A Great Week!! With Pictures!!

Dear Family,

First off, I have to apologize again for sending a short email. The Cherry Hill Sisters have had troubles with their car so we spent most of today driving them around to get it fixed.
So, here's the highlights!
Women's Conference was amazing!!!!!! I LOVED IT!!!!!!! We had 3 Non-members come and 2 recent converts there! And everyone loved it! It was an amazing and inspired evening. It only makes me more excited for conference this week!
Miracle for the week. We got a media for referral and it led to a catholic church in our area. We thought it was a prank. We were about to drop him, when we realized that there was a phone number with it. We decided to call it, thinking that it would be a bad number. To our surprise, the man answered! He knew exactly who we are and he is super interested in learning more about the church! We set up an appointment to meet him this week! It was so unexpected and so exciting!
We are also excited because of the new Easter video the Chruch released! Because He Lives. If you haven't seen it yet, you NEED TO NOW! It's amazing! It will change hearts.
I wish you all a Happy Easter!
Have so much fun with Bradley this week! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

Love,
Sister McGuire

"Purina Lion Chow. I'll be." :)

Tasty Kakes! New Jersey's version of Hostess!

Coloring Easter Eggs!!

Sister Johnstone and I working our eggs!

Sister Roesch loves Orange!

Monday already??

Dear Family,

It has been another crazy week! We saw so many miracles this week! I will share an awesome one!
The miracle of the week was how we met Alex. We were doing more stopbys and we knocked on a door and the person we were looking for wasn't home. We were about to get in the car and leave, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a boy three doors down watching us and smoking cigarettes. I rolled my eyes and turned to go, but I felt a strong impression that we needed to go talk to him. I was a little bit taken aback and thought that he would never want to hear what we had to say. But, I decided to follow the prompting. We went over and started talking to him. He told us that he has made a lot of mistakes in life and he wants to pull everything back together, but he doesn't know how. We told him how through Christ we can be cleansed from sin, and he can help us find joy and peace in this life. He seemed kind of interested, so We left our phone number and forgot all about it. Then, yesterday he called us and said that he wants to meet with us and learn more about God! We were so excited!
I am sorry that I am out of time to share any more stories, but I love you all! Hope you have a great week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

Happy St Patty's Day!

Dear Family,

Is it Monday already? Time seems to sneak away! And each week it gets faster! Being an Irish girl, I wish you all a Happy St Patrick's Day tomorrow! Luck of the Irish to ya!
I am a lucky girl indeed! We had transfer calls this week and I am STAYING in Medford with Sister Roesch!!!!!! Hooray! I am so grateful for these amazing people and I am so happy that I will be here another 6 weeks and hopefully even more after that!
We had an amazing miracle this week! We were about 15 minutes early to an appointment, and we decided to take advantage of that time and see someone, rather than just go in early. We thought about a less-active family, the that lived right around the corner and we decided to go see them. To our surprise the family was actually home, and they let us in. Because of our appointment we really only had time to see how they were doing and then invite them to come to church. We really didn't think much of it. On Sunday morning, however, we were astonished to see Sister D walk in through the front doors! She came right up to us and gave us a huge hug! Then, with tears in her eyes she told us that we had come at just the right time and our little visit helped her more than we could ever know! We were shocked! It blew us away! We really didn't think that such a small visit would make such an impact on her. But, I know that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass!
Church was amazing yesterday! It was just what I needed! We had a lesson in Relief Society about Jesus Christ. It never ceases to amaze me just how much the Savior did for us. I have been studying the Atonement in preparation for Easter and it has really changed my life!
We also visited an awesome family in our ward this week and I got to play them a song on my Ukulele. The 10 year old loved it so much that she is begging her mom for lessons! Woops! Hahaha! The Mom (jokingly) asked us on our way out to not have any more lessons that will increase their expenses! Hahaha!
We have done a lot of finding this week, which can be long. But I am learning that it truly is an act of faith to show Heavenly Father that we are willing to work and that we won't to try our best to find people to teach. I know that they will come our way as we keep working hard to talk to everyone we meet.
I know this is short, but I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!! Have a lucky week!
May the Road Rise up to Meet ya. :D

Love,
Sister McGuire

Medford Lakes! A huge vacation spot!

Lunch at the Pop Shop, a new diner on Main Street!

Sister Roesch loves waffles :)

Miracles Upon Miracles!!!

Dear Family,

This week seems like it flew past! So much happened that I can hardly
keep track of it. So, here's the stories!
On Tuesday we got our new iPads and so begins a new era of
technologically advanced missionary work. We received amazing training
on how to use them and what their purpose is as a part of our work.
These tools are an amazing help to us, and I learned so much this week
that I wish I had known 8 months ago when I first got my iPad. It is a
blessing and I am so excited to implement it even better into our
work.
On Wednesday is rained all day and on Thursday we got the blizzard of
the season. We got 8 inches of snow! It started early in the morning
and didn't stop until after dark. We thought it would never end! Haha!
But, it turned out to be one of the hugest blessings! Our area hasn't
been progressing much lately. We have really been struggling to find
people to talk to, and this snow storm was perfect for us. We went out
at about 3:00 on Thursday afternoon and started walking around our
neighborhood and helped dig people out of the snow. We shoveled and
talked to people for hours! One lady even made us soup for dinner! And
now we have at least four people who we will be following up with this
week.
Friday was much of the same. We were able to drive our cars again, so
we took our shovels with us and stopped at every house that needed
help. We met even more people that day! We met a man who didn't really
want to talk to us at first. But, eventually he told us about all of
the family members that he has lost in his life. He was so sad about
it. So, we shared a brief message about the Plan of Salvation and how
we can live with our families forever if we obey God's commandments.
It really touched him and he said that we could come back next week to
share more of that message with him. I am just so excited for all of
the things that are happening! Miracles truly come when we work hard!
Saturday we got a call from a Hispanic lady we had never met before.
It turned out that she is a member that lives in our ward boundaries,
but she attends the Camden Spanish Ward. She had us over for dinner
and had brought her friend over as well. It was so great to talk to
them! Their English wasn't very good, so we were talking in Spanish
for most of the night. It was so fun! I just felt bad for Sister
Roesch... She seemed a little lost, because she doesn't know any
Spanish. Haha! But I loved being able to speak it again.
Yesterday was more miracles! We stopped by a less active lady and we
ended up sharing a message with her that really changed her outlook on
the trials that she's going through right now. Then, we went out
finding. We met a guy named Michael and his wife Sheila. We knocked on
the door and they invited us right in. They gave us water and soda
bread and we ended up talking to them for about an hour! They are
really involved in their religion, but they talked about how much they
appreciated what we are doing. They told us their stories of how they
found their faith and we told them ours. We talked about family
history work and many other things. It was amazing! They want us to
come back this week and see them again! Wahoooooo!!!!!!!! Sister
Roesch and I got in the car and started spazzing out! They are amazing
and they are so Mormon, they don't even know it yet!
I love you all! The Church is true! The Book is Blue! And Heavenly
Father loves you!
Have a great week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

It's March!!

Dear Family,

Once again, time has flown by! Is it really March? Wow!
I'm so sorry to hear about Gus! That really broke my heart. He was a good dog. I bet he's on a field in heaven right now chasing sheep around. :)
This week didn't exactly go as planned, but it turned out pretty awesome anyway!
On Wednesday, all of our appointments fell through..... Not just one, but all of them. Since we had time, we were able to go a visit a widow in the ward. She has been feeling very sick and hasn't been able to even get out of bed in a long time, let alone clean her house. We spent a good portion of the day helping her clean. Then we showed up to mutual that night, only to find out that it was being held at a members house 30 minutes from the church. Hahaha! Love it! But, because we had the time we were able to visit some people that we have really been needing to see.
Thursday we had an awesome district meeting! We talked about studying and preparing for lessons. We also talked about focusing on the needs of the investigator. It was great!
Friday we were able to see so many people that it made up for the other days! We were so busy! We saw many of our recent converts. One in particular that we visited is an amazing lady from Sierra Lione. She has the biggest testimony, but she has been struggling to come to church, because of her job. We showed her the Mormon Message of Dare to Stand Alone about Pres Monson. She told us that she really need to stand up for her beliefs. She was able to talk to her boss, and they are now letting her leave work and come to sacrament meeting! We were so happy that she can at least come and partake of the sacrament with us! ANd she came to church on SUnday! It was so great to see her!
Saturday we had another miracle. We had more appointments cancel, again. But we had this feeling that we needed to go and visited a less-active woman in our ward. On our way over to her house we saw a lady shoveling her sidewalk. Sister Roesch said that we should stop and help her. So, we pulled over and pulled our two shovels out of the back of the car and we helped her shovel. It really made a difference for her. It was amazing!
I really liked this quote from Relief Society this week. "Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that he can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life to God will find he has eternal life” Spencer w. Kimball.
I love you all! Have a grand week!

Love,
Sister McGuire

Mission Conference!! With A LOT of pictures!

Dear Family,

Sounds like your week was a lot like mine! Haha! Life is always crazy out here, and there is just no other way to describe it than crazy.
We had some big things happen this week! The biggest was our mission conference yesterday! It was the first time that all of the missionaries in our mission gathered together! We were visited by Elder David Evans and Elder Steven Allen of the Seventy. They came and trained us on the use of technology in our missions including iPads, FB, Skype, and many other things. Our mission is one of 28 missions that have iPads. We have been part of the "test" group. Things have gone very well with what we are doing, so starting in May, 88 missions in the US, Japan, and Western Europe will all be receiving iPads and beginning online proselyting!!! It's so exciting! On another note, we are starting over as a mission and we are going to be totally changing the way we things online. Their direction was incredible and inspired and we are already seeing a HUGE difference in our work! We are so grateful for this conference! One of the best parts about conference was that we got mail! I had two packages and some letters! It really did feel like Christmas again! :) I was the happiest missionary alive!
Speaking of technology, I was able to meet a person on Facebook this week. He is living in Brazil right now and really only speaks Portuguese. But with the help of an amazing translator (aka Daniel) He told us that he wants to meet with missionaries and learn about the gospel! We sent a referral through the system, and hopefully, the missionaries in Brazil will be able to begin teaching him soon!
We had another miracle this week of recieving a GOLDEN referral from a member in our ward! We will be seeing him this week, and I will have to let you know how it goes! :)
We also had fun spending Wednesday night with the Activity Day girls. They are so cute! And we had a great activity with them where we learned what it means to recognize and listen to the Spirit.
Last, but not least, It SNOWED!!! It Snowed so much this week that I thought I was back it Utah! Our cars were grounded all day Saturday and parts of Sunday. Church was cancelled, all except for sacrament meeting. It was crazy! But, Sister Roesch and I listened to all of the Christmas music I have and we made homemade Chircken Noodle Soup to celebrate 'Christmas'! It was so much fun!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Sister McGuire

Sister Roesch and I were twinners on our first day! We didn't even plan it! Comp Unity!

Love Park with Sisters Wood, Wilko, Roesch, and I and Linda!

Cheesesteaks for lunch and.....

......the Liberty Bell!!!!

Independence Hall. This is where the signed the Declaration of Independence!

The frozen Deleware River. I prefer crossing on the Bridge, rather than the boat method!

The Snow!

That sign looked familiar!!!! I slammed the brakes so hard, so we could take a picture! :)

Pizza with George and Sister Baluyot! (We were on exchanges for the day)

Snow Day!

Snowy Week!!

Dear Family!

Hope you all had a great week! I did too!
Just like you said Mom, Each day is a new adventure. And we have had
plenty of adventures this week!
The weather has been crazy! I warmed up and everything melted out
here. I didn't even wear a coat for two days! But, then on Friday the
temperature dropped again. Saturday was dreary and cold and that night
it Snowed and Snowed. I haven't see that much snow since we left Utah!
We got 4 solid inches of snow. Because of that Church was cancelled
yesterday. We were so disappointed! I really missed having church.
But, we carried on! Since we didn't have many appointments, we threw
two shovels in the back of our car and we spent the day digging
everyone out. One guy had even got himself buried in a huge snow bank,
but we dug him out and sent him on his way. It's incredible what two
20 year old girls can do with 2 shovels! I LOVED it!
On Valentine's Day we went around heart-attacking everyone's doors. It
was so much fun! We were doing it to a family in our ward and the dog
saw us and started barking. So the Dad opened the door while we were
trying put up the hearts. Whoops! Cover was blown! Hahaha. But, they
really liked it anyway.
Today was AWESOME because we got to go to Philly with a Recent Convert
in our ward. We got to spend a lot of time talking to the Missionaries
that are serving there. They shared an awesome message about the
temple. We also got to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It
was incredible! Those places are truly sacred ground. We really could
feel the Spirit so much while we were there. I know that our Founding
Fathers were inspired men. We listened to a man talk about the
Declaration of Independence. Each and every word had been so carefully
chosen. It was amazing.
Next week we are going to be having a mission wide conference where
all of the missionaries will be there. That has Never happened before!
We don't really know it's about, but we are excited! So, because of
that our PDay will be moved to Tuesday next week.
Because of the Holiday, the library was closed, so I will send plenty
of pictures next week. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Sister McGuire