Thank you so much for your letters and for your prayers. They really do make a difference and I thank you all in particular those that make the effort to write each week. This past week was one of the most successful weeks of my mission. Especially for a transfer week where a lot of missionaries just slack off and don't even work because they are either going home, going to a new area, or being around those that are moving. Nevertheless, we worked our tails off this week with finding and teaching. If I were to compare this past transfer to my first three months in Cole Harbour I would tell you that things are certainly better than when I got here. When I got here we weren't teaching anyone, not even a less-active member. Not that it's about the numbers, but in just reviewing the numbers we are working 500% better in our finding. My first transfer here we only found one person to teach, Lana, and the same thing happened my second transfer-we found Sandy. Just an update for any of you that were wondering about those two, Lana has gone MIA and no one can get a hold of her and Sandy we dropped because she was using us for service. Only teaching two people in three months was not fun and in particular not fun as a zone leader.
Nevertheless, like the sons of Mosiah we have been blessed to find softened hearts and greater success this past transfer. In total we found five new investigators. Some we are still teaching and others we dropped (We dropped Helena and Michael because they aren't willing to make commitments they're just really nice). Now we are teaching Alex who is progressing greatly and Steven is just on fire. This whole time in Cole Harbour has been a period of testing. A test of my faith and a test of my physical strength. I knew that when I was being transferred from St. Stephen to Cole Harbour that the devil didn't want me to make it. He caused me (Well it could have been a joint effort) to spin off the road twice in a freezing snow storm. I think of Joseph Smith being attacked by Satan before Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him to usher in the Restoration. In the end, Cole Harbour is stronger than when I found it. It has been so hard and it continues to be hard, but I believe that we have come very far. Key indicator wise we did 100% better than the previous two transfers this transfer. I think now is the time to really make my mark here in Cole Harbour. Thank you so much for your prayers and for your love. This has been a group effort so I'm very grateful for you.
This previous week was amazing. Just a good quality, hit the streets, find, teach and baptize focused week. After Preparation Day concluded last week, Elder Ray and I went tracting on Elm st. We said a prayer to find someone, grabbed a Book of Mormon and made our way through the street. Like most tracting experiences in Cole Harbour we faced a lot of straight rejection, lots of nice people, and lots of interesting people. We had been at it for about an hour when finally we knocked on one door. I hate to tell you this story because usually I'm an advocate for working with the members over everything but there is something about finding solid people by yourself that every missionary wants. This doesn't mean that you can think that missionary work is just up to the missionaries to do and that this happens all the time. Nevertheless, we knocked on this door and this sweet Filipino family opened up the door, saw our name tags and invited us in. They grabbed two chairs for us and gathered all of the children in the house to listen.
I for one was blown away at how fast the whole thing happened. I didn't say much in the contact. I wasn't persuasive or convincing or asking questions that would enable me to find an interest level. I just contacted. We taught the Pasquels a short lesson about the Book of Mormon and they invited us back for Friday. Carmil, the wife, said the closing prayer and took our copy of the Book of Mormon. Elder Ray and I left and we could not understand what happened. The first thing that came to my mind was "ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME IT IS THIS EASY IN THE PHILIPPINES TO FIND FAMILIES TO TEACH?!?!?!?!?!" And then Elder Ray and I said a prayer of gratitude to Heavenly Father. Now, I'm sure it's not that easy in the Philippines, but I was just amazed at how simple the whole situation happened. Definitely a blessing from having a brother that served there. So yes, we found a fantastic family from the Philippines that lives in Cole Harbour. The Pasquels are awesome.
Another great thing that happened this past week was we taught Steven twice. He is committed to reading the Book of Mormon with us this whole transfer so he's doing the 12 pages a day. Believe me, we tried for putting him on date again, but he doesn't know if he'll stay in Nova Scotia if he doesn't have sufficient YSA friends. He really just needs friends here and he'll stay and join the church. Not a significant hurdle to overcome but trying to get YSA in Cole Harbour to his lessons when all of them are writing exams is like pulling teeth. We had a great lesson talking about the tree of life and reading the scriptures. I realized that my teaching could really improve. I have gotten so used to contacting people and teaching in a way that is trying to find out if people are actually interested that I don't know how to teach someone that is actually interested. You would think that it would be easier, but for some reason it's not.
Alex is really progressing as well. We taught him on Saturday about the Plan of Salvation. He's the type of person that I know how to teach not that he isn't interested but that he just lacks a lot of spiritual understanding so I have to teach very simply. I've realized that applying the points in "Teaching People without a Christian Background" in Preach My Gospel is actually very useful because although many people say that they are catholic, they don't actually understand who God and Jesus Christ are and why they are important. I couldn't really reason with Alex's Catholic background, but he is always so willing to make commitments to read. At the end we invited him to pray and HE PRAYED! It was a great prayer and slowly but slowly he is progressing. Another exciting thing was that he came to church! I wish that the members would have gone up to him and greeted him more proactively, but he loved church. It was a special area broadcast for the North America North East Area. Great broadcast. Elder Andersen and Elder Hales spoke along with Sister Reeves. Just classic talks about repentance and missionary work. They also did a brief slideshow of some of the converts in our area. They didn't really mention the Canadian parts of the area, but it was great to hear some of the stories about the saints in New England.
I invite you all to read the Book of Mormon with me. 12 pages a day for 6 weeks.
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!
Love,
Elder McGuire
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