Sister Chelsea Gehring: Powerful

Dear Family,

I want to start off by saying that outside of the email shop right now there is some sort of celebration going on. I have no idea what it is for. But there are about 10 traditional dancers, a couple guys with awesome drums, and dancing all around them, is a man in a gorilla suit. It is quite a sight to behold.

Well I have so much to talk about this week that I barely even know where to begin! So I guess I'll start by sharing a few things that I have gained very strong testimony of the past little while. The first is the power of specific prayer. Since we got here Sister Vea and I have been praying to find prepared people. And pretty much from day 1 we were doing that! But none of them seemed to stay in our area! We kept having to refer them to other missionaries. It was getting pretty frustrating. A few weeks ago we started praying that we would find prepared people to teach that actually live in our area. As soon as we started doing that, we started finding people to teach that live in our area!

Another thing I have come to gain a testimony of is the power and the reality of following spiritual promptings. I have had so many experiences of that over the past few weeks. To name a few, I was cleaning out my backpack the other day. It hadn't rained in over a week so I was going to take my umbrella out. As I did, inside of me a quiet voice said ''leave it in.'' So I did. On our way home that day, it poured. A couple days later I was getting ready for bed and it was kind of hot. so I opened the window right next to my bed. I heard another quiet voice say ''leave it shut.'' In my head I thought ''But its hot! I'll just open it a little.'' I heard the voice again ''no. leave it shut.'' So I did. That night it stormed harder than it ever has since I've been in Zambia. Those things might seem small but they have been enormous testimony builders to me that Heavenly Father is aware of me and cares even about my temporal well being.

The main thing I wanted to tell you about this week though is John Mumba. I have mentioned him quite a few times before I think. But I want to just start from the beginning of the story and explain it all so you can see how much of a miracle it has been.

Just a few days after I got here to Zambia, sister Vea and I were walking down a road to go check on a member. We passed a shop where John was standing. He told us that when we passed, something inside him made him turn around. So he saw us. But we didn't see him. The member wasn't there so we walked back down the street. When we passed John again he stopped us. He told us that he noticed something special about us and he felt like we had a book that he needed to read. So we gave him a pamphlet and got his number. We set an appointment but he went out of town to go see his kids. We ran into him a few times after that when he was randomly back in town. God kept placing him in our path!. But for one reason or another we were never able to see him. Until this week. We finally taught him on Tuesday! During the lesson we found out that he is a member of the Bemba royal family (Bembas are the 2nd largest tribe in Zambia) He is actually the rightful heir to the throne to be the chief be he turned it down so he could live a normal life. He has a medical degree and is one of the only people in Zambia licensed to work those machines that scan people's brains. And he is currently working on getting a theology degree and a psychology degree. He is a member of a church that knows about the Book of Mormon. One of their founders loved and studied from the Book of Mormon but they only had one copy. The entire church thinks that the Book of Mormon is something that can't be found anywhere. His theology professor told the whole class that anyone who finds a copy of the Book of Mormon is a very lucky person. Needless to say, he is very prepared to hear the gospel. We taught him about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. He loved every minute. He had tons of deep thoughtful questions. He understood everything so well and he just absorbed everything we taught him. At one point he said '' I like how you teach. You explain things like you are experienced theologians.'' Its hard to really put into words just how incredible this man is and how much the spirit was able to prepare his heart. He invited us to come back and teach him again the very next day. The lesson was incredible again. Then on Sunday we finally got to watch General Conference. Guess who came... John! He had an exam at 11 so he was only able to stay for part of it. But we saw him later that day. He told us that he was late for his exam because he came, but that it was completely worth it. I don't know how soon it will be but there is no doubt in my mind that John will get baptized one day. I really hope I'm around for it.

Well I am about out of time but I just want to thank you again for helping me be here. The things I am learning and experiencing are more incredible and life changing than I could ever imagine. My favorite scripture of the week is actually a talk from conference. Jeffrey R. Holland's talk from the Saturday morning session really spoke to me and helped me feel like I really am never alone in this work.
I love you so much and I hope you all have a marvelous week!

Lots of love,
Sister Gehring

Sister Vea got an entire suitcase full of stuff from her family! Her family knows the mission president's daughter, so when she came to visit her parents, Sister Vea's family sent a suitcase!