September is Gone??????

Dear Family,

I can hardly believe that September is almost over! I swear that the 4th of July was yesterday, but instead October is upon us! They say that time goes fast on a mission. I say that that is the biggest understatement I've ever heard! Time doesn't fly, it just disappears like it wasn't even there in the first place! Haha!

Anyway, we have had a crazy week of meetings! We are trying to work really hard with the auxiliary leaders in our ward. This week President Anderson asked us all to meet with each auxiliary leader in the ward and the bishop. All this week! Haha! So, on top of our already crazy schedule we had to squeeze in 9 extra meetings this week! But, it was a huge blessing! I am so grateful for those meetings because we are now on the same page as all of the leaders in our ward. That is going to help things move along so much better! And we received 37 referrals in the process of the meetings. So, needless to say, our plates are full!

We are also super excited for this week! We have Zone Conference this Thursday. I always look forward to Zone Conference! They are amazing! I am so excited for General Conference this week! I am so excited for our investigators to see and hear from living prophets and apostles! My testimony is nice, but lets face it, an apostle can say it SO much better than I can!
Okay, so for the miracles this week.....

Miracle 1: Jason and Mary
First off, We went to see Jason and Mary yesterday. They told us they had a surprise for us.... So, we were waiting excitedly for a present or something. Well, it wasn't wrapped with a bow, but they told us that they had done something big. Jason has officially gone a week without coffee and Mary has completely quit smoking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We almost died! We were so happy! They decided to quit and so they did the day of their wedding, but they didn't tell us until last night! It was amazing to hear that! Mary is so excited to be baptized and we can Jason's heart softening, whether he admits it or not! The gospel is such a blessing!

Miracle 2: Bill
Because Bill is retired and blind and really has nothing else to do, he sits around all day and listens to the Book of Mormon on CD. Well, he finished the entire thing this week and he loved it!!!! Hahaha! Now that he's done we started rummaging through the apartment to find ANYTHING on CD that we could lend. We found a couple of General Conferences on CD, sop we gave those to him too. He loves the gospel and you can really see his testimony taking off! He is awesome!

Miracle 3: Beverly
This morning we were walking to the clubhouse to get on our emails when we saw this lady in the parking lot. Her name is Beverly. She is the type of lady that always has to complain about something to whoever has ears to listen. We have often been the target of her pity fests, and we have tried to share the gospel with her on several occasions, but she has flat out refused. So, naturally when we spotted her, I wanted to die! We tried to sneak as stealthily around the parking lot as we could, but it was no use. She spotted us, and since we were the only people outside, she came running to pin us down! But today was different. Her usual look of contempt and irritation was replaced with genuine distress. She came right up to us and gave us a huge hug! (We were slightly concerned at this point). She told us that she was going through something really hard right now, and in her desperation she had sent up a prayer for God to send someone to help comfort her. And then we had come walking around the corner. We were stunned! So we sat down and talked to her for about an hour about Heavenly Father and his love for her. We testified of the Spirit and the peace that comes from the gospel. Her entire demeanor changed. By the time we were done, she had calmed down and seemed to be doing much better. We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read Alma 32. We gave her our phone number and told her to call us when she had finished reading the chapter. She thanked us profusely and then sent us on our way. We were stunned! but wait! The story gets better! About 2 hours later, our cell phone rang with an unknown number. It was Beverly! When we answered she said, "Sisters I read the whole chapter! It was amazing! It changed my life! What can I read next?" WWWWWOOOOOOOWWWWWW! What the What!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Sister Schettler and I were looking at each other saying, 'Did that really just happen?' And it had! We assigned Beverly another chapter to read and we are going to be seeing her at the end of this week to talk more about it. Wow! Sometimes, people just aren't ready for the gospel, but Heavenly Father has a way of softening their hearts and preparing them for when the time is just right! We are so blessed!
I LOVE being a missionary! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! I hope you enjoy Conference this weekend. Have a great week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

The Army of Helaman

(Tiny story about this picture. All the missionaries serving in our Ward and our ward mission leader had a meeting with the relief society president at her home this week. Her 3 year old son, Easton, thought that we were all there to play with him (Because that's what missionaries do, right?). So while we were meeting, he kept bringing toys for us to play with. By the end of the meeting we were all dressed like avengers and had some sort of weapon that we were supposed to be using to fend off the bad guys. So, of course, we had to end our meeting with a photo shoot!)

Yep........ Don't ever give 19 year old boys fake weapons and tell them to pose! Lol!

District photo! Front row: Elder Morgan, Elder Allred, Sister Schettler, Me.  Back row: Elder Malcolm, Elder Weisler, Elder Bryan, Elder Lake

Short and Sweet!

Dear Family,

My letter this week will be short, because a couple in our Ward took
us to Longwood Gardens to day! It is a beautiful botanical garden! It
is made up of miles and miles of pathways, gardens, fountains, ponds,
and a HUGE conservatory. It was beautiful!
But here's the gist of my week!
Mary and Jason were married this week!!!!!!!! We held the wedding at
the church and bishop performed the ceremony! It was beautiful and I
loved it! Everything went so well!
On top of planning a wedding and everything else, I was sick all week!
Haha! Go figure! But, Heavenly Father helps his missionaries, and I
was able to do everything we needed to anyway.
Also, Bill (Mary's father) was ordained a priest this week! We are so
excited for him to be on the road to the temple! And even more
importantly, he is now going to be able to baptize the rest of his
family, when they are ready! It is so neat to see this family change
and accept the gospel. I am so blessed to see so many miracles and I
love being a missionary!
I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

The Conservatory at Longwood Gardens!

Sister Schettler, Meggie, and I by The Meadow at Longwood Gardens

Meggie and I at the Italian Water Garden

Mary and Jason's wedding! It was a huge success!!!

Tobie (The maid of honor) Jocelyn (The Flower Girl) and Me after the wedding

Food, Laughs, and Miracles!

Dear Family,

Honestly, I never know what to say or where to begin! Hahaha!
Fall is in the air here in Bayview! The air is finally cooling off! We
are starting to see hints of red and yellow leaves in the woods
outside our window. I can finally start wearing cardigans without
wanting to die! Haha!
To answer Parker's question, Yes! I do have more miracle stories this
week! And I have a few funny stories too!
Miracle 1: We had stopped by our investigator, Tim's, house, and he
wasn't home. We were super bummed! We were about to get in the car and
head out to our next stop, when I felt prompted like we needed to
knock other doors on that street. We left our car and spent about 20
minutes knocking on doors and talking to people. But, no one wanted to
listen. Finally, we had to go to get to our next appointment. I felt
super disappointed and thought that maybe I had just made it up, and
it wasnt really the Spirit. We started walking back to our car. Right
as we were about to climb into our car, Tim pulled up! He waved us
over and wanted to talk to us! It was awesome, because we set up an
appointment with him again and invited him and his daughter to church.
Heavenly Father knew that Tim was on his way and that we needed to
talk to him! So, He gave me that prompting to keep us there long
enough so that we could talk to Tim.
Funny Story 1: Normally, missionaries are two starving young people
that have no money and no food, right? NOT in Bayview! LOL! I don't
know why this week was different, but EVERYONE gave us so much food
this week! We usually get a lot of food in the first place, but this
week was extra crazy! This one family bought us enough Chinese food to
last through the Apocalypse! Then, our investigator made us a pot of
soup! Then, another couple in our ward brought us 2 family size
packages of Oreos! Then, someone else got us a chocolate cake and
doughnuts and cookies! Then, another lady gave us a snack bag with
apples and granola bars. Another lady heard that we liked hummus, so
we have 4 packages of that in the fridge! There's another lady in the
ward who likes to buy us cereal. and it was on sale or something, so
we now have 10 boxes of cereal! The list goes on! Hahaha!!!!! I guess
the key to building up your food storage is to be a 'starving
missionary' and you'll never go hungry! The only problem now is that I
may have to invest in some new clothes, because my skirts are starting
to get a little bit tight!
Funny Story 2: This week, the weather has been really mild and nice.
So, everyone wants to sit outside to talk to us, which is great! When
we saw Stacey, it was the same deal. She had set up a bunch of chairs
underneath her tree in the backyard, so we went and sat out there.
About halfway through the lesson I started to feel things on my
legs... Gross! I look down and I see 6 mosquitoes all going at it on
my leg! I'm trying to sit nicely and pay attention to Stacey, who is
bearing her soul to us while at the same time swatting away at the
mosquitoes that are swarming me! I'm doing war cries and screaming in
my head while simply nodding and acting interested in what she's
saying, while gently wiggling my legs and flailing my arms constantly,
trying to fend off my blood-sucking foe! Seriously, it looked like
something off of a movie. I must have looked like an idiot the whole
time! And when I got home that night I counted 63 bites all over my
legs! I basically have been bathing in anti-itch cream all week! Then
on Friday morning we had one mosquito flying around our apartment and
I chased after it for about 10 minutes until I killed it, while Sister
Schettler was dying of laughter in the study room. I REFUSE to be
bitten again! Haha! So beware mosquitoes!
Miracle 2: we had a fantastic lesson with Jason and Mary and Bill this
week! Mary is excited for her baptism in November, but Jason has
always been a bit of a skeptic. But, this week was awesome! We had
really prayed and prepared for this lesson. Jason felt the Spirit and
he even said that he knew he needed to read the Book of Mormon and
give it a try. So great! Mary and Jason's wedding is this Saturday! We
are excited and nervous! Haha! We just hope all of the plans work out
and that it goes well.
Funny Story 3: we were at Rosemarie's house again. While we were there
she asked us to put some things away for her. We opened up the drawer
and found about 20 different pairs of sunglasses!!!! Apparently, she
collects them. Haha! So, we tried on a bunch of them. They were great!
So, I sent the picture of me wearing the funny ones.
I guess that's all I can think of right now. I hope you all have a
great week! Have adventures and miracles of your own! I love you
all!!!!!

Love,

Sister McGuire

Sister Schettler during a lunch break! Hahaha! This is what a missionary looks like at the end of the day. :)

This is Mount Sweets on our counter. It keeps growing Bigger and Bigger everyday!

Playing around with Rosemarie's sunglasses collection!

Sister Schettler, Me and Meggy! Our favorite little helper!

Mission Life!

Dear Family,

So much has happened, I don't know where to begin! We had so many
miracles and funny stories and everything in between this week. And
basically at the end of each experience the only way to describe it
was simply saying, welcome to mission life! Haha! So, get ready for
story time!
Miracle 1: Kristen
So, last week this lady showed up at church with a less active. We
thought that she was just visiting for the day and was going back home
that week. Well, this past Sunday she was there again, without her
friend..., hmm...., So the bishop met her after sacrament meeting. We
found that her name is Kristen and she actually lives in our area! She
came with her friend last week, and she was so interested that she
came again this week. She asked if there was anyway she could learn
more about the church. Of Course! We started teaching her and her 4
children this week! They are awesome! The Lord really does prepare
people to hear about the gospel!
Miracle 2: Sister Boyle
So, there's a completely inactive woman in our Ward named Sister
Boyle. She hasn't come to church in about 35 years, even though her
husband is the Ward Sunday School President. So, of course we have
been trying to get her to come back..... It's hard! Hahaha! Well, we
were talking to her this week about her Book of Mormon reading and
once again, the conversation was going absolutely nowhere. Then I
randomly blurt out, "Are you still smoking?" In my head I think, 'oh
crap! I just ruined it! Where did that come from? Why did I say that?'
Shockingly she answers back, "Yes I am and I am so tired of it! I want
to quit so bad, but I'm scared and I don't know what to do." Wow!!!!
No way!!!!!! Brother Boyle has been trying to get her to quit for
years! So, we are going to get her into the Quit Smoking Program as
fast as humanly possible! We are so excited that she wants to take
this step! It will be awesome!
Miracle 3: Stacey and Penny
We have a new investigator named Stacey. She is so sweet and so ready
to learn! We have only taught her once before. We felt inspired to
bring a less active woman from the Newark Ward, Penny, teaching with
us. (How random is that?) We managed to get it all figured out, and
Penny even left work early to come with us! So, we get there and
Stacey shares with us that one of her biggest problems is that her
daughter died in a tragic car accident last year and she is still
trying to deal with the grief of that. Well, Penny lost her daughter
in a tragic accident about 20 years ago. It was almost the same
situation! The rest of the time we were there, Sister Schettler and I
basically sat there in silence while these two women shared their
stories and comforted one another and cried together. It was
beautiful! And then Penny bore the most beautiful testimony of the
plan of Salvation. It was incredible! The Spirit was so thick you
could cut it like butter! It was truly Heavenly Father who
orchestrated that. I know that both of them were changed for the
better that day!
Miracle 4: Mary and Jason and Tobie
Remember Bill? Well, we have been teaching his daughter Mary and his
granddaughter Tobie. Yes, Tobie is a girl. They had originally planned
on being baptized with Bill, but some things slowed them down. Well,
we had an appointment with them this week, and we were going to see if
we could help them understand more about the Book of Mormon. Once
again, the lesson was going absolutely nowhere! Then, out of the blue,
Sister Schettler blurts out, "Do you still want to get baptized?" Mary
replies back, "yes! Of course!" Wow! "Okay, when do you want to shoot
for?" Asks Sister Schettler. "November 6." Okay! Then, Tobie says,
"Maybe I could be baptized that day, too!" Wow!!!! Sometimes I am just
blown away! Well, this week, Mary and her fiancé, Jason, decided that
they want to get married soon! They asked if they could do it at the
church and if Bishop could perform the marriage! The answer was Yes
all around! They are getting married next Saturday and we now have a
wedding to plan! Yikes! And we have two weeks to do it! Man.... I'm
getting a little bit too good at weddings! Hahaha! We can't wait!
Funny Story 1: Ann
So, there's a recent convert in our Ward who gave us a referral for
one of her friends. So, we went to go see Ann this week. We get there
and we find out that she's a Born Again Christian and self appointed
Minister and Missionary. Yikes! Hahaha! Seriously, her license plate
says, I am Saved! Luckily, she liked us and had a lot of respect for
what we are trying to do. But she jumps into this forever long story
about how she has saved thousands of people and she can speak in
tongues and how she has the gift of prophecy and she knows that the
world is going to end this year and so many other crazy things! We just
sat there, not really knowing what to do. Haha! Finally, we convinced
her that we had to go, but she insisted on praying over us first. So
she said the longest prayer I've ever heard! Haha! It seriously lasted
for at least 20 minutes! She didn't even take a breath the whole time!
And she blessed us up and down with everything, while simultaneously
quoting scripture and basically giving a sermon at the same time. It
was nuts! Haha! But I loved it!
Anyway, mission life is the best! I love Bayview! I love the gospel! I
love my Family! Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Sister McGuire