Week 31: God Bless America!

July 4, 2016

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! Hooray! I am so grateful to live in a country
where I can freely worship my Heavenly Father! What a blessing that
is! I'm so glad it's Pday this Fourth of July, it's one of my
favorite holidays! I love the bbq's, the family and friends, the
fireworks and the feeling of Summer. This Fourth of July will be a
little bit different, I'm not with my family, I won't be with friends
and no fireworks and it's definitely a different summer than I usually
have. But there is no place I would rather be. I am going to enjoy
this time that I have to be a missionary on this day! I am grateful
to be a servant of the Lord and to preach His word and to share His
light and His goodness!

So it was transfers this week and they are always super crazy
and I've only been in this area 6 weeks so I feel like I am shot
gunning! It's tough, it’s a big area and everything looks the same!
But with the Lords help I will figure it out!
Pday was fun, it was filled with just hanging out, signing in journals

and saying goodbyes. Elder Dunn, the former AP is headed
home, so we got to say goodbye to him!

Tuesday we stopped by the other sisters apartment so Sister M. could say goodbye and we headed to the mission office! Well we
actually made some pit stops to Bath & Body works! The only one
around here is in Roseville so we had to take advantage of this
beautiful opportunity and I am so glad we did because THEY WERE HAVING
A SALE! I repeat S.A.L.E.! It was beautiful! Then we stopped by cover
to cover, which is like a Desert Book and got Holy Tabbs! 

If they don't know what they are look them up! It pretty much helps you mark all
the scriptures from the Preach My Gospel lessons and helps you find
them more easily! I'm excited to put them in my scriptures!!
We finally made it to the mission office where Sister P was patiently waiting because we were late, per usual. Oops!  I love going to the mission office on transfer day it's a big reunion! I got to see Elder J. and Elder K.  who I
served with in Redding!! Sister L. was there too and she came out
with me! It was just a blast! I found out some missionaries were coming down
from Redding, but they wouldn't be there for another hour so I was
bummed I missed them!

We came back to the apartment and got Sister P. settled
in. She hurt her knee a while back and had an allergic reaction to
some mosquito bites, so she rested for a while. It was nice to have
some quiet time and get some things done! I was able to write some
letters and Thank You notes from my birthday! The only thing is, I
wish we could've gotten straight to work, I find that the way you
start the transfer sets the tone. But we had a really good night so
it's all good!
        We had dinner and then went finding! We tried contacting a
former investigator but the house was empty so we tracted the street a bit.
We then tried a member who no longer comes to church, I had never met and she
was actually home and we were able to have a wonderful lesson with her
and invite her to read the Book of Mormon everyday! It was a great
start of the transfer!

Alright! So Thursday was probably my favorite day of this
whole week! We did some service at the Salt Mine and had lunch with
our district. The Salt Mine gave us free Little Caesars!! Yay free
lunch! We then went finding! We met a former investigator who let us in and gave us water! We got to talking and he let us share a scripture from the Book
of Mormon with him. We shared 2 Nephi 25:26 with him and talked about
how that verse sums up what the Book of Mormon does. It testifies of
Jesus Christ and how we can follow him and how be forgiven of our
sins. He really appreciated it and we invited him to read the
scriptures each day, he said he would!
         Then we were sitting in our car figuring out who to see next
when we hear a noise that sounds like pebbles hitting our car. We look
out the car window and see two pointy ears! We open the car door and a
little puppy runs in and practically jumps on top of Sister P. haha
it was so hot outside its poor little paws were probably burning up!
We found a phone number on her dog tags and called the owner! It just
so happened that they lived right around the corner from where we
were. We drove over and dropped off their dog.

Despite having a good day, I wasn't in a very good mood. So we
went to our dinner appointment and they gave us $25 because her dad

was in hospital, so we went to subway and it was super good!
We then decided to go to HomeSpun for desert!

So we're at homespun (oh my goodness, I'm so excited! I've been
waiting all week to tell y'all this story) and I usually get the same
thing every time and this was Sister P. first time so I have my fro
yo and she was still deciding the flavors. So I was helping myself to
some toppings, when the boy working behind the counter asked me how I
was doing and if I had just gotten off of church. I explained that I
am full time missionary for the church. He was like oh that's super
cool, so which church I love learning about different religions. I told
him the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and asked him if
he's heard of it. He said that he actually has met with missionaries
in the past! I can't remember the entire conversation, but I was able
to bear my testimony of the Savior and how much the gospel has helped
me in my life. We talked about the Book of Mormon and he said he's
read from it and really likes it! He mentioned he likes the Old
Testament because of "it's darkness" haha so we told him he would like
the war chapters and invited him to read from Alma! He said that we
would do that as soon as he got off work!!! Sister P. was next to
me at this point, so Ikaikah, the boy working, gave us free fro-yo!!!
Like what!?! A gospel discussion and frozen yogurt?! Can it even get
better than that!?! So we are excited to go back homespun and check in
with him!!

I fully believe that there are no such things as coincidences.
We were supposed to be there at that time. Ikaikah needs the gospel
and I needed that experience of bearing my testimony of my Savior! I
am so grateful for that experience, it testifies to me that the Lords
hand is in all things. At that time I was willing to have a gospel
conversation, more than willing, I wanted to have one!! And Ikaikah
was being prepared! Miracles happen, if we are obedient and willing to
follow the Spirit.

    Friday we had district meeting which was really strange, because
our district leader is shotgun training!  And then we got to work
weekly planning. It's always weird the first weekly planning of the
transfer with a new companion. Everyone likes weekly planning
differently so sometimes it's hard to adjust to different styles.
We're still figuring it out, but I am very excited for this week!

So here's some bad news. So it's Saturday afternoon and I call
T. to remind him about church and that's it's fast Sunday (last fast
Sunday he asked us to call him and remind thin because he wanted to
fast too) and he answers and says there are some things that he just
can't wrap his head around.  He decided that he doesn't want to take

the lessons anymore. He loves us and thanked us for helping him come

closer to God but he needs a break. I told him we were sorry we couldn't

help him more. I am so sad, I wish I did more, but I know that he has his

agency. I think his experience shows me how important it is to have a

testimony of the basic principles of the gospel and the Restoration.

 T. does not have that. So when the deeper things came, he was just confused. We  could all do better, but we cannot force our investigators to do
things, they have agency. I really thought T. was going to be
baptized, but I know that one day he will. I am grateful for the
experiences I had teaching him. My testimony has been strengthened and
he has become a friend that I know I will come back and visit.
Hope everyone is doing well and enjoys their Fourth of July!
Love y'all!
Sister Gore🙌🏻