Happy New Year!!!!!

Dear Family,

It was so good to see you and talk to you this past week! I loved it! The time went too fast. I can't believe how big Parker and Preston and Amelia are! (Hahaha!) The rest of you are all pretty much the same. You all made my day!
The rest of Christmas was amazing! I loved going to Christmas dinner with people in our ward. I also loved going to an assisted living home. There we visited a woman that we know who had to work on Christmas. She told us that we made her day! That made me feel so good! We also visited a lot of other people too.
There is a Less-Active member of our ward who just got her temple recommend for the first time! And we got permission to go with her to the D.C. this Saturday to do baptisms for the dead with her and her family. We are so excited! One of the rules with a temple trip though, is that we will be switching our next P-Day with the day that we go to the temple. So, I will be able to email you all again on Saturday, but next Monday will be a normal proselyting day for me. SO, sorry I am messing that all up. But I am SO Excited to go to the temple!!!!!!!!!!!!! It really is something I took so much for granted at home. I can hardly believe how close we live to one. Go to the temple whenever you get the chance!
Sorry that I'm short today, but I've got to go!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! Happy New Year!

Love,
Sister McGuire

The Medford Beach!!

Christmas with a Charlie Brown Tree! Love it!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Dear Family,

It has been a wild week! I can't believe that I was in Salisbury 7 days ago! Since then, I have traveled to 3 other states and had 2 other companions! Crazy!
But, I am now serving in Medford, New Jersey with my companion Sister Veater!!! We are in the Cherry Hill North Stake. Guess who our Stake President is??? Yep! It is President Vaia Sikahema! So Cool!!!! I'll try to get an autograph for you! ;) haha JK! Another fun fact about Medford is that we are about 30 minutes east of Camden. Yep, THE Camden. But, don't worry Mom, because Medford is a cute little town that is in the middle of a rural farming community! It's great though!
On Tuesday we got our new companions and drove back to our area. Lucky for us, we had to drive through downtown Philly to get there! It was so cool!!! I can't wait to be able to come and tour there someday!
The rest of the week has pretty much been a blur of meeting new people and settling in. Remember Sister Wilko, my companion from the MTC? Well, her uncle is the Bishop of the Medford Ward!
We also had the Christmas Conference yesterday, that's why I am emailing today. It was awesome! Sister Anderson shared some incredible insights about the Shepherds in the nativity. Just read Ezekiel 34 and it will blow your mind. I loved it! President Anderson spoke about using our time wisely and finding those who will be alone for Christmas. Then we watched 17 Miracles. It was so good! After the movie we had a talent show. I played the piano and Sister Wilko sang. I also played the Ukulele and sang the song, How Can I Be. I think it went well. We also had a group of Elders that performed a skit about what it's like to be a Camden Elder. It was hilarious! There was also a group of Elders that did a dance in the dark with glowsticks taped on them. It was so cool! It looked like it came off of America's Got Talent. The best part was at the end, when Santa's Elves came and passed out packages! We loved it! I was showered!!! Thank you all so much! I was touched. I just can't wait for Thursday!
We are so excited for Christmas! We are super excited because we will be caroling at two nursing homes and visiting lots of other people. I also can't wait to talk to you all!!!! I love you!!!! See you soon!!!!!! :) <3

Love,
Sister McGuire

Me and Sister Veater, my new companion! She is awesome!!! :)

We had drive through Philly on our way home from transfers! Here's the Philly skyline!!

This is a picture of Philadelphia City Hall. It is so cool! 

A famous mural on a wall!

Santa came through on a fire truck!!!

Sister Wilko is now in my district! At District Meeting we both wore the same outfit (totally NOT planned!)

This is a jug in the Medford apartment that all the missionaries sign. Check out who's name is at the bottom of the jug!!!! You'll have to ask Thom if that is the Elder Call that I think it is!

Surprise!!!!

Dear Family,

I have a surprise for you!!!! I am getting transferred! Again!
Surprised? Me too! They called us on Friday and told us that I was
leaving! It's crazy! Right now, Sister Oveson and Hermana Sturgess are
in Philly for their last day in the mission. I am in Middletown
Deleware with another Sister until transfer meeting tomorrow. I am
excited to see where I will go next! I will let you know next week
where I end up!
This week has been so full of miracles! The biggest one was Jack! He
is a man who has been meeting with missionaries for years! Actually,
most of his life. When I got here, he was having a rough time. He
didn't believe in God, he had no purpose in life, and he had given up.
This week, we felt inspired to teach him the word of wisdom. We were
pretty nervous, because that did not seem like something he would want
to hear about. But, we did it! During our lesson we finally found out
his real problem. His real problem is that he has been smoking for
over 50 years and he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to quit
smoking. We were able to encourage him and help him see that with God,
nothing is impossible. Then, we went back to see him a second time
this week. He had completely changed. He was happy. He was smiling! He
had hope! We talked about setting goals that will help him quit
smoking. We asked him what goal he wanted to set for himself. We were
excepting him to say, "not buy cigarettes" or "cut back by one each
day." Nope! Instead he said. "I want to get baptized"!!!!!!!! We
practically fell off the couch! When we finally scraped our jaw up off
the floor, we helped him set the goal of being baptized in June. It
was the best moment ever! Truly a Christmas miracle! This is what the
gospel of Jesus Christ does for people. It gives hope to those who
have given up. It brings light into the darkness. It helps us find
love and joy and happiness. That is how Jesus Christ can change your
life.
Also, I have eaten so much food this week, I'm going to pop! I hope
you don't mind a daughter that looks like a balloon! The ward loves us
out here and everyone wanted to take us out to dinner or lunch all
week long! We had two or three dinner appointments every day! Haha!
I'm hoping that I go to an area that has a lot of walking, because I
have some work to do.... :)
On Thursday we drove up to Smyrna DE. I stayed the night there while
my companions went on to the mission home. They spent the night there,
and then they got to go to the Washington D.C. Temple the next day.
They loved it! They spent the entire day in the car! Haha! It was 3
hours to Broomall, then 3 hours to the temple, then 3 hours back to
Broomall, then 3 hours home. It was a long day! Luckily for me, I was
able to spend the day planning and studying and preparing to take over
the area..... But, then Friday they told me I was leaving! Woops! It
worked out good though, because now I can hand all of the plans to the
new missionaries who will come in to the area.
While I was in Smyrna, sister Zeller and I were having our morning
studies when we heard a knock on the door. Guess who it was? It was
the Jehovah's witnesses. Hahaha! It was kind of funny! They were very
kind and talked to us for a little while and then left. It was just so
weird to be on the other side of the door for once.
Anyway, I love you all and I am so excited to talk to y'all for
Christmas!!!!!!!! Have an awesome week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

Peace on Earth

Dear Family,

This week has been so busy again! I hardly believe how much we manage to pack into one day, let alone a week. Both of my companions are going home next week, so we have been working harder than ever. They want to make these last few days count! Here's a couple stories for the week.
We found a new FAMILY to teach! I am so excited! I've never had the chance to teach a whole family before! The Mom, Hilda, is from Honduras, and she doesnt speak English. Her oldest son Freddie doesnt speak English either. Her son Christian and daughter Ricxi both speak English though. So, we have been teaching them in some strange form of Spanglish. Hahaha! But, it works! We invited them to be baptized, and they accepted! We will be helping them choose a date this week.
This week was also our ward Christmas party. We had a huge dinner and tons of people came! We had many less active and non-members come! Hilda and Rixci came too! All of us missionaries were like little kids in a candy store! It was awesome! I also got to play the piano in the program while the Young Women sang.
We got to see the Christmas Devotional last night as well. It was incredible! And we had a part-member family come too! We loved it! And, I LOVED what President Eyring said about Jesus Christ being the light of the World. I have been studying that this season. In the topical guide, just look up Jesus Christ, light of the world, and read all of the scriptures! They're amazing!
The biggest news of the week is the He is the Gift initiative. The Church made a 3 minute video about the true meaning of Christmas. They have given every missionary enough pass-along cards to give out ten per day. We have been doing it! This has been a huge miracle! And to top it off, all of the advertising on Youtube is for this video during the month of December. It is a missionary Christmas Miracle! How great!
I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

December Already????

Dear Family,

Time sure does fly out here in the mission! I can hardly believe that
it is December already! And this week was so packed full of stuff that
I feel like Thanksgiving was a month ago!
I can't remember the order of all of these stories, so I'm just going
to write a bunch of random stories today in no specific order. Here's
the adventures for the week!
Thanksgiving was awesome! We had a ward Turkey Bowl on the practice
fields of a local high school. I was so sore by the end of it, that I
couldn't move for about three days! And neither could my companions!
But, we had a great turnout, and a bunch of nonmembers and less
actives came.
We went to the Mull family's house for Turkey dinner. They deep fry
their turkeys every year, and it was so good! They also had invited
the Joy family, so we had a big party! When we were all talking about
what we were grateful for, the Joy's 4 year old daughter, Emma, said,
"I'm grateful for clothes so we don't have to be naked all the time!
That would be so embarrassing!" Hahahaha! We nearly died of laughter!
That evening we visited a woman in our Ward, who lost her husband 2
months ago. We sang Christmas carols and helped her decorate her house
for Christmas. She is so sweet and we love her so much. She was having
a really hard day, because all of her children live out west and she
had spent the day alone. I felt so blessed and so lucky to have been
there for her when she needed us.
This week we had to drop 2 of our investigators. It is just so sad to
me that people have the gospel right in front of them, and they know
it's true, but the simply don't want to act on it. It's true that
faith without works is dead.
On the other hand, we had a miracle this week! We finally were able to
schedule an appointment with a man, named Parker, we have been
teaching. But, the member who was going to come with us canceled at
the last minute. We didn't know what to do, because we aren't allowed
to be alone with a man. So, we called up a random member that none of
us even knew and invited her to come with us. She did and she brought
her daughter too! Her testimony ended up helping Parker in so many
ways! And, he came to church yesterday!!!! It was great! And Sister
Jennens was so excited about what her testimony had done, that she
invited us to come have dinner with her family next week, so we can
meet her nonmember husband! The Lord is guiding this work!
Well, I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Sister McGuire

P.S. We have heard about a lot of missionaries online accounts being
hacked and so in order to keep people's privacy safe, I have changed
all of the names in this email. I will change all of the names from
here on out too. But I LOVE YOU ALL!

Busy week!

Hi family!

I am out of time to email, so I will just tell you about one miracle
that happened this week. On Monday night, we were looking for new
Spanish speaking investigators. We ended up finding a couple from
Brazil! They both speak Portuguese and a bit of Spanish and almost no
English. But they ar super interest in the gospel! They have such
strong faith and they are prepared to hear the gospel! They invited us
right in and we taught them about the Restoration. I told them that
Daniel and Dad had served their missions in Brazil! They were so
excited about that. Then we went back on Friday and they had made us
Pao de Queso and Doce de leche!!!!!!! It was SO good! They accepted a
baptismal challenge and we get to see them again tonight! Can't wait!
Also, for thanksgiving we will be have dinner with a family in the ward!
I love you all! Hope you have a good week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

This is a river in Salisbury!

These are flamingos from the Salisbury Zoo!!

Last week's Pictures!!!

Missionary Correlation breakfast with Brother Swanson!!

Meeting Rebecca Jean!!

Goodbye to the Smith Family!!

My new comps!!

Flying South for the Winter!

Dear Family,

Okay, I know you are all DYING to know where I am! I was transferred
to..... (Drum roll please)....... Salisbury, Maryland!!!!!!!! If any
of you are like me, you are wondering, where on earth is that?
Hahahaha! My area covers almost the entire Delmarva Penninsula! Yep,
from the Chesapeake bay on the west to the Atlantic Ocean on the East,
and lower Deleware on the North to the Virginia state line on the
South, we've got it covered! Yes, I am on the coast and my area even
includes Ocean City with all the famous boardwalks and everything! My
apartment building is about 30 feet above sea level and it is twice as
humid here as my last area! I am 45 minutes outside of Washington D.C.
and, I am south of the Mason Dixon line, so this is a whole new
culture shock from Whitehall. But, I already love it!
Here was my week! First off, I got a package on Monday night from
Laurie Arensmeyer!!!! It was so great! Everything was all wrapped up
and each present had a letter on it that spelled Philadelphia! It was
so great! So, Sister Kinghorn and I unwrapped each one together! It
was like Christmas! It totally made my day! Thanks Laurie! You're the
best!!!!!!!
Then Tuesday, I packed up and said a tearful goodbye to Whitehall and
Sister Kinghorn. We drove two hours south to mission office for
transfers. We all gathered in the gym to hear where we were going! I
found out that I was going to Salisbury and I would be in a trio! But
Guess what!?!?!?!? My companions weren't even there! The Assistants
had forgotten to tell them to come! So, I didn't even have companions!
Hahaha! Luckily, I hitched a ride with other Sisters for the three
hour ride down to their area in Dover and my companions were able to
pick me up there and we drove the last hour back to our area together.
My companions are Sister Oveson from Nephi, Utah and Sister Sturgess
from Nevada. They're great and I love them both! And, Sister Sturgess
is the missionary I replaced in Whitehall! So, she served there first
and then I did and now we're companions! And guess what!?!? Sister
Sturgess is a Spanish Speaking Sister. So, half the people we are
teaching speak only Spanish. Sister Oveson also speaks it, so I get to
learn Spanish now! My calling hasn't officially changed to speak it,
but out of necessity, I am now learning how to teach the gospel in
Spanish. It's nuts!
Oh, and I got a package and a bunch of letters when I stopped at the
mission home! So I was a happy little missionary that was grinning
like a fool! I loved it!
Well, the rest of my week has been a blur of unpacking and meeting new
people. But, I love it here and I am so excited for all of my new
adventures that I have ahead of me!
I love you all! Hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

Farewell Whitehall!!

Dear Family,

I am sorry, but this will be short today! I only have about 10 minutes
to email right now.
As you probably guessed from the subject line, I am being transferred.
We got calls on Friday and they said for me to pack my bags and be in
Broomall first thing Tuesday morning. I was shocked! I didn't think
that I would be leaving so soon. I am so sad to leave Whitehall! This
place has become my home and this Ward has become my family! I love it
here so much! I can't even imagine mission life outside of the Lehigh
Valley anymore! Hahaha. But, like C.S. Lewis once said, "There are
far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." I am excited
to move on to a new chapter of my journey here in the PPM. So, I am
packed and ready to go. I find out where I am going tomorrow, so I
will email you next week to let you know where I ended up! I could be
anywhere from New York to Maryland, so this is awesome, exciting, and
slightly nerve-racking, but in the best way!
Thursday we had Zone Training, and it was so good. We talked about the
covenants that we have made in our lives and the covenants that we are
helping others make. The Zone Leaders make us each a personalized
bookmark with our names and a picture of the temple that we received
our endowment in. It was such a good reminder of what it means to
truly consecrate our lives to the Lord.
This week we had the wards first game night! It went so well! We had
lots of people from the ward come along with one of the Elders
investigators! Then, on Saturday their investigator, Ed, was baptized!
It was such a nice evening, and it all went well. Ed is awesome! He
has such a strong testimony and he will be a huge boost to our Ward.
Plus, we found out yesterday that he plays the piano!!!!! Yay!!! Now
there are three pianists in the Ward! We are so excited for him.
The rest of the week has been a blur of goodbyes and farewells. I will
miss this place so much! I am sure I will return someday soon to see
everyone again. But, for now, farewell Whitehall. God be with you till
we meet again!

Love,
Sister McGuire

   

Halloween Fun and More!! Plus Pictures!!

Dear Family,

I had a great week this week! I am so glad to hear that things are well with all of you too! Dan and Amelia, you are scary skeletons!!!! I would hate to have you sneak up on me! Hahaha! Keep having fun family!
This letter is going to be a little bit out of order, but that's alright!
On Halloween, we had to be at home by 6:00, because they dont want us missionaries to be getting in to any trouble on Halloween. Luckily for us, we live with Sister Britto! So, we came home and she had made taco soup and sandwiches for us and her kids and grandkids that were all over. Then, she took  the crew Trick-or-Treating while we passed out candy at the house. After that, she made us apple-cider and we all gathered around the fire and talked and laughed and had an awesome time! It was so fun!
We had an incredible miracle this week! We recieved a media referral for a man in our area. (A media referral is when someone puts their info into Mormon.org and requests things like a Bible, Book of Mormon, or a missionary visit.) We went the next morning and met the man, John, and his young family there. John and Markeesha (the mom and dad) told us that they are on a journey to find what they believe is right. They have been studying several religions and are searching to find which one they want to raise their family in. We talked about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and invited them to church. John actually made kind of a deal with us that if we would go to the Islamic Mosque with his wife on Friday, then he would come to church with us on Sunday. So, on Friday, Sister Kinghorn and I went to the mosque with Markeesha! It was so cool! We had to wear scarves on our head to cover our hair and everything. And... it was so wrth it because yesterday, John came to church!!! And he said that he has been reading the Book of Mormon! We are so excited to start teaching them this week. I really feel like they are the honest seekers of truth and that they will be very receptive to the gospel!!
Another amazing miracle this week, is that Meet The Mormons is coming to the Roxy Theater in Northampton, which is in our area! We are so excited for this great blessing! Our ward and stake is thrilled to have it so close! We know that many people will be touched by this film! And, most of our investigators are going to go see it! How great is that!
Things are truly going so well here! I'm starting to feel like Whitehall is my home! I hardly have to use the GPS anymore to get around, because I know this place so well. I love it! Transfer calls come this Friday though.... But, I really think that I will stay... But, We'll see!
Anyway, I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!! Hope you have a fabulous week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

Pictures of the leaves!

Brother Stofko holding his King Horn standing next to Sister Kinghorn! Hahaha!

The Ward Trunk-or-Treat!

The ward Trunk-or-Treat again! This is Sister Brittos! (With Sister Nielson photo-bombing!)

Halloween!! And tons of Pictures!!!

Dear Family,
I can't believe that it is Halloween already! Where did the time go? haha!
Once again, so much happened this week!
This week we have been trying to stop by the members houses more and help them in their efforts to do missionary work. It has been going very well! The members are so key to this work! We couldnt do it without you!

Sunday was a total miracle! At church TWO of our investigators actually came, and they stayed all three hours! We were so excited that we were practically dancing around! Also, there was a woman who walked into sacrament meeting a little bit late. I didnt recognize her, so after the service we introduced ourselves. She said that she had just moved here from New York, but she is originally from Liberia. She isnt a member of the church but her cousin in Philadelphia is, and he had told her that the Church was great and that she should check it out. So, she got online and found the address for our meetinghouse and just decided to show up! I can't believe it! We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to the ward Halloween party on Wednesday, and she promised she would come and bring her 7 year old son! How cool is that!?!?!

Also, we went to see a less-active named Linda. Sisters have been working with her for months now, and she hasn't made any progress. Last week she had told us that she loved seeing us, but she would never come to any church function or read the Book of Mormon. So, we were a little nervous when we saw her last night. But, we went in and watched a Bible video about Charity. We talked about service and how Jesus was a perfect example of it. Then, we invited her to read Moroni 7 about faith, hope, and charity. Guess what?!?!?!? She is totally going to do it! Then, she asked us if we knew Brother Rinehart. We told that of course we knew him! (He has been a faithful member of the ward and has 4 calings right now and is an awesome missionary!) She told us that he has been her home teacher for years and has made his faithful visit every month during that time. She said that he had felt impressed to call her last week and invite her to a family history seminar that was being held at the library that he had heard about. She told us how excited she was to go find her ancestors. Guess what? That seminar that he had invited her to, is the one that Sister Kinghorn and I are putting on with the help of other missionaries in the area!!!!!! Holy Cow! I could hardly believe it! I'm telling you, Home Teaching is the way to find Heavenly Father's lost sheep. Missionaries can work and try our best, but home and visiting teachers are the Lord's hands in this work.

We are excited for Halloween! As missionaries, we have to go home at 6:00 on Halloween Night, because they want to keep us out of trouble. Luckily for us, we live with Sister Britto! She wants us to help her hand out candy while she plays with her grandkids. We are so excited! It will be so fun!

The leaves are changing color, and it is so gorgeous here. I am blow away by the beauty all around me! It is so hard to have to drive! Luckily, Sister Kinghorn reminds me to keep my eyes on the road and not on the scenery... hahaha! I will have to send a picture as soon as I can.

Hey Parker! Here is a joke for you! Why did the home teacher cross the road? It was the last day of the month! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Love you all! Hope you have a great week!
Love, Sister McGuire

Just one of the Gorgeous trees!!!

This is the Allentown Skyline in the fall! I took this picture on a sky bridge that goes over St. John's street in downtown. The bridge connects two residential buildings where some people in our ward live.

Sisters Baugh, Nielson, Kinghorn, and I on the last day of Rita's! Goodbye until Spring!

This is my pumpkin that I carved! It's the coolest! ;D

Here is my favorite picture!

This was taken by our Bishops wife, just down the street from her

house. It captures the beauty a lot better than my pictures! ;)

Top 10 for the Week! And Pictures!

Dear family,
I guess I better keep with the trend for today and give you all my top
10 for the week! (Even though Bradley didn't really do it) ;) haha.
Here it goes!

10. Melody lost all custody of her kids this week and their landlord
is threatening to evict them because they are behind on their
payments. Needless to say, she has been so stressed out about these
things that she chose not to be baptized this week. Satan is working
hard on her right now. We are praying hard and hoping that things will
turn around next week.

9. (Almost as bad as number 10) Rita's closed for good this week....
:( I am so sad! I'm gonna miss it! It is only open from the beginning
of Spring to the fall sometime. But, the last day was half off, so we
got 2 quarts to take home with us! Yay!

8. Sister Kinghorn woke up feeling really sick on Saturday. So, we
ended up staying in all day. It was hard, but both of us were able to
get some much needed rest. We were also able to update our records,
which has been needing to get done.

7. Sister Cressman (a less active that we have been working with)
finished reading the Book of Mormon this week!!!!!! Miracles come when
we read the scriptures!

6. We carved pumpkins last Pday. It was so fun! Mine is the coolest!

5. Sister Kinghorn and I got to play the piano in Primary this week! I
loved it!

4. On Friday our roof was being re shingled. Right when we were
getting ready to leave for the day, Sister Britto called down to the
basement for us to "come upstairs and please bring a pamphlet about
the restoration!" We got up there as fast as we could. Sister Britto
had been telling the project manager about the gospel, and she wanted
us to teach him the restoration right there! So, we gave him the three
minute version and left our contact info. Hopefully we will hear back
from him soon!

3. We drove to Allentown for an appointment that ended up getting
cancelled. So we were walking back to our car and found this pile of
leaves. So, of course we jumped in it! So fun!

2. Sister Housel introduced us to her friend named Jackie! So, we
talked for a bit and she is very interested in learning about the
gospel! We gave her a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment.
Jackie said that her son and his family might also be interested in
learning! Yay!

1. On Sunday, Jose was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood. It was so
special. He is well on his way to becoming the man that Heavenly
Father wants him to be. It was such a neat experience and there was a
sweet spirit in the room. It was truly incredible.

Well, I love you all so much! Have another great week!

Love, Sister McGuire

We just had to.... :)

Fall!! And Pictures!

Dear Family,

Fall is here in Whitehall. The trees are starting to change colors and it is starting to get chilly outside. By the end of next week I think all the trees will have changed color. Can't wait!!!
It has been another busy week! (Of Course)
Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal days.
Thursday we had an awesome district and then we got to have dinner with one our investigators. She is doing well, and finally committed to actually read the Book of Mormon.
Friday was the BEST DAY EVER!!! We woke up early and drove to Nazareth for Zone Conference. It was a great meeting. At the end President Anderson got up and said, "We will now be privileged to watch a small video presentation that many of you have heard of. It is called Meet the Mormons." We nearly died of excitement! SO, we got to watch it together. It was so good. All of you need to go see it as SOON as possible! What an uplifting and inspiring movie. After the meeting was over we headed back to our area and worked so hard to find new people to teach. We came in contact with a lot of people, and hopefully we will begin teaching them soon.
Saturday was a hard day. All of our appointments fell through, so we ended up finding all day again, but we didn't have much success.
Sunday was a great day. I love being able to fast. It is so humbling and rewarding. We also had an amazing testimony meeting. All of the testimonies were uplifting and incredible. After church Sister Kinghorn and I weren't looking forward to going out to find again. But, we said a prayer and went anyway. We were blessed with a miracle. Every single door we knocked on opened. We were able to talk to so many people and we even taught a lesson to an old investigator who hadn't been interested.
Miracles are everywhere. We just need to trust Heavenly Father and then go and do.
I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

This is one of our new investigators named Kaiden!! She's awesome!

A man in our ward puts the stickers from all his apples onto this cupboard!!

Conference! Plus Pictures!!

Hey Family!

It has been a crazy week! Sounds like you were all busy too.
On Tuesday, Sister Clark and I packed her bags and drove to Broomall. There I dropped her off and I got my new companion. Her name is Sister Kinghorn and she is from Laie Hawaii!!!! Everyone's jealous, of course. She's really nice and we get along super well! Then we drove back home to Whitehall and ran right off to a dinner appointment and then to Missionary Correlation Meeting.
Wednesday, was a crazy day and I had to plan it all by myself! It's hard to be in charge of the area. She is the Senior companion, but I know the area. It's so crazy! Anyway, we made bracelets with Pauline and then had dinner with Sister Noa. She always makes the BEST Spanish rice and steak. Seriously, they make GOOD Spanish food out here.
Thursday was a great day because we had Zone Training. We were able to listen to our leaders and learn so much from them.
Friday was a pretty slow and boring day....
Satuday and Sunday were great! We got to watch Conference! I took about 10 pages of notes! I can't wait to get them in writing so we can learn even more from them. Funny Story. There is a man in our ward that came to both sessions on Sunday. And he slept through most of them. The funny part was, he can snore louder than Dad!!!! The entire time he was just sawin logs on the back row! We were dying! hahaha! It was so funny!
Also, on Sunday we got to see Melody. She was able to work through her concerns and has comitted to be baptized on the 19th!!! We are so excited for her!!!!
Love you all!!! The church is true!

Love, Sister McGuire

The District!

Quick Cronut run!

Me and Sister Kinghorn!

Transfers!!!!

Dear Family,

It never stops with you does it? Hahaha! What a crazy week! Grandma
had her Birthday party! I'm so happy for her! 98! Wow! Keep having so
much fun!!
I only have about ten minutes to email, so this will be short. Sorry!
My week has been crazy! I needed a lot of Alacrity this week. The week
started off slow. We are struggling with a lot of our investigators
right now, because most of them are either avoiding us, or are
struggling to find time to meet with us. Satan really does work so
hard on these people, because he knows that they are preparing to make
the most important covenants. Anyway, we ended up with a lot of time
to try to find people to teach. It was a very good thing too, because
we were finally able to catch up on our planning and paper work and
other things that we have been needing to do. On Friday night, we were
told that Sister Clark is getting transferred somewhere else. She is
going to be a Sister Training Leader now! ( that's basically a Zone
Leader for the sisters.) she will be great! Today, we have spent most
of the day helping her pack and visiting basically everyone in the
ward!
On Saturday we watched the Women's broadcast and our investigator
Michele and her daughter Alyssa came! We were so happy that they came!
And they felt the Spirit, and it was so good!
On Sunday Jose was confirmed and it was such a beautiful experience!
Melody came, but she doesn't want to meet with us anymore. We were so
bummed about it!!!! But, we are so glad that Jose is so strong with
everything that's going on! He is great!
I love you all! And yes, we will be watching general conference this
weekend. It streamed live to our church house, except we are two hours
ahead of Utah, so we will be watching at noon and 4:00. Also, we have
been invited to members houses for some of the sessions, so that will
be so fun!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Have a fabulous week!



Love, Sister McGuire

So Blessed in Whitehall!!! +Pics!!

Dear Family,

You are certainly keeping busy! Between Kaitlin's first date, Dad's calling, Preston's accidents, and the over-producing garden, I think you have your hands full! I'm so sorry to hear about Aunt Jackie. I hope that all is well with Donovan and his family. I'm also glad to hear that grandma is doing so well. Thanks for keeping me updated about everything.
I had another busy week! Here's the main stories.
Jose and Melody finally got their marriage license! It was such a nightmare trying to get all of that figured out, but I'm so glad that we did! Saturday was the wedding. I am so grateful for the skills I learned from planning the FCCLA Fashion Show, because they helped SO MUCH in trying to put on the wedding. But, it looked beautiful! There was a short ceremony and Bishop Smith performed the marriage. Then we had a small reception right afterward. It was small and simple, but beautiful. Then on Sunday we had their baptism. Sadly, Melody decided at the last minute that she wasn't ready to be baptized yet. Nothing we said could talk her out of waiting. It was so hard! But, Jose was baptized!!!!! He really was!!! I felt so bad for him though, because his foot kept popping out, so he had to do it 4 times!!!!!!!! That didnt help Melody's nerves at all! Hahahaha! But, we know that Heavenly Father wants us to perform his ordinances in the proper way. Jose was smiling from ear to ear, and the Spirit was so strong. What a sweet experience! I loved it!
There was so much else that happened this past week, but I am out of time!
I Love you all!!!!! The Church is true! Have a great week!

Love, Sister McGuire

The Wedding!!!

The Baptism!!

Busy Week! + Pictures!!!

Dear Family,

Sounds like you all had a good week! I can't believe that Sharlee is
home already! But, I was a Senior in High School when she left, and
now I'm already 2 months into my mission! Haha. Time sure does fly!
I'm sorry to hear about Grandma! I hope all goes well with the
surgery. I'm glad you got to take a small break! Everyone needs a
break! It's even in the scriptures! Read Alma 8:1 tonight please, and
see what I mean! Hahaha.
Busy is the name of the game, and Sister Clark and I had a busy week!
On Monday we had family night with a less active family in the ward.
It was so much fun! We talked about service and the little girl named
Penny told us all these funny stories and she sang Let it Go for us.
Haha! It was great!
Tuesday we taught a less active woman about Coming Unto Christ. It was
one of the best lessons I have ever been a part of and the Spirit was
so strong! Then we had meetings all night with the ward. That night
Jose called us and told us that Melody couldn't find her social
security card, so they couldn't get their marriage license. They went
and ordered a new one, but they would have to wait until it came! So,
sadly, we postponed their wedding and baptism until this coming
Saturday and Sunday. They were both so sad about it, but we helped
them to see that it was a blessing in disguise, because we definitely
weren't ready for a wedding last week.
On Wednesday we helped a recent convert named Mike, print out family
names that he could take to the temple with him. Right as we were
about to print out the ordinance request, Mike noticed that a bunch of
info about his Mom was missing. We were stunned! But we were able to
go in and fix everything so that it was correct. That was a total
miracle, because I didn't even see it, and it made a HUGE difference
in everything. After that we taught Cynthia again. She is so cool! She
has been reading the Book of Mormon and she has been loving it! We
watched the restoration DVD with her and it made a huge difference.
For so many people, it helps for them to see it, and that was so true
with her. Then we went to activity night. We have it every Wednesday.
So they have mutual, scouts, activity days, and a Book of Mormon class
all on that night. They did that because some families live 30-40
minutes away from the building, so this way they only have to make the
trip once during the week. Anyway, while we were there, Bishop Smith
introduced us to a part member family. The Dad and the youngest
daughter are not members, but the Mom and the boy are. They have met
with missionaries before, but nothing happened with that. Then, The
first thing that Gerry (the dad) asked us was when could he get
baptized. We were blown away! Then he told us that he really wanted to
take his wife to the temple as soon as possible! We nearly fainted! It
was so cool! We set up an appointment to see them this week, and we
can't wait to go!
Friday we had Mission Tour! We went to a conference with 3 other Zones
in our mission and Elder Wilford Andersen of the 70 and his wife spoke
to us. It was such an amazing day! President and Sister Anderson also
spoke. We loved it! After we got home we went with Jose and Melody and
helped them get their marriage license! Yay! They have it now! That
night, we were exhausted and too tired to make dinner, so we decided
to go out to Olive Garden. It was so fun! We rarely go out for dinner
and both needed it!
Yesterday we had a great day at church! Jose and Melody came again!
They are so excited to be baptized next week! After church we visited
a bunch of people, and we ran into other people that we haven't seen
in a while. We were in the right place at the right time. Heavenly
Father was looking out for us. Then we had dinner with the Raymond's.
They are exactly like the Cosby family! Hahaha! Even their house looks
the same! I felt like I was on the Cosby show. And they have a little
girl named Keisha who says the funniest stuff! It was so great.
Anyway, that was my busy, but fabulous week!
To answer your questions, the humidity is actually fine. It hasn't
really been bad. Everyone says that it has been a really mild summer.
Remember the day we walked around DC with Katie and Tom and we were
miserable? There's only been two or three days like that since I've
been here. And actually, this past week, things have been cooling off
very much! I even started wearing a jacket on our morning walks.
Well, sorry this one was so long. But I LOVE YOU!!!! Hope you all have
a great week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

This is a sign in Allentown! We pass it all the time!!!!

Me with Jose and Melody!!!!!

Fun at Olive Garden!

This is our friend Daniela!

Miracles!!!

Dear family and friends,

It's so sad that Summer is at it's end! But I'm so glad that you got
one last hurrah at Seven Peaks! I love reading your emails every week.
They make me laugh!
I am truly blown away by the outpouring of miracles that Sister Clark
and I have witnessed this week! The Lord is hastening his work here in
Whitehall, and those who thrust in their sickle, will truly see the
fruit of their labor. I will try to write them all down!
On Tuesday we saw Jose and Melody. We have seen Them every day this
week! They are so ready to be baptized and we have been going crazy
trying to plan a wedding in a week! Hopefully it will be a great night
for them, regardless of what the decorations look like!
Then, that night the Elders that also serve in our ward called us on
Tuesday and told us that they had an investigator for us to teach. Her
name is Cynthia and she lives in their area, but she requested to be
taught by us.
On Wednesday, we started off by going straight to Cynthia's. We
chatted for a little bit and then she looked straight at us and said,
"I want to be baptized on the 21st, what do I have to do to be ready?"
We nearly fell of the couch! We told her that we would have to meet
with her 3-4 times a week, and she would have to work really hard. She
wants it so badly. It was a miracle! So, we taught her the entire Plan
of Salvation and we discussed the baptismal interview questions with
her. I think she will make it! It will be the fastest Sister Clark or
I have ever taught anyone on our mission! We might end up pushing the
date back a week or two though, because she does need to marry her
boyfriend that she is currently living with. So we'll see how that
goes! Then we spent the rest of the day running from lesson to lesson.
It is incredible! We are so busy and people are changing their lives
in the most amazing ways!
Thursday was Zone Training and it was so good! We talked about how
much goals mean to us as missionaries. Honestly, good goals make all
the difference in our work.
Friday we saw Cynthia again and we taught her the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. At the end of the lesson we asked her if she had any questions
for us. She said, "Can you stay longer and teach me more?" We all
laughed, but we had to go. She is awesome!!!! We also saw Ricardo for
the first time in ages!!!! He told us that he still wants to b
baptized, but he knows that he is struggling with the word of wisdom.
We recommitted him to the 28th for his baptism, and I know that if he
works hard and if he truly wants it, then he will make it. I just hope
he wants it as much as he says he does!
Saturday we had lunch with Chris and Anna Leutbecker. They are the
best! They are taking a trip down to Ocean City for the next two
weeks, so we'll miss them! But, I'm mostly jealous! Hahahaha. It kills
me that there is miles of gorgeous beaches less than 2 hours from
where I live! I can only imagine how Sharlee felt the last 18 months!
We visited a few other Less active members of our ward and had dinner
with an awesome couple in our ward. Then, I truly saw rain for the
first time in my life! It was like the heavens opened up and dumped
the ocean on our heads! We ran from our car to the house and by the
time we got inside, it looked like we had just taken a shower with our
clothes on! So nuts! Utah might have mountains, but Pennsylvania has
RAIN! Hahaha!
Sunday was the best! Jose and Melody came to church! And so did
Cynthia AND HER BOYFRIEND!!!!!!!!! We could her the tab choir singing
the Halelujah Chorus, just like on the Best Two Years!!!! Then we
ended up teaching 5 lessons that day!!!! And we had dinner with the
Bishop and his family. It was so great! An awesome end to an awesome
week!
Well, I LOVE YOU!!!!! Hope you have an amazing week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

Tuesday??? +Pictures?

Hey Everyone!

First, I apologize for not writing yesterday. Our Mission President
decided to move Pday to today because of the Holiday yesterday. Sounds
like things are going well! I was thinking about Mom all week, because
I wanted to come and help bottle peaches!
This week has been incredible!!!!!! Here's my top five!
First off, Jose and Melody are getting married on the 13th and
baptized on the 14th!!!!!! I am so excited! We are up to our necks in
wedding plans, but the ward is awesome and is taking care of pretty
much everything! It is so humbling and incredible to see people make
so many changes in their life in order to come closer to Jesus Christ.
And I know that every effort we put forth to know Him will be rewarded
in so many ways!
2- Kelly committed to baptism!!!!! We are helping her prepare to be
baptized on October 12th. She is so ready! Heavenly Father truly puts
the elect in our path and all we have to do is open our mouths and
share the gospel with them!
3- We had our interviews with President and Sister Anderson this week!
We discussed our purpose as missionaries. We also talked about my
individual purpose for being on a mission. So great!
4- we taught Michelle again this week and she said that for the first
time she feels like she has a relationship with God and that He is
answering her prayers! And then she prayed at the end of our
lesson!!!!!!!!! It was so incredible!!!!!! There is something so
special about hearing someone pray for the fist time! You can see a
difference in their life, immediately!
5- we had exchanges yesterday, and I was in charge! It was so scary! I
had to plan our whole day and all the lessons that we taught. It was
crazy!! But it turned out so well!!! And Sister Pickett ( my Sister
Training Leader) is so great! She was so helpful and encouraging.
Funny Story
We were going to our dinner appointment last night, and we put the
address into the GPS. We drove for 3 miles into the heart of
Allentown. Everything just looked wrong. I didn't think we were going
the right way, so we pulled over and looked at the address again. It
totally was on the other side of our area! Hahahaha! Oh man! Luckily,
we showed up on time, but it was nuts! So, GPS are great, as long as
you type in the right address!!! Haha!!
I love you all!!! Mom, have a great birthday!

Love,
Sister McGuire

A guy in our ward built a Caboose in his backyard! He was an Engineer for 35 years!!!!

Sisters Pike, Pickett, McGuire, and Clark! Both companionships matched, and no it wasn't planned!!

Our friend Ari who comes teaching with us! She's the best!!

2 Months??? + Pictures!

Dear family,

I can hardly believe that 2 months ago you were dropping me off the
MTC! Time really does fly out here! It sounds like you all had the
best week ever!
My week was awesome! And so much happened, so I will just give you the
highlights!
This week our main goal has been to teach investigators with the
members. It has been a big challenge to try to schedule appointments
and make arrangements for the members to join us. but things have
worked out so well!!!! We ended up teaching 5 lessons with members and
we usually teach 2 or 3.
Another huge miracle is that we`ve been trying to teach a girl named
Kelly, but she has been staying with her Dad outside of our area. This
week we were able to teach her a lesson over SKYPE! It went so well!
And it was so cool because we finally got to teach her and she is so
open and receptive to the message. It is such a miracle that we can
use the internet to teach lessons. I also found out that I can teach
other people via skype, like Becca and Seraina! I am hoping that they
will reply to my emails so that they can hear the message of the
gospel, and it can come from me!
Another miracle this week was the announcement of the movie, Meet the
Mormons. It will be playing in a theater in Philly that is pretty
popular around here. I know that this movie is so inspired and that it
will move the work forward in this part of the vineyard.
Here's some funny things I learned about Penny culture this week.
People say jawn to mean anything! "hey, pass that jawn, sign this jawn
for me, What the jawn!" It is so funny!!!! Another thing is that
people out here dont say fight. Like I got in a fight or dont fight
with me. Instead they say fussin. "They were fussin in the parking
lot. Dont fuss with me!" Its so weird! hahaha! Also, people out here
make the best spanish rice ever!
Anyway, I love you all so much!!!!!! Hope you all have an amazing
first week of school!!!

Love,
Sister McGuire

This is a door mat we saw and Sister Clark LOVED it!!!!!! Hahaha!

This is a sign we saw in the Mall! They didn't know who said it, but we sure did!!

Another Transfer Down!! Plus Pictures!!!!!

Dear family,

I cannot believe that I have just finished my first six weeks on the
mission! The time has flown by! And yes, Sister Clark and I are both
staying in Whitehall for the next six weeks!!! So excited!
Also, this was just the best week! We taught so many incredible
lessons and everything just worked out so well! Here's the highlights.
Monday, we went to a place called Trexler Park for Pday. It's gorgeous
and so green! Then we taught Rose, a less active. Her mom died
recently and she has been having a hard time. We talked to her about
the temple and how we can do ordinances for the dead. She got so
excited that we went to the family history center and reserved the
ordinance work for her parents and she is working towards getting a
temple recommend!
Tuesday we taught 5 lessons in one day!!! Our weekly goal is 12, so it
was awesome! During dinner with the members, the three kids danced
gangum style for us. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen! Then
we taught a new investigator who is friends with some members. We had
the lesson at the members home (which makes SUCH a difference). She
committed to be baptized at the end of the lesson. It was great!
Wednesday we taught 3 more lessons and each one was incredible, by the
end of the night we were skipping around everywhere, and people
thought we were crazy!
On Friday we taught Anne again. We told her that if her husband (who
is a less active) came back to church then he could be the one to
baptize her and her children. She got so excited that she is gonna
make him do it! Hahaha! It's the best! They are planning to be
baptized in October.
That night we got transfer calls and found out that we are both
staying here! We were both so excited!
Saturday, we did service all day. It was great!
Sunday was good. We taught relief society and it went so well!!!
Sorry this is so short today! We are just always out of time!
But, I love you all so much! I hope everything goes well this week!
Enjoy the last bit of summer and good luck going back to school!

Love,
Sister McGuire

Trexler Park!

Whitehall is Green Everywhere!!!! This is the side of the road. Really.

A Whitehall Week!!

Dear Family,

It has been quite the week here in Whitehall!
Tuesday morning I woke up so sick! We had to stay in almost all day. I
hated it! But, by the end of the night I started feeling better, so we
were able to go and teach Anne. She is so great! Her testimony is so
strong! And we've only taught her the Restoration!
Wednesday we had Zone Conference. It was incredible! President and
Sister Anderson taught us so many good things. They are so inspired
and I loved it! Unfortunately, we didn't get back until about 6:00
that night so we only had time to contact a few people. We met a woman
named Maggie and we were able to teach her the Restoration on her
front porch! It was incredible and she was so open to everything. We
will see her again tomorrow, so I hope all goes well.
Thursday was district meeting and weekly planning again. It was (the
district leader) Elder Wilson's birthday, so we celebrated with ice
cream and cake! He has been in Whitehall since March and everyone
thinks that he will be transferred next week. I hope he stays though,
cause he is awesome and he does so much for our ward.
Friday was so fun! And it ended up being mostly service projects all
day. We ended up painting a less active members house. And guess what?
She invited us back for dinner next week! It was so great! Then we
went and helped set up for a funeral for another ward in our stake.
Saturday.... Wow... We took a member named Ari with us for most of the
day. She is 23 and she is putting her papers right now, so she loves
doing everything with us! And we love her! We went to teach Ricardo
(our golden investigator). When we got there, he told us that he was
moving to upstate New York in three hours! And he would be living
there for about the next two months, if not longer. We almost died! He
still wants to be baptized though, so we are sending the other
missionaries his way. But we are so sad that we don't get to teach him
anymore! He is awesome though, and I know that he will continue to
grow and progress in the gospel.
Sunday was the best! Church was so good. We had an awesome lesson in
Relief Society about Eternal Marriage. Mom and Dad, thank you so much
for choosing to be sealed in the temple! It means so much to me and
our family! After church we taught Teresa again. She is progressing so
well! She did tell us that she is still unsure about the Book of
Mormon, but we encouraged her to continue to pray, and that she will
get an answer.
Life is so great!
Fun culture fact, people here have nice cars! Even in the super poor
part of Allentown, people have worn out houses with a 2013 ford Escape
or something like that. It's nuts! I rarely see a car that's older
than ten years, and cars older than 15 are basically nonexistent! So,
random fact.
I love you all!!! Have a fabulous week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

August Already??

Dear Family,

Just like you I can't believe that it is already August! And at the
same time, I feel like I've lived my whole life in Whitehall! Hahaha.
I'm so glad that Kait had such a good birthday! Sister Clark and I
yelled Happy Birthday off the Allentown bridge. We hope it carried all
the way to Utah. ;)
This week has been so nuts! We met with Jose and Melody a lot this
week. They are incredible! They're testimonies are growing and I can
see the light of Christ coming into their lives. They decided to get
married too! They learned the law of chastity, and wanted to follow
it. So, we're planning a wedding! Haha! It is so great to watch them
grow in so many ways.
We also visited a less active named Pauline. she is awesome! She makes
bracelets out of special stones and then sells them. So we go and
visit her once a week and help her make them. The hardest part about
visiting less active people is that you hear their testimony and you
see that they are living the gospel, but for whatever reason they just
don't come to church. It makes me crazy! But, I can only imagine how
frustrated The Lord gets with me when I don't do the things that I
know I should.
Most of the people that we have been teaching were out of town this
week on vacation. So we spent a lot of time finding people. Bishop
Smith has given us a list of names of people to locate, and so many of
them have moved, so we use tons of miles driving around to these
places. But whenever we stop we have started knocking on two or three
doors nearby. On Friday when we were doing this, we actually found a
girl named Kelly who was interested in learning more about the church.
She said that she was looking for a church that talks about the bible
and will actually help her live the teachings that she learns about.
In my mind I was thinking, "boy, do we have a message for you!!!"
Hahaha! We set up an appointment and we are going to see her this
Wednesday.
Also, this past week we had Zone Training. It was incredible! Our Zone
leaders really helped us understand more about our role as
missionaries and they taught us new ways to help and support our
companions and those that we teach. I LOVED IT!!! It was one of those
awesome opportunities that WE got to be taught. We also had Golden
Retraining this week. That is where all the newbies and our trainers
went to the mission office and we spent a day being taught by
President Anderson and the assistants. It was also an amazing day! We
were so uplifted and it helped so much! I also loved getting to see my
MTC friends again. Especially Sister Wilko!
So, yeah! It has been a great week! Thanks for your prayers and
support! This week I really felt support from The Lord when we had a
long day or needed something, and I know that your prayers have been a
big part of that. I love you all so much! I can't wait to hear of your
adventures from next week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

P.S. If you want to read a really good article about how a missionary
feels, check out Quest for Joy in the July 2005 ensign.
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2005/07/the-quest-for-joy?lang=eng

A Week of Miracles!!! +Pictures!

Like she says, a week of miracles!!!!

Dear family,
I love hearing from you and I appreciate your love support so much!
Thanks for all you do for me! And I am so jealous that you all went to
the West Fork with out me! Hahaha! It sounds like you all had fun
though!
So, on Monday for P-Day, Sister Clark and I went to Bethlehem (the
city right next to Allentown) with Sisters Ipson and Lindley. It was
so cool! We saw the Old Hotel, the Church, the girls school and the
Moravian Bookstore. Then that night we had dinner with Brother and
Sister Hahn. We ate Philly Cheesesteak pizza. It is so good! They use
use cheese whiz for the sauce and then put steak all over the top of
it. It looks and sounds disgusting, but it is SO good!
Then on Tuesday we taught a lady named Anne. Her husband is a
less-active and hasn't been to church in years, and Anne has never
gone to church, but she wants to start. She had already heard the
restoration so we taught her more about Joseph smith and the Book of
Mormon she loved it all. Then I invited her to be baptized and she was
so excited about it that she said yes before I even finished asking
the question! Then she asked us if we could teach her kids as well and
if they could be baptized as a family!!!!! I was blown away! We set up
another appointment with her and her family, so we will see her again
this week. It was a total miracle! When We are told to find the elect,
this is what they mean. To find people who are willing and ready to
listen to the gospel. That night we had dinner with the Bastow family.
I love spending time with the members! They are almost all converts
and they all have the strongest testimonies. Our ward really is so
awesome.
Wednesday we taught two more incredible lessons and volunteered at the
Salvation Army. It is so much fun, I really look forward to it every
week!
Thursday, we had district meeting. It was so good! I love district
meeting because it is one of two times during the week that we as
missionaries really get to recharge ourselves, spiritually and get
ready for the rest of the week when we are feeding others. We talked
about the attributes of Christ. It was so good. If you ever need
something to study, just look at chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel and
read the scriptures about Christ. What a testimony builder! After that
we went and taught Ricardo. He is the best! We talked about our living
prophet, President Monson. Then we watched his conference talk from
last October. It was incredible! And Ricardo loved it!
Friday was amazing!. Jose and Melody called us out of the blue and
asked if we could come and teach them. So, of course, we got over
there as fast as we could! Then we talked about the attributes of
Jesus Christ and the things that we should do to follow him. It was
another miracle lesson. They really opened up to us and told us that
they have been struggling, but they want to come to church and they
want to be baptized. We were able to help them realize that they are
making so many changes in their lives and that they are doing awesome
things. It was probably the best lesson I have ever been a part of.
On Saturday I went on exchanges with Sister Pike in the Reading ward.
That night we had dinner with a Haitian lady in their ward. She cooked
us a huge dinner and it was authentic Haitian food. It was so good!
She has a very strong accent though, so we could barely understand
what she was saying. After dinner she asked us a question and sister
pike and I had no idea what she was saying, so we both just nodded our
heads and said yeah. Then she comes walking out of the kitchen with a
huge watermelon and 2 gallons of cranberry juice for us to take home.
The look on our faces had to have been priceless! We almost died of
laughter once we got outside! I had a really good time with her and I
learned a lot about missionary work and different ideas for doing
things. Being away from Whitehall was hard though! I was only gone for
a day, but I totally missed the people and the area and especially
Sister Clark. Hahaha! It's nuts, but I realized that Whitehall is my
home now and I love it!
Sunday was nice and I loved going to church. I totally agree with what
you said Mom, about church being the place to spiritually recharge. It
is definitely the time of the week that I love the most because of
that. That evening we went to a lady named Teresa's house. She and her
husband Paul have tried all sorts of churches but have always felt
like none of them were quite right, so that is why they are meeting
with us. This was the first time we taught them a lesson. So, we
taught the restoration and it was so powerful! The spirit was so
strong. And Teresa and Paul promised that they would read the Book of
Mormon and pray about it together. It was another miracle! This work
is so incredible! I love it!
I really hope you all have another amazing week! Especially with
Kaitlin's Birthday! Have a huge party for me! I love you all!

Love, Sister McGuire

Sister Clark and i at THE CUP - A super good Ice Cream store in Bethlehem!!!!

We toured Old Towne Bethlehem last p-day and this is the School for the girls!