Go Ye Therefore and Teach All Nations

Dear Family,
Thank you for writing me! I hope my letters aren't getting boring. I
think the weeks sometimes flow together and it's difficult not to see
the unique things that happen every day. There's a lot of small
miracles that happen in response to our faith. This past week I
concluded my study of the Godhead. I've been studying it every day for
the past three months. I've learned a lot about the history of the

Canada in Winter

largest religious debate of mankind. After Christ and his apostles
were killed off there was much confusion in the church because of
priesthood authority being vacant. Rather than simply reading the
scriptures to discover the nature of God and the Godhead, creeds were
formed and rebels persecuted.

One such instance was the case or Arius. Arius was low on the totem
pole in terms of church leadership yet he advocated for the idea of
God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost being three separate
beings. A higher level bishop put Arius to death and with all of the
confusion Constantine- a pagan-called for the council of Nicaea. God
was defined as having no body, parts, or passions. James E. Talmage
said that no other indication of people not knowing God was made more
apparent than the Athenasian creed. Scriptures were then interpreted
using Greek philosophy supposing that all physical matter was evil and
because God is not evil he could not be physical. Thus entered the era
of Modalism or Sabellianism: the belief that Christ, God, and the
Spirit were the same being but could express himself in different
modes. I've talked to thousands of people and this is their
understanding of who God is. It has been taught to them for centuries
and anything foreign is a difficult thing to swallow. Our knowledge of
the Godhead was restored to the earth when Joseph Smith saw God and
Jesus Christ as two separate beings. Other scriptures that effectively
teach the true nature of the Godhead are the baptism of Jesus (Matthew
3), the atonement of Christ (Luke 22) and the Saviour's advent to the
Nephites in 3 Nephi 11. It is important to know what we worship just
as it is important to know how to worship. I know of this reality
because I've had experiences with each member of the Godhead.

This past week we really hit the pavement for finding. Last winter I
made a lot of excuses to work inside making phone calls or tracking
down people on Facebook. It's important to do that but not all of the
time. Why else would I have bought the thermals and the winter coat?
The first investigator we found was Claud through street contacting
through the neighborhood. Claud is from Bathurst and has had a lot of
trials in his life. He lost his job last year and had some family
members pass away so he's not holding on to a lot right now. We taught
him more about the Plan of Salvation and he agreed to read the Book of
Mormon so we're pretty excited to see where he goes with his testimony
in God.


The next investigator we found was Raphael from Cambelton, NB. He's a
young 20 year old guy who's escaped a lot of drugs and alcohol and
wants to come closer with a higher power. I would say even if
millenials aren't as religious as older people, millenials are much
more open and nicer than the old catholic guy that yells at you to
quit wasting his time and yours. Younger investigators are great

Making kijiji ads. Never felt more like a JW
(Mom's note:  we're glad he's still got his sense of humor)

because they are making a lot of decisions in their life and
spirituality is in that bin. We're teaching both Raphael and Claud
tonight back to back so it should be a productive Monday evening.

The final investigator that we found and taught was a part member
family, the Umahosas. They are from Rwanda (shout out to Scott) and

The people at pizza delight got us chocolate for being such loyal
customers every Monday

speak Kirwanda, French, and English. The two young women, Euricie and
Eudine are members of about three years but aren't active, and we're
teaching the mum Judith who isn't a member yet. We have to teach very
simply so that they all understand what we're saying. There's really a
language barrier but we're making some headway on the restoration. The
whole family has got these great exotic names like Aneekay, Lenik,
Yaneekay. And then there's Kevin who's 4. Hilarious family who are a
lot of fun to teach.


HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

More Pictures--January 2016

Elder Wilson and I have been in the same zone for basically my whole mission

New Brunswick East #thebeast

Elder Ostermiller and me

Mission posterity. Elder Ray is training therefore I have a grandson

Got pink cat socks, get at me

Elder Ray has almost been out a year!

Brother Williams bakes the best cakes

 We got a stage for a live role-play so
everyone could see the demonstration. It was great!

Zone conference prep

Interact to Edify

Dear Family,

Yes winter has begun

Winter has begun. I forgot how bothersome the cold nights of tracting
were a year ago. The Canadians are so confused when we knock on their
door. They think we have lost our minds. I will say that Monctonians
get really offended when you tell them you know what a Canadian winter
is like because you went through one in Halifax. It's the "No one
suffers like I suffer mindset." They're children of God and we love
them.

This past week I read a great talk by Elder Bednar about leadership.
The importance of interacting to edify. The purpose of meetings in the
church is 1. Provide instruction and 2. Edify others (Doctrine and
Covenants 43:8). There are four ways to teach people depending on the
nature of the principle and the nature of the person. For simple tasks
and simple people we merely just need to tell them what to do and they
will do it. For simple tasks and complex people we need to explain why
they should do something. It's a simple thing to repent, but unless
someone understands why they won't do it. This is the instruction part
of verse 8. People need a reason to do something. In terms of
edification this is where we have demonstrate. People need to be shown
how to do things that appear complex. We could write pages on how to
hit a baseball but unless we are with someone who knows how to hit a
baseball then we will never figure out how to hit a baseball. The same
applies for missionary work and really any field where skills are
necessary. We realized that people will never understand how to
properly teach unless they are shown how to do it. The fourth way of
teaching is delegation, but I won't go into that. I know that through
demonstrating how, people will understand the principles that we

teach.

Zone Training was awesome. We got a stage for a live role-play so
everyone could see the demonstration. It was great

This past week we had a great zone training. Elder Tincher and I
trained on asking questions and discernment. In teaching in the
Saviour's way there are four fundamental questions we can ask when
teaching from the scriptures: 1. Context/concrete 2.
Discovering/Analyzing 3. Testimony/Feeling 4. Application. When
following-up on a reading assignment such as Mosiah 18 we may begin by
asking "Who is speaking in this chapter?" "To whom?" These are
concrete questions that paint a picture for the principles about to be
discussed. This is foundational. As humans we learn both by study and
faith (D&C 88:118). The Holy Ghost not only teaches us through our
minds by also in our hearts (D&C 8:2). We then move on to asking
discovering questions such as "What is baptism?" "Why should we keep
the Sabbath Day Holy after we are baptized?" These questions deal with
the intellectual side of the gospel. Then we can ask testimony
questions such as "What would it mean to you if you were baptized by
proper authority" or "When in your life have you felt the blessings of
going to church?" These questions bring out our emotional
understanding of gospel principles which is equally important as our
intellectual understanding. Finally, we won't gain knowledge of
something until we take the leap of faith and live a teaching (Alma
32:34). Knowledge defined in webster's dictionary is "understanding
based on experience." We then may ask "What could you do to keep the
sabbath more holy?" or "Will you keep the Sabbath Day holy?" That was
basically half of our zone training. The other half was on
discernment, but I'll have to save that for another email.

We found a great new family to teach this week. It's nice to actually
teach a family. The Johnsons are a family from Toronto.
They investigated about ten years ago in Vancouver but lost contact
with the elders. They now live in Moncton and we tracted into them.
Gabriel the mom has a very strong faith in Christ. She is open to the
idea of Joseph Smith being a prophet but doesn't know for 100% that he
is one. He daughter just had a new baby girl named "Neveah" Heaven
spelt backwards. Yes it's a party. We're having peanut butter cookies
next Tuesday for our appointment.



HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

Truth is Our Helmet

Dear Family,

Thank you for diligently writing me. HAPPY 2016! Can you believe we
have made it this far? We are in the same year that I'll come home.
Missions go by too fast. They are so painfully slow at the beginning,
but eventually once things get going they just don't stop. The longer
and longer I'm out the shorter and short your letters get. But
nevertheless, life moves on. It was an interesting week with the
holidays but I'm glad that they're over. People get nicer but they get
busier with the shopping. It'll be good to just pound out some good
solid weeks before the next holiday.

This past week I studied about the gift of Discernment. We may
conclude when we hear the word discernment the act of judging
correctly or reading someone's thoughts. This is part of the gift of
Discernment but it's not completely accurate. The ability to discern
is the ability to understand someone or something. The truth of all
things is revealed by the power of the Holy Ghost (Moroni 10:5). Only
the Spirit can teach us the true nature of people or ideas. To develop
the gift of Discernment we must be attending the temple regularly
(Ezekial 44:23). There we are armed with the keys to avoiding
deception. Ultimately, our ability to discern is heightened when we
increase in knowledge (Alma 32:34). I know that through study and
obedience we can develop our ability to understand, even the gift to
discern.

New Years is different as a missionary than a normal person. We spent
the evening on New Year's Eve planning for the next week. We then went
home, cleaned up the apartment, shot some rounds of pool and then went
to bed around 9:30. Sleep is just too precious not to get enough of
it. We then got all of New Year's Day to study and plan and put
together a solid attack strategy for the new year. Everyone last year
was hungover and mad at us when we knocked on their door (at least in
Cole Harbour they were). I've never had a day off on my mission
besides Christmas so it was really weird not to work.

Elder Tincher and I got a new companion this week, Elder Holtby. He
used to serve in Vancouver mission but now he's serving in Atlantic
Canada. 



HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire