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

Always Learning Something New

Monday, May 19th, 2014

Hey Everybody! So this week has been one of our best!

We received training on Tuesday in Zone Meeting about planning and how to do it better and the way we needed to do it. So we started to plan better and more effectively. It was amazing how much difference there was when we planned exactly by PMG (Preach My Gospel manual) . We have been having better lessons that are being more led by the Spirit. We are also in better unity when we teach and more focused on the needs of our investigator and members.

Oh and we were told we are still allowed to tract but there is a very specific way we are supposed to do it. It’s basically we pick and hour or so of the day and at the end of Planning we dedicate that time to tracking and tell Heavenly Father that we are going to be on such and such a street at such and such a time. So like for example 2 pm to 3pm on Pennsylvania Street, between 8th and 10th streets. Then when we go we have to be in the area from 2 to 3. Because we don't know if Heavenly Father will put the person that is ready in our path at 2:01 or 2:59. So we've done a bit of that but its kind of hard. Not many people answer the door so I don't have any good tracking stories yet. Hopefully sometime this week.

It has been getting hot out here. I guess it got up to around 100 over the last couple days. It’s not too bad though. We have water and it’s a really,  really dry heat. So it really isn't that bad.

The pictures start with Elder Baer and Elder Renovato just being themselves after planning one night.  Elder Baer is writing in his journal and Elder Renovato is being weird. Just kidding he was just tired we'd had a long day biking.

Then I have a couple from cutting the hair of a kid named Juan. It’s really funny everyone is asking me for haircuts.

Then we have Elder Renovato holding up a bottle of catsup.

 Which I didn't believe that it actually existed.  I mean my dad and people have talked about it but I thought it was some made up thing. I found out that Deseret Industries has its own ketchup called Catsup. Who'd have thunk it?







 This ^ happened while we were at a members house for breakfast on Saturday. It was really, really good!!  So we have some pics of us all at the table. 

This is the new puppy pitbull that the Landin family has. It’s crazy. His name is Rex and he follows me around everywhere. He jumps all over the place and then will randomly just lay down. It’s really funny! But I guess if I ever leave and come back the dog will hopefully remember me and not kill me.

>This is the best thing from the week!!!!<

This last Friday we had an amazing experience with a young man named Ismael, his mother, Johanna, and little brother Gabriel(he is 7). Ismael is 11 and is very interested in the church because one of his uncles that he was very close to passed away recently and the Plan Of Salvation answers all the questions he had. We taught him on Friday and committed him to come to church, read the Book Of Mormon and he has accepted the invitation to be baptized and is preparing for the 7 of June. His mother is also very interested and the only reason she didn't accept the 7th as well is because she has a weird work schedule and can’t come to church every week. But she is fully supportive of Ismael and they came to church yesterday and loved it. And what makes it even better is that they are best friends with one of the wards best families. There are 2 returned missionaries in the family and the mother is a temple worker and they are a huge help. We are super excited for Ismael, Johanna, and Gabriel.

We are so excited I really hope I get to stay another transfer and help them progress!!!!

That's all I got for the week. I hope everyone is having fun and doing good the last little bit of school! 

I know this church is True! I know God is our Loving Heavenly Father and he wants us to be happy!

Talk to you all next week. I'm being cut off! Bye!!!!

Elder Gore

May 12, 2014

May 12, 2014

Well this week we did some service at a less active members house. We helped move a bunch of logs.  I was almost the smallest there but I was picking up logs that everybody else needed help lifting. Then we spread a bunch of dirt over the driveway.

And we had dinner at the Sierra's home. We had chicken with this stuff called mole on it. I don't know how to spell it but you say it like "mole-A" it’s really good. It’s like chocolate but its kind of spicy. It’s weird but really cool.

Spiritual experiences: Well I gave a talk on Sunday about mothers and I related my mom to the mothers of the 2000 Stripling Warriors in Alma 56. And Well I didn't think I did a good job and it felt very choppy and well in my opinion bad everyone said my speaking was clear and fluid which shows me that Heavenly Father helps us to fulfill our callings. He will give us steadiness and help us accomplish all that we need to. I'm grateful for this talk and for the opportunity to serve a mission here in Cali!

I know this church is true and I'm grateful for the chance I have to serve as a missionary and be a Representative of Jesus Christ.

That's all I got! Have a great week everybody!  

Elder Gore

Pictures

May 5, 2014

So to start off with. Elder Renovato and I cleaned that fridge. We got it from a member so we could give it to an investigator who's fridge died like 3 weeks ago. It was nasty inside. I didn't want to take a picture.

 We went on exchanges, this one day this week, I went English and it was really, really weird. We didn't really teach anyone. But I got to drive the truck and the wind was crazy that day.

Then we found a chair in the middle of nowhere and I had to sit in it.

Also the Terminator Car. Crazy!!! Its so cool!!!! 

Then we have Yaretzi. She just turned 4 and she says I am her bestfriend. She's really cute and super funny haha.

Elder Renovato and I had our first whole fishes. As in we pulled the skin and meat off of the bones of that fish and ate it. It was really really weird. I like fish but I realized that like after my mission if I never had more I'd be ok with that haha.

Then we have Elder Gonzalez turning 20 so we went to Tacos and Beer. One of the best restaurants ever!!!! And had a little party for him! Deroche made a cake and it was really really good!!!

We were at Brayans house and he got a gopher in his yard so we took some pictures and then stuck a hose down the hole.

On Saturday we went to lunch with Hermano Glausser. Denny's!!!! Man Pancakes With Cinnimon and Vanilla drizzle. Sooooooooo Goooooood!

That's Lance. He turned 8 about a month ago. He's a boss. Everyone thinks he looks like me. Its probabaly because we are the 2 white kids with brown hair haha

Today we played Soccer with the English Elders and kicked their butts haha. Elder Renovato lent me a jersey to wear while we played. It was a lot of fun!

and that's about all I got!

 Elder Gore