See my sister's mission blog here!

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Happy New Year!!!!

Dear Family,

It was so great to be able talk to and SEE all of you on
Christmas!!!!! you all look wonderful and happy and it really just
made my day and my week and the last 8 months! hahahaha
Most everything else this week seems Secondary to Christmas. Tuesday
and Wednesday Elder Brown and i spent the day traveling and doing
baptismal interviews for the District Leaders in the Zone.

On Christmas we woke up and Elder Browns parents had sent us each a
stocking with a tie and some candy in it so he had those out for us.
so we had a nice little Christmas then we Cleaned ourselves up and
went out for a bit. Then we got our computers set up for Skyping. WE
also went to the market and we sang Christmas carols for a lil while
and it was really fun. Then i got to call you!!! which was amazing!
then we went to our bishops house. WE had youth, single adults, and
families from the ward come and we all Pounded fufu, talked and i
played my guitar for everyone and we sang some Christmas carols

Friday was a regular day of teaching in the area and it was a good
one. we contacted some referrals and found some great new people to
teach, it was just a solid day of missionary work.

Saturday was a great day, We woke up early and headed out to church.
We cleaned and filled our baptismal font and by 9 our baptismal
Candidates had arrived. Ezekiel, Ebenezer, Emmanuel,Mary, and Steven
were all baptized. I have had opportunities to work with everyone here
and some we have been working with for a while now. But they were all
sooo happy to enter in to the waters of baptism. They are such sweet
experiences to be a part of!!! Also that day we had a wedding
reception for a member of our ward and she asked us missionaries to
sing so we all sang "Love at home" hopefully it was what she was
looking for. haha

Sunday was so great! the area Elder Brown and i are working in was
Just split into a new Branch so we are very small in number. Elder
Brown and i get to Bless the Sacrament which is nice, its been a long
time since i have had the opportunity to do that and it really is a
blessing to be able to participate in it.

The missionary work is moving on and we are all happy! Transfer news
comes this week so we'll see if i am gonna be packing my bags next
monday! i hope you all have a great week! i love you!!!

love,
Elder James Bradley McGuire


Monday, December 22, 2014

Christmas is Almost Here!!!!

Dear Family,

This week sounds awesome!!! im glad you guys are having so much fun
right now! i have a lot to tell you guys hahaha and ill do my best to
put some here but i think ill also save some for Christmas;) so here
goes!

Tuesday was our Christmas Devotional Zone Conference. It was sooo
great! it was Only our zone that was there because we are kinda far
away from all the other zones. But we had a great meeting. First we
received some instruction from Pres. Stevenson on Obedience which was
great. then we broke into teams and had some fun team work activities.
some were real hard and some were pretty easy but they were great!
then we had the biggest meal ive seen in a long time! chicken, rice,
stew, drinks, brownies! hahaha it doesnt sound like much to for us it
was amazing! hahaha. Then to end the meeting everyone sang some
christmas hymns for talents. I played my guitar for everyone and they
enjoyed it. And we got to hear some Christmas Messages and watch the
new nativity video. all in all it was amazing!

The rest of the week was all proselyting. which has been great! We
have worked hard and we are really building up our teaching pool in
this new area. We have had a lot of opportunities to share messages
about Christmas and its True meaning. ITs nowhere near as big here as
it is at home. The common thing to hear from people is "Hey! when are
you going to give me my Gift?" Everyone asks! we then do our best to
help them understand that Christmas is not about Getting, but Giving!
today we had a Zone Christmas Party and we got to watch Mr.Cruger's
Christmas! it was great and i still love it! i understand it a lot
better now than i did as a little kid haha. But the over all message
in that movie is "I Love You". that message is not very well portrayed
when we are asking for things. Lets give!

One last thing ill share this week. On Sunday we were at church and
the sacrament was about to be blessed. Right before a little boy about
4 years old named Nii( he is in the family we baptized last month) He
came over and sat down with me. He is kindof a crazy kid, full of
energy, who never stops....Just like Preston! anyway as the Bread was
about to be blessed i told him to fold his arms and close his eyes. i
had to help him fold his arms but he did it and was very reverent
during the passing. Then it was time for the Water to be blessed. this
time instead of having to tell him to fold his arms, he wrapped his
arms around himself so far they could touch behind his back and closed
his eyes with all the force he had in his 4 year old body and was
perfectly still. I LOVED IT!!!! at 4 years old this child couldnt
understand much but he understood that when we take the sacrament we
fold our arms, bow our heads, and close our eyes and we are still.
Listening to the covenants we are renewing, pondering our saviors
sacrifice for each and every one of us, and recommitting ourselves to
be better. It was a simple experience but i loved it and Heavenly
Father Taught me a new respect for the Sacrament through a 4 year old
Child. A Sweet Experience.

Anyway family thats what i have today i know its small but ill tell
much more on Christmas! I cant wait to talk to you!!! i love you so
much!!!!

Love,
Elder James Bradley McGuire


Monday, December 15, 2014

Tis the Season!

Dear Family,

Everything and everyone sounds great! I happy to hear that you are
happy and that everyone is safe.

My week was a rollercoaster so i will do my best to get it all in!

Tuesday was a meeting day for us! we first started out with all of our
zone coming together for a combined district meeting. all 30
missionaries! it was a little different having almost double the
amount of people and a little intimidating. But in the end it was
great! we gave our report on our leadership council and announced some
new policies and changes coming into the mission. It was a great
meeting though and had some great participation from the zone. we also
had everyone stand and introduce themselves so that we could all get
to know each other. After that meeting we had a training meeting with
the district leaders and the sister training leaders and spoke to them
about the need for everyone to do their part. Managing 30 missionaries
isnt a hassle if we all do our part! so we had a nice meeting and it
was successful. After that we had just enough time to grab some lunch
and catch a ride to our next meeting. Stake PEC! it was soo great and
we made it through our report quickly and effectively. the stake
president and his counselors are great and they are really energized
about missionary work. they want the stake to grow enough that by 2016
they can split! and the stake was just created this year! so we are on
it hahaha. After the meeting we went on splits that night and i was
happy to just have a peaceful tro tro ride home. that was cut short
about halfway when our tro broke down and we had to get out and wait
for another one to come and pick us up. boy life is never boring out
here.!

Wednesday was a normal and great proselyting day and i was working
with a brand new missionary of 2 weeks. he is ghanaian and is such a
great missionary. he worked with missionaries a ton before he came so
he already is awesome at teaching. we had a great day and switched
back to our companions that night.

the big thing is the companionship in our apartment is needing some
serious help right now so our mission president called us and asked us
to change companions. so i am now companions with Elder Brown and i am
proselyting in his area and elder Mngoma is with Elder Browns
companion. We will stay this way till the end of the transfer. Elder
Mngoma and i are still the zone leaders though and we still are doing
baptismal interviews and a slew of other things we are just doing
things a lil different hahaha. weve had a heck of a time keeping on
top of it all but in the end things are still great and we are all
happy.

This sunday was the big day of the week. Our ward split. So now there
is a ward and a branch. many of the leadership was in the branch so in
both cases many new leaders have been called and there is a lot of
work to be done! we are excited though because it is going to make
travel for our investigators much easier because some of them live far
away but now with the split they arent far at all.

It has been a wild ride this week and the time is flying. i am
grateful for this time to serve though and i am enjoying every second
of it! i am sooooo excited to talk to and see you next week!!! i love
you so much! have a great week!

love,
Elder James Bradley McGuire

Monday, December 8, 2014

Another Great Week in the Field!!

Dear Family,

This week was a great week for us and it sounds like it wasnt too bad
for you guys either. We are all busy and doing our best to manage it
all. So ill do my best to get the good stuff in our week.
Monday night we did FHE at the Ivies and had a recently converted
family join us. I was assigned the lesson so we talked about the true
meaning of Christmas and that it is Christmas and not "xmass" everyone
calls it that here and its disappointing. but we got that straightened
out and they really enjoyed it. man im thinking christmas right
now!!!!
Wednesday we had Mission Leadership Council and we talked about a lot
of good things. We discussed new standards of excellence, the doctrine
of obedience, and also a new way of setting goals. Essentially mission
is changing a lot and it is great! we are doing our best to accelerate
the missionary work here to keep up with the pace the Lord has set.
tomorrow we get to report it all to the rest of the missionaries in
our zone so we get the fun part of seeing just how many waves these
changes will make hahaha. Elder Keetch was also called as a zone
leader this transfer so he was there and i got to see him. I havent
seen him in about 7 months so we were both pretty happy and we talked
a lot.
Friday we did some splits with a companionship new to the zone and
they were great. my companion went to their area and i stayed in ours.
We had a great day, finding new investigators receiving referrals and
teaching lessons. it was a fulllllll day! i guess that was good
because the next day was the exact opposite. all of our plans fell
through and we didnt hardly see anyone that we needed too. We were
able to see Fred though! Fred has changed lately and has found
challenges and trials and as a result he stopped coming to church for
a little while, we were able to teach him some good principles and he
committed to doing better. i think it worked because sunday he was
early to church and ready to get back into things. The lord is so
wonderful!!!! the spirit was able to touch Freds heart and he made the
decision to follow the promptings and come back. this gospel is true!

Now everyone is just gearing up for christmas and we are all looking
forward to zone conferences and activities. I also particularly love
teaching about he savior to people who dont understand the true
meaning of Christmas. After we discuss it with them you can see a
happiness come into their countenance that wasnt there before. they
really catch the vision of what this holiday is all about. THE SAVIOR!

I also wanted to say a big happy birthday to my awesome brother
preston!!!! bud i hope its awesome and i hope you are excited for your
baptism! i love you buddy!

Family i love you so much and i am so grateful for all the support
that you give to me!!!! i hope you have a great week! i love you!

love,
Elder Bradley McGuire

Monday, December 1, 2014

It's December!!!

Dear Family,

This week has been a great week and i am very thankful for all that has happened with you and with me! The furneral sounded like it went well. its a great time to share the message of the gospel. We had the opportunity this week to do a baptismal interview for a man who worked at a mortuary. while an elder was doing the interview another man gave us a tour around the mortuary. it was interesting and the showed us EVERYTHING. i learned some new things this week and i have also gained a new appreciation for the plan of salvation. i am so thankful for the infinite atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ!

The first two days of the week were full of packing and saying goodbyes. Elder Tembedza was going home!!! i was sad to see him go, we had a great time together. Wednesday was transfers and i went and met my new companion Elder Mngoma in Winneba. Formerly Winneba and Swedru were separate zones but now we are combined. Thats why they put us together, that way we would still know the zone and be familiar with everyone. Elder Mngoma is great and i am so excited to serve with him. he is such a hard worker and he is funny!!! i am going to enjoy my time with him.

Thursday was Thanksgiving!(in case you guys forgot) For us it was a good day of proselyting then in the evening our bishop invited us over and we pounded fufu and ate till our eyes bulged out! they lived in utah for 7 years so they understand how it goes;) hahaha then we came home and ate ice cream and i made dessert pizza, we were blessed with food that day for sure! also any time we stopped someone to contact them on the road we always talked about being grateful for gods blessings it was nice. Even we had an investigator come to bishops for dinner so we taught him what thanksgiving was and then we went around the table and said what we were thankful for. He said he was thankful for food hahaha dont worry were working on him!;) but i also agree! i am definitely thankful for good food!

On Saturday we went to winneba for a big stake activity with 3 wards. they had a tournament type thing with a team from each ward and then a team for the missionaries. we played football, volleyball, mancala, scrabble and a few other local games. it was a blast! then at 5 we had a big baptism. My companion was preparing a family to be baptized before he was transferred. luckily we were very close, so we went and supported and it was great service. Families are so wonderful!!

Sunday was a great day simply because we were in no hurry to be anywhere. we had appointments sure but we werent running with our hair on fire like usual. we had the confirmation of 2 of our converts recently baptized,  prince and patrick. it was great and they are both great young men. After church we spent the day visiting all of our recent converts. it was good because we are helping those who are still struggling a bit and those that are progressing well all gave us referrals. the people here are so amazing. Although Swedru is like the sodom and gamorah  of our mission there are still extremely amazing people here!!!

So thats my week! i hope i got it all! i hope you all are doing great and are happy this Christmas season!!!! i love you all!!!

love,
Elder James Bradley McGuire


Pictures!!!!

I found pink chicks!!!!!!

Personal study by Osmosis! My comp was tired... :)

So when things are for rent here they say "For Hiring". I think here they forgot to turn on spell check when they were painting ;)

Baptisms for Kweku, Prince, and Isaac!


Tuesday, November 25, 2014

It's Thanksgiving!!!

Dear Family,

You all are so great! its so awesome to see a family rally around each other and help one another out when things are crazy and there is always so much to do! strong families also really help a ward be strong. we dont have so many out here, but we are extremely grateful for the ones that we do have.

This week was a pretty slow one for us but i have learned a lot and the work is moving forward! This week was mostly full of goodbyes for my companion. He is going home this week so we had to see everyone before he went.

Through out the course of the week i realized that i had lost one of my memory cards with all of my pictures on it from the first year of my mission. i looked everywhere for it! i picked up the apartment and dumped it upside down, and even asked any members or investigators if they had seen it. eventually i realized it was gone. i prayed to Father in Heaven that i would be able to recover the pictures. 3 days later one of the Elders in my Apartment was walking around the outside and he found it on the ground! some may say coincidence but in reality it was an answer to my prayers and it strengthened my testimony that Heavenly Father listens to and hears All of his children.

We had stake conference this weekend in our stake also and it was great! it was a broadcast from Salt lake recorded on a dvd for us. the messages were directed towards africans specifically and they were great! they addressed a lot of issues that are prevalent in ghana.

Also this weekend we got Transfer news!!! dun dun dun!!!!! hahaha transfers are the thing all the missionaries in the world are excited for, stress about, and lose sleep over. For us in our zone we actually dont have to many transfers. My new companion is going to be Elder MNGOMA he is from south Africa and has been on mission for almost 18 months now. he is sweet! he is coming from the zone right next to ours. the big news with this transfer is that the zone my new companion is coming from is combining with our zone. this is huge because it will make us to be the largest zone in the mission! were going from having 16 elders to having 30!! and 6 of those are going to be sisters so we are bucklin up for a wild ride! hahahaha im excited though. All i can say is lets do it!

Also i have now sent all my christmas packages off to you guys so hopefully youll see it soon! it might be a little late for christmas and if so i guess itll be a nice new years present hahaha.

Anyway i hope you all have a great week and that you all have a great Thanksgiving!! im thankful for all of you!!!!! i love you!

love,
Bradley

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Pictures!

Hey Everyone!

Bradley's Mission President posted a couple of pictures of him on his blog. Here is the link (The stories are pretty great)
http://stevensons-in-ghana.blogspot.com/
And here are the Pictures!



Monday, November 17, 2014

I am Thankful!!

Dear Family,

I think that i am going to copy mom this week! First of all Im thankful to hear from a family each week that loves me and supports me and means everything in the world to me!. I am thankful for hints from my mom to send pictures( i promise next week i will!)

Im thankful that the lord has prepared people for us to teach here in my area and for their progress. Im thankful for little miracles that allowed us to have 3 amazing baptisms this evening. That members have the courage to refer a friend and in turn that friend brings 2 other friends with him and they are all baptized together. That is progression! that is missionary work! that is what the lord wants! Things never happen on accident everything that happens everyday can be learned from and i am learning so much!

Im thankful for Cars! haha Cars that the assistants and the mission couples can drive as we go to District meetings all over kingdom come. im thankful for 4 wheel drive that can take us over the most treacherous roads that ghana has to offer! Im grateful a wonderful mission president who cares and takes time to listen when needed and works so hard for each and everyone of his missionaries. Pres. Stevenson is so great!

Im thankful for technology/Electricity! in all its forms! like when you are showering and just as you pull out the bar of soap the power goes out and the pump that is pumping the water shuts off and all of the sudden there is absolutely nothing to rinse your body with!(hahaha im also thankful that that was just a prank played by a missionary in the apartment!) Im also grateful for Computers.1 so that i can talk to my family every monday. 2 so we can create a report that makes reporting at stake meetings sooo much more simple and effective!!!

Im thankful for Saving Ordinances, With The baptisms tonight and the confirmations of our previous converts yesterday i have been able to think a lot about these important saving ordinances. IT is such a special thing! and I love being able to work towards those ordinances with investigators and myself. I got a call earlier today from Prince Baidoo. In case you dont remember Prince was my first baptism here in Ghana. I learned about 8 months after i left he had fallen less active. i wrote him a letter and encouraged him to come back. Today he told me that 3 weeks ago he went to the temple for the first time to do baptisms for the dead!!!! soo sweet!!! now we just gotta get to the Endowment!!!!!

Im Thankful Good people in the ward and also in the Zone that can make a Preparation day memorable. Today we roasted 2 pigs and a goat and ate a ton of food after doing a service project to level a road that is absolutely horrendous leading up to a church in Swedru. Then those Same people after working and sweating all day Turned out for an amazing Baptism/YSA Family home evening! these are the moments that i will never forget!

Finally Im thankful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. For the ability to be comforted by his Everlasting sacrifice which was not only for our sins and transgressions but also for any kind of pain or suffering that we will ever endure. When appointments go all wrong. nobody wants to listen to you, and it seems like there is no way things can get any worse. A light shines through and the Atonement of Jesus Christ is there to help us all! im also thankful for the way the Atonement helps us to let go of things of the past and with faith look toward the mysterious wonderful future in front of us!

Family i love you so much and i hope you all have a great week!

love,
Elder James Bradley McGuire

P.S. Dont Freeze to Death!

Love November!!

Dear family!

Wow you all sound so busy! im glad to hear that amid the chaos and the
fun and school and everything that you are all happy and safe. It
helps to know that my family is happy, it makes me happy!

This week has been a great week for us in Swedru. This week we went to
Mission Leadership Council and it was great! we talked about the way
we contact in the mission and how it can be improved there were a lot
of great things shared and i think some good things are going to be
done to help the missionaries to better understand the importance of
contacting. We also had a bit of fun. Elder Moleme, my trainer, is
still a zone leader in the mission and he is going home this transfer,
Wednesday was the last time i got to see him so i and a few other
Elders tried to make it memorable. We got the office Elders to tell
him that he had a package with a duty of 25 cedis from america. He was
obviously surprised since he is from south africa and has never gotten
a package from america. So he was so excited the whole entire day. He
thought he was getting a package from some mystery family in
idaho....In reality he was getting an old pair of shoes and an old
broken music player that he had left in our apartment before he was
transferred. We used an old package box of one of the Elders in our
Apartment and made it look real and put a new address on it and
addressed it to Elder Moleme. So After we had closed our meeting it
was time for us to get our supplies and mail...he was seriously so
excited! he got his package and gave Elder Larsen(one of the
assistants) the money for the package and took it. Everyone was asking
who could possibly have sent the package and they wanted him to open
it and he was protecting the thing like a mama bear protects her cubs!
hahaha eventually they convinced him to open it while we were still
there....When he opened it he pulled out his old shoe...looked at
it.....and through it on the ground then pulled out the note we had
left for him. The second he finished and everyone had realized what
had happend and i tell you there was not a dry eye in the place!
everyone was laughing so hard they were crying!!! sorry that was a bit
long...it was so funny! back to real missionary work;)........

......All day Thursday we were traveling going to 2 areas doing
baptismal interviews and splits with the missionaries there. One of
the Elders i Split with wasnt feeling good so we took him to the
hospital and they tested him for malaria and he tested positive so
they gave him and IV and some drugs and then we went home. i felt bad
for him Malaria is so common out here! luckily ive avoided it my whole
mission(dont worry im knocking on wood right now!) and i hope it stays
that way!

Friday my companion had caught my cold in full force and he lost his
voice as a result so teaching was funny. luckily we had a ward
missionary with us so i wasnt teaching solo and by the end of the
night his voice was mostly back.

Saturday has turned into Cleaning and Soccer for the ward and of
course us missionaries were there to support every step of the way. we
even had 2 investigators come so we were really happy. im getting
better at soccer all the time although im nowhere near these guys but
its a lot of fun and a great way to bring people together out here.

Sunday was Awesome. Church went well and we had a lot of investigators
come. It was great because we had a baptism after church for two of
our investigators and the rest got to stay and watch! i love having
investigators come to baptisms because every time, afterwards, whether
they have a baptismal date or not, they always ask "so when is my
baptism?" that was the case for 3 of our investigators on Sunday. So
now they all have dates for the 22nd of this month! the work is really
moving out here!
Those 3 investigators were Issac, Kweku, and Prince they are all
friends and they live in the same neighbor hood so they help each
other out a lot when it comes to learning and also keeping their
commitments. We were able to teach them after church and they are all
so excited to be baptized. i love it when people just get it! they
understand the gospel and they want to follow out of a desire to do
whats right and to follow Jesus Christ. this work is amazing!

Anyway i hope you are all doing well and are happy! keep it up! i love
you all!!!

love,
Elder James Bradley McGuire

Monday, November 3, 2014

November is Here! Along with a bunch of Pictures!!!

Dear Family,

Halloween sounds like it was great for everyone and with fall coming on i can imagine things are starting to cool down finally! for us things are just warming up and soon we will be baking in the oven!! Hahaha i was reading the email and when mom mentioned AFV in my head im like "What is that??" it took me like 5 minutes of thinking hard to remember!! hahahaha i love that show! i guess its been a while huh?;)

As for me this week was a good but rough one but i am happy overall. I was fighting a cold all week long which was no fun but it didnt slow us down too much.  The big thing that slowed us down was our surprises. Our investigators that we were planning on baptizing didnt make it. Some up and traveled with no notice and others just had things they needed  a little more time to work on but we are okay and im confident they will be ready before the month ends. This work is so great!!! out here its easy for missionaries to get into a routine of pushing people through the process of teaching. but we are doing more than that we are helping these people understand eternal principles and the fact that their
Father in Heaven loves them and wants them to be happy. So we are working on it!

The Iveys took a trip into Accra this week and while they were there they were able to get me a new camera that is great! its so nice having a couple in the zone they help with the work so much! hahaha so now im sending pictures everyweek so even if i do get robbed again i dont lose any pictures!

This week the work has been great but we have been missing one of our recent converts. Kwesi just kinda disappeared and we dont know where he is at all. we we havent seen him in 2 weeks and he hasnt contacted us or anything. we hope and pray everything is okay.

In happier news hahaha well maybe it only makes me happier, members came and helped us clean the church this week!!! hahaha usually its us and like 3 other members cleaning every week but this week all of the youth came and a lot of others! it was great it only ended up taking us 45 minutes so it was just enough time left to play a football game with the youth. im actually not that bad anymore;)

Also for church this week we finally got the Conference DVDs so we got to watch the Sunday morning Session!! it was so powerful!! my favorite talks were the first 3 about sustaining the prophet! with Pres. Eyring talking about receiving personal confirming revelation. Elder Nelson about sustaining leaders and also Sister McConkie about sustaining leaders!!!! all i can say is i sustain my leaders!!!! but obviously there are a lot of ways we can all improve. Its sad to think that people have problems sustaining those called by God to lead. Its a good thing we know God blesses us with out reservation when we keep his commandments without reservation.

I hope that was a good update for the week im gonna cut this one short so i can also send some pictures!! i hope you all have a great week and are ready for a blast of cold coming your way!!!! i love you!!!

love,
Elder James Bradley McGuire

This is the corn we planted with kwesi 2 weeks ago! its already growing up

This kid is so cute!!! his name is Nii Nortey and he is a fire ball!

Our iron broke this week so we had to improvise! (it didn't really work)

 We were gutting our watermelons!!

My watermelon-o-lantern

I was a baseball player for Halloween!

My companion and i in our Halloween costumes

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

It's Halloween Week!!

Dear Family,

This week has been great week. it sounds like everyone is ready for another long weekend! but it also sounds like you have already had a lot of the halloween fun! this week we are going to carve watermelons because we dont have any pumpkins it should be fun though.

As for life on this end things are pretty normal. We had a pretty slow week this week but things are progressing steadily. We are actually having alot of success in a new area. We base out of one small village but sometimes we go to the other small villages around. For a long time we were going to a place called manso. The stake patriarch lives there and we figured we would have some good success out there but as we were going the people just werent receptive and we had a difficult time teaching people. On a visit to the patriarch he suggested that we go to another town instead of his. So we started going out there and man o man that place has done so great! we have already baptized one young man there and we have many more that we are working with closely. Now every time we see our patriarch we ask him for any other suggestions he has for us;) hahaha

This week i also had my first real run in with Anti-mormon material. being out here in africa we havent had to deal with it to much so much as just small rumors. This week on of our investigators asked us about an article he had found on the internet and he asked us to explain a lot of things to him. We did our best but in the end our efforts were futile. he had already invested so much into it that he thought it was all true and wasnt really listening to anything that we would say. Its so sad how a little thing like that can cause someone to not want to listen to the message of the restored gospel. Satan really is working hard. Luckily we know he will never win!

It was Elder Bolabasaga's (an elder in the apartment) birthday this week so his companion took us all out to pizza! it was so good! hahaha its been a while. i have gotten adventurous though and ive started making banana bread and its so good! i got the recipe from a member and its great!

Also exciting news this week. we found a new family to work with. Actually we didnt find them the other elders in our apartment did. They were walking home from their area one night and met a woman on the street with her kids and invited her to com to the church. She did and brought her husband along with her and they are solid. They have told us that they have already made up their mind to join our church and they are so receptive to the message to the gospel. They truly have been prepared. I love working with families!

We have been working with a few part member families lately and they are all progressing really well. We are hoping to have 6 baptisms this weekend so we are working hard to prepare them all for their day. This work is so great!!!!

This week i applied President Monsons talk from priesthood session. Ive learned so much! i think the biggest one was about planning effectively. Ive always noticed that the days we plan more in depth always go better! The days we dont plan as in depth dont always work out so well. So like a ship with out a rudder, a day with not good planning will not go very well!!!! obviously this is not new but ive noticed it in a new light this week.

I hope you all have a great week and have a great halloween!!! make sure to eat some extra candy for me okay!!! and take plenty of pictures!!!!! i love you all!!

love,
Elder James Bradley McGuire

Monday, October 20, 2014

Top 10! (Well, actually 4, but who's counting?) ;)

Dear Family,

This week was another good one!!! i guess im gonna copy mom and do the top 10 of my week!!!!

10. i guess this one should really be 100 though. Last night We got robbed! not by gun point or anything but while we were in the apartment someone reached through our window and stole my camera off my bed. we have 2 sets of bars on our windows to prevent that. its happened before in our apartment but i wanst here yet. so yeah it was as big bummer but im learning from it and trying to make the most of the experience!

 The teteh family, the family recently baptized have had some challenges this week. One of their sons fell sick and has been in the hospital for 5 days. Thankfully today he is coming home and he is doing okay now. We have been praying for them and we are trying hard to help them continue their conversion to this wonderful gospel.

We had a really nice lesson this week. We have an investigator that we have been struggling with for quite a long time now. We would teach and on a follow up appointment we would ask if he remembered what we taught and he couldnt recall a single thought. We decided to bring an art book to teach him with. As we went to the appointment we were missing one thing, a translator. The young man doesnt speak english at all. All of our members were busy and didnt have time to accompany us to the lesson. We went hoping to just help him see a few things with the pictures. As my companion and i stumbled through all of the fante we new in describing the pictures and connecting them to the restoration of the gospel he understood everything we said. Some would say that is a small thing but it really was a miracle.

Okay i guess im not doing 10 but ive got some more good stuff;) hahaha

Today WE did a service project as a zone and went and helped one of our recent converts plant his farm with corn. He is disabled and could have done it himself but it would have taken forever. So it was a great service project. The sky opened up while we were planting and we got soaked but we had a blast.

i just wanted to tell you guys thankyou so much for the voice recordings you sent me last week. they were exactly what i needed to get through a hard time. im taking the challenge that you came up with after conference to apply one thing a week till next conference. this week i started with Pres. Uchtdorfs talk in priesthood session. "Lord is it i?" as i have applied this this week i have learned alot about myself and about others. But all in all i have learned a lot. I think the biggest thing is that no matter what we are doing there is always something to be learned! so look for it and learn it! i love you all! have a great week!!

Love, Bradley

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Autumn

Dear Family,

This week has been hahaha another week. time keeps on moving and so does the work! things are good and they are moving along slowly but surely.

We had Mission Leadership Council this week and it was great! my favorite part was that President Stevenson Shared a talk with us given by Pres. Uctdorf while he was in the mtc. It is called "Fear Not, I am with thee" it was about being bold as a missionary and not having fear. He made a statement that when we are bold people should be able to feel our love for them. to be overbearing is to be bold without showing love. so many times people like to challenge your testimony and we tend to become annoyed with it but as we strive to show our love for the people we serve they will be able to feel it and we will show that christlkike love that we are supposed to have.

We had an interesting first this week. Ever since Elder Tembedza has come here to be my companion we have always had a member with us to help. every single day! not once have we gone with out a member. even if we only had them for an hour we had them. this week we had a whole day where a member didnt help us and it was horrible!!! we had some really rough lessons and the day just didnt go right. so yes you members are all incredible and you help us in the work so much! so please if the missionaries ask for help do all you can to do so!! we really appreciate it!

This week i have been lucky enough to be able to listen to a lot of the new General Conference talks and they are great!!! i feel like the overall message of conference was about repentance and strengthening our testimonies. so i am doing my best to work on both of those. obviously there were tons of other messages so im studying them so i can be closer to my Heavenly Father.

Another cool thing this week. We were over at bishops house and i looked in his garden and i noticed a tiny little pumpkin growing!!! i asked him where he got it and he said that the mission couple had given him the seeds. it was a pathetic little thing but it was a pumpkin!!! it reminded me of home hahaha. i think im gonna buy a watermelon and carve it for halloween this year, doesnt that sound like a good idea? haha

The Teteh family is doing good and we are trying hard to work very closely with them. they still have a lot of steps to take. their main source of income is a Fruit stand and they are struggling with closing it on Sundays. were praying for them and doiing our best at helping them understand the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy. i think one of the hardest challenges to overcome with almost everyone here is just the putting away of tradition. these are a very tradition oreinted people and its difficult to bring them into the culture of the church. Thanks to our Heavenly Father he helps us a lot in that aspect.

the work is great and i love it!!! im sad to hear about pat. i hope and pray that everything goes well these last 2 months. everyone sounds so happy and busy and im so grateful to all of you and the support you give me!!! have a great week!!! i love you!!

love,
Elder McGuire

Friday, October 10, 2014

Conference!

Dear Family,

This week was a great week for us with a lot of surprises. from week to week the missionary work is about the same but the surprises are not.....i guess thats why they are called surprises hahaha.

Things in our ward have been very busy lately because we are preparing for a split. it takes a lot of work!!!! thankfully we are just he helpers in that effort but there is a lot to be done and we are doing our best to reactivate members and work with more families.

This week we went to see the Teteh family and when we got there we noticed the father had a huge bandage on his middle finger. When we asked him what had happened he told us a big long story....so to cut a long story short, he got in fight with his neighbor that was high on weed and his neighbor bit the top of his finger off!!! all that was holding on was a little piece of skin! so crazy!! but he was bandaged up and ready to listen to us. He was much more attentive this week....hahaha i think he had been humbled a little bit;) When we had been planning for this week we felt we needed to wait a bit to baptize the father and mother just so they would be more prepared, but as we came to meet with them  we realized they really were ready so this weekend we had a baptism! Last week Evans and Precious were baptized (son and daughter), and this weekend Mary, Samuel, and Patrick were all baptized( mom, dad, and son). they have 2 other children that are not 8 years old yet. but this week was great! We were able to help an entire family learn about the gospel and in turn they chose to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized! this work is so incredible and so true!!!

I think the most amazing thing about this work is that it is perfect! it is worked by imperfect people but it is perfect! i was studying in mormon this week and i came across a great scripture. In chapter 9:31 moroni talks to us about imperfections. He said we should not ridicule or criticize but we should thank God that we can see them and then we should learn from them! John Bytheway has a quote in a fireside that goes like this "wise people learn from experience. Super Wise people learn from others experiences" the scriptures are full of others experiences and they help us so much today! we should all study the words of the prophets so that we can learn as much as possible!

Not much else happened this week except that on sunday i hit my 18 month mark! so crazy! the time is going by too fast! but i am going to work my hardest to make the most of this time the lord has given me to work in his vineyard. i love you all so much and i hope you have a great week!

love, Bradley

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

We Survived Another Week!!

Dear Family,

Well its business as usual this week and there is never enough time to write but here goes!!

This week we were running running running everywhere. We managed to make it to everywhere in the zone in just two days! we did 6 baptismal interviews for other elders and we had 6 of our own to do. With splits thrown in the mix and the power going on and off constantly it was a challnege just to see straight but we made it! Especially since weve seen it all with Alacrity!

On Wednesday we went out to the other districts district meeting again and the instruction was great. We read Moroni 10:32 and i absolutely love that scripture! if we connect it to Ether 12:27 and 2 Corinthians 12:9 we can learn a lot about how the lord perfects his children and about how we can follow his will. it has helped me a lot this week.

Saturday was our baptism and we felt like everything was going well. but when people started showing up we were short 3 candidates....half of the family we had intended to baptize didnt show up! they had all gone to farm and lost track of time and the mom just didnt come for no reason at all. Despite this set back we felt it important to still baptize the the two that did come. out of the family they have been coming the longest and they were the most prepared to begin with. so we proceeded with the baptism and it was all great!

Immediately following the baptism we had a "new members night" for all of the members who have been in the church for the last 2 years. it was great we watched the restoration and got to discuss about it and any other concerns that they had. A lot of people just ended up sharing their testimonies of the church and the spirit was so strong! After the meeting ended we were walking out of the church when the power went out and then we saw this bright flashing light on the horizon it flashed for quite a while then stopped. a transformer station had blown up in a town about 30 minutes away. man it lit up the entire sky!!! i talked to the missionaries who proselyte there and they said that when it happened people started praying and "repenting" in the streets! they thought it was the second coming! haha others started running to the ocean (idk why??) but he said people were just freaking out! we all got a kick out of that though. there ought to be some sort of missionary opportunity that can come from that huh?;) hahaha

Sunday was a great day with Confirmations of our candidates and 2 of them also Received the priesthood. because of the blown power station we figured the power could be out for about 2 to 3 weeks so we all went to the ivies to charge our battery lights and our phones (they have a generator). While we were there the power came back! hahah we were happy. then we got to our house and the power was stil out over there. but now were pretty sure its back so we are lucky.

thats all i got and my time is out but i hope you all continue to have a great time at home! enjoy conference!!!!! i love you all!!!

love,
Elder McGuire

Thursday, September 25, 2014

What a Week!

Dear Family,

Alacrity sounds great!!! im going to do the same thing this week and
apply it to everything! when the power goes out......when no one
speaks english.......when the water goes out......when investigators
struggle.....when investigators progress......when im on the toilet
for 2 hours because of the meal somebody fed me 3 days ago.....all of
it!!! hahaha

Grandmas recovery sounds great and i hope it continues to go well. i
fasted for her and all of you on sunday. its a bummer to hear about
preston but im glad he is taking it like a trooper. hes got quite the
support system of parker.The missionary opportunities with the cub
scout boys sounds great! i hope things go well with that. I cant
believe we have 5 teenaged girls living next door now! i guess ill
never see kait when i come home hahahaha. just kidding. The mountains
also sound amazing!!! i hope you took pictures!!!!

The missionary life in Ghana never gets dull and new things happen
every week. One of those fun new things was on tuesday. We came to our
chapel to have District meeting and when we got there we noticed a
funny smell. when we went inside we realize the place had been
fumigated for mosquitos so we couldnt stay inside. so we had district
meeting on the lawn! it was fun and hot.

Another new thing happened this week that i enjoyed immensely. We get
non citizen resident cards here that have to get renewed once a year.
the whole missions just expired this month so we had to renew them.
The only place inside the mission that had a place to renew them was 4
hours away. but accra is only 2 hours away......so we got to leave the
mission and go to accra to renew ours!!! it was sweet because the
place was right next to the area office and the temple. so we got to
walk on the temple grounds and stand in the shadow of the lords house.
Even though we didnt get to enter it was great just to feel the spirit
there and to be on holy ground. It took the whole day wednesday and
even though we lost on proseltying time it was well worth the trip.

On thursday we were going to visit an investigator in nearby village
and while we were walking there it started pouring rain!! not just
sprinkling it was shower head rain!!! with no houses on the left and
non on the right all we could do is keep on walking (with Alacrity)
and we got soaked!!!! i felt like i had broken the rules and jumped
into a swimming poool!!! thats about how wet i was hahaha. but it was
okay. thanks to the African sun we were bone dry by the time we got
home hahaha. And the lesson we had was well worth the walk. It was to
see a young man named Kwesi. He doesnt have much but he loves the
church and the gospel. We are preparing him for baptism this weekend
and we are excited for him.

We are also preparing a Family The Teteh Family. with the mom dad and
5 kids 3 of which are baptism age we are sizing up for an incredible
weekend. Ive never worked with an entire family before and i have to
say it truly is amazing!!!! they have struggled for quite some time
but finally they are prepared and we are so happy to be a part of
their progression. They have had to make a lot of sacrifices to be
where they are now and they are just awesome!! so needless to say we
are excited for this weekend.

Fred continues to do great and this week he was called to be the
Secretary in the Young Mens Presidency! we also had an activity at his
house yesterday where we roasted 2 cats!!!(we got 'boared' with pigs
hahaha) but yeah he is doing great and helps us everyday in
proselyting.

Those are the highlights of the week! i hope i got them all! i hope
you all are still having fun and doing great!!! i love you!!!

Love, Bradley

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Good Week!!!!

Dear Family,

Im glad to hear that grandma is doing okay and i hope and pray that her surgery goes well today. im praying for her! im glad to here that everyone is doing well and that you are all happy. like i said before, it does a missionary some good to know that even if it seems everything is challneging out here at least at home things are going well. im excited that all of you guys got to see sharlee!! needless to say i was excited to read all the emails today about everything that is happening with her. thanks for helping me out;)

Things out here are great and crazy as ever! this week we were traveling a lot for meetings and we were just kinda all over the place. Elder Curtis of the Seventy and our Area President came and did a mission tour this week and it was great! on Wednesday we had Missionary leadership Council and on thursday we did a zone Conference and in both cases we were instructed by him and it was great. In his main message he instructed us on Alma Chapter 5 which was right on the money and i loved it! the scriptures are all so full of amazing advice but we need to make sure that we read it and learn it!! if we dont and we dont have the knowledge then its our own fault for not reading it!

This week i want to talk about the importance of being happy!!!! its essential!!! in missionary work and in life in general. Happiness is a choice. In any situation you can choose to be happy or to not be. trust me, its better to choose to be happy!! it makes missionary work so much easier. And when we are happy, other people see it and they want it so it gives them a desire to ask us why?? then we get the chance to share the message of the restoration and invite them to learn more! but i feel like as we choose to be happy we also allow ourselves to look and focus more on the blessings we are recieving then wallow in sorrow for the things we dont have. I dont know if that makes sense but i know its important to be happy and i like it!! haha

Fred is doing great and on saturday he went and did baptisms for the dead at the temple and he absolutely loved it!!! he says he wants to prepare for a mission and he is setting things in order so that when next august rolls around he can submit his mission forms. That is so awesome that grandmas bday is coming up!!!! she is so amazing!!! i hope she is continuing to do okay along with all of you!!! i want you all to know how much i love you and how much i pray for you and care about you!!! i couldnt do this without you and i want you to know how grateful i am for all of the suppport that you give me! you make my life complete!!!! i hope you all have a great week!!!! i love you so much!!!

love,
Elder James Bradley McGuire

Monday, September 8, 2014

Another Great Week in Africa!!!!!

Dear Family,

This week has been Great!!! im sorry my time is really short so i will try and get the  highlights in!!!

This week we had transfers, lessons, walking, talking, confirmations, sweating, struggling, enduring, laughing, crying, miracles, mistakes,learning, and about a million other things.

We had a big transfer this week and about half of the zone got transfered out so you can imagine how fun it was to put people on tro tros and coordinate it all luckily everyone did their job and we have a lot of new faces now. transfers are hard  for a little while because elders have to get to know new companions  and new areas but once things get going they are great! they  boost the zone and things get looked at and done in new ways! everyone has their own thing to offer and it makes something amazing!

there is a brand new missionary in our apartment and his name is elder Brown. he is from Rigby and went to mud lake highschool, mom i figured you might know it since its in idaho falls. he is great and full of energy. culture shock is taking its toll though and i forgot what it was all like! hahaha this place has grown to be my home right now and its all normal to me. i love ghana!

We had a member in our ward pass away last week so his funeral was this weekend. it was....welll....a ghanaian funeral! hahaha it was so funny because there were all these tents and chairs set up in this big place and it was set to start at 8. at 8:40 all the chairs were empty except for where the members were. tons of people always come to funerals, members and nonmembers alike and non of them were there. you thought mormon standard time was bad....hahaha ghana man time is worse!!! but it was great because it was and opportunity to share the gospel with those not of our faith and some things are coming out of it.

This Sunday Fred was confirmed and and recieved the gift of the holy ghost. he was also given the Aaronic priesthood. he is great and he is going to be a big strength to the ward. he says he wants to serve a mission too and  that is pretty exciting.

Guess what! i love being in a companionship. working by yourself is horrible but the two man team is the most effective! right dad??? hahaha i love being here and i love this work!!!!

i love you all and i hope you have a great week!!!!

love,
Elder McGuire

Monday, September 1, 2014

Another week as Zone Leader!! And a Little Sidestory

Dear Family!!!

well.....that was a lot to read.....hahahah you guys are having so much fun!!!!! i absolutely love hearing from all of you and all that is happening. It sounds like Heavenly Father is taking care of our family and then some! its so nice! things can be stressfull on all fronts but my family sends a peace over my mind that is incredible! did you guys know that i love you!!!!!

We had quite a few things happen here this week to so i will try to get it all in!
Tuesday we left for our first appointment and it fell through, and on our way to the next it started raining.....and it rained....and rained....and rained some more....and kept on raining!!! and this wasnt just a sprinkle, this was torrential rain!!!!! it finally stopped about 4 hours later and we said "where did the day go???" so yeah that second lesson was great! hahaha we had all the time in the world.

We traveled all day Wednesday with the ivies. we went to the other side of the zone for district meeting again and also had a couple interviews to do. traveling is fun but it makes me miss my area too hahaha. but i love getting out to see the elders and their areas and talking about the work with all of them. The Ivies are also so helpful and they make being in this zone amazing!!!!

On Friday i got my package with the dresses and on sunday my bishop came home so i am a happy boy!!! thankyou so much for those things they are all incredible and they were much needed/appreciated by myself and the rest of the elders in my apartment. the mcguire family is famous out here!!! the girls loved the dresses so much! im sure you saw in the video. we stayed and played with them for a few minutes and they took the dresses off just as fast as they put them on. they wanted to keep them clean and nice so they all went and put them away to wear on a special occasion. thankyou all so much! you make my mission so amazing!!!!

Saturday we got the transfer news for the zone and there are a lot of changes happening. my companion and i are staying the same as expected but a lot of other things are moving around. we are also having a new area open in the zone so we are growing! mission transfers are always fun and exciting. its also hilarious how much the elders like to talk about them and try to guess what will happen.

Sunday was a sweet day. Church was great and after church we had 3 baptisms for the ward. there are 4 missionaries here so it makes the baptisms so great because a bunch of people come and the converts feel so much support! Fred was so happy and he was truly ready for it! next week he will be confirmed and the following saturday he is gonna go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for his family! so exciting!!!! Also that evening our bishop came home and he called us over to see him. He gave me the package you sent with him! thankyou so much!!!! the scriptures are amazing and i am so excited to have the new edition! ive been using the ones i got for seminary from when i was 14 hahaha. thank you!!!!!!

 i hope and pray that all of you continue to be safe, have fun, and enjoy! i love you!!!!

love,
Bradley


So about a Month ago, My family got together and made some cute dresses for girls in an orphanage by me and sent them in a package! I got them this week and we delivered them to the girls!!! Here is a picture after we handed them out!



Monday, August 25, 2014

School Starts!!!

Dear Family,

What a week! hahaha things are just moving right along at home huh? its the same out here and it is all wonderful, hard, crazy, and amazing! Fall sounds so nice!!! the temperatures have been cooler here but oh what i would give to feel 50 degrees again!  Thats too bad about Pat! i hope the doctors will be able to adress it and help her out! she'll definitely be in my prayers and fast this coming week. i cant believe school is starting for the second time on my mission!!! hahaha and kate is going to homecoming??? thats awesome!! Kate said the trip was pretty incredible! i bet the boys enjoyed the museum. hahah honestly all i can remember from going there on the family reunion was that if we did something nice grandma great would give us a bag of gummy bears and i got mine while we were at the museum hahaha!

For me this week a lot of things have changed/happened and it is a whirlwind!
We had transfers on Wednesday and that was fun to handle. luckily only 2 missionaries moved but we will be having another transfer in 2 weeks and i have a feeling it will be a lot bigger! we have a lot of missionaries in this zone that have been here for a long time.

My new Companion is Elder Tembedza. He is great and i am excited to work with him. He goes home in 2 transfers and is a stud. We are gonna have fun together and im excited to learn from him.

Elder Judy also was transferred out this week to go and be a zone leader so for the next two weeks we are in a trio with his companion. trios are always interesting but we are working hard and we are doing good with it.

One sweet thing that happened in the Ward this week was that we had a contacting activity with all of the members. We split up with Melchezidek priesthood holders and they all took us to referrals or we went contacting and it was great! we got a lot of contacts and referrals and we are excited to follow up on them.

Fred is still doing amazing and his baptism will be this coming sunday! we are so pumped!!! Also the family we have been working with just wasnt progressing the way we had hoped so we wanted to move their baptismal date back a bit. when we told the father he said no and that he wanted to be baptized on the 31st he promised to meet with us every day till then to be prepared...we accepted with some hesitation.....the next day the mother came to church but he and some of the children didnt so obviously we need to do some more explaining to him. the language barrier can be so hard sometimes. but we are using members and things will be okay. The work is incredible and we are starting to find more people to teach along with these ones so we are busy and happy.

For me this week ive noticed things i want to improve on. Improvement and progression are eternal principles. We need to make sure that we understand that so we dont try and change and become perfect all at once! step by step, here a little and there a little. Heavenly Father has given us all Talents and we need to be those who develop them so they remain with us. We shouldnt be the one who buries our talent only to have it taken away. Im trying my best to develop my talents out here and to become more like the Savior.

So thats my week guys! i hope it was okay! i hope you all enjoy the fall! football, the weather, the leaves...all of it!!!! i love you!!!!

love,
Bradley

Monday, August 18, 2014

Another Exciting week in the Zone!

Dear Family,

Its been another crazy week here In Swedru and my time is running low today so I'm gonna try to get it all it!
SO ill start off with stake PEC this week. It went amazing! we had good reports from all of our areas in the zone so we were able to also make a good report to the stake president and he suggested some good things that will help us in the zone a lot! The Ivey's(our mission couple) were there and they offered to give us a ride home. Obviously we chose 30 minutes of Air conditioned comfort over 45 in a hot sweaty tro tro. on the way because of the darkness and weird lighting from cars we hit a pot hole really hard and it totally killed the engine. we pulled over and could find nothing wrong with it but the car just would not start! the batter was fine the ignition is great and we couldn't figure it out. We called the Fleet manager in Accra and he said he new what was wrong but couldn't explain it to us so he told us he was sending someone right now from Accra to fix it. take note it was 8:45 and its a 2 hour drive from Accra to where we were. so we waited on the side of the road for two hours talking and chilling. Eventually the guy came and fixed it and it only took him 2 seconds. the annoying thing was that he could have told us and we could have done it 2 hours ago. but whatever. so we had a late night on Tuesday haha!
The next morning we were with the Ivey's again off to the other district in the zone for District meeting and then splits that night. The splits went well and we were able to help them with a few things they were struggling with. We spent the night there too, man i love sleeping on the floor! hahaha WE came back the next day and had our own district meeting that was great. My companion gave his goodbye testimony and it was rough for him. After District meeting we went for fufu as usual except the Ivey's came with us and ate with us! it was so great because elder Ivey had never tried it and sister Ivey hated it, they were good sports though and they tried it for a minute. then us elders were kind enough to finish it off for them haha.
Fred is doing great this week. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and he is already to Alma! we've only been teaching him for 3 weeks! then he came with us and helped us to teach a couple lessons and he bore testimony that he knew that it was all true! man we are so lucky! he will be more than ready for his baptism on the 31st!
Saturday was the All Africa Helping Hands Service project and it was great! we combined our wards together and we cleaned the nasty gutters for 3 hours complete with raw sewage, dead critters, and a whole lot of other stuff that i don't want to talk about but it was great! a lot of missionary opportunities will come from it.
Sunday was amazing because Sis Mercy was Confirmed and it was our missionary Sunday. Our Ward mission leader spoke and taught classes and we helped and we are putting together a finding activity with the whole ward. we are all gonna go out and contact and meet referrals and find less actives and its gonna be great! that will be Wednesday.
Today was interesting. Elder Oluk is Gone! he was somehow scared to go! i just don't think he was quite ready for it. but i don't think anyone ever is but we said goodbye and he is on his way! I'm gonna miss that kid! My new companion is going to be Elder Tembedza, he is from Zimbabwe and we have been in the same zone before so we know each other so it should be great! Elder Jalso got called to be a Zone leader so he is leaving too. ill miss him a lot too.
I'm sorry i have so much more to write but time is out! i hope you all have a great week and never forget that i love you!

love,
Elder McGuire

Monday, August 11, 2014

Top Ten of the Week!

Dear Family,

what a week! i think its so funny that i get so excited and hyper at the beginning of every letter each week but what can i say?? i love you guys! i love the mission! i love the lord! i love life!!!!! so yes i will be energetic!!!!! That is so sweet that you got to go to Heidi's homecoming!!! Mom if you need to sharpen the knives that is fine it just means i will be going on a special fast tomorrow;) hahaha I'm just kidding (don't accidentally cut yourself!). Preston is going to be quite the Adventurous kid when he grows up. i guess we otta give him a whip, cowboy hat, and call him Indiana! the new ward sounds great! Bishop Kofford will be great!!

My week was a good one as usual, mom i think i will copy you today and do my 10 things of the week!

10. We had Mission Leadership Council this week and it was great! we talked about a ton of stuff ranging from Ebola details to the kind of music we listen too. My favorite part was when president Stevenson instructed us on an interesting way to look at the church. In the church we have 3 basic things Doctrine, Principle, & Policy. As we take time to understand the doctrines and the principles of the church it is so much easier for us to understand and accept the policy. I think understanding the policy of the mission is the biggest challenge for missionaries sometimes. I also think its the biggest challenge people have learning about the church because they see more of the policy than anything else. But being a missionary is great because we get to help them understand the Doctrine and Principles that they don't see and it makes it all good. i learned that!

9. We had a zone meeting with all of the elders in the zone to instruct on what was shared in MLC and it went really well, the elders contributed and made it a discussion and it was sweet! the elders in the zone are great and they are also close.they help each other and build each other up and it makes being a zone leader so easy!!! i love it!

8. Fred is still doing amazing! On sunday we taught him after church and we gave him a few Book of Mormon quotations to read and said if he finished those he could start from the beginning and go.....we missed a few appointments with him and didnt see him again till saturday. When we asked him if he had read he announced that he had read the entire book of first Nephi!!!!! we were so surprised! man he is so powerful and he is great! he is making friends at church and things are great with him.

7. Sunday was absolutely incredible this week for no particular reason. Everything just went well. The Sun was out too! its been cloudy for the last few weeks which has kept things cool but the sun was non existent, it was out on sunday and it was still cool! it reminded me of home! i love being able to take the sacrament! sundays rule!!!

6. We did splits for two days this week so everyone in the area thought crazy stuff was happening. on Thursday i had a new companion and then friday another one and all of our investigators were really confused. it was fun though and i love conducting splits. its fun to learn about the missionaries in the zone and to also learn new styles of teaching and doing the work.

5. Today for pday we decided we had to roast another pig but this time it was just us at the apartment. it was great and we are going to be able to have some meat all week instead of just one day now. dont worry i promise i still proselyte i dont just roast pigs all the time! hahaha but yeah its pretty great.

4. On draw back we had on sunday was that both of our converts that were baptized last sunday didnt show for their confirmations. Hayford is in the hospital with food poisoning. and Bro. Amoah had a family member die and went to a funeral.  but all is well and they will be confirmed next week.

3. This coming Saturday we are going to have the AFrica Helping Hands Service Day and its gong to be sweet! everyone in africa will do service that day and we are going to see if we cant talk to a million people that day! i thought it would be a pretty sweet way to celebrate Daniels Bday! happy Bday Bro!!!

2. Every day out here is a challenge. It is a blessing. It is amazing. It is divine! I absolutely love mission and i love the lord! i am trying my best to become the person Heavenly Father wants me to be and he is continually strengthening me out here. Especially through you!

1. I love you all with all of my heart and i have no idea what i would do without such and amazing family!!!!!!

I hope you all have a great week!!!!

love,
Elder James Bradley McGuire

Monday, August 4, 2014

August Really?? Plus Pictures!!!!!

Dear Family!!!!

Well lets just say that this week was insane!!!! so much has happened and idk where to start!!! first off im glad that you all are safe and happy and i hope that it all stays that way but with kate driving now im not sure......hahaha just kidding im sure she'll be great!!!!

All i can say is that this work truly is ordained of god and im so happy to be a part of it! we have seen leaps and bounds of improvement this week and our area. We have been able to teach a lot of lessons and they are all great. The reason being is we are finding a lot of new people to teach and they are all awesome! the lord really helped us this week by leading us to those souls that he has prepared. Ill tell you about one of them.

 Fred is a young man that i have talked to on the streets in passing a few times and finally he invited us to come and to see him. The first lesson was a really good one, the spirit was strong and he committed to pray and ask about joseph smith and the church. The second lesson was even better. he told us that he had prayed and that he knew that what we were telling him was true. obviously we had to do our best to keep from jumping out of our chairs and screaming because of joy. WE then proceeded to teach him my all time favorite lesson. The Book of Mormon. IT is so wonderful!  he asked questions and we gave answers as directed by the spirit. he promised to read and was excited to do so. To finish the lesson we read in 2 nephi 31 where it talks about how Christ Fulfilled all righteousness by being baptized and being obedient to the fathers commandments. He then told us that he had not been baptized anywhere yet and that he wanted to be baptized into our church. After scraping our jaws off the floor we gave him a date for the 31st of this month. hahaha Heavnely Father is amazing!!! so yes we are happy to say the least.

Also this weekend We had B.K. Amoah and Sis. Hayford's Baptisms and they were great! the ward helped us out so much and they made it awesome. it was by far the best baptismal service ive attended on my mission. They were both so happy and we were happy to be able to take part in it. The other elders in our Ward were also having 2 baptisms so Elder Judy did the baptizing for all of them. I love mission!!!!

In Other news there is some interesting stuff happening out here in west africa. im not sure if you guys have heard yet but here is the info. There is a Disease out here Called EBOLA it is pretty deadly and is causing a lot of trouble in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Because of this the missions in those countries have been closed. As a result our mission is recieving 20 new missionaries this week so things are going to be busy this week. As far as the disease goes it is passed by touching someone who has it. it is not airborne. and most countries have closed their borders to flights from any of those countries. it is actually making it difficult for the missionaries to get out but we are praying they make it soon. AT any rate i want to let you all know that we are all okay. WE are safe here in ghana and we will be fine! this is just and adventure and we have to take it as it comes! but much prayers are going to be needed in the next few days for the safe arrival of our new brothers coming to the mission. As a mission we all gathered in our apartments today and prayed that all would be well. We know the will of Heavenly Father will be done.

So yeah thats the fun stuff going on right now. Here are some pictures of the pig roast and our baptisms. Also my new companion. I hope you all are still doing awesome and never forget that i love you!!!!!!

love,
Elder James Bradley McGuire


Baptisms!!!

Cooking Pigs!

Eating pig! Yummy!!

Me and Elder Moleme!

Me.... In a tree!


Monday, July 28, 2014

July is Almost Gone!!

Dear Family,

This week was insane!!! so many things happened and i don't know where to start. Tuesday was Elder Moleme's last day in Swedru so it was full of goodbyes and food appointments hahaha. Ghanaians love to feed us. we were also able to have some good lessons and the work is progressing.

This week We were working to prepare 3 investigators for baptism this Sunday. About half way through the week the spirit said it would be better to move the baptism to next week. we were bumbed cuz we were gonna miss our goal for the month. but these are souls were dealing with here...so needless to say the decision wasn't hard. so we postponed them and it was good in the end. Sunday we had rainstorms, baby blessings, funerals, and everything else you could possibly imagine happen. so needless to say had we tried to have the baptism it wouldn't have happened anyway. We have also been working with a lot of less actives lately and that is going well. We have this one Grace, she is 18 and was baptized very young and then stopped just a small time later. she said it was because she moved but she doesn't live far from the church. Sunday she finally opened up to us after a month of teaching her and she told us she was in class one day and she was mocked by her classmates and her teacher for the clothes she wore. it was traumatizing for her 9 year old mind so she never came back again. She remembers it like it was yesterday. but thankfully because she opened up to us she is much more happy around us and we hope this means she will be coming.

My new companion is Elder Oluk from Uganda and he is great. He only has 3 weeks left but he is still working and hard and we are having fun together. I miss moleme because we were really enjoying our time but i like my new companion great.

This week we also were planning for an activity that we had today that was amazing. We had a combined zone activity at the beach with 2 zones. We roasted 3 pigs and had a lot of other food and it was sooo awesome. But it was a TON of work and stress. luckily we handled everything okay and we made it through with no problems. it was great.

This week in the missionary work i have really noticed the importance of listening. sometimes people dont need big inspiring scriptures or the testimony as powerful as you can get it to be. they just need you to sit and listen. and when you listen you dont have to wonder what to say or how to say it because as you pay attention and you focus on how much  you love the person the response naturally comes. Listening is great!!!!

i am happy in the missionary work right now and i am just loving life. im so happy to hear about how all of you are doing and all the fun, the hard things, and the inbetween. This is life!!!! live it! and Enjoy it! everyday try to improve and become more like christ and you will be happy!!! i love you all!!!!

love,
Bradley

Monday, July 21, 2014

So Fun, So Tired!!

Dear Family!!!

IT is insane to me that another week has already come and gone!!!! days have turned into hours and weeks into days! it seems like i got to swedru just a few minutes ago and it has already been a full transfer!!!!! IT sounds like everyone is doing great! you cant imagine how it makes me feel to hear good things from all of you. There are alot of missionaries in my mission who dont get mail at all they have all been disowned because of their decision to come on a mission or they just come from such small places their families dont know how to use computers! i really am so blessed to have all of you to support me and i am so grateful! i couldnt do it without you!

So this week for me was actually really normal. there was nothing  big out of the ordinary or anything like that. the work was somehow slow but its still incredible!!! We are working really closely with our investigators right now we are preparing 3 for baptism on sunday and a family for next month. They are all progressing its just been slow. but we are taking what we can get. we struggle out here because in my area not a lot of people speak english and we dont have too many people to help us translate. im no where near good enough to be able to teach in Fante so its been a struggle but we are making it work.

We did have the opportunity on wednesday to go to a district meeting in the zone and it was great. we were able to see the other elders in the zone and speak with them. they are all doing well and its great to hear the stories about the work they are doing. We also had an amazing district meeting this week. WE talked about the atonement and it was just incredible. I think my favorite point brought up is that one of the reasons that Christ had to suffer was so he could Succor us. And if you think about that you can learn a lot from it. If you have never experienced a particular trial it is very hard to comfort those who are passing through it. Christ did it and he knows how it all is. He truly does know how to succor us in our trials. Another thing i noticed is that at least out here members of the church dont have much. and Everywhere members pass through trials everyday that are staggering to comprehend. and when you look at the outside world they seem to just be skating by doing what they please. Now there are many reasons why we are tried but i believe that one of them is because in the church we are supposed to "mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort" and how would we be able to do that if we haven't passed through trials ourselves??? it would be hard! The ultimate thing i love about the Atonement is that Jesus Christ did it because he loves us and he loves heavenly father. It is our responsibility to appreciate the Atonement by humbling ourselves and repenting of the things we do wrong. I love this gospel!!!

I hope that makes sense! haha

in other news. Elder Moleme is being transferred this week. we were so surprised to get the call. but he will be going on wednesday. My new companion is going to be Elder OLUK (O LUKE) he is from nigeria. He only has 4 weeks left. he is going home a lil early for school. so this is gonna be interesting. but im excited and ready to work. mission is amazing and im learning new things everyday. i love what morgan ellis said and its so true. our mission is to come closer to christ. There is a commandment that we should be perfect even as our father. there was only one perfect person! Jesus Christ. But Even Jesus Christ in his perfection did not achieve it all at once! he went from grace to grace! so thats what all of us should strive to be doing!

Family i love you all so much and i hope you have a great week!!!!!

love, Bradley

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Another Crazy Week!!

Sorry everyone, I have been completely slammed all week! Here is this week's letter from Elder McGuire!!! He even sent pictures!!!!!

Dear Family!!!

Holy cow this week was so crazy for all of us!!!! i cant believe you got to meet all of those amazing people!!!! I'm glad you did they have all had a huge effect on me out here! that's too bad that bailey got bit. and Dad is Selling the boat??? what happened to all those fishing trips we were gonna go on!! hahaha just kidding that's cool! i know we'll still have fun anyway like we always do.

Like i said this week was crazy! On Tuesday we went to the church at 9 am and there we met with pres. Stevenson for our interviews and they went well. he is a great man and i cant wait to work with him more. at 10 we started district meeting for the Odoben district in our zone. Elder moleme and I instructed and it went great. then when we finished we took a break. the other district came while we were having our break and so the Assistants instructed both districts and it was great. then Odoben district wrapped their meeting up and Swedru District began their meeting. We instructed again and it was a little different than the first time but it still went well and i learned a lot in both the meetings. This entire time President Interviewed all of the Elders in the Zone and then instructed each of the districts for a minute on various subjects. So we finally finished up with all of that at 4:30 in the Afternoon. just in time to run with Pres. Stevenson and the Assistants to our Stake PEC meeting where missionary work is discussed. We gave our report and came back in time to go to our bishops house and meet with his wife to talk about some investigators we are working with. Pres. Stevenson and his Wife tagged a long and it was cool having them with us. but that was the whole day and it was a long one!!! i collapsed on my bed at the end of the night asleep before my head hit the pillow. haha

Wednesday was great because we actually got to Proselyte! Our first lesson was out in Manso a lil village about 20 minutes walk from home. we taught a man whose son is on mission but he himself is not a member. the lesson went great and we made some progress with him. on the way home Elder Moleme's shoes took their last steps and totally wore out. so we went into swedru and I got him some new ones. He was so happy. he hasnt had good shoes for months! so back into our area we taught for the rest of the day and just had fun doing regular old missionary work!

Thursday we woke up and caught a tro tro to a place called Asikuma. its a town about 2 hours away and we have 4 elders in there. We did splits with them and they were great. I love being able to get out and see the investigators of the other missionaries. They are really working hard out there and there is a lot to be done! We spent the night there and it was fun talking with the Elders There.

Friday we woke up and went to Odoben, a city half way between Swedru and Asikuma, where we have 4 more elders. we did splits with them as well and we had much the same experience as the first. We left Odoben that evening to get home just in time for a YSA activity at our ward. It was combined with the other ward in Swedru and it was led by the Ivie's the mission couple and it was great. A lot of ysas brought friends and referrals and we got to here advice about finding an eternal companion hahaha always nice!

Saturday we finally got back into our area and things were business as usual. Our investigators are doing great and we have 3 progressing towards baptism on the 27th of this month. we are confident that they will meet that date and we are excited for it! Also on Saturday we went to Farm with and investigator and we did work! we cleared more land than i ever have before! probably because it was just tall grass instead of real bushes! but it was fun!

Sunday was amazing as ever and the spirit helped us out a lot!!!! a bunch of things fell through but one way or another we were led to people that needed to be taught and work was done! Elder moleme and i have just been having a blast and doing missionary work and i am really loving this part of my mission right now. Some sad news was that hi found out this week that Heidi is coming home, she has been really sick lately and things havent been getting better. hopefully the doctors at home will be able to help her out.

Shar sent me pictures of Brins wedding and it looked like it was Great!!!! im happy for her! Anyway family im gearing up for a pretty normal week this week so im excited!!!! i hope you all have a great one!!

I love you!!!

love, Elder McGuire


Pig Roast!!!

 



Farming!



I LOVE GHANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!