Meetings and Mormon Helping Hands

Dear family,

Hello again from the magical land of Zambia! I hope you are all fantastic.

This week was a little bit different than normal weeks. We were doing a lot of things other than the usual. Which was a nice change. It started off on Tuesday. We had another Mission Leadership council. It was just a short one, not the long 2 day meeting. But it was still good to talk about things that are going on in the mission.

 

On Wednesday we had a Zone meeting all day long. It didn't feel long though. It was really good. We talked a lot about the importance of prayer both for us as missionaries but also the importance of having our investigators understand and use prayer effectively. It made me realize that even though I have been praying all my life, I still have a lot of work to do! The whole day was filled with great reminders. I also liked it because it brought everything back to the basics. When you first come on mission, you stick to the basics because you don't know anything else! That's why new missionaries are so powerful. But the longer you are out, the easier it is to stray from the basics. So that's a new goal of mine- stick to the basics! There is a reason we are taught to do that! Its because that's the way the Savior taught.

Then on Thursday we spent all day at a Mormon Helping Hands project! We were helping renovate and repaint a police station. It was a week long project so by the time we had a chance to go on Thursday, there was already a lot finished. I don't know exactly what it looked like before but I know it looked super nice with the renovations. Mostly I got to paint the curbs on the entrance and around the flag pole. It wasn't like painting a picture but it was still fun to be able to paint again.

Then today was crazy! We are the only sisters who have a car so we spent most of today driving people around for transfers. We had to go into inner city Lusaka again and go to the bus stop to pick some people up. Here's a tip for anyone traveling by bus in Zambia- AVOID TRAVELING BY BUS! The bus stations are super sketchy and dirty and confusing and chaotic. I'd be ok with never having to go back to that place again. But Luckily we made it out alive. Ok maybe im being dramatic but for real, that place was insane.

Speaking of transfers though, I got a call from the Zone leaders and........ I'm staying in Rhodes Park for yet another transfer! I was pretty sure I'd be moved but I guess the Lord has other plans. So Sister Fokoto and I will be together for another 6 weeks here in Lusaka. And this is my last transfer so I'll be finishing my mission right here. By the time I go home I will have been in this area for almost 9 months- half of mission. Crazy huh? Sister Lyon and I figured out that me, her, and one elder are the veterans of Lusaka. Every single other missionary that was here when we arrived in January, other than us 3, has been transferred outside of Lusaka.

One highlight from the week is that Oswald came to church again!! We were supposed to teach him on Saturday but he had to work late so we didn't get to. But he still came! He came 2 weeks in a row and he hasn't even had a proper lesson yet. That's powerful. We are really excited to be able to teach him this week. We have really high hopes for this man. He promised to come to church next week too. I pray he does!

My favorite scripture of the week was Luke chapter 24. In zone conference the APs read this to us. They had us close our eyes and pretend like we were really there. It was powerful. They used it to teach several different things. But for me it really brought the spirit. It made me realize that even if I am a missionary, if I don't pay attention and if I am not careful, I could miss the Savior! How sad would that be... It gave me a renewed resolve to do my best to make sure I have a personal relationship with Him.

Well once again, I hope you are all fantastic! Have a great week. I love you!

Love, Sister Gehring

Lusaka East Zone Conference

I miss real Mexican food...

Blueberry Yum Yum! This is the happiest sight to see when I open the fridge.

Delicious!

District before Elder Allred was transferred. Elder Allred, Elder Hill, me, and Sister Fokoto.

Us again. This time doing our ''strength'' pose. We're super cool.

Matilda, Yvette, Nancy, and their friend Martha with more mud phones. This time they used stickers to make the buttons. It was so cute!

Special thanks to Sister Riley for sending the stickers. They were so excited when I gave them to them. I told them that you had seen their picture and thought they were very cute so you sent the stickers for them. Then when we went back the next time, this is how they had used them. Thank you thank you!

Sister Lyon, Sister Scott, and Sister Ruth on their one year mark. We attacked them with baby powder.

Helping Hands!

My fearless Zone leaders Elder Hawkins and Elder Hill.

Working real hard.

Turns out Rapunzel's castle is actually in Lusaka. Who knew?

 

Sicko

Hello again!

 

Well to start off, I'll just say that I really don't have much to report on again this week. I got sick again. Seriously, its a wonder Africa hasn't killed me. Thursday afternoon I got a horrible headache and I got super dizzy and I felt a little bit like I got hit by a bus. This lasted the rest of the day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It wasn't too much fun. I just stayed in bed and slept and read Liahona articles. But I woke up Sunday morning feeling a lot better. Which was good. I hate feeling so gross.

The beginning part of the week was ok though. Not too eventful. Just did more and more tracting. We did find a really cool guy though. His name is Oswald. He is from India but he is Catholic. He let us right in and let us teach him! He told us all about his family. He is a really neat man. But he talked a lot so we ended up having to rush out really fast after the lesson so we forgot to make a return appointment or even take down his phone number! We were trying to figure out how/when we would contact him again but it turns out we didn't have to... he came to church! It was awesome! He loved it and said he'd be there next week too! And we made sure to set an appointment with him and get his number before he left. So we are excited to see where he goes.

 

We got to go to dinner at the Sunsawila's (not sure how to spell it...) house on tuesday! Brother Sunsawilla was just released as the branch president and Elder Allred was transferred (which was very sad) so as a goodbye, they invited all the missionaries over! So that was pretty great. I'm going to miss African food so much.

Well, thats about all there is to report on this week. Sorry I'm so boring!  Next week hopefully I'll have more to talk about. 

I love you lots and lots! 

Love, Sister Gehring

16 down, 2 to go!

Hello again!

Happy 16 month mark to me! I really can't believe its been 16 months since I left home. But mostly I can't believe I'll be home in 2 months! But let's not talk about that for now. I've still got missionary work to do.

Unfortunately, in terms of missionary work, this week was pretty hard. We are facing some pretty rough opposition recently. It just feels a little bit like our area is falling apart. I think I had more people tell us no in this week alone than in the rest of the time on mission combined. Ok maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but still, a LOT of people rejected us this week. But Sister Fokoto and I decided that instead of crying about it, we would just laugh. It makes all the difference. Its not so much that we are laughing because we think its funny that people don't want to accept the gospel. But its just funny how people say things!

For example, this is how it went at one door. We introduced ourselves and the church and everything just like normal. She wasn't interested but we gave her a pass along card with our number on it, invited her to church, and told her to call us if she changed her mind. She flipped the card over and saw the Book of Mormon printed on it, and then her entire countenance changed. Before, she wasn't interested but she was friendly at least.  But as soon as she saw the Book of Mormon, the rest of the conversation went something like this '' Oh. You are the mormons. I hadn't made that connection.'' Then she looked straight at us and crumpled the pass along card into a ball. ''I just need to tell you something then. All this that you are doing will be in vain if you are in hell. Because no matter how hard you try, if you don't have a relationship with Jesus, you won't get anywhere. Do you have a relationship with Jesus?? Huh? do you?? With Jesus and nobody else!! Do you want to know where all your lies and your deceit are going to get you? To hell. So you to girls need to be very careful.'' Then she slammed the door. 

So yea... all day every day talking to people like that gets a bit tiring. Luckily it wasn't all like that. We met a lot of those but we met a few nice people too.

One in particular was pretty amazing. We were tracting in a different part of town and we found a Indian family. When we saw that they were Hindu we thought they would just tell us to leave but the mom actually let us in! So we sat down and started talking to her. Come to find out she has actually been visiting a few different Christian churches around and she enjoys them! She told us that her family was going through some challenges. While she was talking she just started crying. We asked her if there was anything we could do to help and she asked us to pray for her. So we did. The spirit was definitely there. There was no denying it. After the prayer she just kept thanking us. She even told us that she knew we were sent from God. She told us that before we came she was feeling depressed and lost and she didn't know what to do. But after we talked and prayed with her, she felt light. Its amazing what the spirit can do. God really does love all his children with no regard of race, religion, background, situation, or anything else.

Another funny thing of the week is that Sister Fokoto and I decided to explore a part of our area that we've never been to before. We looked at a map and found out that our area actually extends farther into the city than we thought so we went to check it out... Lets just say that inner city Lusaka is a crazy place... Its not that big but there are SO many people! And a large portion of them are drunk men. We decided that its probably not the best place for us to just be walking around. Luckily we were in our car so we were just fine but I saw some pretty hilarious things that day.

Well that's about it this week. Thank you so much for your prayers. They are much needed and appreciated. We doing the best we can to keep on keepin' on. I love you so much.

Lots of love, Sister Gehring

Do you remember Kota? From South Africa... Well we made it! It was so yummy.

Group photo from the youth activity.

Sister Fokoto, Lizzy, and me. Lizzy was with the volunteers for Mothers Without Borders. We were teaching her sometimes in the evenings after they got back from the orphanage. She's pretty much the best.

My district! Sister Fokoto, me, Elder Allred, Elder Hill, Elder Amison, and Elder Packer. A couple weeks ago though Elder Packer and Elder Amison were moved to a different branch. And this week Elder Allred is being transferred. So many changes!

Service at a member's house!

We were helping to fix up her guest house.

Helping the sisters do Sister Scott's hair. Even with all of us helping her, it took like 7 hours to finish.

Yvette and Nancy- my favorite girls ever.



Sister Fokoto doing Matilda's hair. These are also my favorite girls.

Just us.

Sister Fokoto, me, Mary, and Alecia. Mary is a member and Alecia is her cousin who we are teaching. Both of them are pretty much awesome.

Life is good.

Mary, Alecia, and Alecia's little brother Christian.

This was sitting on an abandoned washing machine outside of some flats we tracted. For some reason, as soon as I saw it, I thought of Grandma Lois.

Some people hang their clothes out to dry. Other people hang their hair...

My companion likes puppies.

Sister Van Heerden and her daughter, Anna. They are members in the branch.

Frogs are evil and scary

Dear Family,

 

Once upon a time I am companions with an awesome sister missionary from South Africa. Her name is Sister Fokoto. She hates frogs. A lot. Yesterday morning as we were walking into church, Sister Fokoto screamed at the top of her lungs and teleported across the church's lawn (ok maybe not but she ran fast enough to call it that). I ran over to her to see what was wrong. Guess what was wrong... yup. She'd seen a frog. I about died laughing. I've never seen anyone run so fast! I love my companion.

 

Well this week was pretty much the same as all the other weeks. We did missionary work, we did some service, we met some crazy people, we laughed, we sang, we did it again the next day. Life is good.

 

Sadly nobody came to church again yesterday so we are going to have to move some people's baptism dates back again. Its frustrating but not discouraging. We are just going to keep on going! This is only guessing but I think they might close our area at the end of next month. There are a few sisters going home and they don't have enough new ones coming in to replace them all so one area has to close. I'm pretty sure it will be this one. It just hasn't made much progress so I bet they will put it on hold till they have enough missionaries to fill in the spaces. But I suppose only time will tell for sure.

One great thing that happened this week was the fireside we put on yesterday for the members. It was awesome. We had one of the Elders talk about member missionary work, a couple members bore testimonies, and then we role played! We had members come to the front, we gave them a scenario, and then they had to figure out how to use that scenario to share the gospel. It was a lot of fun but I think they learned a lot too. Hopefully it will help the members get excited about missionary work!

 

Another great thing about the week was Hellen. She is 19 yr old girl that just got baptized about a month ago. She's been coming around teaching with us and she is powerful! She seems like she's been a member her whole life! Its been awesome having her with us. She wants to go on mission as soon as she can.

 

Well thats really about it for this week. Sorry I haven't had much to say these past few weeks! I've been here for so long the time and the days seem like they are all running together. But its all good. I'm actually going to be really sad if they move me out of this area. I like Lusaka a lot. But I'll go where the lord wants me to go!

 

I love you so much! Have a good week!

 

Love, Sister Gehring

Muli Bwanji!

Muli Bwanji!

This week was pretty busy but it went by super slow for some reason. I feel like it was 3 weeks long. Last Monday seems like ages ago. But it was a good week.

This whole having a car things is super convenient but sometimes it causes problems. We got a crack in the wind shield one day so we had to go get it fixed. The day before that we had to get our tires changed. The man at the tire place recommended a specific window repair place so we figured that was a good place to try. Well we tried to find it and it was super far away in a super sketchy part of town. So we asked Elder Allred and Elder Hill (our zone leaders) to go with us so we didn't die. Its a good thing too. That place was crazy. But the window was fixed and everything turned out fine. The guy that fixed the window even knew about the church! When we asked him if he had ever heard about the church before he said ''Of course! I'm even friends with Gordon B. Hinckley on facebook!'' It was hilarous.

We met another hilarious guy a different day. He told us that he had just gotten out of confinement for schizophrenia. We had a wonderful conversation with him. I love all the interesting people you meet on mission.

Some other awesome news is that I got to go to a chiropractor! One of the volunteers from the orphanage is a chiropractor and he gave all the missionaries free adjustments! It was awesome. I felt so great after.

We also had a really cool activity at the church this weekend. It was a missionary activity for the youth. A lot of people came and everyone had a really good time. We played games, had a scripture quiz thing, watched some mormon messages, and just basically tried to get everyone excited about the gospel. I think it really worked. It made me feel like a normal person again! We played the games with the youth and we participated the the scripture quiz. I felt like I was at a mutual activity. It was great!

Yesterday was wonderful too. One of the people I have been teaching ever since I was with SIster Vea finally came to church!! Her name is Violet and she is powerful. She loves the Book of Mormon, has prayed and knows everything we have taught is true. The only thing keeping her back from being baptized is that the person she stays with wouldn't let her come to church. But this week, she was finally able to come!!!!! We were so excited. If she is able to keep coming she is getting baptized on 10 August. 

Then yesterday night we (all 6 missionaries in the Lusaka branch) got to go to dinner at the relief society president's house. While we were waiting for her to finish cooking we were singing hymns. Right in the middle of the song ''The Lord is My Light'' the power went off. It was pretty ironic. They didn't come back on for a while so we just kept singing. It was actually pretty cool. There are some really great missionaries in my district. I'm going to be really sad if I get transferred anytime soon.

Well thats about all for this week. I'm still happy and healthy and my companion is still great. As of next week Monday, I will have been in Lusaka for 6 months. Time is going so fast!~I feel like I just got here! 

I love you lotsa!

Love, Sister Gehring

Officially Zambian!

Dear Family,

Well this week was incredibly uneventful. I have been racking my brain trying to think of something interesting to write home this week and I'm just not coming up with much. It wasn't a bad week but it was just kind of boring!
 

I did get my birthday package and a bunch of letters from friends though so that was exciting.
 

One exciting piece of news from the week is that I found out that I have been officially reassigned to the Zambia Lusaka mission. woohoo! Up untill now I have still been a visa waiter. It's not so much that I didn't want to go back to Botswana, but its just nice to know for sure now what is going on. Plus I really like Zambia. I was hoping Id' get to stay here. And now I will!
 

Things at our house have been super hectic lately too. There are 7 of us now staying in the same flat. Its a big flat but still... thats a lot of sisters. Luckily we all get along great. Its pretty cool- 3 of the sisters (Sister Fokoto, Sister Mbonyana, and Sister Makunye) all speak xhosa. Its a South African language with clicks in it. Sometimes they speak it to each other in the house. Its awesome! Sister Fokoto is teaching me how to click. There are 3 different types of clicks in xhosa. The letter x makes one, the letter c makes another, and the letter q makes another. I'm ok at the c and the x but the q is kind of hard. But I've been practicing. By the time we aren't companions anymore I'll be a pro.

We also had a pretty fun FHE last week. I think I told you about it. It went really well. We all had a lot of fun. We played that pictionary telephone game- the one where you write a sentence, then the next person draws a picture, then the next writes a sentence. It was hilarious! No matter how many times I play that game it never gets old. We have another FHE tonight with all the missionaries again at a different member's house. I'm really excited for that one too.
 

Well thats about it for this week. Hopefully next week will be a little more eventful. Have a good week!

Lots of love,

Sister Gehring


Mission  Leadership Council-July



The best district ever! Elder Barnard, Elder Packer, Sister Fokoto, me, Elder Hill, Elder Allred.

The mission president's wife doing some homeopathic something to fix Sister Ntuli's ear. Mostly it just looked hilarious.

Sister Lyon and Sister Ruth all ready for bed.

Thank you for the package!!!!!

Did I tell you that my companion is Lady Gaga?

Sister Skidmore (the office sister) took these at MLC. Before she took the first one she said ''You eat like an Elder! That's so cute!''

I love this picture!!!

Alma 32:21 & Ether 12:6

Dear Family,

I think for the first time in my life, even after hearing it hundreds of times, I actually understand what Alma 32:21 means. I thought I understood what it meant before but I realized this week that I didn't. I think it was the hope part that I wasn't clear about. I knew what it meant that faith is not a perfect knowledge. But the part about hope is the part I learned this week. I learned it like this: We had another kind of hard week. It was an amazing week (I'll tell you why in a bit) but it was hard. It feels like the harder we work, the harder Satan works against us. From the time we made the goal to have 6 baptisms by the end of July until this week we consistently had 6 people in mind who we thought could be converted by then. It wasn't always the same 6 people but there was constantly 6 people. But that all pretty much dropped this week. We now are down to maybe 3. And that is just maybe. But Sister Fokoto and I are completely sure that Heavenly Father confirmed to us that He had prepared 6 people for us. At this point we absolutely cannot see how it is going to happen. But we are hoping for it! We can't see it but we have that hope and we know, because it was confirmed to us by Heavenly Father, that it is true. That's what it means. It means that even when you have no idea how things will work out, you know they will. It means that you have to trust the we as humans see only a very tiny portion of what Heavenly Father sees. But that its ok. Because we don't need to see to keep going.

And that's where Ether 12:6 comes in. We won't be allowed to see until after our faith has been tested. That is definitely the point we are in at this point- the testing period. And we just need to have the faith to know that if we stay faithful, the lord will give us that ''witness." Its a pretty simple lesson. I'm not sure why its taken me 21 years to "figure" it out. But its profound for me at this point in my life so I am thankful that I did learn it.

So yea, like I said it was a bit of a hard week just because we are facing a lot of opposition but it was amazing because of what I learned. We had MLC (mission leadership council) again this week. It was probably 2 of the most spiritually uplifting days of my life. It was amazing. Everything we talked about seemed to speak directly to me. We talked about how the opposition we face is to be expected because Satan knows how important the work we are doing is. My favorite part was the testimony meeting we had. There is no doubt in my mind that my mission president is inspired of God. I also have no doubt that I am supposed to be in this mission at this time.

Some exciting news of the week is that Sister Scott is being transferred here!!!!!! She's been in Malawi since January and now she is being moved to Lusaka!!! She will be in a different branch but she'll be staying in our flat till they find one closer to her area. I'm so excited to see her again!

Well thats about all I have for this week. Happy belated 4th of July! We didn't do anything exciting but I trust you all had enough fun for me too. I love you all so much! Have a good week!

Love, Sister Gehring

My zone leader took this photo at the Mothers Without Borders orphanage. Its the one our branch president is in charge of.  The girls in front were posing for the picture, but in the background, a little girl named Precious was "doing the hair" of another little girl. I laughed pretty hard when he showed this to me