After 12 weeks in Aiken I have been asked to fulfill a new assignment. Today I was transferred to my new area: Pooler, Georgia. My new companion is Sister R from Lehi, Utah and she has been out for 10 months. We served around each other when I was in Perry and are both just so excited to be companions and to work hard. Pooler is right outside of Savannah, GA. There are also Spanish Elders in the Pooler Ward.We continue to serve as a Sister Training Leader companionship covering all the sister missionaries in the Savannah GA Stake. Currently, that includes companionships in Savannah, GA; Hilton Head, SC; and Statesboro, GA.

Leaving Aiken is perhaps the hardest thing I have done on my mission. I fell in love with the area and with the people almost instantly. Sister F and I have been so unified, we have seen incredible miracles in the work here, and we are teaching faithful  individuals whom the Lord has prepared to hear His word.

That being said, it was a wonderful last week!

On Friday, we travelled to Macon for missionary leadership council to set up our smartphones! We are now officially a technology mission. This means that we are back on our Facebook accounts to use them as a means of better communicating with our investigators. We can use our phones to have Skype lessons with investigators who can't meet in person, to stay in better contact with people we're teaching, and to access media resources for our teaching. Honestly, we haven't even began to realize the potential of these tools to further the work of the Lord but we are so excited to experiment and learn.

Saturday night was transfer calls. We were very sure that we would stay together another transfer. And yet, my name was called. That was so shocking. And I found myself wanting to feel excited and hopeful and anxious to be obedient. Instead I just felt sad to leave such a special place so very soon.

Goodbye is still hard. But I have a sure knowledge that God, who is all-knowing, directs this work. I know that He knows where Sister Gore needs to be and that He is preparing others that He needs me to find.

I have a testimony of the restored gospel. I know that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. He did see God the Father and Jesus Christ. Under their instruction, Christ's church has been returned to the earth. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and I know that because it has changed me. Though I am still weak and imperfect, the Book of Mormon has been a tool through which I have, in part,become a "new creature in Christ". I know that God is merciful and that He desires for each of us to return to Him after this life. Jesus Christ lives. His grace is available to us, no matter how far or for how long we have strayed. I love the Lord. I love each of you.

Continue to "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men."

Yours,
Sister Emma Gore

Goodbye to Akin  <3