Christmas pictures

Gotta love Dairy Queen

Joey our investigator has the best cat

My main man Elder Wilson gearing up for Zone Conference---- Christmas edition

Made the best white elephant gift of all time




New Brunswick East Elders-------

The original Dartmouth/Cole Harbour Crew

Father and Son reunion

Christmas Conference was off the chain

Talent Show

I won a farmer's set for my desk in the white elephant gift exchange-----

You have no idea how pumped I was to get this for my desk

Had to trick out the new apartment

Shout out to Mom and Sarah for putting together this cat nativity

New Brunswick has motivational dumpsters, it's great

Pizza buffet

Br. Williams is the man

Christmas morning

Sarah got me the coolest shirt!

Skype call with the fam

Elder Ostemiller

The stash....

....and the trash =)

So Great was the Faith

Dear Family,                                            12/28/15

It was great to skype you for a third time on Christmas last Friday.
The connection we had was really good-probably the best it's ever
been. I can't believe that it was a year ago that we were skyping and
I was in Cole Harbour. Time sure does fly when you're doing missionary
work. I think time just flies when you're doing the same things over
and over again and you don't really know how much you've progressed.
I've really learned a lot on my mission so far and even though my time
is drawing thinner I still have lots to accomplish and work towards.
2016 is going to be a great year.

Time is used most wisely or productively when there is a vision,
goals, and plans. This was the mantra of President Leavitt, if you
fail to plan you plan to fail. I intend to continue with my current
vision of myself: Elder McGuire having the spirit of prophecy and
revelation and when teaching, teaching with power and authority (Alma
17:2-3). This vision involves goals to study to the scriptures for an
hour a day, work out for half an hour a day, pray every morning and
night, and be kind to everyone that I meet. I am trying to focus on
the Saviour's command to be like Him in 3 Nephi 27:27 and apply the
scripture Luke 2:52. Proper planning is what it's all about. Get some
goals down on paper before the new year. Make sure there's a number
attached to the goal. "Eat healthier" is not a goal.

Most of last week people were stressed out with the holidays and
family so our proselyting wasn't the best, but I really enjoyed
speaking with everyone. We went forward with our project "Santa's
gotta a brand new bag." It kept the zone afloat this past week and
we're doing something similar this week and another project both the
New Brunswick East zone and New Brunswick West zones will be working
on. It's good to spice some things up. What amazed me the most this
past week was how receptive everyone was to the invitation to read the
Christmas story with us in Luke chapter 2. There were the people that
brushed us off because they had to bake something or buy something but
we met lots of people that were friendly to the idea. I love the
maritimes because although most of them have had sour experiences with
religion the tradition of going to church and reading the bible is
still there.

We had an amazing breakfast with Brother Williams. He has an
incredible conversion story and overall he's a humble man. We all went
in and bought him a printer because his current one was broken. He
made us omlettes and toast and we opened up some presents for most of
the morning. He spends his time studying the gospel and going out with
the missionaries. Definitely the most solid member in the ward and
possibly the stake. He never got to serve a mission because he joined
the church a little later in life, but he's been going to lessons with
the missionaries ever since 1989. That is dedication right there.
Losing yourself in the work even at 72.

I know that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I know that he teaches us
how to overcome adversity through the gospel. He bled from every pour
so that he could teach us through prophets how to overcome guilt,

Christmas Breakfast with Brother Williams......

shame and ignorance. This is the greatest gift to mankind. I know that
the Book of Mormon is true. I read it every morning. There is a spirit
about the book because it is true.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

........was fantastic!!

Brother Williams

Joy to the World!

Christmas ties!

Dear Family,                       12/21/15

Merry Christmas! Thank you all for writing me this week! I'm looking
forward to skyping you all this Friday. Can you believe this will be
my third skype home? Then we've just got one more. Time just flies by
when you're on a mission. I'm grateful for the time I've served and
for the time I have left to serve the Lord in this capacity. Last
Christmas I was in Cole Harbour when I skyped you. I'll be skyping at
3:30 Atlantic Time. Not sure when that is for you all in Arizona, but
be ready when I call.

I have been studying the topic of faith for the past three weeks. This
week I was going over Alma 32 where Alma teaches how faith leads to
knowledge. Faith and knowledge are not two separate things. One leads
into the other. We have to have faith before we can have knowledge.
Take for example the word of wisdom. If we have never practiced the
word of wisdom it is impossible to have a complete knowledge of how it
can bless our lives. We have to exercise faith by actually living the
commandment. Once we have lived it then we gain knowledge or
understanding based on experience. Before you get to knowledge you
have to have faith. Knowledge or intelligence is the glory of God.
It's the law of the Harvest.

This previous week was an interesting one. The holidays always causes
people to get really busy and religion ironically is the last thing on
their mind. We did our best to find and teach people despite the
holiday bustle. This current week is going to be even more
interesting. Tuesday was our Christmas Conference for New Brunswick.
The Pratts have a different style than the Leavitts when it comes to
Christmas Conferences. We still had all of the necessities:
devotional, talent show, dinner, and white elephant gift exchange. If
you couldn't tell from the pictures, I got a Farmer Set for my desk so
now my desk is all posche and what not. It was a ton of fun to meet up
with a lot of former companions and missionaries that I've gotten to
know over the course of my mission. It's really crazy how fast a
mission goes. I've been out for nearly 17 months. I hope you enjoyed
all of the pictures.

New office

The next day we had to move apartments which took basically the whole
day. The only breaks we took was for lessons we had set up with our
investigators. The new apartment is really nice, one of the nicest
I've ever had on my mission. You never really know how much stuff you
have until you have to move it all. I think I'll really be a
minimalist after my mission. I'm not a fan of putting together a move
and then doing it all day. We moved our beds, couch and all of our
office supplies. Lots and lots of pass along cards, books, and
pamphlets. It's good to clean out though. We moved apartments because
Moncton is getting sister missionaries in the new year. Not really too
sure what will happen, but I'll know next Sunday.

The next two days were work days and everyone was decently chipper for
the Christmas season. We contacted one media referral named John. He's
had a lot of addictions in his life and wants to get clean. He
requested a bible online so we went by with one and a Book of Mormon.
He comes from a baptist background so there was a lot of doctrinal
confusions to clear up there. I know like zero to nothing about the
Book of Revelation but it's a book a lot of Protestant churches like
to study from. Other than that we didn't have too much time to look
for more people to teach. We did manage to get the mission finding
standard in two days as well.

On Saturday we got to go to the temple for one of Elder Tincher's
converts from Cape Breton to receive his endowment. Glen is an awesome
guy. He was found knocking and just embraced the gospel from day one.
He plays classical guitar really enjoyed the temple experience. The
best advice I could give anyone who's getting ready for their
endowment is to read and study as much as you can from the scriptures
about the temple. I wish I had done that. I did get some very
interesting revelation while in the celestial room regarding faith.
Moses 7:13

I'm looking forward to skyping you all live and in person this Friday.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

Heaven and Angels Sing

Dear Family,                         12/14/15            

It was another great week here in the CHM. You all snowmanned it and
didn't write me. But I'm grateful for your prayers and for putting my
name on the temple prayer roll. Christmastime is busy. There's a lot
of parties to go to and gifts to wrap. I remember one year we all got
money from Mom and Dad to buy everyone Christmas presents and I didn't
do my chores which mom had given me. To add to the stress of Mom I
didn't even decide on gifts for a few of my siblings so mom was not a

True North

happy camper with me. I also lied to her and told her that I had
cleaned her washroom when in actuality I couldn't have because that's
where all of the Christmas presents were and it was locked. Three
strikes. I don't know how things ended up, but I think I got sick and
decided to write Mom a huge apology note for being a pill. Then she
forgave me and let me do my chores from the past few days. That was a
huge gift to me that year.

Dieppe elders gearing up for the night

The gift of forgiveness is a gift from the Saviour. Through His
atoning sacrifice we are able to be forgiven on the conditions of
obedience and repentance. Repentance often gets a bad wrap in our
church. We sometimes view it as this painful process where the law of
justice is being satisfied. The law of justice is not satisfied
through repentance. It was satisfied through the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. Because Christ felt our guilt and shame he devised repentance
and the gospel to help us practically remove those feelings from our
conscious. As Lehi states "How great the importance to make these
things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know
that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it
be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah." What
does the word merit mean? It means to be worthy. Through repentance we
can feel the calm feeling of peace and a clear mind. I know that we
can. That is the gift.

Exchanges in Amherst were a success. Elder Batley approves

This previous week was a good solid week of work. We resumed our
meetings of Mission Leadership Council and District Meeting, but in
general we still worked just as hard as we could in Blitz week.
President Pratt raised the finding standards to 15 hours and 180
contacts. We talked to well over 500 people and worked whenever we
weren't teaching. On Monday night we had the week practically made. We
began the night teaching Denis who's still trying to quit smoking. He
is putting himself back together and getting a job which helps with
the teaching process. I'm sure I mentioned it, but we helped move his
apartment so he can meet with us in a better environment. Denis is
progressing fairly well.

One team one dream

We then had Joey take us out for Chinese food and a lesson. He is
coming along. He was supposed to get baptized on December 12, but the
man just struggles with prioritizing his time. We are going to be
moving his date to the 23rd of January. All this buzz about the 23rd
is getting the ward excited. We are also hoping that Kayla his
girlfriend will accept to be baptized as well. Might have a wedding in
between now and then.

To cap off Monday night we picked up two new investigators, Dennis and
Trudie. Baptist backgrounds (incredibly) and working every night and
day. Dennis works for a gas company and does crazy shifts. Trudie
works at Tim Horton's and has a bachelor's degree in the bible and
pyschology. They like shorter lessons which is good because after
about 30 minutes I'm normally scrambling to get more material out
there. They're living common law and are pretty anti marriage because
of all the marriages they've seen end in a divorce. "Marriage is just
a piece of paper." It's good in a way to have these concerns because
it really helps me get into the scriptures way more and the
proclamation to the world. They are both really fascinated with the
Book of Mormon so we've got that going for us. So in general Monday
was a fantastic night. Three lessons and two new investigators, I
ain't complaining.

We get to skype next week!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

Sugar cookie hot chocolate from Tim Horton's, get at us

Joey Rockin' Out-----Video clips from the Ward Christmas Party

Yes that's our investigator up there!



https://www.dropbox.com/s/bwybpnnb72prnza/MVI_5289.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ul47bth0rgxtzx/MVI_5288.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g8qw27om16bm0rt/MVI_5287.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l83ixme5l15j1dw/MVI_5286.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6epmedbjgmf5l1w/MVI_5285.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/65pplahy9ip5vg1/MVI_5284.MOV?dl=0

Le Tour de Fois au Moncton

Dear Family,

It's that time of the year again. I can't believe it's already
Christmas time. My time to skype you is coming up. Can you believe it
will be our third time skyping? Missions sure fly by. Doesn't really
feel that way at the beginning but once things pick up they just fly
by. It was an excellent week. The mission just went ballistic and got
so much work done. It's incredible how much you can accomplish when
you really work all hours of the day. We skipped most of our meal
breaks and finally we decided that we could only take one half an hour
in the afternoon to rest in order to get the standards that were asked

of us. I felt like a new missionary again because the amount of work
was just insane and overwhelming but it felt great to get done.

I studied faith every day this past week. Faith is a trust and
reliance on God. Our view of faith as Latter-day Saints differs than
the mainstream Christian way of thinking. The perspective we have on
faith transcends common religion because it is so universal that it
can be applied in every field of study. Faith is the correct
application of true principles. This is why our faith increases as we
search the scriptures and confirm them in our minds through prayer and
especially through obedience. To know and not to do is really not to
know. If we have faith in honesty then we won't steal, if we have
faith in tithing we will pay our tithing. We don't immediately
experience the blessings of commandments, they take time. Faith
precedes the miracle. You wouldn't wake up in the morning and go to
work if you didn't have faith that you were going to get paid. Faith
brings hope or in other words the expectation of blessings. Faith is
much more than a passive belief. It is action. The action of applying
a principle is faith. Once we understand that such an application
brings blessings we are endowed with knowledge. Alma teaches how faith
works with power and clarity in Alma 32. I know that it is by faith
that God works and frames worlds.

Each day this past week was a different challenge in the mission. On
Monday it was supposed to be who could get the most investigators and
less-actives out to family home evening but we dropped the ball on
that one and decided to go finding instead. We found an awesome couple
from El Salvador! Jose and Alma have known the church for the past 25
years. They had a lot of friends that were mormons in El Salvador but
when they moved to Canada the member support just wasn't there. They
even went to the temple lights in Ontario with friends that are
members out there. Really all they need here is the ward to reach out
to them and be their friend and they'll get baptized. It was so crazy
to find them right off the bat. Not a bad way to start blitz week with
two new investigators!

On Tuesday we tried to see who could invite the most people to be
baptized. This is something that the missions in Japan do while street
contacting. On average we talked to 150 people a day this past week.
People were so awkward when we invited them to be baptized, but it
really increased my faith in proselyting. One time when I went
knocking with President Leavitt back in St. Stephen he said before a
door "Why don't we just invite them to be members of our church?
That's what we want them to do any way!" I would say that despite the
straight-up rejections we got we did have a lot of fun extending the
commitment.

Brother Williams or should we say Elder Williams. He comes to
literally every lesson with us and the Dieppe elders which is 20+
lessons a week. Great member missionary right there. And he makes
funny faces

Wednesday was supposed to be creative finding day but the weather was
not on our side. Freezing rain that turned into snow and covered the
whole city. We were going to take pictures of families downtown next
to the Nativity with signs that said #foreverfamilies and then post it
to Facebook, but the weather ruined that because no one was downtown.
We ended up calling members to see if they'd be willing to make
cookies that we could deliver to less-actives and non-members they
knew. We got a few members to say yes which was great.

Thursday was a rough day. We were on overdrive with proselyting and
the challenge that day was how many people we could teach the
restoration to involving the first vision. It's okay every now and
again to take a break especially in missionary work. We did find a lot
of potential investigators that day which was great. The next day was
"Flood the East Coast" day with the Book of Mormon. It was sort of a
faux challenge because the mission has a cap of 5 books per
companionship that we were allowed to hand out in a day. Sort of
cheated on that one because one lady wanted one in French so we passed
out 5 in English and one in French (My french is not the best, but I'm
getting by)

Saturday was the final stretch. The elders had a handicap throughout
the week to make things fair with the sisters. One of their points was
worth twice one of our points. Sort of unfair if you ask me. We were
down basically the whole week. On Saturday we just went as hard as we
could. We invited over 200 people to church (None of them came, but
surprisingly people were more open to church invites than other
invites). And then later that night we had the Moncton Christmas
dinner. It was just a solid week. One of our investigators, Joey
played the guitar and sang. He brought down the house. I'll attach a
video. We also put two more investigators on date for January 23rd,
Denis and Brady. We are determined to have a baptism that day. Just a
solid week. SO MUCH work but it was worth it.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

D&C 58:28
 28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.

We take Christmas seriously here in Moncton!

Nativities while street contacting

The dollar store had a great deal =D

The Moncton Christmas dinner was a success!