Take These Things Hence

Dear Family,

Thank you for your exceptional letters. I love to hear from you
especially from your studies in the scriptures. Thank for your prayers
in my behalf and putting my name on the prayer roll. Grand Falls is

One final goodbye from Brother Harlow in Bridgewater. Very solid
recent convert of only three years

being blessed tremendously by the Lord. I believe that in parts of the
world where the church is small, the Lord spends extra time there. In
my patriarchal blessing it states that on my mission I will see many
miracles and have much joy. I believe that I am in that point of my
mission thanks to your prayers and own faithfulness. Thank you to me
each week.

A question is posed in the 9th chapter of Mormon. Why do miracles
cease? Think of a time in your life where you experienced a miracle.
Where the unthinkable happened in your favour. Why did that occur? God
is not some mystical being that grants miracles because He wants to be
random. God is a God of order. A logical God. A loving God. The reason
why miracles occur or do not occur is because of faith. When we have
faith we rely on the teachings of Jesus Christ. His teachings are
given to us in order for the power of God to be made manifest. Christ
worked miracles because he had God's power. God's power is available
to us when we have faith, when we rely on Him. To rely on God means to
rely on the principles of the gospel. The teachings in the scriptures
if followed will produce miracles. The moment we disconnect ourselves
from Christ is the moment power withdraws herself. We are but branches
to the vine. Stay connected to the vine.

Before I went to the temple a few weeks ago I went with the question
of "What would thou have me learn in Grand Falls?" I am gaining an
appreciation for missions. They are two years in the Lord's

All set for church :)

university. I have learned that although knowledge is important,
people skills are what will get you places. In Cole Harbour I learned
how to study. In Bridgewater I learned how to find. This past week in
Grand Falls I learned what I will need to learn while I am here. That
is to follow-up. In a report that the church gave about

recent-converts, a staggering statistic was given. 85% of new members
will remain active if they have friends in the gospel. That means they
have daily contact with those that keep the commandments. If friends
withdraw themselves then only 8% of new members will remain active.
How important is it to be friends with recent converts and less-active
members? With the 6 members in Grand Falls they each require
consistent follow-up. We are really the only ones that hold them
accountable to gospel living and standards. Follow-up follow-up
follow-up. In the past I was lax with follow-up. I would follow-up
with investigators because they were investigators and they were
expecting me to follow-up but with members I never really followed up
on the commitments I would give them in dinner appointments.

We met with one of our investigators this past week, Gerald. Gerald is
a total Newfie. He is 6'5 and loves his Harley. He goes on trips all
over Newfoundland to watch icebergs come in from Greenland. We had met
with him my first week here and the lesson went well. This time around
we got another member involved for our return appointment. We decided
that we needed to teach about baptism by reading 2 Nephi 31 where
Nephi explains why Christ was baptized and why we need to be baptized.
We began reading it and all of a sudden Gerald cuts in 'Why do we need
to be baptized?' Then Sister Borden jumped in 'Do you want to go to
heaven?' Gerald said he did and then we committed him to September
5th! It comes down to keeping commitments at this point. The classic
we-knocked-on-his-door-and-he-became-the-branch-president story you
will hear missionaries often tell. Just for the record I did not

Zone training just about to start :D

accept his invitation to ride his motorcycle down the street into the
sunset though it was tempting.

I love being a zone leader again. Despite the stresses of making sure
everyone knows what they are doing and that they do it, I love
teaching and training about missionary work. I would love to be the
mission prep teacher in a few years wherever I'm at. We had our zone
training this past Wednesday at the Hotel Gander in Gander which is
about 1 hour from Grand Falls and 4 hours from everyone else in the
province. A zone training is different than a zone conference. A zone
conference is led by the mission president and the assistants whereas
a zone training is just led by the zone leader. I had the sister
training leaders do the first training on teaching for understanding
which went well. This zone doesn't have too many investigators to
teach, but nevertheless it was a good training and the missionaries
liked it. We had to hotel then cater for lunch :D For my training  I
focused on faith and diligence in finding people to teach. After
studying through faith in preach my gospel chapter 6 I had an idea of
what faith is all about. We have to stay connected to the scriptures
and preach my gospel consistently. When we disconnect the Lord will
not bless us with miracles. He can not. Miracles occur when God's
power is exercised and God's power is obtained by applying the
scriptures. The zone was motivated to work harder. It will take some
time, but I think I know what I'm doing this time around

Zone training was held at the hotel Gander. Keeping it classy

.

Now for a story that goes in my top 5 best mission stories. The story
that gives the reason for my letter. We have 6 active members in Grand
Falls. We have 40 less-active members in Grand Falls. Of those 40 we
get the privelege of setting up disciplinary councils for 5 of those
40. The branch president asked us to go and visit an excommunicated
member who is going to jail this next week. Already my adrenaline was
pumping. We gave him a call and set up a time for 8pm on Friday night.
He was very happy that we wanted to meet with him. Our initial plan
was to go in there and make sure he had a Book of Mormon and commit
him to read it while he was in jail. Then at 7:38 we get a call from
him and he is drunk to the gills. He still wanted us to come over and
we needed to give a good report to the branch president. So that's
when we threw our lesson plan out the window and commenced Operation:
Black Falcon. We drew up a blueprint of his apartment. Where he was
going to be sitting. Where his line of vision was. Where we would be.
Where the kitchen was. Where the sink was. Where the alcohol was. At
7:55 we made our trek to his apartment. We knock on his door. It
swings open and he gives Elder Cox a huge bear hug. He then looks at
me and is so sad because I'm not Elder Gibb, the previous elder that
was here. We sit down with him and there are beer bottles everywhere.
Elder Cox distracts him and I offer to do his dishes. All of a sudden
he gets up and raises his hand looking so mad. Then he starts to just
cry hard-core "That's the nicest thing anyone has offered me in my
life!" I then start to do his dishes while he and Elder Cox talk about
Elder Gibb, his 'main man.' While in the midst of doing dishes I am
grabbing all of these beer cans from the fridge and pouring them down
the drain. Then Elder Cox convinces this guy to go to bed so that we
can both do one final sweep of the kitchen. We find more beer and
cigarettes and throw them all out. As Christ cleansed the temple we
cleansed this man's apartment. TAKE THESE THINGS HENCE!

I thank you for all of your prayers.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

More pictures!

Purity syrup yes b'y

Rick's new companion--Elder Cox

Fajitas in Newfoundland

 "All things are before [us]" with a proper transfer plan

Moose meat pie with gravy. A staple in Newfoundland

We made a Skor cake for the branch potluck (I think we are technically a twig)

Summer in Bridgwater--pictures!

Making pancakes is a life skill

The south shore is the prettiest part
 of Nova Scotia....

Elder O'brien agrees

My crockpot game is strong.
You would be proud Jess!

Beautiful Nova Scotia!

Elder Ray whom I trained is ripping up Sackville. We went on an
exchange. The man has three people getting baptized. Did I mention
he's only been out 4 months?

Elder O breakin  down Our Heritage

Upon This Rock I Will Build My Church

Dear Family,

Thank you for writing me and praying for me. Thank you for putting my
name on the prayer roll and thank you for those times you fast for me.
Many of the miracles that I am blessed to experience every day is
because of your faithfulness. I am amazed at our family more and more.
We really don't know how good we have got it. I have taught people
that want nothing to do with their family, who don't think family is
important or that family is out-dated and bigoted. Opposition to the
family will continue to increase as we approach the second coming.
It's a sign of the time that is prophesied throughout the scriptures.

Another thing that is taught in the scriptures is the commandments.
Jacob teaches in 2 Nephi chapter 9 about many commandments that people
struggle with. He speaks of those that are learned but are not wise
because they think they know more than God. There are those that love
money and refuse the poor and their needs. There are those that lie
and cheat and commit whoredoms. Many people think that the world was
consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ at one point, but in
reality it has and never will be consistent with the church. It has
and always will be the world. We have the same problems as Jacob's
people did of old. Many people think they know so much that there's no
God. Greed and love of money is everywhere. Whoredoms are committed,
lies are told. The world doesn't change much. All of these sins that
Jacob mention between verses 29-38 don't seem to have any connection
other than that they are wrong and throughout the world. The stem of
these issues is discovered in verse 37. What do all of these sins have
in common? They all are idol worship. People put worldly philosophies
above God, the put money over God, they put sex over God, they put
lying and stealing over God. Idol worship is a serious problem. The
solution is always coming unto Christ through Faith, repentance,
baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the
end.

We received transfer letters yesterday morning. I will be headed to
the rock. The rock is a nickname for the province of Newfoundland. I
will be the zone leader over the Newfoundland Zone and I will be
proselyting in the northernmost part of the mission, Grand Falls. I
fly out on Thursday. In a way this is bittersweet, Bridgewater is my
absolute favorite area. It was a good stress reliever from Cole
Harbour. We found and taught in total 13 investigators. We currently
have 10 (had to drop three because they weren't too solid) and 5 of
them are coming to church consistently. We have people that want to be
baptized (more on that later) and we have less-actives and a recent
convert coming to church. We get fed 5 nights out of the week and we
have a log cabin for an apartment. Bridgewater is the promised land.
It hasn't been free from challenges, we began with only one
investigator and a recent convert who had said he would never walk
through the church doors again. It came down to many things in
Bridgewater but I would summarize what I learned into two Christlike
attributes that made the Liahona work. Faith and Diligence. In Cole
Harbour I didn't think we would find anyone, so we didn't. I didn't
work as hard as I could have. We would only went finding for 10 hours
and talked to 140 people and then we wondered why the Red Sea didn't
part.

In Bridgewater I turned my mission around. We consistently have found
an investigator each week. We worked until we couldn't work anymore
and then we kept working. I learn something new in every area. In Cole
Harbour I learned how to study and how to plan. In Bridgewater I
learned how to be more Christlike and how to find. The Lord
consecrates our afflictions for our gain. Some other big news is that
STEVEN MAGGO IN COLE HARBOUR IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!
AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! The Cole Harbour elders called me and said that he is
going to be staying in Halifax so he's going to be baptized. One of
the biggest miracles of my mission.

In terms of Burland and Jasmine they came to a ward activity this past
week. It was a potluck dinner and auction for the youth who are going
on the first ever Pioneer  Trek for the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
stakes in Maine. Very Exciting. They liked the activity and lots of
members were very friendly to them. We then had a church tour and
Jasmine was very excited to be baptized. Unfortunately Burland is a
harder sell. He asked a lot of questions about priesthood and church
government and he feels like he needs to know everything about the
church before he can get baptized. It will take some time but they
will get there. They fed us on Sunday after church. I don't remember
the name but they were Turkish biscuits. Very good. It was like salty
bread with meat and cheese and all things fattening. I will be sad to
leave them. Elder O'Brien is also sad because he is headed to New
Brunswick.

I love you all

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Elder McGuire

p.s. look up the Newfie accent on youtube and also what getting
screeched in is like. That will be my new life in a few days. I'll
send pictures!

Wake Up and Do Something More

Dear Family,

What a week. One of the best weeks of my mission by far. Thank you for
all of your letters. Thank you to those that take the time to
consistently write me every week. It means a lot that you remember me
and think about me. I love to hear from you and your thoughts about
the gospel. I hope you enjoy hearing from me because I love writing an
email each week. Thank you for your prayers and for your own diligence
in reading the scriptures and keeping the sabbath day holy. There is
so much power behind doing the little things well.

Whatchyou kno bout crock potting?!

The era of President Leavitt has ended and now we roll into the era of
President Pratt. For those of you that don't know already, President
Pratt is from Orlando, Florida. Originally he is from Utah but he's
lived the past 30 years in Florida. It's also been 30 years since he
has shoveled snow. He came to the right place. He is (or was) a real
estate lawyer and he was very successful from what I read in his
biography. It will be interesting to see the changes he makes or what
he will keep doing. We had a zone conference this past week so that he
could observe how we plan and how we teach. He is not as outgoing as
President Leavitt (at least not yet), but he is very intelligent. He
understands the scriptures well and can express himself well. He took
some time to teach us the church's actual stance on gay marriage and
the supreme court so that we all understood it. I've gotten a lot of
questions from people about that lately. The zone conference was good.
Nothing too new in terms of skills. It was more of a meeting so that
President Pratt could get to know his missionaries and see what they
can do. I feel like I'm fairly skilled, but you can always learn
something new. I feel blessed that I have two mission presidents to
learn from. He is also related to President Tingey in Flagstaff. Give
President Tingey's email, I need to say hi to him from President
Pratt.

Elder O'Brien enjoying some lunch made by his favorite comp

This past week was incredible. We worked harder than I ever have my
whole mission. Usually in a day we will talk to about 40-50 people.
And that's above average for an area. My philosophy is that you
contact people until you find someone that wants to meet and then you
keep contacting. I try to mix things up so we aren't just knocking for
four hours. The mission average is more around 20-25 people a day. We
are required to speak with 140 people a week. However this Saturday
after two teaching appointments (more about those later) we had no
more appointments and 10 hours filled with finding. This was a great
opportunity to buckle down and get to work. We began the afternoon
with calling people that we had planned to get in contact with. I like
to have a large list of part-member families, less-actives, members,
former investigators, potential investigators etc. to get in touch
with. When we are driving we can still make phone calls and we avoid
wasting time. Wasting time in my mind is doing things to avoid talking
with people. It is impossible to invite others to come unto Christ
when we aren't talking to them. Then after two hours of tracking down
information and calling people we went to Lunenburg to contact people.
Lunenburg is a great place to go street contacting. In many ways it is
like Halifax or Eastern Passage with people on the street. After about
an hour, we had talked to 90 people. It was sort of funny because the
very first lady we stopped wanted to learn more and it was a good
conversation, but the other 89 people after that had no interest
whatsoever. After eating dinner we went on a contact run/route. Really
a series of stop by visits to former investigators, old potential
investigators, and less-actives that we put together in nightly
planning. After a long hard day we had spoken with 127 people. At this

Set a new record for how many people we have talked to in a day. Only
one potential investigator from all of those contacts

point I thought the Lord just had to bless us because we were working
so hard.

The next day at church we had 5 investigators at church! Bridgewater
is the Brazil of the North. New Utah. Carrots in jello. Funeral
potatoes. Quilts. Snow cave camp outs. Ward basketball. Wellness
fairs. Softball. I've got big plans for this place. The next temple to
come to the Maritimes will be in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Jasmine
came to church and loved testimony meeting. She said that she felt
empty all week but when she came to church she felt complete. Such
sweet testimonies were given. Jasmine said that she cried twice
because of the spirit she felt. After the meeting I invited her to be
baptized and she said she wants to so bad. SO WE ARE HAVING A BAPTISM!
She asked Elder O'Brien to baptize her. Burlynn unfortunately hasn't
been able to come to church because of the situation with their son
being in foster care. We need to get him to church somehow. He can
only visit their son on Sundays. Jasmine has a lot of real intent. She
was taking notes in Gospel Principles and the Relief Society sisters
really took her in. Got to love great members. Another miracle was
that Troy whom we've been teaching and it hasn't really been going
anywhere came to church! He stayed all three hours and even
contributed in Elders' quorum! I seriously was so happy.

We also found two new investigators this past week. We had planned to
meet with them a few weeks ago but the meeting fell through. Juanita
and Bob are a great young couple. They were turned off by the
leadership in their catholic church and so they told us they are
"windowshopping" for a new church. Such a joy to visit. We went over
some expectations and got to know them a little bit more. They really
miss taking their boys to Sunday School. Things are lighting up in
Bridgewater. We also met with 8 less-active members and two of them
came to church yesterday. Someone coming to church is the highlight of
the week. Those 15 minutes that we are waiting before the meeting is
crunch time. One less-active, Damon has been promising us church ever
since I got here and finally we got him to come around. He stayed all
three hours and loved being back. Another was Clint whom we met with
for the first time last week. I didn't think he had much potential

It's another exciting day! :D

because he has a lot of issues to overcome but he came to church and
that's what matters. Such an amazing week.

I love you all. I am immensely grateful for your prayers

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire