Elder McGuire in the Maritimes: Seek Out the Righteous Where're They May Be

Monday, April 18, 2016

Seek Out the Righteous Where're They May Be

Dear Family,

What a wonderful time of the year it is. The Spring is coming even if
it is slow at first. Yesterday it was a balming 60 degrees outside.
Today it's more like 40. I feel so relieved that my time in Canadian
winters is done. I can't believe it. I feel like a huge stress has
been lifted off of my shoulders. I love the Canadian Springs because
that means no more winter. Canada is probably the most beautiful in
the Fall. Maybe one of these days you can all come up to Eastern
Canada and see how beautiful the provinces are.

This past week I have been studying a lot about personal revelation.
In the concluding verses of John 6 the Saviour remarks that disciples
are walking away from Him. Throughout the church, I notice a lot of
solid members falling away into forbidden paths because they feel like
they are too smart for the gospel. Peter then responds in essence "Why
would we leave, you have the words of eternal life?" President Monson
quoting the cheshire cat to Alice in Alice in Wonderland said "If you
don't know where you're going then it doesn't really matter which way
you go." This reminds me of a scripture in Proverbs which states
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." Often with personal
revelation we feel like we haven't gotten an answer. In my case I have
wondered my whole mission what would be the most worthwhile thing for
me to study. However, with things like that, it is better to ask
ourselves 'What do I want?' 'What do I want for my life?' 'For my
children' or 'For my spouse.' Often we already know the answer to our
prayers, we are just needy and not willing to act in faith. Personal
revelation is the way to salvation. D&C 131:6

This past week was a bittersweet week. Unfortunately we had to drop
the 5 people we had on date to be baptized. The Ellison's were excuse
machines with coming to church. We taught the commandment, had
multiple rides set up but it just couldn't happen. It's too bad
because we spent like two months teaching them, but who knows. Maybe
they will be better in the summer and get baptized then. I'll miss
teaching them, sitting on their floor, sipping koolaid and petting
their cat. We've got to separate the wheat from the tares. In the
Doctrine and Covenants it states that the elders of the church are to
build up the church finding those that will receive us (Section 42). I
can't help the people that don't want to be helped. In other news we
let go of Kayla as well because personally I felt like she was just
investigating for Will and I didn't want to baptize someone that
wasn't actually interested spiritually in the gospel. So at this point
we have a teaching pool of one, just Colby and he's been avoiding us
too sadly.

However, I have some really good news. CLAUD "THE IRON ROD" MELANSON
GOT BAPTIZED IN MONCTON ON SATURDAY! I remember street contacting him
outside of the hardware store just as he was getting off of work. It
had been a really cold day and we were stopping by formers and
potentials in the area and Claud was sort of off to the side. At first
I thought no it would be inappropriate to contact an employee who
might be at work, but then we thought, well hey what the heck we're
already near by. The contact sort of went like "Hey we're
missionaries, do you want to come closer to God?" I don't remember
what his exact response was but in my notes from that planner I wrote
down "French, from Bathurst. Went through a rough 2015. Feel like he
has decent interest. Plan to call on Monday." We taught him for a
little bit, but the lessons weren't as fast paced as Donna. I was then
transferred and from what I heard he started to really eat up the
gospel. I had a goal at the beginning of my mission the baptize an
Acadian because I started in a French area. It's been 20 months since
I was in that French area and that goal is now realized.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire