TRANSFER WEEK!!!

Jokes! I'm still in Calbayog. The mission is finally back on transfer schedules now though. We have 9 out of 10 original zones open. There are even missionaries in Tacloban! One thing that's really cool is that Sister Henshaw transferred here to Calbayog. She was one of the 10 sisters on the roof. It's been really great to catch up with her on everything that's happened.

This week has been pretty good. We didn't get a whole lot of work in this week because of transfers and sickness and getting punted a lot.

Despite all that I had a really cool spiritual experience. Our investigator Cian, asked us last week how we received a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. I shared with him that when I was 14 I read 3 Nephi 11 and prayed just to know if that specific chapter was true. I told him that my answer came in the form of goosebumps and this overwhelming feeling in my chest that Jesus Christ really did appear to the people in the ancient Americas. On Saturday he texted us saying that he had been reading the Book of Mormon for a few hours and that he was feeling so good and wanted to share something with us when we saw him next. So on Sunday after church we asked him what he wanted to tell us. He said he read from 3 Nephi 11 and did what I did. He got goosebumps and he felt the Spirit testify to him that it's true. He said that he feels it so much and knows it is true. I am super excited for him. He is going through a real conversion process. Last week he was with 2 of his member classmates who were answering questions of another nonmember friend. Even though Cian hasn't been baptized yet he shared his testimony about the Book of Mormon and how he feels peace when he reads and that his mind is clearer after reading. He is going to be a great missionary someday.

My personal study has been awesome! I've been reading King Benjamin's address. It's so good. Every time I read it I pull out something new. I've been trying to memorize more and more scriptures because I'm going to try and do certification level 3. I have about 6 right now and I need 20. I'm making them long sections of scripture that will actually help me with teaching and knowing the doctrine better. This week I'm gonna work on the oath and covenant of the priesthood.

Not a whole lot to report this week. Just praying that investigators will recognize the Spirit and answers to their prayers. My goal for this transfer is to identify to our investigators what the Spirit feels like. We have lots of potential in our area and just need to execute.

Love you all! Have a fantastic week!

The Heavenly Virtue of Patience is Required

This past week has been pretty awesome!

MLC was postponed  until next week so we ended up not going to Tacloban. But we did get to teach our awesome investigator Cian! He is a classmate of Bro. Jerome. Jerome has done an awesome job preparing him for us. He's been reading the Book of Mormon a lot and praying. The best feeling ever was helping him to recognize the Holy Ghost. We taught him about Faith and Repentance and then committed him to baptism on April 26. It's kinda far away but we only get to teach him once a week because he has a full schedule of classes. He's definitely a gospel convert and not a missionary convert. Jerome told him not to get baptized just because the missionaries say to. Cian replied that no this was his choice and he really wants to. I'm really excited for him.

Herald is doing awesome as well. We haven't set a new date for his baptism yet nor have we approached his mom about it yet. We're giving it a little time and lots of prayer. He wants us to teach him how he can explain to his mom the importance of baptism. Secretly I'm hoping he can be baptized on the 5th but that's kind of a long shot.

We've been teaching a lot of less active families as well. The Rebusura family is great. The mom and dad are members but the kids aren't. We visited them almost every day this past week. Just to see their countenances change has been a miracle. They've been struggling with a lot of trials recently and have kinda drifted away from church. We got support from our branch president and branch mission leader in fellowshipping them and making them feel welcome at church. 

Mostly with our less active families we have been reading with them from the book of mormon. It gives them a taste of what family scripture study is like. We've found it to be super helpful. It really invites the spirit into their home.

The work here is progressing. We just have to be a little patient and not rush things. We are finding some new investigators too, but nothing super promising just yet.

My personal study has been awesome recently. I've been in Jacob. I really like that in the allegory of the olive tree, the Lord calls for more servants instead of time. In the past two years, the Brethren have made it possible for tens of thousands of more missionaries to serve and have called upon ward councils and members to get as involved as possible in this work. This is the last dispensation and the Lord is calling upon all of us to labor in His vineyard. We can't be afraid. We have to have faith to share the Gospel. We must strengthen our testimonies until we become as Jacob; so that our faith becometh unshaken..

Love you all! Go pray for missionary opportunities and then go out and be the answer to your own prayers.

Work, work, work that is the secret

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John Thomas McGuire

Oh what a crazy week for all of our investigators. Everyone has become a slight bit more of a challenge but I would much rather have it this way. The longer they have to study the more they'll be converted. And when is all said and done, I'd rather have converts than baptisms anyways.

So Herald is absolutely amazing! He is like Alma the Younger and he says that he is too. He reads daily and tries to apply everything. He should have been baptized this Saturday but his mom is the problem. For those of you who have read Leadership and Self-Deception, She is in the box. She is a single mother. They're family is pretty well off though, The thing is that she wants Herald to change but she wants things to be instantaneous. And then when he does change she says it's just superficial. She didn't want him coming home late so he started coming home at 8. She didn't want him to swear so he stopped. She wants him to investigate the church longer (he's been coming to church for 6 months now). She's really prideful. So for the time being his baptism has been postponed until we can get her permission or when he turns 18 in September. I really hope it's sooner because Herald has a desire to serve a mission and everything. He is trying to get on the road to conversion but his mom won't let him start because she thinks that baptism is the end and not the beginning. We've asked leaders and members to continue to strengthen him and pray for him. Last week we fasted with him for his mother's heart to be softened (his idea). Fortunately he recognizes that this is just a trial of his faith and patience.

Marlon still hasn't got a solid answer about the Book of Mormon. We were on exchanges at the time and so I wasn't in the lesson but Elder Quinco and Bro. Jerome challenged him to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover and then make a decision. So we're going to give him a break for about a month.

We decided to drop Buddy as well. Not because he is homosexual but because he is super prideful and won't read the Book of Mormon. 

We visited Papa Rats again. He didn't come to church yesterday but he wants to keep meeting with us once a week. He seems semi interested.

We have another new investigator. Brother Sidmanao. His wife and two little boys are members but he is not. Missionaries have taught him in the past but he's never accepted the gospel. We taught them right after church. We didn't share any scriptures we just talked and built a relationship and asked inspired questions. We testified about the importance of family which led to a conversation about temples. He interrupted me during my testimony and shared with us that he wanted that for his family and he wanted to learn more. Sister Sidmanao gave the closing prayer and the Spirit was so strong! I'm really hoping things will work out this time.

Zone training meeting was great. We trained on strengthening members' understanding of the doctrine of Christ so that they will be more willing to do missionary work. We had a member burn copies of the I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go video from the Hastening the Work Broadcast last year. We gave a copy to each companionship and committed them to share it with members and use it as a tool to help members prepare referrals. Hopefully we will have some success stories this week.

This week is MLC so we get to head to Tacloban again. I'll be excited to see all the zone leaders and sister training leaders because i haven't seen a lot of them yet. It's going to be a blast!

My spiritual thought for you all comes from Jacob 4:14 and relate it to John 9. Everytime that the man born blind opens his mouth, he speaks pure testimony so plainly and yet the Pharisees are too caught up about minor rules and technicalities. The man says "Listen, I used to be blind and now I can see and this guy is the cause of that" How plainer could he speak? I'm super excited for General Conference because they put the Gospel so plainly. We need to not look beyond the mark. The Gospel is simple. 

Another cool thing about John 9 is that after Christ anoints him with clay he leaves. The man is alone when he washes his eyes out. He is alone when he faces the Pharisees. It's only when he stays true to his testimony and is cast out of the synagogue that the Savior speaks to him again. And it says in verse 35 that Christ came searching for the blind man. Isn't that so true with us? How many times does Christ come looking for us? How many times does He call out for us to follow Him when we least expect Him to? 

I love you all and appreciate everything y'all do! Have a fantastic week!

Calbayog is the best place ever

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John Thomas McGuire <john.mcguire@myldsmail.net>	Mar 9
to Pernell, me, Lindsay, Kristin, Jessica, Cameron, Rick, Alyssa

Seriously though!

This past week has been amazing! 

Tuesday we went to Catbalogan's district meeting and then started exchanges with the elders. Elder Hughes came back with Elder Keate and I and we worked in Calbayog. Elder Quinco stayed in Catbalogan with Elder Rivas. It was a ton of fun! It's so awesome being in this zone. We seriously have an awesome group of missionaries.

Our investigators are doing pretty okay. Herald is doing awesome. He's 17. He has a super strong testimony of everything we teach him. He's talked with the Branch President because he wanted to confess some past transgressions/ He said it felt great and he felt so light like a weight had been lifted off of him. The only problem is his mom. She came out after our lesson with him on Tuesday and started telling us about a bunch of horrible things that he had done in the past. She told us that all of these changes were just superficial and not sincere. She wants him to change. We asked her if she had faith that her son could change. She said no. So at this point we are praying that the Lord will soften her heart because Herald has manifested by his works that he has repented of his sins. When we taught him about fasting, he wanted to fast that his mom's heart would be softened. So we're going to fast this Sunday.

Marlon is doing okay as well. We were teaching about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and after we went over endure to the end, we asked him how his preparation for baptism was going. He was really having doubts. He said that he wasn't sure if this was the true church. He is an honest seeker of truth. We committed him to read 2 to 3 verses of the Book of Mormon daily and to pray about it. We testified of the promise in the introduction to the Book of Mormon. It really is true. Our whole religion is dependent on that book. If it's true, then everything else follows. The church is true, Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, the priesthood was restored. The list goes on and on.

We've also been teaching Bro. Buddy. He is a friend of our BML. He was definitely homosexual in his past. He's in his 50s now. He really wants to change he says. He cries a lot. We're trying to decide if he's actually feeling the Spirit or not. We'll see how that all shakes out.

So on Friday we got punted a lot. We were walking around Brgy. Obrero and all of a sudden this drunk guy starts talking to us. And when I say drunk I mean this guy was really plastered because he was speaking pretty good English. He wanted us to see his house. His name is Papa Rats. We talked to this guy for about an hour and told him we would come back the next day when he was sober. When he was drunk he said he wanted to change and it seemed like the most sincere part of the night. Elder Keate and I went back with our Branch President the next day and talked with him. He was sober but he dominated most of the conversation. We decided to listen to his stories. He's a really family oriented guy. We invited him to church and he said yes! 100%. We weren't sure if he would come or not but sure enough at 9:15 he came walking in to Branch Conference. He loved it! There were so many fellowshippers for him. We visited later that night and discussed the restoration and he said he would come to church and bring his family next week. Sometimes finding new investigators is easier than we think. He has friends who were there. The work is just going so great here.

We got a call last night that Elder Keate is going to emergency transfer. We're kinda sad. Being in this trio has been the best one of my mission. We're headed to Tacloban early tomorrow morning. My guess is that he is headed to Ormoc zone. We have Zone Training Meeting on Wednesday. First time giving a training. Kinda nervous about it but hopefully it will be fine. We're gonna train on Member Missionary Work. How we can help members prepare referrals to receive the Gospel. Our inspiration is Alma 20:1 and 1 Nephi 7:4-5.

As for me personally. I am doing great. I love the work here. Before I left I had a whole bunch of fears that I wouldn't want to work or that I would be an unsuccessful missionary. But none of that has happened. I am in love with everything in my life right now. 

Love you all and thanks for the prayers and letters and support. 

Ta DAH!!!!!!

This picture was taken about a week before Yolanda.  JT came home for three months to recover from that experience. There are many pictures and stories that go along with all of this, but I will save that for him to post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73x-3QwZ26A

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John Thomas McGuire <john.mcguire@myldsmail.net>

Well I'm back in the Philippines Tacloban Mission and my life is so wonderful! If I could explain how awesome it is in this one hour that would be a straight up miracle. So we'll get to the basics.

For starters, I'm in Calbayog City! I love it here. With Tacloban and Ormoc being so affected by the storm, this is the largest city  inthe  mission right now. I am in a trio companionship again. I am with Elder Quinco who is from General Santos City and basically me but a filipino. (To put it simply, He knows who Go Radio is!) Elder Keate is from Utah, (and he is also neighbors with Elder Starr!) Both of them are so awesome! Being in a trio is hard but both of these guys are so obedient diligent hard workers so it is so good. Oh yeah and the 3 of us are zone leaders. I am not really jetlagged at all. I think the conditioning myself the week before really helped out.

Seeing all the missionaries again was so awesome! These people are like family to me. I had an overwhelming feeling when I got to Fatima Chapel that :This is where I belong" It feels so good to be back here

The language here is waray s. It is actually pretty similar to Tacloban waray though. So they can all understand me but sometimes I can't understand them. Some of the words change too. It's all pretty good though. 

The Branch here is awesome! This is the most missionary minded unit I have ever been to ever. Like a whole lot more than Walnut Canyon ward. On Sunday we went on 3 way splits with members and got 5 lessons in an hour. The members here are so awesome. There are also 2 sets of sister missionaries assigned to the branch and they're awesome. Our branch mission leader is the best in the whole world. He is so good at coordinating the work and making sure we get fellowshippers and lessons from referrals.

Our teaching pool is so great! We have a few investigators that are preparing for Baptism. Herald is 17 and started going to church after the typhoon hit and the missionaries got pulled out. He's dating the district president's daughter and at first it was like he was just going to church for her. But now he is genuinely interested and is preparing for March 22. Marlon is 18 and just got back from Manila. His older brother and sister are less active and he has had doubts about joining the church. On Friday night we had one of the most spiritual lessons ever. He wasn't sure if he was receiving answers to prayer. We talked about the Spirit and how we receive answers to prayer. Elder Quinco said that he could feel the Spirit and then Marlon said I feel something too. I said That's the Spirit. He is such a great kid. We've been waking up at like 5 to go play basketball every morning and he plays with. (Another reason I love this companionship!) I'm thinking that we're going to try and commit him to the 29th.

It's so crazy trying to get back into the missionary mindset. But it really helps to be in this area with these companions! Elder Quinco and I have been rocking at tagteaming some street contacting. I open up and get to know the person and he transitions it into a gospel conversation and we get a return appointment. Life is just so amazing! I can't believe that everything has happened the way it has.

My advice to you all is to go read your scriptures, but not just to finish a chapter and to mark your reading. Go read until you find a verse that gives you guidance for that day. Memorize that verse. Find ways to apply it and share it with others.

Rick I'm so proud of you! Way to go! Gotta love the 4th quarter rally for the eagle!

Lindsay way to make it through the move. You're a rockstar. Just be patient it's gonna get better!

Jess you stay away from that gwapo Ernie! Jokes :) Keep being the awesome person that you are.

Alyssa someday you'll learn how to control not getting in trouble... today is not that day... tomorrow isn't looking much better :) Jokes ha Love you lyssa girl!

Mom and Dad thanks so much for everything. I couldn't have gotten through the past 4 months without you. I'm in good hands now :)

Love you all so much :) Have a wonderful week!

ps yes i got a haircut. yes I've had a mango. yes I absolutely love being back. yes the food here is so much tastier than any other food. yes I am living my bliss and serving my Savior :)