Bridge to the castle

View of the old city

Okay this week has been a good one! It's been stressful because there
were some problems with some people in the district and I've been
stressing to solve them but as of now I think they're all good. Hahah
my companion also loves to say "la Vida" as we walk through the
streets and don't see anybody. I swear this place is a ghost town
Tuesday we picked up a couple Colombian investigators. We told one to
come an hour before English class to talk and we showed up and she
brought her friend! Except they totally thought we were there to teach
English hahaha yeah right. Lesson one, boom! It went super well
though! They were asking awesome questions and were really interested
then they both accepted the invitation to read and pray! We've got a
lot of hope for them and are excited. Then again, we tend to hope and
trust people to too much, then get our hearts broken every time. You
think we would learn by now but nope. Such is the life.

Wednesday we played some soccer with some Latinos. I played keeper and
got some legit turf burns. Throw back to Friday nights. Not gonna lie,
I miss getting in the shower and finding random turf burns that hurt
like nobody's business.

Thursday night was the beginning of the Easter celebrations here so
the whole city shut down. We had a lesson in the main part of town but
everybody and their dog decided to go there for the parade or
something. Lesson failed us so we were literally trapped in the castle
and couldn't leave. Visited a member and waited til it passed. We left
and saw the Great and Spacious Building from the dream of Lehi. I've
never felt the Spirit leave so quickly. Literally this shrine to the
Virgin Mary being carried above the heads of ten men in black clothes
and a band playing dark music behind. The Spirit left, but my
testimony got stronger, and we left with it.

Friday went on splits with the ZLs in Madrid. It was really fun! We
got 5 references in 30 minutes....Madrid is legit. Too bad I'm in an
area where it would take 8 hours and 39 minutes to get 5 references
(we did the math). Ran a lot, taught a lesson, ran some more. Good times
in the city there.

Yesterday was Easter here. It was super cool! All week we've focused
on Christ of course so Sacrament meeting was something else. I'm not
gonna say that I've never felt the Spirit while taking the
sacrament... But yesterday was unreal. I had the water in my hand and
just stared at it. I drank it and the Spirit just swarmed (is that a
word?) my body and the rest of the meeting I just wanted to hug
everyone and cry and love everyone. But it was a special experience
for me(:

Well that about raps it up for our week here in Toledo! I just want to
bear testimony that Jesus is the Christ. I'm so grateful to serve this
mission and for the experiences that I've had with these beautiful
people. At times I feel super down because we could contact and knock
doors for 5 hours straight and get home with 0 references and still
nobody to teach..but the Lord lets us be broken down just to build us
back up. I know that to be true. Day after day when we put our Faith
and Trust in the only person who knows everything and has experienced
it all, we can know that what we're doing is the right thing to do,
and He always comes through. Much love my friends, much love indeed!

Just live your life,
Elder Gearig