BEST DAY EVER (for this mom...well, one of the many).....Christmas Day from Spain

Yes, those are my bed sheets, mom...

Streets at night

December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas!
Holy cow I never thought this day would come. I've got just over four
months out here in España, my training is done, and I get to see my
family in T-Minus 3 hours and 30 minutes. What a great day to be
alive.
K so it's almost been two weeks since my last PDay but not a ton has
happened in that amount of time. The people are colder than the
weather here, mostly because the weather is quite nice. But I mean
still...
Last week we had our Zone Christmas Devotional and President put Vigo
in charge of the food. We thought it would be easy but let's just say
we finished the week with one lesson taught.. Getting ready for the
devotional consumed our whole entire week. Late nights, lots of
stress, and a whole lot more of stress. But we pulled it off and it
was awesome! We made ribs, chicken, salads, French fries, sausages,
eggnog, and a whole lot more. It was an awesome day. I was also one of
the (not so)wise men for the play we did, I've got a picture of that
for y'all. I helped one of the Senior Couples take some Elders to the
bus station afterwards and we almost ended up in Portugal after so
that would have been fun since President was waiting for us back at
the restaurant.
The members here have been treating us awesome this Christmas. I think
we are with four different families yesterday, and we have some more
today. I'll be needing to hit my morning workouts extra hard to make
up for all the rice pudding we've had too... Last night we slept over
with the other Elders here and lit a ton of candles and put them in a
circle, then read Luke 2 and basically had a two hour long testimony
meeting about everything. It was amazing and the Spirit was really
strong. This morning I woke up and made them all French toast! It was
actually really really good. I made this Cinnamon Syrup stuff and did
some experimenting and although it was more of a frosting than syrup,
it was really good #wifemeup #homemaker
We haven't met with our investigator in the past two weeks, we can't
get ahold of him so it's really sad...but we'll see him soon
hopefully we got two member referrals this week, which is two more
than we have gotten in the past 12 weeks...so that was awesome. We
taught one of them The Restoration and the Spirit was incredibly
strong. His two sons, 11&8, bore incredible testimonies!  The other referral we
actually met with THREE times yesterday in the morning we showed up
at our District Presidents house to make cookies with the YSA (4 girls
actually) and she was there so we used it as an ice breaker. We went
to her house three hours later so her mom could teach us how to make
Peruvian food, then an hour after that she had dinner with us with a
different family. So we shall see where this goes with her! She loves
doing things with the YSA so that's awesome.

K spiritual thought.
This Christmas we've decided to challenge people to give a gift to
Jesus Christ. Because birthdays are a time of giving to the person
whom we're celebrating (even though his birth was in the month of our
Dear Lord (like mine) of April). As I've pondered what gift I
personally want to give Him, I came across quite a few choices. I
noticed a trend of topics in conference about being Disciples of
Christ, and also keeping his commandments. What better gift could we
give him then to be obedient to the things he's asked of us? Many
people think commandments are there to restrict, or think one of them
is so small that it doesn't hurt to not follow it. Well when you break
even the smallest commandment, you move closer to Satan. You may not
even realize it until you're already on the slippery slope. Samuel
Johnson said "The chainz of habit are too small to be felt, until they
are too strong to be broken." RT of the week. We can't afford to fall
into bad habits. "Eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow we die" is
the attitude of some. Have fun now, break the commandments, then
repent at the last day, because God is merciful and will forgive you.
But we should Keep the Commandments, constantly repent, and strive to
do good. Why? Well...because tomorrow we die. Carole M. Stephens said
"His laws are a manifestation of His love for us and obedience to His
laws is an expression of our love for Him." We show love and
appreciation to him by obeying his rules. "If ye love me, keep my
commandments." It's not complicated. If you keep falling back into the
same transgressions, go read the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehites
starting in Alma 23. Once they were murderers and did very bad things,
but through repentance and love for God, they turned into some of the
best examples I can think of. Literally they buried their weapons in
the earth just to refrain from being tempted to use them. We all
should "bury our weapons" per se, and avoid and not do anything to
rekindle those things again. I prooooooommiiissseee you all that
commandments are not to hold us back, but following them will bring us
more happiness and joy than we would have had if we broke them, and
more than we could possibly imagine. President Monson said "May we
realize that our greatest happiness in this life will come as we
follow God’s commandments and obey His laws!" Just Trust in God and in
His timing especially. Jesus gave us The Atonement, and we should not
let it go to waste. Use the Atonement every day.
Y'all are the best and I hope you remember the reason why Christmas is
a thing! Be safe traveling, it's better to be late than to never make
it at all. Much love!

Living in a White-less Wonderland
Elder Gearig

Christmas in Spain>>Christmas in Florida

....one of my favorite quotes, President Eyring said "If you are on the right path, it will always be uphill. The Lord is anxious to lead you to the safety of higher ground."

Hey everyone! Well I hope you are all enjoying the Holidays from
wherever you are.
I don't know if finals are still happening but if they are then good
luck to everyone with that lol.
So since I won't be emailing next Monday I gotta cover a lot of
things! I'll email Christmas morning though so no worries. But happy
birthday to Meleah on the 16th and my brother William on the 24th!
What a neat time of the year.
K so my week has been pretty simple. Not a ton happened but Saturday
was an awesome day. We started it off with some service. We demolished
these wardrobes and threw them in the street (how you get rid of them
here) and it was awesome. We ended the day with more service! This
time instead of demolishing wardrobes, we built them! The other Elders
here found this less active family who needed help with them and
luckily we were on our way to their street for an appointment anyways
so it turned out perfect. We could help for like twenty minutes before
our lesson though, but they cancelled on us at the last second so we
could keep helping. It was great. The family made us this chicken and
fries and it was to die for. Elder Howard had me help him with the
last wardrobe while our companions shared the message. We thought it'd
take like 15 minutes since we had already built one before, but we
opened it and it was completely different. Started it at 8:25,
finished at 10:15(curfew is 10 here). So we were really late but we
had the district leader and zone leader with us so we ended up being
fine. But all in all it was a really great day. It was awesome to be
able to feel the Spirit of Christmas through service.
Also that day was the Vigo annual motorcycle parade, where everyone
who owns one dresses up as Santa clause and cruises the streets. I'll
post a video, it was pretty cool. It never ended too, it was 5ever
long. So yeah, great day.

Yesterday we went carroling with the YSA here. We visited this rest home where a member was and sang a bunch of songs and brought
the tears rolling out of those old people's eyes. Lol we invited this
random woman to be in our picture and she was so touched! Hahah she
was ecstatic. After she tried following us home because she didn't
like the rest home lol. It was amazing. We visited another member
who travels a long way to get to church every Sunday and she was
bawling the moment she saw us. Also really strong spirit. The best way
to spread Christmas cheer is how? Singing loud for all to hear!
(@alyssamecham) I testify that that is true.
That's about it for my week! Here's my spiritual thought.
So I've been studying Elder Dallin H. Oaks' talk "Strengthened by the
Atonement." And these are my thoughts about some things he said.
"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord
deliverereth them out of all."-Psalm 34:19. This reminded me of one of
my favorite quotes, President Eyring said "If you are on the right
path, it will always be uphill. The Lord is anxious to lead you to the
safety of higher ground." We all have afflictions, sufferings,
temptations, tests, etc., but D&C 121:7-8 teaches that if we Endure
them well, we shall be exalted on high and triumph over our foes.
Think of Ammon while he was preaching to the Nephites and he said when
they were about to turn back and the Lord said to go among the
Lamanites and bear afflictions with patience and they would be given
success. So that's what they did and the fruits of their labors were
great. Sometimes the Lord heals an infirmity...but sometimes, in my
opinion more times than not, He gives us the strength and patience to
endure our infirmities. He has descended below all things and is the
only person who knows exactly what we are going through and He wants
to help us so badly because He knows what we need. But we need to do
so willingly and humbly. James 4:10 "Humble yourselves in the sight of
the Lord, and he shall lift you up." After which, these weak things in
our lives are turned into strong points, as Ether 12:27 teaches. (I'm
kind of just bouncing from scripture to scripture now as they pop in
my head, sorry) There's a reason, as missionaries, we ask members who
have had similar trials which they overcame to help us in lessons with
someone suffering similar things. They know what it's like to humble
themselves, and now this thing is so strong in their lives that they
can help others overcome it through Christ as well. But ultimately it
comes down to if we are willing to ask Him. More importantly, if we
are willing to sacrifice our will for His, and act in faith. This was
a lot longer than I anticipated, but I hope somebody got something out
of it.
I know that the Atonement was the single greatest event in the
history of the world. I learn something new every time I study it and
I know we can't even comprehend what actually happened. But as we
strive to know more, we will be strengthened by Christ and have a
deeper testimony of this stunningly accomplished task. During this
Christmas season, I challenge you all to study something about Christ
and get to know Him a little bit better. I promise you'll feel His
love for you as you do so. You will feel something special as you seek
the Spirit of Christmas.
CHRISTMAS=CHRIST MAS. MAS=MORE IN SPANISH. MAS CHRIST. HAVE MÁS
CHRIST THIS CHRISTMAS! <<RT^^
Much love and I'll talk to you on Christmas!

White-less winter, still a Feliz Navidad nonetheless.
Elder Gearig

Ugly sweaters

Still in Vigo....

Heyyyyy hope you're all enjoying the snow or whatever is dropping from

the sky. When we got here we were told it would rain a ton but it
hasn't...until we bring it up then it randomly pours and we get
drenched lol.

Alright about my week! So I was with the greenie this week because our
companions were in Madrid. Holy cow, I'm so glad I'm not training, my
patience was soooooo thin. First thing I did when I got my comp back
was apologize for being difficult and he told me I acted like I
already had 1 year under my belt and wasn't even bad so that's cool.
Speaking of which, I'm staying with Elder Jones in Vigo! I'm his first
companion he's had longer than two transfers! We're really really
excited.

So the greenie and I taught a lesson Tuesday to an investigator of
mine, then his investigator randomly showed up so we taught them about
The Plan of Salvation. 

We talked to this lady on the bus and had a nice conversation then she
got off and we said bye. We got off the next stop and walked to an
appointment which fell through which wasn't anything new. When this
happens we turn around and contact the first person we see because we
figure it failed for a reason. Guess who it was? The lady from the
bus! It was super cool and we got her number and she was a sweetheart.
But she doesn't want anything to do with us which wasn't surprising.
Oh well.

What else... Let's see. We talked about emergency plans on Thursday
with the zone and we all got really scared because we talked about
what to do if your comp dies.. Terrifying stuff.
I can't remember hardly anything else about the week... But we hit up
the main square here with all the Christmas stuff and it was awesome.
It felt like temple square and they were playing the same songs as
when Meleah, Kelsey, TWelch and McKayla took me, Austin, Taylor, and
Emmett to temple square on a scavenger hunt so that was exciting.
Pictures to follow.

So I studied a lot about eternal families and temple work this week,
as well as service. It brings so much comfort knowing what happens to
our loved ones after death. Reminded me of he talk from conference
from President Eyring and I got this part from it
Finally, Dad said quietly, “A little girl has gone home.”
He shed no tears. That was because the Holy Ghost had long before
given him a clear picture of who she was, where she came from, what
she had become, and where she was going. The Spirit had testified to
him many times of a loving Heavenly Father, of a Savior who had broken
the power of death, and of the reality of the temple sealing he shared
with his wife and family. The Spirit had long before assured him that
her goodness and faith had qualified her for the return to a heavenly
home where she would be remembered as a wonderful child of promise and
be welcomed home with honor. For my dad, that was more than a hope.
The Holy Ghost had made it a reality for him.
We know what happens because of the Holy Ghost and I'm ever so
grateful to have Him in my life. We also need to have Charity because
without charity, we are nothing.-1 Corinthians 13:2
Verse 13 says it's more important than faith and hope so take that for
what it's worth.

Also a friend told me that if you smile, everything else is much
easier and I tried it more this week, and it's true! So smile people!
Until next week.
 
White-less winter
Elder Gearig

Thanksgiving in Spain = Spain-ksgiving

Well I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Lol we ate octopus with
our Branch President.  It was also my
parents anniversary on Thanksgiving so shouts to them for that
#therealmvps

Last PDay we went with members down to the border of Portugal in a
city called La Guardia. It was super cool and probably top 5 most
beautiful things I've ever seen. Pictures to follow. We found these
old hut things and I don't speak Galician so I couldn't read what it
was about hahah. The girl hooked us up with some Cuban chicken though
and it was cool cool stuff.

We have this 18 year old brotha from Senegal that comes to English
class every week and he's like my best friend in Vigo lol. I see so
much potential in him and so we've tried to introduce the gospel
slowly with him and offer him "special lessons" outside of English
class to get him by himself. So after beating around the bush for a
couple weeks, we cut to the chase last week. Taught him the Plan of
Salvation because he's Muslim and they believe like the same thing, so
he's all excited and stuff. We tried to teach in English but he just
doesn't understand so we switched to Spanish after like thirty
seconds. It went so well that we kept teaching the restoration! It was
a really spiritual experience and he loved it. We gave him a Book of
Mormon and he was shocked it was free. He said he would read it and
pray and we'll see him again on Wednesday to see how everything went.
I'm really excited because it felt like I was just teaching my best
friend!

Oh and I don think I mentioned that our one investigator we had with a
baptismal date is no longer a thing. After much prayer and thought we
decided to stop teaching her. She wasn't progressing at all. she was
actually de progressing if that's a thing. Wasn't accepting anything
and refused to keep commitments. So after getting our hopes up after
seeing a little success it got shut down. It's easy to see why this
used to be the second least successful mission in the world (1.
Vatican Mission) But we're working really hard to switch that! And the
members still have that mentality, but we're seeing a lot of change
and we kind of set them straight this past Sunday and said if they
want more members they need to pull there own part. But it's exciting
seeing the change, but I think I'm getting transferred this week so
that's really sad. I love it here and am tight with a lot of people.

A miracle from yesterday: Elder Howard's companion has been like dead
the past three days and Elder Howard needed to run pick up some
investigators. Literally like run. We did service for them Saturday
(which is another miracle that people allowed us to do service for
them) and they decided to come to church. So we run to their house and
she decides to bring two friends! We were thirty minutes from the
church and needed to be there in 10 minutes and, like last week, were
blessed by the Lord. This taxi out of nowhere pulls around the corner
and I literally jump in front of it. We throw in the women and throw
the taxi driver money and tell him where to go. We start running to
the church when this less active family pulls in front of us and we
jump in the back of their van and cram ourselves in there. So first
miracle is that we did service. Second miracle is we got investigators
to church. Third is we got them a ride there on time. Fourth is this
less active family made the right decision by deciding to attend
church and helped get us there. It was great. We walked in and sat
down in the chapel right as sacrament started. If there's a will
there's a way. It was an awesome sacrament meeting and I'm glad there
were investigators there to feel the spirit.

Also Vigo goes hard for Christmas. I need to get pictures of this
place at night. it competes with Temple Square I kid you not. Except
it's in the middle of Babylon. And not spiritual. But they go
haaaaarrrrddddd. The lights are beautiful and make me trunky for home
but it's awesome. And I never thought I'd miss the dry cold of Utah,
but it's sooooooo much better than a windy humid cold here. And
there's snow in Utah. None of that here 

I had the opportunity to read the three talks from conference from the
new Apostles. They're more like testimonies. But just reading them, I
could feel the spirit and new these men were called by Jesus Christ
and it was a privilege to sustain them live here in Spain. I loved
Elder Renlunds "Through Gods Eyes." We need to see every person
through the eyes of our Heavenly Father. I promise if we do this,
we'll have so much more love for everyone, have more patience,
charity, love, desire to do good and serve them. This is coming from a
kid who had a hard time being patient with people and looking for good
within them before his mission. I know it sounds hypocritical of me to
say that but I've seen the change in my heart in these three months
and it's astounding. I want you all to feel the same.

Sorry this is long but I hope you were able to take the time to read
at least the last paragraph. Much love from España to wherever you are
reading this. My prayers are with you during this wonderful holiday
season until the next week my
friends.


It's beginning to look a lot like (a not white) Christmas,
Elder Gearig

2 weeks worth!!! :)

first and foremost, shouts to Cody Wright for getting his mission
call to where? MADRID SPAIN THATS WHERE!! Stoked out of my
mind. Maybe I'll train him that'd be dope.

  K my week. Not much happened but me and my boi Elder Reese, my comp
from the mtc, were on splits together this week. My best friend out
here and we had more fun in this one day than I've had since getting
out here. Miracles on miracles as well. Hahah we got out of this
appointment late and needed to be at the port by 4:30 to catch our
boat, but it was 4:15 and 3 kilometers away and no way we could get
there. So we're like "if there's a will there's a way elder" so we
take off. No buses around, no taxis. So we're booking it then we come
to a fork in the road. "Which way elder?" "Let's go right" so we go
right which didn't make sense because it was the opposite direction we
needed to go, we turn the corner and BAM! A taxi! We get in "Embargos,
Prisa!" So homie steps on it and we were there in 8 minutes. We run in
and we are out of cash and they didn't take take cards. 5 minutes.
Sprint across the street, fastest atm withdrawal of my life, sprint
back in and get our tickets, on the boat with like 30 seconds to
spare. It was unreal. If there's a will there's a way my friends. We
went across the bay and taught a less active family a bomb lesson.
After not teaching with him since eight weeks ago in the mtc, you
wouldn't have been able to tell. It was the most spiritual lesson I've
been apart of. We walked out and just hugged each other. We were
stoked and had a blast. We contacted back and gave each other funny
words they had to use so what was mine? Penguin, naturally. (Pingüino
en espanol) and I asked these people where the Penguins where and long
story short, they took us around for like ten minutes because they
felt bad they didn't know where the Penguins where. Adios penguins,
they said lol. We talked until 4 am and made pb&js at 3 and
just talked about everything. We woke up at 6 to run to this castle
and it was unreal how gorgeous the harbor and city looks that early.
Needless to say, best day out here for sure.

Spiritual thought is from mosiah 26. Talks about being patient and
being tested by God. If we persevere through our trials and are
patient, God rewards us. D&C 121:7-9 is one of the best scriptures
I've ever read. If you're going through a hard time, please go read
them. Love you all and enjoy Thanksgiving for us un-americans! 

Still giving thanks, 

Elder Gearig

FROM LAST WEEK.....(November 16)

Well another week down holy cow. 

First and foremost another special shoutout to Alyssa Mecham for joining the Spanish ranks in Guatemala starting March 9th, so stoked for that. 

Alright my week my week where to start.... Last p day we went to the beach and bought some dope kites and tried flying them. Took awhile but after mastering the technique I think y'all can call me Kite-Gear. Get it? It's close to Ky Gear but it's different.....

We were in a trio for three days awaiting the arrival of the greenie so that was a lot of fun actually. Except we got stranded in a Pueblo like three hours away and almost missed a video conference with president but we made it luckily. Also D. Todd Christoffersen is coming to Madrid to speak! Except guess who's not in Madrid and can't go?! Me! Yay yay yay! maybe I'll walk 37 hours to go. Probs not. 

Saturday we gave a blessing to this less active guy in the hospital and he cried the whole time and the spirit was so strong. I love giving blessings to people because the spirit is always testifying. Right after we walked past this father and son on a bench and like 2 minutes later we felt to go back. So we went back and talked for about 20 minutes and he told us he had cancer as a kid so it was a miracle he was able to have a child. We're visiting his family this week so we are really excited for that. The Holy Ghost is something else for sure. Yesterday we decided to try something new to get investigators. Church tours! Honestly I didn't want to because I think nobody would want to, but we tried it. I was wrong. It was the funnest day in the field yet. Everyone that walked past we were stalking down like hungry lions and we got a family of 8 (selfie to come) and they loved it. We got this girl from Lebanon too and that was an amazing experience with her. She opened up to us and we bore testimonies and got her contact info 

Also not being able to watch the news sucks because apparently something happened in Paris and everyone was talking about it and we had no idea what was happening. We got filled in and my heart broke. We heard it was done by Americans so we decided to not contact because we're Americans and didn't want people to kill us. But turns out Isis (gadianton robbers) strikes again. So so sad. 

K spiritual thought. So I found this quote a few weeks ago and with the new church policy I found it fitting. Boyd K Packer from 2004.  “I know of nothing in the history of the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds in wickedness and depravity that which surrounds us now.

“Words of profanity, vulgarity, and blasphemy are heard everywhere. Unspeakable wickedness and perversion were once hidden in dark places; now they are in the open, even accorded legal protection.

“At Sodom and Gomorrah these things were localized. Now they are spread across the world, and they are among us”-Boyd K. Packer retweet of the week. (Not 140 characters though)

I got the chills reading this because we live in such a terrible world. I've noticed it so much more here in Spain because porn is nothing to people over here. All over the place. But thanks to the Spirit it isn't even distracting. The world is a bad place and we need the gospel more than ever. The church made that policy to protect those children and I support it 100 percent. I support anything from the Prophet and Apostles because it's impossible that they could say something not supported by God. 1 Nephi 11:36 And it came to pass that I saw and bear record, that the great and spacious building was the pride of the world; and it fell, and the fall thereof was exceedingly great. And the angel of the Lord spake unto me again, saying: Thus shall be the destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that shall fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

People are running to the great and spacious building and aspiring to the honors of men, so we need to hold fast to the iron rod and follow the prophet. 

Have a great week and enjoy Thanksgiving for us people not in America. 

Los quieros,

Elder Gearig 

When the missionary mom figures out how to add photos.....better late than never (wink)

Rainy and cold and windy and wet
but loving it!!!

2 elders on a boat in the water to an island to do some teaching!

Elder Gearig w/mission President & Hermana Pack

Arriving at Mission Home October 1, 2015

9 November 2015

Hey hey heyyyyyyyy

First of all, a very special happy birthday shout out to my homie 
Elder Austin "Big Gyps" "Aussie" "Squad Duf" Emery! Shoot
him an email to make him happy. @ Austin.emery@myldsmail.net the big
19!

Also a girl in my ward got her mission call to guess where? Madrid
 Spain so shoutout @theglenmoor3rdward for repping it out here.
Good luck to the football team this week in the semis against Lone
Peak. Better win because Elder Reese is talking trash to me (he played
receiver last year) I'm not worried though.

Well not much has happened this week. I say that in like every email
but like really this time hahah. But I didn't get transferred! Staying
here in Vigoooooooooooo. I went on exchanges with Elder Müller Friday
and Saturday and President called him and told him he's getting
transferred so that was fun. We dropped him off at like 6:30 this
morning and are in a trio until Elder Howard gets his greenie
Wednesday. I'm stoked because I'm a seasoned veteran now since Hermana
Terhorst is getting a greenie too hahah.
We took a boat across the harbor to teach a less active family,
pictures and video to follow. It was rainy and cold and windy and wet.

So we ran into some problems with our investigator with a Fecha this
week. We're pushing her date back because she isn't ready quite yet.
But we had a miracle on Sunday with her. We were teaching on Saturday
and told her that we become clean of our sins every week as we take
the sacrament and renew our covenants and she got excited. But she
takes these pills that knocks her out until 12 every day. So we told
her we'd come pick her up in the morning at 9:30 for church (the past
two weeks she didn't wake up when we came) but we figured we'd keep
trying. It's frustrating because it's like a 45 minute walk to her
house, then 30 more to the church so when she doesn't wake up we walk
5-ever. But we showed up Sunday morning and she was up! We went
upstairs and she told us she decided not to take her pills so she
could come. Which is scary because she like NEEEDS to take them. But
she didn't.. And we got to push her in her wheelchair like 2 miles to
the church. Should have seen us running with her wheelchair because we
were running late still lol. It was a special experience for all of us
and she made some new friends at church. And we're starting to teach
her cousin too

This guy stopped us in the street and started talking in English about
his times in the marines in Switzerland and he owns this American
restaurant here and wants to feed us so we were stoked about that.
Homeboy is gonna hook it up thick with some marine shirts too  I let
the elders here wax a section of my leg so that was cool... We made our
own little gas stoves like scout camp and eat s'mores and hot dogs
regularly...Elder Howard got a package and had some Heath bars in
there and doesn't like them so I ate some and I almost died it was so
good. So hey, Christmas is coming and if you simply send me a Heath
bar I'll fetching love you. Aaaaaand that's about it for the week hah.

Alright spiritual thought time. My conference talk this time is Elder
Andersens from Priesthood "Faith is not by chance, but by choice."
He talks about making faith, well... A choice hahah. He said that our
faith is either progressing or diminishing. I use the analogy of a
campfire for this. When your chilling by the fire (while we're eating
fondue, idk about me but I know about you so say hello to falsetto in
3,2, swag) @bieber sorry... But if you're at a fire and it's roasting
and you don't put any more wood in what does it do? It eventually dies
out. But as we add more wood to it it grows bigger and brighter like
#faith. So keep adding wood to your fire of faith, and keep watering
your seed. "Your future is as bright as your faith."-President Monson
and also my retweet of the week.

Love you all. Keep on keeping on and hopefully I got something more next week.

Still American,
Elder Gearig

Another week has gone by.....

Hey wassup hellooooo

Well this week had a lot going on so I'll try to keep it to 1/100th of the size of Isaacs this week. 

So Wednesday I went on exchanges with the district leader, elder antezana. Way cool guy and doesn't know English so it was really great to speak 100 percent Spanish for a day. We related really well and I like him a lot. All of our appointments fell through and nobody showed up to English class (which I had to teach) so that was alright. We had noche de hogar after but nobody came again hahah so we found a less active and taught him a bomb lesson. Dropped a hammer on him and was like "yeah that's how we roll out in Vigo." Elder Antezana was stoked. Do I got home Thursday and find out our electricity got shut off. Lol we payed the bills for two months but I guess they don't like American Mormons. So we've been staying with the other elders all week and that's been really really fun. So when we first got here to Vigo five weeks ago, we didn't even have an apartment for the first night. We finally got it the next day and had to use all the money to make it so we could survive in it. So then we didn't have money. Then we finally got my money and now we don't have a place to stay lol. 

So no piso but we had money. We got the piso but then had no money. We got the money but now don't have a piso. So I wonder what's in store for us this week...

So Friday we had zone conference up in Coruña with President and the whole zone. It was a great experience and I learned a lot and Elder Reese and I had another heart to heart. He's having a tough time because his trainer is inicuo so I gave him advice and we talked and he looked at me and said "you've been the biggest blessing in my mission Gearig." And my heart  but it was great. On the way home I sat next to two señoras. I was feeling confident so struck up a conversation for about 45 minutes with Beatrice and after she got off I talked to Beatriz (the other one) it was a big tender mercy for ya boi here because I've been feeling my Spanish wasn't been good at all but they both wouldn't stop talking about how amazed they were I had only spoken it for like 10 weeks and I shared the gospel with them all alone without my comp so after I felt really great #ThxPaps got some referrals from the train so I was amped. 

Last night we were walking to a lesson with our Fecha (Ana) and there was a homie ahead of us so we slowly caught up to him and turns out we know him! It was cool because we NeVER have taken that street before but decided to this time. And guess where he was going? Ana's! He's her cousin! So we talked to him and had a good conversation on the way there and he joined our lesson! So Ana has had a hard time lately and has been really stubborn (shocker, there's nobody like that in Spain) and we were getting upset because she wants to know everything is true but isn't doing anything about it. So Carlos (the homie) (also knows absolutely nada about our church) looks at her and says "what they just said makes a lot more sense than what you're saying." And she got quiet then he said "you believe in it but you aren't practicing what you believe." And I chuckled because WEVE BEEN SAYING THT FOR A WEEK. K cool. I pulled some scriptures out of nowhere while she was complaining and she stopped and got quiet because she knew that the scriptures I shared were correct and I was like "yea wussup 801 represent." *fist bumps my comp*. We bore some bomb testimonies and then Carlos wanted me to pray in English so I did and it was next to impossible. I couldn't remember English for crying out loud. #123embarrassing 

K so spiritual thought(s). I was reading in Jacob and it talks a lot about examples (what I got out of it at least) and I started writing in my study journal. We need to be a good example in all aspects of our lives because we never know who is watching. If we break a seemingly pointless rule or commandment, someone else can break an ever bigger rule justified off the fact that they saw you break one. So be an example of the believers no matter what it is you're doing. The way people break big commandments is over time, after breaking little ones because they think it's unimportant. So don't fall in bad habits of breaking small rules. 

K next. Some lines from my week of conference talk studying. 

This ones from Elder D. Todd in April of 2011. 

“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

    President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’

We need to trust the Lord in all things because he indeed knows what's best for us, more than we know. Trust that everything happens for a reason. 

This is from Elder Holland this past conference. 

"He knows he owes much to many, but he knows he owes the most to two messianic figures in his life, two who bore him and carried him, labored with him and delivered him--his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his determined, redemptive, absolutely saintly mother."

Love your mothers for crying out loud. And go watch the whole talk and try not to cry, I dare you. And give your mother a hug and tell them you love them, because there are about 80,000 missionaries who wish they could do that. So do it. K cool. Deuces.

From Spain with sufficient love

Elder Gearig 

From Vigo this week

So I don't have a ton to write, and when I say that I literally mean it unlike Isaac who says he doesn't have time but still writes 15 chapters worth of an email. Jk homie yanno I love you, I just need to spend an hour a night for the rest of my mission reading it to finish it  

Anyways, on important things.... 

SAVE THE DATE!! 

No I am not getting married but we have a Fecha!(baptismal date) We've taught Ana every other day for two weeks and she wants to be baptized on the 14th! Ahh it's a miracle and we're so excited for her. She's seriously a golden investigator and I know the Lord put her in our path after years of preparation. She's accepted everything and is so fun to talk to. It's nice being with her because I feel comfortable and my Spanish is understandable with her lol. 

We also made 32 burritos this week (@benditlikebcca) and froze them, so every time we need a quick bite we just nuke them in the microwave and chow down. It's dope. Except something about a tortilla in the microwave that long makes them hard... But I heard if you put a cup of water in the microwave with it, the evaporated water will be absorbed by the tortilla (@mommaheidi @whateveralexasnameis) sike it doesn't work, don't try it. 

What else happened... We went to the bar with two other investigators Saturday night and had a good conversation with them (we only drank a little bit mom, no worries) so that was an interesting time hahah. 

Other than that not much else happened this week. I've walked more in this past week than my whole life combined lol. Sorry this isn't too exciting of an email so here's a spiritual thought. 

I was reading an Uchtdorf talk from this past conference, the one titled It Works Wonderfully. In a nutshell it's about simplifying the gospel. I've learned in these 9 weeks that the Spirit works in very simple ways. So why feel the need to make it more complicated than it needs to be? The Spirit testifies of simple truths, so simplify that stuff! "Tell a man there are trillions of stars in the universe and he will believe you. But tell hi, the wall is wet with paint and he'll touch it just to be sure." Retweet of the week <<. So yeah, SIMPLIFY. K cool. Also watched the Mormon message from New Years about Not Looking Back, it tells the story of Lots Wife when they left Sodom and she looked back with mourning and was destroyed. What's in the past is in the past..so why worry about it? Look forward people, and control what you can control. Stop wasting time trying to fix mistakes that can't be made better, and focus on the next decision and the next day to make sure you don't make more mistakes. 

Well, hope all is well in the str801 and to my peeps around the globe. You're in my prayers every day. Stay trill️

-Elder Gearig 

Pictures from Vigo

Here are some pictures from the last two weeks, Kyle is serving in a place called Vigo, right on the coast of Spain and the border of Portugal.

Vigo so far

JUST A QUICK EXCERPT FROM EMAIL TO HIS MAMA:   

Laundry is great the clothes are all fine hahah thanks though. Fun hearing from grandma Sorensen about the farm, makes me happy. Brushing my teeth twice a day! Also send the long letter from Becca to the Beardens, I think they would enjoy reading about Adrian. Love you mama 



Well this week was definitely better than last. After PDay last Monday, we were passing by some old investigators homes. Elder Jones and I got talking and didn't even realize we had passed three of our addresses. By the time we realized it, we decided to keep walking to the ones far away. We found this woman, Ana. Ana....is literally addicted to the bible. We would start reading a scripture and she would quote it from memory before we even finish. It was quite amazing so we handed her a bom and said "hey get addicted to this" so we've taught her thrice since and we committed her to church last time, so we'll get a date to be dunked tomorrow night  it was a little miracle in the life of ours for sure.

 My second miracle happened later that same day. We got a call from the AP's after we got home and we're thinking "uh oh what did we do." It was nothing, but they wanted to talk to me. They tell me they taught my friend and his whole family is beginning to accept the gospel. I'm like Wait what friend? My pal Adrian was in my ward in SoJo and was a foreign exchange student that is from guess where? Yup, MADRID! How cray is that? Fetching nuts. I gave them his address when I found out he wasn't in my area and I'm pretty sure he's gonna get baptized so I told them the story and they were like "Yup that sounds exactly right. He asked about you and where you were at. We taught his family and it was amazing. Elder Gearig, you made quite the impact on him back in Utah" I'm crying at this point because it was so amazing to hear about and I couldn't even remember doing anything impacting for him. But needless to say, our actions that we may think go unseen are actually being seen, so remember that next time you're about to do something stupid. Integrity is doing the right thing when you don't think anyone is watching. It really touched me to hear that and drove me all week. We finally got some investigators and things are finally getting rolling here in Vigo. 🏼

I've also been reading a conference talk every night before bed and watching a bible video right after. Although I've seen all the talks, I've found we miss a lot of things. So by reading them again I've learned a lot more so I challenge you to rewatch or read the talks. 

Tuesday night we had a comida with a Dominican family. First of all let me just say I've been cured of my hatred for pasta thanks to this lady. Absolutely amazing. But after dinner we were having fun and making beats on the table and I was free styling for them and we're dancing and having a good time. I get up and start hitting my whip and that good Nae Nae for everyone and I look over and the mother was just watching and staring so I got embarrassed and sat down, then she stared at me and starting dancing too it was hilarious. Gotta love the Dominicans. So we shared a spiritual though and went home with more pasta which was also a miracle because elder jones and I don't have money because they lost my debit card in transfers and he used all his money for stuff in our Piso since we opened it up. So we've been living off 37 cents this week and straight oatmeal. No lie. So it was nice to have good healthy food. Well until next week amigos. Stay fresh.🏼

I'm bringing planking back..just on top of the highest mountain in the area. Eat your hearts out at the view 

We found an old tractor 

The Dominicans 

Just a few sidenotes.  Elder Gearig's companion is Elder Jones from Rigby. (Idaho, it must be, I didn't ask though)   and I thought I'd share part of a personal note from him to me .... Love Elder Gearig's momma

 Momma tonnnnnnnaAAAAA. 
So I'm in a city called Vigo. About 300000 people smashed into a 
 City in the mountains next to the ocean and Portugal. It's sooooooo so
 pretty. Add it to the list if we ever come back. We're helping open
 the area so we have no investigators yet. Lots of contacting in the
 street and working with the members. It's raining a lot. Like a lot a
 lot. They say it doesn't stop for four months during the winter so
 that's cool. I love the rain how are you though? I thought about you
 during elder Hollands talk Saturday night. Mothers and sons... Nothing
 quite like it. Thank you for being the best example in my life and
 making me the person I am right now. I love you so so much️ 
 Hope sojo is treating you as well as Spain is treating me.



 Finally got our apartment today. Since we're the first missionaries in it we had to go buy all of the stuff necessary to live lol. Spent about four hours cleaning and sanitizing the whole place #WifeMeUp. Seriously though it's hard not having my mom around but it's a good experience. Elder jones is a great guy. Really fun and we get along pretty well. Vigo is absolutely beautiful. I said I didn't want to go to the islands because it'd be too hard to stay focused because of how beautiful it would be, but from the other missionaries, Vigo is the prettiest place in the mission so I got what I asked for. It's unexplainable. Pictures don't even do it justice.  We walked about 4 miles on direction and found out it covers about 1/10 of the mission in that direction so our area is pretty big. We bought a pet crab for a day to raise for dinner tomorrow. His name is Larry also here's a funny story. So we had a lunch appointment with a member. We arrived (Howard, müller, jones, and myself) and met them. They have two beautiful little kids and I was playing with them while the others talked because their Spanish was understandable lol. So elder Howard tells me that we're eating a Venezuelan dish made of potatoes and Dog. Yes, I said dog. So I'm getting nervous and he proceeds to tell me that they get offended if I don't eat the food. So now I'm freaking out he then tells me it's a custom to eat in a circle on the ground. So we sit in the circle and the father brings a bowl of raw, bloody meat into the circle. He tells me that during the prayer, my hand is in the bowl, holding the meat. Super weird. If you know me, you know I h8 raw stuff. So I'm manning up lol they pray and after he tells me I have to eat it. So I was Afraid to hesitate out of fear of offending them, so I eat the raw bloody meat. I hide the look on my face and proceed to the bathroom. We gather at the table to eat the cooked Dog now. He tells us to eat and so I figured the longer I looked at it the less likely I'd be to eat it, so I went for it. I took a bite and the father says "welcome to the mission elder Gearig." They all pranked me. 😑 on my mission...psh. The bowl of meat was pieces of bread in tomato sauce, and the dog meat was straight rabbit. We laughed for about 10 minutes straight. I'll try sending the video later. It was hilarious. #initiation. The rest of the week was good. We gave a blessing to a member in the hospital and another one later tonight to another member. General conference was absolutely amazing. I've never gotten that much out of it before. Pres monson didn't look too good though Sunday morning  

So yesterday started the rainy season here in Vigo. 

First week down and many more to go. Thank you to all who send prayers and love. Love you all and am praying for you! Keep it real🏼