Friday, March 7, 2014

So this one time I got lost in Bogota...




Familia,

Lots of big news this week and some pretty funny stories so where do I start? Well first off, I got called as a district leader last Wednesday. Talk about a lot of responsibility already. There are 3 Elders including myself and 6 Hermanas. Elder Peden and Elder Reid are my two companions and both are just out of highschool. Its amazing the difference between Elders who have and havent been to college. Elder Reid is from Dallas and is really good at Spanish already because his mom and dad both are fluent. Im learning a lot from both of them and our lessons usually go really well. The Hermanas in my district are great. They all are going to Bolivia Cochabamba and they all are really hard workers. I love being the District leader, I just have a lot of meetings with President Dyer and they are all in Spanish so its giving me the opportunity to learnn more and more and way faster. Its a blessing to be the DL but its hard too. Good thing I have the Lord on my side!

So now about this past Tuesday. We went street contacting in the middle of Bogota. Talk about exciting but so scary too. My Spanish is good but I'm no where near ready to have normal conversations with Colombians. I'll just start from the beginning. We left at 8:30 Tuesday morning and then took buses to a Chapel in the city. Then we were given maps, and little invitations to give to people inviting them to go to church. My latin comp Elder Carrera was awesome. He was on fire and talked to everyone. I got 4 numbers of people who want to learn more about our church and he got around 7. But then the adventure came. We were supposed to be done at 11:50 and meet back at the original chapel but he didn't understand that and as much as I tried to tell him he insisted we go to a different chapel. We show up at 11:50 at the chapel I knew was the wrong one and then he starts to get scared so he yells something in his Venezuelan Spanish and then goes and pays some guy to use his phone. Somehow he got the number of the CCM manager, talked about something and then hung up. The he turns to me and says "Vamos vamos!! Muy rapido!" and he takes off. No joke I chased this Elder for an hour and a half through the streets, highways, and side alley ways of Bogota. He would every once in a while stop, say "Agua", give me a drink of his water and then take off again. I asked him over and over Donde nesacitamos estar?? and he didn't get it because he just kept on running. 12:30 rolled around and we ran more. 1:00 rolled around and guess what we were doing? Yes, running in hot weather in suits and with a side bag with scriptures and an umbrella. 1:30 rolls around and he stops and pays someone else to use a phone and then talks to bro Gallego the CCM manager and then next thing I know, we are getting picked up on the side of a freeway on ramp by some of the maestros and bro Gallego. I think the entire time we were running, sweating through our suits, and dying of exhaustion since we are 8600 feet up I prayed more than i ever have in my life. It was so insane. I to this day have no idea what the heck happened. I make it sound like it was a long time ago but it really was just on Tuesday. I'm safe though and I met some awesome people!!!

Today we got to go to the Bogota Temple. What an amazing and beautiful experience. It is amazing how peaceful it was in such a hectic part of the city. We took lots of pictures with our district and with president and hma Dyer which I'll send at some point in the future. I'm not sure when I'll get them yet. But it was such an amazing experience to have it been entirely in Spanish. I chose to not have headphones and I'm so glad I did. I learned so much. 

Now with the rest of the CCM stuff. We now have GYM in the afternoons to break up the day a little bit and we have personal LDM study in the morning. Its such a wonderful way to start the day reading the Libro de Mormón and I've learned so much. I love it. We also have 2 new investigators that we are teaching. Claudio and Katie. Claudio has 2 daughters and is an awesome guy. Though he is not divorced yet and hes currently living with his novia and shes pregnant so its a hard situation to teach even if its not real. Katie believes in a Great Spirit but wants to be baptized but has trouble accepting the fact that there is a God. We are working our best with them both and well see what happens!!! Oh and I for sure know my mission scripture. Alma 26 12. What a beautiful verse. Another one of my highlights this week was when we had district LDM study. We read Mosiah 14, 16, and 21 and talked about our role in the gathering of Israel. The gathering of Israel is bringing others unto Christ which is exactly our purpose. What an amazing few chapters. Spanish comes faster and faster every day. I can pretty much understand everything everyone says but the hard part for me is responding with the right tenses, and having enough vocab to say what I want to say. It'll come with time. I'm in the middle of memorizing the 1st vision in Spanish which is being a challenge if there ever was one but the words of Joseph Smith are so powerful that it is a necessity to learn. Oh random thought. they have badminton here. and they are all soooo good. 

I love it here and can't believe i only have 2 more weeks here before I am shipped off to Bolivia. The church is true no matter where we are in the world. What a glorious thing to have a perfect knowledge of. I love you all and miss you all. I pray each day for you. Hurrah for Israel!

Love,
Elder Gehring


Hermana Mendivelso and I. Shes our teacher!!




That is president Dyer Dallin out of control!! haha!

Me and my comp who got lost. haha!

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