The Work Continues

This week we had some good lessons and taught some good stuff. The most exciting thing was that we had a combined mission conference with the Rancho Mission and we all heard from Elder Neil A. Anderson.  (to read more about him - https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/what-are-prophets/bio/neil-l-andersen?lang=eng)  It was super cool he shook every single missionaries hand and spoke to us for about an hour. I don’t have any pictures cause we were in the chapel, so obviously we weren't supposed to take pictures, even though we saw some people take them :/ but also I was in the very, very, very, very, last row, all the way at the back of the gym. But it didn't really matter. We could feel the spirit regardless of how far away we were. Something that I really liked that he told us is that when the Apostles are doing the Missionary Calls they purposefully reserve some of the best missionaries for the United States. He said they did this because the United States is the "bread basket" of the Church. If the Church isn't growing here then it’s not going to grow in other places of the world. I really liked that. I have more notes from his talk but I don’t have them with me.

On Monday (last week) we were at the store and this guy walked pass me, stopped took a step back, looked at me and asked "are you a Mormon?" and I said "yes I am" and then he asked "are you on your mission?" and I said "yes I am" and then before I could say anything else or ask him anything he goes "that’s chill" and then walks out of the store and I couldn't follow or stop him cause my companion was buying something. But it was just kind of a weird, cool, interesting experience.

Tuesday we had Zone Meeting, which is when all the missionaries in the Zone, as in the missionaries that cover the branch and the 2 English wards all meet and have some training. It was good. We talked about setting expectations with investigators through the How To Begin Teaching Points. It was cool. A lot different than the Zone and District meetings in Coachella but I liked this one a whole lot more :)

Wednesday I crashed my bike, not going to go into any crazy details. But I flipped over the handlebars and luckily landed on some grass and I had my bag on so that cushioned my fall. I just got back up and started riding again. I'm fine, the bike is fine, no injuries. Just a little embarrassment cause I flipped in front of a big RV with like 20 or 30 people on it. But it was kind of fun.

Thursday we rode past the bike shop and decided to go inside since we had nothing really to do for about an hour; and we were looking for the pant straps to hold your pants from getting stuck in the chain and also Elder Baer asked if we could pick him up some new brake pads. We got that stuff and then I asked the guy that owns the place if they had any handlebar extenders. Like the bars that stick up to give you more leverage when you ride. And he started looking around and he found a pair and said they were used and asked if that was fine and I was like yeah sure that’s fine. And then he said "They are free". And I was like "Woot Woot!!" Cause I mean like they are really nice ones too. So I was excited. Then he gave us a discount on everything we bought. It was sweet! We found out that he is good friends with a member who owns a bike shop in Fontana I think so he gives all the missionaries pretty sweet discounts :)

Saturday. After the conference I couldn't find my odometer and I was looking and looking and looking and I asked the other Elders if they had seen it and Elder Baer asks me "Have you prayed about it?" "Have you prayed all night like Enos did?" Which is funny because that’s something that Elder Anderson told us. I can tell you about that one later but I was like nope. And so I walked into our study room and I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help me find it. I stood up and then I realized I hadn't looked in my bike bag and so I walked over to it and opened it and the very first thing I saw was my odometer. And I was just like. Wooooow.  I then went back into the study and said another prayer thanking Heavenly Father for helping me find it. It wasn't anything important. I don’t need the odometer. I spent the first 2 weeks of the first transfer here without it. But I like having it on and see how fast I’m going and how far we have gone and I really liked this experience showing me that Heavenly Father cares about us and the things that are important to us. It was just an odometer but He helped me find it, and for that I am very grateful. It’s a testimony builder of the power of Prayer. It does work and God is Listening and He will Help Us.

Sunday. We were able to help David, a less active Priest¹ in the branch, come to church and he was able to help bless the Sacrament. It was super awesome because most weeks it’s either the missionaries or adult members. And we actually have 4 Priest age youth in the branch and they all live in our area. We have decided we are going to kind of make that our focus, also the Branch President told us to, help the youth; because we have all 4 of the priests, 2 of the 2 Teachers², and both of the Branches 2 Deacons³ in our area. So that’s kind of the work right now. Is to help get these youth back to church, fulfilling their priesthood responsibilities and receive the blessing.

The picture is of me and a boy who just got baptized, everyone says I look like him when he grows up and is a missionary.

I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Zachary Gore!

11-  Young men who are 16 years old and all male converts 16 and over. They help the bishop or branch president watch over Church members by giving service and assisting with temporal matters; on Sunday’s they bless the sacrament.

22 -   Young men who are between 14 and 16 years old; they also help give service including preparing the sacramental bread and water on Sundays.

33-  Young men who are between 12 and 14 years old; they do the same as above and on Sunday’s they pass the sacrament to members of the congregation.

Another Good Week in Banning, CA

This last week has been interesting. I mean not because we did a lot. It was just a good week on account that nothing bad happened. We had some good lessons and have been working with the less active families’ a lot. We visit them almost daily. Giving support and teaching and talking and trying to get to know them so that we can figure out who in the ward can help them. Its hard work sometimes, especially for me, some people talk really fast and it’s hard for me to understand sometimes. But I'm getting better and I'm doing a lot better at asking people to explain something they said in a different way and asking what things mean. I admit I don't like asking for help. But I'm trying to let go of that and my self-consciousness and just put myself out there. I'm getting more confident and sometimes, well often I find-myself thinking in Spanish. Which helps me focus because it’s like I only can say certain things in Spanish so if I'm thinking it then I can only be thinking about teaching, finding, and the people we are teaching. So that's nice. I still haven't had any dreams in Spanish. But I'm hoping soon I will. 

Elder Baer

In other news: Elder Baer (pronounced Bear) is a boss. He is funny but also knows how to be serious. His Spanish is good. But he seems to like speaking English more. It’s an interesting difference between Elder Moore and Elder Baer. He is also my "brother". As in he was also trained by Elder Cebreros except he has been out for 11 months and I've only been out 7. Holy Cow!!!! I've been out 7 months. That is sooooooooooooooooooooo weird!!!!!!

Our investigators: Well we have two really good ones and one that we haven't seen in a couple weeks and well a lot of people have this phrase which is "Si Dios quiere" which basically means "if God wants" or "if God is willing". Basically it is a way to get out of making a decision to go to church or not. These people believe in God and they believe in Him a lot but they use that phrase to be an excuse and if something happens and like they wake up late or its too hard to get everyone ready to go they say well obviously God didn't/doesn't want me at church today.  It’s like come on people. God wants you at church. It’s a commandment. He is going to help you do it if you make the decision and then try you’re very hardest to do it. Which means you'll be at church. It’s kind of rough sometimes but we are trying. 

Elder Renovato and I are good. We are working together well and he gives me tons more opportunities to speak Spanish.

Elder Renovato

Oh and yesterday (Sunday) Elder Renovato and I went to Primary with one of our less actives. It was a lot of fun. I miss primary. I don't think I could really teach it but it was fun to be in there and do all the dancing and singing and hearing the powerful testimonies of the little kids. It’s really amazing if you think about it. Who really are the best teachers? The little kids, because they grasp the concepts and ideas of the gospel at such a basic and simple level. It’s so cool to listen to them.

Oh and we haven't had planners for the last week. That was really fun. Were there planners back when Dad was on his mission? Were they not allowed to keep them like we do? Cause I've never seen any of his. But weekly planning is pretty tough without a planner. But it was ok. We made it work and we finally got planners yesterday. So things will be a bit more smooth on our side at least.

I hope everyone has a great week and has lots of missionary opportunities!

I'll talk to you next week!

Elder Zachary Gore!

Lots of Rain

Ok lets see. Not a whole ton has happened this week.

Well I mean other than the rain. It was bad, really bad. We got drenched. We were all soaking wet for about 10 hours of Thursday, and for a while on Friday it rained and Saturday too. It was pretty awful. I'm not complaining. It’s just this is really all that happened. And because of it nobody was outside and it didn't help that nobody was home to let us in. But it was... fun :/ . Probably going to get sick but you know it’s worth it. We were able to have some good lessons. We also went on exchanges. Elder Renovato went to Banning with Elder Moore and I took Elder Gonzalez with me to Beaumont. It was good. We almost died in some rivers. But we had a good day. A couple people got baptized and they were really sweet! We also helped one of our recent converts fix his bike so we can pick him up before church if nobody goes to get him. We also went over to a returned missionary’s home for dinner and Elder Renovato gave a thought at the end in English!!! and it was awesome!!!!!!!!! He is always saying he doesn't teach in English and that he doesn't know how and well I made him do it and it was the first time he'd done it! So props to Elder Renovato for English!!!!

Now to the not so happy stuff. 2 of us are being Transferred. :'-(

We are losing Elder Moore and we are losing Hermana Southwick :(

But Hermana Derouch is coming in! So that’s really exciting!! :)

But man am I going to miss Elder Moore. It was a total blast having him in the apartment. But now he is going to be a district leader in Palm Desert, in the Branch over there. He is going to do an awesome job!

Hermana Southwick is going to Fontana and is going to be with Hermana Howe which will be great for their Spanish.

Speaking of which. Mine is getting better. It’s slow still. But I think I’m starting to get over the idea of word for word translation and moving into the idea translation. Hopefully it will help.

Well that’s what we got for the week. I hope everyone has a great week and has fun in all the snow while I’m here in the sun. Humph. So much snow. It’s ridiculous!!

Well I love you all!

Elder Zachary Gore

Finally!!!!

 Guess What!!!!

We got an Investigator!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. We are so excited!!!

We met him on Saturday. He is the father of an inactive family member and he is awesome! He has read from the Book of Mormon and believes it’s true! He believes that Joseph Smith was a Prophet! He believes that the Priesthood that Christ had and all the prophets and apostles in the past have had has been restored to the earth! Its sooooooooo Sweeet!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!

We have to wait until Saturday to teach him. But that’s ok!

And then it gets better!! We were at church yesterday and 3 members of our ward said they had people for us to teach! We are going to go and visit them this week! We think that we were being tested the last 5 weeks to see if we would continue pushing and working even though life kind of stunk. But we areee soooo excited!!!! AHHHHH!!! WOOHOO!!!!!

In other news I can now wear my gray suit again! I ripped the pants and so I couldn't wear it. But (Shout-Out to Hermana R.) a Hermana in our ward fixed them for me which was perfect because on the way to her house I shredded the front of my black suit pants….which I’m sorry about; there was a baptism and we were only there because I was asked to sing.  I sang "Yo se que vive mi Senor" (I know that my Redeemer Lives). It was good, I guess. But the baptism was super, super sweet. The spirit was very, very strong. The two kids that were baptized are total bosses!

But yeah that’s my email for the week! I hope you enjoy it and I hope everyone has an awesome week!

I love this Church and this Gospel! I know it is true and that I am on the Lord’s Errand doing the Lords Work!

Elder Zachary Gore!! :)