Romans 8:28

John Thomas McGuire

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.

This is another one for the record books...

Dear Family, 

We did the first half of zone interviews in Ormoc Zone on wednesday. We started in Kananga then went to Villaba and Palompon and Isabel and then Ormoc. It was way fun to be in Villaba again. I got to see a few members and they were excited to see me! We ate lunch in Palompon at a new pizza place that opened up this year. It was pretty delicious. Wednesday night we had dinner in Ormoc at Big Roy's with President and Sister Maurer. I got chicken wrapped in Bacon... Yeah it was good. We had a meeting to pick the remaining trainers for next cycle.

Thursday we finished Ormoc zone interviews. We went down the coast to Albuera, Baybay and then to Mahaplag. After that we finally came home. McDonalds opened up and so we were going to go get dinner there but it was jam packed. So we went to Ocho's which is this amazing seafood grill.

Friday morning we had the Train the Trainers Meeting. I really enjoyed it. Everybody is so young though! When I mentioned my trainer Elder Cottle, nobody knew who that was except for Elder Centeno... Well I guess I am reaching the last cycle of my mission and my trainer is home and married now so there's that.

Saturday morning we picked up Sister Brown and Sister Henshaw and the 4 of us drove to Biliran. We dropped them off in Biliran and then went to Naval. We attended a mass baptism in Naval. 21 people were baptized! They have another 15 next week! Elder Centeno and I worked in Almeria (his first area) we visited a bunch of his converts. I had a great time! It's a new thing President wants to happen is have missionaries visit former areas on their last weekend and strengthen their converts and attend church there with them for the last Sunday. So that was a blast. Almeria branch is way awesome! I felt super uplifted. I'm super excited to visit my converts next time. It was a really fun roadtrip. Sunday night we got home and had dinner at the Garcia's house. They're so kind to the missionaries.

This week is transfer week and who knows what is going to happen. This is the real 4th quarter. It's go time.

Love you all! Thanks for your continued prayers and support!

Editor's note:  (Elder McGuire has been transferred, but he didn't know where to as of this letter)

General Conference Week/The Samar Tour!

John Thomas McGuire

I've been on the road again this past week! And to cap it all off I got to watch General Conference here in Tacloban. This past week has been another testimony to me that when you feel like your capacity has been exhausted, just give it a little bit more and empty the tank and the Lord will increase your capacity and fill you up to the brim until your soul is overflowing.

So the traveling side of things... Monday night we went out to Borongan.  On Tuesday we attended their zone training meeting and then did zone interviews with them. Elder Centeno's and my job is to check and train on the Area Book. After we were done, we got in the car again (around 4ish) and drove through the heart of Samar to Catbalogan. This is the worst road in the world... It's not even a road. Most of it is just dirt and mud. The places that are cemented are potholes and there are a lot of places where it's only one lane. Anyways there was one cool part where there was a loop'd'loop bridge which was really cool. 

So we got into Catbalogan  that night and I passed out. Wednesday morning we worked with the Elders there. I worked with Elder Disbarro.  We went and found a new investigator who seemed pretty interested about the Book of Mormon and said she would read it and that they could come back and teach her. She also invited them to go to her work and preach to everyone there. Gotta love those finding experiences. Then we taught their investigator who was pretty good but hadn't really understood his reading. It was fine by me though. I just love the feeling I get when I get to share my testimony with people in their homes. After lunch we got back in our truck and went up to Catarman.  Elder Centeno worked with Elder Harvey (his trainee two years ago) and I went with Elder Mack to go check out an apartment for the sisters in Bobon.  Then Elder Mack and I went to go check out Laoang and Catubig. (see the pictures)

Thursday we did zone interviews for Catarman  zone. We started in UEP and went back through Catarman and Bobon and Allen and San Isidro. After San Isidro, we went with President Maurer to translate for him for a baptismal interview.President Maurer had me translate for him and Elder Centeno translate for the man. I........ It was such a cool experience though. It was a follow up interview and President Monson had  written a letter with this man's name on it. It's so cool to know that the Prophet knows about people in remote parts of the world who sincerely desire to come unto Christ. After the interview we went to Calbayog  and had dinner. President Maurer treated us and got us some cheesecake. It was delicious!

Friday we had zone interviews for Catbalogan zone. We started in Calbayog then Gandara and then Catbalogan.The branch president in Gandara  bought us some free lunch. A cheeseburger and sprite. I love kind people who love the missionaries. After the interviews we went home. Elder Centeno  was a saint and drove home from Catbalogan so I could rest.

Saturday and Sunday was General Conference here at Fatima Chapel. One year ago I was here. It felt so good to be back. So good to feel an outpouring of the Spirit and so much revelation received for me and for investigators. All my questions were answered. I loved Tad R. Callister's  talk as well as Elder Ballard's talk(I got a prompting about 2 weeks ago to listen for Elder Ballard's talk... revelation is so cool!). I feel like it wasn't a huge doctrinal teaching conference but I caught a definite theme of "Get your life together and in order NOW" and "here's how you receive personal revelation" and "follow the prophet no matter what" and "do the basics of prayer, study, sacrament and temple worship and you will have peace in your life" Elder Bednar's  talk was the cherry on top. I think his was the only missionary centered talk and it was like the whole conference was saying this is what we believe and what we need to do and then Elder Bednar was  saying hey everybody come check this out. Also another thing I've been discussing with some other elders is we feel like something big is coming... we're not sure what it is but with all the talk of "stay in the boat" and "sustain your leaders" it seems like something is about to happen in the very near future. Let's keep in mind that these prophets are the watchmen on the towers that can see what is coming. So basically, I'm going to finish my mission strong by strengthening my testimony and others and then come home and stay strong and then go to school and get an education, get a job, find a wife, raise a righteous family and survive the buffetings of the storm that is coming when wrath shall be poured out over the whole earth (not necessarily in that order).

Oh and then I also got an interview with President Maurer.

 It was AMAZING!!!! We were in there for an hour just talking. I got a lot of stuff on my mind and he offered some great 

The Carabao move on!

council and gave me some great feedback. I feel so spiritually renewed this weekend. Also, we found out that we have a general authority coming in 2 weeks! It's either Elder Oaks, one of the presidency of the seventy or one of the presiding bishopric. I'm stoked! 

Well that's about it from me. I encourage you all to go back and listen to and read and watch the conference messages. They are the most important things you could study for the next 6 months. I love you all and I really appreciate your prayers. Keep exercising faith. Be kind to everyone!

Love you!

oh and the coolest news I've heard ever!

John Thomas McGuire

By the way! Elder Hughes is assigned in Villaba right now(my first area) he texts me now and again giving me updates but here's the coolest thing ever. Attendance there is averaging over 100! The Stake President has been out there and dedicated the lot. They're going to put a chapel there!!!!! Even cooler is that they're going to make it a huge District Center! They're going to split the Stake! Several families there went to the Cebu temple earlier this year and were sealed!!!!! The new branch president there is my former companion Jomar Taperla. He moved back after he went home. He married in the temple and the work has just taken off out there! I couldn't be more happy for him because back in his hometown, he was very far from the chapel and he was the only member in his family. But now he has a temple marriage and a calling in the church. Man I love that place so much! I'm excited to go back in 2 weeks when we pass through for zone interviews.

Love you all!!!! :) Keep on praying! Miracles Never Cease!

And when ye shall receive these things...

John Thomas McGuire

Ponder them within your hearts.

This past week has been amazing!

MLC was amazing we prepared a solid training about sacrifice. I'm going to attach it just to so you all can go through it if you want. But I absolutely love training up missionaries. We did a different style of MLC doing it all on one day starting at lunch and ending with a devotional after dinner instead of doing a tuesday night devotional and ending at lunch on wednesday. I really enjoyed it.

After MLC we started up the traveling around the mission again. We drove the Tolosa Zone Circuit on Thursday and the Southern Leyte Circuit on Friday and Saturday. Zone Interviews was a different format too. We drove to each area and President and Sister Maurer interviewed one companionship while Elder Centeno and I trained the others on how to effectively update the Area Book and why we update it. So yeah,Thursday we drove down to Tolosa and then onto Abuyog and then came back through Burauen and Dagami back to Tacloban. 

Friday we drove down the coast to Hinunangan, went around the horn to Libagon and then to Sogod and then cut across to Bato, had dinner and then went on surprise exchanges with the Hilongos elders. It was a blast! I worked with Elder Estrada. He's from Davao. We taught a great lesson to their investigators who haven't progressed since the last time I went on exchanges there 3 months ago. And then we taught another great lesson to a less active brother. I can't remember what we taught. But I remember the Spirit was really strong and this brother committed to come back to church instead of going to the auto shop on sunday like he normally does. I think that's my favorite part of missionary work is helping others to feel the Spirit and remind them of their covenants and help them realize the importance of keeping commitments. This exchange was more beneficial for me than anything else. It reaffirmed to me that doing missionary work brings the spirit of peace. Earlier that day, someone had said something that had really offended me and I felt humiliated. I had a spirit of contempt on the drive from Sogod to Bato. I am just like Mom because my emotion really shows when I get behind the wheel. So I had Elder Centeno drive. When we were done with work, I had the Spirit in my heart. It seemed like all my problems were gone. I was not offended anymore. I could forgive. I forgot about myself and worried about others. I went to bed happy that night.

Saturday we had Maasin Zone Interviews. We started in Hilongos and worked our way down. It was great to see some members in Bato again. I find it so interesting that I can understand Cebuano in Hilongos and Maasin but I get really tripped up when I'm in Bato. Anyways after the Zone Interviews in Maasin we took the Elders back to Macrohon and then continued up through Malitbog. We stopped there at the elders' apartment and I searched through a box of old books and found my MTC teacher's old journal. She had emailed me and asked me to track it down. I'm giving myself bonus points for this act of service. We didn't make it back in time for our baptism but it was all taken care of. Elder Tumagoy who had actually taught the Malatbalat family was transferred from 2nd ward to 1st ward so he was more than happy to be the one to baptize them.

Sunday was great! Our Ward Mission Leader is amazing! Jules Viray gets all the bonus points in the world. President Maurer made a new rule where we have to have a 30 year old work with us if we are teaching individuals of the opposite sex. So Jules has inspired our Elders' Quorum and High Priests to sign up to work with the missionaries. He had a list of 10+ brethren who pledged a few hours of work. Yesterday, Jules went with us to go teach Brother Jumelio and then take him with us to our next 2 appointments. We are teaching this brother named Juvenel. His wife is a member from Bacolod. He's very active in coming to church but hasn't been baptized because the two aren't actually married yet. We had a very spiritual lesson about reading the scriptures. He shared with us his Typhoon Yolanda story. Tears all around. This man loves Jesus Christ so much. He knows the church is true. They are working on securing the papers they need so they can get married. I'm hoping that I can still be here and teach him and baptize him.

My personal study has been great! I finished the Book of Mormon. I read Moroni 8-10 after church. Moroni is such a powerful writer and is my hero! I put the promise to the test again. I took time to ponder about how merciful God has been to His children since the time of Adam until yesterday. Thoughts flooded my head. From the Atonement of Jesus Christ to the fact that my family had found the Gospel and I was raised in it to the opportunity I've had to come on a mission to Typhoon Yolanda to the Post Traumatic Stress to the Comeback to the miracles I've seen here on the mission. God is a merciful loving God. Miracles Never Cease for those who keep on believing. The Book of Mormon is TRUE. It is the word of Almighty God and it has brought peace and joy into my life more than anything else in this world. My testimony has been strengthened this past week. I am super excited to watch conference. I have written down several questions that I want to receive some revelation about.

This week we are going to tour Samar doing more zone interviews. I'm really grateful for all the time I have on the roads. It really is a blessing to be able to observe God's creations and to just ponder about life and everything else.

God is good. Jesus is the Christ. This great and marvelous work will fill the earth! 

Hurrah for Israel!

oh and ps... we found a monkey in Libagon. They're so coo