The End is Only the Beginning

Dear Family,

I can hardly believe that I am here at the end. The past 18 months
have been amazing! No words can describe the things that I have
experienced. I am so grateful for it. I am happy to say that I am not
the same person that I was when I started. I have been changed by the
Atonement of Christ. And I have watched His influence change other
people's lives as well.

This week I am so grateful for the Christmas season. I had the best
Christmas of my entire life! And it had nothing to do with
decorations, presents, or Santa Claus. I was able to spend my days
lifting and helping others. I was blessed because other people served
me and my companion.

I am most grateful for all of you! If you ask any missionary what they
loved most about their mission, they will always tell you, The People!
Thank you to my companions, the wards, my family and friends from
home, my new friends out here and anyone else who let me in to their
homes and hearts. I will never forget what you have all done for me. I
may not be the best at writing, but I want you all to know how much I
care for all of you. Thank you!

If any of you are in Utah, my Homecoming will be Sunday January 10th
at 9 am in the Church Building on Orchard Drive in Bountiful.

I just want to share my testimony with you, that I know that Jesus
Christ lives. He is our Savior and Redeemer and He loves us more than
we can ever know. Because He loves us so dearly, he has called a
prophet in our day, to lead and guide us back home. He gave us the
Book of Mormon so that we can know how to draw closer to Him. He
called Joseph Smith to be his prophet in the last days. I know that my
Redeemer lives!

Let me finish with our mission theme for the year.

 "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"

I love you all so dearly!!! I will miss my East Coast family that I am
leaving behind. I am excited to see my West Coast family again. And I
look forward to seeing all of you again soon! See you next week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." 

                                                          -C.S. Lewis

   

   

Merry Christmas!!

Dear Family,

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!!!!!
I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas! I know I will, because we
are planning to serve that day. Service is the most selfish thing you
can possibly do! Hahaha! It just makes you feel so good!
Anyway, today was PDay and we were caught in the insanity known as
Walmart 3 days before Christmas. We also had to emergency run a bunch
of Book of Mormons to a family in the Ward who wanted to give them out
as presents. So, once again, we have no time to email.
But I want you to know that I love you! And I wish you all a Merry
Christmas!!!!!!!!

Love, Sister McGuire

P.S. You ALL need to check out Christmas.mormon.org It will change your life!

Christmas Miracles!!

Dear Family,

As always, I got busy doing some things, and now I'm out of time to
write. But, thanks to my lovely companion, you still get to hear the
stories for the week! So, hear you go! This is Sister Eastmonds
version of what happened this week, mixed Dear Family,
As always, I got busy doing some things, and now I'm out of time to
write. But, thanks to my lovely companion, you still get to hear the
stories for the week! So, hear you go! This is Sister Eastmonds
version of what happened this week mixed with some of my own
commentary.

This week we did a lot of service. We also taught quite a few good
lessons. The ward Christmas Party was on Friday night so we spent a
lot of time working with the ward preparing for that.
Anyways, on Tuesday it was pretty warm, so we decided to do some
street contacting in Spring City (one of the towns in our area, and by
warm I mean 58ish°) so we were walking around talking to people, and
headed down the street from where we parked our car, and all of the
sudden we got a text saying we had a new media referral (someone who
went on mormon.org and requested something) this referral happened to
be in spring city and the address was the other side of Main Street.
So we started walking back that direction, and we stopped to talk to
this man that was outside of a door. Come to find out that he is a
door to door salesman. So we start talking to him about missionary
work and how we go door to door sometimes too, and he asked us how
much we get paid. We told him that we don't get paid, that we're
volunteers, and he was floored. He gained such a respect and
admiration for us that when we gave him one of the pass along cards
that has the new Christmas initiative and the website for it, we
didn't even have to invite him to visit the website, he was like "You
know, because you two girls are so dedicated to sharing this message
of Christ I'm going to go visit the website here on this card!" Then
he wished us luck and a good day, and he continued on his way down the
street. So we continued down to the end of Main Street where this
referral lived and knocked on the door. She had requested a Joy to the
World DVD, and unfortunately we had just run out of them, but weren't
going to be back to spring city for a few days. So we stopped by,
shared "A Savior is Born" and then set up an appointment to come back
and bring the DVD to her. She was a really nice lady, but all she
wants is the dvd. She is very devout in her faith and not planning on
changing anytime soon.
Wednesday we had dinner
with a less active family, the Palmers. They are this super funny
family of young girls. While we were at their home we were able to
build a pretty good relationship with them. Then we went to the church
to help set up the decorations for the ward Christmas party.
Thursday we had district meeting, and then we went out finding all
day. People weren't very open to talking. People were all in a rush
and didn't feel like talking. Then we had dinner with the Chiarlanza
family. Sister Chiarlanza is a member, but her husband is not. So we
are going to try to start teaching him. Sister Chiarlanza told us
later that the Sister missionaries were teaching him, but then they
dropped him and stopped meeting with him. She told us how devastated
she was when the sisters told her that they weren't going to meet with
him anymore. It has been about a year now, so we're going to try
teaching him again. He seems to already like us!
Friday we spent the day weekly planning and then helping out with the
Christmas Party. We got everything ready for it. We had tons of
non-members come and it was amazing! The food was great and everyone
had a good time! The best part was that every single nonmember that
was there, was being fellowshipped by a member of the Ward. They were
all taken care of! It was amazing! I loved the theme of the party. We
had a Christmas Luau. Surprisingly, three of the biggest families in
the Ward are Polynesian, so they put it on. The young men did the
Hakka and the young women did the hula. It was so fun! And we had
pulled pork, rice and macaroni salad for dinner.
Sunday was when the biggest miracle happened! Sister Lee was assigned
to speak in sacrament meeting. We were waiting anxiously by the door
to make sure that she was coming. Well, time kept rolling on and it
was almost time for the meeting to start. Then, finally at 9:59, we
see Sister Lee coming through the doors! We were so excited that she
came! And then........ We caught sight of Brother Lee and their son
coming in behind her!!!!!!!!!! We nearly fell over!!!!!! Brother Lee
hasn't been to church in a year! And he told us he would never come
back! Yet, there he was! And they stayed all three hours of church! It
was a Christmas Miracle!
Well, I love you all! Have a fabulous week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

December Already!!

Dear Family,

Time continues to fly on angels wings! I can't believe it's already December!
I have to apologize! We ran out of time today. Just know that I love
you all and I hope you have a fantastic week! I will send some
pictures, so hopefully that will make up for it a little bit.
Love you!

Love,
Sister McGuire

We went to Friendly's to get some Ice Cream Sundaes!

Robin, and us after we helped her decorate the Christmas tree.

Sister Hawk brought us food from Shady Maple! Shady Maple is a super famous Amish place in Lancaster.

What a Week!!!!

Dear Family,

Things are fantastic here in Pottstown!!!
It all started on Tuesday. We packed up Sister Sullivan and headed out
to transfers. There, I got my new companion! Her name is Sister
Eastmond! She is from Lehi, Utah. She has been out for a year. I have
known her from a distance, and we are super excited to be together!
She also has served in Salisbury and Newark (which is the area right
next to Bayview). So we have had a lot to talk about and we are
becoming fast friends.
Also, I'm not the driver anymore! Hahaha! Sister Eastmond gets carsick
super easily, but it helps her to be the driver, because she can focus
more and anticipate the cars movements so she doesnt get as sick. So,
we talked to the vehicle coordinator and we switched her to be the
designated driver. So, I dont have to drive anymore and I love it.
Over the course of my entire mission I have only spent 5 weeks not
driving.
So, we came back to our area and got to work! That first night we had
a huge miracle! We were going to service for a less active family in
the ward. We ended up staying for dinner. And for the first time ever,
the father of the family actually engaged in conversation with us! We
got talking about the gospel and Sister Eastmond asked them about the
last time he had had a spiritual confirmation that the church was
true. He shared some neat experiences from his mission, but realized
that he hasn't had any since then. So, we are now planning a trip to
go to the Priesthood Restoration Site with their family on December 7.
That will be an amazing experience for them!
Whew. That was all just on Tuesday... Hahaha! Honestly, I dont
remember much else from the week. It was just one blur of amazing
miracles and so much fun!
Oh yeah, and it was Thanksgiving this week! I had the BEST
Thanksgiving I have ever had in my entire life! We started off the day
by going to Manor Care, which is a nursing home. We have three members
of our ward that are living there right now. We were able to see and
talk to all of them. We read scriptures and sang songs and talked and
laughed with each of them. It was fantastic! After that we saw another
member of our ward who lives alone. We spent some time with her as
well. Next, we went to our Thanksgiving dinner with the Former Bishop
and his family! It was amazing! We got to spend time with their family
and friends. We even got to talk to his non-member parents a bit. The
food was great and the company was better. It was such a joy to be
with them.
Then we went and visited the Relief Society President and her family.
We got there just in time for pie. It was so good! It was also amazing
to meet her family! Sister Hawk is the only active member in her
family. The rest of her family is either less active or non-members.
But we were able to get to know them and start building relationships
with them as well. We even invited the whole family to our Ward
Christmas party next week. After Sister Hawks family left we were on
clean up Brigade! It was awesome! We made sister Hawk sit down and
talk to us while we did the dishes, cleared the table, sept the floor,
and put everything back together. We had a good time! She put on
Christmas music so we were singing along as we worked. It was great!
Finally, for our last stop, we saw Sarah. She is one of our
investigators. She is so sweet! She lives alone with her four dogs.
So, we brought some much needed company. She was especially sad,
because she didnt get to go home to see her brother in Virginia. But
we had a good time talking and laughing with her.
All in all, it was the best holiday ever! I am so blessed and so
grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve others! I think that
this Thanksgiving was so special because we simply spent the day
helping other people, and showing our Heavenly Father just how
grateful we are for His blessings.
I am so grateful for all of you! I Love Love Love LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Sister McGuire