It has been the longest weekend of my life. 

I trained at zone conference Friday, went on exchanges Friday-Saturday, spoke in sacrament meeting on Sunday. 

So my week just consisted of lots and lots of fervent prayer. That stuff works.

Sister R and I had a great experience on Wednesday. We found that we had a lack of plans because of some rescheduling. We had our afternoon wide open. So we knelt in prayer and asked Heavenly Father to show us where to go. We both came back from that prayer with the same street name. So we went there. And found 2 new investigators. Awesome.

Zone conference was great. Lots of emphasis on charity. Any challenge + charity = More charity. Charity, the pinnacle of all the attributes of Jesus Christ, is the fix-all solution. It should be our only motive. 

Sunday we had dinner at our ward mission leader's home. He invited a family over to eat with us. After dinner Sister R and I taught the restoration and invited this family to learn for themselves if our message is true. They declined. No awkwardness. No uncomfortable feeling ensued. We left their home to go to our other appointments that evening. It was such an awesome experience! I am so impressed with this family. Brother C understands what Elder Andersen taught when he said,  " Please don’t see your efforts to share the love of the Savior with another as a pass/fail test with your grade determined by how positively your friends respond to your feelings or invitation to meet the missionaries. With our mortal eyes, we cannot judge the effect of our efforts, nor can we establish the timetable. When you share the love of the Savior with another, your grade is always an A+."

Transfer calls are Saturday, for your information. 

Carry on, carry on, carry on. 

Make it a great week. 

Step out in faith. Trust God. Be obedient. Live such that the Spirit may be your constant companion. 

See ya next week,

Sister Gore

Another week, another letter! 

Highilghts:

This week we made contact with a girl who has been attending church on and off with her boyfriend and his family for 4 years. Different circumstances have moved her into a position such that she wants to be closer to God and had recognized the restored gospel of Jesus Christ as the thing that can fulfill her need and bring her peace. Pooler's Bishop put us in contact with her and we are seeing her on Sunday!

Friday was MLC. I got to sit by Sister Orton!!!! Happy things. It was a good meeting. Talked a lot about becoming as the Savior is. How we can develop His attributes and truly come to represent Him in our missionary work. On the way home from MLC Sister Rowland and I looked up the general conference address in which President Monson announced that the age at which young women can apply for full-time missionary service had been lowered to 19. How grateful I am for that revelation. I cannot begin to thank my Heavenly Father for His great mercy in allowing me to be here each day and to labor "in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God".

Saturday we moved a lady from church. She lives on the 2nd floor of an apartment complex and moved to the second floor of the next building over in the same complex.  Let me tell you.... we were so wiped. Oh it was a long weekend. But it was fun and we met a lot of people which was positive. Also in the process of moving we let this lady's cat out on accident because I mean... There's just all the doors open and a skiddish cat. Ack! What a desperate prayer Sister Rowland and I said as this sweet and expecting lady walked around in the heat looking for her cat. One of her friends who came later in the day heard a bird chirping and followed the bird to the cat. Miracle.

Love you tons! And I love this work! The Book of Mormon is through and through the word of God. Jesus Christ stands at the head of His Church restored to the Earth by the prophet Joseph Smith. God is a loving Father. He loves us as we are. Further, He loves us enough to expect more of us and to help us grow. I know that He has a plan for our happiness and development in this life and in the next. I am grateful for my sweet family and that I can be with them forever because of Jesus Christ.

Make it a happy week! Choose to exercise your faith and watch it grow!

Yours,

Sister Gore

Heyo.

Good things that happened this week:

1. A  family that lives down the street called us and asked us to help them plant their flower garden which we very happily did.

2. We were headed to a dinner appointment and saw an lady raking in her yard and she let us finish the job for her! 

3. We got a referral for a member who recently moved here from Macon and was baptized 6 years ago but was never taught the new-member lessons. So she hasn't been to church in a while but we knocked on her door and she was so excited to see us. Has 5 little kids that will be a huge blessing to Pooler's tiny primary. And we're gonna teach her and her children! Yay!

4. Sister Rowland hit her one-year mark on the mission! Party!

5. The ward had a cookie dough fundraiser and I guess a lot of members were felling generous so we went home with 5 tubs of cookie dough. Frozen. Will bless missionaries for generations to come.

6. I read about Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon - such an awesome story! I love Alma's description of his repentane process :

"28 Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God.

29 My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more."

Bruce R. McConkie taught the following about the doctrine of being born again:

"We are born again as we die as pertaining to unrighteousness and when we live as pertaining to the things of the Spirit. But that doesn't happen in an instant, suddenly. That...is a process. Being born again is a gradual thing, except in a few isolated instances that are so miraculous that they get written up in the scriptures. As far as the generality of the members of the Church are concerned, we are born again by degrees, and we are born again to added light and added knowledge and added desires for righteousness as we keep the commandments. As members of the Church, if we chart a course leading to eternal life; if we begin the processes of spiritual rebirth, and are going in the right direction; if we chart a course of sanctifying our souls, and degree by degree are going in that direction; and if we chart a course of becoming perfect, and, step by step and phase by phase, are perfecting our souls by overcoming the world, then it is absolutely guaranteed-- there is no question whatever about it-- we shall gain eternal life. Even though we have spiritual rebirth ahead of us, perfection ahead of us, if we chart a course and follow it to the best of our ability in this life, then when we go out of this life we'll continue in exactly that same course."

Let us chart a course of righteousness and discipleship, and let us fill our lives with the small and simple things that will make us new and clean when done consistently and with pure intent. 

I know that Jesus Christ lives and that true happiness - not a fleeting, temporary pleasure - is possible only by following Him and obeying the laws of God. I am thankful for the commandments and that they pave the way for us to live with God again. 

Make it a happy week!

-Sister Gore

Hello hello-

It's been a great week in Pooler! We found some new investigators this week, saw a plethora of tree frogs, and got a new ward mission leader in the ward!

I don't have a lot of time so here's a training I gave at district meeting yesterday, modified of course:

I have a question. My question is this: Who was the first woman to become a published author in the United States?
What should I type into my all-knowing Google search engine to find the answer I need? Probably something along the lines of "first woman published author in US". That questoin yields roughly
4,830,000 results. Now, if I were type something more vague into my search engine.. perhaps
"woman author", I find roughly 594,000,000 results.
That's too many.
I need a specific answer. So I'm gonna ask a specific question of my all-knowing Google.

Each of us has questions. Things we need to know and understand. How do I help my children to get along better? How do I accomplish this task at work? Where do I need to move to? How can I have more peace?

Fortunate for you and I, we have constant access to a well of perfect and completed knowledge found in our Eternal Father. 

Let's turn to the scriptures.
•Psalms 44:21 - "Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart."
•2 Nephi 9:20- "20 O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it."
What are you learning?
Try and comprehend, the vastness - the breadth and depth- of God's knowledge. I can't wrap my head around any part of that. Think about aerodynamics and tiny mountain towns with a population of 120 and he knows about calculus which I wish I had understood and prayed more in high school.

Think about the tiny details of your life. Think about your hopes and fears and questions. Think about how many spirits have come to this earth, each unique and loved by God.

Do you believe God? Do you believe that He IS omniscient and also loving and merciful? Do you belive that He wants to talk to you?

Let's read Matt 7:7 -7 ¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:"

To quote President Nelson from conference, "Oh, there is so much more that your Father in Heaven wants you to know. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, “To those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, it is clear that the Father and the Son are giving away the secrets of the universe!”" 

God wants to bestow upon each of us great treasures of knowledge. But we must ask Him. We must approach God with our needs and desires and the innermost feelings of our hearts. We must petition Him for those desires which are righteous and in line with his will. And as we are specific in our prayers, the Holy Spirit will carry to our heart specific and direct answers that we may be guided in all our actions.

What are you thinking?
Is this a stretch of your faith? Absolutely. 

But I challenge you to pray specifically about the things you stand in need of. 

Love you a whole bunch! 

The church is true. 

GA is the 2nd best state right next to AZ. 

Keep on keeping on. 

The sun always comes up. 

Croc flats are a real game changer if any of you fall into the category of sister-missionaries-living-in-the-wetlands.

Have a good one!

-Sister Gore

This week Sister Rowland and I had so much fun. And saw the Lord's hand in our work daily. Neither of us has been transferred so we're headed into our 2nd transfer together and we're pumped!

Tuesday evening was awesome. We went and had  lessons with some people we had met last week. Each person we had planned to try let us in which was amazing on its own. One such appointment was with a family that's related to a great family in the ward. Such honest people seeking to follow Christ's example.

Wednesday.... so missionaries have very limited mileage on their vehicles. And it's 28 miles round-trip to the church. We have to make that trip at least 2x a week. Last week we made it 4x because we've started teaching some families that live really close to the church. So we asked the elders if we could borrow their bikes to save on some miles. Wednesday morning we biked to our appointments before throwing the bikes on the back of our car to head to another part of our area we had work to do in. We parked the car at the elders house and a member picked us up to go out for a while before dropping us back off at our car. We drive 1 minute down the road to try another investigator who wasn't home before driving to yet another city for the remainder of the day. We hop out of the car and go to grab our bikes.... a wheel is missing. Where 4 wheels once were, there are only 3. Photo evidence allowed us to know that the wheels were on when we left the elders house. So... at some point.... a wheel was lost. We called the elders and told them, apologizing profusely but also just laughing really hard. Wer'e in the process of replacing said wheel. And the elders have already said we can borrow their bikes again once they're fixed, bless them.

Thursday was solid. We had Book of Mormon class and soccer night at the church.

Saturday we drove out to Ellabell/Pembroke which are both little towns in the middle of nowhere. Well, the middle of 40 minutes from Pooler I guess. I haven't figured out what sustains those towns yet but because they're far missionaries don't get out there very often. We went and spent the day and met so many people. We got let into so many homes and found a new investigator that we are going to teach over Facebook because she lives so far. The ward mentioned on Sunday that they want to find out who's out there too so we'll probably be doing more travelling now which I'm excited about. 

Pooler is a dream.

I am so happy. And thankful always. I thought this week about how I can say "I'm grateful" all day long as I recognize good things. But that doesn't matter so much until I FEEL that gratitude. So I've been taking time, as I pray especially, to slow down and feel grateful and express that to God. Game changer. to "always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God".

Update: Sister Orton was called to serve as an STL in Macon so I'll see her monthly now and she's gonna kill it!! And Sister Stovie is staying in G-Town and will be there at least 9 months! Sister Fielding stayed in Aiken aka Zion. 

I love you! The church is true. Jesus Christ lives. His Church has been restored to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. God still speaks to us - the heavens are open. I love you. 

-Sister Emma Gore

The tale of the missing wheel

Dear all,

This week we had our first video chat lesson! It was with the mother of a family we've been working with for a few weeks. We were honestly so excited to get to use our phones this way and it ended up being a huge success. We video called our investigators and read the Book of Mormon with her. She was literally just sitting on her bed taking her hair out and we read the Book of Mormon for 20 minutes and it was amazing. Because of the technology we've been blessed with, we are able to reach people in new ways. We saw this family another day this week after our video call and had an awesome lesson. Her and her husband have the most incredible understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ from the Bible. She prayed at the end of our lesson for the first time which is another huge sign that her faith is growing.

Out of the blue this week another family called us and asked us to come over. The wife has taken a theology course and has wanted to learn more about the church for a while. We taught them about the restoration of the gospel and they came to church on Sunday! Amazing!

In other news I am covered in bug bites. I need to use bug spray I just really don't care enough to do so. But should probably start caring. It's been raining in the mornings which is great because Sister Rowland and I just go and run in it which feels so good.

Friday was MLC and it was hands down the best mission meeting I've been to ever. We talked a lot about charity and why it is important and how we can develop it. Sister Rowland and I feel so  blessed with this area and love to work hard. 

Remember who you are and what you stand for. 

Love,

Sister Gore

MLC - Mission Leadership Conference