June 23, 2014

This week has been good. A little tough but good. Mostly just because well everyone has gone on vacation so nobody is home and nobody is outside. Except for kids going to the pool. But other than that it’s been a little rough. But we were able to have some good lessons. One of these was with our less active/recent convert B.  He is like the coolest kid. He just won’t wake up to go to church. He wants to go he likes it. He just has no support and he doesn't wake up to his alarm clock. So we are trying to figure out how to help him. But we taught him and helped him memorize the First Vision in Spanish. Next we might go with it in English. But we are basically training him for his mission. It’s a lot of fun :)

We also had a donut party after finishing weekly planning. It’s really good stuff, weekly planning, but it takes a long time so we got some donuts. Woo Hoo!!!!

Dispues eso (after that) We got a picture of Ismael and we put it on a flier that is an invitation to his baptism. It says basically I want you to come to my baptism. It’s really fun and it’s been a hit. Everyone thinks it’s adorable.  We are so excited for him! Woo Hoo!

We also took Israel out with us yesterday and had with us for studies, and lunch, and dinner and until 9. It was sweet and a lot of fun to have him with us!

We also had interviews with president this last week. Mine was like 5 mins long. Which I'm ok with, I'd also be ok if they were longer. I just don't have any questions or anything. I'm not trying to hold some record. I just don't really have much to say. I'm just trying to work, and learn, teach, and be obedient.

And well that was about the week. Nothing much happened. Oh!!!! But I have some cool pictures on the bikes and stuff!

We ride no hands and standing sometimes.  So we thought we'd just take some fun pictures of that.

 Hermano Chang and I had a race across the gym on the mops.  We stood on them and then scooted our way across. It was intense and crazy and fun. I won but it was good. This happened after we cleaned up the baptism/wedding that the other elders had. I forgot to take pictures.  

So yeah that's about been my week. Oh fun fact. It got to over 100 degrees outside. I mean it might have done that before. But we didn't know until like Thursday when someone told us it was 104. I was like hmmm. Weird it doesn't feel that hot at all.

Well that's all I got for this week! I hope everyone has a good week and lots of fun on your break! Hey people! Please write me back if I've written you >.< I never get mail and it’s hard to respond when you have nothing to go on.

You’re the best! I know this Church True. God Lives! He Loves Us and wants us to be happy! I know the Book of Mormon is True. I read it every day and I always learn something new and feel the Holy Spirit testifying to me that its true. I invite everyone to read it. Whether member or non-member and take the Challenge in Moroni Chapter 10 verses 3-5. To read it, ponder it, meditate on it, and pray to God, our Heavenly Father, in the Name of Jesus Christ, to know if it’s true. Because God won’t lie to us. And if we really desire to know and are willing to change everything then the Lord will send the Holy Ghost to testify to us that it is true. You will feel peace, happiness, joy, calm, maybe warmth. This is how the spirit speaks to us.

Have a wonderful week!!!

-Elder Zachary Gore

June 16, 2014

Hey Everybody!

So to start off. What the heck! I have a baby sister! This is so crazy!!!!!!!...Ok I'm good. But seriously its kind of weird. It doesn't quite feel real. Maybe like in a couple days or when I Skype yall this Christmas it'll seem more real.

 

Elder Gore's new baby sister.

This week was kind of slow. But it was good. I got to see Elder Moore again. He is one our Zone Leaders now. So that was fun. But I realized how much I don't like being in a car. You can't talk to anyone. And so it’s just not as much fun. But the AC is pretty nice.

Other than that well. We took Brayan out with us. He is a super cool kid and loves to be out with us. He is a great help at lessons and has a very strong testimony. We went and did some door knocking, which is different from tracting. I'd explain it, but I think I'm going to get kicked off in 10 mins. So anyway we took him with us and had him knock a door, the person who answered was a big guy named Christopher.  We talked to him for a little while and found out he wants to start coming closer to God and we gave him a copy of The Book Of Mormon.  He said he would read it and then we contacted the English Elders and gave them his information and as far as we know they are now teaching him and he went to church on Sunday. So that was really cool! Oh and we found a random pencil sharpener on the side of a house.

On Thursday we had dinner with Hermana Escobar and her boyfriend and well we found out she has a Maserati. And we were all like "WHAT!?!" and so we went for a little ride cause like it’s a Maserati. When am I ever going to have the chance to ride in one of those again!? And she has a Honda Civic too so we thought we'd be kind of funny. And after that we taught the Hermana and her boyfriend about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Using the pictures and it went really well the Spirit was there very strong and the boyfriend who isn't a member told us he liked being around us and listen to the things we said and taught because he could feel a peace and a calm inside himself. He isn't an investigator because he lives in L.A and drives out every other weekend or so to see the Hermana. But he comes to church. So I see him becoming interested very soon!

More than that we had a ward party to celebrate the Fathers and they asked us to come set up. And so we did all of the stuff in the pictures! The crowns were for the winners of the games but we put them on for kicks before the party started. And then there were the games. Musical Chairs and the 3 legged Race. Hermano P and Hermano C took my belt to hold themselves together.

Elder & Sisters of the San Gorgonio Branch

So all in all it was a pretty good week! I have to go now the computer is about to cut me off! I hope everyone has a great week and has lots of missionary experiences!

I know this church is true and that the message the missionaries share is true! Have a great week!

-Elder Zachary Gore

June 9, 2014

Alright so this week has been crazy!!!! Just crazy intense!! We taught over 30 lessons this week. Which may not seem like a lot but I've never been over 23 lessons in a week so this is pretty impressive. Not because of me. But we are being more obedient and talking to everyone. I've always had a problem talking to people partially because well my last 2 companions weren't very good at it and didn't like it so like we never talked to anyone. Which now that I think about it how did we ever get new investigators? oh well. But Elder M is a boss at talking to people and so I've had to really step it up and get going. I'm not comfortable with it but I'm getting comfortable with the uncomfortableness of just stopping next to people and talking to them on the side of the road.

We have been working hard and teaching everyone we see. Basically if we stop and say hi and they stop and talk to us and if we feel prompted we pull out a restoration pamphlet and begin teaching. It has been very successful. After we teach we ask if we could stop by and talk to them more. They feel the spirit and they almost always say yes so we send the addresses those who speak English as referrals to the English missionaries and we follow up with the people that speak Spanish. It has been totally awesome how many prepared people we have found. We have sent about 8 people to the English missionaries and we found 5 new investigators this week!

Ismael is a total boss! We had a lesson with him this last week and taught him about the Word of Wisdom (which to anyone who doesn't know. The Word of Wisdom is a health guide to help keep our bodies physically and spiritually clean and health. It involves eating healthy foods, such as fruits, vegetables, grains, and meat sparingly (sparingly mostly meaning when you have meat it’s accompanied by other healthy foods) and it warns against the use of Tea, Coffee, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illegal Drugs and Addictive Substances. Because well those are bad for our body and we feel better and are stronger and healthier without them.) and the Law of Chastity(which is a commandment from God that deals with abstinence from sexual relationships before marriage). And the lesson was awesome and he had been having some doubts about baptism. Mostly because he wanted to be sure that he was ready. That he knew enough. And we promised him that if he prayed that he would receive his answer and that maybe he wouldn't be totally sure before his baptism but we told him that after his baptism and after he is confirmed and receives the gift of the Holy Ghost he would have a greater capacity to understand and that he would know it was the right thing to do. And well He prayed and we asked him about it and he said he was praying and he asked if it was the right thing to do and he says he heard a voice. And that voice told him that he should be baptized. So he is 100% set on doing this. We are so excited for him!

Other than that we have found Alex, Jessie, Jerry, Alejo, and Manny this last week. We don't know tons about them but we have return appointments for this week. So we hope to be able to tell you more later!!!

We are starting to see miracles in the mission. People who are prepared are being put in our path so we can find them and I know they can be put in your paths too if you pray and ask to be blessed with experiences to share the Gospel. I can feel and see my ability to teach, my ability to speak Spanish, and my receptiveness to promptings of the Spirit increase little by little every day. This last week has been awesome! And I can't wait to see the improvements during this week!

I hope everyone is doing good and having a great summer vacation!!!!

Love you all!!!!

Elder Zachary Gore!

May 27, 2014

Ok so to start off for this week it’s been alright. We didn't have a lot of crazy stuff. Really the thing that is the saddest is that Elder R is leaving. He is being moved to Rialto and he is going to be in an AP trio. Like what the!!!! 3 AP's its madness!  But it'll be good. It’s probably time for a change I've learned a lot from Elder R about leadership and teaching and especially Spanish. 3 transfers with only hearing Spanish. Yeah I don't have any problems with accents. I mean sometimes my mind wanders a little but yeah. I'm really going to miss him a lot :/ Oh well. Other than that nobody else in the branch is leaving and my new companion will be Elder M ,coming from Coachella. So this is crazy I guess Heavenly Father is entrusting me with an area. I hope I don't mess anything up.

Other than that we had a good lesson with Ismael and his family. They are progressing and it’s really exciting! They love church and they feel good there and they are learning and they feel happier in their lives. I'm so excited for them!!!!

That's really about it. We had a zone conference and well musical instruments are no longer allowed. So even though I wasn't being disobedient with it I'm going to send home my uke :'( And I won’t play another one until I get home from my mission. Man this is going to be hard >.<

My Spanish is getting better and I'm getting better at teaching. We are working to be exactly obedient and our area is growing. We are excited and happy and ready for the next transfer but I'm really going to miss Elder R :/

Hope everyone has a good week! I'll talk to you later!!!

Elder Zachary Gore