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