On This Day of Joy and Gladness

Dear Family,

I love you all! Thank you for your letters. Yes emailing is getting
sort of old, but we'll get there eventually. Just got to keep doing
the little things. This past week was very misty with some rain.
Halifax is like the Seattle of Canada. Never seems to stop raining. We
had a busy week with lots of interesting experiences.

This past Sunday I had to opportunity of speaking to the Sackville
Ward about modern prophets and continuing revelation. I started with
my classic story of when I stuck a dime up my nose and then spring
boarded that as sort of an analogy with following the prophet. I had
people in tears they thought is was so funny. Because a quarter
wouldn't fit was the punchline and everyone was loosened up a little
bit before I could get into the scriptures. I based the talk off of
two scriptures 2 Nephi 9:48 and Ephesians 4:11-15. We often hear the
prophet speak of how we can improve. We ought to embrace these
chastisements. In the book of Proverbs it says that whom the Lord
loves he chasteneth (The Lord loves all of us so he chastens
everybody). Everyone has room for improvement and those general
conferences are key to learning how to self improve. In the epistles
of John it says that if we say we are without sin we deceive
ourselves. The next point I would like to make is that our church
organization is unmatched throughout the world. No one else has
prophets and apostles, seventy, deacons, teachers, priests,
evangelists, and high priests the way that the Lord has revealed in
the New Testament. Paul states that we have these leaders so that we
can come into a unity of faith. That's how the ancient saints did it.
They turned to those having authority to learn the answers to their
questions, not to the scribes and the pharisees who mocked the
Saviour, his authority, and his atonement. This is the truth. You
can't find this anywhere else.

This previous week we went about finding. It's interesting how we can
work even more than previous weeks and not find a single investigator.
I think that's sort of how HRM goes because I had the same problem in
Cole Harbour. Patience and faith I suppose. We were doing a lemonade
stand the other day and these two guys walk by and I ask them if they
want some lemonade. They sort of brush us off and I didn't think too
much of it. Thankfully I haven't been put in jail yet for offering
Haligonians free lemonade. Yes you could say I'm devious. Then after
about twenty minutes these guys walk by again and I say "well how
about now?" Then they agree to take some. I start contacting them and
it's going really well. We get all of the information, they take a
Book of Mormon, we even set up an appointment. And then the guy whips
out a name tag and says I served in Poland, you guys are doing an
awesome job. So close! I thought it was pretty funny though.

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

I love you all,

Elder McGuire

Cry Repentance

Dear Family, 

Thank you for  your letters. I'm afraid this is going to be a short letter as I am typing this on a members cellphone. It's Victoria day in Canada which means the library is closed. So for those of you that get this letter make sure to forward it on to everyone. This was a nice summer week in Sackville. We had some rain and it even got up to thirty degrees Celsius on Saturday. Nice and muggy.

We ran into one lady that informed us that you don't need religion or God to be a good person and that if you do good just to please an imaginary being you are wasting your time. The objective of religion is not to make people be good people. Though it is one Mission of the church to perfect the saints the main purpose of religion is to tie people back to God. Our interest is salvation and what happens after death. Nephi taught that if we endure faithfully to the end we shall have eternal life. 2 Nephi 31:21. Another interesting critique of our faith I heard this week while knocking is that we blindly follow or do what we're told when it comes to sustaining the prophet. That we don't think for ourselves or have any new ideas. I'm here to tell you that everyone isn't an original. Everyone listens to someone whether it's some atheist on YouTube that's so wise or to some guys blog that says the holocaust was a conspiracy. So no one is really an original. The difference between us that sustain the prophet and those that don't is that we have the words of eternal life. The final verses of John chapter six teach this principle. 

Sleepover with the Bridgewater elders before zone conference with
Elder Bennett! We busted out the phase 10. It was awesome

This week we went about finding people. Sadly we found no new investigators but plenty of referrals and potentials. Kathy is progressing. She's reading the book of Mormon and the pamphlets that we gave her. It's tempting not to answer every concern that she has because they are such good questions. Mark is doing great. He came to church and we taught him more about the family proclamation. He would be baptize but his wife thinks the church would tear them apart. Difficult family situation. Please pray for Mark and his wife Sonia. Mark is so solid and they are a young family.  

Hurrah for Israel!

Love 

Elder McGuire

Elder O'Brien is just classic

Back in the land of Oh Henry Bars

Elder O'Brien filling out his planner

Jesus Saviour Pilot Me

Dear Family,

And thus we embark on the second to last transfer! It's going to be a
fun ride. I'm back in Halifax (Sackville) with one of my old
companions Elder O'Brien. Sackville is right in the middle of the
Halifax Harbour. It's about 20 minutes from Cole Harbour so I'm back
in my old stomping grounds. The ward is pretty great. Lots of young
Canadian families with jobs and little kids. Halifax is so different
from the rest of the mission. I feel that although this is the city of
my calling I have spent more time in other places than actually in
Halifax. That's to be expected though.

This morning I was studying from the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 1 and
2. We live in a world with lots of interesting philosophies.
Everything is neither bad nor good but 'okay.' People say that we
can't judge people because it's their life and they can do whatever
they want. Who are we to say what is right and what is wrong? Lehi
defeats this argument when in verse 11 of chapter two he states: "For
it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things."
Everything has an opposite even when we say that all is good and okay.
God's laws don't change when we state that there is no God. There is
evil and there is good. There is wickedness and there is
righteousness. There is virtue and there is vice. We can avoid
deception by studying the scriptures and observing the lives of church
leaders. I know that there is opposition in the world. If there wasn't
then things would be a compound in one which means that the world
would be pointless. There would be no point in trying if we didn't
have opposition.

Then there's the whole 'well it's my life, it's my agency!' argument.
Lehi again confounds this false doctrine in verses 27-29. When we make
poor decisions we are choosing captivity and death. There's no way
around it. We are free to choose liberty and eternal life or captivity
and death.

This past week was eventful. We don't have P-days on Monday when it's
a transfer week. Working Monday and Tuesday is not my favorite because
it's like running on fumes but once we get to Wednesday which is P-day
my mind is put at ease a little bit more. I got the news on Tuesday
that I was going to be serving in Sackville with Elder O'Brien. He has
been in this district for 15 months. Most of his whole mission. The
other area is Bridgewater so I'm right around all my old areas again.
Thursday we drove up from Caribou to Moncton and then on to Halifax
for a temple session.


The temple was great! I went with the question of 'What prevents us
from sinning?' And while going through the endowment session I
realized that accountability doesn't exactly prevent us but it does
raise a guard. I also realized that partaking of the fruit didn't make
Adam and Even knowledgeable about good and evil, rather it made them
accountable. They already knew good and evil (it was bad to partake of
the fruit) from the Pre-earth life. Rather when they partook of the
fruit they were accountable for their sins. Perhaps this
interpretation of the Fall is incorrect. Let me know what you think.

In Sackville we found a new investigator Friday night. Our plans fell
through for correlation with our Ward Mission Leader and so we decided
to stop by a less-active. We began to teach his girlfriend Kathy more
about what happens to us after we die. Kathy has a ton of questions
from gays/lesbians to polygamy to modern prophets to the Book of
Mormon. She wants to be baptized but is hesitant to set a date. Things
are kicking up though in Sackville. We also got three member referrals
and I haven't had a problem with the law other than getting a speeding
ticket on the way to Stake Conference. Lame. My first one.

We have a general authority with us this week. It's Elder Bennett of
the Seventy. He is from Alberta and is a very kind man. For the adult
session he based the whole thing off of three 5 minute talks and
allowed people to state their comments. It was a very spiritual
meeting. Elder Bennett shared a very powerful story about how his mum
left the church for 30 years while he was in his youth but eventually
came back and became a temple worker. He should be at zone conference
this Wednesday so that's exciting!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

Look who I ran into going through Moncton?

Saying good bye to Brother Stiggle a recent convert in Caribou

Shaq and Kobe back together about to take on the world

Sackville has a canoe club

The ducks don't care though

Still snow on the beach. Spring might show up by the time I go home

Trail contacting! :D

Follow up!

Still got it! A less-active has an e-kit

Cats and such

Elder Greenlief the tech master that he is bought a 40 dollar gps that
runs windows and microsoft word. Ya just never know when you're going
to need that

Sie's dog, Sarahemla

Cats are just everywhere in Maine

Maritime Spring is finally here!

12-week training program woooooo

Cats are important to me

Elder Greenlief hard at work

They Were Still His Brethren in the Lord

Dear Family,

It was great to Skype you all last Sunday for Mother's Day. You all

haven't changed a bit which makes me so happy. I can tell that you're
all very rooted in the gospel. You would not believe how much of a
testimony you all have. I appreciated you all being there. That means
a lot to me.

So transfers! Looks like I'll be finishing my mission in Sackville,
NS. Sackville is apart of Halifax. It's right in the middle between
Halifax and Dartmouth. I'm only about 30 minutes from Cole Harbour
which was one of my old areas. I'll be serving with one of my old
companions Elder O'Brien. We served with eachother this time last
year. It'll be good to get back into Canada and especially Halifax. I
have some unfinished business in that city. This will be the 8th area
of my mission. I have been around the Maritimes quite a bit in the
past two years. I can't believe that it was two years ago this week
that I got my mission call to serve here. Time sure does fly.

This past week I have been reading from the Book of Mormon with the
following question: How do I become a better man? Elder Bednar
recommended that we take a fresh copy of the Book of Mormon and write
down a question of the soul that we might have. We might wonder how to
improve our relationship with our spouse, or how to help our children
avoid immorality and drugs, or we might just wonder if there's even a
God. The Book of Mormon answers these great questions that we might
have. I love reading from the Book of Mormon. I love how it has
already begun to answer my question. I don't believe that happiness
and peace are found in the online blogs, the self-help books, or the
gurus. I believe that self-improvement and life-long peace and
happiness is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is plainly
taught in the Book of Mormon. Just in examining Nephi I have come to
discover it is very unwise to complain about our duties. That's the
theme of the first few chapters of the book. Next I find that it is

important to take initiative (Nephi makes a new bow) and sustain
leaders even in their weakness (Nephi goes to Lehi for counsel despite
Lehi's murmuring). There are dozens of other answers that I've
received while reading the Book of Mormon. I believe that it is the
word of God. I invite you all to read the Book of Mormon with me for
the next 12 weeks before I come home. Write down a question that you
have. That question is probably what you think about all the time but
are neglecting to do. Or it could be what you aren't doing all the
time but should do. The Book of Mormon answers the questions of the
soul.

This past week was my final hurrah in the states before I come back to
Canada. We found a great young family while we were knocking. Josh and
Mallory are going to school and are in their 20s. They are 7th Day
Adventists and let us right in to hear the message of the Restoration.
This was maybe like the 3-4 time that's ever happened to me on my
mission. Sometimes I'm a little shocked when people let us in and I'm
very apprehensive and I don't know where to start. But there are still
people out there that are looking for the truth. We found the promised
land of Washburn, Maine. Every house we knocked on was very polite to
us even if they weren't interested and we found many people that
invited us back.

Kim is improving. We taught her the commandment of keeping the Sabbath
Day Holy in hopes that she would come to church. We committed her to
come to church this upcoming Sunday and she said she'd be there. No
baptismal date yet, but she's probably the most promising investigator
we have right now. She is working hard to get rid of her addictions. I
have a lot of respect for people that humble themselves and genuinely
seek to improve themselves and work through their problems. Being fake
will only get you so far and there are no fakes in the Celestial
Kingdom.

We taught Joe this past week about the Plan of Salvation and he agreed

I'm going to miss working with Sie. He's been one of my favourite
less-actives to work with. Inspired me to get a blow gun after my
mission. He's one of the several people that carry a gun to church

with a lot of it. Especially with pre-earth life. His wife Barb joined
us for the lesson so we picked her up as a new investigator. They both
have so many questions about the bible that I found myself saying 'I
don't know' rather than using the scriptures to explain the answers.
Even after studying the scriptures for 2-3 hours everyday for 21
months my knowledge still has a long way to go. Caribou is on the up
and up though. President Pratt likes the progress we're making and is
putting another set of elders in the area to help with the work.

Back to the True North

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Love,

Elder McGuire

So it snowed the other day and this cat was cold so I just opened
someone's house that wasn't home and he went in

Pictures!

Cats everywhere!

The Amish are out!

Knocking on a beautiful day!

Hard work, I do it for play

Tim Horton's made nutella donuts. yes b'y