Two Emails

Hey Family and Friends! It has definitely been a crazy couple of weeks, and I'm so sorry that I haven't posted Bradley's emails in a while. So, here's this weeks letter, followed by the letter from the week before!

Dear Family

Hey guys! it sounds like everyone is doing well and having fun! hopefully this next month will slow down a little bit so that you guys can relax but with the long weekend last week im sure that was a good break. The week for us was as always great!

Tuesday elder Bannerman and i went to cape coast. Elder Bannermans Fillings fell out so we went and paid a visit to the dentist. everything was good and we were in and out in an hour. That afternoon
our district leader came to our area and interviewed our 2 baptismal candidates for this week. the rest of the day was just good old missionary work 

 Wednesday we went back down to cape coast for a combined zone conference and it was sweet! president Shulz instructed us on a talk by elder Callister about being a Consecrated missionary. IT was great and i learned some things that i need to be working on. Elder Callister talked about when we change it is important that we change our nature rather than our behavior so that it can have a lasting influence on our lives. 

Thursday most of our appointments fell through and elder bannerman and i ended up talking to just about everyone in Nyenasi. IT was actually a lot of fun and we were able to find some good people that we will work with in the next little while.

Friday we spent the day teaching and preparing our Baptismal candidates for the baptism on satruday. Their Names are Opoku and Rosemary.

Saturday was an awesome day. WE had a great study session in the morning and were able to teach 2 investigators some great lessons. then at 2 we went with opoku and rosemary and a few members to praso for the baptism. We were combined with 2 other branches so in total there were 5 baptisms on satruday. I was lucky enough to baptize Opoku and then Rosemary's husband that is a recent convert was able to baptize her. It was a great experience and the lord has really blessed
us to be able to take part in such a great thing. 

Sunday was Part 2 Rosemary and Opoku were confirmed members of the church and recieved the gift of the holy ghost. On top of it all we also got to partake of the sacrament and it was wonderful. the rest of the day we were able to meet with all of our recent converts and baptismal candidates for the coming weeks and had great lessons with all of them.

We were really blessed this week with the spirit. OFten times my companion and i found ourselves with things falling through and then an idea would come to turn this way or walk that way and as a result we found many new people and others that we have been looking for. the spirit truly is the key in this work.

On top of everything elder bannerman and i have been having a lot of fun and it has made time pass by so fast. ITs transfers next week and elder bannerman also finishes his training next week so we will see what happens in the next week. Idk if ill be going or staying but ill do whatever the lord wants. 

 Anyway i gotta goo sorry its short but my time is low this week. have a great week! i love you all!

love, Bradley

Dear Family,


its so nice to hear how you all are doing! i hope you guys aren't freezing to death. from what ive heard in the ghanaian news there have been some crazy snow storms that side of the world, hahaha. I totally forgot about the holiday. i bet you guys are enjoying the break.


This week was another great one for us! On monday after we emailed we went and shopped around cape coast and i found pop tarts and Gatorade! i was soooo happy!!


Tuesday was a good but frustrating day. We woke up and went to praso for nice district meeting and we had a report from our Zone leaders and some instruction from them and it was good. After District meeting we came back to nyenasi and went to work. Things were going well and i was looking to an appointment that night with a new investigator that we have. We got to his place and as we sat down and were talking small small he just handed me his new book of mormon and restoration pamphlet back and said "i wont read" we asked why?! and he told us that after our last lesson he was sitting and reading it and one of his old pastors came to visit him. As his pastor saw him reading he took it and told him that it was a terrible book and all this other stuff. So we spent the next Hour trying to change our investigators mind but he wouldnt have it! we would read quotations and as he read he would say "wow, thats really true" but in the end he still wouldnt take it back. Needless to say we were frustrated and kinda ticked at this guys pastor. But in the end it was his decision to discontinue with us. It just hurts when people see what you are saying is true and you can see it in their eyes, yet still they refuse..... but moving on to better things.


Wednesday was nice, we did splits and our district leader came to nyenasi to interview Edward for his baptism this saturday. Everything went great and he passed with out problem. 


Thursday we went to Farm cocoa with a potential investigator. It was so much fun! First we have what is similar to a giant easter egg hunt. We walk through the cocoa trees gathering the yellow cocoa pods and putting them in buckets. After we gather them all into a pile we take them and crack them open and pull out the wet, slimy, fleshy, cocoa beans. The coolest thing is when they are in this state they are more
or less like pomegranite seeds, but way bigger. The flesh around the beans is sweet and sugary and you can eat it like candy! its sooo good! so we "worked" hard and cracked a lot of cocoa. haha it reminded me of gathering raspberries at grandma simpsons except we would always eat more than we picked. So after farm we taught lessons for the rest of the day.


Friday Was pretty normal except we got a call halfway through the day saying that the baptismal service was moved from 4 to 2 in the afternoon because of meetings. So we spent the rest of the day
informing people and shifting our plans around. We went and told Edward and he was worried because he had planned to go clear some land on his farm so he could plant corn. He didnt think the bapt would be till 4 so he was gonna get a lot done. So elder bannerman and i toldhim we would come and help in the morning.
Saturday we woke up early and went to farm with edward. Okay so ill try and paint a lil picture. So imagine the old bushes in front of the house and multiply them by 1000 and put them in a field. That is what we cleared and all we had were machetes. We worked for about 3 hours and we cleared about 1/2 and acre of land. We were so tired but edward was happy that we got so much done. then we came home and showered and then went to praso for the baptism. WE were combined with the elders in praso, they were having 3 baptisms along with ours and it was a great service. Elder Bannerman was the Baptist and really enjoyed the experience. After the Baptism Edward said "i feel so lite, like im floating.." pretty cool!!!! after the baptism we came home and proselyted for the rest of the day. That night we had a lesson with a man named Opoku who will be baptized this coming saturday. We had given him the assignment to read 1nephi 1, he had read the Book of Mormon many other places, but not the start. So we went to follow up with him. when we sat down he narrated what he read that made up the first 10 chapters of the book of mormon! we were soo happy and he is really ready to be baptized.
Sunday was a good day full of visits and talking with people. Edward was confirmed a member and he is going to be a valuable asset to the branch out here. He is a teacher and is extremely educated and is ready to work!
So this week was amazing! I got my package with my drivers license this week too! thankyou so much for everything in it! its been so nice to have some variety in the food i eat haha. Ill see president shulz on wednesday so he will be happy to hear that its here.
Mom that is so awesome that you get to teach gospel doctrine this coming week!!! you are going to do great and its on the fall! there is so much to be learned about it! One funny thing here is that a lot of people think that if it werent for adam and eve we would be enjoying life in the garden of eden. They miss the understanding that if they hadn't fallen we wouldnt be here! and even if they could have had children in the garden it would have made the purpose of choosing christ as our savior before this earth was created pointless!! you are gonna do awesome!
Anyway family i hope you guys enjoy the long weekend and have a great week!!! i love you!!!!
love, Bradley

WE GOT PICTURES!!!!

Hey Family and Friends! We got pictures from Elder McGuire this week and I'm so excited about them! Enjoy!

Hey Family!!

I finally got to send pictures home this week!!!! its been too long! I hope you enjoy them!

SO this week was just a good work week all around! we were able to teach a ton of lessons and we have a bunch of progressing investigators. We are having 1 baptism this weekend and 2 next weekend and a few more coming up in the next weeks. the lord is really blessing us out here and we are so grateful!!

Tuesday we had a great district meeting and talked about being accountable to the lord in our work and it was good to learn about. we are all accountable for everything we do! especially as missionaries we only have a small amount of time to be serving the lord with all our time talent and effort like this so we have to be making the most of it!!

Wednesday was a nice day we had like 4 lessons fall through but thanks to heavenly father and the guidance of the spirit we were able to fill the time with unplanned lessons and acts of service. We had midweek and elder bannerman and i taught about the Sabbath day. Its something that people really struggle with out here but it ended up being a great lesson. Especially when we talked about the sacrament and the importance of it. WE are sooooo blessed by the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us and we have the opportunity to experience the blessings of it every day and every week! so it really was a great day

Thursday we woke up and went to farm with an investigator. WE went to his cocoa farm and we cracked his cocoa. Basically you take the cocoa pod and cut it open with a machete and pull the cocoa beans out and but them in a pile. While the cocoa is fresh the beans are actually all slimy and if you grabbed them with out looking it would feel like what i imagine eyeballs would feel like in your hand hahaha. Needless to say we had some fun and got a lot of good done. the rest of that day was spent teaching and finding.

Friday was just a typical day along with Saturday, Saturday we went to another members farm and weeded. but other than that nothing out of the ordinary. At the end of those days i was just really happy. im happy with the work and where we are with everything and i just want things to keep going.

Sunday was sweet! we had 9 investigators come to church and we had a good church attendance again. We couldn't bring the blind member to church because he wasn't feeling well but after our branch presidency went and visited him.

Today has been awesome we woke up and came down to cape coast. We played ultimate Frisbee on the beach and had a lot of fun! now its emailing and searching cape coast for all the American food and candy we can find! hahaha its a gold mine down here! anyway i know its short but this is what ive got this week.

Im glad to hear everyone is doing good for the most part, that stinks that kate cut herself. hahaha i remember the days of trying to get out of class:) anyway i hope you all have an amazing week and keep working hard! i love you!

love, Elder Bradley Mcguire

Christmas Breakfast

We caught a crab!

Elder Bannerman and the Crab

Nice sunset

The Nyenasi Branch

The branch president and his wife

I made mobettahs! a member gave us some fresh pork meat and a while ago mom sent me teriyaki marinade so we enjoyed!!

Elder Bannerman and the sunset

We hate it when lessons fall through!

we were helping a member scale fish so she could fry them and she had stingray!

my favorite evening meal. toast and cocoa with pb m&ms on it....no wonder im gaining weight again...hahaha

We went to the beach again today

Having too much fun! hahaha

So this was my toe about a month ago, sorry its gross....

Another nice sunset

Elder Keetch and I at the mission Christmas party

Our Christmas set up

Presents!!!!

This is raw percaset (idk how to spell it) people put it in everything here haha

Me in Accra at the temple

The temple again

Christmas at the Orphanage

Christmas food!!!

More presents... Thank you SO MUCH!!!!!

my poster

My crazy companion

Wrapping Paper fire!

New Year!!!

It's good to hear from Elder McGuire again! Sounds like he had a crazy New Years, but a good start to a new year.

Dear family,

This week has been amazing!!!! Tuesday was an interesting but good day. We woke up and went to praso for district meeting , we got some good instruction and it was fun to hang out with elder cardon again. Also since Tuesday was new years eve our branch had a new years eve party. IT went from like 8 to 12 and it was interesting hahaha. We had to help our branch understand a few things that we do and don’t do in our church as opposed to other churches but everything was sorted out and the party ended up being great. We got permission from president shulz to stay up for it and just monitor things and it was nice but tiring.

Wednesday morning we slept in an hour with president shulz’s permission and then got up and got ready for the day. We had some great lessons and the church was having another party for new years day. Elder Bannerman and I taught on the importance of obedience to the commandments and it was a great lesson. It inspired a lot of movement in the branch and a lot of people are working hard to fix some things in their lives. In preparation for the party elder bannerman and I were cleaning up a little bit and we found a wasps nest at the church. We spent the next while trying to get rid of all of the wasps and a few members were helping us. Hahaha IT was an adventure and elder bannerman got bit like 4 times and a member a few times too but I escaped. Their bites swelled up pretty big. In Africa everything is stronger hahaha. We also got fed a lot that day, and I have had fufu almost every day this week. But miraculously I am maintaining my weight hahaha.

Thursday Elder Bannerman and I woke up and helped a member set some metal security gates into concrete at his brothers house and it was fun. Then we came home and went to work. Then later that day we were meeting with this members wife. The member is a recent convert and weve been trying to teach his wife for a while now. So that night she told us she wanted us to teach her so she could join the church. She had attended church once and the new years activities and decided that it was something she wanted to be a part of. So needless to say we were pumped! Her name is Rosemary and just yesterday she committed
to be baptized this month!

Friday was a good but slow day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened but it was one of those days where everything falls through haha. We were able to teach 2 lessons and we were happy to at least get a little done. Then that night we started splits with our zone leaders so I went to praso and elder bannerman stayed in nyenasi. So Saturday I was in praso all day and it was the same story. Every appointment we set fell through but again were able to teach one lesson. IT was fun to be with my Zone leader and I learned some new things from him and we had a good time. Saturday night I went back to nyenasi and we finished off the night by teaching Edward. Edward is so awesome he understands the doctrine so well and the church makes perfect sense for him! He is definitely ready to be baptized on the 18th

Sunday was an Amazing way for The nyenasi branch to start off the new year. I fasted for the members our investigators and the people of nyenasi in general that we would be led and guided in our work for them. We went in the morning to pick the blind member as usual but when we go there he wasn’t quite ready so we went to Less Active member who lived close by. Her name is mary and we have been working with her ever since I got here! She always promises that she will come but never does. When we got to her place she was outside and she looked really sad. She told us to sit down so we could talk for a minute. She told us that her father who had previously been an alcoholic went on a vacation for the holidays and started drinking again. She was sad because she had worked really hard to get him away from it the first time. We couldn’t do anything but encourage her to pray and keep the commandments. WE only talked with her for about 10 minutes but the spirit was definitely strong. So we left her and went and picked up the blind member and went to church. Church was amazing! Normally our attendance is 35-45 but we had over 60 people come!! The testimonies were great and the lessons were nice too. We had 7 investigators at church! After church elder bannerman and I made some visits and taught some nice lessons. 2 of our investigators committed to baptism so that makes 3 for this month! Elder bannerman and I are stoked so we are working our hardest to help them make it to their baptisms. I was so happy to see everything happen this week. When I got here this area was down in the dumps but its finally starting to climb out! I cant wait to keep working and try to help it grow.

Today has been sweet too! A member recently gave us some pork meet and another member gave us a pineapple. Thanks to mom I had some Hawaiian marinade and so I made Mo Bettahs today!! It was sooo good! Ill send pics next week.

Anyway we gotta go! Were going to a village next to ours called kariku to visit a member for FHE and it’s a 40 minute walk so were heading! Anyway I hope you guys have an amazing week and ill talk to you soon!!
Love you all!

Love, Bradley

P.S.haha so i wrote this email yesterday and i was about to send it
when the network went down, so its tuesday morning and im sending it
off. Thankyou for sending my drivers lisences. President shulz told me
that he already has my international one so now its just the normal
one but im sure itll get here soon.

Christmas!!!!!!

Dear Family and Friends, I'm SO SORRY that I have been so slow in updating this blog the last couple weeks! It has been crazy! Here is the letter from this week, and below it I will put the letter from last week. Once again, there's no pictures. Sorry! Elder McGuire told us while we were on the phone with him (Which was FABULOUS by the way), that in his area of Ghana the internet is so ridiculously slow because they only have one internet network and the whole village could be on the internet at any given time! That's what makes it so slow that he can't send us pictures!

Dear Family!!

This week was amazing!! i loved being able to talk to all of you and hear your voices! Im glad to see that everyone is doing well! The work this week was awesome too!

Christmas was Great we spent most of the day in praso for district meeting and calling home. We made it back to nyenasi just in time for Midweek to start. We werent expecting anyone to come but a lot did. Elder bannerman and i ended up teaching and it was an awesome lesson. A lot of people called it Xmas here instead of Christmas, so we talked about the difference and about how important it is for us to have
christ in our lives.

Thursday was a sweet day we were able to have a lot of great lessons and one very interesting one too. We showed up to teach a guy named Michael and before we started teaching he said he wanted to tell us
about a dream he had. We said okay. He said in his dream he saw our apartment, he said inside he saw that there was a whiteboard with his name on it and next to the whiteboard was a table where me and elder
bannerman would sit and discuss about him and other people on our board. Now this guy has never stepped near our apartment or the church before. He came this sunday and got lost on his way so he had never
seen our apartment or anything but he described our study room in perfect detail.....So yeah that was a little weird! hahaha the lesson went great and he is progressing well.

Friday was basically the same, great lessons and we were able to accomplish a lot. The sweet thing for friday was we had a chance to sit down and talk with a disabled man named brother Baidoo. He can barely walk or talk and is old. His impediments are a result of a car crash he was in some years ago. But he bore his testimony to us that because of his garments he survived the crash. He also talked about his years of being a soldier and how he felt protected because of the covenants he made in the temple. This man had such a strong testimony of the temple and he also told us of how he was sealed with his wife and with his family. The Really cool thing thing about this whole experience was that he was saying everything in Twi, but i was able to understand everything! So that was fridays highilight.

Satruday morning we woke up and went to farm with a guy that we were friends with but hadnt had the opportunity to start teaching him yet so we decided to do some service in order to break the ice a little. It worked and we'll be teaching him this week. Also we were able to find a guy that we have been looking for. His name is Edward, he has come to church twice and is friends with one of our investigators. He is really smart and earnestly seeking for the truth. So we found him but he was busy and said he would try to meet us later. He was unable to make it later but that night we were having coordination meeting at the church house. All the sudden edward walked in....hahaha needless to say we were surprised. we talked with him for a while and gave him a restoration pamphlet and a book of mormon.

Sunday was sweet too! hahaha we had a lot of people come to church this week and we had 4 investigators come to church too. After church we were able to go to edwards house and really sit down with him to have a lesson. We shared about the restoration of the gospel and the book of mormon. He loved every second of it and he committed to be baptized on the 18th of january! We are so pumped because its been a while since weve had anyone with a baptismal date. Things are moving again! We also had another good lesson with michael that night. We sat down and asked him if he had recieved an answer about the church or not, he said that he hadnt. So we started talking about his prayers. We discovered that he wasnt asking specifically about the truthfulness of the church. we then asked him that if he did recieve an answer that everything was true, would he be baptized? he said no straightway. He said that he really liked the church he was in and it would be too hard for him to leave it. We then helped him understand that in his search for the truth that god was not going to answer him if he is not willing to act on the answers he would receive. So he promised to change and committed that he would listen to the answers if god gave them to him. So yeah sweet lesson! We could have totally lost him there but thanks to the spirit he is still around. The spirit is so essential in this work and has been helping us so much! I just have to do my best to stay worthy of his companionship.

Today has been a good day, weve done our washing, relaxed, and went to a field and threw my football around a little bit. So yeah its been an awesome week!

I love all of you guys and i was soo happy to talk to you this week! i hope you have a great week and ill talk to you soon!
love you!

love, Elder Bradley McGuire




Dear Family!!!

Afishia pa!!!!! thats merry christmas in twi! so ive been saying it to everyone the last few days!! It sounds like you have been hit by a lot of snow! hahaha it just gets dustier and dustier by the day out here but its okay im still loving life!

My week this week has been amazing!!!!! i will try to explain everything but if i miss it i guess ill just tell you tomorrow when i TALK TO YOU!!!

alright So monday after i emailed you last week we did some shopping and then we did our best to catch a tro tro back up to praso. it took us forever to get one so we didnt get back there until late and we had to spend the night in the praso elders apartment.

Tuesday we woke up in the morning and went to nyenasi, showered, and cleaned up and packed a few things and came back for district meeting. It took us forever to get back to praso because tuesday is market day and everyone wanted to go to praso. And when a taxi or a tro tro pulls up and says hop in! everyone just mobs it and its ridiculous to fight for a tro. so we didnt make it back for district meeting until the very end. After district meeting elder bannerman and i did some shopping. then at 3 i left elder bannerman with the elders in praso and traveled by myself to cape coast. It was so weird being alone! so i made it to cape coast and the APs came and picked me up and took me to the Office Elders place.(its right next to the mission home). So i spent the rest of the night with the office elders and we proselyted and had some fun.

Wednesday i woke up and got to the mission home by 8 to meet up with president and sister shulz. Now the reason i was able to come to accra with them is because they were taking some elders to the airport so they could get home before christmas. Now in this mission when elders go home they all wear the same tie to match. Its always one of the ties that we get from our christmas present from president and sister shulz. So we just barely all got new ties for this christmas. I forgot that the elders that leave always wear that tie when they go home. I just wanted to show sister shulz that i was wearing the tie she gave me. SO i like the elders going home wore the tie we got for this christmas.......hahaha i realize what i just said doesnt make a whole
lot of sense but if you could get the just of it....so i was wearing the same tie as the elders going home hahaha. Anyway....So we left for accra around 8 and its a 3 hour drive plus traffic so we finally made it to the Accra temple around 11:30. we had a lunch of pb&j that sis shulz made us and it was sooo good! then we finished just in time to make the 12:30 session. I have needed to go to the temple for some time now! i have missed it so much!!!!! they didnt show the new film but i still loved it!!! i received some much needed guidance and it has helped me so much!!!! So after the temple session we walked across the parking lot to the area office where the area doctor is. So i went and visited him, he just numbed up my toe and cut out the in grown part of my nail and it was super easy, it only took 5 minutes!! and it is so great now! After the doc fixed me up, we took the elders going home to a mall in Accra that was sweet! it was just like a mall back
home! and inside they had KFC!!!!!!!!! so President shulz took us all to KFC!!! this whole time i thought i was dreaming! hahaha sister shulz also likes to take pictures. everytime she would want to take a picture of the elders going home and i would be with them, she kept getting confused cuz i was wearing the same tie as them. So we finally dropped the elders off at the airport and then drove about 45 minutes to the MTC and we spent the night there. it was weird to be back there but it was fun, i got to talk to all the new
elders there.

Thursday we woke up and i went with the APs to the south african embassy. Our new AP is from south africa and he needed to get a drivers license, it took forever but eventually we finished and left. So we started our way home to cape coast. On the way we stopped at a city in the mission called Swedru and we went to an Orphanage. We gave all of the kids Some stalkings that our aps grandma made and sent to him. The kids were so happy and it was an awesome experience. This was probably the biggest christmas gift that these kids have ever gotten in their lives and it was amazing to see the joy come into their countenance as they each took one. I was really lucky to be a part of this all. After that the aps dropped me off at a tro station and i came back to praso, picked up elder bannerman, and we went home to nyenasi. Then we had some talking and planning to do and we are picking up our act. Its not like we have been being disobedient or anything but just havent been doing effective work, so we talked and made some changes and everything has just gone up from there.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday were pretty normal days except for the fact that our work has been improving every day.

Monday wasnt pday for us because christmas is wednesday and was supposed to be transfers that day. So they did transfers on monday and we proselyted. IT was a fun day because everyone is happy and thinking
about christmas. We had FHE with a family in our branch and i brought my guitar and we sang christmas songs and hymns and it was a blast. So today is pday for us and we are all getting ready for christmas. We
have district meeting on christmas so we are kinda havin a party. We are also staying in praso so that we can call home and actually hear you! so 9 sounds great! i will be calling then.

Also While i was with president shulz this week he asked me to ask you to get me an international drivers license. You have to go to www.idlservice.com. and just follow the instructions. then once you get it i need you to send it to me with my drivers license(my new one that shouldve come right after i left). If you could do that asap for me that would be great!!! Thankyou so much!

Anyway thats my week!!!!! i hope you guys have a fun time at grandma and grandpas tonight!!! ill talk to you tomorrow!!! i love you!!!!

love, Bradley

A GOOD WEEK!!!

Hey FAMILY and FRIENDS!! Here's another update from Elder McGuire. Can't wait to talk to him in NINE DAYSS!!!! SO close!!!! And, no pictures this week... So sad....

Hey Family,

it seems just like yesterday i was getting ready to call you guys for mothers day and now its time to call again! im so excited to talk to all of you and i cant wait!. it sounds like you guys as usual had a great week. the fact that it is cold there is still a foreign concept to me hahaha. but i guess it wont be so foreign in 2 years haha. We had a sweet week here and life is good.

So tuesday to thursday were pretty typical days and they were full of good mission work. Thursday night we went and stayed over in praso. Friday morning we all woke up early and we went down to cape coast for the mission christmas conference. it was sooo much fun! we started by hearing a few really good talks by elders about christ and the true meaning of christmas. After the talks we got to watch FOREVER STRONG! hahaha i love president and sister shulz! even though ive seen it like a million times it was still sweet to watch again. We watched it because the mission motto is forever strong so they talk a bout it a lot. After the movie we had a really good christmas dinner of Rice and chicken (hahaha yeah im in ghana remember?) but it was nice and we were all stuffed! After we ate dinner we had the talent show and it was awesome. all of the zones had a talent so i played my guitar and everyone sang along our own version of angels we have heard on high. it was sweet and everyone loved it.  After the talent show we all piled into a tro and headed home. when we got back to praso the zls had a box with them and they didnt know what was in it. we opened it up and ALL of my PACKAGES were in it with some letters too!! so i got 3 packages and 3 letters on friday too!!!!! so yeah friday was incredible!!!!! thankyou so much for everything!!!! i put all of my presents under our "tree"(a previous elder had a tree made  out of fabric so we got it and hung it up in our apartment) so it feels like christmas!!!!! thankyou so much!!!!!

Saturday was another good day and we taught some good lessons. I also pounded a lot of fufu and got some nice blisters on my hands. its alright though my hands are getting their callouses back finally. There was also a big funeral this weekend so a lot of people were out and about and it made it easier for us to contact and to find people.

Sunday was also pretty typical and nothing out of the ordinary happened. We went and picked up Brother Baidoo again(the blind man) and i love just walking with him in the morning to church.

So yeah the work is going on like normal this week. Our branch is struggling and the area has its challenges but we are working hard to help it and we are staying positive about it all!

I didnt get to watch the christmas devotional but i have been able to listen to half of it. i was able to hear president Monsons talk and also the primary presidents talk...It was a red jumper!.....hahaha i love them. I loved in president monsons talk how he mentioned that if we drop the last syllable in the spirit of Christmas it becomes he spirit of Christ. Having the spirit of Christ at this time of the year is soo important! he also talked about the importance of giving gifts not just getting gifts. Never once do you read in the scriptures about how christ recieved a large gift from someone.Its all about how christ gave and served others and we should all be working our hardest to do the same.

So what are the plans for christmas????? are you gonna go to bear lake again?? i know im gone but we need the tradition to continue so in 2 years we can still be doing it!:D

Anyway thats me for the week! i hope you guys have an awesome week and have some fun! oh yeah what time do you want me to call on christmas?? im 7 hours ahead of you guys so  whatever works!

Love you!!!

love, Bradley


Oh yeah!!! hahaha i forgot to tell you guys! so I got an ingrown toe nail about 2 months ago, i cut it out and it was fine. but i was walking around the compound of our apartment and i tripped and kicked a brick with it. i kinda mashed my toe and things started growing back wrong and it got infected. so im going to accra this week to see the mission doctor at the area office and he is gonna fix me up! some elders are going home this week too and before elders go home they are all allowed to go to the temple right before they leave, so i get to go with them and i am soooooo  excited!!! i miss the temple so much and i cant wait to see and be there again! and here are some pictures for the last lil bit okay sorry its not working...next time! i love you all

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

A Lesson in Culture!

Here's a new email fro Elder McGuire! Enjoy!!!

Hey Family!

Wow it sounds like you guys just had a big party this week!! im glad you guys had an awesome time and i hope all of you were thankful for what we have, we truly have a lot and should be sooo thankful for it!

I had an awesome week too! on tuesday after district meeting we went home and taught some good lessons but by the time we got home i was sooooo tired! so i went to bed early to catch up on some sleep.

Wednesday was a day that tests missionaries. All of our appointments fell through except for 1! so we ended up walking around a lot and just contacting people. its frustrating when you set appointments and people dont show but all we can do is just keep trying! Mid week was awesome though. me and my companion taught and we taught on families and i thought of you guys a bunch. i was able to share a lot of family
experiences and i was so happy to be able to share that with others.

Thursday was a good day and we were able to make up for lost lessons. we also have been preparing this Sister Elizabeth who is 55 for baptism and we answered all her final questions and she was ready! So friday came and she was interviewed for baptism and passed easily. Also on friday we got a bunch of referrals from members that were sweet! can i just say that one of the things i love here are member referrals. when members refer their friends to us it makes it so much easier for us to teach and to have success because we have support!.

Saturday was sweet! we woke up and we went to the taxi station to meet our baptismal candidate to travel to Nyamakrom for the baptism. She didnt show up! we went to check to see if she was home and she was. She had misunderstood us and thought she wanted us to meet here at the church at 7. she came and waited for 2 hours but got tired of waiting so she went home. soo we clarified everything and she came with us. the baptism went great! elder bannerman Baptized her and she was really happy. On the way back from the village the road is terrible and the taxis are even worse. the one we were in i could see the road through the floor boards. and its super dusty so by the time we got back we were ORANGE! literally we were soo dusty! so we got back to nyenasi and changed and then went out and taught for the rest of the
day.

Sunday was an awesome Fast and testimony sunday. Church went great, we had 3 investigators come, and a lot of good testimonies were given. After church we taught some really good lessons and one of our investigators mentioned his desire to be baptized but said he had a few problems he wanted to take care of before. so we offered help and he told us that his Wife of 10 years wasnt legally or traditionally married to him. Here in africa they do traditional marraige and its a huge process that can be a problem but this man is smart and well off and is working hard to fix things before he will be baptized. So we were really happy he told us so we can work with him on it.

Today was a nice day and we were able to get our washing done and relax a bit.

You asked about african traditons for christmas, its actually not any different than at home. Every one eats a ton of food and gives gifts. its not quite as big as back home and not too many people believe in santa clause here which is sad, its okay ill teach them about him! hahaha. there are a lot of interesting african customs that i have glossed over though. when you enter someones house, or compound you should say AAGO! which means "entering", if you walk by someone and make eye contact you MUST greet them or its very rude! NEver use your left hand for anything!(its because they think thats the hand you wipe with and if you eat or shake peoples hands its and insult). When you welcome someone into your home, you first offer them water, then food(if you have the means), and then state your mission or reason for coming. that one is nice because it keeps us hydrated, fed and lets us get to the point, haha but most people dont usually feed you. the few that do expect you to wait for them to prepare food and if you refuse, it is extremely rude. so thats what i got for now! ill write more next week!

I want to thank you all for everything that you do for me and i want
you to know how much i love you guys! i couldnt do it without you!
HAve an awesome Week!!

love, Bradley