Redlands

I asked Zachary a bunch of questions in my email to him, here are his responses:

Hey Mom!!!!

Where did you watch conference?  English or Spanish?

I watched Conference in the church building that is next to the temple. And we watched in English, up until the Seventy who spoke Spanish, and then we went into the Spanish room and listened there.

How do you like Redlands?

Redlands is sweet. A lot quieter and safer then San B. But it’s just another city right now. We haven't had a lot of time to go in and work in our area because we've had meetings, and weekly planning, then Conference and so this week is when we are really going to see what's going on.

How is your new companion?

Elder Maroto is cool. He is 20 and from Costa Rica. He has 2 months in the mission and he really, really wants to learn English and speaks it well so he speaks English in the apartment and I speak Spanish. It’s a lot of fun, he is cool. He likes to have fun and he wants to work hard. We are a little slow on the bikes because he only has a transfer on a bike but that just comes with time. 

How do you like your new apartment mates?

Elder Maroto and I are in a 2 man. Which is kind of hard just because I'm so used to the 4's but its good. We are having fun.

How do you like training?

Eh. Training has been good I guess. I don't really have to teach him much. He already speaks Spanish. Now it’s just working on other parts of the work. Following the Spirit, how to teach, and the usual. But Elder Reber got him off to a really good start. Hopefully I don't ruin him! haaha

How is the ward/branch?

The Branch is good I guess. We have tons of less actives in our area and since we are both new we don't know anything at all >.< But we are working. We'll get a hold on it!

We were totally surprised you were transferred. We thought for sure you would stay in San B.  Is this called being white washed? I still haven't figured that out.  I guess one shouldn't try to think too much about the why's. 

White washed is when an area loses both of the missionaries that were there and puts 2 brand new ones that don't know the area. There are a lot of reasons it happens. Sometimes I think it’s to test the missionary cause it’s hard when nobody knows anything about an area >.< But Elder Maroto was in this Branch last transfer with Elder Reber, just in the other area, so he has an idea which helps a bit.

On the map it looks like San B., Highlands and Redlands are all pretty close to each other. Will you be closer to the president?  Does he want to keep an eye on you? :o)
Yeah I guess I'm closer to the president, I saw him at Priesthood session on Saturday. But I mean other than that we don't have tons of contact.

I sent you a package with pumpkin muffins in it.  Hopefully you get the box soon.

I got the package and we ate the muffins! They were delicious!!!

General Conference is next weekend; do you want me to send you the quote cards again from conference? 

Quote cards would be awesome!!!!

Have you heard anything about ipads lately?

Nope. We are having a meeting with the head of the missionary department in 2 weeks so maybe we'll find out more then haha

I loved Conference it was really good!

Some Highlights:

From Elder D. Tod Christofferson. I loved his talk about who has responsibility of our lives. and the quote "God will not make us become something we don't want to become. I know that is true. I have seen it out here on the mission. We can pray all we want to become better but until we start acting and studying and doing things better we aren't going to get that help!

and From Elder M. Russell Ballard. I really liked the story about staying on the boat and how if we do we'll be safe but if we get off we have a really good chance of getting lost and drowning. So Everybody STAY ON THE BOAT!!!!

Like I said about the week. Not much really happened so I'll go into the pictures I sent home :)

So to start off. After District meeting on Tuesday we took some pictures as a district! Yay! I'm going to miss them a lot :(

 

There is a nice picture of a street in my old area that had a lot of Palm Trees!!

 

Last Photo with the Elders in San B.

 

And that's about it for this week.

Oh yeah I'm a district leader now too >.< haha. So much responsibility!!! Not really. Only a little bit more. It'll be fun :)

Well that's all I got for the week! I hope you all have a great week! Your awesome! I love you! The church is true! God is our Loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and they Lead this Church and the Prophet! We are doing their work and we are being helped by them! Pray for Their Help and They will give it to you!

-Elder Zachary Gore

September 29, 2014

Hey Mom!

So this week has been pretty good :) 

 So to start with the pics. We got dinner from the Robles Family and they gave us burritos and they were all wrapped up nice and then there were 3 in each one of the bundles and they were absolutely amazing!!!!

And then funny enough yesterday for dinner we had Chili Relleno's wrapped in a burrito! Those were amazing too!!!! Ahhhh!!!

I found out yesterday that I'm leaving on Wednesday :( I'm going to the Lagonia Branch in Redlands so that should be fun. Maybe safer? haha I dont know haha. But yeah I'm going to be finishing training. So my new companion is only like 6 weeks out in his mission. But if I’m right he is a native, from Costa Rica. Maybe I can learn a cool new accent :)

As for this last week: After the bike tune up my bike is running really, really nice. I'm very happy about it :) We have been focusing a lot on finding and so we've been finding some really good cool people. We found a girl named Treasure and we had a really cool lesson with her and her boyfriend. We brought a member with us, Ernie, and he was a lot of help in teaching and Treasure seems really, really interested.

That’s really all I've got this week. It’s been a little slow. I'm not sure why but it has been.  Hopefully next week is better with my new comp! 

I love you all! I know the church is true and that we are doing the work of God!

-Elder Zachary Gore

September 22, 2014

Hey Mom!

So this week has been pretty sweet! We had interviews with president, mine was really short again but he gave me an assignment, I have to have 4 deep questions for my next interview.

We also went and did service for our bishop and we built a shed because they are moving in with family and need a place to put their stuff! So we helped them and it was a lot of fun. We got taken home in a tiny truck because this happened right before interviews.

JOHANA and GABRIEL GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I got invited to the baptism this last Saturday! It was Friday night and I didn't have a ride or anything so I called Hno. Lizama (Shout out to the Lizama's!!!) and he came and picked me up from San Bernardino to take me to Beaumont!!! The baptism was amazing! The spirit was super strong and it was just awesome! Johana told me that Gabriel was asking about me that morning to know if I was going to be able to come and they thought I probably wouldn't be but I surprised them all.  Gabriel ran up and gave me a big hug as soon as he saw me! I love that family soooo much!!! I got to see Mark and Diva too! Sean, Hno Glausser, and Hno Turley, Hna. Chang! I love this ward so much!!!

There was also a drive-by this last week. We were in our studies and we heard a car peel out and screech down the road and then there was a huge !BANG! and we weren't sure if it was a gunshot or a car back fire until about an hour later when we went outside and there were cops everywhere! It was a drive-by shooting :/ Another exciting day in San B. haha

Ok so last but not least! We have the New Mormon Movie! Called Meet The Mormons! We are going to go and have a special early release showing with our mission president tomorrow! So I don't know how the movie is but I strongly encourage all of you to go see it! and see it quickly! Because the more people go see it when it is new the longer they will keep it in theaters! So go support!!!

But yeah! I hope everyone has a good week! I know this church is true and I know we are doing the work of God. We are lead by a prophet and we have the authority of God to perform the necessary ordinances of Salvation! Pray Daily, Read Daily and Go to Church!

Special Shout out to Ian and Joon!!! Mission Calls!!!! Woo Hoo!!! Go Get 'em!!!

-Elder Zachary Gore