Week 26: #findingtheone

May 30^th, 2016

    This week was wonderful! Lincoln is a cool place! Every Tuesday
and Thursday we do service at this place called the Salt Mine. It's a
church/food closet/store. Their primary goal is to feed the hungry. We
help with the food line, but mostly stack and unstack chairs for bible
study. Best part is we get to wear pants but really everyone
there is super nice.

          A lot of our work here right now is building member trust. A few
  companionship's back, the relationship between the members and
missionaries in this ward was damaged, so we are trying to rebuild
that relationship and build up their trust to get referrals and help
them be more missionary minded. So we have been doing lessons in
active families homes and I love doing these. On Tuesday we went to
the H’s and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ! This is probably
one of my favorite lessons to teach. I love how the Spirit works, I
love how much he teaches you while your teaching. I love all the
little thoughts and new ideas that "pop" into you mind as you teach
and testify.  We talked about the importance in the ordinances in
which we make covenants, that they are based off our faith and that's
how we receive the blessings. We trust that the covenants we make with
God are real and that when we make those covenants we are blessed. I
was reading an Ensign article that talked about a man who was in
remission from cancer. They talk about their testimonies being built
on truth and not the condition of if miracles follow. They do what the
Lord asks of them simply because He asked. He quotes Jeffrey R.
Holland, "Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t
come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus
Christ, they come.” Faith can be a tough one. Sometimes we feel like
we are blindly making decisions and walking around, but when we trust
in Heavenly Fathers plan, we will always be guided according to His
timing.

     On Wednesday we met a former named A. She's 13 and has pretty
much gotten all the lessons. She wants to be baptized but her mom
won't let her until she is 16. So we are just going to keep coming by
and inviting her to activities, so once she's old enough she will be
ready! She is so sweet. As we talked with her, we could tell she just
wants a better life, she feels Gods love for her and wants to be
better. And that's exactly what this gospel does, it helps us be
better!

Frozen yogurt stop!

 

     We had great lesson with T. and A.! A couple in the ward came
with us and they bore powerful testimonies and were really able to
help them. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and really
focused on Faith and Repentance. We invited Tom to come to the ARP
meetings to help him quit smoking and he said he would! He's under a
lot of stress right now so he's not sure if he's ready, but he does
want to quit, he just needs the right motivation. We're really not
sure where A. is. He's really quiet when he is there or else he's
getting up and down checking his email. But they both came to church
on Sunday which was super exciting. They only stayed the first hour,
but they seemed to enjoy it.

Heart attacking someones door

Church was really good on Sunday! We were asked to give two minute talks on "The Priesthood had been Restored" in primary. It was so much fun to be back in there with all the little ones! It brought me back to my days as a Sunbeam teacher. Then in 3rd hour it was combined because it was 5th Sunday. The bishopric talked about the importance of home teaching and missionary work. They showed a video of men  who would go over every night and help a disabled woman into her bed. They did this for 7 years. They talked about how sometimes we see service as a burden but really it's an an opportunity to change. This one man was seeing it as a burden, and when he recognized that something was wrong with that, he continued to serve her until he had a change of heart. D. Todd Christofferson said, "...As we serve others it is easier to find ourselves because there is more of us to find." I
believe this is true, as we give up ourselves, as we look outward, as
we don't focus on our wants and desires, we discover more of
ourselves, the greater parts of ourselves and we become more
Christlike.

Excited for this coming week! Hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Sister Gore

week 25: #HelloLincoln

    

      This week was crazy in many ways! I left Redding and moved to
Lincoln. It was kind of tough leaving what I called home for 6 months.
I knew and loved people, and fell in love with the area, and the other
missionaries became my closets friends. So saying goodbye to Redding
as a missionary, was hard. But Sister Memmott is so amazing and
Lincoln is beautiful in its own way. No mountains which is really sad,
but BEAUTIFUL sunsets so that makes me happy. I can tell I am going to
love it here!

Sister Memmott and Emily

When I first got here, there was a fire so we had to take a
different route to the apartment. I had been in Lincoln for 5 mins and
I was already causing trouble haha 😂 so we unpacked a little then
went to dinner. We ate at the H.'s home and for the first time on my
mission I ate lasagna. It was delicious. I only say that because my
last two comps were gluten free so most of the time we had taco salad.
While we were talking, we discovered that Dad and Sister H's
brother served in the same mission at the same time! What are the
odds? It was a very very small and simple thing, but it was just a
little way Heavenly Father showed me that I am in the right place!

     That same night, we went to see a former investigator. They
opened the door and actually let us in. They are a young family and
were eating dinner but they said we could come in and share a message.
We later found out that the wife is a less active and the dad isn't a
member. They said we could keep coming back whenever they are home. So
on my first day in Lincoln we picked up a new investigator!!

 I also got to meet our two investigators, T. and A. They are
father and son and have been investigating since Easter. Tom really
wants to get baptized but needs to quit smoking and wants to be
baptized with A., but A. isn't ready yet. They are both super nice
and want to follow Christ. I've only had one lesson with them, but
they seem pretty solid so I am excited to get to know them better!

     Okay another moment where it's just a small world. Sister C.
who is serving with Sister S. in the 3rd Ward is from Vienna,
Virginia! We figured out that we were at the same Mormon Prom and the
youth celebration and she lives in Fairfax County!!Like what!?! We
both got really excited haha! And there's and Elder from Maryland so
it's nice to people to talk about east coast things with.

      On Wednesday, we taught some of the youth in the 3rd Ward how to
teach the Restoration! It was so cute. They all received mission calls
to the CRM and mutual was the MTC and they all had name tags and
designated JR and SR companions. Next week they will go into members
homes and teach them the Restoration! How cool is that?! The spirit
was really strong and it was neat to see their desire to share the
gospel even at this young age. I loved being to testify to them of the
Restoration and share some of my experiences when teaching.

One of my goals this transfer is to work with the youth more. We
started taking the young women out with us in Redding and it was so
much fun! So that's something I want to do here as well. The Sisters
made such an impact on my desire to serve and I hope I can maybe help
young women see that they serve a mission if they want to.

      This week I listened to Sister Neill F. Marriott's talk "What
shall we do?" She said" We build the kingdom when we nurture others.
However, the first child of God we must build up in the restored
gospel is ourselves. Emma Smith said, “I desire the Spirit of God to
know and understand myself, that I might be able to overcome whatever
of tradition or nature that would not tend to my exaltation.” We must
develop bedrock faith in the Savior’s gospel and move forward,
empowered by temple covenants, toward exaltation." And I just really
liked that. We need to make sure are feet are firmly planted and we
know where we stand, before we help others. We also must be also
watching our selves and seeing where we can improve and remove those
habits that are not bringing us closer to the Savior. We don't need to
be perfect but we need to be always improving.
  I love being a missionary. I love being able to testify of my Savior
every single day. I want to encourage you to find ways each day you
can share the gospel with someone.
Love,
Sister Gore🙌🏻

week 24: #ByebyeRedding

Where in the world did these 6 weeks even go? They have flown by that's for sure. Well my time in Redding is over. That's right folks, after 6 months of banishment I am headed down south to Lincoln to be with Sister M! She just finished training and I'm super excited! It's bittersweet. I'm so sad to leave Redding, it has become another home. The other missionaries have become family and I just love the people and members here! But I am excited to move on and start a new adventure!      Thursday Sister T and I were invited to go to the special MLC with Elder Allan F. Packer and his wife. It was so so good. Something that I noticed was a theme was the importance of having the Spirit with us always. We do this by studying the scriptures and praying for guidance from the Lord. We have to learn how the Spirit speaks to us and practice listening and obeying those promptings. Something I have come to learn is that if we are prepared, we are much more confident in the promptings that we receive. He talked about how there are more people to baptize than we think there are, we just have to be diligent to find them.        We then had a half mission conference where he spoke to us again, which was amazing. Sister Packer and President and Sister Marston also spoke to us. I love learning from each of them. They are truly are called of God. Elder Packer also talked about the difference between a testimony and conversion. When you have a testimony you know it's true and you feel that it is. When you are converted you DO something with the knowledge and feelings you have, as a result, you become something greater than you were before.      Saturday we tried less active hunting again! Lots of people weren't home, but we were able to talk to the R Family! We learned that they're actually completely active, but they have a 10 year granddaughter who isn't a member but wants to be baptized but her mom won't let her. She is such a sweet girl and broke my heart hearing her desire to come closer to our Savior but her mom won't allow it. We encouraged her to keep being a good example to her mom and keeping praying and one day, her mom will let her be baptized.      On Sunday HECTOR RECEIVED THE PRIESTHOOD! So he will bless the Sacrament next Sunday! I'm sad I won't be there, but so excited for the blessings that are in store for him and his family! Excited for this next week of changes and new adventures! Love you so much! Sister Gore

week 23: #tooamazingforahashtag

Alright this week was soooo good! I am a firm believer that the Lord
adds power to our efforts! (You are not in the work alone Henry B.
Eyring) at Zone meeting we set a goal to find 12 new investigators
this month. The other companion ships said ranges like 3, 6 and 9. And
Sister Taylor and I looked at each other and in unison said 12. The
rest of the zone kind of laughed but we felt really good about it. As
the month went on, I wasn't sure if we would be able to do it. But as
we were diligent, we were able to find 5 investigators this week
reaching our goal of finding 12 for the month. It was a daunting
number, higher than the rest and higher than I thought possible. But
when we have faith and are willing to work for the Lord, he
strengthens us and enables us to do His work.

So let me tell you about a couple of these investigators. Well we went
back to see N., and his mom, G., the original potential we
were trying to find, was there. So we help her carry in groceries and
started talking. We showed them the Because of Him video and N’s
dad, N. walks in and starts watching it. And before anyone could say
anything, N. asks, "Now how do you know that is true?" We talked a
lot about Faith and how sometimes we can't see Gods hand in the
moment, but when we step back and look at the bigger picture He is
always there. N. was so awesome, he bore such powerful testimony
of the divinity of God and how much He blesses us. N., believes that
God has sometimes blessed him, but that any success he's had comes
from himself or from the ideas, talents and skills of man. But he was
willing to read from the Book of Mormon and pray about it. G. on
the other hand is a believer that Gods hand is in all things and sees
the blessings he has given her. But she wasn't so willing to read from
the Book of Mormon, but we gave her one anyways and pray she has the
faith to try it.

Then two days later we were tracting and met M.! She is so
funny! When we rang her doorbell she was in the backyard working on
her catio!! So when she walked in, we scared her and she screamed and
that scared us so we screamed and then laughed. So she let us in and
we chatted. Oh you may be wondering, "what in the world is a catio?"
It's a cat patio. She made an enclosed patio for her two cats! She
even has a tunnel from the sliding screen door to the "catio!" She's a
super spiritual lady and believes that the God head is three separate
beings and really sees how much the Lord has blessed her. We showed
her The Because of Him video and she loved it!! She said we could come
back anytime to share more! 

ACACIO'S WERE BAPTIZED!!!!! It was such an amazing baptism. Over 60
people came and it was completely in Spanish except for when Sister
Taylor and I taught the Restoration! The Spirit was so strong it was
so beautiful. When we were taking pictures before, Hector Jr was so
excited to get baptized he kept trying to run away yelling it's time
to get baptized!!! Then on Sunday they were confirmed in Spanish and
all 3 of them bore their testimonies! I love that family so much! They
have so much faith to do what the Lord has asked. I am so grateful to
know them and to have this opportunity to teach them, even though it
really wasn't me, it was all the Lord. Even though I really didn't
know what anyone was saying, the Spirit was so strong and undeniable.
I love being a missionary, I love sharing the Gospel. I love seeing
people change their lives and turn closer to Christ.

Love y'all! Have a great week!
Sister Gore🙌🏻

week 22: #theworldbrokeupwithus

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Well the world broke
up with us. We had 3 less actives in one day, tell us they don't want
us coming by anymore. It's quite sad, especially since its people
I've come close too. It was the typical break up line, "It's not you
it’s me." Anyways, sad about that, but now we have more time for
finding so that's good!
This week has been really good!! Tuesday we were on exchanges and I
went with Sister B. in my area! It was super fun since she was
trained here over a year ago, so she knew a whole bunch of people. I
learned a lot about setting good goals and letting yourself be guided
by the Spirit. Then we got Jamba Juice and it was just a good day!
We saw N. again this week! We talked about agency and the
consequences that follow our actions. We also talked about how the
Lord with help and strengthen us when we have the courage to stand up
for what we believe in. He loved everything we talked about. We
invited him to read from the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's
true and he said he would! We are so excited to meet with him again
this week! It's so awesome! A lot of the young women in our ward want to come on
visits with us! So we really have to set appointments so they can
come! I really wish I had gone out with the Sisters before I came out,
but I'm grateful for the couple times they came over for dinner, they
made a greater impact than they know.

The A family will be baptized this week so we had our last investigator
lesson with them and they love it as usual! We are so excited for them
to grow in the Gospel!!
I love this Gospel and being missionary!!  Okay watch the Mormon
message: The Hope of Gods Light. It is sooo God. He gives us just what
we need and what we can handle. He loves us each so much. I know that
is true.
Have a great week!
Love
Sister Gore🙌🏻