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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Saying bye to Gosego :(
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It's good to hear from you. I had a dream you were sick in bed with mosquito nets, but it's probably because I came across a mosquito net effort for Africa. God bless.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your updates and hearing about the amazing spiritual experiences you are having. I've been there with moving to a new area and being sad about leaving the familiar and loving people that you have had so many positive shared experiences behind, but remember that their awaits you so many more ahead. Big hugs!
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