Malipayong Pasko ug Maayong Bag-ong Tuig!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

This past week has been great. We had a baptism on Christmas! Angelo Sinining was baptized on Christmas. He's so solid. He was confirmed and received the priesthood yesterday. He wants to come work with us on Saturday and pass the Sacrament on Sunday. He's made it a goal to finish the Book of Mormon before next August. I'm so thrilled for him!

After I skyped you all we went to our District meeting and talked about recognizing the Spirit. It is important to realize whose work this really is. We as missionaries are just the mouthpiece. We need to follow the Spirit because the words of the Lord are a thousandfold more important than the words of any 19 year old. We made it a goal to memorize more scriptures so we can help people feel the Spirit and become more converted to the Gospel.

This week was long too. We walked everywhere. We also took rides everywhere. We talked to so many people. Mostly less active families. It really showed in the Sacrament Mtg Attendance though. Normally we average 50 but yesterday we had 75! It was great that the efforts were not going to waste. There's plenty of room for improvement though. There were quite a few families and priesthood holders that were not there. It will be a real accomplishment when we can repeat this weeks results and improve continually. When Sunday night came, I truly felt weary. Every now and then I've felt tired but I was weary last night. In my personal study I came across a verse in D+C 64. verse 33. Sometimes Heavenly Father just puts the exact right verse into your path exactly when you need it.

For those of you doubting my cooking skills, We made an amazing stew for lunch on Thursday. It had carrots, sayote, potato, onions, garlic, and pork with a little bit of brown sugar. Yeah we know how to cook. It was delicious.

Just for the reminder of what I asked for during skype.... Socks, POLYESTER ties, a cheap mp3 player with hymns, children songs, anything by MoTab. Also pens; G2 pilot in the sizes of .38, .5 and .7.

Other than that I'm doing great. The work rolls on like a stone cut without hands until it will fill the whole earth.

Love you all and I'm praying for you!

Elder McGuire

Christmas in Villaba

This week has been a great one! On Tuesday we went to Ormoc for a Zone Training Meeting. and yes I finally got the package from DHL :) We have such a great zone! Everybody works pretty hard.Our Zone Leaders are awesome!

This week we invited lots and lots of less active members to the Christmas party. We ended up having around 60 people or so show up. It was a lot of fun and the food was unbelievable! Lechon Baboy (that's the pig) and Poso (the rice in the palm fronds.) Elder Cottle and I ended up doing an impromptu musical number. We sang If You Could Hie to Kolob Israel Israel God is Calling and Joseph Smith's First prayer all to the same tune. It was great. We also had some investigators who came. Overall everyone had a great time.

We went on exchanges on Wednesday. I have a lot to learn in the language still but I feel confident enough to work an area without my trainer.

On Sunday night we received a text from our Zone Leaders saying that our numbers were consistently high over the past few weeks and that they were proud we had helped so many people. It was nice to have some encouragement from them. It seems like every night we come home tired and exhausted. That's okay though. Something would be wrong if we weren't coming home tired.
We have a Baptism tomorrow!!!! Angelo Sinining is so ready to be baptized! He is prepared and excited to hold the priesthood. He has become really good friends with the Branch President's son. They both committed to prepare to serve missions. They're so awesome!

I'm doing great. We rearranged our apartment to make things more productive and give ourselves more light and space. It's surprising what little changes can more fully invite the Spirit.

We're going to Palompon on Wednesday morning to Skype and then a district meeting. We're probably going to be on around 9 am our time which i think is about 6 pm Arizona  time. I'm just going to use my old Skype so there shouldn't be any problems.

All in all I'm doing great still. Just putting all my effort into every hour and loving it out here. Thanks so much for the prayers and support! Love you all!

Elder McGuire

Monday Monday Monday

Alive for another week with some great stories from Villaba.

So Last Tuesday was the mission tour of Elder Nielsen of the Area Presidency. He is great! I learned a ton and it was basically instruction on how to teach Filipinos and not Lessons. We also went over the Fundamentals of PMG and he answered some deep doctrinal questions of some of the elders. All in all it was a very good day.

One thing that is different about the Philippines is that the Sabbath Day is not kept as holy as it should be. It's amazing that I'm here in Asia and that the Spanish brought a belief in Christ with them, However, They go to church on Christmas and Easter like most people in the US. Most people live day to day here. It's hard to get the Priesthood holders to come to church because they have to work to support their family. So this past week we obtained a copy of all the Priesthood holders here in Villaba. This week we're going to visit a lot of them and awaken them to a sense of their duty. We don't have an Elders Quorum President because the last one passed away. The 2nd counselor in the Branch Presidency is basically inactive... There's quite a bit of work to do.

However all is well. We finished teaching the lessons to Angelo Sinining. His interview is tomorrow and he is going to be just fine. He is excited that he can receive the priesthood. We also explained that this is the beginning not the end. He's going to prepare for a mission and entering the temple.

We also found a family of five that is interested in hearing about the gospel. We have an appointment this friday to finish the first lesson with them. We also gave a book of mormon to one of the Barranggay captains (Like a mayor of a city but smaller jurisdiction) He was very nice and hopefully we can teach his family too.

Yesterday we spoke in Sacrament Meeting. Elder Cottle spoke on Sabbath day and I spoke on Member Missionary Work. We want to get the members involved heavily in the missionary work here and have them excited to share the gospel with their friends.

Other than all that I'm doing great. I kinda wish we had bikes though. We do a lot of walking. Normally we take a motor to another baranggay for 10 or 15 pesos and then walk back. Yesterday we walked all the way to Mahanglad (about 3 miles) and back to make sure an investigator came to church. Later that night we walked to Bangkal (also 3 miles) to share a spritual thought with a family whose daughter gave birth on Saturday. A bike really would be helpful but this way I won't get fat.

We went to a combined FHE on Saturday night. We taught a short lesson on the blessings of the temple. There are two RMs who are endowed in our branch but that's it. There is a temple trip planned for next April. I hope most people go. It costs about 2000 pesos per person though. It's rough for some people but I know the Lord blesses those who desire to follow His commandment. (See 1 Nephi 3:7)

They also fed us. Filipinos make some amazing food! Rice and Pancit and Chicken. DELICIOUS!!!

I'm excited for this week. Things are looking great!

Love you all and hope you're doing well

Praying for you

Elder McGuire

Still alive, Still working

Hey everybody!!!!

It was another great week here in Villaba. After the FHE with the Sabarez family last week we went home and got a text from our Zone Leaders saying that President Andaya wanted everyone to not leave their apartments on tuesday. Apparently Baguio Pablo was about to hit. A Baguio is the Tagalog word for typhoon. We Stayed inside and cleaned our apartment. I read Our Search for Happiness and Our Heritage...and True to the Faith. So now i've read all of the missionary reference library. I've started the conference edition of the Liahona and next I'm going to read all of the standard works. It makes me feel weird that there are probably pages that I haven't opened in my quad. However all is well. the baguio didn't hit Tacloban like it was supposed to but instead went south and hit Mindenao. Mostly we just got a heavy rainstorm on tuesday. Don't worry mom I'm completely fine. All in one piece still preaching the gospel :)

On thursday we got up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus to Tacloban for the Mission Christmas Conference. It was really great! On thursday night each of the zones performed a skit from the scriptures. My zone (Ormoc) did David and Goliath. My favorite one was probably Biliran zone's. They did The tower of Babel. It was hilarious to see the connections they made to our mission concerning the confusion of the languages. You can literally go 20 miles in any direction and there will be a completely different language. It's insane! We also had a gift exchange. I got a tie and a picture frame. For those of you wondering about the package. No I don't have it just yet. DHL came by before I entered the country so the mission office couldn't sign for it. Hopefully, they'll contact DHL today and they'll pick it up so they can bring it to mission tour tomorrow in Ormoc. Either way though it'll be okay. I'll be too busy with more important things than recieving gifts. Giving is more important anyways. For future packages, I would say just use USPS flat rate boxes. A lot of missionaries had those. Just tape a few Jesus pictures on it before you send it.

Friday morning we played some games that had to do with developing Christlike attributes. My team took 4th out of 18 teams. After that we had a devotional from the senior couple missionaries and President Andaya. One of the Senior couples' last name is Judd. I talked to them a little and yes we are related. They come through Zadok Knapp Judd as well. Elder Judd knows Uncle Thayne. They're like 1st cousins once removed or something like that. Not sure of their first names otherwise I would say go to the Family History Lindsay hahaha.

At the Christmas conference President Andaya announced that we can use Skype for Christmas!!!! Elder Cottle and I found a internet cafe with webcams so we're good on this front. We'll probably skype on the morning of Wednesday the 26th just so you're all done with morning festivities. It will be Christmas evening for all of you back home.

Saturday we traveled back home and did weekly planning. Sunday was not quite as good for attendance. That's what happens when you can only work 3 out of 7 days in your area. Lots of room for improvement but that's life. We gave BoMs to the members to give to their friends. I'm hoping this will help involve them more in the work.

Our investigator, Angelo Sinining is progressing very well. He is very smart. My Cebuano is limited to a Gospel vocabulary for now so that's good. I'm pretty comfortable in teaching the lessons. It's great that he has the desire to be baptized and read from the scriptures daily and repent and pray and all of these great things! It really makes me feel like I'm accomplishing my purpose.

Things are great. 

Love you all and I'm praying for you 

Elder McGuire

"And we preached in their streets..."

It's MONDAY!!!!

What a week it has been. Lots of ups and downs. Lots of great experiences. First off, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE EMAILS!!!! It really brightened my day to see a full inbox. Not sure if I'll have enough time to respond to all of you because we're headed to a FHE with a less active family in about 20 but I'll give it a shot.

We got to work this week. we really got down to business. We ended up teaching 17 lesson. 11 of which to less active families, This mission is a rescue mission but it's still important in bringing souls to Christ. One thing of note is that we do have 1 investigator committed to baptism already! Elder Cottle and I first started teaching Angelo Sinining this past week and we have plans to have him baptized in the OCEAN on CHRISTMAS DAY! He's 12 years old and living with a member family. He's really smart and I can tell his faith is growing.

On Tuesday we went to Palompon for district meeting and shopping. Theres a whole lot more options because Villaba is kind of smaller than most towns. My new favorite thing is ChocoMucho bars. Theyre safe and delicious. I'll be just fine because theyre cheap like 6 or 7 pesos a bar. The fruit here is AMAZING! The mangoes are unbelievable! The vegetables are great too!

Regarding the language... My trainer Elder Cottle says I know more words than him and the members say I have pretty good grammar. However, Filipinos speak really really REALLY fast. It is very hard to understand everything especially when they abbreviate all their words. I hope it will all start making sense with time.

We've had a goal to increase church attendance. It was up to 66 this past week from 47. I'd say thats progress. I have a personal goal to get a chapel built. there's just a smaller meeting house right now. The lots already been purchased and I walk by it every day almost. It'll take 3 straight months of at least 80 people consistently attending.  KAYA NATO! (We can do it!)

And yes it's always hot here. It's rediculous really. It's always hot and I'm always sweating. I miss being dry haha. I also miss washing machines. I've done my laundry by hand for the past two weeks and probably will for the rest of my mission.

On Sunday I was feeling a little homesick (as well as tired and hungry from fast sunday) Some of the priesthood holders that were at the activity on friday werent at church. After walking to Kabungaan and back because nobody was home and we don't pay for rides on sundays I was exhausted. I knew I was doing the right thing but I had feelings of inadequacy. We went and visited the Porquiado family later that night just a few blocks away from our apartment. Nanay Porquiado said she was in Alma 32 for her reading. I opened my BoM and looked at the scripture mastery card. I didn't really have the Spirit with me for the past few hours. My eyes kind of unfocused and I wasn't really listening to the conversation. All of a sudden I felt the Spirit prompt me that there was something on that page that I needed to read. My eyes refocused and the first thing I saw was verse 1.

"And it came to pass that they did go forth, and began to preach the word of God unto the people, entering into their synagogues and into their houses yea and they did preach the word in their streets."

The Spirit filled my soul. All my feelings of homesickness were gone. I know that the Lord answered my prayer and helped me feel loved. We closed the lesson and I bore my testimony. We then went and taught Angelo the Plan of Salvation. I love being a missionary. This is the best thing in the world. It's hot sweaty hard work. But I love it!

At a Zone Meeting this morning I found out that we had quadrupled our numbers from 2 weeks previous. I think I'll be just fine here in Villaba. We have Mission Christmas Conference this Friday.

As always I love you all and I pray for each of you each and every day. I invite each of you as I invite people here, to make sure you pray morning and night and have daily scripture study. The Lord will bless you if you follow is commandments. D+C 14:7

Until next week

Hurrah for Israel

Elder McGuire