This is a video of JT's homecoming. His new brother-in-law, Scott, put it together. We are so grateful for the many, many blessings he and our family have received because of his missionary service. Enjoy!
https://onedrive.live.com/
Thursday, December 18, 2014
He's Home!!!
This is a video of JT's homecoming. His new brother-in-law, Scott, put it together. We are so grateful for the many, many blessings he and our family have received because of his missionary service. Enjoy!
https://onedrive.live.com/
Monday, December 1, 2014
My Testimony
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I did it! It's December!
So this is the last time I'll be writing home as a young full-time missionary. I'm not really sure how to describe all my feelings. Let's just leave it at my heart is tearing at the seams!
I got to go visit Calbayog on Saturday and Sunday to visit my converts! It was an amazing experience. I woke up at 3 in the morning to catch a van and go to Tacloban then I got on a bus and arrived in Calbayog at 2pm. I went and helped with the branch reactivation. I was going to visit my converts, but they were also doing reactivation. Earl Nabong worked with me. He is such a stud! He is active in the church, goes to seminary everyday, he works with the elders frequently. I'm am thoroughly impressed with this kid. He's 16 and trying to reactivate his younger brothers and sisters who stopped coming to church after I transferred. He has a firm desire to serve a mission and he says that he's on a mission right now to get his family active and work with the elders. Cian is active too. He's now the branch clerk and was ordained an elder in the Melchizedek priesthood last district conference. I love him. He's praying to know if he should go on a mission as soon as he hits his year mark or if he should finish his last year of school. I love revelation and that my converts know how to receive it. Church in Calbayog was amazing! President Dawisan asked me to give a talk in sacrament meeting. I spoke on the Atonement. Then I also joined in the choir to sing, "I Know that My Savior Loves Me." It was truly an uplifting meeting. Oh yeah and then Bro. Nikki asked me to teach the combined Priesthood/RS class for him. It was President Uchtdorf's talk Living the Gospel Joyful. After Church, I gave all of my neckties and white shirts and belt to Earl and Cian. I ended up traveling back to Tacloban in a T shirt and gym shorts with no tinge of regret in my being. I showed up to the departure devotional and got a few funny looks but it was all good.
In other news, the Paa family was baptized! I didn't get to attend since I went to Calbayog but I saw pictures and they were very happy!
Caibiran was a good experience for me. If anything, I learned that when I am stripped down and just standing there raw, I still have a testimony of the Savior and this work. I learned that I don't need a calling or leadership assignment to bolster my testimony and I am very grateful for that. I am happy that when everything is taken away and it's just me, I'm happy with what I see and who I've become. I achieved my goal and finished the Gospels. I know that Jesus Christ lives! I know that the tomb is empty! I know He came to earth and suffered for my sins and that through his atoning sacrifice we are cleansed, healed and strengthened so that we can eventually make our way back to the presence of the Father. I know that families can be together forever! I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. This is the true church of God here on the face of the earth. Of this I bear testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I'm stoked to come home. I'm going to miss these people like nothing I've ever missed before.
Dad nice beard! I don't think I'll be joining you for Don't Shave December though haha. Way to go hammertime on the trees!
Mom HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! YOU ARE AMAZING!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see you!
Rick You are the MAN!!! You are very bold! Keep on working hard. I'm still praying daily for you and will continue to pray that you will find those that Heavenly Father has prepared for you. Don't let yourself get down because I'm going home this week. Just work hard and focus on the work. You're going to have amazing experiences if you just keep on following the Spirit.
Alyssa imma whoop up on ya in crash bandicoot! haha jokes... I'm stoked to see you and dad in nutcracker!
I love you all! This mission has been the best decision in my life. I'm eternally grateful for the blessing of the man that I've become. For the changes that Heavenly Father has allowed me to make in my life. I'm excited to take these experiences and move forward into the next chapter of my life.
See you in 3 days!!!!!!!!
Love you across the ocean and back!
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Tuesday, November 25, 2014
One last Sprint to the Finish
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It's been a great week!
On Monday and tuesday we had exchanges with the Almeria elders. Elder Canaya came with me and Elder Parra. Elder Nacorda went to Almeria with Elder Pole'o. It was pretty great! Mostly we just went finding for new investigators and then taught the Paa family. The goal is to get my companions to go finding more because apparently they didn't do that before I got here. Mostly just visiting less-actives. Which is good, but it's better to have balance.
So this is my last week. I'm not entirely sure what to write about. Mostly the plan is to just finish strong and work hard every single minute of every single day! We have exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week. and then 3 days and then Calbayog to make sure Cian and the Nabong family stay active in the Church. I'm really excited because Calbayog branch is going to the Cebu Temple Dec 1. And we go home through Cebu and will have some time in the afternoon. I really hope I will be able to see some of them at the temple! That would be amazing!
Pray that I'll have the strength to finish strong and to stay strong. I'm trying to keep in perspective that this isn't really an ending, just another beginning. As President Uchtdorf said we are made of the stuff of eternity. That's why it's hard to say goodbye because we don't like endings. I am going to miss this place and these people so much! My heart is starting to split in two. I love it here. I love these people. I love missionary work. I love my nametag. I love being in a position to help others. I do feel the Spirit every single day. It is so fulfilling to act on spiritual promptings.
I love you all! Thanks for the prayers and support and letters! I really do appreciate them even if I don't respond to each individually. I do read them. They are a strength to me! I can't wait to see you all! We will have a great time catching up on everything. Until then, do something today and everyday that will help you and others feel the Spirit.
Love, Elder McGuire
Monday, November 17, 2014
Be not afraid, only believe
Well it's been quite the week!
So I'm here in Naval, Biliran.... Yeah... Check your maps...
Monday, November 10, 2014
The One Year Anniversary of the Event that Defined my Mission and my Life
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Well this past week has been most interesting!
So,Thursday we flew out to Manila. It was me, Elder Harvey and Sister Simkins. Other sisters still flew out on Tuesday, so it was just us three. We landed about 8 and decided to have breakfast at burger king. Ahh Manila what a great place. Our driver picked us up and took us to the Bureau of Immigration. Such a familiar place. This is where they took us last year to get
The temple was so amazing. It's so peaceful. You really can just drop everything at the door and just feel the love of the Savior in every fiber of your being. When I got into the celestial room, there was a family just standing in a group hug, holding eachother and crying. I was overcome by the Spirit and started crying too. I sat down next to two young men who had just gone through for the first time. They were going into the MTC the next day to serve in the Davao and San Pablo Missions. One was very, VERY homesick. I put my arm around him and comforted him telling him that things were going to be alright and that he was going to have a wonderful time on his mission and see lots of miracles and that God would take care of his family. I shared D+C 100:1 with him. After the session, this same homesick elder found me in the locker room. His shirt and tie had gone missing. So I gave him my tie, but I didn't have an extra shirt. He asked me to go to the area office where his luggage was and get a clean shirt for him. I did and we returned and I took pictures with these two. I'm so grateful for that opportunity. Heavenly Father just puts us in the right place at the right time to help others and be an answer to their prayer. I left the temple feeling so full of love and with a desire to follow the promptings of the Spirit better.
Good luck to both of you on your mission!
You are both going to be fantastic missionaries!!
Sunday, church was chaotic. Catarman 2nd ward is not the most reverent but it has been improving since we asked Bishop to emphasize it. I'd still be very ashamed to bring investigators there just because it's so noisy and hard to feel the spirit. But even so, it's impossible for me to get a baptism now since Carlo didn't come to church for the second week in a row.
Anyways, I finished the biography of Thomas S. Monson To the Rescue and the Continuous Conversion. Such great reads. I hope to pattern my life after President Monson's. His is one so filled with service and following spiritual promptings.
....we saw Sister Pongyan!
Oh yeah and Sister Llano works at the Distribution center! Small world filled with tender mercies. She was in the Provo MTC with me. She was in my zone. She served in Cape Verde Africa Mission. She's from Macrohon Southern Leyte. Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of his children!
So we left for Tacloban on Pday last monday with the intention of flying to Manila to get fingerprinted on tuesday morning. Then we get a call at 10:30 saying that our flight has been cancelled and rescheduled for thursday. So on tuesday we got our chest x rayed and some departure stuff taken care of then we had MLC devotional Tuesday night.
Wednesday was MLC. It was rather interesting to be an observer when so many people were new. 2 new APs and 15 new STLs and ZLs. I looked around the room and realized that I had been to MLC with most of these missionaries trainers... yeah I'm pretty old in the mission. I'm not really sure how to feel about a lot of things. Mostly, a lot of things are changing. I used to feel like I was being pushed out of the mission. But after this past week, I've realized that I'm not immortal in this mission. Other people need to learn how to do the things I've learned how to do. This was a good experience for me to realize that the mission is in good hands.
But after this past week, I've realized that I'm not immortal in this mission. Other people need to learn how to do the things I've learned how to do. This was a good experience for me to realize that the mission is in good hands.
fingerprinted and whatnot.
It was probably
fitting that it was the 1 year anniversary for me to be back there. Surprisingly they had a system going much better and we were able to get everything done in an hour and a half instead of 4 days. Afterwards, we had the wonderful opportunity of going to the temple.
We arrived at the area office/MTC/Temple and saw Sister Pongyan! (one of the STLs during the typhoon) she was so happy to see us and we got to do a session in the temple together.
fitting that it was the 1 year anniversary for me to be back there. Surprisingly they had a system going much better and we were able to get everything done in an hour and a half instead of 4 days. Afterwards, we had the wonderful opportunity of going to the temple.
We arrived at the area office/MTC/Temple and saw Sister Pongyan! (one of the STLs during the typhoon) she was so happy to see us and we got to do a session in the temple together.
The temple was so amazing. It's so peaceful. You really can just drop everything at the door and just feel the love of the Savior in every fiber of your being. When I got into the celestial room, there was a family just standing in a group hug, holding eachother and crying. I was overcome by the Spirit and started crying too. I sat down next to two young men who had just gone through for the first time. They were going into the MTC the next day to serve in the Davao and San Pablo Missions. One was very, VERY homesick. I put my arm around him and comforted him telling him that things were going to be alright and that he was going to have a wonderful time on his mission and see lots of miracles and that God would take care of his family. I shared D+C 100:1 with him. After the session, this same homesick elder found me in the locker room. His shirt and tie had gone missing. So I gave him my tie, but I didn't have an extra shirt. He asked me to go to the area office where his luggage was and get a clean shirt for him. I did and we returned and I took pictures with these two. I'm so grateful for that opportunity. Heavenly Father just puts us in the right place at the right time to help others and be an answer to their prayer. I left the temple feeling so full of love and with a desire to follow the promptings of the Spirit better.
That night we got to talk with some missionaries from San Pablo mission because they were getting fingerprinted for their exit visas the next day. It was fun to talk and share mission experiences. Some were very similar which just made me laugh. Another good thing about going to Manila, was that I got to test out my Tagalog. I think I'm going to do just fine next semester. I could speak and understand just fine. The next day we flew back into Calbayog and then caught a van ride to Catarman. We were absolutely exhausted from waking up at 2 in the morning.
Good luck to both of you on your mission!
You are both going to be fantastic missionaries!!
Sunday, church was chaotic. Catarman 2nd ward is not the most reverent but it has been improving since we asked Bishop to emphasize it. I'd still be very ashamed to bring investigators there just because it's so noisy and hard to feel the spirit. But even so, it's impossible for me to get a baptism now since Carlo didn't come to church for the second week in a row.
Anyways, I finished the biography of Thomas S. Monson To the Rescue and the Continuous Conversion. Such great reads. I hope to pattern my life after President Monson's. His is one so filled with service and following spiritual promptings.
I love you all. Thank you so much for the prayers and especially that note about uncle Mark and Elder Neilson. That's what I needed to hear most today. Thank you for the love and for raising me in the Gospel.
Have a wonderful week filled with miracles!
Love you!
What trunky looks like
Oh and yes I got flight plans. I will be in PHX Sky Harbor at 2:38p.m. Wednesday, December 3rd. I'll forward you the rest of the flights next week but yeah... it's getting close!
....we saw Sister Pongyan!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
I'm just here to keep it real
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Well it's been an interesting week.
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To start it off, my legs were killing me. That is the last time i will ever do squats. Despite the pain, we went out and worked.
We had a special fast for Carlo as well as fast sunday. We also gave him a blessing so that he would be able to overcome the peer pressure of drinking. This week was All Souls Day and All Saints Day so there are a few fiestas. Thankfully, he did not drink. He is progressing very well. The bummer though is that he didn't come to church because his wife was sick... lame. So now his baptism would have to be on the 29th, our last saturday. But he'd have to come for the next 3 weeks. Please pray for him.
I went on two exchanges this past week. My first was with Elder Cotcher. He just finished his 12 weeks training. He's pretty cool though. He's in a position that not many elders are ever in. After he was trained, he transferred, became a district leader, and had to learn a new language, oh and his follow up trainer doesn't speak english really at all. So yeah he is super stressed out. I think the exchange really helped him out. He is a good missionary and is going to be a great help to the ward up here.
My next exchange was with Elder Biador. This was more interesting. It was out in Mondragon and Roxas. Elder Biador is a convert of about 3 years. He is a pretty good teacher but he has some big time pride issues. He's a good kid though. Just needs more time and experience.
We had a broadcast from Manila last night. Elder Oaks spoke and so did Elder Robbins of the 70 and Bishop Causse and Elder and Sister Ardern. It was pretty great! I think the biggest insight I liked came from Elder Oaks talk. He was talking a little about the 4th of the 10 Commandments. "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. Six days thou shalt work." He went on to say that often this second part of the commandment is not kept. The Lord has commanded us that we should work and be hard working and industrious. It's so interesting to me how I can know the commandments but when they are explained by an Apostle you get a whole new insight. Dad if you wouldn't mind trying to get me a job at a law firm or something like that up in Utah, I would really appreciate that. If you can balance that into your already hard-working schedule :) Thanks so much for your fantastic example!
This week we aren't going to have a whole lot of work. We fly to Manilatomorrow to get fingerprinted for our exit visas then we have MLC on wednesday, then we travel back thursday afternoon because we have to get our chest x rayed in tacloban. The week is going to go by super fast.
I'm super grateful to be where I'm at and to have the guidance of the Spirit in my life. I'm grateful for a family who loves and cares and prays for me and my success. Please know that I'm praying for you too! Yesterday I taught sundayschool about Eternal Families. I shared the experience I had when I came home and we all went to the Mesa Temple to do some sealings. I can't wait to do that again. It is one of my favorite memories, being together with my family in the temple! :)
Love you all! Keep on following the example of the Son of God and always seek to have the Spirit in your life! God lives. This is His work! We are in His hands.
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Keep the Faith. Stay Strong. Hold On!
Elder McGuire
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Romans 8:28
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Well I’m writing from an internet café up here in Catarman, Northern Samar! Yep I got transferred for my last 6 weeks here in the mission. I was really kinda bummed about it at first. Transfer week was kinda hard for me putting in all the work and then giving the reins up to two new APs. President Maurer gave me a nice shout out/eulogy at transfer meeting I’m rather interested to see how well they can cope without being trained how to do it. All you do is follow the Spirit anyways. The good thing though is that I was kinda left alone for 6 hours to pack because another elder was sick. Lots of time to just ponder and pray and think about things. Finally by the end of it all I felt good about the transfer. When it comes down to it, I like every other natural man have problems with CHANGE... But it was nice to have a spiritual confirmation that this is the right thing for me. So we're gonna just kill it up here and empty the gas tank for the next 5 weeks.
So now I'm with Elder Harvey. He's from Brisbane Australia. Half Maori half Samoan. We both go home at the end of this transfer. It's been pretty awesome for the first few days. We get along pretty well. We both know that we're pretty excited to go home, but we're going to work hard to the finish.
We have one investigator who is slightly progressing, Carlo Albina. He's been taught by the sisters before but we're going to take over because his wife is content to be a Buddhist... yeah first one I've met here surprisingly. Hopefully he will get baptized on the 22nd but it's going to take a little bit of work. He came to church yesterday but wasn't at his house last night for our scheduled appointment with him. He has lots of questions about the word of wisdom but it's more like he has questions like why is this not allowed why can't you do this or drink this or do that... Anyways he's a pretty cool guy. about 22 years old or so. His wife is a teacher.
So yeah I don't get to go to the General Authority meeting tomorrow. It's not Elder Oaks though. It's Bishop Causse. Not too bummed at this point. Elder Ardern is going to do an MLC with us in November so I'm looking forward to that.
Other cool news is that one of the members here is a personal trainer. We went to the gym this morning. He's gonna have me whipped into shape by the time I come home. The plan is to lose the office gut and up the bench and squat. Yeah I'm gonna come home gwapo hopefully.
That's kind of all from my end of the wire. Just going to hit the ground running. In all honesty I am super excited to be a zone leader here. I get to go on exchanges, learn and speak crazy deep languages, work with awesome people. I'm in a good place. Humble pie is hard to choke down sometimes but it sure does digest well.
The church is true! Follow the Spirit. Things will work out.
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