Susquehanna!!

Dear Family,

Well, I am loving Pottstown! I had a fantastic week!
It all started with Tuesday. We woke up early and drove the three
hours up to Harmony, Pennsylvania to see the Priesthood Restoration
site. President and Sister Anderson were there. They spoke to us, as
well as the Visitor Center Director and his wife. It was such a neat
place! We spent the day touring the homes of Isaac Hale and Joseph and
Emma's first home. We also got to see the graves of Joseph and Emma's
infant son and the Hales family. It was such a neat experience!
Since the bus dropped us off in Whitehall, we made a quick pit-stop at
Sister Britto's on the way home! Unfortunately, she wasn't there, but
we got to see her daughter Katie! So, that was cool! It was so crazy
to be back in Whitehall! I can't believe that it has been a year since
I've been there.
We had the Halloween Carnival this week. While we were there we met a
woman who is from the Ukraine. She is a member and she just moved to
America a year ago. She asked us to come and teach her the gospel in
English so that she can understand what is being said during sacrament
meeting! That was super cool!
The next day was Saturday. I haven't been feeling too good, so I
finally broke down and went to the doctor. Well, I have bronchitis!
So, they hyped me up on meds and sent me home. It was nice because a I
got to sleep the rest of the day.
Also, I had a panic attack yesterday when I realized that it was my 16
month mark!!!! Yikes!!! I can hardly believe that it has been that
long!
Another cool fact. I was just browsing around our family history this
past week when I discovered something very interesting! Charles Alfred
Harper's family is all from Pennsylvania! And not just anywhere in
Pennsylvania, but right here where I'm serving!!!!!! His grandfather,
Jacob Evans, is from Montgomery county! The other Harper's are from
Philly. And his Great-Grandma, Ann Foulke, was born in Limerick
Township IN MY AREA!!!!!!! That was such a neat discovery for me! I
feel an even greater connection to this amazing place that I have come
to call home.
Anyway, I love you all! I hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

I  got to see Linda from Medford at transfers!!! It was so great! 

Sister Sullivan and I at the Ward Halloween Party

Sister Sullivan and I found this funny sign while tracting this week! 

This is Me and The Susquehanna River, where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized

This is a replication of a wooden box that Joseph would have kept the plates in. It was heavy! It weighed 50 pounds

This is the Isaac Hale home where Joseph and Emma first met!

This is where 70% of the Book of Mormon was translated

The monument

I ran into my old friend, Sister Ipson!

I also ran into my old companion Sister Veater!

The gorgeous Fall! (The pictures really dont do it justice!

Scenic Route

Super Lame Email

Dear Family,

I've been transferred to Pottstown Pennsylvania!!!! I am super excited
for this new area and I already love the people here!
As the subject line says, this will be a super short, super lame
email, because our PDay is being cut short today. It's a short PDay
because tomorrow all of the missionaries in the mission are going to
be taking a tour of newly dedicated Priesthood Restoration site in
Susquehanna, New York!!!!!
We are going to leave our apartment at 4:30 tomorrow morning and drive
to Whitehall. From there we will board a bus at 6:00 and ride the rest
of the way up. While there, the Visitor Center Sisters will be taking
us on tours of the site. We are super excited and we are so lucky to
be going!
You should read up about the site in an article in the September
Ensign called Joseph Smith in Harmony.
Anyway, I promise more stories and plenty of pictures next week. Love you all!

Love,
Sister McGuire

Farewell to Bayview!!!

Dear Family,

I have to apologize, because I don't have much time to write this week. I got the call that I am being transferred tomorrow, so I am spending the day packing and saying my last goodbyes. I have come to love Bayview so much! I am going to miss it dearly! But, just like the seasons change, so do the times in our life change. Heavenly Father wants us to have new experiences that will keep us progressing, so that we become the people He needs us to be.
As far as the week goes..... On Wednesday I went to Dover for the day with Sister Asi on exchanges. We had a good time down there. We did a lot of service and taught a few lessons, so it was fun! Then, on Thursday we drove back up to Newark for Zone Training. It was an amazing meeting! The Zone Leaders had invited 5 converts from their ward come and share their stories about 'their missionaries'. It was so sweet and so touching! Sometimes as a missionary it can feel like we work so hard, but it doesn't make a difference. It was so great to hear them talk about the enormous impact that missionaries can and do have on people. So, that was neat!
On Friday we had transfer calls. I'm leaving and so are 2 other missionaries in our district. It will be exciting to see where everyone will go!
The rest of the week has been full of packing, teaching, finding, and saying goodbyes. It's been a crazy whirlwind!
So, Farewell to Bayview! I have truly loved it here! I'm looking forward to a new area full of new adventures! Here I go!
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

Love,
Sister McGuire

Lots of goodbyes this week, which means lots of pictures!

Goodbye to the Aultman family!

Sister Schettler trying to keep the kiddos entertained while I taught a lesson! Divide and conquer!!!

YW Selfie!!!

Saying Goodby to the Walkers! They're awesome!!

Laying floor tile at Brandi's this morning! Sister Schettler and I got into a grout war! Hahaha!

Amazing Week!!

Dear Family,

It has been one of the most Spiritually uplifting weeks of my mission! So much good has happened this week!

Last Monday, Kim came out teaching with us! I'm so glad she did! I know that it really changed her perspective of missionary work. Basically, we showed up to our appointment, with an inactive woman that we had run into last week. Well, something must have changed her mind, because she told us that she had burned her Book of Mormon years ago and she told us to go away and then she slammed the door. Sister Schettler and I didn't bat an eyelash, we just turned around to keep going. Kim, however, was amazed! She was blown away! She was pretty upset too. It was a good thing that she was standing behind me, because she was gonna go tell that lady some things that she would probably regret later. Hahaha!

So, we just went to our next appointment a little bit early. Kim loved it! We visited June, a sweet lady in our ward who lives in a nursing home. We had a very nice chat with June and invited her to watch Conference on her computer, after we showed her how to use it. June loved the visit and Kim and June really connected. It was awesome!!

On Wednesday, we were super busy! We ran around all day going from appointment to appointment! It was like a missionary's dream day! We had good lessons and saw a lot of people. Then, we went with Tobie (Bill's grand-daughter) to mutual! It was amazing! Tobie is a really shy girl, but the other Young Women in our ward were so kind and welcoming! Tobie loved it! And she is becoming fast friends with another YW named Laura.

Then, Thursday was Zone Conference!!!! It was amazing! We had to wake up super early and drive all the way to Broomall for it. And guess what!?!?!?!? There was a team of people there from Salt Lake. They installed something called TiWi devices in all of our cars. A TiWi is a little black box that runs off of a GPS system and it monitors your speed, your seatbelt, your location, and any sort of aggressive driving. It then reports everything back to President Anderson and Elder Rose (the Mission's vehicle coordinator). I guess all the mission cars in the United States and Canada will have one soon. We are taking safe driving to a whole new level! The rest of Zone Conference was amazing. We learned about the gathering of Israel from President Anderson. It was incredible! The Assistants taught us about the importance of bearing a pure and simple testimony.

And then, we had General Conference! Wow! I think I took about 12 pages of notes! We were so richly fed! This morning in my studies I read D&C 1:4 " And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days." I loved it! I decided that this will be the verse that I 'Ponderize' this week! What verse will you learn this week? I also love this scripture because I know that our 3 new apostles were indeed chosen by the Lord in these last days. We need them and their experience and their counsel. Most of all, we need to hear the Voice of the Lord being carried to our hearts through them. I learned so much from conference, and I simply hope that I can begin to put all these new goals into practice in my life.
Well, I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,
Sister McGuire