We Are Sowing

Dear Family,

Thank you for all of your letters. The extra two days must have been
nice to get your letters put together. I love hearing from you. Your
kids are growing up so fast and everyone is so busy. None of you are
less-active which is good. I never really was exposed to the dark side
of families until my mission. We have it really great I'll put it that
way.

We went up to Edmundston last Saturday to contact a media referral. It
was Frencher than French there

This past week I have been studying the Christlike attributes in
Preach My Gospel ch. 6. It's interesting the status that these
attributes get in the scriptures. Peter describes in 2 Peter that if
one develops these attributes they will make their calling and
election sure. In other words they will know in this life that they
are worthy to enter the celestial kingdom before judgement. In a
revelation given to Joseph Smith for his father, the Lord cites these
attributes for his servants to develop. The way that I am going about
doing this is taking an attribute and going through the 12 steps to
change Addiction Recovery Program for the opposite of that attribute.
For the next 12 weeks I'll be focusing on cleansing myself of all
doubt to develop faith. Despair for hope, hate for charity, lust for
virtue. It should take me about another 2 years to go through each
attribute and work on it. If you would like a list of the attributes
so that you can work on them go to 2 Peter 1 or D&C 4.

This past week was eventful. We are no longer meeting with Carla
because she isn't committing to appointments and the commandments.
It's difficult to change your life in a couple months. I think that
it's hard for me to see that sometimes because I'm only in an area for
so long and I want to get as much done. Patience Iago. The Ellisons
are coming along. We met with them this past week before Easter and
shared the new Easter video with them that the church produced. If you
haven't seen it, check it out on Mormon.org. We're going to have to
push Tia and Riley's date back a bit. I'm telling you, the Lord is
quick to forgive sins, but repentance often takes a long time. Please
pray for them.

Colby is doing well. We met with him again on Monday. He really
understands the need for the Restoration. He is a little bit more
difficult to teach though. Almost like Steven from Cole Harbour. He's
a younger guy and is very accepting and I'm used to meeting with old
people that are very clingy with their old religion's ways. It's fun
though. He isn't sure if he wants to get baptized. Hard for a young
person to make up their mind. I'm learning a lot about myself through
the teaching process though.

In other news from what I've heard from other missionaries. Claud in
Moncton is getting baptized!!!! And Rodney's family in Bridgewater are
getting baptized!!!! WE ARE SOWING!


HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

Spring in Maine is the best

Shout out to Mom for the birthday cake. Proof that we made it and ate it!

Befriend the cat, it's the first principle of reactivation

Seek No More to Destroy My Servants

We went knocking on the Reservation in Woodstock, NB. There were like
a million dogs every where. This guy (Virgil) knocked the whole street
with us

Dear Family,

The title of my letter for this week comes from the Book of Helaman
concerning Nephi and Lehi. We've had some interesting experiences this
week that are just evidence of the adversary's desire to derail our
efforts. I have learned a lot about the early missionaries of the
church just by being on a mission. We don't have to deal with a lot
that other missionaries deal with but we still are proselyting in the
least religious part of America. I'll give you more details later on
in my letter.

I've been studying a lot about the priesthood this past week. The
priesthood is simply defined as God's power given to man. We are the
only church that holds the priesthood. Priesthood keys are a pretty
unique doctrine to our beliefs. There are only a few scriptures in the
bible that describe priesthood keys. One in particular is Matthew
16:18 where the Saviour gives Peter the keys of the kingdom to bind on
earth what shall be bound in heaven. Then in the next chapter we see
Peter, James, and John receiving priesthood keys on the Mount of
Transfiguration. The Old Testament doesn't really explain much about
priesthood keys and neither does the Book of Mormon. However, it is
still an important teaching. Priesthood keys are the authority to
direct the priesthood. A priesthood holder cannot simply bless the
sacrament for himself and not go to church. People can't just be
baptized without an interview. Two people can't be sealed without the
proper authority. Our church is very organized and it is because of
that organization that the Lord's house is a house of order. I have
witnessed the power of priesthood keys in the interviews I have had
with priesthood leaders. They have powerful advice and help that no
one else in our live's can administer. I have a testimony of the
priesthood.

 This past week we were kicked out of the Walmart parking lot again.
There's not too many options for street contacting in such a small
area and I don't just want to knock all day, although we could do
that. We then decided we should take our efforts to the Shop N Save
next door to the Walmart in Presque Isle. After contacting for about
an hour the manager chased us out of the parking lot demanding that we
never come back. So now we're onto the Marden's parking lot and what
little contacting there is down town in Presque Isle. We cannot be
stopped!

My nickname in Newfoundland found on a sign in Woodstock

On Thursday we were knocking in Fort Fairfield. It had been a good
afternoon and we had two doors left before dinner. We went up to the
second to last door and no one was home. There wasn't a car in the
drive way or any lights on so we put a card in the mail box and
stepped off the porch. Then a car rolled up the hill and an older lady
got out of the car and immediately started swearing at us to never
knock on that door again. She explained that the lady that lived there
was older and that she could fall and hurt herself if she got up to
come to the door. I explained that there wasn't any reason to be upset
because we didn't know that. She still demanded that we leave but we
told her that we have a right to proselyte in America and that it's
Freedom of Religion and that she couldn't do anything to stop us. She
then yelled at us to get off her effing lawn (even though it wasn't
her lawn to begin with). I said no there's no reason to. She said that
she was going to call the cops so we said to go ahead, we've had
plenty of people call the cops on us. They wouldn't do anything. She
got out her phone and then put it back in her pocket because she was
too afraid to call. I said that this is ridiculous and that we have
other people to talk to. We moved on to the next door and throughout
the day not thinking too much of it.

The next day we got a call from Bishop Freeman. He said that an angry
lady had called him earlier that morning explaining that she saw two
young male mormon missionaries beating up an elderly man in Caribou.
Bishop thought it was ridiculous. We explained that we hadn't been in
Caribou all day on Thursday because we were in Fort Fairfield. If that
wasn't enough to add to the stress of the day we got a call from
President Pratt later that afternoon about the matter. This lady was
trying to ruin our reputation. President Pratt said not to worry about
it and if anything comes up to give him a call and he'll handle it.
(Nice to have a lawyer as a mission president.

And if you wouldn't believe any of that, yesterday we were driving to
correlation meeting in Presque Isle and the cops pull me over. I was
like this is just about the most ridiculous thing that has ever
happened to me. The cops said that some crazy lady had called and said
we were beating up people at the door. They said that they didn't
believe it and that if anything else comes up to get in touch with
them so phew! I'm not going to jail this week!

No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing-Joseph Smith

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

You Can Make a Pathway Bright

Still frozen over

Dear Family,
Thanks for your letters! So many of you are so solid with life and the
gospel it's great. Keep doing the basics! As mom would say, when you
wake up, get up, when you get up, stay up. Mom knew what she was
doing. You would not believe all of the life skills I have had to
teach to people on my mission. Praise for living the gospel and making
something of yourselves.

This past week I studied a variety of things. I am focusing on

U gone drive. I love Maine

studying the 9 basic doctrines of the church. It takes a life time of
study to understand the church. I remember being in my interview with
the Temple President in Snowflake and he said that after almost 50
years of going to the temple consistently he is just beginning to
understand the endowment. For those of you that are endowed, read over
3 Nephi 11-14. Those chapters contain a lot of references to the
Temple Endowment.

This past week we continued to look for people to teach. It's an
interesting thing about finding. We can literally work all hours of
the week and still not find anyone through our own efforts. Most of
the week was finding. Finally on Saturday, we had a member introduce
us to one of her friends, Colby. He is 25 and awesome. He does a lot
of community service and has been to Africa to help kids get fresh
water and stable housing. Colby also has a tattoo of the eagle scout
medal on his forearm. Yes you could say he's the real deal. He has a
firm belief in Jesus Christ. Can you say golden?!

We unfortunately had to drop Jason. He was doing so well, but when we
dropped by the other day a lady came to the door and well let's just
say this is one of those times where I don't write home about all the
details to an investigators story. I'll tell you after the mission. So
yeah, Thursday was a rough day. I don't like it when we put so much
work into an investigator and they just stumble. I can only imagine

Possibly the greatest bumper sticker ever made. There's a lot of
elderly people in Maine

how the prophet feels when after a general conference he learns of
people leaving their families or leaving the church. It's sad.

Tia and Riley and the whole gang are doing great. We taught them about
three times this past week. Riley still isn't sure about baptism but
he's warming up to the idea. We got them out to the ward sports night
to play volleyball and basketball. Riley was having a blast. They
invited us over this week for St. Patrick's Day. We're going to have
Corn beef and cabbage and watch the Restoration video. They are so
solid. We're going to have some April showers if you know what I mean.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

Elder McGuire's first principle of working with less-actives: "If you
get their cat to like you they'll come back to church"

Here's a cat

I Love to See the Temple

Halifax Nova Scotia temple

Dear Family,

Thank you for your letters! Everyone is so consistent it's great
(except for that JT he is wiley, he's up to no good). We had a great
week up here in Maine. It's interesting to think that we are in the
same country. It seems like I'm so far away but so close at the same
time. This past week we went to the French Temple session with all of
the French members and missionaries in the mission. It was a huge
session. Probably the biggest one I've ever been in on my mission
minus the MTC. I had the headphones for most of the session. I think
it's interesting how you can change the channel and listen in
different languages. I listened to most of it in English and a little
bit in Spanish and French. The gospel is the same no matter what
language you speak. On the way to the temple we listened to a great
devotional by Liz Wiseman. It's one of the best talks I have ever
heard. I recommend that you listen to it.
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/liz-wiseman_the-power-of-not-knowing/

In the devotional Sister Wiseman makes the case that 100% certainty
can be a dangerous thing. When we think that we know it all that's
when we are most dangerous. I think this is why a lot of people get
bored in church meetings. They think that they've heard this all
before and they don't make an effort to ask any questions or go deeper
into the gospel. Many church members, even if they have a strong
testimony can hit a plateau and become like the people Jacob describes
in 2 Nephi 9:28. I don't think we should be afraid to ask questions.
The entire Doctrine and Covenants was written because of the prophet's
desire to ask, seek, and knock. A lot of the how questions are pretty
simple. Probably the worst question to ask in a sunday school scenario
is "How can we better come closer to Christ, find peace, be happy,
etc." We've been saying it for years: church, pray, read. Better
questions for understanding the doctrine is "Why" "So what" "What's
the big deal about?" Through these questions we gain a deeper
understanding of the gospel. An answer without a question has no
meaning. Doctrine and Covenants 4:7

Like I said this past week we got to go to the temple. It was nice to
see so many missionaries that I used to be around in Canada. There's
actually quite a few French members out here in Atlantic Canada. Half

Temple trip!

of New Brunswick is French and there are pockets of French communities
in Nova Scotia and quite a few French speakers in Halifax. I remember
at the beginning of my mission I wanted to learn French so bad but
after a couple of weeks in Dieppe I was like "get me out of here." I'm
pretty content not knowing another language right now. I can get my
point across when I'm proselyting easier. We got into Halifax after 6
hours of driving and went to the mission home with the rest of the
French missionaries and members for a classic missionary meal: Taco
Bell. I had 6 tacos. It was great. We then went to a huge session in
French. The room was packed full of French. I had headphones to listen
in English. Headphones sort of gum up the whole project for an
endowment haha. I then got the opportunity to sleep at my old
apartment in Dartmouth. A lot changes in an area when you aren't there
for a year. We stayed up until 2 talking. So many mission stories.
Every day is amazing.

The next morning we woke up at 6 for another temple session at 9. The
storm was getting pretty bad so we had to remain in Halifax for a
couple of hours before we could make it home to Caribou. I do not like
how big the mission is and all of the travelling we have to do. We did
manage to get home before 11. The next day was a little hectic because
we didn't plan the night previous (the first cardinal sin of a
missionary). But we did manage to set up some lessons with

investigators. We met with Tia and Riley that night. We also picked up
Logan and Crystal as investigators, Riley's mom and brother. We are
legitely teaching a family! I love teaching families! An interested
family in New England/Atlantic Canada is few and far between. We
invited Riley to be baptized for April 9th with Tia. We are going to
have a baptism in April. Our teaching pool is fairly large right now
and we're finding consistently. I think it all comes down to finding
out here and not being afraid to invite people to be baptized in the
first lesson. My mission has really helped me get out of my comfort
zone. Difficult conversations always build character.

I love you all

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

Don't worry, Brother Stiggle a recent convert is a professional chef.
He made me Boston Cream Pie for my birthday

Cats everywhere!

The moustaches on the birthday card were great!

Thanks for the birthday package!