Feed My Sheep

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for your letters every week. I love to hear from all
of you no matter how little or how much you write. It makes me happy
to hear about those that are working hard to be faithful Latter-day
Saints. Some of you are going through trials which is also good to
know. Don't ever feel like you have to make your life sound peachy
keen, I enjoy praying for you by name. It was a great week. We are
seeing lots of success in a multitude of ways and things will continue
to heat up both for the work and for the weather.

For all of you returned missionaries out there that went to the MTC,
there was one talk there by Elder Holland that we all got to view in
the evenings on the weekends. It was called "Feed My Sheep." I'm sure
you could google it right now and find it. It's an amazing talk given
to missionaries at the MTC a couple of years ago that talks about
missionary work and missionaries. In this talk, Elder Holland
describes a missionary named Wallace Toronto who served in
Czechoslovakia (didn't know I knew how to spell that) after the first
world war and before the second world war. He and his companion were
out tracting the streets when they came upon one house and knocked on
the door. One woman came to the door and slammed it the moment she saw
the name tags. Elder Toronto who just may have wanted to get decked
that day wasn't satisfied with this door slam. Honestly I turn and
walk away when I get a door slammed. He knocked again to figure out
how the woman could be so rude. She came again to the door told them
to get off her property and then slammed the door again. Still not
good enough for Elder Toronto, he knocked again so he could at least
get a foot in the door and talk to this woman. She came when he
knocked a third time and got his foot in the door so she couldn't slam
it. "What have we done wrong? We're just young men! Why are you upset?
What have we done?!" Wallace cried in his broken Czech. Well you're
ministers aren't you? She retorted back attempting to slam the door
again. This woman then began to sob and yell at the two young
missionaries that several years ago she had a toddler pass away and
her husband left her. In the midst of her heartache she went to a
minister at the local church to ask for some spiritual guidance. This
minister told her to get out of the church. "That baby is in hell and
so are you. You haven't darkened the door of this church for years and
now you come to me when you need help, well you're not going to get
it!" From that point on this woman made a promise to never step foot
in a church again and to especially not talk to a minister again.

Then Wallace pulled out the Book of Mormon, Moroni chapter 8 and
taught this woman that her baby was not in hell. That she would see
her baby again and it wouldn't be in hell. Remarkably this woman was
baptized into the church mostly impart because of the Spirit and
certainly the boldness of this missionary.

When I heard this talk I thought there is no way in heck that I would
ever do that to a contact. I've talked to a lot of rude people on my
mission but I've never challenged them or stuck my foot in a door.
Until Wednesday. We were out on the streets of Lunenburg in the
afternoon. Lunenburg is an old German settlement. After not much luck
talking to people on the street we decided we needed to head back
because our dinner appointment was half an hour away. On the way back
we crossed a Burger King parking lot where a man parked in his truck
with the window rolled down was waiting impatiently for his meal. We
approached him and immedietely he threw up his arms waving us to go
away. As we got closer he started to yell profane things at us and
about the church. Before I could even start the contact he spat on the
ground in front of us. My feathers were already ruffled to this point
so I just went for it. "Did we do something wrong?! What is your
problem?! Did you have a bad experience with religion?!" He then
responded that we were punk kids peddling a lie and to stay away from
him. This man was totally void of the Spirit. I couldn't believe that
people like him existed. I explained that I could understand he was
busy but we weren't there to argue or fight. "You better understand
before I step outside this truck!" Now we were in the okay run away
now there's someone else who's nicer mode of thinking, but something
stopped me.

Like Nephi we retorted "How is it that two young men show more respect
than you?!" "How is it that you don't have the decency to have a
conversation with someone who is friendly?" "How is it that you are so
rude?" This man then broke down and told us about a friend that he had
when he lived in Moncton that just committed suicide. His friend had
gone to mass every week and had become a priest. He had been so
religious and yet he committed suicide. He then explained that we were
wasting our breath talking to him because there is no God or Christ or
anything. We then explained the plan of salvation in brief. His whole
demeanor changed. He wanted to know more and we met with him that
night. Desmond is awesome. He's the rough fisherman type that just
moved here from Moncton to get away from how he felt there. I don't
think this was me at all. Had to be the Spirit. I don't know if I
could do that again and live.

Another exciting thing is that we officially reactivated Brother Tidd!
He has been free from Marijuana for two months, has met with bishop,
and has come to church every Sunday since I have been here! We went to
the Addiction Recovery Program with him on Friday night to celebrate
that he is now worthy. The atonement is real. It can wash away any sin
that we have committed. If we have something to repent of and we
haven't done that yet then I encourage you to do two things. Read and
pray. Then overtime your stubborn heart will be softened and you will
want to repent. Brother Tidd also fed us fish and chips to celebrate
his reactivation and he invited a friend of his to meet with us.
Unfortunately his friend David didn't want to right now and wouldn't
explain why but in time he'll come around.

It was an amazing week. The Spirit is real. If you will be obedient to
God's commandments the Spirit will take control of your life and lead
you back to our Heavenly Father.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire