Elder McGuire in the Maritimes: Sisu

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Sisu

I trained Elder Ray. Elder Wilson and I have served in the same
district with each other for 12 transfers. He's like an unofficial
companion. Elder O'Brien and I served with each other for three
transfers

Dear family,

Thank you for the letters this week! Sounds like summer is in full
swing in the southwest. It rained most of last week and the sun
finally came out on Sunday so that was nice. Newfoundland got some
flurries I heard. I'm not overly excited about the hot weather I'll go
back to. I like the summers here. The trees are green and the ocean is
right by. My favourite scene in the Maritimes is how the old
protestant churches look next to the bay with the sailboats. If you
have a minute, you should google Mahone Bay, Lunenburg, or Blue Rocks
Nova Scotia. It's in my old area of Bridgewater but I love that look.
You can't get that anywhere else in the world!

So transfers! I will be staying in Sackville for my final transfer as
a missionary. I remember when I first came into the mission and we all
sat around the dinner table and President Leavitt told us where we
were going. The only thing I could think of was where I'd be
finishing. Then that thought left my mind as we began working. Now
here I am at the end with my final area and my final companion. Elder
O'Brien is headed to St. Stephen for his last 6 weeks. I'll get a new
companion, Elder Batley. He's been out 18 months and is solid. He's
from Lehi, UT. I went on a lot of exchanges with him in Moncton
because he had a difficult companion when he was serving in Amherst.
I'm excited for this final transfer. It doesn't really feel like the
end to tell you the truth. I just feel like I'm still on my mission.
My life is like the movie Ground Hog Day. Every day seems the same but
when compared side by side they all are very different. Every week
gets faster and faster. Sisu is a Finnish word that means inner
strength and the ability to endure to the end (3 Nephi 15:9)

This past week we had a nice blitz in Sackville with the other
missionaries in the zone. The whole zone came to work the area. We met
with the sisters before everyone showed up at the church so that we
could plan out days for 12 companionships. I wish I would have gotten
a picture but we had the whole chalkboard up with everyone's schedule,
the area book and member books open, google maps open. The whole
she-bang. I love planning. I just get so much motivation out of
setting everything in order. We had missionaries knocking out whole
neighbourhoods in an afternoon, missionaries on the nature trails and
in the parks, missionaries tracking down less-actives and making phone
calls to the ward council for information, and missionaries hunting
down former investigators and potential investigators. I felt like I
was serving my mission in LA or something with 30 missionaries just
working in Sackville all day. It was so much fun. We all found lots of
potential investigators that Elder O and I followed up with throughout
the week. No new investigators yet, but we're working on it!.

Mark could be doing better. He's almost positive that his wife would
leave him if he joined the church. We had a lesson with him last night
about forgiveness and repentance. We talked about the sisters teaching
his wife and nothing seemed to be working. Mark is clearly one of the
elect. Young father with a career and life ahead of him. He has a
spiritual gift for faith, but I'm worried that's dwindling. If you
could please pray for him he needs it now more than ever. He lives all
the commandments and reads very consistently.

George is doing great. He isn't too sure about baptism but he says
that he'd be open to it. We're planning on baptizing him on July 30th
(my 2 year mark). We had the prompting to really just teach the
atonement from the Book of Mormon with him last night. He loved 2
Nephi 9. When we showed up he said he just flipped open the book and
began reading from Alma 39. He really enjoys the Book of Mormon. It's
difficult for him to get Sundays off but he's planning on coming to
church this Sunday. He offers some really good life advice during our
lessons. He knows that I'm going home soon. George is clearly elect as
well.

I love you all

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Elder McGuire