Week of Cambios

Hello

This week we had transfers. Elder Mamani now is home. My new companion is Elder Strong. He is from Utah and has about 8 months in the mission. He's a great missionary and I'm excited to work with him. He's a little worried and stressed about teaching zone meetings and doing the finances of the zone but it will all be good. 

This week was good. I'll tell you a couple things.

1. I ate 6 hard boiled eggs this morning.

2. My pants have not gotten here yet but I did get lots of letters from all the cousins. That was a surprise.

3. We changed the zones around. Now we have 12 sisters and 6 elders in the zone.

4. The Severiche family. They are a new family we met this week. They accepted baptism and are excited. They recently moved there about 2 months ago and are a young couple with high family standards. The gospel is just what they need.

This week I studied about the first miracle that Christ performed. John chapter 2- changing the water into wine. I studied why he did it, what we learn from it and I'm still learning from it. I learned the importance of listening to your mom. He, in the end, performed it at request of his Mother. He obeyed. Its amazing that Christ is the perfect example in ALL things.

Jesus is the Christ, the perfect Son of God. 

Lots of Love,

Elder Gehring

Hurrah for Israel!

Mad dogs and General Conference

Good Morning Family,

There were many things that happened this week. 

1. We went to the lomas de arena.

2. Elder Mamani and I were almost killed by a dog named Kaiser.

3. It rained hard.

4. We watched General Conference in a flooded chapel.

5. It rained some more.

6. We met Abundio and Gladis.

1. So this past monday we had an activity. My comp and I decided to ask permision to go the local lomas de arena (sand dunes). We took a micro (a guy in our ward has a micro). We ate salteñas on the way and crossed many rivers in a non-river-crossing micro. We had to push a micro that got planted in a lot of sand and we played beach futbol in the hot sun. These dunes are very big. They are very sandy. They are just huge piles of sand. Ill send fotos so you can understand. It ended up being a really fun activity. We were dead tired afterward but we had a blast. 

2. There is a family of recient converts that has a dog that hates the missionaries. His name is Kaiser. He is always locked inside their front gate and usually just barks a lot at us when we pass by. This week we stopped in to say hello and right when we got there, another family member also got there. We tried to talk but Kaiser was barking so loud we couldnt hear anything. We decided to leave. After walking down the street about 3 houses we heard screaming from the family and the faint barking got louder and louder. We realized that as the family member tried to enter the front gate that Kaiser had escaped. We ran for our lives but he ran faster. He almost chewed our legs off and thanks to our scripture bags, we were saved. We hit him in the face several times with 8 or 9 lbs of scripture and materials but it didnt do much. My comp sacrificed his bag and Kaiser almost ripped a hole in it. The mom of the family came running and finally got him to run back to the house. I have always been thankful for the scriptures, I know they teach doctrine that leads us to eternal life. I also know now that they save lives from large, angry, dogs.

3. It rained really really hard.

4. We got to the stake center while it rained really really hard. The patio outside then started to flood. The water then started to enter the hallways and then into the chapel. Its not a huge deal beacuse its all tile (not carpet like the EEUU). We just had to sweep all the water out. It was a wonderful conference. I learned a lot about love, marriage, repentance, the Second Coming, and the role Adam and Eve played in the Plan of Salvation. I loved it all. I was able to watch in English and then when the 2 spoke in Spanish, I was able to go to the other room and watch it in spanish. Its such a blessing to be able to hear their actual voice. 

5. It rained really really hard again.

6. Let me tell you about Abundio and Gladis. About 2 weeks ago the ward had an activity where todos salieron de la capilla and went to go talk to everyone they could. Recibimos muchas referencias y contactamos casi todos. Gladis fue una de las ultimas que tuvimos que contactar. Esta semana lo hicimos. Les hablamos a ella y a su esposo. Nos dejaron entrar y enseñamos lo que el Espíritu nos decía. Fue una lección espiritual y en el fin aceptaron la invitación de bautizarse. We are now working with the so they can make these sacred covenants with the Lord.

The Church is true. Jesus is the living Christ. I love Him and sustain His profets and apostoles. Happy Easter to all. #BecauseHeLives we too will live again. 

Hurrah for Israel! 

Elder Gehring

 

By the lake

Cactus in the field

Elder Mamani, Jesus, and Yo

First river crossing

I jumped and got stuck

In the air pose

In the air shots

In the Micro on the way

Sumamente grande las lomas

It was sunny and windy

Las Lomas

Little houses

Me by the sign

More in the mirco

My comp and I

On the top of the dunes

Sandy dunes

Selfie in the bus



The Sign

This was a huge huge field in the middle. You don't even know how huge!

Zona Pirai

 

The Book of Mormon

Dear Family,

Just a quick story. 

There is a recent convert in our ward who is a PE teacher. He is a great guy. He and his wife were baptized in Feb of the past year. They have been coming to church off and on and we have been working with them these past few months. The Elders Quorum helps a ton. We went to his house to read the Book of Mormon with him becuase he hadnt been reading. We told him to have a question in mind as he read. We read and he told us about everything that he is going through. His question was answered and he was able to recieve comfort from the words in the Book of Mormon. We were with one of the counslers in the Elder Quorum and he testified of the truthfulness of the book and we left spiritually uplifted. 

The Book of Mormon is true. It testifies of Jesus Christ. 

Christ lives. He is the Savior of the world and I love Him.

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Gehring

Moto taxi

Doble Banana

Twin Banana

ps. We toook a moto taxi this week. Also I ate a double banana a couple days ago

Light

Hi there,

So I finally can send fotos. I am so happy. I will write a little so I can send lots of fotos.

In our house we have a long driveway type thing that we have to walk upon getting home every night. Its usually really dark and you can't see much. Last night there was no difference. We opened the dark gate and went back to our dark rooms and I entered the dark bathroom. I turned the light on and felt a sense of relief as my eyes adjusted to the bright light. I thought to myself how amazing it was that the tiny lightbulb had made such a dark room so bright. I went to plan and then to bed without thinking much else of it. This morning we woke up and did exercise outside. It felt so good to be out in the bright sun in the early morning. We finished exercise and I went to take a shower in our bathroom. I entered and turned on the light. I was suprised to notice that this time, in complete opposition to the previous night, the light did nothing. I felt like the room, that just 9 hours before had been so bright, was so so dark. All this morning I was thinking about why it seemed so bright in one moment and in the next so dark. 

 

I learned something from this. Last night my eyes were adjusted to the darkness in the night and the light of a lightbulb made me feel happy and secure. In the morning I went outside and my eyes were adjusted to an even brighter light (the sun). I then went back to the lesser light of the lightbulb and felt like I was missing something. 

It is the same in our lives. We are children of God. If we expose our spirit to a greater light like the sun (repentance, read the scriptures, great personal studies, obedience with exactness, etc) we feel great!! But in the very second that we let ourselves adjust again to a lesser light (Just okay personal studies, disobedienca, reading every other day The Book of Mormon etc) we feel empty even though in one point in our lives maybe it felt like a relief. I realized that we feel discouraged in the mission when we let our spirit drop to a ''lesser light'' and we are excited when we then return to a ''greater light''.

I made myself a promise with the Lord this morning that every decision I make with be one to help me recieve the ''greater light'' I know that as I do this, I will never be discouraged, I will never worry about Chelsea getting married, and I will never feel alone or sad. 

I hope each one of you will always search the ''greater light'' in your life. Christ is the Greater Light. I testify of Him. He is the Master and I serve Him. 

Love you lots,

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Gehring

Baptism Selfie

Bowling pose

Companion bowling foto

Eating pizza

Elder Mamani y yo

Foto of the family, brush for the sand, mosquito killer

He gave me a hug

He hugged me for a while

His name is Andrew-he is 14 months old

I found a turtle

Lunch one day

Me presto sus lentes

Monkey names Cesar

More pizza

New house not quite settled yet

Our bedroom

Pixa party after Ward Council

Robbing paltas

Robbing more paltas

Scared kitten

Selfie with Cesar

Selfie with Cielo

The heavens were opened

There is a guy who makes these

Tiago is his name

 

Pacú y K´jaras

Hello,

Today I think I'll just make a list of things that might be interesting for you all.

1. I ate the best fish in the whole world. Its called Pacú. 

2. My companion got his flight plans. I'm going to make him work harder than he ever has.

3. I went running in the huge patio that we have now in our new house. What I forgot is that the family who lives in the main part of the house have a dog. He got scared and chased me... I was then scared and ran very very fast. 

4. We taught the family that is married again. They are wonderful. We taught the Book of Mormon to them and their eyes were opened. They felt the truthfulness of it and now are reading it daily. We are sure they will soon be baptized. The Book of Mormon is key.

5. K´jaras is pork, chorizo, with corn, and potatoes. You eat it with your hands and with lots of spicy sauce. Its very good. We cant eat pork here in the mission but we ate the corn part and the potatoes. Also the Chorizo because we can eat that. It was to help a member in our ward who is going on a mission in April. It was a great fundraiser. A less active member even came with us. We bought him a plate too.

6. We met a man named Wilbur the other day. I have never met someone here who has such wonderful and high goals for his family. We are sure he will be baptized soon. 

7. I studied a lot this week about the plan of salvation and our gift of Agency. I read in DyC 121, Alma 40, Alma 41 and Alma 36. I learned a lot about what will happen after we die. I realized that agency is a law written in the heavens and that it is an eternal gift. Forever more will we be able to choose. What street we walk down, how we act with our companions, what we say to those who reject us, what we write to our families, after the mission what school we go to, who we will marry, what job we will take, and I think most importantly, who will we follow. Christ is our savior and if we choose to follow Him we will live in His love and glory forever. I learned that we are tempted by the devil so we can choose. It says in DyC that it is necessary that we are tempted. Every choice I make I am now thinking of the eternal consequences it has. I want to choose everyday is such a way that I can progress spiritually. Daily I will choose to repent. Daily I will choose to obey. Daily I will choose to follow my Savior. 

I love the Lord. He is my Savior and Redeemer. I chose to follow Him before this life and I will forever choose to follow Him, so long as my life continues on this earth. 

Choose daily to love Him. Choose daily to become like Him. Choose daily to be changed by Him.

With lots of Love,

Elder Gehring