6 Months!!!

Okay so last Monday I made a deal with Hermana Staker here. I let her
cut my hair if I could cut her hair lol. Lol I was super nervous and
she didn't do the best job but Elder Holt fixed it up pretty good. I
took off 4" of her hair but it didn't look bad I won't be a
cosmetologist or whatever they're called, too much patience.


Thursday morning the Herms went running with us. We ran to this castle
and burned a tie up there for my six month mark! It was sad but I have
a lot of time left to work!

We taught quite a few lessons this week which was rare but it was a
good week! We went to have a lesson with this guy I mentioned last
week and he wasn't home..but his roommate invited us in and we talked
for a little then I just started teaching him so we went from there!
Hahah turns out he's way more interested than our first guy! So now
we're teaching these roommates and they're both super interested in
changing their lives so that was a tender mercy(:

I had the chance to give a couple blessings this week so that's always
nice. Last Monday night we had all these plans fail us so we were just
kind of going with the flow. I had this feeling to stop by a couple
less actives. One let us right in and we sat down and started talking
and then he said he actually needed a blessing so it was a good thing
we came by. He asked me to give the blessing part so I start going
with it and I thought it went decently well. He gave me a hug after
and looked at me and said "those were the exact words said in my
patriarchal blessing." I don't remember what I said at all, so it was
definitely The Holy Ghost talking and an experience I'll remember for
a long time!
Right after, we stopped by another less active. We shared a video
about the Book of Mormon and talked about it for awhile. The Spirit
was super strong and we were really bold while talking to this guy and
we all had these tears in our eyes by the end so hopefully he's
keeping his commitment!
Wednesday we were doing more pass byes trying to meet new people and
since we were in a trio we went to visit an old woman whose always
home alone! We walked in and her grandson walks out. He's 20 and has
been inactive for quite a few years. It was a complete surprise to see
him there so we sit down and get to know him a little bit. After about
10 minutes he starts saying how he's had big desires to come back to
the church but has a lot of personal problems. He was super open and
he started crying telling us all these stories and how his friends
judge him when he helps old women in the street and stuff. And we all
have problems in our lives, it's a fact! But I was able to connect
with him in a super personal way and I feel like I've known this guy
from somewhere before. I don't know where but I know if I leave Vigo
in two weeks, I may not have baptized anybody into the church, but I
know I helped this one guy and made a difference in his life. He came
to church yesterday for the first time in years and I was soooooo
happy!️ gave him this huge hug and told him how proud I was of him
and how happy I was to see him back and he had a really good
experience. We had 5 less actives we've been working with come
yesterday to church and one random guy we invited in the street hahah.
The work is picking up(:

Have a great week my friends and don't just have a great night, have
an American night. 

Loving life,
Elder Gearig

Well another week bites the dust. Good week though, good week indeed.
I knew I forgot a birthday last week and I'm quite embarrassed so
happy birthday to Elder Brock Sivulich this past week! You're the
best️ also Alyssa Mecham's is this week, actually on my 6 month mark
too so that's an exciting day! Hah...six months....And Happy 14th to my cousin
 Ian and Happy 13th to my other cousin Stetson!

So Elder Howard got sick last Sunday, then Elder Holt and Elder Ferro
woke up sick on Monday so we didn't do anything last week for PDay. We
sent Elder Holt and Ferro home to rest while Howard and I worked at
night. He should have rested as well but insisted on working. Bad idea
because he couldn't get out of bed Tuesday. Nobody did! Except me. So
I studied all day and cleaned the whole piso and was sick of being
inside not working so I called a member, we dropped off my companion
at the others apartment and quarantined them all together while I
worked for the rest of the day. I felt bad for leaving my comp but I
worked and we taught an awesome lesson to a less active family so it
was okay! They felt better Wednesday, and Thursday I woke up sick lol.
But it wasn't bad so I didn't say anything. Slow couple of days though
hahah. Hermana Staker told me that elders think they're better
missionaries when they try working through sicknesses, but it just
makes them worse because they don't get better faster and end up
losing more opportunities to work. It's true! Elders are stubborn 

Well we found a bar of gold this week. I'm not gonna say more about
him because I don't wanna jinx it. If he's still around next week I'll
tell y'all the story of him because it's unreal! So stay tuned.

️️It hasn't stopped raining in a week straight and doesn't look
like it'll let up anytime soon. Again. Looooove Vigo. Lol we call our
umbrellas our "shoes" because if you leave in the morning without it,
it's the equivalent of walking around without shoes on. On the reals I
really love Vigo and I love the rain, but it makes contacting that
much more difficult so you feel like a terrible missionary all week
because there's not much going on. But hard work is paying off! I've
got a testimony of that for sure.

My ponderizing scripture of the week was Alma 26:12. "Yea, I know that
I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast
of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do
all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this
land, for which we will praise his name forever."
This is applicable to every single person out there. Especially to
missionaries because we can't do this work alone. We rely on The
Spirit in every moment of the day to give us strength we need. And
when something good happens, we can't boast of ourselves or think that
it was us. Because it's 100% about Christ, and it's 100% the Spirit
working through us. We simply listen to the Holy Ghost and let the
Spirit do the rest. We may experience miracles every day, all of us,
and they're because we have a loving Heavenly Father looking out for
us. We're just His instruments.

Iiiiiii wanna knowwwwwww...have you everrrr seeeen the raiiiinn....?,
Elder Gearig

New comp and the Spec Ops

Elder Ferro from Argentina

I'm not a fan of how fast these weeks are going but here I am again. Yay.


So Monday we went and played football on the beach. It was leggiiiitttt. Elder Howard Elder Reese and tossing dimes. Fun stuff!

Elders Gearig & Reese

We taught a less active family that night and wow... There aren't words. Like literally. We invited them to repent in the most lovable way I've ever seen. I've never been apart of a more spiritually led lesson in these 5 1/2 months. Hahah like literally if one of us had a thought come to our head we just said it without hesitation. They sat in silence for a few moments and the spirit was just overwhelming. It was awesome.


Picked up my new compi Tuesday niight(: Elder Ferro from Argentina.
What a machine. We get along so so well and it's so much fun! Hahah the first night together we just talked and talked and realized he's the argentine version of Elder Reese so that's fine by me. He speaks decently good English too but we talk in Spanish and my Spanish has gotten so much better hahah I'm loving this kid!!


Saturday was the best day of my mission. Here's a cool story, long but worth the read.??????

So I'll try to put it into words here for y'all. So we were helping the Hermanas find another woman for their lesson that night. Literally through the whole branch list and nobody wanted to hahah. We had to leave so we left for lunch with a less active family and had a good lesson with them. After, we went to piso to get our umbrellas because Vigo decided we had had too much sun lately (like 2 days). This random guy called us and so I started talking to him and I taught him like
1/2 of every lesson we had over the phone lol. I've never felt he spirit through the phone before so that was a first. Turns out he didn't want anything but we're good friends now(: I ended the call and we had 4 missed calls from the Hermanas and one text that said "we need help!" They've had some creepy guys stalking them and told they needed us to let us know so in my head I was like "I've never killed a man before....there's a first for everything." Because the Hermanas are literally like my sisters. Turns out they just needed us to teach their lesson for them because they couldn't find a woman to help. So we hustle down to the church in the outing rain which is always fun but I'm used to it hahah. We had no game plan going in to this lesson and elder Ferro was kind of worried about that but for some reason I wasn't. We walked in and got a quick rundown from the Herms and started teaching this guy! Right before we walked into the classroom I jokingly asked the Herms "so what date do you want him to be baptized?" And we shared a quick laugh. So remember how I said that lesson with that other family was the most spiritually guided lesson I've had? Sike. This one topped it! Hahah we just started teaching this guy and the spirit was just indescribable. We talked a lot about him receiving answers to his prayers and shared a lot of personal experiences. Then out of nowhere I ask this guy to be baptized?? not even my investigator! He said he wants to be, yes! Hahah it was unreal! The thing is I don't remember a word I said to this guy so it was definitely the Holy Ghost. We bid them farewell and standing outside the chapel was a friend from English class. And so we invited him in and he says "alright let's read in your bible, the Book of Mormon right?" So I'm shocked. Like jaw dropped shocked. This lesson was in English so Elder Ferro didn't say anything. I taught him the restoration and again, I don't remember what I said. I started pulling these scriptures out of nowhere and asking him questions that he said he'd never thought about before then I asked him what he needed to do to be with God again. He read from 2 Nephi 31 and said... "Well... I suppose I need to be baptized." BINGO!! My man Kenneth. Elder Ferro chipped in with his only sentence of the night "to fulfill all righteousness." I invited him and he said he has nothing against it but that he didn't want to. Hmm.. But we'll meet again this week to follow up. It was an insane niight.
Herms called us later that night and they thought I was joking about this guy getting baptized and I was like No, like he's getting baptized by you guys March 5th. Here's what crazy. They told me if we were one minute late that night, we wouldn't have found Kenneth. ONE MINUTE! One minute more in the phone, one minute walking, one minute with their investigator, one minute anywhere! It was weird because we were like almost crying through the phone to the each other. Call us the Spec Ops, coming in to get baptismal commitments then disappering.
Spirit just working from all directions. The church is true, Christ lives, God loves us and is aware of our needs.


Feeding the Sheep,
Elder Gearig

Hey amigos. We meet again.(:
Happy 35th birthday to Mama Jen on Tuesday!
So these past two weeks have been in the blink of an eye so I'll share
some things from my week.

So this was the last week of the transfer so we were all making our
predictions on who was going where. I was 98% convinced I was leaving
so I started packing on Wednesday lol. God showed me he's in charge so
needless to say, I'll be staying in Vigo which makes it at least 6
months here. No complaints here, I'm stoked out of my mind but Elder
Jones is on his way back to Madrid as I write this so it was sad
saying bye to my dad for the past 4 1/2 months. He's a machine and I
am grateful for the time we had together. 


I'm also receiving a nephew
out here as my good ole friend Elder Reese will be training this week.
Him and I will be together this transfer at least, Super excited...my new
companion is from Spain and doesn't speak a lick of English so I'm
stoked and motivated  he doesn't come until Tuesday night so Elder
Reese and I are in a trio with Elder Howard until then. Suuuuuuper
excited.

My 9 year old girlfriend broke up with me  she said "how about I'll
just be your daughter?" And just like that it was over. But it really
released some tension because things were getting heated because she
went inactive for a couple weeks. But I got her to pinky promise to
come every week now lol. Ever taught a less active 9 year old? It's
fun. I told her I was getting transferred on Sunday and she started
bawling. I felt terrible. So I gave her a hug and told her I'll be
here 6 more weeks so she has to come every week. She said she would
  #activated


K my miracle. Remember this woman we found three weeks ago who said
she would be baptized after our first lesson? Remember how she blocked
our number and we haven't seen her since? Well we've been praying
super hard to find her and well... We found her! Hahah it was awesome!
We taught her Thursday and it was crazy! The spirit was sooooo strong
and we taught the plan of salvation and she loved it! It was a
straight up miracle and I know God answers our prayers. We haven't put
a new date on her yet since she was supposed to be baptized last
Saturday but that's not really possible lol. But we'll visit her this
week and talk more. God is good.

Friday was the baptism of Jesús! (no, John didn't baptize him) The
friend of the Hermanas here. We've all gotten close to him and he was
so prepared. Super cool conversion story. Completely 180 twist. He's
the 3rd baptism in the area in the past 2 years so the branch really
rallied around him. It was cool. Hahah we bucketed water out of the
chapel after and that was a riot.

Saturday night we had a big branch activity we've been preaching about
for months. A talent show. It was a huge success! We've had so many
members come up to us and tell us it was the closest they've seen the
branch in years and the funnest activity they've ever had. We put so
much into this show so it was awesome to see the branch come together.
I don't think anyone stopped laughing/crying for the 70 minutes. Us
missionaries did a little skit and it was hilarious, they loved it.
I'm never leaving Vigo! Like seriously, if president transfers me I'm
just dropping off the face of the earth. This place is home.

Yesterday we spent the day saying goodbye to families with elder
jones. It was a little emotional because the members like him and I
the best out of the missionaries here so they were sad to see him
leave. But they're stuck with me which isn't the worst thing because
they'll be feeding us every day because they know I'll eat their food
lol. Yay. But my "daughter" and I played some marbles or something so
that was legit. And this morning our favorite Peruvian invited us over
for breakfast before elder jones train left. At 7. Which is early as
it is...and here in Spain nobody wakes up until like noon. Plus We
packed his bags until 2 am and woke up at 5:30 to eat with her. But
it was delish!

Quick thought/experience:
So Monday night I asked God a question. "Why am I here?" Like don't
get me wrong, I'm not thinking of going home, I know why I came out
here and all that stuff but I just like receiving confirmation
regularly about things yanno? So Tuesday morning during personal study
I came across the talk from April 1983 by (at the time) Elder Thomas
S. Monson called "anonymous." You should read it, it's amazing. A talk
from 33 years ago answered my prayer. I sat back in my chair and had
this overwhelming sensation that paralyzed me for a few moments. Tears
came to my eyes as I received my answer and I heard these words in my
mind, "you're here to love the people." It's been tough here in Vigo.
Three lessons taught this week, 2 last week lol. But that's what Elder
Jones and I did really well together. We both realized our calling
here wasn't to baptize. It was to strengthen the members and activate
less actives and that's what we've been doing and what I'll continue
to do with my new companion. I think that's why this place is so close
to my heart, the relationship with the members is unbelievable. I know
I'll leave to serve the people somewhere else really soon and that'll
be an emotional day for me. Goodbyes suck! Maybe I'll bust my ACL
Schy-Shoe style the last day so I can stay here. Veremos.

Much love.

The Vigo Reign,
Elder Gearig

P-day hiking to some lighthouses

Literally this was the fastest week of my life. Such a blur. And just know this is kind of long but I believe it's worth the read. 

K my week.  We had that worldwide missionary conference Wednesday which was amazing! Literally like a general conference for missionaries and my mind was being blown off left and right, taking some spiritual sucker punches here and there, and just buoying being a missionary.

1) First miracle is having Elder Reese in the same district as me. Y'all don't know this but he was my MTC comp. he played football for LP and we've played against each other a couple times. But Elder Reese and I talked about it (the conference) for the hour and a half bus ride back to Vigo. I just want to publicly give him a shout out because we had no clue who each other were before the mission and now he's already one of my best friends and will be AP one day and is a stud. Glad to have him so close to me out here. 

2)Thursday Elder Jones and I found 4 people on the street! FOUR! It was a miracle! Hahah we've never found that many people in a day before and the best part is, they all gave us real phone numbers! It was literally a miracle. We found 8 references this week which is another miracle in itself. Patience pays off my friends. But we only taught 2 lessons the whole week which surprisingly isn't the lowest we have. 

3)we were in a little grocery store and I was looking at the wall mural which I've seen 10 times and studied it out. I've never said anything about it though but randomly I blurt something out in English about it and the guy in front of us starts talking to us in English. I think the Holy Ghost made me say something because if I didn't, that guy wouldn't have known we spoke English and we wouldn't have talked to him for 30 minutes and set up a lesson with him this week. He's from Peru and his fam lives in Texas but he's here. He loves Americans and wants to feed us so I'm not complaining 🤓 

Lol that same day we were talking to people and I was scanning the street and saw a group of six girls and did a double take because they screamed "typical white girl" from the states. So being the shy guy I am i go up and I start talking to them. They're all like 22 here for school and were really friendly! Some had been here for 5 months (like me) so I start talking to Spanish in them and they had no idea what I said. Lol I felt so bad because I embarrassed them in front of everyone there. The Gift of Tongues is real people. But like I said, they were really friendly. A little too friendly if you know what I mean, so we took a selfie and left their presence.

Our American friends. (Elder Jones didn't want a picture apparently, he's over my shoulder lol)

4) Yesterday all of our non-active families came to church again! It was awesome and they have come 3/4 Sunday's this month! I love seeing them come and it brings me so much joy. The chapel was overflowing which wouldn't be a problem in Utah, but it was here. It was awesome because when we first got here it got maybe half full. So we really enjoy working with the members. Miracles!

Thought:

Right before Christ appears to the Nephites, all the signs from the former Prophets take place. Every prophecy was fulfilled. The people were terrified and eventually didn't make a single sound for a few days because of their astonishment. Christ says to them before His appearance in 3 Nephi 10:4, "how oft HAVE I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you." Then again in verse 5, "how oft WOULD I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings." Later in v.5, "how oft WOULD I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not." And verse 6, "how oft WILL I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart." A hen puts her life on the line to protect her chicks, and when danger is there she spreads her wings and covers her chicks to protect them. Christ is telling us He will do the same thing for us! Idk bout you but that's pretty comforting to me. Look at the words in caps now. Have I, would I, and will I. He HAS protected us before, he WOULD HAVE protected us IF we would have let him, and HE WILL continue to do so. We just have to let Him and do what he asks of us. The Gospel is simple. 

Quote of the week, "Life is tough. It's even tougher when you're stupid." -John Wayne. 

My miracles were probably different than what you assumed. But Miracles are all around us my friends, sometimes we just need to look at them from a different angle to realize what we are being blessed with. 

(Spiritually) Waaaay up I feel blessed, 

Elder Gearig

A beach with literally no sand. It was 100% seashells. Really cool if you have shoes on. 

5 months older and wiser too.....

Happy 5 months to me! Crazy how time is flying. 
Happy birthday tomorrow to Meagan and Wednesday to Jordan my little brother! The big 13, officially a teenager. Crazy kid. And still waiting on Bella's call so that'll be exciting this week. 

Well this week was about the same as any other week lol. Every lesson failing and nobody talking to us, not as much rain though so that's good! My dad said something about a hurricane so that would make sense why my shoes are still soaked. 
Anyways, the good stuff. We've really been focusing on finding all the less active members in our area and we've had success there! There's this 75 year old woman I've been trying to get an appointment set up with since my second week here, and we got one Saturday morning! She made us a four course Spanish meal though lol. No Bueno because we had a lunch appointment with my favorite member right after and she usually fills us up so I didn't know how we would explain to her why we couldn't eat. But luckily she loves me so I could sweet talk my way out of it lol! Hahah nah I still ate all her stuff though it was still good. Just don't ask me how much I weigh.....

Elder Jones and I took a bus like two stops past where we should have so we had to walk quite a ways to get to where we were going, and we were in the middle of nowhere. Literally. We saw one person ahead of us so we got closer and started talking to her. It was super cool! We talked for like 20 minutes and was like the perfect little miracle finding situation you always hear of! Then she randomly walked away lol. Almost had her. 

We visited this 90 year old Peruvian and she begs us to come over every time we see her so we did and she shared her conversion story and started crying and it was tender. Cute woman. 

Helped a member move some couches 5-ever away hahah it was really fun though. Picture four elders with sofas and recliners over their heads trying to dodge taxis and the Spaniards in the streets. It was hilarious hahah. The easiest way to carry them was upside down on top of our heads so we literally couldn't see a thing and were using me as the leader to not lead us into the ocean. Fun experience. 

 K spiritual thought:

"Nephite Pride Cycle." You may be familiar with it, you may not. But it is impooortant. How they go from being at the top, to the bottom, to the top again, then back to the bottom. When Moroni and Helaman were their go-to-guys everything was going good. Heck, it was going great! They counseled with the Lord and made the right decisions for the people every time. The Lamanites couldn't touch them. After so much success though, the members of the church got too prideful. The prophecies of Mosiah and Alma become fulfilled as the members dissent from the church and seek after worldly things. The moment they come back and repent, they prosper again. Seems pretty obvious what they should do right? Guess not.. Because not too long after, thanks to preaching from Helaman, the Lamanites become stronger than the Nephites now. Now, today, only Lamanites are on the earth, the Nephites are goneeeeee. Oh how the turntables have....turned..

I've noticed that the people become strong in repentance and remembering God ONLY when it's convenient for them. When they're rich and prospering they don't thank God and try succeeding on their own, then God takes it away from them. Causes wars and a famine among them, and right before they die, boom! They magically remember their God once more. They repent and start succeeding again until the same thing starts happening. They rely on themselves until God has to humble them. Happens every time. So please don't rely on God only when it's convenient, rely on Him ALWAYS! Give thanks in ALL things, no matter how small. Here's a quote I love. "It is possible to return! It is possible for those who have ceased to pray to pray again. It is possible for those who are lost to find their way through the dark and come home. And when they do, they will know, as I know, that the Lord is more concerned with what a man is than with what he was, and with where he is than with where he has been." -Elder F. Burton Howard. 

Reminds me of Chayden's farewell talk when he said something like "God doesn't care about who we were, he cares about where we are now." 

So there you have it, don't be prideful, be humble! Thank God over everything and work to be better every day! 

"Gods got your back. Satan does too...but with a knife."-Elder Gearig (me) and my RT of the week (if you could RT yourself..) 

I saw the rains north of Africa, 
Elder Gearig

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plains...

Even the statues don't listen....

Happy day to everybody. Happy happy happy. 

Yay for @bellahousel for getting her mission call next week. She's the realest

Well this week has been awesome!

First of all it has been raining out.of.control here. Like I don't know how to express to y'all how much rain has been dropped from the heavens on us. Vigo was on the news the other day because everything here flooded, including the whole soccer stadium in like four feet of water (it's a big stadium). Half of Pontevedra flooded and the rest of Galicia as well. Nonstop for two weeks straight. I kid you not. I just don't even know what more to say. The rain in Spain most definitely does not stay in the plains. It stays in my shoes and clothes for two weeks Straight. From the time we leave in the morning to getting home at night we're soaked. I found out I'm not a good umbrella buyer cause I've gone through four already lol. Thanks dad for the trench coat, it's getting put to great use.

Monday night we visited a couple less active teenagers brothers and shared an awesome message with them then talked video games and COD for an hour. Luckily Elder Jones knew a lot because I sure didn't. But they really opened up to us so that was awesome. Video games do help I guess (we didn't play them, don't worry)

Tuesday was splendid. We visited this family across the bay that came to a ward activity last week. We taught them The Restoration and I've never felt the spirit so strong in my life. Everything went according to plan for the first time in my mission and we said exactly what we needed to say to allow the Holy Ghost to touch their hearts. Aaaaaaand we committed the mother and son to baptism! We walked them to the dentist right after and made plans to come back later in the week when the father would be home! Then we left. BUT! They haven't answered our calls and won't answer anything so we kind of got curved again. So it is in Spain I guess... Super sad but I've been praying harder than ever before for this awesome family to let us come back. 

So Sunday we had a lot of less actives in church that we've been teaching(: we were SO happy. We've reactivated two families and are working on some more! Seriously the joy that we felt yesterday when they all walked in was greater than having an investigator in church. Reactivating is not as easy as I thought hahah.

It was my turn to teach Ward Family Home Evening on Wednesday so I shared the video "The Hope of Gods Light." (PLEASE PLEASE GO WATCH IT.) Then I asked everyone some questions about prayers and receiving answers. Some people got really in to it and it ended up being a super spiritual night. I know God answers prayers. Always. In His time, and according to our faith and willingness to act upon receiving answers. If we aren't reading and going to church though, we won't receive an answer for awhile (most likely). So if you pray and feel like you need an answer, open up those things called scriptures and start reading! 2 Nephi 32:3: 3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. Feast upon His words my friends and you'll be guided to where you need to be! Here's a quote that's one of my favorites and is very applicable in all our lives. 

"I thank God for protecting me from what I thought I wanted, and blessing me with what I didn't know I needed."

Sometimes the answer isn't what we were expecting, but are we ready to be led down a different path led by The Savior? I say yes! Trust, have faith, be patient, and search. 

Much love to you all from me. 

Just tryna' make it rain,

Elder Gearig

Next baptismal  candidate