Investigators and Christmas Season

Here's another email from Elder McGuire! His English is starting to slip a bit! haha! You can tell that his grammar is kind of going a bit! :)


Hey Family!!

IT sounds like you guys had a cold week! hahaha for me its just getting hotter and dustier! Hamattan is in full swing and its crazy! i thought i got away from the inversions of utah hahaha but the dust here is about the equivalent. so now i dont have to ride in tro tro's to turn orange i just have to walk outside!(its not really that bad but its more than usual!)

Christmas decorations? they dont have much up here but down in cape i have seen tinsel, fake trees, and other things, but its not quite the same hahaha. but it is still nice to see a lil bit of christmas!

So for my week this week. Over all it was pretty standard. On tuesday we had district meeting and taught some good lessons. On Wednesday we went on splits. Elder bannerman stayed in Nyenasi and i went to praso and we had some fun. Thursday we had some great lessons again and we are soooo close with people! to describe them i will use the words of daniel from one of his emails from when he was in brazil "you can lead a horse to water, and then shove its head under until its about to die, but you still cant force it to drink!" hahahaha thats how i feel with a couple people but we just have to be persistent and go as the spirit directs.

Friday was a great day. President shulz came up to praso and we had interviews with him and received instruction from the aps. We were instructed on the importance of working with our stake and ward leaders and its so true!! as much as missionaries can do, we cant do everything and we need the help of our leaders! my interview with president shulz was great and i love being able to talk to him about anything and ask hiim for advice.

Saturday was a little different than usual. We woke up and went to farm with a less active member and weeded her cassava and cocoa. dont worry ive got it down with the machete so no blisters this round! After working for a few hours we came back got cleaned up, studied small and then went out to teach. the rest of the day was a little rough because some of our people werent ready for us when we came to them even though we set appointments with them. we had to wait for a few of them and because of it we were delayed and missed a few appointments. The people werent happy that we missed either and i felt really bad. Its best not to step on peoples toes! especially in this work! so we asked for forgivness and everything is better now.

Sunday was an amazing day as it typically is. We woke up in the morning and got ready and quickly left the apartment. We went to pick up a blind member so he could come to church. He is extremely old and frail, he is the only member of the church in his family. Because he is the only member in his family they refuse to bring him to church. So now we are going to pick him up and bring him. The only way to get him to church is to simply take him by the hand and lead him a long. because he is old he can only take small steps and it takes some time. As i was leading him a long i realized that in affect that is what i am doing with everyone that i teach about the church. People want to "come to Church" or find christs true gospel. But because "they know not where to find it" they need someone to come and take them by the hand and lead them along, taking small steps because at first its difficult. The difference is that graduallly the people we work with eventually take bigger and bigger steps and eventually can make it on their own. But for this man we will never give up on him. So that was my first great experience of the day. Church was great and some good
lessons were taught! After church we had one lesson that stood out among the rest. We have a new investigator named Michael. We have only taught him once so yesterday was our second lesson with him. because it was our second lesson we taught him about the book of mormon. During the course of the lesson he asked all the right questions and even accepted and invitation to be baptized! When we left we gave him
a few assignments to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. After the lesson we visited a member that lives right behind michaels house. We were there for about 45 minutes. to leave we had to pass by
Michaels house again, when we walked by he was in the same place that we had left him reading the book of mormon. I was sooo happy and it was great to see someone who is actively seeking to know the truth!!
So those were my awesome experiences on sunday!

Yesterday we washed, practiced our song as a zone for the talent show on friday.(im playing my guitar and the zone is singing), and relaxed. We tried to email but the power was out! So yeah friday is the mission
christmas party and im super excited! i get to play my guitar for everyone and we get to have some awesome instruction from our mission president and others. Thankyou for the christmas packages and im sure i will get them soon. As far as calling goes it will be just like last time. All you have to do is talk to me and tell me everything!!!! im so excited!!!

Anyway family thats my week and i hope you guys also have another
great week! i love you!!

Love, Elder Bradley McGuire