Suffer the little children to come to me

Hello my dearest family.

Well to start, I'm getting transferred. From my area which is one of the most poor, to Caoto which is in the middle of the city. Its so different. I've been called to replace Elder Gygi as the Secretary to the President. I'm scared but very excited. I had a 2 day intercambio with him so I could learn and get a feel for the life in the offices. I went in on thursday with Elder Gygi and then came home saturday. Its a culture shock again. But now from my area with dirt streets and tiny houses to paved streets of the city with tons and tons of people and with houses that are quite a bit bigger. I start there one week from today. It is so much responsibility. Basically I will have to run the mission and do the things that other people don't do. I schedule flights, I make all reservations in all hotels of President, his wife, his assitants, the new missionaries, the old ones going home, and anyone else who needs it. I pick people up in the airport, I help them with passports and visas, I pay the fines that they have, I make informes for each Lider de Zona and each Stake President. I work directly with President to help him decide on transfers. I have lots and lots to learn.

But other than that big news, the work now in my area is going really well. Elder Garcia is learning fast and always wants to work. He loves to work and work and work harder. We are getting way better about teaching together and the work is finally paying off. We see and experience miracles everyday and we have 2 wonderful people that have plans to be baptized this weekend. Next Monday I'll send photos of their Baptisms and I'll explain their stories!!

 

For a while I didn't really run into any funny stories about Spanish but this week we were in lunch one day when the son in law of our pensionista came out with a huuuuge fire cracker and asked us who wanted to light it off. I told him I wanted to but we really aren't allowed as missionaries so he just did it. It shook the house. The windows trembled and you could feel the shock wave of this thing. I'm pretty sure it would be illegal in the US even in states like New Mexico where you can buy pretty much any type of firework. The funniest part was when he came back in and asked Elder Funk and I the name of fire cracker in english. We realized that it literally means galletas de fuego and we had a good laugh for a while.

 

This week too I got to play the piano for the first time in a while! Bishop Balderama (our bishop) asked me to prepare a special musical number for the ward conference this past sunday. Saturday fui a la capilla para encontrar una joven de JAS y nosotros preparamos una cancion para esta conferencia. Tocamos I feel my Saviors Love. She played the flute and I played the piano. It was really fun to actually play something other than straight himnos! Sunday it turned out super well and a lady in our ward came up to me after almost in tears and told me "Gracias Elder Gehring, yo siento el Espíritu cuando usted toca." And for that reason alone, I love and will always love music.

 

This week I studied a lot about a lot of things but I mainly focused on the Savior's love for little children. This morning I was reading in 3 Nefi 17 and I love it all but especially 21-25. The love the Savior has for the children is incredible and perfect. I then was studying about the plan of Salvation. It is so true that children under the age of 8 really are perfect and really are so close to the Savior. I know this to be true.

On tuesday of this week we were walking down a street to get to one of our appointments when a little girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old, ran from the other side of the street up to us. She didn't say anything and she looked astonished or amazed and happy too. She reached out her hand as if to touch ours. I shook her hand and she ran off. I didn't think much of it but after this we didn't talk much my comp and I. About 3 minutes later Elder Garcia stopped and looked at me and said "Ella nos conoce" (She knows us) and I was confused but the he said " Ella, esa nina. Ella sabe quien somos"

I don't know if she really knew who we were but it was such a testament to me that children are so close to the Father. This is why Christ said "Suffer the little children to come to me." They knew He was the Christ. I know that children are special and preciosos in this life. They are perfect. They cannot sin, they do not need to repent and through Christ they are saved.

 

I miss you all, I love you all. I love the mission, I love my Savior, and I love the little kids in this world that bring each one of us happiness.

 

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Gehring

 

This is a photo of the view from my new house. Well what will be my new house. Right after I took this foto, a firework show started and I got it all on film. It was my late 4th of July fireworks!

Playing for ward conference!

My comp with his head replaced by the sun.

Dead snake!

These are pics of a service project we did. And also of the lunch afterward.