The Dieppe Debuckle

Dear Family,

My first full week in Canada! This area really has no problems. It's easy to get discouraged and I've got to be honest, this is the hardest thing that I've ever done, but this area as I said really has no problems. 

I can feel your prayers working miracles here in Dieppe. Just this past week we met some very interesting people and plenty of potentials. I don't think many Americans have a clue how Canada really is. At least in Moncton it's a very hard life here for many people. Drugs are everywhere and a lot of people I've spoken with are involved with the selling and consumption of drugs. This former drug lord was very nice however, and he told us that in case we're ever in trouble he could call us. When he told me that I was like uhhhh am I in the right country? There was another man with a shotgun threatening people in an apartment we'd usually knock, and the whole area was taped off so we're not going back there for a while. Dieppe is weird because it has very nice homes in some places, but just terrible things going on around the other houses. The ARP meetings here are a huge faith builder. Repentance has nothing to do with just saying we're sorry. Repentance is changing ourselves to become more like Christ. It is making small and simple covenants with God so that we can continue to become converted. Conversion is not an event, it is a process.

 The economy here is poor and many people are moving out to Alberta to work in the oil industry. So although we're moving out a lot of nice non-member families. They don't have any time to meet with us. Our teaching pool doesn't really exist and the days are hard, but when you count your blessings you realize how much The Lord has blessed you. 

Something that has been on my mind this past week is the thought that popped into my head during Zone Conference: Revelation teaches Sacrifice. We don't obey the commandments for the blessings that come from them, we keep them to come closer the Jesus Christ. By doing so we begin to understand the atonement more fully. The atonement can be explained mechanically, but it can only be understood through experience. For example, we sacrifice the natural man when we obey the words of the prophets. When we sacrifice those carnal desires we begin to understand Christ's sacrifice. We don't keep the Word of Wisdom or the Law of Chastity for the health benefits. We keep them because they teach us sacrifice-they are revelation. This entire life is about becoming converted to Christ, that is why we have families just as God does and that is why we keep the commandments-to understand the atonement more fully. Mothers understand the atonement the most.

Our days are filled with finding! I have spoken with some very interesting people haha. We spoke with a Belgian Buddhist, some pagan lesbians-there was a large pride parade here the other day, and the coolest freaking black man in the world-Shaik Elijah from Jamaica! He is so motivated to understand the gospel! We're going to be meeting up with him later in the week and man ahhhh I'm so happy! Lessons here are few and far between, but Shaik (Shake) is the hugest tender mercy I've seen on my mission so far.

We also street contacted into this one young family-Kyle and Jackie. Kyle has lots of tattoos of bible verses and he's recovering with some mental issues but they really want to raise their son Noah in a faith centered home. The most important learning that occurs in this life is in between the walls of homes. We have increased our potentials list from 2 to 10! If we could get a lesson that would be grand because that's like literally all we learnt in the MTC haha. I love talking to people and getting to know where their walk of life. It's amazing how many people will just tell you their life story. Played some frisbee with three 70 year old men and they told me to write home that they whooped the missionaries. 

Contacting is fun but often at times we get really rude people. It probably wasn't the best idea to chastise this one woman who cussed me out after I introduced myself. I told her it's simple human respect to speak kindly with others, religion aside. In the end all missionaries do is invite. We don't shove religion down people's throats-we invite. Which is what the Saviour did in the end of Matthew 11. He invites us to take his yoke upon us and learn of him. Life is hard, it's harder when you don't keep the commandments.

I love you all and thank you so much for writing me!!!

Elder McGuire

We found this creepy doll in the apartment that we hide in random places to scare eachother. 

With the Acadian monument!

Bonjour de Dieppe ou Nouveau-Brunswick

Wattttt theeeeee hecckkkkkk!!! My first area is part of the Greater Moncton Area, it is Dieppe, which is about as French as New Brunswick goes. Luckily the people here speak English well enough to talk to us and then reject us haha. In many ways Canada is like America. I'd say it's exactly like America minus how absolutely everything is in French. Pleased to let you all know that the Canadians are not planning to invade just yet. We are in the heart of Acadia and the people here are fairly nice, kind of depends on who you meet, but they're very open to talking to us. Most of the maritimers here will tell you their whole life story so I'm learning the art of polite interrupting. More on Dieppe as things come to my mind. Look it up on wikipedia or something. Oh yeah! Robert Maillet lives around here somewhere. He was the large frenchman in Sherlock Holmes named Dredger. I will find him and he'll be the first member in Dieppe!

My trainer is literally me in like 17 months. His name is Elder Collett from Kaysville, Utah. He has served all of his time in New Brunswick as he was called French-speaking so when we run into French people (Which is like all the time, I'd say 3/4 of our contacts are French) he takes it away. I kind of just smile and nod and say the limited French that I know. I have contacted once in French before and it went fairly well. Roughly translated it went something like (Imagine a poor French accent):

E. McG-Aloooo, how arrrre youuuuuu today! (Alo comment ca va aujourd'hui!)

Contact-It's good (Ca va bien)

E. McG-That eees very gooood (C'est tres bien!)

Contact-Ya (Oui)

E. McG-I'm Elderrrr McGuireeee and I'm a missionary from the LDS Church! (Je suis missionaire de l'eglise de Jesus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours!)

*Contact runs away because I might of said some swear word as all of the French swear words are just religious words (Sacres Blu!)

Anyways, this area could really use your prayers. There are no members in Dieppe and they haven't seen like any success here. I'm hoping it doesn't get shut down because seriously these people need the gospel. As you might guess, these French people are all catholics so they're very confused as to why Mormons would preach to them. It's kind of like a Catholic coming from France and preaching in Utah to all the Mormons. It's cultural though so we'll see some success.

Elder Collett has been here in Dieppe for about 4 months and has gotten a few contacts with his former comp but as of now our teaching pool is two people. So if you could pray for Dieppe that would really help us out. We still haven't taught any lessons but we're going to change that. Our vision is to do things that have never been done before in Dieppe. Should be fantastic!

Speaking of doing things a little different. We found this family moving into one of the apartments and decided to help them with their move! It's actually only this woman and her daughter but they had some friends helping her. They were all from Edmundston, NB which is an entirely different ethnicity of French people, The Brayons, as they told us. We moved in all their beds and book cases and they just looked super confused as to why two boys in white shirts would just come in and help them haha. We did ask permission though. After two hours of moving and sweating like crazy we finished (By the way long shirts were a dumb idea for the Summer! I am dying from the heat and humidity!) they invited us for water and smoking, but because we don't smoke we told them no. The woman Nadia wants to invite us over for ploy which is this kind of Brayon food that's like potato cinnamon rolls-weird I know. And she wants to know where she's at with Jesus Christ! WOOHOO!

The Moncton Ward really needs your help. It's smaller than the Grand Canyon Branch and is mostly old people (Not that I don't love old people) but their attendance is hurting. We have 6 missionaries in the ward so we're going to make some changes. Please pray for the Greater Moncton Area that would help out the most.

Anyways, I'm living with 3 other missionaries-the other companionship are both from Canada and then there's Elder Collett and I. They all have at least 17 months and are either District Leader or Zone Leaders. The sisters in riverview are also the STLs. All of them are nice, but it's intimidating. I'll be just fine.

Well I want to send some pictures, so talk to you next week!!!

I love you all so much and I love that you're so strong in the Gospel. We'll make Atl-CAN into the BoM in no time ;)

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder McGuire

 Dieppe has what I need!

 Newfoundland looks great eh?

My new favorite hymn:  Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy

Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy: (Men’s Choir)—Vocal and Instrumental 2:46  

https://www.lds.org/music/library/hymns/brightly-beams-our-fathers-mercy-mens-choir?lang=eng&cid=email-shared

Lyrics

1. 1. Brightly beams our Father's mercy
   From his lighthouse evermore,
   But to us he gives the keeping
   Of the lights along the shore.
2. (Chorus)
   Let the lower lights be burning;
   Send a gleam across the wave.
   Some poor fainting, struggling seaman
   You may rescue, you may save.
3. 2. Dark the night of sin has settled;
   Loud the angry billows roar.
   Eager eyes are watching, longing,
   For the lights along the shore.
4. 3. Trim your feeble lamp, my brother;
   Some poor sailor, tempest-tossed,
   Trying now to make the harbor,
   In the darkness may be lost.

Don't Party Too Hard Without Me!

Dear Family

Don't party too hard with out me and send me some cake! Sarah is whooping you all on the package department! I hope you all get out on the dance floor with your freshest moves for me-seeing dancing isn't allowed as a missionary haha. This past week went by so fast and I have never learned more in my entire life! Seriously, the MTC is like living in the Temple because you just feel the Spirit so easily here it's impossible not to learn a ton each day. Rather than going through each day of the week I'll just give you some of my highlights.

So at the MTC as an english missionary you pretty much are teaching investigators the whole time, role-playing teaching, or learning teaching skills-all of the gospel knowledge has to come from personal study or personal time at night. Side note before I get in to talking about our investigators, the Gospel makes the most sense when you relate it back to the missionary purpose. Literally everything in the scriptures and everything prophets have said are so clear when you can tie it back to the purpose.

We've been discussing a ton about how to make an environment wherein the Spirit can reside rather than simply using logic when teaching. Man cannot be reasoned to heaven. 

In the MTC we teach in a place called TRC (heck if I knew what this acronym stands for) where we teach real live people about the gospel. We're teaching this girl named Rebekah who is Jewish and is curious about the church from a friend. She's very receptive, but obviously because she's jewish she has a hard time accepting that the atonement really did happen and that Christ really is her savior. So Elder Allsop and I broke it down to her (no we're not rappers) using her profession, a dental hygienist. I explained that when we get plaque on our teeth we are then subject to cavities which make our mouths hurt and are no fun. Then when we go to get our teeth cleaned we remove that plaque and don't have to worry about cavities. Elder Allsop continued with how to prevent more cavities we brush our teeth to have clean mouths. This is like the atonement because as we sin we are unclean and are subject to dying forever condemned to our sins. We then must go to a dental hygienist-Christ-who will clean our mouths so that we don't die in wickedness. However, to convert ourselves unto Christ and live as he did we must brush our teeth everyday to prevent plaque or sin. It. was. a. slam. dunk. Also in TRC there are cameras in the rooms so that our teachers can evaluate us and watch how we're doing. I could hear Brother Jibson (he's a trainer for all the teachers in our floor) and some other teachers scream out in joy. It's like they're watching Monday night football or something haha.

Overall at the MTC the missionary purpose has really helped me uncover why I'm going to Nova Scotia. At the end of the fireside sunday night Sister Nally-President Nally's wife-was giving a talk and then invited up some missionaries to bear their testimonies. Except rather than do it in English some missionaries did it in Danish or Korean or French. I felt so mad and frustrated rather than feel the spirit from their words. I thought Sister Nally 'what freaking gives?!' 'that should have been me!' and I continued to be mad and lost as the meeting concluded and I walked past all these missionaries with characters on their tags and mine is only in English. It didn't help earlier where I received a letter which asked me to fill out a survey about 'how I'm doing mentally' online. I felt so pathetic all that Sunday afternoon and was frustrated when some of the elders in my zone got similar letters. I was frustrated that I thought Dr. Hogg's letter that we sent with my papers cleared that stuff up. I thought what the heck is the problem here-I have been batched with all the people that had mental problems or even the thought came to my mind 'Do I not have enough of a testimony or teaching skills to learn a new tongue?' It made me so lost and I thought I was condemned to be cold and bored for the next two years.

Oh how blind I have been towards the purpose of missionary work. After the meeting we proceeded out the doors for films. We wanted to go see the Restoration film, but as we stood in the crammed room sweating and tired from the day, we made our way back to the main room where Elder Bednar's MTC Christmas Devotional from a few years back was playing. I walked in, slammed my books on the ground, rolled up my sleeves, and wanted to cry myself to sleep. Slowly as Elder Bednar began his talk-The Character of Christ-I fell open to understanding. He relayed how missionary work has nothing to do with who we are or what we want. This work is about being Christlike and turning outward to our fellow man. It is about love and service and about charity. This work isn't for me and nothing is about me. He then relayed what will be my most spiritual experience in the MTC. He told of Christ being tempted by Satan to make bread because he was an hungered and had the power to do so. But he would have had to deny himself-who he was. Suddenly it came so clear what my call is all about. Yes, I have the capabilities to learn a hard language-just as Christ has the power to create bread-but this mission is so I can become like Christ-fast from my own desires and turn more to Christ and SERVE OTHERS. As if God himself were speaking to me, Elder Bednar continued with how every single mission call goes through the ends of an apostle and places are carefully selected. Like being hit by a spiritual bus. This mission isn't about me, it's about becoming converted to Christ and being like him. After that talk-because similar bad feelings had been in my district-we all were so excited to serve! We ran back to our dorms and were jumping up and down like it was Christmas or something. Elder Walker screamed "AHHHHH IT'S SO TRUE!!!!!" Becoming converted to Christ is the only thing that will make us happy in this life. God simply wants me to be more like his Son like he wants for all of us. I promise that that's true. Look up that talk btw! I think he gave it at BYU-I

Some words for our two lovebirds ;) I know absolutely nothing about marriage, but I have been learning a lot about the atonement and especially with the temple this morning it's coming clear into focus. Our whole district has pondered 'why would an innocent third-party have to suffer for a guilty and unclean party?' On the surface level this question is answered simply, but I've learned a ton about it that I'd like to share. There are two eternal laws-The Law of Justice and the law of mercy. Both seem to contradict one another, but through the atonement they make sense. In Alma 42 it refers to Justice as a 'him' and Mercy as a 'her.' This brought me to think of how there is opposition in all things. Although there is opposition in all things that doesn't mean 'things' are fighting eachother-they're helping eachother. The atonement satisfied both laws because Christ loves us. Why he loves us I'm still searching and learning for. But at times you may feel like the universe is working against you, but no, it's trying to help you. So remember that as man and woman may be 'opposite' so to speak, they are meant to be together to help one another. So proud of you guys!!!

Well that's about all I got. We leave tuesday at 5am for Detroit and then onto Halifax. We have a long layover in Detroit so I'll call then around 2pm Detroit time. Be on the phone please!!!

I love you all and I miss you!!!

Halifax in the suburbs

Week 1!

I say almost week one because I know how JT writes his going by weeks. The past 50 hours have been absolutely insane. I thought it was going to be boring, but good, but it is very intense and absolutely inspiring. The Spirit is very easy to feel here in the MTC and that's nice. I'm sorry I didn't let you know my P Day was Friday because honestly I had no idea haha. As I entered I got my two name tags and some other papers along with the missionary pamphlets and one small workbook for English missionaries. Then we went to drop off my stuff at my room where I am rooming with the rest of my district. Afterwards, my host and I (who's headed to the Philippines-don't know where) proceeded up five flights of stairs in suits. I was sweating like crazy because we were running to be on time for my first class. Met my teachers, Brother Neeley and Sister Merriman who are so smart when it comes to the gospel. They waste no time humbling missionaries and making sure missionaries know what they're talking about.

I also met my companion, Elder Allsop from Mapleton, Utah. Funny story, I had stalked some missionaries going to Halifax on instagram and I messaged him beforehand so it was like 'hey what's up' again. He plays lacrosse, has a very powerful testimony, and we are very much the same person. He loves Lake Powell too which was an added bonus. We teach very well together and most of-pretty much all-our time has been spent teaching investigators. I then met the rest of my district who are all going to Halifax this August 12. So exciting!!

The other elders are Elder Nielsen from Lavurkin (Think I spelt that wrong), Utah and he reminds me of Zack, hilarious, strong with the gospel, and does theater. His companion is Elder Steimle (staim lee) who reminds me of JT-very systematic breakdown of the scriptures and just his mannerisms haha. The other companionship is Elder Densley from St. George who enjoys making the rest of us feel even fatter with his tons of pushups in the morning-totally reminds me of Luke Perkins and Cameron. His companion is Elder Walker who was a sax major at BYU. He's from the panhandle of Idaho, likes to remind us that that's the real Idaho haha, and his Ronald Reagan impersonation made the whole district go into the fetal position with laughter. I was crying so hard hahaha. He asks incredible questions that contribute to the Spirit.

Overall, we've been doing a ton of teaching. We taught three investigators during my first night and our teachers played two more investigators the next day and today. I love personal study I just wish I had more of it to prepare more for all of our lessons. We get three new investigators next monday to add to our teaching pool. Crazy! I've been studying the atonement. I love the simpleness of 1 Nephi11:33, so beautiful and powerful.

I've also learned how the Spirit works with truth. A commandment may stare us blank in the face, but it's not until the Spirit manifests it to us that it becomes true or relevant to us. My branch president is interesting as well as my zone leaders. They're still missionaries and church people, but just really enjoy asking tough questions kind of in a mean way when we're asked to explain things. Elder Allsop and I combined do a fairly good job but some of the other elders are reduced to tears, which makes me mad.

I think I've almost put together why I've been called to Atlantic Canada. I was pretty frustrated with my call because learning languages was such a large part of my life and when I got the call I felt like it wasn't from God-like he didn't know me or need to use my talents. However, Canada Halifax is slowly becoming the perfect place for me. Personally when I study I don't like being all over the place with subject material-even with drums I split up instruments between days to better focus on them. I think the Lord knows that about me-how I will study the gospel and focus on that for a time and there's always the possibility of being used for the French areas.
Still there is the prestige of these missionaries here with different characters on their name tags. In a workshop it was Canada Halifax, Germany, and Fiji all doing a group teach with some teachers playing investigators. The two districts going to Halifax (12 of us!) threw down with scriptures and insight. Some level of competition and some need  to 'prove ourselves' but the Spirit wasn't there. And that made me realize that above all that is what's important. Feeling the Spirit and teaching by it.
To the world I look like I'm wasting time not learning a language or going to a very exotic place to live and I will admit I struggle with thinking like that at sometimes. But when I really feel the spirit and understand my purpose things fall into place and I am content. Not perfect but content.

Laundry is finished so I'll catch y'all next week!

Love,

Elder McGuire

 My district at the Provo Temple

 My zone---gettin in on the wedding pictures.  congrats Jess and Scott!

My district with our teachers, Br. Neeley and Sis. Merriman