#stilltracting

Week 5: #stilltracting

I'm sorry I'm the worst at writing emails!  I just have zero time and
this week has been crazy. Tuesday we went on exchanges and I GOT TO
DRIVE!! Since we only have 4 sisters in our zone and one STL (Sister Training Leader), the greenies were companions for a day. Sister Smith came out the transfer before me but doesn't like driving, so I got to. So I got to experience driving with TiWi (a driving monitoring system). But yeah exchanges were awesome.

Thursday we had the Greenie meeting in Gridley, which is two hours
south.  So I got to see everyone from my MTC group which made me super happy!! So that meeting lasted 3 hours so we got back just in time for dinner then had an awesome lesson with Kurt, a less active in the YSA (Young Single Adult) ward. 

I'm sooooo excited for Christmas! Also the week leading up to Christmas is pretty much P-week. FRIDAY IS CHRISTMAS AND I GET TO SKYPE MY FAMILY AND I AM SO BEYOND EXCITED!!!!
Gunna be honest, Saturday's usually really stink, they are honestly
the hardest days of the week, but today was AMAZING! First of all
G. got baptized!! She wasn't our investigator, she's in the first
ward, but we've met with her and the other missionaries a couple times
and she's amazing. At her baptismal service, Sister Watson and I  taught the Restoration while she was changing her clothes, I was nervous but the Spirit was there and so it was all good! G. has had a super hard life, and when she was baptized when she came up she just started sobbing because she was so happy, I had never seen someone do that before and it just reminded of how special this gospel is and just seeing how happy she is makes me want to share it more. Then later that day, we had plan to see less actives but they all weren't home or couldn't talk, so what did we do? Yup you guessed it. More tracting. And it was awesome!! Okay well actually we went back to this one potentials house who Sister Watson and Sister Smith tracted into when they
were in exchanges, and she was home and she read the plan of salvation pamphlet, she said she's nondemonational but just confused with all the different church's and wishes she could go up to heaven and just ask God which one!! IS SHE PREPARED OR IS SHE PREPARED!!! She was busy so we couldn't say much, so we left her with the restoration pamphlet and plan to go back after Christmas!! Then we went tracting on a street a member referred to us (we were at dinner and we asked if they had any friends that we should share a message with, and they named off some houses and then we're like well you could try the whole street) so we tried the couple houses she referred and as usual no one was interested. And as we're getting into the car, I kept getting the thought that we should try this one house, and I tried shaking it off because we were freezing and tired, so we open up the car doors and I say what about that house and so we go up the house and she answers and SHE SAID WE COULD COME BACK!! I was so happy and sooo grateful for the impression! We have really been praying for new investigators so she is now a potential! It's amazing how the Lord works. Sister Watson and I were just venting this morning about how hard were working and we’re exhausted and it's been hard to see the results, and nothing may come of it , but we just pray that it will, but for right now the Lord knew what we needed as well to help us see that we are doing His work and that if we have diligence and patience and faith in HIS timing, that we will see the outcome of our hard work. I've only been out 5 weeks but it's hard work. We are always exhausted. I have no trouble sleeping haha. It's physically, spiritually, emotionally, and socially exhausting, especially these past few days. But I know without a doubt that Redding California is exactly where I need to be right now. He is with me and I can see it.
Especially at this time I am so grateful for this gospel and the
knowledge of the plan of salvation and that families are forever. I am
grateful for all the trials I have had to make me stronger, I know
that the Lord has been preparing me for this one. While all my family
is together in Arizona, I'm up here in California. And although I am
by myself (not actually because I have a companion, but none of my
family is here) I have never felt alone. I have been given the
strength to press on, to not fear, to endure, to rely on the Lord, to
trust in Him, and I cannot describe how it feels to be given that.
President Marston asked me to call my family and say goodbye to my
grandma. I am grateful for him and his love and concern for my family.
I am grateful for that tender mercy of being able to speak to Grandma
for the last time in this life, it was difficult but knowing that this
goodbye is not forever makes it easier. My purpose is more clear, most
people do now have this knowledge and I can't imagine the heartache of not knowing that I will see her again. I am grateful for Sister Watson
and her love and concern for my family. I'm grateful to be a
missionary, to have truth and to share it.
I'm grateful for my(our) Savior. I know that without Him, we cannot
have true happiness. I cannot express how grateful I am for the
atonement, that He knows exactly how I feel, because He has felt it
all. Don't forget why we celebrate this season.   I love you so much!
Merry Christmas
Sister Gore

#miracles

Wow I cannot believe another week has flown by!! Its crazy how fast time moves!! Tomorrow is my one month mark out!!!hip hip hooray!! Imade it a month!! Only 17 to go!
First investigator lesson! Finally had a lesson with Morgan!! She is so sweet and the Spirit there was fantastic! I'm so excited for our next lesson with her! 

I don't even remember what happened since I last wrote. All I know is that the more I open my mouth and testify of Christ, the more I love it and the more motivated I am to share the gospel. They all call it Greenie Fire, but I'm doing my best to make sure I have it for 18 months!! Speaking of, I hit my month mark!! So I have 17 1/2 months to go (I go home two weeks after I hit 18 months) I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! I dread the day I have to take off my name tag, so I'm going enjoy every second of it!

ITS ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!! Thanks grandma for the hats, there super cute!! And thanks to everyone who wrote a note for me for the 25 days of Christmas! It makes me so happy to hear y'alls  support from home!!
Sister Watson and I went tracting (knocking on doors and talking to strangers (children of God)). So for any RMs you know what tracting means, it means you have no one to teach and all your less actives have been visited, it's your last resort and you’re desperate. So Sister Watson "randomly" (Gods hand is in everything, nothing is coincidence) gets an email from a missionary in Canada, and it's a 50 page packet of finding ideas (if any missionaries want it, let me know and I'll send it to you) and in it was giving a church tour, so we thought hey maybe
we could do that.  So we pray where to go tracting and head out. So we start tracting and not many people answer the door and if they do we asked them if we could share a short Christmas video and they say no. Until we get to one neighborhood, and all of a sudden Sister Watson was
an inviting a lady to a church tour on Saturday at 4 at the Sunflower building, she seemed super interested and asked how to get there, we gave her a card with our number and left. I was like so I guess we're having a church tour!! So that's what we did, for probably 30+ houses we invited people to the church tour! And people actually said they would be there!!! That was Thursday (I think), so Saturday rolls around, and we go to the church and set up the whole building and practice; we bring a TON of pamphlets and copies of the Book of
Mormon. So it's like 3:53 and a car pulls up and we got so excited, but it was our ward mission leader. And 15 minutes after 4, still no one comes, so I turn to Sister Watson and say "even if no one comes, the church is still true and God still loves us." So 4:30 comes and a car pulls up, but it's the other sister missionaries. So it's like 4:45 and we've come to terms that no one is coming. So we do what missionaries know best (well one of them) ROLE PLAY! So the sisters and the ward mission leader and his wife, were all none members and we just gave them the
tour. Which still went super awesome! The spirit was sooooo strong, especially in the Chapel. That room is so sacred and special. So although no one came, it was still a great experience and being able to testify of the restored gospel and the atonement of Jesus Christ, grew my own testimony.

I went to my first ward council!! The ward is the bomb!! I mean so willing to help us!! We are fed every single night!! which is amazing!!


SHORT VERSION OF THE STORY: I cannot believe how much the Lord and this work has changed me for the better. He is smoothing out my edges, I can feel it. Sister Watson and I went tracting today and saw miracle after miracle. I finally opened my mouth and boy was it filled. It's so much fun to do the work of the Lord, and when someone stops you mid-sentence and tells you they aren't interested, it's okay, they just aren't ready yet, he is not the one the Lord has prepared for us, and
then we move to the next house, with faith that they will answer, will feel the spirit, and let us in. Nobody let us in, but that's okay. Happiness was a 10 today. Open your mouth and it shall be filled. 

Today we had a bbq and went sledding in Mount Shasta!! We're pretty much the only missionaries in California that have this opportunity to go sledding in the mountains so we're taking advantage!!! It was so much fun!! There are some fun videos too but I don't have them yet! And yes I am wearing Sperry’s and yes I went sledding in them, that part wasn’t
very fun haha but we're in Cali so no one had snow gear.

Love,

Sister Gore

#asaviorisborn

December 7, 2015

Oh my goodness this week was soooooo good! I felt like a real missionary and it's super cool! Pday was awesome we went to goodwill and target and me and Sister Watson got matching outfits!!! Don't worry they were on sale! 

  Tuesday was literally the BEST DAY EVER.
#storytime so on Saturday we went to visit a less active at Magnolia Apartments, turns out she doesn't live there and a pregnant lady answered the door so we super sad that we couldn't see her. That night I was like we should've talked to the pregnant lady but was like oh well. Come Tuesday Sister Watson felt very strongly that we should go back and talk to the pregnant lady that answered the door. I totally agreed. So in our comp. prayer we told the Lord we would be the Magnolia Apartments at 5pm, so that we were working with the Lord in our plan to talk to her. So we were in the neighborhood and got there at like 4:45 and nobody answered the door and I thought it was because we were too early but it turns out she ignored us. So we get back in the car super sad that we didn't get to talk to her and all of the sudden I'm like we need to get out of the car and go talk to the lady walking her dog, like super strong impression, I just could not shake it, trust me I tried. I was super scared and Sister Watson asked me if I had faith? And I was like I want to. That's something I'm working on, not letting my fear over come my faith. So after a few minutes of battling this prompting, we get out of the car and this man is
standing near at the bus stop near the apartment and comes up to us and we start talking and then calls over his girlfriend. Long story short they're trying to put their lives back together and she has been looking for a church so we gave her a Christmas pass along card with our names and number and gave them a Book of Mormon!!! It was so awesome! It was an OYM (open your mouth) moment combined with listening to the Spirit. We told Heavenly Father where we would be and when, and he had someone preparing for the gospel there, although it wasn't who we expected. So grateful that we both were listening to the Spirit and we were given the courage to get out of the car and open our mouths.

Boy have we done ALOT of finding. That's pretty much all we do. Is talk to less actives and knock on their neighbors doors. It's actually a lot of fun and adventurous, but tiring as well. But when you actually have the chance to talk to people and share the gospel, oh boy it makes it all worth it, to knock all those doors to find the one. I have definitely learned the importance of planning and then
telling God your plan and if you follow through and follow the Spirit, he will give you prepared people! It's so awesome!

Sunday we had a lesson with two of the elders in our zone and one of their investigators who is getting baptized in two weeks. She was glowing, she was sooo happy and just wants to follow Christ and is doing her best to do so. She asked that me and Sister Watson go to her baptism, which is super cool because I just met her and we'll be teaching her the recent convert lessons because she's technically in our ward, so I'm super excited!!

I want y'all to know that I know without a doubt this church is true. I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and its power. It has changed my life. I have a testimony of the restored gospel, that we have a prophet on the earth today, that he leads and guides us as directed by
God. I am so grateful for my Savior and for his atoning sacrifice, that I can have a clean slate and try to improve myself every day.
Don't be afraid to open your mouth and be an example of Christ like love. Look for ways to serve those around you. If you are feeling down on yourself, look outward, look for ways you can uplift those around you.
Check out the new Christmas videos (we got to see them the MTC and at the mission office before it came out, I'm sooo excited it's out and we can show it to people, our mission is actually having a competition as to which zone can had out the most cards and show the video) it's
super awesome sooo share it!
Christmas.mormon.org

With love
Sister Gore #thechurchistrue #asaviorisborn #merrychristmas