Best Week Ever!!!!!

Dear Family,

This week was the best week EVER!!!!!! No, not every single person in Bayview was baptized this week, but it was pretty great!

It all started first thing Tuesday morning. We went to see a less active woman named Sister Brown. We got to Sister Brown's house and her son answered. He told us that her sister, Sherry, had passed away early that morning. He told us to go see Sister Brown at her Mom's house, just around the corner. So, we went and we knocked on the door. It opened immediately and we were whisked into a room full of people that we had never met before, all except Sister Brown. Everyone in the room was crying and sad, but most of all was Sister Brown's Mother, Ruby. Ruby was simply hysterical with grief. She was falling apart at the seems. Everyone was doing what they could to help, but no one could. Sister Brown told us to go try. We looked at each other and we had no idea what to do. So, we walked up to her. I simply put my hand on her shoulder. Immediately, I felt her relax. She stopped sobbing and she was simply quiet. Sister Maughan started talking about the Plan of Salvation. We talked about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. We told her that families are central to God's plan. We testified that she would see her daughter again. She looked up at me with tear stained eyes and asked, "Will I really?" I testified with all my heart that I knew she would be with her daughter again. She was still sad, but she seemed content. It was amazing!!!! We stayed with them as long as we could that day. We went back to see the family two more times this week, and we also attended the funeral for Sherry on Friday. This amazing family became my family this week! I really felt like I was a part of their family. I felt like I was comforting my own Grandmother. I felt like I was with my cousins and aunts and uncles (except for the obvious Word of Wisdom problem these people all have.) It was a miracle! I have never felt so good as a missionary. We have started teaching Sister Brown's parents, and we hope to be teaching her other family members very soon. It was awesome!

On top of that, SIster Maughan is just the best. We have laughed and luaghed and laughed this week about everything that's going on! I am starting to get a 6-pak from laughing too much! And my cheeks hurt from smiling all the time. It's awesome.

Well, I'm really bad at writing lots of stories, so I may start sending out my companions emails, just so you get more stories! hahaha! JK!

Since today is Memorial Day, we have been encouraged to spend as much time with members as possible. So, we have 2 barbeques to go to tonight! I just hope our stomachs are big enough! Hahaha! I am wearing my stretchy dress tonight! Wish me luck!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
Sister McGuire

All Kinds of Stories!!

Dear Family,

This week was great! Sister Maughan was sick for most of the week, but she was a trooper and we were still able to get a lot of work done!
Well, owing to my horribly skimpy emails over the last few weeks, I realized that I owe you guys some MAJOR stories! So, I jotted down as many as possible! Enjoy!
To start off with some funny stories....
First off we checked up on one of our investigators, Jane (which is NOT her real name), to see how her Book of Mormon reading is going. "It's going great!" she said. "Awesome! Where are you at?" We asked. " I'm in the Book of Gentiles!" Uhhhhhh........ okay...... "That's great! What's happening in the story right now?" We ask. "Oh, the Gentiles are about to fall, but then the Lord saves them." Great...... Here's your sign. Hahahahahaha! We laughed SO HARD when we got out of there!
Another story to keep you laughing. We texted Jane on Sunday to see if she would be coming to church. She texts us back and says, "Oh, I'm not going to be able to make it to day. I have allergies and I don't want anyone else to catch them." .............................Just let that sink in for a moment. Yeah. hahahahahahahahaha super great right?
One last funny story for the week. After church we wanted to stop by this same investigator's house to see how she was doing and to have a lesson with her. We have no idea what to tell this lady so we pray real hard before we knock on her door and then bravely stand before the door. I knock real loud and the door opens. There Jane stands before us in nothing but a leopard print lingerie. That covers nothing! It is like two sizes too small on her. Let me add, Jane is 5' 9" and weighs (no joke) 400 pounds!!! After my brain screams louder than a coaches whistle!! HOLY COW!!! Sister Maughan and I stand silent for a second. She speaks first and I'm pretty sure her voice went like three octaves higher than it really is. "Yeah, we were just checking in on you. Is there a time LATER this week that we can come by and visit you?" YIKES!!!! Hahahahaha! Oh, the memories! I hope you all got a good laugh out of that.
Now on to the Spiritual side of things......
Sister Maughan and I had felt impressed to go tract a certain neighborhood in our area. So, on Tuesday we finally made it over there. When we got there we saw an old lady trying mow her front lawn. She was really struggling. So, we ran up and asked her if we could help her mow. She just laughed at us and kept going. So, we offered to help again. She stopped and looked at us in shock. "You would really do something like that?" she asked. "Of Course!" we replied. She looked exhausted and desperate for any help at all. So, Sister Maughan sat and talked to her while I finished mowing the lawn in a dress! Dad, thank you so much for teaching me how to mow a lawn! The ladies name is Judy and she was so stunned that we would actually be willing to serve other people! We gave her a Book Of Mormon and testified that this was the reason why we find such great joy in serving. We have an appointment to see her this week again!
One miracle was seeing Sandy this week! Sandy is a less active that has no desire to come back to church. This week we had our usual appointment with her, but we decided to bring Sister Scafe with us. When we arrived Sandy started dancing, because she was so excited to see Sister Scafe!!!!! It turned out that they are old friends! They knew each other a while back and were so happy to see each other again. During the lesson, Sandy opened right up to us and told us that she has been struggling with her testimony of Joseph Smith and that's why she won't come back. Sister Scafe bore an amazing testimony of Joseph Smith and really invited Sandy to come back! She seems a little hesitant still, but we made huge progress! We are going back to see Sandy again this week with Sister Scafe. It really strengthened my testimony of taking members out with us to EVERY appointment, whether it's an investigator or not.
Another miracle came shortly after we had finished talking to our families last Sunday. We had scheduled time for finding new investigators. On our way to the place where we had planned to go Sister Maughan said that she felt impressed that we needed to go see Sister Rodriguez. She is a single mom with five young children. She lives way far from where we were, and I was concerned about spending the time to travel there and the miles on a trip to see her. But, I decided to trust my companions feelings and we went. We arrived with cookies for the kids and a Mother's Day card for her. We herded up the children into the living room and we sang primary songs together as a family. We convinced the kids to sing a Mothers Day song for their Mom. It came time to go and Sister Rodriguez burst into tears and told us that she had been feeling horrible about herself and thinking she was a bad mom and that everyone had forgotten about her. She said we were an answer to her prayers. I was blown away. I didn't think our short visit had made much of a difference, but Heavenly Father had known how badly she needed us. I'm just SO glad that we had decided to trust in the promptings we received and in the end, we were an answer to someone's prayer.
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!! Stay amazing!

Love,
Sister McGuire

This is the Chesapeake Bay!

We found wear the sidewalk ends!!

This is the Turkey Point Lighthouse in our area! Back in the 1700's It was a super important place that helped the American Troops during the Revolutionary war.

Busy Day!!

Dear Family,

I LOVED TALKING TO YOU YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing to see
and talk to you! You are my biggest fan club and it makes being a
missionary so much easier when I know that I have a team like you
cheering me on back home.
I am so sorry, but I am out of time. We went to a lighthouse on the
Chesapeake Bay today. It was only supposed to take a couple of hours,
but we just barely got back and we have an appointment to get to now.
Just know that I love and care for all of you! I will send pictures
and stories next week! I love you!

Love,
Sister McGuire

Down By the Bay!!!

Dear Family,

This week has been an adventure indeed!!!!!! I got transferred
to...... (Drum Roll please!)......... BAYVIEW MARYLAND!!!!!!!!!!!
Bayview is a great little place on the very North Tip of the
Chesapeake Bay! There's a lot of farms and small hills out here. My
apartment is across the street from the Delaware border and parts of
Pennsylvania is in our ward boundaries. This is the beginnings of
Amish country as well, so we have seen plenty of horse drawn buggies
in the last few days! Another fun fact is that I am right in between
Baltimore and Philly now! It's pretty exciting to be back in Maryland!
I'm loving it here already!
I'm also LOVING my new companion! Her name is Sister Maughan! She has
been out for 3 months now, but she is on fire! She is teaching me how
to do missionary work! She is from Mountain Home, Idaho. She is one of
7 kids, so she understands me! And she's an author and illustrator!
She has published one book so far, but has lots of plans to make many
more in the future!
Down to details,
On Tuesday, I finished saying goodbye to everyone and packed up my stuff to go.
On Wednesday we drove to transfer meeting, where I got my new
companion! There's an awesome couple in our ward that we rode with.
They have a 15 seater van and had driven most of the missionaries in
our Zone to Transfer Meeting. So, after the meeting, they took us to
lunch at five guys! It was awesome! The people at Five Guys almost
didn't know what to do with themselves when 8 Elders and 2 Sisters
walked in along with the Fletchers behind us. Hahaha! It was great!
Then, that night we went to the Girl's Camp kick-off with one of our
investigators. She is 13 and she is getting baptized in June! She
wants to go to camp, so we went with her to introduce her to more of
the other Young Women. It was a lot of fun!
On Thursday, we had district meeting. One of the Elders in our
district, named Elder Pule, is from New Zealand! It was crazy! I told
him that you guys were just there and I showed him the pictures you
sent me. He was pretty excited about that! I spent the rest of the day
getting to know more people.
The rest of the week was mostly just dedicated to meeting everyone and
getting to know the area. I loved it! I am excited and so happy to be
here in Bayview!
I can't wait to call you on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you all!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Sister McGuire