4 months already?!

Time sure does fly when you're on a mission. I can't believe how fast it's gone. It does not feel like 4 months since I said goodbye.

However, it was another good week here.

On Tuesday we got some new investigators. The brothers of a recent convert were over at his house and invited us in. They had questions like who was Joseph Smith? so we jumped right in to the message of the restoration. We gave them a Book of Mormon each and committed them to read it. Unfortunately they were not there for the return appointment on Friday because there was a huge fiesta over the weekend. I hope they read it and have more questions and that we can find them again. They live in a pretty bukid (out in the middle of nowhere) area. Also the recent convert is less active now because he is offended by someone or something that happened last year. That seems to be the story with a lot of people.

On Wednesday morning, we got up at 3 and went to Tacloban for a conference. We got to hear from the Mission President of President Andaya, President Leishman. He gave a really good talk. There is a big difference in Returning with Honor and just returning. He also said that President Hinckley told him that the church would be well known in the Philippines when his children's children were serving missions. Which is now!

Because of the way transportation works here we couldn't get a ride home that night so we stayed in the downtown apartment. We couldn't leave until 11:45 the next morning. Which means we got back at 4 in Villaba. We did weekly planning and didn't have an opportunity to get out to work.

However Friday and Saturday were good. We taught a few less actives and got a new investigator as well. He is the "husband" of another member. That seems to be an issue here in that lots of people aren't married yet living together. However, I would say it's about the same in the US. Wildy was really interested in what his "wife" believes. He accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would read 3 Nephi 11. He also said that if it's true he wants to be baptized! Only problem is he is only in Villaba on the weekends. He lives in Ormoc during the week as a delivery driver for Coca Cola. We gave his name to our Zone Leaders and they're going to teach him while he's there and we'll teach him while he's here. 

Sunday was alright but there were a lot of absent people. We averaged 70 for the month of January. That pretty good seeing as it used to be around 40 or 50 but we need 80+ for February and March. I wish everyone could recognize the bigger picture here and see what blessings the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring.

The big news of this week is that we set up a time to teach our neighbor's family tonight. He is a baranggay captain. They know some English. they have their own business selling mineral water. They have a car and a few motorcycles. They are very nice and offered dinner to us this past week before we even knew them very well. Hopefully they are prepared to receive the message. They received copies of the Book of Mormon in both English and Cebuano a couple weeks back. Hopes are very high for tonight.

Later today we are headed to Ormoc because it's Elder Cottle's Birthday today. His grandparents serve in the Cebu temple and got permission from both mission presidents to come visit us. I'm pretty excited.

Life is great. 

Keep on praying

Keep on being obedient to the commandments

Keep on exercising faith in our Savior Jesus Christ

This work is the work of the Lord

Love you all

Elder McGuire

What a week!

This past week has been quite awesome!

To start off, we had an FHE with a less active family. We watched the Restoration video with them. It's very interesting to me how when it's the news, people can't seem to pull their eyes away, but when it's something spiritual it's like the tv is not even there. It was slightly awkward. However, at the end we testified of Joseph Smith and the First Vision and it turned out really well. There was a great spirit there and they ended up coming to church as a family yesterday.

On Tuesday, we went to Ormoc for our zone meeting. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to get certified at the end. Elder Cypers and Elder Misalucha (my Zone Leaders) said they would come do exchanges with us sometime soon so we could both get certified. After we got back, we taught a less active family and a returning family. Both came to church. The Borja family is so sweet. They struggle from day to day but they have such great faith in the Lord. Tatay is such a good family man and is really skilled but he needs a steady job. He has amazing faith. He was one of the first converts here in Villaba like back in 1997ish.

On wednesday Tatay Borja came with us to visit less actives in the morning. If anyone deserves blessings from faith it's him. In the afternoon we visited more families in Brgy. Tumamak. We are really stressing the importance of being temple worthy and going to Cebu in April to receive endowments and be sealed. There are quite a few families that are planning to go.

On Thursday we kind of got bunted all around and didn't have a whole lot of success. We did meet a Filipino/American from Washington. He's Catholic and his wife is a member. Even though he wasn't interested in listening to the message he was really supportive and gave us a free ride home when we were walking back at night.

Friday we went back to Ormoc and had interviews with President Andaya. Unfortunately I can't buy a guitar here. They are super cheap here like 30 to 40 bucks. Bummer kaayo...  We also received some awesome training to improve our teaching skills as well as finding and working with members. When we got back we taught the Balombao family. Tatay is so ready to be baptized and is converted to the Gospel. His problem is he cant get work off on sundays. Nanay is a whole nother problem. She has a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith is a prophet but thinks that all religions are the same and no matter how many times we try and reteach the apostasy and restoration and authority, she doesn't quite get it. Also they are worried about how far away the church is. it's 30 pesos roundtrip for me and Elder Cottle but they get discounts for being senior citizens. I'm not quite sure what else to teach them. They just need to exercise some faith.

Saturday was somewhat unsuccessful as well but Sunday was fantastic! We had 85! There was a brown out and no electricity or fans but it was reverent. I spoke on Obedience and Elder Cottle spoke on how great things come to pass from small things. President Cabintoy from the Stake Presidency spoke on Tithing. It was awesome! Everyone seems to be pretty committed to returning and accomplishing this goal! It's so awesome!!!

Earlier today we did a service project for one of the Brgy Captains. Hopefully he will be prepared to receive the Gospel. Hopes are high for this week and we're hoping to keep on improving.

Thank you all for the letters and support! It sounds like the Lord is really blessing all of you. That's an answer to my prayers! :) 

Keep on keeping on! Study the scriptures pray magnify your callings and keep the faith!

Love you all

Elder McGuire

The Stovetop Brownie Experience

I'll explain the title later.

But Hello again to everybody!

This last week was a good week.We didn't have as many lessons this week and it kind of showed in the Sacrament attendance but we're not getting discouraged. In fact Sacrament meeting yesterday was really great! Angelo Sinining's entire family came to church! And he passed the Sacrament. It was so awesome! We actually taught his family the first few points of the message of the Restoration on saturday. They're all really nice. another high point of sacrament meeting was we got a really inactive high priest to come to church. Brother Brigoli was on time and clean shaven with his scriptures. Everyone was super excited to see him. There were smiles and hugs all around. He said he wanted to be active again.

On Saturday was the Philippines Area Broadcast. We went to the Ormoc stake center to see it. It was really good. It has really refocused our efforts on what needs to be done.

Now to explain the title. On the 10th I decided I wanted some brownies. However, we dont have an oven. Nor does any missionary apartment in the mission. So I decided to get resourceful and make them in a non stick frying pan on the stove. I'll have you know they turned out great! They were delicious and I ate all of it. Also the next day I made some of that vegetable stew again the next day and this time I threw in a lot of A1 steak sauce. Oh yeah! I can definitely cook.

My Cebuano is great. I have definitely been blessed with the gift of tongues. I can communicate with most everyone but I'm still a little slow. Also, Filipino humor is a lot different than American humor. Still working on that whole thing.

Next transfer day is not til February 15. I'm pretty sure I wont be transferring though. Elder Cottle has been here for 6 months and they're not going to whitewash the area. 

For any packages please send beef jerky and nonperishable american food. Filipino food isn't exactly the healthiest. However, I'm staying in shape and doing just fine.

Our investigator pool is pretty good. We're teaching the SInining and Montibol families. Both are progressing pretty well. We're also teaching the Balombao family. They are in their 60s and have been investigating for like the past two years. Tatay wants to be baptized more than anything but doesn't want to without his wife. Nanay is devoted to Catholicism. However, last lesson we really had a breakthrough. She thought that Mormonism and Catholicism were basically the same. I explained and testified about the authority of the priesthood. we have a lot to cover with her. We fasted for her to receive an answer. She didn't come to church but I'm thoroughly convinced that if she will, she'll know that this is the true church.

Just going to keep pressing on this week. Thank you for all the prayers and support.

Keep the Faith

Love you all!

Elder McGuire

 

 

New Year, New Goals

Wow it's hard to believe it's 2013 already. It feels weird writing it and everything. This past week has been great! From all your letters it sounds like youre all making goals. It makes me so happy.:) Goals are like the greatest thing ever. If there's one thing I've learned so far in the mission is that making and acheiving goals is one of the most fulfilling things in life. For example, Elder Cottle and I made a goal this past week to get certified. Him to be a district leader and myself to be a senior companion. Part of the certification includes memorizing scriptures, daily language study, learning to cook and clean, teaching skills, and developing Christlike attributes. All the things a missionary needs to learn in order to be a leader. In the past week we've memorized 10 scriptures and their references. I've also memorized all of D+C 4. Memorizing scriptures is fun! Elder Scott actually gave a talk on it in general conference not too long ago if I remember right. Our goal is to be certified at the next Zone meeting in 8 days.

We also have a goal to get a chapel in Villaba in April. That's the branch goal too. We have to average an attendance of 80 from January to March and continue to sustain it. We set a goal to have an average of 90 to leave no doubt that the Church is growing here in Villaba. This past week we had 74. However that is an improvement because the week before was 75 but there were 2 visitors from the Stake Presidency. We are totally going to do this.

We also have another baptism this Saturday! Angelo Areque is 10 and his 3 older sisters are members. His parents are not members because they aren't married. That seems to be a common problem here. We have at least 3 couples that we need to get married in order to get them baptized. From what I can understand from asking people, it's not a totally difficult process, it just costs like 500 pesos. 

Angelo Sinining is so solid it's amazing! He passed the Sacrament yesterday. He also brought his older brother Joseph to church. Angelo also wanted to work with us so he helped us teach his family and also accompanied us to visit a less active high priest. He participated in Young Mens and Sunday School. He has just really embraced the Gospel in his life. 

Also yesterday for the first time we had all the meetings of church that are supposed to happen. There was YM/YW, Elders Quorum, Relief Society, Primary, and Sacrament. We would have nursery however the meetinghouse is not quite big enough. For now they're just with their parents or with the Primary.

What is really surprising to me is that all of this happened but we could only work for 5 days out of the week in Villaba. We couldn't work on New Years Eve because President Andaya said so (there's a TON of fireworks and it's a huge deal here in the Philippines) and on Friday we had exchanges in Palompon. The Lord definitely poured down some blessings on this area this week. I'm so grateful that He listens and answers prayers.

I'm feeling great. I finished D+C and the Pearl of Great Price so now I'm just chugging along on the New Testament. I also am eating a lot of bananas. I bought a giant bushel for 40 pesos and I think some members saw me because the next day 2 different families gave us more bananas. The people here are incredibly nice it's unbelievable!

As always I love you all and I'm praying for you! Keep up the good work and "do everything in your power to achieve your goals" -PMG ch. 8

Talk to you all next week.

Elder McGuire

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