Week 63: Choosing to Change

Monday, February 13, 2017

For pday...we actually did something!! We went Bowling!! I discovered that I still stink at it..but that's okay we had a grand ole time! 

Tuesday we did Half day exchanges with Sister C....n & Sister O! We had a fun day! Sister C....n and I are very similar and have become fast friends! It was wonderful to spend the day with her and to learn, grow and teach with her.

We had a hecka good Zone Meeting on Wednesday up in Oroville. We all met up at Dutch Bros and got hot cocoa before heading over to the church. They need Dutch Bros in Idaho and Virginia because it is bomb hot cocoa!! Anyways, we had a really good discussion about how we can help our wards in missionary work. Sister C and I saw a lot of missionaries complain about the problems but couldn't see how to fix it. Now, we are so incredibly blessed with wonderful leaders and members who love and support us, so it was nice to be able to be on the solution side. We talked about Handbook 2 chapter 5 (shout out to Brother Eccles ). In there it states all the roles of the missionaries, Ward Council, Ward members, everything! We also talked about starting with the individual. Every person and family is unique and has there own schedules, social groups and hobbies. We talked about helping families create a family mission plan and starting with simple goals that they can achieve to help them build confidence in doing the work of the Lord! 

We also had a great discussion on inviting and extending invitations. It's supposed important that we don't let the fear of "No" overcome our faith of "Yes". I always say, "The worst they can say is, but the best they can say is yes!" And how joyful it will be when they do say yes!! It will be wonderful! But none of will experience that joy if we don't ask!

Saturday - Area Book decided to break worldwide! It didn't work at all. We would click on the app, it'd pop up for a split second then go away. It was awful! Saturday are our finding days and so doing work was really hard. Everyone's information is in area Book. Where they live, what we have taught, when we last saw them etc. So it wasn't as productive but we did have a very spiritual, honest lesson with Kristian that night. We read through the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and he wasn't as talkative as he usually is. He didn't really have questions but I think he just felt discouraged. We got to the three kingdoms of glory. He told us that he wouldn't be going to the celestial kingdom, that he'd probably go to the  bottom because he felt he wasn't good enough. He felt like he has done to much wrong and it isn't his fate to change.

We testified of God's love and how he gave us the freedom to choose. Really, destiny is our own hands. We can change and at any time that we want. If we don't like our circumstances, we can change them. If we don't like our choices, we change them. It's what the Atonement is all about, change. I know that it is real. We can change for the better if we choose to let Christ change our hearts.

Because Valentine's Day is coming up, we have been sharing Moroni 7:45-47 as our dinner thoughts. It says, 

45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

As I thought about Christ and Charity, they are kind of the same thing. Christ is Charity and Charity is the pure love of Christ. So I did some word swapping in verse 46 and now like to read it,

46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not CHRIST, ye are nothing, for CHRIST never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto CHRIST which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail--

Ya see what I did there?! Christ performed the greatest act of love and Charity ever in the history of the world. He loves us so much! And I know that He can give us the strength to love others. To be kind, to reach out, to serve, the lift, the inspire, to care, to be a friend, to be a listening ear, to be anything He needs us to be. He showed us how to love, let's follow His example and build each other up!

Sunday was a great day! As some of you may or may not know, California has received a TON of rain this winter along with snow fall. All of this rain has built up and has filled the Oroville dam. This whole week people have been scared of it overflowing. The spillway is damage and there was a lot of trees blocking the emergency spillway. 

Well this whole week that's all we heard about was the Oroville dam and it didn't stop on Sunday. Half of Relief Society was about this problem. Sister C and I were literally laughing at the obsession because we both thought "There is no way, stop freaking out we're gonna be fine." Little did we know that about 5 hours later we would be getting a call from the Hermanas that we need to evacuate. We drove home. Put on pants, packed a few things and got in the car. We didn't hear anything from our leaders  and we don't have TV so we didn't have any information to work with. So we asked our neighbors and they said to go south...big mistake. We ended up being in the car for over 7 hours. It took us 2 hours to get to Yuba City when it usually takes us 15 mins. We called President and he said to come to Lincoln so that's where we headed. After sitting in number to number, stop go, stop go for 2 1/2 hours we all really had to go to the bathroom. We stopped at a gas station but of course it was closed. So we drive (oh yeah I'm the driver)  down this little country road and see a house with some lights on. Since we are missionaries and talk to strangers on a daily basis, we decided to knock on the door and see if they would let us use their restroom. And THERE IS A GOD! He and his family were so so kind. They let us use their restroom and gave us directions on how to get back on the 99 faster. So grateful for his kindness.

So we get back on the road and keep heading south. We look at our map and see that we missed our turn for Lincoln way back in Yuba so we turn around. It takes us 10 minutes the other way what took us 3 hours. Then we realize that we actually want to stay in the direction we were going. So we ended up sitting at this light for over an hour. I was actually very mad at this point. It was hard to make all these decisions because it was night, cars are everywhere and I'm not familiar with the area. So we turn around and get back in traffic. 

We're almost to Lincoln, when President asks us to come all the way to Antelope which adds another 2 hours to our trip. We had to go to the bathroom so bad again. But this time there were no gas stations or homes in sight. We saw a car with a box of pull ups in the passenger seat. Sister O rolled down the window to ask for some but he couldn't hear us. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We ended up making it down to Antelope at 1 am. We stayed with some Sisters who were probably less than thrilled to have us there, but they didn't show it. I don't blame them though because their 2 sister house became a 6 sister house. 

Let's just say I'm exhausted and my head is spinning. The whole experience felt like a movie. It didn't feel real at all. 

But I saw so many times how God's hand was in it all. I felt at peace that we would be okay and that those we loved and worked with would be okay as well.

Thank you for all your prayers!

Lots of love

Sister Emily Gore