Elder McGuire's Letters Home: Earn Your Stripes

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John Thomas McGuire

We go pretty hard here in Tac City. My new favorite sayings are, "Workhorse gonna work" and "Earn your stripes" referring to the bags under my eyes.

I'm doing fantastic though! We finished all 10 exchanges this past week! I went with Elder Johnson to Basey. It was a cool exchange because Elder Quinco went with Elder Centeno in Burauen. One benefit of having cars and lots of branches to cover is the fact that you can do exchanges on 2 different islands at the same time. We taught these two teenagers who need to get married so she can get baptized. He's already a member. We taught them the plan of salvation and actually committed to get married and set a goal date for when they're going to do it in September. That's the first time in my mission where they haven't shied away because of a financial situation. After that we taught a really great investigator that they found a week or two earlier. We had a great RM who was actually the WML from Capoocan work with us. He'd worked with each of us before last year but it was so random and cool that he was there to work with us on that occasion. He is such an amazing member. It's so evident to see if an RM keeps up their study and teaching habits.

Thursday we were on our way to Carigara to do exchanges. I got a call from President Maurer asking us if we could help with an emergency transfer. So we worked the morning. I stepped on a carabao turd (surprisingly the first time in my mission that I've done that). Then we taught this really cool investigator. He has a birth defect where he doesn't have hands or feet. He has stubs and heels but that's it. He was reading from the Book of Mormon though and we had an amazing lesson! After that we headed back to Tacloban for lunch and picked up a part-time branch missionary and headed all the way down to Maasin. We picked up Elder Oakes! He's going to be the new recorder in the office. So now my best friend lives in my apartment too. Christmas came early! :)

Friday we went and worked in Mayorga with the Tolosa ZLs. I worked with Elder Olsen. We had a pretty rough work day but we had a really good talk and evaluation at the end. It was a very spiritual and uplifting experience. It was another testimony to me that I really was supposed to get home and get healed so that I could help others struggling out here with discouragement or perfectionism or stress management.

Sunday morning I woke up and I was definitely fatigued and exhausted. We went to sacrament meeting and then I went and took a nap in the office.

Earlier we went hiking in Tanauan. It was a blast except in rained a lot! And then Elder Johnson and I took a different way down the mountain and blazed a new trail and got our legs scraped up from spiky plants. Ton of fun though.

The next two weeks are going to be a marathon as well. We have MLC then the new trainers meeting and then it's transfer week again!

I've been studying a lot about obedience and humility. My question has been, "How do we humble ourselves?" or how do we become more humble. Essentially we become more humble in two ways. Eliminating pride and following the will of God. Pride is enmity with God and fellow man. So in order to become more humble, we have to get rid of our discordant relationships with others. It really just requires a change of attitude and change of heart. You have to realize that you don't know everything and you can't get by on your own. Everyone else has had a lifetime of experiences and lessons learned that you haven't yet. Everyone else has something to teach you. When we realize this it's a bit easier to realize how much we depend on God for everything that we have. In order to remove our enmity towards God, we should be more grateful for the blessings we've received. Disobedience and ingratitude are so selfish. Each has an "Everything-is-all-about-me" centered way of thinking and behavior. I think one of the best ways to be more humble is to be more grateful to everyone around us. Especially when it comes to the Church led by volunteers doing the best they can.

I am super grateful for an amazing companion. He is so hard working and diligent. I'm really going to miss him when he goes home next week. Elder Quinco is such a great missionary and leader. I'm grateful for the chance to work with him. I'm grateful to be surrounded by friends and people that love me. I'm grateful for my mission president and his wife. I'm grateful for the gift of tongues. I'm grateful for promptings of the Spirit. I'm grateful for my Savior and his Atonement. I'm grateful I can serve Him with all my heart, might, mind and strength and that He is increasing my capacity to serve. I am grateful to be an instrument in His hands.

Life is so good. I love you all. Thank you for your prayers and support and love!

Have a wonderful week!