opportunity! The Johannesberg mission had been trying to approve sisters to come back to South Africa for a long time but it was always rejected by the 12 Apostles. But for some reason, this is the right time and we are the right 3. So as nervous as I am, I am so excited.

We will be driving down to Gabs straight after emailing today. From there I am not sure what all is going to happen. I'll definitely keep you updated in the coming weeks. I am super sad to leave Monarch though. It was waaay harder to leave here than it was to leave Broadhurst. I completely feel like this is the right thing and that Mafikeng is truly where I am supposed to be now but Monarch holds a really huge chunk of my heart. I was way closer to the members here, I was way closer to the investigators, I was way closer to the other missionaries here, just everything. It has been super hard to say goodbye to people. So so hard. I was able to hold it together in front of everyone but there have been quite a few tears shed behind the scenes. Monarch truly felt like home to me. It was a hard area. No doubt. But it was incredible. I don't know how much of a difference I made there, but Monarch sure has made a difference to me. I have grown so much serving here. Its definitely set the bar for all my future areas. Its going to be pretty hard to measure up to how much I love Monarch. Another sad thing is that Ishmael Adam has been out of town for 3 weeks now. So I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to him. It makes me really sad. But luckily I was able to say bye to everyone else I wanted to say bye to. I have pictures of everyone but the computer is being dumb and only let me send that one. I'll send them as I can.

Well that's the big news for this week. And its pretty huge. But exciting things are ahead for me! My favorite quote of the week was from Kabo. He is a member of the Monarch group and he leaves for the Sierra Leone Freetown mission this Thursday. So his farewell talk was this Sunday. He quoted Ann Dibbs and said "I'm a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it." But then he said " And I'd like to urge each of us to add just one more. I PROVE it." I just loved that a lot. I'm so proud of him too. He is going to be a really great missionary.

My favorite scripture of the week is D&C 4:1. With the exciting things ahead of me I really do feel like a marvelous work is about to come forth.

Well I love you so much. Thank you again for all the prayers you are sending my way. Keep 'em comin'. I'll need them. I hope you have a great week!!!

Lots of love,

Sister Gehring

Eventfully uneventful week...

Dearest family,

Welp this week was kind of weird. I feel like a ton happened but at the same time, not much happened at all. Here's why: In terms of missionary work not much happened. In fact its been kind of a discouraging week in terms of the work. Sister Scott and I have been trying really really hard this transfer to become more effective missionaries. We have been trying to really apply all the guidance in Preach My Gospel and we have been trying really hard to do what the Spirit directs. We have been learning a lot and improving a lot. But recently it kind of feels like our area is falling apart. We have been doing a lot of finding but nothing is coming of it. TONS of people have been canceling on us. Like 7 out of 10 people every single day. And even people who we have been working with for a long time seem to be slipping away! Ishmael Adam has missed church for 2 weeks in a row now. He hadn't missed a single Sunday since when I got here in July and now all of a sudden he's missing. People who seemed to be progressing really well all of a sudden told us they don't want us to see them anymore. Its just been rough. and on top of it all, like 75% of the members are going less active. And it falls on us to get them to come back.  We are trying to stay positive but its been hard. Prayers would be fantastic.
 

We did do some fun things this week though! Dikeledi taught us how to make magwinya. Its this fried bread stuff. Its super delicious. We made it in her traditional Botswana kitchen( a mud hut with a fire in the middle) which was super cool. I'll send pictures of it when I can. The computers have been a matata lately.
 

We also celebrated Halloween! Botswana does not celebrate it so Sister Scott and I celebrated by ourselves. We switched nametags for the day and bought some candy from a street vendor. It wasn't much but we still had fun!
 

Also I survived 3 dog attacks this week! (well 3 almost attacks) I guess I never technically got attacked but I still narrowly escaped death!!!!!!!!!! Ok so the dogs mostly just barked angrily and chased me but I was still scared out of my mind! Sister Scott is looking into finding me some dog repellant. They have just been out to get me this week!
 

I have three new names to add to my list of mispronunciations. Are you ready? They are pretty great. I have now been called...
 

Sister Grainham

Sister Chairiling

Sister Gurthing

I have no idea where they get these things. I never thought Gehring was all that difficult... But it sure does make for some good laughs!
 

I have a favorite quote from the week too. Isago (the 9 year old that got baptized in August) said this. We were teaching her and Derby about fasting for fast sunday. Before we did we asked them if they knew what fasting was. She got very excited and raised her hand. "I know! Fasting is when you do something very quickly!" Oh man it was so cute! She was so proud of her answer. We explained that she was exactly right but that at church sometimes it means something a little different.
 

My favorite scripture of the week was Luke 16: 19-31. Especially verse 31. It just shows that if you don't have faith, nothing will be enough.
 

Well sorry the beginning of the letter was kind of sad. I promise I really am ok. Just going through a rough patch. I know it will all be fine. I still absolutely love it here and I still can't imaging being anywhere else!
 

Lots of love,

Sister Gehring

Francistown Zone Conference

Francistown Zone Conference